Snelling RR 2/25 & Merced Criterium 2/26
I posted some of this in the "Some good racing tips" thread, if it looks familiar to some of you. I just added more details.
First of all, the weekend was a blast. I played it by ear for the crit on Sunday, because I wasn't sure how I'd recover from Saturday's RR. But I ended up doing it, and boy, to see the look on my kids' faces was totally worth it! I haven't raced in a good 15 years, so it was sooooo much fun to be back. If I wasn't so focused during the race, I probably would have been grinning ear to ear.:D
For the RR, there were 69 entries for Cat 4 (WHOA!!), so they split us into two groups and started the groups separately. I was in the first group, which according to the promoter's website, had 46 starters. The course was 11.1 miles long and we were supposed to do three laps. There was a short neutral lead-out to the course from the parking/start area. This detail was funny: they apologized to our group for not having a motorcycle to pace us because "referee's are in short supply because of the Tour of California". I thought that was ironically funny, but it was sorta the wrong time to break out in giggles or goofy comments. So, anyway, we got to lead out ourselves -- actually, they asked us who had done the race before, a group of gals said they had, and then they went to the front and did the lead-out honors.
The first lap was a pretty easy pace, usually between 17-19mph, a little bit of shuffling, but not too much action at all. The second lap was a little bit faster, some small moves at the front, which were quickly countered, and the corners were taken a bit faster. You could tell the race was on at that point. Since I knew the course well, as it's near my home, I knew exactly how to take each hill and how it would affect me, so I felt extremely comfortable and within myself the whole race. I just didn't know how the last lap would go!
The last lap was definitely faster, a little more tense, more blocking by teams, and sooo much fun! I was loving it, but tried to stay concentrated on what was happening within the race. There's was a point when I thought there would be a successful breakaway, and I was contemplating bridging, but I decided to wait to see if the upcoming hill would do any affect to the two riders away. Sortof as I suspected, at the hill they came back to the group, and then I knew we'd had a sprint finish, since there weren't going to be any more good places for a breakaway.
The finish was at the top of a small foothill and was immediately after a sharp 90-degree turn, so you had to get good position before you hit the corner to have any hope of making the sprint. The problem with that was that the road before the turn was in really bad shape, rough-filled potholes everywhere and very jarring. I was boxed in for a bit, but then when I was finally clear of that, I found myself on the roughest side of the road and in full headwind, exactly where I had planned NOT to be. So, I couldn't get up to a good position before the corner, and then when I did get around it, I pretty much blew up -- for one, I was in the wrong gear. I was anticipating a faster pace around the corner and so found that I couldn't get any leg speed behind the gear that I chose - whoops! By the time I got my momentum back, the sprint was lost and I just tried to hold my position, or at least what was left of it! :rolleyes:
I ended up placing 22nd, but with the pack, which I was pretty pleased with, my first race back. We dropped alot of gals as the race progressed (remember, we started with 46). Each time I looked around, we had less and less bodies with us, and it did get pretty intense there at the end. I was pretty proud of how I did, since I had no idea going in how I compared to other ladies in my Cat and considering how little time I really have to train.
In the Crit, as with most womens' crits (GGRRrrrrr), they grouped us in with the Category 1/2/3's, and it was reeeally fast from the start. I suspect the higher category gals were trying to get rid of us right away. Before the start, the race organizers told us that when we about to be lapped, we would be whistled out of the race and they would place us in the final results according to the position we were in when lapped.
Well, the skies opened up as we started, so it made the roads slick with the oil buildup from no rain for a few weeks. After I was shot out of the back of the pack in the first lap (yea! the first lap! ha! :p ), I joined up with about four other gals who had the same experience (going backwards??!), and we started rotating turns at the front. My pulls were just over 21mph, but in retrospect, I DID have more speed in me. I guess I was taking it a little easy because of the little group we had formed, because of the rain, and because I really didn't warm up very wisely on the trainer beforehand (our race was delayed because of a bad crash in the Mens Masters race...all subsequent races were running about a half hour late, so it threw me off somewhat).
We lasted about 10 or so laps before they whistled us out (honestly, I wasn't counting), as the "fast train" was approaching. They placed the Category 4 gals together with the 3's for the official final results, and I was sitting 10th (out of 12 Cat 3's and 4's). However, that is pretty much happenstance, since we were taking rotating pulls -- I could have been placed 8th if I had been taking my pull at the front at the time. I just happened to be in the middle of our little train.
I knew it was inevitable we were going to get pulled. There was an awesome Category 1 & 2 field. I think it's almost a good thing they pulled us when they did, though, because the rain made the streets VERY slick. Several ladies went down during the course of the race, and there were even more crashes in the Mens 1/2's race that followed ours. I think that race started out with about 60-70 riders and maybe 30 finished. Crazy!
Anyway, I had a blast the whole weekend, and it just felt great to be racing again. Hope some of you gals have a chance to get out there racing. It truly is a neat experience. Got a wee bit hairy at times, but you just have to keep your cool about things and just have fun with it.
Happy racing....:D :p :cool:
~BikeMomma
