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View Full Version : Monson, MA - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly



SheFly
06-17-2007, 10:11 AM
The Good

About 10 miles into the race, after turning off of Route 20, we started to dominate the racing in the pack. A teammate attacked right out of the corner, and when we caught her, I countered with another attack right away. We had four strong climbers in the pack and wanted to be sure that they were protected, and had legs left for the final climb to the finish.

Our teammate attacked again in a few miles; I asked her to go once more, which she did, and at that point, the pack was happy to let her go, knowing that they would quickly reel her back in. On the next hill, I attacked again, and was left to dangle off the front of the pack for about 2 miles - I also knew that as much as I like to TT, I couldn't do it for 18 more miles.

Once the pack was back together, a group of five of our teammates moved to the front of the pack, and controlled the pace - working well together so that not one was doing all the work. From my place near the front, they were doing a great job!

The team worked EXTREMELY well together, and should be proud of their efforts.

The Bad

From the outset, the women on the team felt that our race was not supported. On the start line, we were told that the prize list was being cut in half because we didn't have a minimum number of racers (min was 40, 35 on the line, 27 pre-reg). In his defence, the promoter told me that he also cut the prize list for the 30+ men for the same reason.

We also had no neutral support for the race. Of course, this meant that if any of us had a technical while racing, we would be done. As far as we knew, there was no follow car either. This morning I learned that one of our teammates did end up with a flat, and due to the lack of support, had to rely on the kindness of strangers to get a ride back to the race start.

Starting out, we did have two lead out motorcycles. Sadly, the first thing they did was take a wrong turn, getting the entire pack lost, and taking us off course onto very narrow roads, and having us face some dangerous conditions. Once we finally did get back on course, it was clearly evident that these "pace riders" did not know the course at all, as they were slowing at every intersection on the route, and pulling back into the road as the pack approached, causing a lot of unnecessary and abrupt braking. I have never used my brakes so much in a race, simply to miss hitting the pace vehicles.

As I was out on my "flyer" on a flat section of road, I actually had to yell at the motorcycle to move! They had no idea how to pace, how to approach intersections, or where the race course was. This was really unacceptable, and dangerous.

The Ugly

Sadly, at mile 22.5, a squirrely racer caused a significant crash, taking down 7 racers, with 3 transported to the hospital by ambulance. Two of my teammates were included in that transport, both being taken away on backboards.

One teammate had tried to go to the right to avoid the crash in front of her, and ended up launching over the guardrail. She was bleeding, and we were worried that she had hit her head as well. Thankfully, a cat scan and x-ray later, she has a fat lip (but you should see the other guy ;-)), abrasions on her neck from her helmet strap, a cut and goose egg behind her right ear and some small cuts on her shoulder and arm. She'll be sore for a few days, but is doing fine. Her bike also escaped unscathed.

The other teammate ended up being the person that the racers from behind ran over. I have, of course, witnessed this on VS., but seeing it happen to a teammate from behind was pretty scary. Although a nurse offered to cut off her team bib shorts, we managed to save them completely intact. She has a good amount of road rash (and a REALLY UGLY patch on her hip) and will also be sore for a few days, but is fine. Unfortunately, her carbon Look didn't fare quite as well - the top tube is cracked. All of the components, however, including wheels, are fine and can be swapped to her next ride.

Being behind the crash, I actually managed to get stopped completely before impact. Unfortunately, my bike handling skills didn't transfer to those riding behind me, and I was rear-ended/side-swiped (I think in stopping so quickly, my bike may have been sideways), causing me to take a tumble as well. I didn't need medical attention, but will probably take a little longer than my MUCH YOUNGER teammates to heal ;) . Both knees have contusions and/or road rash, but I (and my bike) am fine. This is my first crash in over 20 road races - I hope NEVER to repeat it, and I was lucky!

And the kindness of strangers is sometimes amazing. Immediately after the crash, a motorist coming from the other direction who had witnessed the crash checked all of the injured riders and called 911. His kindness and quick actions were a big help to all of us - we didn't get a chance to thank him, but I hope that he knows we appreciated what he did for us.

Our entire team pulled together completely to help out in this situation. While we all DNF'd, everyone helped to shuttle bikes/cars/people, and to call emergency contacts and let them know what was happening. I am proud of them for the teamwork they displayed today, making a difficult situation much less difficult.

The big lesson we learned as a team today was that we needed to put together a list of contact info - our own and an emergency contact, and to carry phones and insurance cards while racing.

I did send a note to the promoter about the lack of support we felt we had in this race, and the issues we encountered. I received a response back from him, and next year, there won't be a women's field at Monson...

SheFly

Veronica
06-17-2007, 10:24 AM
Well that's just crummy. I hope you all heal up fast.

