Tulsa Tough

On June the 9th the team and I headed off to Tulsa, Oklahoma, a 5 hour drive in the pimped out Metro Van (it has two TVs, a Subwoofer and Blue Neon lights). Once we arrived we went to our host house, a really nice old home with a swimming pool!! We were lucky again to have really nice host parents who ran around after us, making us dinner, lunch and coming to support us at the races.

Tulsa Tough consisted of three criteriums all around Tulsa. There were about 70 starters in the women’s field including some big names such as Laura Van Gilder, Jennifer Purcell and Christina Smith. Race one started at 7pm in about 40 degrees temp. It started off fast, with a lot of attacks. Someone near the front decided to come off going around one of the corners, making me to do another one of my famous curb hoping stunts. As I jumped the curb a group of spectators had to dive off their chairs as I was heading straight towards them (along with a couple others). In a criterium, when you get caught up in a crash you are able to go to the neutral zone and get a lap out, catching onto the field on the next lap.. I was a bit in the moment and forgot about this option so instead spent the next lap head down butt up chasing the bunch. When I finally got back on we went around the corner and the rest of the crash victims happily jumped back onto the bunch.. Lesson learnt! After a few more laps I felt like I was going no-where, looked down and noticed my tyre was flat (my race number was 13…shows). The rest of the race consisted of my head being elsewhere.. finishing somewhere in the bunch.

On the outside, next to Tiffany Pezzulo (Primal/Map my ride) (one of the nicest ladies (and fastest) in the peleton).

The next day I was determined to have a better day (I got my number changed.. quite superstitious). It was again a very hot day with everyone drenched in sweat at the start line. Was a very fast paced race with attack after attack. I chased a few, did a few, and then just focused on my positioning. With two or three laps to go I got caught up in mid bunch, along with my team mate Kate. Kate is a good sprinter when she is in good position so I let her know I was there and pulled her up to near the front so she was in good position coming up to the last lap or two. Once I got that done there was another attack and I spent the last lap suffering quite a lot. Again I finished in the front part (ish) of the bunch, with Kate somewhere in the top 10. The minute we finished, the lightening, thunder and rain started pelting down just in time for the men’s race.

The final day of racing went over the infamous ‘cry-baby hill’ which was something like the Tour De France. The crowd was HUGE with spectators all over the roads throwing water over you, pushing you, it was insane! There was a gnarly downhill with a tight right hander at the bottom. I felt pretty average for this race, so decided to race it hard and attempt a few things rather then just chilling in the bunch waiting for the finish. Mid-way through the race I did a hard attack coming into the hill, I stayed off for about a lap and then got caught coming up the hill again (the teams did not want anyone getting away). After attempting to recover I cruised in the bunch for a bit more. Then with one lap to go there was a NOW rider off the front, I did an attack again going into the base of the hill, unfortunately pulling the bunch along with me. With the downhill just before the finish I was a little sketchy as it was very steep. Finishing again in the bunch, somewhere in the top 20. Attacking the field up "cry-baby" hill. Photo from Jason Perry; http://www.jasonperryphoto.net/

Overall it was not the most successful lot of racing, but I still keep learning more every race and I had a lot of fun. We now head straight to Wisconsin to compete in the 11 stage Tour of America’s Dairylands.