So this morning we started back to semi-normal training. On the schedule, 80km in the morn incl. track session then the World Series of Bicycling that night.
We were meant to go out for our ride at 7am so got up and chowed down my raisin bran and froot loops and it was around 10 to 7 when i realised none of the girls were up. So went into their room and found them fast asleep... they obviously needed the extra sleep so thought we could postpone the ride for another 30min... 7:20am and they still weren't up. so i went in and woke them, which i felt real bad about cause they looked so peaceful :). So it wasn't until around 8:00 until we left. We decided to try and retrace the ride with did with Kate on the first day we got there and find the lake again as a sort of 'last ride' thing. We finally found the route, the one we had been trying to find again for the last 4 weeks...oh well, better late then never. We rode to the top of the hill where u could see the lake and the valley below. Pretty much one of the coolest views i think i'll ever see. So we sat there and hung out for a bit then we thought we'd give Audrey a call and just ask what time she wanted us at track. 9:00. It was 8:40 and we were 40km in the opposite direction. bugger. So we had to TTT it all the way to the velodrome. needless to say we were pretty buggered for the session which consisted of about 2 flying 200ms lol. my speciality. After that, we just rode home with the boys and took some pretty funny pictures if i do say so myself.
When we got home, we all rushed through our showers so that we were able to go to the King Of Prussia Mall, the 3rd largest mall in America. This thing was huge!! but was also quite expensive, so i didn't really buy much. Just got another shirt from A&F for good measure and some presents from Victoria's Seret since we only had 1hr there before we had to go to track.
Turns out that the trip back to the velodrome took longer than expected so we had about a 15min warm up before the 200m qualifying for the sprint rounds. I had a shocker and qualified 13th... top 12 got in. So i just missed out on having to ride off with Kaarlee (AIS) in the sprint rounds. bugger. lol
So that was me for a couple of hours until the program began. Had a super sprint (they eliminated half the field than it is a 3 lap scratch) which was pretty interesting.. showed my true track form by getting eliminated 2nd... To my credit though, my whole team was at the back and i saw them moving up so i decided to sacrifice myself to let them get through to the next round... shame someone dropped off after i got eliminated though...not happy jan.
That race didn't go exactly according to plan, and all the girls were having a pretty tough night as it was their first night of racing without their coach. We all had a chat and decided that in the last race (10km scratch) we'd give it everything. And that we did. At any one time, at least one of our riders was off the front. Mickey did exceptionally well after being off the front for nearly 10 laps then sprinting for 2nd. Very pleased with the girls, was very proud of them :)
Prob the coolest thing of the night though was after the super sprint when Lara and Mickey weren't feeling too great, Brodie went and bought 2x shirts and got all the riders to write a message of support on there for them, which they were more than happy to do!! riders included some of the AIS riders, ones we'd met over there and commisaires! all willing to show their support for the girls. Was really sweet :)
After racing, it was time to say our goodbyes to everyone... which was actually really sad. sad that this was the last friday night racing we were going to do and the last time we'd see all these friendly people and experience this great atmosphere. I say its the last, but hopefully not. I would love to come back and do this trip all over again next year. So lets just not say the last, but the last time for a few months.
I am definitely going to miss everyone we met at Friday night racing, they have all been so supportive of us and our cycling and always willing to lend us a hand and give us advice. Which we could bottle that atmosphere up and take it home...let me work on that...
Until next time
xo
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