Mason Lake #3 & Market Street Road Race

[Eden]

ML #3 was a pretty much a blur for me so I'll try to see what I can remember. It was another big field, one of the other riders thought that since it was a NWWC points race that there were a good many people who came for that reason. It was also another somewhat sketchy field, so I have to say, though I'm glad I did them, I'm also really glad Mason Lake is over with. The other two non ML races that I've done now did not seem to be nearly as rough and tumble and from watching all of my husbands races last year it really seems like there are more crashes there than in any of the other races. The women's cat 4's had two crashes and a near miss on a third - but we weren't the worst for the day - there was a bad pileup in the sprint for the men's 4's. I haven't heard exactly what happened or how bad it was, but someone did say that it was quite serious for one of the guys. I hope that he (and the other guys of course) will be OK.
Contrary to the rumors I didn't go down in the second crash (and the horrible noise my bike was making was just the magnet from my computer smacking up against the sensor), but I did get caught up in the middle of it and had to stop. My team mate, who did go down right in front of me (sorry for riding over your leg!!) got back up and took off so fast all I could do was hold onto her wheel until we got back up to the pack, way to go you are a trooper! Take care of that knee.
It seemed like a lot of attack and chase for most of the race, but it also seems like once someone gets a certain amount of gap no one wants to go after them. I chased the eventual winning break, but couldn't keep it up long enough to reach her, so I pulled off of the front, hoping someone would take it up - nothing - one of the Ti girls asked me aren't you going to go catch her?! Given some cooperation maybe WE could have caught her (the pack that is) so I said not by myself I'm not! Oh well, maybe its time to have a workshop stressing tactics and cooperation between teams for all of us newbies on ALL of the teams. After that more chase, chase, chase, but no other successful break aways. Our sprinter came out from the pack for an absolutely super sprint at the end - since you don't get anything else for it big big kudo's to her for winning the Mason Lakes Points Series! There was a bit more bumping around in front of me during the sprint. The girl beside one of my team mates bumped into the person on her left and then ricocheted right into my team mate almost knocking her down for the second time in the day - thankfully no crash that time. I placed 12th at this one.

Market Street RR - This one is more straight forward for me to write up - pretty much hanging on for dear life the whole time! It was probably the hardest race that I've done yet, but maybe the most rewarding as well. The start of this one was a hill and the group took off fast! The first lap was brutal - I was already feeling the day before and to kick up into a fast climb first thing was super hard on the legs and lungs. There were a lot of times during the first lap that I was pretty sure I was going to be finishing this one on my own, but the pace calmed down a little bit for the next 2 laps and I was able to hang on. It was a bit of a shock to realize that we had to take that first hill 4 and not 3 times, since the finish line was after the hill and the start was before it - uugh! The pack was smaller than any of the other races that I've done now -starting at 20, down to 13 at the finish so, even though there was a little bumping in front of me during the sprint again, this time with the more open road and smaller pack I was able to go around it, rather than have to hang behind it. My final place was 7th and I am thrilled.

Well anyway all in all a long fun weekend, it sounds crazy, but with the time that the races have been starting I'm almost glad tomorrow is a work day and I get to sleep in .

[Pink Kona]

Glad to hear you didn't get hurt in those near pile ups! Sounds like you had some close calls. Unfortunately crashing is part of bike racing - but hopefully things will calm down in your field so you can start working on tactics rather than avoiding pile ups. Scarey stuff! Last year there were only a couple of crashes during our races - but we probably only had about 1/2 the field size you do this year. Hats off to you for sticking with it! Hopefully everyone is learning from those crashes and how to avoid them and not running the other way. Fear can be crippling.

Way to go at the Market street rr - that's awesome!

[Eden]

I've been fortunate (or perhaps careful enough) to be near the front and thus in front of most of the crashes that have occured in the races so far. I've only been in the middle of one and I managed to get stopped without going over. Very weird to be left standing in the middle of a pileup.

Like I said, I think that there is something about the Mason Lake course. Most of the crashes that I've seen/heard about and especially the severe ones have occured there. Perhaps it is a combination of it being very early in the season, before everyone either gets their pack skills back or develops them, the size of the fields, that don't split much since the course is fairly short, and the narrowness of the road, but pileups seem to occur more frequently there.

I try to not worry about it to much. Worrying about falling seems worse than actually doing it. Not that I've fallen a lot, but I've gone over a few times -not racing, but once because some doofus came around a corner on the interurban trail on the wrong side of the road, another time on a rain slick bit of paint on the road and its never as bad as the imagination can make it. My only one real fear is that since I'm so much smaller than most of everyone that someone might hook my handlebars and cause an ugly crash. I definitely try to make sure that when its close quarters I stay in my drops and out of range of other people handlebars.

In any case I think that it is thinning out a bit and the overall bike handling in the pack is getting better. Sequim and Market Street were both much smaller and more controlled fields so I'm not feeling scared off by any means. Can't wait to be out there tomorrow!