Category: W1/2/3
Field Size: 17
Length: 69 miles
Place: DNF (flat)
The course was a really strange shape, consisting of a 24 mile loop that included two turnarounds. We started at the same place that the TT started, and the first five miles were the same, but then we turned right at a T intersection and went into a loop where we had the whole road (since the yellow line was almost nonexistent - I think I saw a glimpse of yellow paint once) and the road quality varied from somewhat rough to very rough. Obstacles included at least three cattle grates, one of which was preceded by 10 meters of gravel and followed by a lovely dirty puddle to make it a triple annoyance. The loop came back to the same T intersection (rejoining the road a couple hundred meters before it) and went straight across the top of the T for a long out-and-back section that included the feed zone, which was across from the finish line coming back. The road quality improved for this section, but was still not great. The turnaround was extremely narrow, being just the width of the road, which consisted of two narrow lanes. Riders had to slow down and practically wait in line to get around it, which was terrible because then the first people around would take off like mad while the rest of the pack was still making its way around. Then it was back past the finish line to the T again, where we turned right and head back towards where we'd started. There was the other turnaround, which was also quite narrow. Since there were six fields out on the course at a time, everyone had to slow down and stay in lane for the turns at the T, since there could be another pack coming through from another direction.
The race started out at a leisurely pace for the first couple of miles, since no one was really warmed up because our race started about 20 minutes late. The pace picked up soon enough and we really got moving, especially since people started attacking. I'm not sure when the attack went, but one of the ladies on the Third Pillar team (there were two there) went off the front by herself. She actually got pretty far away, and she was out there for a very long time, probably around 15 miles or more, though I wasn't really paying attention to time or mileage. At the second turnaround on the first lap, I was stuck in the back and had to chase down the pack for about a minute to catch back on - there were at least five of us straggling behind trying to catch back on, and I think at about three people did get dropped then. At times I felt like I was hanging onto the pack for dear life in order to not get dropped, but thinking back I think I had a lot more in me than I thought at the time. I think I was a bit intimidated by the pace and the caliber of ladies in the race. Everything was going fine for me, despite being last in the small pack pretty much the whole time, until I hit an unexpected pothole. It was around mile 41 or so, on the way back towards the T before the finish line. I was in the back of the pack, and pretty much just following the wheel in front of me, since I couldn't always see the road ahead. It was a solitary pothole in an otherwise fine section of road, and I think it snuck up on everyone, since the person in front of me barely swerved in time to miss it. I was less fortunate and hit it straight on. I was fine and still riding, and the rider in front of me apologized for letting me hit it like that, but a few seconds later I realized that I had a rear flat - the impact of the pothole gave me a nasty pinch flat. At that point, I wrongly assumed that I was out of the race and should just give up, since I hadn't had any wheels to put in the follow car. Unfortunately, it turns out that I'm actually an idiot and I should have flagged him down anyway, since apparently he had spare wheels anyway (it was supposed to be wheels in wheels out, but I guess he just happened to have spares). Anyway, he didn't see that I had a flat and I didn't flag him down, so I was stuck. I rode the flat tire to the finish line/feed zone where someone was nice enough to give me a tube and a pump so that I could ride back to the parking lot. I'm still kicking myself for not checking, since even though a flat would have caused a big delay, there's still a small chance that I would have been able to catch the pack again and at least hold on to my second place in the GC. I heard afterwords that when the rider in 3rd in the GC realized that I wasn't with the pack anymore that she upped the pace to make sure I wouldn't get back on, though no one knew that I'd flatted, so given that it's probable that I wouldn't have been able to chase successfully, but it's just awful knowing that I could have tried and didn't. Anyway, I won't make that mistake next time I get a flat, especially if it's in a stage race, since this is the second time I've lost 2nd place due to a mishap.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Topsport Stage Race: Circuit Race 3/27/2010
Category: W1/2/3
Field Size: 17
Length: 75 minutes
Place: 14th
The course was a loop of about six miles that mostly consisted of an out-and-back section on a divided road, followed by a loop through Copper Town Square and then back out. The course went clockwise, which meant that on the out-and-back section, we rode on the left side and took our U-turn to the right. The finish line was located just before the town square so that it could be on a straight section. Road quality was very good, and the terrain was slightly rolling, but no big hills. There were sprints for a 5-second time bonus at the end of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th laps.
