Wente Vineyards Criterium, April 22, 2007
Finally found the time to write this, two weeks later!
Wow! This was a fun race. I remembered last year's race (2006) and recalled how much fun the course was, so I was eager to enter this year's edition. You could say that last year, I learned how to race this course, so this year I recalled what I learned and then applied it.
So anyway, we had the Women 45+ in the race again (6 of them), and we had 24 Cat 4's, for a total field of 30 that finished. The race started out pretty calm, but at the same time, we weren't crawling either. My teammate Charlotte, who raced the Cat 1-3 race a couple hours earlier, advised me where I should be on certain areas to avoid being pushed to the curb. As with most windy days, everyone wants to stay sheltered in the draft, and in this race, if you allowed yourself to get too far left, it was trouble. As it was, there was nearly a crash because of exactly this (with alot of unnecessary and unsportswomanlike cussing and name-calling, I might add :( ). The rest of the race was incident free, unlike last year.
As I knew the course and after testing Charlotte's advice and finding she was right, I could then free my mind to plan for the last couple laps. Because of the wind, all breakaway attempts made had been caught pretty quickly, so I knew that it would be suicide to try a solo breakaway. Actually, to clarify, it would be suicide to put myself any closer to the front than maybe 5-6 riders back (yes, it was that windy). I knew I needed someone in front of me, so that's what I did.
With two laps to go, I moved myself up and tried to keep anywhere within the top ten, without expending any more effort than I had to. I could feel the tension in the race increasing and I knew that I wasn't the only one vying to stay up front, either. Knowing that I had kept the same line all race -- staying on this side here, that side there -- I decided to change it up the last lap, just in case anyone had me pegged to go a certain direction. So on the "s" curve just before the last corner, I cut inside, where I hadn't the whole race and moved up on the outside of the wide curve before the corner. From there, I had no trouble putting myself in an excellent position around the final corner, about 6 riders back, just as I'd planned.
The corner went well, and as I thought might happen, about 4 riders were able to get past me, but I didn't panic, as they may be assets for finding a wheel to draft. Because the finishing straight is soooooo long and soooo windy, I just sat and waited. My sprint is not a fast-off-the-blocks sort of sprint (working on it!), and it usually takes me just little more time to wind it up to top speed. So, with that long finishing straight, it sets up perfect for me. There's an irrigation bridge about halfway down the straightaway that most people use as their "jump off" point, but I knew that I'd need to start my sprint either there or just before it to have hope of holding my position.
Sure enough, at the bridge, the first riders jumped and that was my cue. I found a wheel momentarily but then they started to fade and I had to go around. After that, I was out in the wind, and I just put my head down and made it hurt. I passed about 3 riders quickly and then was slllowwwly gaining on a couple others as we crossed the line, but I was fading right about then and didn't have anything left to pass them. Crossing the line, I guessed myself somewhere in the top ten, possibly about 7th or so. Good guess, but I wound up in 9th place, a helmet-length behind my (now) teammate Katrina Howard, the little 12-yr-old dynamo who got fifth last year. Here's the link to the official results page: 2007 Wente Crit
I had so much fun in this race, can't wait until next year! I felt so good that at one point I was joking with Katrina, telling her to "go kick some 'arse and show 'em how 12-yr-olds get it done." Struck me highly ironic that I was laughing and joking in the middle of a race when I was supposed to be serious with a pained grimace on my face. :p It's all about fun, though. :)
Thanks for reading all!!
cya
BikeMomma
