Racin' through the month

I realized that this last month I've done quite a bit of racing. May 30th: Wausau WORS race, June 6th: Green Bay triathlon, June 13th: Sunburst WORS race, June 19th: High Cliff triathlon, June 25th: Fond du Lac Grand Prix Criterium, and lastly June 27th: Mt. Morris WORS race. Three different disciplines of cycling, three different kinds of racing in one month, cool.
I've already previously touched on the first three races I listed, so what's there to say about the rest of the month?

High Cliff triathlon- This was the first race I've ever done for the fourth time. By last year I already had a pretty good game plan going into it, how to race it smart, where to conserve and where to push. But this year I had the legs to really put the plan into action. Very windy day out there. Had big swells, whitecaps, the whole shebang for the swim. Luckily, the water was pretty pathetically shallow throughout. I could have run the entire thing... But, after running for a while, decided my legs were getting tired, so it was time to swim then, gotta save those babies for the bike after all. Onto the bike, climbing the High Cliff right away. In the little ring, just spinning up it as to not blow up early, and to wake my legs up for the abuse ahead. (Yes, spinning up the hill instead of all-out attacking it is something I learned through trial and error over my last few races here) Felt like I was flying out on the road. The tail-wind helped that, but I pushed as hard as I could when that wind was with me to make the most of it. Coming back into the wind, sun at my back, I tucked down as low as possible, and tried to get super slippery to slice through the wind. My shadow in front of me helped me monitor how tightly tucked I was. Almost a 23mph average over 21 miles with a large hill and a strong wind, I'll take as a successful bike leg. The run hurt, as it does at High Cliff. They send you right back up the hill fresh out of transition. Ouch. But after everything, a good, heck, a great day was had. I finished 2nd in my agegroup and 24th overall.
Fond du Lac Grand Prix- Part of the Tour of America's Dairyland series, this was the first and only race of the series I did. I've had some issues when it comes to criterium racing. Be it the fact that I've got hang ups about going through turns at speed with people around me, or that pavement hurts, or that I'd tend to get popped off the back the first time the road pitched up, this was going to be interesting. Thankfully, in the two years since the last criterium I participated in, cyclocross has helped my turning with others issues, I've encountered the ground once or twice, it still hurt, but mind over matter, and I'll try to avoid it. And as for popping off the back, my motor has grown exponentially since then, and a bonus, this course is flat as a pancake. Race underway, I'm sitting in the peloton, taking it all in, hearing cheers around the course, experiencing what road racing is actually like. Learned I much prefer the inside line through the turns, learned other people don't carry enough damn speed through the turns, and though I actually enjoyed the heck out of those 50 minutes of pain, I've got a lot to learn, but certainly do see more criteriums in my future. As for results, I totally succeeded in my two goals going in, stay in the pack, and keep the rubber side down. I finished at the rear of the main pack in 30th, but an extremely positive feeling 30th.
Subaru Cup, Mt. Morris- The plan was to race the cross country race on Saturday, and see how I can hang against Comp riders who I'd be directly racing against per UCI rules (combining sport and comp). But as plans tend to go array, I found myself with no bike Saturday morning, and thus unable to race... (bike had no brakes, bike went to shop to get brakes, bike was not being easily fixed, bike was to be picked up the next morning on the way to the race, bike was unavailable for pickup...) Thankfully WORS was nice enough to switch my registration over from the XC course to the short course the next day. So I played spectator Saturday, which was awesome considering this weekend of races was on the pro schedule, and therefore we got to see all the pros in action. Simply amazing to see these guys & girls earning there money out there. Really put me on a mt. biking high!
Race day- The short course consisted of a short hammerfest of only around 15-20 minutes of all-out pain around a short loop. I had a really good start, jumped off the line and was near the front for about a lap, but then other riders showed me why they were a category above me, and I slowly but surely, worked my way further and further back. Then if that wasn't bad enough, last turn of the last lap, I got taken out by a guy who came out into my line. Down I went, sliding on my arm and arse. So that sucked. Big time road rash (off-road rash I guess).
But a day can be salvaged. During the pro men's race, I found myself spectating next to a certain Heather Irmiger (pro mt. biker, member of Subaru/Trek team, national champion, and hottie) who was cooling down on a trainer and watching the race. And what do yah know, I ended up talking racing with her for most of the race, awesome! And then who should walk up into the conversation, but fellow Subaru/Trek teammate, and hottie herself, Willow Koerber. After talking with them for a bit, even then got to meet and talk to the one and only Katie Compton! Katie Compton being the multi-time national champion in cyclocross, and probably soon to be WORLD champion as well. AND I got to meet and greet another one of my cyclocross heros, multi-time national champion, 6'6" Ryan Trebon. So though sore and bleeding, I went away from that event totally happy and totally star-struck. How many other professional sporting events can you go to and just hang out with and shoot the proverbial shit with the athletes after the event? Awesome, cycling is AWESOME.