The short story- The race was no fun. My legs had nothing left in them for any breakaway attempts. We finished with a pack sprint and I was 2nd behind Leigh Valletti.

Photo of the finish (by Ryan):

You can see more photos from the weekend (as well as other races) on his gallery page

Now the part where I offend some people…
Today’s race was a giant step backwards for women’s racing in this region. It justified low payouts and combining our fields with men’s races. A few of us were willing to put in decent pulls on the front, but for the most part, if these select few were not on the front, whoever was would sit up and go 16 miles per hour. People were yelling at us from the sidelines to hurry up and race. Personally, I was embarrassed.
Here’s how it went: one of “us” would pull a lap or good part of a lap… We’d go to pull through… whoever was behind “us” would either suck wheel or sit on the front going 16 mph in an attempt to get one of “us” back up front to give “them” a tow around the course.

Now, to be fair, I know that some women out there may not be totally comfortable with taking a hard pull. That’s fine. But don’t wheelsuck. Even if it means you’re on the front for a grand total of 15 seconds- do what you can, then pull through so the next one in line can do what she can. Being up front doesn’t mean that you have to bury yourself and get dropped when you pull off. It doesn’t mean that you are responsible for chasing down breaks and attacks. What it DOES mean is that you keep the race going steadily until someone feels the need to attack, go faster, etc.
Now, to be a b*tch, I know that some of the women in the group today were totally capable of taking a faster pull up front, but were perfectly happy to wheelsuck ad nauseum. Sure, there’s no rule that says you have to do any work, but just in case you didn’t know, it garners no respect from anyone. At all. It makes you look like a tool.

Oh yeah, and if someone in the pack is doing a large amount of work, don’t expect them to have the legs to chase down every attack or attempt at a breakaway without a little help.

I’m not naming any names because you know who you are. Even if you tried to do what you could and didn’t feel like you helped much, I still give you respect knuckles. If you were an obnoxious wheelsucker and/or were going 16 mph on the front of the pack, you also know who you are.

Rant over. See you all at the next race.