Jessica Prinner Cycling

Hey guys,

I know lately I’ve been pretty bad about keeping my blog updated, but my usual hectic school life has started again, which means that by the time I actually get around to writing something, I feel like by brain has been thrown against the wall several times, and then stewed in boiling water.  As you can imagine, I figure it’s most likely better if I just don’t put any words whatsover on the page at that point, because managing a decent post would be futile, and even forming a semi-understandable sentance might be a struggle. 

As of right now (as I’m writing this post, perhaps not as you are reading it) I am sitting in a hotel room in St. Louis, the Gateway City.  As far as my teachers know, I have suddenly come down with an upset stomach, and unfortunately could not be in school today.  Luckily none of my teachers know about this blog, so little do they know I actually just took this Friday off to drive down to Missouri to compete in a four day criterium series called the Gateway Cup.  Much better than sitting at a gum-infested desk trying my hardest to keep my eyelids open.

Today, or tonight I should say, was my first race of the series.  Indeed, this was the first NRC race I have ever competed in, and for those of you who don’t know what that means, all you need to know is that these races attract the biggest, baddest, and most highly regarded women racers in the nation.  Powerhouse women’s professional teams like TIBCO, Colevita, and Webcore all attend in order to obtain vital points to compete in the overall NRC competition that takes places over many races all year long.  Powerhouse women like Tina Pic, Brooke Miller, Laura van Gilder, Kori Seehafer, and Katheryn Mattis were present as well, but that’s okay since just about every newspaper that ever did an article about me has claimed that my nickname was the “Powerhouse”, even though I’ve never heard anyone call me that in my life.  The pro,1,2 women’s race started at 8:30 at night, and the .9 mile course was surrounded with floodlights to give us spotlights along the pitch-black course.  Indeed, the course was still shadowed in darkness, and was even spattered with sections of pitch black, so you could barely see the riders around you.  Take all this and add a fierce 70-rider field with a fast course, and it seemed like complete and utter chaos.  But I love chaos, and once I was set loose, I couldn’t help but think that this was one of the funnest races I have ever done.  It was almost as if the darkness shrouded the intimidating identities of the riders around me, so I didn’t feel discouraged like I normally do in a race of this caliber.  I managed to stick all over the front of the field, sitting in the top twenty for most of the race, attacking once (grand failure) and trying for a $100 prime (does 3rd place count for something???).  By the last 4 laps, team TIBCO was already performing its amazing leadout dance at the front of the field, warding away swarming riders and deterring attacks.  I felt strong enough to move up in the last three laps, and by the final lap I was situated in the top 15 places.  Leadout riders continued to peel off, and struggling riders were getting blown away, but one could not blame them for the pace in that lap was blistering and it seemed as though it was a .9 mile sprint to the finish.  I could feel the energy and adrenaline pouring out of the remaining riders in front of me as they hammered through the last two turns, fighting for every place as they knew they were the meat and potatoes of the race.  In a split second decision as I rounded the last turn I cut from the outside to the inside as the line was faster and the leadout TIBCO riders (as I later found out) were blocking the outside.  This move boosted me into the top ten as I finished my sprint to cross the line in 8th place.

For it being my first NRC race, and coming with no expectations, I am estatic with my results.  I just hope tomarrow will bring a similar story.

Until later…

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