The racing season kicked off for us this past weekend with the Leesburg Baker’s Dozen put on by Plum Grove Cyclery. It is our first time doing the event in its second year of existence; and, our second team relay event ever. Lewis had done a little mountain biking leading up to the race; but, I’d only put in 2 weeks of road riding prior to the race due to my bum shoulder — which still feels pretty sore when I sleep on it (or stretch my left arm up over my head). Lewis thinks I need to go back to the orthopaedist, and I’m sure she’s right. All the same though, I was determined to do this race, since Brandon had signed he, Sean, and me up as a team again. I figured I’d make it through somehow.
After provisioning Friday night, Lewis and I managed to get to bed around midnight with the alarms set for 6:00 am. Our goal was to be at the team site by 8:30 to meet up with everyone; but, with a quick breakfast at Starbucks and an EZPass situation at the Greenway, we made it out closer to 9:00. Lee, and others from the Pedalshop team, had been on the farm at noon on Friday to claim our spot for the day; so, all we had to do was pull up to the tents, unload, and re-park over in the field. It was a pretty sweet setup — complete with carpeting; and, eventually, 10 cases of beer from our sponsor.
The race officially kicked off a little after 11:00 am, with Brandon leading things off for Team Pedalshop (our officially uninspired name; given that others on our team had names like “Too Drunk to Fish”), and Sean pulled lap number 2. On my first lap of the day, I hit the course without gloves, which would lead to some killer blisters that I would regret for HOURS. We quickly changed our strategy to double laps on the 7.5 mile course; but, I slowed the team down with a flat on my third lap of the day. The flat — combined with a stubborn stick in my middle chainring — combined to drop us 10 minutes off our next competitors, and we never were able to close that gap. All the same though, we finished 19th out of 48 registered teams, so we were okay with our showing.
Lewis and the girls ended up finishing a VERY respectable 9th in the 3-person “open” field, which was the 2nd best finish of all the Pedalshop teams. And, while everyone was hoping to party it up after the race was over, the storm clouds were quickly moving in by 12:30 am, and people started making their respective moves to head to their homes for the evening. Lewis and I were the last amongst the team to leave (several others did stay) and hit the road around 1:30. Driving home was as much a test in stamina as the race itself, though; and, we finally pulled in our parking lot at 2:30 am. We were TIRED!
Sunday, we slept in as late as we could; finally being awakened around 9:30 by our neighbor, who needed some assistance dressing for a trip to the Grand Canyon. I’m glad Lewis fielded that one.
