San Dimas Stage Race: Criterium 3/21/2010

Category: W3/4
Field Size: 29
Length: 25 minutes
Places: 9th (me), 13th (Emily), and 26th (Josie)

The course was a 1.2 mile loop in the shape of a backwards "L". There were 2 rights, a left, and 3 more rights. The first half of the loop was slightly uphill, and the second half slightly downhill. Road quality was beautifully smooth, with the only hiccup being a small gutter going across the road into the left turn. We had a slightly smaller field, since 10 ladies didn't finish the road race (they must have either been lapped, pulled themselves, or flatted). We had been threatened with a 5% time cut on the road race, but afterward they decided not to cut our field, probably since we were so small anyway (at least compared to the other fields). When I checked in for the race, I was informed that I had earned myself a white jersey, which was really confusing because yesterday they didn't have one for our field. I had to switch both of my numbers to the new jersey less than 45 minutes before our race started, so it made race prep a little hectic.

The race was practically a sprint from the start, due to the fact that 25 minutes is so short. People were attacking almost constantly the whole race, but the only attack that succeeded was when Heather went off the front to claim the hot spot sprint halfway through. I managed to stay near the front most of the time, but with two laps to go I got completely boxed in and pushed back. I managed to work my way up to the front third of the pack again just in time for the last corner, but the finish straightaway was too short for me to gain much ground. I'd been spoiled by having nice long finishing straightaways where I had time to build up some more speed and catch anyone who was ahead of me, so it was kind of shock how fast the finish line came up after the last corner. I knew going into the race that I'd have to be at least 5th wheel or maybe better out of that last turn to win it, so I was disappointed that I wasn't able to maneuver my way up to the front. In any case, it was still a good learning experience for me.

I was also infuriated by how insultingly short our race was. The only other race that was 25 minutes long was the free kids race. Even the Cat 5 men got 30 minutes, and the Cat 4's 35. I get that fewer women show up than men, but maybe it's because we're being discriminated against. To have seven different men's fields, but only two women's fields, I can live with that, since to be fair, all of the men's fields were bigger than the W3/4. But the fact that our race was so short (the RR was too!) was just insulting. As a Cat 3, I would expect to race a longer distance/time than the Cat 5 men. For instance, by USAC rules, Cat 5 men's crits only need to be 20 minutes long to qualify for upgrading, but for Cat 3 women, they need to be at least 30 minutes long to count. I get that there are time constraints on the overall event, but they cut the wrong events too short.

On another topic, the Women's P1/2 crit was amazing to watch. About 20 minutes in, there was a 5-woman break away that quickly built up a good gap, that eventually grew to a full minute. One of the women in the break was actually trying to slow it down in order to help her teammate in the pack keep the yellow jersey, but it wasn't working, so she dropped back on purpose in order to help drive the pack to chase faster. The breakaway kept slowing gaining a couple of seconds to maybe 1:10 ahead of the field, and then with 4.5 laps to go everything changed - Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, who was one of the four in the break, attacked the break and took off by herself. About the same time, Robin Farina (who was a threat to Ina-Yoko in the GC) flatted, and had to do a quick wheel swap and hop back in. Over the last four laps, Ina-Yoko gained 38 seconds on the two remaining riders in the break (Meredith Miller and Carmen Small), while the pack gained some time back towards the breakaway. By finishing so far ahead and getting the 20-second time bonus for first in the stage, Ina-Yoko snatched the yellow jersey from Mara Abbott by 18 seconds, despite being around a minute down before the stage. It was truly a privilege to see such amazing women racing. Also, congrats to our own Annie Fulton for hanging onto the pack the entire race. I saw a lot of riders get dropped and pulled from that race, so just finishing a race that fast against such incredible women is no joke.