Category: Open Women
Field Size: 7
Length: 10 miles
Place: 5th
This was a nice course, fairly flat for the first five miles, then a bit of a climb up to the turnaround, then back again. It wasn't very windy, so that was nice. I got a bit of a warmup in, then headed out to meet Jose as he got back from his TT so that we could swap equipment - I needed his aero helmet and disc wheel. The swap was completed with a couple of minutes to spare, then I was off. It was a fun race, and I pushed myself pretty hard, though I wasn't feeling great. I did ok, but it seemed that in our small field we had a lot of fast women! Of the four women I got beat by, I'd previously been beat by two of them (Tyler Stewart - a pro triathlete - and Molly Van Houweling), and the other two were both pro riders and good time trialists (Alison Starnes and Olivia Dillon). Hopefully it was good practice for nationals, though a bit shorter than nationals will be.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Get Ready for Summer #3 5/15/2010
Category: C
Field Size: 6
Events: Keirin, Scratch, Miss and Out, Points
Places: 1st, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st (Omnium)
I decided that it was time to get out to the track again for the last Get Ready for Summer race. I got a ride down to the track from Josh Schwartz, since Jose had to take his mother to the airport for her return to NYC. This week the C category was very small, but it felt much safer than the first GRFS race with that awful crash in the Miss and Out. There weren't enough of us for a tournament Keirin, so we did a round robin instead (all 6 of us raced twice and our points were based on both races). That was a lot of fun, and I got 2nd and 1st in the two rounds.
The scratch race was very short, I think only 15 laps, so I decided early on to just attack. For some reason I really felt like time trialing, so I went and just kept going. There was one guy on my wheel, but I just kept going and kind of hoped I could lose him by keeping the pace pretty high. He stuck with me as we lapped the "field" (the remaining 4 weren't together anymore, so it was kind of sparse), then he edged me out in the sprint. I didn't really mind though because I was having so much fun anyway.
The Miss and Out was very short because there were so few of us, and I was actually unsure of when the race finished, because I went off the front again with the same guy on my wheel and I think another one and I couldn't keep track of when the people behind us got pulled. I think they did ring the bell for us, and I won the sprint that time.
The points race was fun, though it was similar to the other races because the field size was so small and there was a disparity in strengths. I think I won the first 2 out of 3 sprints, and I think I let the other guy take the last one because by then I'd won anyway.
It was a really fun day at the track, and even though my field was really small it was kind of nice to get out there and try some different things. I also applied for my Fast Track upgrade, since as a Cat 2 on the road I'm allowed to upgrade to 3 on the track as long as I pass a written quiz and demonstrate a safe riding style at a race, which I did. So the next time I race on the track, I'll likely be a Cat 3 and race with the B's instead of the C's.
Field Size: 6
Events: Keirin, Scratch, Miss and Out, Points
Places: 1st, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st (Omnium)
I decided that it was time to get out to the track again for the last Get Ready for Summer race. I got a ride down to the track from Josh Schwartz, since Jose had to take his mother to the airport for her return to NYC. This week the C category was very small, but it felt much safer than the first GRFS race with that awful crash in the Miss and Out. There weren't enough of us for a tournament Keirin, so we did a round robin instead (all 6 of us raced twice and our points were based on both races). That was a lot of fun, and I got 2nd and 1st in the two rounds.
The scratch race was very short, I think only 15 laps, so I decided early on to just attack. For some reason I really felt like time trialing, so I went and just kept going. There was one guy on my wheel, but I just kept going and kind of hoped I could lose him by keeping the pace pretty high. He stuck with me as we lapped the "field" (the remaining 4 weren't together anymore, so it was kind of sparse), then he edged me out in the sprint. I didn't really mind though because I was having so much fun anyway.
The Miss and Out was very short because there were so few of us, and I was actually unsure of when the race finished, because I went off the front again with the same guy on my wheel and I think another one and I couldn't keep track of when the people behind us got pulled. I think they did ring the bell for us, and I won the sprint that time.
The points race was fun, though it was similar to the other races because the field size was so small and there was a disparity in strengths. I think I won the first 2 out of 3 sprints, and I think I let the other guy take the last one because by then I'd won anyway.
