Nacrasha

In my 3 years of cycling I have adapted to many different nick names. "Crazy Natasha" was my first year when I went into the big races, like Altoona and Green Mountain and had no skill what so ever or racing experience and didn't have a clue what to do. I would just follow the fastest wheels until I blew up, taking lots of risk and crashing many times. I then became "Nacrasha" for stupid crashes and being unaware of my surroundings and hitting things like steel posts that I have road by and seen many times. Then cross started this year and the new name was "Nathrasha", I got some awesome results early in the season and then the last two weeks came along. Tired from lots of workouts and no recovery, I have seem to fallen into the old me again and not being able to push in my races. In my coaches' eyes, this was his secret plan. To beat me down until I said mercy and then he would give me rest.

Ahhhh rest, I had rest last week and it seemed to work somewhat but then the Nacrasha came out in me. First race in Connecticut this weekend I really wanted to lead it out. In warmup it started to rain, Derrick told me to practice the start. Up a hill and screaming down into a 180 degree turn from pavement to grass. I tried it full tilt and my breaks locked up and then I slid out landing on top of my bike and avoiding any serious road rash, just dents in my bones from landing on the frame. Needless to say, when the race started, which was just 5 minutes after the crash, I wasn't planning on getting the hole shot anymore. I ended up going into the first corner in 8th and magically working my way through the field and into a battle for second. I started leading through the corners and then dropped the girls with me and was actually gaining ground on first place. Then I forgot about the rain and started taking risks. The next thing I knew, my bike was taken from underneath of me and my head and leg took a severe beating to the ground. So hard that my helmet got cracked. By the time I got back up I was in third again. Caught back up to second and then just rode from the back, dumb move to do in cross. Then someone caught us and I still road at the back, even dumber move. As I was constantly closing gaps out of corners instead of accelerating and making people chase me, I finally got dropped and ended up coming into the finish 4th.

Next day, drive up to Massachusetts for the next race. Feeling a little stiff and sore from yesterdays two crashes but ready to race. Bad start again, somehow move my way up to second and then I made some costly technical errors and had to run with my bike where everyone was riding. Back in 4th again, but move up to second and then I start going backwards. I figure my rest from last week was probably only good enough for one solid day. With another semi easy week things should be back to normal and the Nathrasha will be back with new skills to add to the mix......

On another note, my skills have seem to have rose to a new level in some areas that I have been working on. Thank you Derrick for being so patient with me and even though I was so frustrated, to just say it's okay, it will happen eventually and it did. My cornering and remounting both improved this weekend all thanks to you, if it wasn't just for all my bad luck.