NEVIS CYCLE & TRIATHLON CLUB

Here is the latest news from Shannon Fitzgerald, who is busy racing for her college in the USA and recovering from a fractured collarbone
"I just wanted to update on my last 2 weekends of racing. The broken collar bone is almost healed. 3 weeks ago i raced in North Carolina. The weather was crazy that weekend, cold and rainy. The road race was a very hilly 10 mile loop that included 4 miles of climbing. The women had to do 4 laps of the course. When we started out i was a was a bit overwhelmed as this race combined 2 different division and there were more women who i had never raced against before. The first lap the field split up into a few groups, i hung on with a top group of 8 women and we had one women off the front out of site. By the second lap of climibing the field was begining to separate even more. My trouble however, was not climbing but decending. It was a
crazy switch back steep down hill with some gravel enough to scare me a few times. By lap 3 the top womens group had dwindled to 4 women. as we started to climb i made the decision to push a still a little harder. By the last lap there was one women off the front and just me and another. I ended up with second place, not bad for the sketchyness of the downhills and my collar bone.
This past weekend was out South Eastern Conference Championships. all races were worth double points. The road race was a rolling hills course that was a 28 mile loop 2 times. As the race started off i new i had to tire out some of the women and try to drop them early as my strength is not the spint at the end. At the start of the second lap i attacked and no one seemed to take me seriously, so i rode off the front for the next 10 miles, realizing that it was only a matter of time before the huge field would catch me. But as luck would have it a chase group of 3 women formed. When they caught up to me i jumped in with them and we took off. 2 of the 3 women however, were not pulling and just wanted to sit in for the ride. So i looked at the one woman who was working hard and we agreed to take off. We both stood up and dropped the other women. The 2 of us taking turns pulling and drafting were able to get away from the others. I ended up second in the road race.
The CRIT was sunday morning and i dreaded it as the cornering still freaks me out since the accident. Once again i figured i had to try to tire the women out on the hills early. i attacked some but could not seem to separate the field. Lucily for me another women attacked early in the last lap allowing for a longer than usual sprint and iended up with 3rd place.
The best part was that for the SEC division 1 women, for the season i ended up as the Champion (they get this from whoever has the most points for the season) i was honestly suprised that i got this as i did not even do all the races due to the fractured clavicle.
Anyway, now it is time to train hard as Nationals is in 2 weeks out in Kansas. Should be interesting to participate in such a large race. Hope you all are well, Train and race hard!" Shannon.