It was a really fun day at the track, and even though my field was really small it was kind of nice to get out there and try some different things. I also applied for my Fast Track upgrade, since as a Cat 2 on the road I'm allowed to upgrade to 3 on the track as long as I pass a written quiz and demonstrate a safe riding style at a race, which I did. So the next time I race on the track, I'll likely be a Cat 3 and race with the B's instead of the C's.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Berkeley Hills Road Race 5/9/2010
Category: W1/2
Field Size: 27
Length: 71 miles
Teammates: Kim and Sam
Place: DNF
I came out to the Berkeley Hills Road Race with Nancy (who did the Cat 4 race and got 5th) hoping to test my strength and see if I could stay with the pack until the finish. Unfortunately, I was out of luck. About 7 miles in, I got a flat going through town. I later found out that it was a rather large sliver of glass that caused a fairly fast flat. Unfortunately, even though the follow car had wheels in it, the car was not with the pack because someone else had flatted shortly before I did. This meant that it took at least a minute for the follow car to reach me, plus another 30 seconds or so to swap the wheel out. Since it was my rear wheel with my PowerTap that got the flat, this meant that I have no telemetry on the rest of my ride. As soon as I got the wheel on, I was off, chasing the pack for all I was worth. Since the pace so far hadn't been particularly fast, I was hoping that I might by some miracle be able to catch them. The pack was in my sight a lot of the time that I was chasing, but mostly on the uphill sections, so even though I could see them, by the time I reached the top of each hill they were long gone. After 30-40 minutes of hard effort chasing, I finally slowed up. Since most of the reason I signed up for the race was to get in a long, hard effort, I figured that it would be good practice pushing myself to time trial for a while. Eventually I caught up with some dropped riders and we rode another full lap of the course (about 19 miles) together. The others kept on, but I was tired from my solo effort and I also was not properly geared for the long climbs on my spare wheel. I didn't check, but I think the wheel I got after my flat had only a 25 or maybe a 26 on it, but with my standard double chainrings I usually need a 28.
Anyway, it was a very disappointing first race as a Cat 2. I really wanted to see how I could do in the 1/2 field and I didn't get a chance to try.
Field Size: 27
Length: 71 miles
Teammates: Kim and Sam
Place: DNF
I came out to the Berkeley Hills Road Race with Nancy (who did the Cat 4 race and got 5th) hoping to test my strength and see if I could stay with the pack until the finish. Unfortunately, I was out of luck. About 7 miles in, I got a flat going through town. I later found out that it was a rather large sliver of glass that caused a fairly fast flat. Unfortunately, even though the follow car had wheels in it, the car was not with the pack because someone else had flatted shortly before I did. This meant that it took at least a minute for the follow car to reach me, plus another 30 seconds or so to swap the wheel out. Since it was my rear wheel with my PowerTap that got the flat, this meant that I have no telemetry on the rest of my ride. As soon as I got the wheel on, I was off, chasing the pack for all I was worth. Since the pace so far hadn't been particularly fast, I was hoping that I might by some miracle be able to catch them. The pack was in my sight a lot of the time that I was chasing, but mostly on the uphill sections, so even though I could see them, by the time I reached the top of each hill they were long gone. After 30-40 minutes of hard effort chasing, I finally slowed up. Since most of the reason I signed up for the race was to get in a long, hard effort, I figured that it would be good practice pushing myself to time trial for a while. Eventually I caught up with some dropped riders and we rode another full lap of the course (about 19 miles) together. The others kept on, but I was tired from my solo effort and I also was not properly geared for the long climbs on my spare wheel. I didn't check, but I think the wheel I got after my flat had only a 25 or maybe a 26 on it, but with my standard double chainrings I usually need a 28.
Anyway, it was a very disappointing first race as a Cat 2. I really wanted to see how I could do in the 1/2 field and I didn't get a chance to try.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Hair cut 5/7/2010
As I had previously mentioned, I decided a while back that whenever I got my Cat 2 upgrade, I would cut my hair. So, I got it cut yesterday. I'm very happy with it at a short length, but it's still long enough to put in a ponytail. I donated the rest of it, which was probably between 10 and 14 inches (I didn't measure). It's nice to have my hair short again - it hasn't been this short since I cut it last in my senior year of high school. It fits nicely under a helmet, and I won't need to do anything special underneath an aero helmet.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Cat 2 Upgrade!
My upgrade to Cat 2 was just approved! I wasn't entirely sure I'd get it, because there was a rule change recently about mixed category field sizes and how they count towards upgrade points. It's now been clarified to state that in a mixed field, only racers in your category or above count towards the size of the field. This made the field size from Apple Pie go down to a level below a threshold such that it gave me one less point, so according to the new official rules, I would only have 24 points. However, I decided to apply anyway, and it seems that I have been found worthy! Hooray!
