TRIA Orthopaedic Center Your Cycling Blog

Throughout the Nature Valley Grand Prix, Jacquelyn Crowell is sharing her observations and experiences as a first-year professional for Team Type 1. Through the first three stages, the University of Florida student leads the APC Best Young Rider competition (for racers younger than 26). She is 14th overall, 1:19 off the lead.

I went into Thursday night’s Cannon Falls Road Race with the goal of keeping my teammate, Alison Powers, protected and possibly moving her closer to the overall leader, Kristin Armstrong. We also hoped to help Ali get a time bonus at the finish. But that didn’t work out. Fortunately, Kristin didn’t get a bonus, either.

The 66-mile race went well for us. We kept it upright, which was good, since there were quite a few crashes. We are working together as a team better than we have in the past, but there is still room for improvement.

This was a hard race. The wind wasn’t as bad as last year, but it was still a deciding factor. I tried to stay in the front and out of the wind while still covering attacks. Finally I was able to do something for the team! I felt really bad Wednesday night because I wasn’t able to do anything for the team during the criterium in Downtown St. Paul.

There was a big crash a few kilometers before we made a right turn onto an 800-meter dirt section as we neared Cannon Falls. Right up until it happened, I had been fretting because I didn’t think I would be able to get to the front before we got onto the dirt. Our director, Jack Seehafer, had told us how important it was to be at the front going into that section. So here I was, thinking I hadn’t done what I needed to do, when there was suddenly a crash on the right. All the girls who had been in front of me were gone and there I was at the front!

I loved the dirt section. It was awesome. Some girls actually missed the turn on the outside and my teammate, Samantha Schneider, and I dove to the inside and passed about 20 people. That was great.

We came onto the finishing circuits in good position and with all five of us from Team Type 1. It would have been six, but Morgan Patton, one of two riders on our team who has Type 1 diabetes, didn’t make the time cut Wednesday. It’s always a blow to the team when you lose a rider because we’re like a family, not just a team. But Morgan is still around and helping us out. She was even cheering us on in the feed zone.

The highlight of Thursday had to be when I got called up to put on the Active Performance Complete (APC) Best Young Rider jersey. I was fourth in the standings heading into the stage but ended up first by the end of the race. I don’t know what happened to the other three girls who were ahead of me, but if I can keep the jersey, that would be awesome. I have kind of been in a slump after collegiate nationals and a crash at the Wilmington criterium. So it feels good to finally be first at something.

I also want to use this platform to thank our host family for making dinner for us after the races. It’s awesome to come home each night and have a nice dinner waiting for us. And a big thank you to the race organization of the Nature Valley Grand Prix for letting me share my thoughts with you.

I’m looking forward to Friday night’s criterium in Minneapolis. It will hopefully be an easier day for the team. It should also be a semi-recovery day for the upcoming stages. We need to make sure we are ready for Saturday.

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