Outback Blowout was a blast!

Waco- a great challenge and a lot of fun as usual. Rich and i did our annual trip :) to waco and got there on sat to preride the course.

Everyone did a great job in organizing the event. It was also great to see the big women fields in all the categories. Our 30-39 group had 12 women but since they lined up all the 19-39 women together- we actually had a group of 15 which is great!!
The 19-39 women were the first to go out. I made it to my start right in the nick of time with a couple minutes to go. Thanks to some peeps telling me my group was already on the line. We lined up and i set my watch and noticed my HR was already 174. My nerves were high as usual but i was a little surprised to see it already there.
Gun went off and we were off. Christina in front setting the pace around the circled driveway with the rest of us trying to get a good spot into the trees. I had a great start and ended up 3rd behind Kim J which was where i wanted to be. With Kim showing me the good lines through the trees, we gapped the rest of the girls while Christina gapped us. For the first time in my racing history i was in front of Leslie Reuter and i gotta tell ya.. it felt pretty good!! :)
I held on to Kim's wheel as long as i could but she started to gap me before the end of the half lap. I was happy to be able to stay on as long as i did though. I held that position going into the first full lap but after that Leslie passed me. I held on to her wheel and i got to ride with her for a while. NOW THIS WAS RACING!!! My stomach started to cramp in the first full lap and was painful throughout the race and after. I threw up a little bit and i have decided that that is just part of racing for me. The stomach was a little different..the harder i pushed, the worse it felt.
Leslie ended up gapping me and i went as hard as my stomach would allow to keep my position. I wasn't the smoothest of riders and almost bit it a couple times. The climbing there was significant. It's always a good race because it's a fast course with everything.. technical climbs and descents, switchbacks and tight cornering through the trees. I was able to hold my position til the end of the race so i was really happy about that but i wasn't able to get back to the second place spot. I didn't feel the worst but definitely didnt feel the best racing. HR ended up being 182 avg and 192 Max which is still low for me. I feel great about being less than 2 min behind 2nd place (thank you Christina Smith and Christian Williams at LoneStarWorks.com!!) and hopefully i'll be able to take that spot next time. Thanks to the guys at Dallas Bike Works for helping to get my bike once again ready for race day!!

Teammates Christina and Kim got first in their categories and i ended up with 3rd!!

Rich, on a new bike that he tried out for the first time on Sat, ended up getting 8th place in his category!!! Not too shabby for a roadie!! ;)

And congrats to Steve Innes for his first podium finish in his category!!!!