VeloRosa's own pink gal Lee traveled over the Memorial Day weekend to do a little racing. Good thing about Lee is that whether she has teammates or not, she packs up that little blue bike and heads out to take on the field. Both fields were loaded with out-of-state racers. Snake Alley Crit is in Burlington and Melon City Crit is in Muscatine. Both are located in the Eastern part of the state and the four days of racing draw bikers and fans from all of the surrounding states.
Snake Alley is billed as the having the most twists and turns of any road anywhere. Add cobble stones (bricks on their sides) and a climb that will tire out the best mountain climbers and you have a race that seems to only consist of this climb. There is a balance of the race that has quick down hills punctuated by many 90 degree turns. But it is THE climb that draws the fans and causes the racers to wilt.
Lee finished 19th on a hot and humid day. Her race was frustrated by being popped off her bike by cleats that did not hold on the rough terrain. Thanks to a bit of running and a fan with a push, she was able to remount on the relatively flat area. Ha---relatively flat on Snake Alley.
She came back the next day to race the crit at Melon City. This race has a downhill that will make the speed racer in you excited except for the large speed bump at the bottom. Don't slow down too much as the long, steep climb starts right after the bump. So just relax, enjoy 25+ mph, easy with the hands and use your legs as shock absorbers. Then pedal like made to start the climb. Lee endured this race to finish 14.
Congrats to Lee on a job well done in the heat and against stiff competition!
Your Roving Race Reporter,
Luann
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