The 3rd annual
Crybaby Classic was held on Sat. Sept 29, 2012. For the second year in a row it was a girls trip. Erin and I left her place around 12:30 on Fri. Sept. 28, 2012. We loaded her car to the roof in a very thought out/planned/Tetris way! It was about a 4.5 hr drive form her house up to Petoskey, MI. As always the drive went by real fast because there is never a lack of conversation when the Quiring "gurlz" get together! We checked in at the hotel before heading to the venue, Nub's Nob Ski Resort to pre-ride the course. The course was the same as last year except this year it was dry!! The course was in great shape and I was really excited to be riding there. The temps were in the low 60's making it very comfortable to ride. The Pro Elite women had 3 laps to do. Roughly 3302 ft of climbing and overall distance of 26 miles. After the pre-ride, we confirmed our start time with the convener, our start time was 10:10 am. We headed back to the hotel and had a delicious super that Erin had pre-made. The rest of our night was low key, I wiped my
Quiring Ti down, relaxed and lights were out around 11:00 pm.
The alarm blared a static muffled song at 6:30 am. Breakfast time! We rolled out of bed and put down a tasty oatmeal breaky. We timed things so we would arrive at the venue an hour before start time to get in our warm up. All was going good, the temps were slowly rising and my body gradually heated up as I got my legs moving. At 10:00, with 10 minutes to spare before the start of our race we headed to the bathroom before going to the line. Here's where my re-occurring dream/nightmare became a reality..... I walked into the chalet and I overheard on the loud speaker "Johanna Schmidt coming through the start loop" Through the window that over looked the ski hill, I saw the women pedalling by! My heart sank and I panicked! I ran out of the chalet and almost right into Erin and told her that we missed the start! That they already went! Chaos followed, the convener came right over to us and reassured us that they would take care of it. They had changed our start time. I pulled up the straps to my bib shorts and tossed the extra bottle I had in my hand off to the side. He handed us our chips to put around our ankles, got us to the start line and sent us off on the start loop, out to chase the rest of our category. I don't remember much about the start loop. I knew the women had left about 4 minutes ahead of us. I set a pretty nice pace and I knew I was really going to have to chase. I reminded myself about last years race when I was taken out from behind on the opening downhill, was in last and chased down the group and won by a substantial amount of time. This would just be another challenge this year. Persevere in the face of adversity! I wasn't sure who was in my category or how many. I started to catch some other female racers. I came up on Amanda Ryan (Einstein Racing) and she gave me a shout out, I continued pushing on the climbs and through the fast, fun, singletrack. Toward the end of the lap I had passed all of the ladies except for Johanna Schmidt (Einstein Racing). I went down the singletrack decent to the plateau, where I saw Johanna making her way through the start/finish/lap area. I pushed down the open downhill, through the lap and back into the fast, weaving, flat double track which was at the beginning of each lap. I hit the first gradual climb and caught Johanna. We shared a few words and then I went around. I knew I had a good lead after lap 1 based on time so I found a nice steady pace to hold as I took a
Hammer Gel and drank. Johanna was behind me for a bit and then I started to build a bit of a gap. My distance and lead grew as I went through the single-track. Came through to start my third and final lap and no one was in sight behind me. I pushed a steady cadence up the Crybaby climb (steep, long, soft ground, leg pumping climb!) knowing I would not see this climb again this year! It was a great feeling to take in the final downhill and defend my third Crybaby Title!! Johanna came in about 12 minutes behind me for 2nd place and my teamie Erin Vicary (Quiring Cycles) was a mere 8 seconds behind her to take 3rd!
Pro Women Results.
Bonus: There was a prime to the fastest pro man and pro women around the start loop and although I had no idea how fast the other girls had gone through I won the prime as well!!
It was soooooo much fun and this event is just AWESOME! Crybaby Classic is a DO NOT MISS race!!! Put it on your calendars. The promoters are great, the course is challenging and rewarding, the atmosphere is chill and friendly.
Our drive home flew by. It's always a good time when Erin and I hang out. I am very lucky to have such a wonderful teamie!!
Cheers,
Sue
Podium pictures to follow........
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