LGBRC Cat's Hill Criterium 5/1/2010
Category: W3/4
Field Size: 35
Length: 10 laps
Teammates: Josie, Emily, Nancy
Place: 12th
The course was shaped like a backwards L going clockwise, and directly after turn 3 was Cat's Hill. The hill is only one block long, but it's a 23 percent grade, followed by a false flat, a tiny downhill, a little up around a corner, another false flat, then a long bumpy descent into the final turn. We started a bit late, due to a crash earlier, but when we started it was fast. Going up the hill was pure torture for me, since I'm still fairly heavy due to my muscular build. It hurt less when I was in my lowest gear or two, but my heart rate was sky high no matter what, and the pace never let up so even on the downhill I couldn't recover much. Maybe halfway through (or less) a group of four riders broke away and they gained on the pack pretty steadily until we knew that we wouldn't catch them. I was in the main pack and I know that it was all that I could do to hang on, let alone try to chase. The pack wasn't working well together, but I think most of us were really giving it all we had. Throughout the race, we lost people pretty steadily. I think out of 35, only 19 finished, and I was the last or nearly in the pack at 12th place, so we were pretty broken up by the end.
A couple of laps from the end, I realized that the combination of heat and exhaustion from the hard work was making me feel nauseous, and it only got worse. After the finish, I headed straight for a patch of shade and sat down, since I was still breathing heavily and feeling just awful. I recognized the feeling, having been very familiar with it from crew (especially after erg tests), and I knew that it would pass soon enough. It was the first time that I'd pushed myself that hard on the bike though, and it actually rather confirms what I had been thinking lately, that I've been unintentionally holding back in most of my races so far. I know that I'm capable of pushing myself to the edge, since I did for this race, so I need to get used to doing that again. Also I need to train better and do more intervals, since I realized that I haven't done almost any hard intervals and that's exactly what I need to be better at this kind of race, and even most races. Anyway, it felt good to really push myself, though I was slightly disappointed that I wasn't able to do better in the race. I guess I just need to train a little better, and maybe lose a bit of weight if I want to attempt any more super hilly races.
Since the LGBRC was hosting the race, I stayed after the races to do cleanup duty. We got to take down all of the fencing and such. It was kind of hard work, but I'd had enough time to recover so I was able to make myself useful.
Field Size: 35
Length: 10 laps
Teammates: Josie, Emily, Nancy
Place: 12th
The course was shaped like a backwards L going clockwise, and directly after turn 3 was Cat's Hill. The hill is only one block long, but it's a 23 percent grade, followed by a false flat, a tiny downhill, a little up around a corner, another false flat, then a long bumpy descent into the final turn. We started a bit late, due to a crash earlier, but when we started it was fast. Going up the hill was pure torture for me, since I'm still fairly heavy due to my muscular build. It hurt less when I was in my lowest gear or two, but my heart rate was sky high no matter what, and the pace never let up so even on the downhill I couldn't recover much. Maybe halfway through (or less) a group of four riders broke away and they gained on the pack pretty steadily until we knew that we wouldn't catch them. I was in the main pack and I know that it was all that I could do to hang on, let alone try to chase. The pack wasn't working well together, but I think most of us were really giving it all we had. Throughout the race, we lost people pretty steadily. I think out of 35, only 19 finished, and I was the last or nearly in the pack at 12th place, so we were pretty broken up by the end.
A couple of laps from the end, I realized that the combination of heat and exhaustion from the hard work was making me feel nauseous, and it only got worse. After the finish, I headed straight for a patch of shade and sat down, since I was still breathing heavily and feeling just awful. I recognized the feeling, having been very familiar with it from crew (especially after erg tests), and I knew that it would pass soon enough. It was the first time that I'd pushed myself that hard on the bike though, and it actually rather confirms what I had been thinking lately, that I've been unintentionally holding back in most of my races so far. I know that I'm capable of pushing myself to the edge, since I did for this race, so I need to get used to doing that again. Also I need to train better and do more intervals, since I realized that I haven't done almost any hard intervals and that's exactly what I need to be better at this kind of race, and even most races. Anyway, it felt good to really push myself, though I was slightly disappointed that I wasn't able to do better in the race. I guess I just need to train a little better, and maybe lose a bit of weight if I want to attempt any more super hilly races.
