It was a tough lead-in to the race. I had multiple meetings at work discussing my future. I have worked very hard to get the director position of our clinic, but it seems there are never-ending road blocks keeping that from happening. This time my top boss tells our current fill-in director that I don't work hard and I'm not committed to the company. He said I "just show up." First off, it irritates me that he won't say that to me. Second of all, I have busted my butt for this company since day one, solving all the problems that our previous directors have made by not doing their job. Yet I get perceived as the one who doesn't care. I've proved that I can do the job, yet they have no intentions of ever promoting me. Actually, it seems to be that they are willing to work hard to keep me from ever progressing rather than just being passive about it. I've heard many times that I am just a PTA and a PTA should never be promoted above any PT because it would be awkward for the PT. Never mind that I have a degree in management. Never mind the work ethic. Let's just worry about the ego of a PT. Sometimes I really hate my profession. The egos are huge and are always in the way. Around here, it's all about titles. But your smallest degree is what is attached to you, no matter how far beyond that you go.
This has not been a completely bad thing though. At least now I know for sure that I will never be a director with this company, no matter how hard I work. So, instead of giving up my ride time to do the extra things directors do to keep their clinic growing, I can now just be a PTA and go home. I've given up way too many hours of my life for that company and apparently they meant nothing. My season has been poor partly due to losing ride hours for work and from work stress. But no more. I'm an now in process of backing away rather than taking on more. It seems as though I will have to open my own clinic to ever get any kind of respect.
With those meetings and all the drama, I got stuck late at work the day before the trip to Crossroads. I had to pack my things late and missed my ride. I like riding the day before a race. It always seems as though I have stiff legs the day after an off-day. I also noticed a few extra pounds on the scale. Yipee. I'm a stress eater. I try to recognize this and control it, but sometimes work stress gets the best of me.
I knocked out my three hours of work and then picked up Shannon from her clinic. She went ahead a worked too. Might as well if she was going to have to wait on me. We had just enough time to drive from Clarksville to Mocksville, NC for the first race. It was over a seven hour drive and we lost an hour going into the Eastern Time Zone. We just prayed for smooth travel and no traffic. We needed everything to go right to get there in time.
For the first time this year, the drive was care-free. We encountered no traffic and got there with a few minutes to spare. It was my first time ever to race the Crossroads Classic. It has been around many years and was a five-day event up until this year when they added a sixth day. It's one of those races that has been on my "Wish List" for quite some time. I was glad to finally get there and excited to race six straight days. There were five criteriums on the agenda and one road race.
The Mocksville Criterium opened the race week with a night crit. in downtown Mocksville, NC. It was a tiny crit. course, filled with fast, narrow corners and one tough climb. The course was a 0.5-mile rectangle with four 90-degree right turns. The start/finish straight was fast and wide. Turn 1 was narrow and blind. There was a building right on the edge of the course on the inside blocking your line of sight. That gets a bit sketchy when you factor in darkness and roaming spectators. It was slightly downhill to turn 2. The backstretch was wide again and slightly downhill into an off-camber turn 3 that lead onto the course's only climb. The climb was one block long spanning from turn 3 to turn 4. After the final turn it was a flat 250 meters to the finish line.
Mocksville course map. Had a few error readings in there this time.
I got in a good warm-up and found myself on the third row at the start. The Pro/1/2 group was large at 83 riders for a Tuesday night race. The start was ridiculously fast. I guess the adrenaline of a night race got to everyone. We were rolling 30+ mph around the loop. I hit 188 heart rate at the end of the first lap and held it there the next three laps just trying to hang on the group. We were flying down the straights, and the corners were so narrow that it kept us single-file and sprinting out of each turn. I cannot hold 188 heart rate for long and I blew like a bottle rocket at just under seven minutes into the 60-minute race. I was not the first rider off, nor the last. I passed many other riders over the next three laps before I was pulled out just 9:18 into the race. With a course this short, you were in danger of getting lapped pretty quick once popping off the back of the group.
The pace stayed high most of the race, blowing the group into several small packs before a break finally went away, eventually lapping the field. Alexander Ray was in the break and took the field sprint to get the win. Of the 83 starters, only 40 finished. I finished 67th. I do not know our average speed as I installed a new Garmin speed sensor, which apparently negates the GPS speeds. The magnet on my rear wheel came loose on the second lap and slung up against the rim. I thought the GPS would take over if the speed sensor malfunctioned, but apparently not.
I was disappointed to be out so early, but I also realized that I gave it everything I had. I was at my max and that was all I could give. Those boys were just fast! It made me feel a bit better to see half the pack get shelled in those first few minutes. Shannon and I talked to a member of the Mocksville City Council after I was pulled. He was very friendly and very interested in how we race and travel. The city is interested in hosting more races in the future and was looking for more ideas on how to get the riders to stay in Mocksville. I thought it was cool that their city likes bike racing so much. I wish other cities could see the potential of hosting a bike race in their town.
Video: Mocksville Criterium
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