San Dimas Stage Race: Road Race 3/20/2010

Category: W3/4
Field Size: 39
Length: 28 miles
Places: 2nd (me), 16th (Emily), and 24th (Josie)

The course was a 7 mile loop, with a couple of moderately long but gradual hills and one steeper climb (rumored to hit 13% for a short while) followed by a final descent into a flat finishing stretch. To make things more interesting, it being a stage race and all, there were two "Hot Spot" sprints, which happened at the finish line at the end of the first and third laps. There were also QOM points awarded at the top of the steep climb on the second lap. The race started out pretty fast, since the race was so short. By the end of the first lap, we had dropped a bunch of people, mostly on the steep climb. Unfortunately, Josie got stuck at the back and the people in front of her got gapped, so she had to chase the rest of the time. Emily and I tried to contest the first hot spot sprint, but were mostly unsuccessful (I placed 3rd for a 3 second time bonus and 5 sprint points). I think it was at the beginning of the second lap that Heather Jackson took off by herself, though I didn't actually see her go. She stayed out there the whole time and won by almost 2.5 minutes. Anyway, having successfully dropped a fair portion of the field, I think the pack slowed down a bit on the rest of the laps, keeping up a decent pace but not quite as frenzied. Every time we went up that last hill, I was worried that I'd get dropped too because I was really suffering, but I was always able to catch up on the downhill or shortly after on the flats. Emily wasn't feeling so great, having been somewhat sick the previous week, so she was having trouble breathing due to excess mucous, but she did a great job sticking with it anyway. On the final lap, on the final climb, I fell back just a bit, since a bunch of people were really gunning it up the hill, and I just couldn't go any faster. I made up a little ground on the downhill, catching up to a group of about six people, but they were still about 10-20m behind the lead group of maybe 6-8 riders, and apparently there was one more that was even further ahead, who I'm guessing attacked up the hill and got a nice gap. I came around my group and caught the lead group just in time to latch onto someone who was taking off into a sprint (this was probably about 300m from the finish). I sat on her wheel for just a couple of seconds before another rider came up on the right and I came around the left of the one I was on and switched to following the new girl out front. After a moment or two on her wheel, I kicked into gear and sprinted past her just in time to pass the breakaway rider a couple of meters before the finish line. I think that this was probably one of my best sprints yet, since I was able to take advantage of the other riders at just the right time before letting loose.

I think the lesson that I took away from this race is that I am a sprinter. I already knew that I had a decent sprint, and that I've got some endurance as well, and that I like longer sprints. I also know that I'm certainly no climber, since I have a thick, heavy build, and I'll never be able to quite match the smaller ladies on the big climbs (like the HCTT), however, I seem to have enough in me to hang on up the shorter hills. So basically what this means is that I'm going to focus more on crits and get on the track more, and avoid hilly road races (or at least races with an uphill finish). I can still do well in road races I think, but my best shot is probably going to be in winning the field sprint on level ground. I'm excited to spend more time on the track (since I've only been once), but it's been hard to find time since I've been racing every Saturday, and that's when the beginner sessions are. Luckily, they've also started doing Monday evening sessions, but I'd probably have to work from home in order to get there by 5:30pm. We'll have to see what I can fit into my schedule.