The race started out fairly calmly, but soon people started attacking. There were four girls from Touchstone Climbing there, and twice one of them (different ones) attacked and stayed off the front solo for a while. The pack chased them down, but we took our time about it. I had kind of planned to contest the bonus sprints, since I didn't know how I'd done in the TT, but I was boxed in for two of them, and went too late to win the other. On the turnaround on the third lap, I was out front chasing down another girl and I took the turn wide, coming out of it all the way on the left. I must have taken a worse line than the people behind me, since one girl was behind me and passed me but was still going wide herself, so despite my verbal warnings, she effectively rode me into the gravel on the side of the road, since I had nowhere to go, and I think if I had let her actually hit me, we would have caused a big crash. Luckily I got right back going again back on the road, but I was all the way in the back of the pack again, so it was really annoying. I stayed in the back most of the time after that, but by the last lap I was getting rather restless. I made a solo attack maybe 1.5 miles from the finish, but I went too early and got caught, and then passed by a whole leadout train. I burned a little too much energy to break into that train so it passed me by and I hung onto the end and finished at the back of the pack.
I definitely learned a lot from the race, since it was the first time I'd been in a race where teamwork played a big role. With four Touchstone and four Dolce Vita ladies all sorts of possibilities opened up. The Touchstone ladies kept the pack on our toes by attacking and then also by feinting attacks before the sprint to distract us so that another of their ladies could attack on the other side. It was also good to see just how strong/fast W1/2/3 races are, since this was my first time in a combined field.
Field Size: 17
Length: 75 minutes
Place: 14th
The course was a loop of about six miles that mostly consisted of an out-and-back section on a divided road, followed by a loop through Copper Town Square and then back out. The course went clockwise, which meant that on the out-and-back section, we rode on the left side and took our U-turn to the right. The finish line was located just before the town square so that it could be on a straight section. Road quality was very good, and the terrain was slightly rolling, but no big hills. There were sprints for a 5-second time bonus at the end of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th laps.
The race started out fairly calmly, but soon people started attacking. There were four girls from Touchstone Climbing there, and twice one of them (different ones) attacked and stayed off the front solo for a while. The pack chased them down, but we took our time about it. I had kind of planned to contest the bonus sprints, since I didn't know how I'd done in the TT, but I was boxed in for two of them, and went too late to win the other. On the turnaround on the third lap, I was out front chasing down another girl and I took the turn wide, coming out of it all the way on the left. I must have taken a worse line than the people behind me, since one girl was behind me and passed me but was still going wide herself, so despite my verbal warnings, she effectively rode me into the gravel on the side of the road, since I had nowhere to go, and I think if I had let her actually hit me, we would have caused a big crash. Luckily I got right back going again back on the road, but I was all the way in the back of the pack again, so it was really annoying. I stayed in the back most of the time after that, but by the last lap I was getting rather restless. I made a solo attack maybe 1.5 miles from the finish, but I went too early and got caught, and then passed by a whole leadout train. I burned a little too much energy to break into that train so it passed me by and I hung onto the end and finished at the back of the pack.
I definitely learned a lot from the race, since it was the first time I'd been in a race where teamwork played a big role. With four Touchstone and four Dolce Vita ladies all sorts of possibilities opened up. The Touchstone ladies kept the pack on our toes by attacking and then also by feinting attacks before the sprint to distract us so that another of their ladies could attack on the other side. It was also good to see just how strong/fast W1/2/3 races are, since this was my first time in a combined field.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Topsport Stage Race: Time Trial 3/27/2010
Category: W1/2/3
Field Size: 17
Length: 10.85 miles
Place: 2nd
The course was just over five miles out, and then back. Roads were a bit bumpy, but no big potholes. The course had a bunch of small curves in it, as well as a number of rises. There weren't any big hills, but there were a couple of long inclines and well as some shorter and slightly steeper parts. The most difficult part of the course was the turnaround, since it was located at the bottom of a small hill, and around a corner, such that there was relatively little warning.
For aero equipment, I got to use my new TT frame! Last week I (actually Jose) came across a Cervelo P2SL frame for a good price on Craiglist. Since it was a 51cm frame, I checked out the geometry and found that it would fit me much better than the Fuji Aloha that I had set up for Madera. Jose was kind enough to swap the components from the Aloha to build of the P2SL in time for this weekend. I found that the fit was much better, with the reach being just right. The front end is also much lower than it was previously, though any lower and my ribs would be bruised from the impact of my knees. I also got to use Jose's disc wheel and front 808 clincher, as well as a skinsuit and shoe covers. I was lucky that it wasn't very windy in the morning, or else it would have been much harder to control the bike using such deep wheels.
