I knew from past experience that getting on the course due to exuberance at 11:00 am was not wise so I did make myself wait until 12:30 for a leisurely course inspection lap. And the course was AWESOME. Fun, flowy, and nice and firm due to the Thursday snowfall. I was excited. On my second pre-ride lap, Katie Compton even passed me as I attempted to be cool and dismount nicely for the barriers which were up to my damn knees. It was cool.

I tried to hang out, stay cool, hydrate, and not warm up too much or not enough. Finally it was time to line up. I gave my pal Terra a pep talk as she was a bit nervous about the start, having been crashed out in this race the year before. I said ‘look Terra, this is awesome. We’re racing with the best racers in the country! We’re doing it!’ I think it helped. It helped me to talk a lot.

I had a fourth row call up which given my lottery situation was fine. I nervously made friends with the racers on either side of me. And then it was time to go! One thing I had forgotten in my relatively little UCI experience over the last two years was how fast the start is. It was full gas from the gun. I can’t say I was full gas but I felt okay about my position. Unfortunately, there was a very rideable steep climb maybe a couple minutes in, and the racer in front of me came off her bike somehow so I was also off! I ran as hard as I could up the climb but the running at altitude is still not my strength. Somehow after that I was apparently last. Luckily I had no idea so I was just riding as hard as I could, hoping to pick off as many people as I could.