V.

Crankin
06-18-2007, 05:08 AM
Glad you are OK, Cathy and send my best to your teammates.

When do you want to do the coffee ride?

Robyn

ohmyspokes
06-18-2007, 06:10 AM
I did send a note to the promoter about the lack of support we felt we had in this race, and the issues we encountered. I received a response back from him, and next year, there won't be a women's field at Monson...


Wow, that's messed up.

SheFly
06-18-2007, 06:19 AM
Wow, that's messed up.

Yup. He was pretty defensive. Apparently it was our fault for getting lost - despite the pace vehicles taking a wrong turn, as experienced racers we should know that it is our responsibility for knowing the course :confused: . It's not like this happened a good way through the race - they took a wrong turn BEFORE MILE 2!

He also made some comment about the "extremely slow pace" of the women's field, which boggles my mind - we had an AVERAGE of 20 mph when the crash happened, so not sure how much faster we should have been going on a hilly course....

I have since found out that this particular promoter doesn't have a good attitude towards women's racing in general.

Oh well. We decided we are safer not doing this race anyway.

Robyn - the next three weeks are brutal for me at work. Let's try to get together after the 4th of July.

SheFly

mimitabby
06-18-2007, 06:25 AM
I hope you find another promoter. Nothing's worse than being treated like second class citizens.
I'm glad you weren't hurt worse.

equus123
06-18-2007, 06:38 AM
omg that's an absolutely terrible story. i'm very sorry to hear all of this. the best thing you can do from now on is tell everybody you know about this particular promoter and ask them not to attend his races. don't support that kind of behavior.

geez. that is pretty crappy. ....and they wonder why it's tough to promote women's racing. it's because we're being treated like THAT. :mad: :mad: :mad:

ohmyspokes
06-18-2007, 08:17 AM
SheFly, are you familiar with the Cycling Made Real program?

It's probably worth it to at least let your local coordinator know what happened and the promoter's response.

Here's the link for the New England group:
http://www.newrs.org/

Eden
06-18-2007, 09:19 AM
Yup. He was pretty defensive. Apparently it was our fault for getting lost - despite the pace vehicles taking a wrong turn, as experienced racers we should know that it is our responsibility for knowing the course :confused: . It's not like this happened a good way through the race - they took a wrong turn BEFORE MILE 2!

He also made some comment about the "extremely slow pace" of the women's field, which boggles my mind - we had an AVERAGE of 20 mph when the crash happened, so not sure how much faster we should have been going on a hilly course....


The first part is technically true - it is the responsibility of the racer to know the race route - on my team if its a route we've never ridden before we always try to pre-drive the course before the race. It also gives you a heads up about any sketch parts of the course - bad turns, gravel etc. Wrong turns have happened here even in some of the men's elite races and if you follow the car there is no mercy.... (we've also had corner marshalls let riders off the back go the wrong way without saying a word....)
BUT
it does sound like this promoter was very lax in a number of ways. Here he would not have been allowed to run your field without a lead car, follow car, and two officials. They don't necessarily have to provide neutral support, but we've never been sent off without at least wheels in/wheels out and someone who can call the finish line via radio if a racer gets into trouble. Of course if you fall behind the follow car you're on your own, but they are generally good about sweeping the course and there are almost always races after the women so there's always cars out there if somone gets into trouble.
It certainly sounds like the promoter just has a problem with women's racing. 27 really is not a bad sized field for women's racing, especially at this point in the season, and your speed sounds more than reasonable.

equus123
06-18-2007, 09:48 AM
To add to my comment above... I make the suggestion because there's a promoter around these parts that doesn't care much for women's racing and this certainly reflects in the lack of women's races (if any) or prize money/merch or women's races going last - in the dead heat of the day. ...stuff like that.

My teammate did one of their races last year in the early season and had to join the men's 45+ I think (that or the men's 4/5's). Anyway, some dude didn't hold his line and she got taken out. Long story short - she broke her radius clear through. For starters, there was no medic, EMT, or ambulance at this race [aren't there supposed to be??]. Then second, she was sitting around for AN HOUR AND A HALF before help came for her.

From her experiences that day, our team nor other women's teams (and a few guys) signed up for this guy's races. There doesn't seem to be too much we can do because it's not like he neglected a women's race that was scheduled. There just weren't any at all. So the best thing we could do was not to support this guy.

ChainsOflove
06-18-2007, 05:04 PM
Wow that is in stark contrast to the situation at the Housatonic race. There was an ambulance on site, from what I could see. also FOUR Sram cars. I guess the support was all at this race!

That's nasty about the women's Cat. I recently heard something similar, however, that they eliminated the lowest women's cat from cyclocross nationals. I know there was an outcry but I haven't heard the resolution of it.