What happened...

Alright, sorry this has taken so long. I have been waiting to get a chance to sit down and write a big wrap up of everything...and it still hasn't happened. So anyhow the last day of racing was Sunday and I won the stage...with a little twist. Myself and another girl broke away from the pack and were able to hold them off to the finish. She asked me with a few laps to go if I wanted to cross the line together and we agreed on it. She had done a lot of the work in the break away and although I was confident I could keep her wheel, I didn't want to use her draft for the last 2 laps and then just jump her in the sprint to finish. I am new and it will only help me to have friends in the peleton...so that is the split second decision I made. I know there will be plenty of sprints...and I plan on winning more of them. To explain, I got the winners jersey because technically according to the cameras my tire was a hair in front of hers. The points for the win placed me in 5th for the overall series, which was pretty good considering my mishap in the first day where I gained no points.

The entire month of experience has taught me a lot. I made a ton of mistakes and just tried to pull as many lessons from them as possible. I not only learned about riding and racing but, also gained more life experience that will be invaluable on my adventure through life! I can't emphasize enough how lucky I am to have such a great support network. Yes, I did well and produced some good results, but there were also some rough races that I didn't do so well at and some times when quitting just seemed like it would be so much easier...but quitting is not an option, not in my book anyhow! All the traveling and being on my own also brought times of loneliness and confusion over what I was doing and if it was right. All the support, letters, calls, etc. from everyone was so nice to have and helped through the ups and downs. I thank all of you so much, you are all a huge part of any successes I may have! I know that what I am doing is making me so happy and I have a passion for it! Few people get the chance to compete at this level and love every bit of it...all the training, pain, burning...knowing the feeling of defeat and pain makes victory so much sweeter! So the plan is to train hard and continue to learn and gain more victories!

love,

kacey