The time trial itself went very well. I had a decent warmup, mostly due to the fact that the start was a couple of miles from the town square where we parked (since Jose was still finishing up his circuit race). I was a little nervous on the first downhill bit, since there was a slight crosswind, I was going very fast, and the road was bumpy. Luckily, even though it was my first time using a disc wheel, I still had a good level of control over my bike. There were a bunch of ups and downs, and I tried to keep my cadence up, but the shifting was a little sticky sometimes since I didn't want to ease up in order to shift down on the uphills. I did badly on the turnaround, since it snuck up on me, and I had been hammering down hill and was in almost my highest gear. I braked in time to make it around the U-turn, but then I found myself almost at a stop as I tried to accelerate uphill in a huge gear. I shifted down immediately and managed to accelerate pretty fast, and shortly after that I passed the person in front of me (we started at one minute intervals). She cheered me on and I went hard. I knew that I had to keep the pace up, even though there was a definite headwind on the way back. I passed another girl a while later, probably halfway back. The last 5km were marked off every kilometer, which was really nice since I don't have a computer on my TT bike. I just kept pushing all the way until the end, and I may have even picked up the pace even more.
Afterwards, I was exhausted, but I got in a good cooldown. Results weren't posted until after the circuit race, but it turned out that I'm solidly in second place, being 49 seconds behind the winner of the TT and 32 seconds ahead of 3rd place. Now I just have to hold onto that and not crash, since I've already lost 2nd place that way once this season.
Field Size: 17
Length: 10.85 miles
Place: 2nd
The course was just over five miles out, and then back. Roads were a bit bumpy, but no big potholes. The course had a bunch of small curves in it, as well as a number of rises. There weren't any big hills, but there were a couple of long inclines and well as some shorter and slightly steeper parts. The most difficult part of the course was the turnaround, since it was located at the bottom of a small hill, and around a corner, such that there was relatively little warning.
For aero equipment, I got to use my new TT frame! Last week I (actually Jose) came across a Cervelo P2SL frame for a good price on Craiglist. Since it was a 51cm frame, I checked out the geometry and found that it would fit me much better than the Fuji Aloha that I had set up for Madera. Jose was kind enough to swap the components from the Aloha to build of the P2SL in time for this weekend. I found that the fit was much better, with the reach being just right. The front end is also much lower than it was previously, though any lower and my ribs would be bruised from the impact of my knees. I also got to use Jose's disc wheel and front 808 clincher, as well as a skinsuit and shoe covers. I was lucky that it wasn't very windy in the morning, or else it would have been much harder to control the bike using such deep wheels.
The time trial itself went very well. I had a decent warmup, mostly due to the fact that the start was a couple of miles from the town square where we parked (since Jose was still finishing up his circuit race). I was a little nervous on the first downhill bit, since there was a slight crosswind, I was going very fast, and the road was bumpy. Luckily, even though it was my first time using a disc wheel, I still had a good level of control over my bike. There were a bunch of ups and downs, and I tried to keep my cadence up, but the shifting was a little sticky sometimes since I didn't want to ease up in order to shift down on the uphills. I did badly on the turnaround, since it snuck up on me, and I had been hammering down hill and was in almost my highest gear. I braked in time to make it around the U-turn, but then I found myself almost at a stop as I tried to accelerate uphill in a huge gear. I shifted down immediately and managed to accelerate pretty fast, and shortly after that I passed the person in front of me (we started at one minute intervals). She cheered me on and I went hard. I knew that I had to keep the pace up, even though there was a definite headwind on the way back. I passed another girl a while later, probably halfway back. The last 5km were marked off every kilometer, which was really nice since I don't have a computer on my TT bike. I just kept pushing all the way until the end, and I may have even picked up the pace even more.
Afterwards, I was exhausted, but I got in a good cooldown. Results weren't posted until after the circuit race, but it turned out that I'm solidly in second place, being 49 seconds behind the winner of the TT and 32 seconds ahead of 3rd place. Now I just have to hold onto that and not crash, since I've already lost 2nd place that way once this season.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
San Dimas Stage Race: GC and other thoughts
I ended up 9th in the GC, which was infuriatingly one place out of upgrade points. Ah well, I'll get some more later. I got either 4 or 6 upgrade points for getting 2nd in the road race, depending on if it's officially counted as a RR or circuit race (it was shorter than the minimum qualifying distance for a RR, see previous rant). With the 8 points that I got at Madera, this brings me up to 12 or 14 out of the minimum 25 required for the Cat 2 upgrade, so I'm about halfway there either way.
It's been frustrating being beat by a pro triathlete at each of two stage races two weekends in a row. They need to hurry up and get their upgrades so that I can get mine. If they hadn't been there, I'd have an extra 2 points from each weekend!
