Cyclocross 2012

After finishing off an amazing road and track season, I started my cyclocross season.  Last year, I raced C (cat 3 and 4) women the whole year.  This year, I started out as a cat 4 racing the C women until I won the Tailwind series for the C women, then I upgraded to a cat 3 so I could race the Elite Women (cat 1,2,3).  I didn't want to upgrade to a cat 2 because I could race the elite women or C women.  I finished my road/track season actually on the same day that I did my first cyclocross race.  I participated in the Track Team Pursuit Championships and (on the same day), did my first cross race of the season. 

My first race was the Ithaca Grand Prix and got 2nd place.  I started out leading the race but was eventually caught and passed by another woman. 


Going over the barriers.  Thanks to Matt Baroli and Jay Moncel, I really improved my form.

The next race I did was Columbus Park.  I won the B/C women!  I was in a constant battle the whole time. I was caught and passed, and then I caught the lady who passed me, etc., but I continued my effort and managed a 1st.  Feeling great, I also decided to race the 15-18 year old junior race. I came in 3rd behind two junior guys. 

Me and the other lady, Cheryl Hill in a very close battle.  

My next race was Kensington, which was a two day event. I had a very close race the first day but ended up winning.  The next day, I got second place to Cheryl Hill (the lady in the picture above from the Columbus Park race).  

I did multilple races after this and started winning multiple womens B/C races. 

Lake Orion High School Race

:)

Photo cred: my dad. this is an awesome picture! Me in mid jump :)

This race came down to a sprint finish.

Lake Orion race

Lake Orion race

I upgraded to a cat 3 just in time to race the Kentucky USGP race in the cat 2/3 category.  The USGP series is like THE series to do for cyclocross.  People come from all over the nation to participate in the USGP races.  It was a 2 day event.  The first day, I got 21st and the second day I got 22nd.  I had so much fun and learned a lot.  The course was wayyyyyyyy more technical than I've ever ridden before.  There were big sections of sand, barriers, a flyover, three stair sections, and a very tricky reverse camber section.  Most importantly, I learned tons!

There were many, many women in my race!

I was trying pretty hard (hence the weird facial expression).

You can see from the photo how long this sand section was!  The first day,
we ran it downhill and the second day, we ran it uphill which was sooo
incredibly tough!

I'm at the very left at the back. The lady at the front is a fellow racer from Michigan! :)

It was great seeing my friends here too! This is Ian, my teammate from
the international race I did this past summer! 

My teammate Jeff AKA Pony won his race!

After Kentucky, I rode 3 more races in Michigan before nationals.  However, I now rode the Elite Women (cat 1,2,3) race.
I raced Waterford (which was a two day race) and then I raced the state championship race.

The first day at Waterford, I got 2nd place! :)

The second day at Waterford, I got 3rd place.  My teammate Kelly won the race!! She did really well to win!

My teammate Kelly

It was really icy and I fell multiple times as I was riding tires with hardly any tread lol!

The state championship race sadly didn't go as planned.  I fell twice on the first lap.  The second crash (not pictured), buckled my wheel which made my brakes rub incredibly badly.  On the bright side, my teammate Kelly won!

Kelly in the middle and me on the right

Great picture of my first crash (not the one that buckled my wheel).   ;D

I won the Tailwind Series for the B/C women for 2012.

For winning the Tailwind Series for the B/C women!

The state championship race didn't go well at all for me. However, I managed to end the cross season on a very high note when I went to cyclocross nationals.  See my next blog for more on the 2013 cyclocross national championships!! :)