Since the LGBRC was hosting the race, I stayed after the races to do cleanup duty. We got to take down all of the fencing and such. It was kind of hard work, but I'd had enough time to recover so I was able to make myself useful.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Wente Vineyards Classic Criterium 4/25/2010
Category: W1/2+3
Field Size: 29+21
Length: 50 minutes
Teammates: Josie, JVM, ME, Annie, Rikke, Kim
Places: 7th (ME), 2nd Cat 3 (me)
The course was a flat clockwise 1.2 mile loop. The corners were all fairly wide and not particularly sharp. There were three chicanes, so even though all the real corners were to the right, we still had to deal with finding a good line through the chicanes. One neat thing about the course was that the land inside the loop contained very little except some tall grass, and the announcer was up high enough that he could see the racers on the far side of the course and pretty much the whole way around, so there was always a great commentary going. There was an abundance of Botts dots, but that's pretty standard for office park crits. We did have to cross them more than usual on the chicanes, but still they should have been a minor annoyance. It should have been a nice clean race, but unfortunately, it wasn't.
The race started off at pretty fast pace, and there were a number of attacks. I started near the back as usual, and I wanted to get a feel for how the pack took the turns and really the whole course. Only a few laps in (I wasn't counting), there was a crash. It happened on the first corner, which was really a long sweeping turn, not really a corner, but I saw it before it happened because I noticed that there were a couple of people bumping each other in an attempt to take a line on the inside of the Botts dots on the outer part of the turn. Having suspected that a crash was about to happen, I had time to move a bit to the right and when they went down, I still had to practically slam my brakes but was able to go around the downed riders and catch up the pack fairly easily. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning. Only moments after we were all back together, another crash happened on the first chicane. I didn't see exactly what caused it, but I think someone just moved sideways into someone else and hit too hard and people started going down. I was far enough behind that crash that I was able to brake hard and swerve left around the pile of riders, but it was a little scary to see. I definitely saw one rider trying to swerve left just as it was happening in an attempt to escape and keep going, but then she went down and made the crash take up twice as much room on the road. The pack regrouped again, with somewhat diminished numbers, and the race went on. A couple of people who had gone down without injury took their free lap and got back in, including Annie.
After those back to back crashes, I was hoping the field would settle down a bit and ride a little safer, but it still seemed pretty hectic. I was getting a bit nervy after the crashes, so I wasn't making any moves and was still in the back, so JVM came back and helped me move up through the field by coming around the outside. That lap ME went for a prime, so I just got to sit up front for a bit before people started coming around me. When I started drifting back in the pack, I got almost claustrophobic because people were coming around me at alarmingly tight clearances, and having already seen two crashes happen I was a little nervous. Luckily, I didn't freak out and just held a good line and everything was okay. Unfortunately, it didn't last, because around 25 minutes in there was a third crash, this time just around the second chicane (I think). I was behind this one too, and braked to a near stop in order to miss hitting people on the ground. After that, we all got back together, but they soon neutralized us and we did a couple of laps neutral before they just stopped us. There were two girls that got seen to by ambulances, I think, one in each of the second and third crashes. We were delayed by probably 15 minutes, waiting for the ambulances to clear the course. My team got together and had a little chat, but we tried not to talk about the crashes, just a bit of strategy. We didn't want to think about the crashes because it might make us too nervy.
After the delay, we started back up with only 5 laps to go, due to time constraints. I think people were riding a little more conservatively, due to all of the crashes. Unfortunately, there was one more crash. A girl hit a Botts dot while standing up to accelerate and her front wheel turned more than 90 degrees and she toppled headfirst into the ground. It happened right after the final corner, so after that we couldn't take it very wide because she was still in the road being seen to by medical. I think due to her location on the course, they chopped off another lap from our race, because I'm fairly certain that one lap the cards said 3 to go, and the next it was the bell lap. On the last lap, I moved up through the field a fair amount, mostly by moving up the left side in the wind. I gave the pack a wide berth when I was coming up because there were a lot of other people looking for opportunities to move up and sometimes they'd move left without looking to see if there was someone already moving into that space. Anyway, in the final stretch, which was very long, I basically just stayed by myself on the left, and I was even keeping pace with the front of the pack on the right, but I had burned too much energy getting there. I lost some ground and finished maybe 12th or so. However, I did pretty well anyway, because there was only one Cat 3 ahead of me, and the 3's were being picked separately, so I got 2nd place. When it was over, I was mostly just happy that I hadn't crashed, and that no one on my team had crashed.
Since the race was sponsored by Wente Vineyards, of course the prizes were partially wine. I won $15, a $13 bottle of Wente Vineyards wine (2008 Morning Fog Chardonnay), and a T-shirt (size large). I suppose I should be glad that I didn't win any of the primes that consisted of gift cards for Wente Vineyards, since then I wouldn't even have been able to redeem them. As it is, I think it's hilarious that I won something that I can't legally buy, and that I have no interest in drinking. Maybe I'll just keep it around as a trophy.