In other news, I learned to ride rollers on Saturday, since I needed to warm up for the race somehow and we hadn't brought a trainer. It turns out that as long as I relax and don't freak out, and keep my speed up a bit, then I'm actually quite good at them. I'd noticed previously that riding on PowerCranks (on my commuter bike) seems to have improved my pedaling form significantly, so that I have less wasted lateral energy, and I think that that helped stabilize me on the rollers. I still have to figure out how to start and stop without help, but for now I can keep using the car to lean on.
In more other news, Jose won the green jersey in the Cat 2 field! He was conspiring to win some of the hot spot sprints in the RR and the Crit and got 2 firsts and 2 thirds, for 26 seconds of bonus time and 40 sprint points, which was just enough to win the green (sprinter's) jersey. The bonus time also moved him up to 9th in the GC, which with the large field size, earned him 7 upgrade points.
It's been frustrating being beat by a pro triathlete at each of two stage races two weekends in a row. They need to hurry up and get their upgrades so that I can get mine. If they hadn't been there, I'd have an extra 2 points from each weekend!
In other news, I learned to ride rollers on Saturday, since I needed to warm up for the race somehow and we hadn't brought a trainer. It turns out that as long as I relax and don't freak out, and keep my speed up a bit, then I'm actually quite good at them. I'd noticed previously that riding on PowerCranks (on my commuter bike) seems to have improved my pedaling form significantly, so that I have less wasted lateral energy, and I think that that helped stabilize me on the rollers. I still have to figure out how to start and stop without help, but for now I can keep using the car to lean on.
In more other news, Jose won the green jersey in the Cat 2 field! He was conspiring to win some of the hot spot sprints in the RR and the Crit and got 2 firsts and 2 thirds, for 26 seconds of bonus time and 40 sprint points, which was just enough to win the green (sprinter's) jersey. The bonus time also moved him up to 9th in the GC, which with the large field size, earned him 7 upgrade points.
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.
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.
Monday, March 22, 2010
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.
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.
San Dimas Stage Race: HCTT 3/19/2010
Category: W3/4
Field Size: 39
Length: 3.8 miles
Places: 11th (Emily), 18th (me), and 20th (Josie)
The course started out level and downhill briefly before climbing for 3.7 miles at a grade that varied between 5% and 8%. The road curved a lot, so it was hard to see the person in front of you even when you got pretty close. I went as hard as I could the whole time, with my heart rate hovering around 180. I passed two people and didn't get passed myself. They had 1km to go marked, but that almost made it worse since 1km was still a substantial portion of the total distance. My time of 19:13 was good for a middle of the pack finish, which was about what I was expecting. I knew from riding with Nancy that I'm no match for the smaller ladies when it comes to going uphill. Emily and Josie both put in good solid performances too, but no one in our field was a match for pro triathlete Heather Jackson, who blew everyone away with a time of 16:57.
I probably could have gotten a slightly faster time if I had implemented a few weight-saving options, such as using lighter wheels (the PowerTap is heavy), that sort of thing. As it was, I decided that it would be good to know my power data for what was effectively a 20-minute test (it turned out to be 281W average for 19:19). This broke my previous 20-minute power record of 240W, which I think was from climbing Old La Honda last fall (I haven't climbed it in a while). Since I currently weigh about 160 lbs, that translates to about 3.86 W/kg. According to the power profile chart that TrainingPeaks WKO+ uses, that puts me in about the top third of Cat 3 women, which sounds about right right now.
Field Size: 39
Length: 3.8 miles
Places: 11th (Emily), 18th (me), and 20th (Josie)
The course started out level and downhill briefly before climbing for 3.7 miles at a grade that varied between 5% and 8%. The road curved a lot, so it was hard to see the person in front of you even when you got pretty close. I went as hard as I could the whole time, with my heart rate hovering around 180. I passed two people and didn't get passed myself. They had 1km to go marked, but that almost made it worse since 1km was still a substantial portion of the total distance. My time of 19:13 was good for a middle of the pack finish, which was about what I was expecting. I knew from riding with Nancy that I'm no match for the smaller ladies when it comes to going uphill. Emily and Josie both put in good solid performances too, but no one in our field was a match for pro triathlete Heather Jackson, who blew everyone away with a time of 16:57.
I probably could have gotten a slightly faster time if I had implemented a few weight-saving options, such as using lighter wheels (the PowerTap is heavy), that sort of thing. As it was, I decided that it would be good to know my power data for what was effectively a 20-minute test (it turned out to be 281W average for 19:19). This broke my previous 20-minute power record of 240W, which I think was from climbing Old La Honda last fall (I haven't climbed it in a while). Since I currently weigh about 160 lbs, that translates to about 3.86 W/kg. According to the power profile chart that TrainingPeaks WKO+ uses, that puts me in about the top third of Cat 3 women, which sounds about right right now.
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