Race Report: Chicago Grit WP/1/2 Day 8
Race: Chicago Grit WP/1/2 Elgin Classic
Date: July 25, 2025
AVRT racers: Louise Thomas, Rachel Hwang
Top Result: Rachel pulled but placed
Course: three corners, to a chicane, into a downhill, straight into a corner, straight into a slight uphill, into a corner to the straightaway slight uphill to finish
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/15236033636
Race Recap: Rachel Hwang’s Perspective
I always say a lot of riding is mostly mental. Agree or disagree, I like to say it’s 90% mental (give or take).
My goal was to stay in the race the entire time and not get pushed to the back. Louise and I didn’t realize how early they staged, so we started in the back. Race starts, Louise is able to navigate her way into the pack, but I’m struggling to. With my (lack of) skills, I kept getting passed on all the corners, and had to constantly play catch up. The only place I’m able to move up is out of the last corner uphill straightaway where I have to burn matches to move up, but I do as I don’t want to get dropped in the first 5 minutes of the race.
I’m pleasantly surprised how well skilled the field is, with everyone cornering smoothly and no sketchy movements. The only real other experience I had to go off of was Twilight and that was sketchy as hell, where I was behind 4 crashes within 24 minutes of the race. Needless to say, I was very happy with the field. However, I was still getting spat out the back constantly and needed to burn matches to move up. With each lap, I was getting more and more tired, having done 350+ watt surges over and over. At one point, I was with a small group of people slightly dropped, the main field about 6 seconds in front. On the incline, I pull. I pull for the full lap and I’m fading. I pull until we come back around out of that corner again and Fount girl gives an all out effort sprint to catch up to the main group. I’m tired as hell but I know it’s mental, that I have the power to catch up, it’s just whether I want to or not, so I follow close behind. Surely, we catch the main group. The announcer goes, “...they know this is their second chance and that it won’t happen again…”
A few laps later, lap counter 14, minute ~48, I’m dropped. I didn’t fight too hard to not get dropped as I told myself I have two more days of this. In my head, I’m also thinking about a meme I saw on IG about channeling inner Remco and van der Poel, “abandoning the [race]” LOL, and in Remco’s post, how it’s ok to stop. So I did. I have two more days, plus I just did the W2/3 before this one.
Ok, I come back around, lap 13, and they’re not pulling me. I’m tired, take me out coach. I’m not taking myself out, I’m not getting a DNF. So I just pedal, lap after lap, watching the counter go down, wondering when in the world they’re going to take me out. Lap 10, finally they take me out.
I didn’t survive but I made it in the race for almost a full hour, so I’m pretty impressed with myself. And oh yeah, I didn’t know this would be a 75 minute race, and that took me by surprise, but not a happy one. Expecting 60 minute full out effort turned 75, and extra 25%? Too much. So I’m happy with lasting almost a full hour.
Nutrition: A bar or two, one bottle drink mix. I don’t remember the food I actually ate before this race.