Field Size: 29+21
Length: 50 minutes
Teammates: Josie, JVM, ME, Annie, Rikke, Kim
Places: 7th (ME), 2nd Cat 3 (me)
The course was a flat clockwise 1.2 mile loop. The corners were all fairly wide and not particularly sharp. There were three chicanes, so even though all the real corners were to the right, we still had to deal with finding a good line through the chicanes. One neat thing about the course was that the land inside the loop contained very little except some tall grass, and the announcer was up high enough that he could see the racers on the far side of the course and pretty much the whole way around, so there was always a great commentary going. There was an abundance of Botts dots, but that's pretty standard for office park crits. We did have to cross them more than usual on the chicanes, but still they should have been a minor annoyance. It should have been a nice clean race, but unfortunately, it wasn't.
The race started off at pretty fast pace, and there were a number of attacks. I started near the back as usual, and I wanted to get a feel for how the pack took the turns and really the whole course. Only a few laps in (I wasn't counting), there was a crash. It happened on the first corner, which was really a long sweeping turn, not really a corner, but I saw it before it happened because I noticed that there were a couple of people bumping each other in an attempt to take a line on the inside of the Botts dots on the outer part of the turn. Having suspected that a crash was about to happen, I had time to move a bit to the right and when they went down, I still had to practically slam my brakes but was able to go around the downed riders and catch up the pack fairly easily. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning. Only moments after we were all back together, another crash happened on the first chicane. I didn't see exactly what caused it, but I think someone just moved sideways into someone else and hit too hard and people started going down. I was far enough behind that crash that I was able to brake hard and swerve left around the pile of riders, but it was a little scary to see. I definitely saw one rider trying to swerve left just as it was happening in an attempt to escape and keep going, but then she went down and made the crash take up twice as much room on the road. The pack regrouped again, with somewhat diminished numbers, and the race went on. A couple of people who had gone down without injury took their free lap and got back in, including Annie.
After those back to back crashes, I was hoping the field would settle down a bit and ride a little safer, but it still seemed pretty hectic. I was getting a bit nervy after the crashes, so I wasn't making any moves and was still in the back, so JVM came back and helped me move up through the field by coming around the outside. That lap ME went for a prime, so I just got to sit up front for a bit before people started coming around me. When I started drifting back in the pack, I got almost claustrophobic because people were coming around me at alarmingly tight clearances, and having already seen two crashes happen I was a little nervous. Luckily, I didn't freak out and just held a good line and everything was okay. Unfortunately, it didn't last, because around 25 minutes in there was a third crash, this time just around the second chicane (I think). I was behind this one too, and braked to a near stop in order to miss hitting people on the ground. After that, we all got back together, but they soon neutralized us and we did a couple of laps neutral before they just stopped us. There were two girls that got seen to by ambulances, I think, one in each of the second and third crashes. We were delayed by probably 15 minutes, waiting for the ambulances to clear the course. My team got together and had a little chat, but we tried not to talk about the crashes, just a bit of strategy. We didn't want to think about the crashes because it might make us too nervy.
After the delay, we started back up with only 5 laps to go, due to time constraints. I think people were riding a little more conservatively, due to all of the crashes. Unfortunately, there was one more crash. A girl hit a Botts dot while standing up to accelerate and her front wheel turned more than 90 degrees and she toppled headfirst into the ground. It happened right after the final corner, so after that we couldn't take it very wide because she was still in the road being seen to by medical. I think due to her location on the course, they chopped off another lap from our race, because I'm fairly certain that one lap the cards said 3 to go, and the next it was the bell lap. On the last lap, I moved up through the field a fair amount, mostly by moving up the left side in the wind. I gave the pack a wide berth when I was coming up because there were a lot of other people looking for opportunities to move up and sometimes they'd move left without looking to see if there was someone already moving into that space. Anyway, in the final stretch, which was very long, I basically just stayed by myself on the left, and I was even keeping pace with the front of the pack on the right, but I had burned too much energy getting there. I lost some ground and finished maybe 12th or so. However, I did pretty well anyway, because there was only one Cat 3 ahead of me, and the 3's were being picked separately, so I got 2nd place. When it was over, I was mostly just happy that I hadn't crashed, and that no one on my team had crashed.
Since the race was sponsored by Wente Vineyards, of course the prizes were partially wine. I won $15, a $13 bottle of Wente Vineyards wine (2008 Morning Fog Chardonnay), and a T-shirt (size large). I suppose I should be glad that I didn't win any of the primes that consisted of gift cards for Wente Vineyards, since then I wouldn't even have been able to redeem them. As it is, I think it's hilarious that I won something that I can't legally buy, and that I have no interest in drinking. Maybe I'll just keep it around as a trophy.
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