A.K.A how to lose two races in the last 400 meters.

Saturday Criterium
Ok, so maybe my 7th place finish wasn’t all my fault in this one…
The lineup for this race was tough- Debbie Milne and a new Probike teammate who is really strong, Rebacca Larson from Aaron’s Pro Cycling, Leigh Valetti from Vanderkitten, Gina and Paula from Vantaggio, and a host of Medplan and Boo Koo riders. There was also a nice sized hill on the course, which, in the first lap and almost all subsequent laps, was attacked by Debbie Milne.

Her attacks got her off the front with her teammate, Leigh, and Rebecca- all of whom would eventually drop off and re-join the chasing pack that I was in. This was frustrating, because I wasn’t getting much help with the chase. Aside from Gina and a couple of others, whoever was up front would typically slow our pace (I wondered a couple of times if they’d made a deal with Debbie to hold the field back). Nonetheless, those of us that were burying ourselves to tow the rest of the field were closing the gap.
We finally got the sign that there were 3 laps to go. We were closing in on Debbie, and it looked like we could catch her. However, during our 2nd to last lap, a lone (cat 3) junior (who had started a minute back) lapped us and Debbie. The rules set by the official say that you finish on the same lap as the leader, SO, that meant that we were to finish on what had previously been our next to last lap.
Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention, Leigh and Rebecca jumped on the wheel of the passing junior. Debbie was trying to stay out of the way of the juniors, as was I. Even though we were allowed to work together during the race, I didn’t see the fun in that, given that we weren’t competing against each other . My tactics were obviously flawed, though, because he pulled the two of them up the hill and up to Debbie on the finishing stretch. The rest of us were close behind, but none of us realized that his passing was to end our race (we were too busy racing to pay much attention to how the juniors’ race was unfolding) . We crossed the finish line thinking that we had another lap- everyone neatly lined out into what would be our 4th place & after finishing order. Because of my place near the end of the line, I ended up 7th. We didn’t know to stop racing until the racers that had finished just ahead of us yelled as we flew past them on the back side of the course.
We were all shocked that we’d been placed in that order. Debbie, whom I have never seen lose her cool, was frustrated with the combined field, and was somewhat unimpressed (as we all were) with a pro’s reliance on junior wheel to get a win. But, it worked, and it was legal, so that makes it perfectly fine, right? Hopefully with large enough women’s fields, we can get away from the combining of women’s fields with others in the near future. Needless to say, I think it made all of us want to race harder the next day.

Sunday Road Race
The road race was 40 miles- four 10 mile laps of a rolling course with a couple of decent hills that made things “interesting.” As expected, Debbie attacked the hills at almost every chance. Through a combination of leg-searing climbing and chasing, a group of about 9 of us managed to stay together. I attacked a couple of times within range of a hill, only to get caught and counter attacked by Rebecca once we were on the hill. Her counters were brutal. She made me hurt, but luckily, her counter attacks ended at the top of the hills and I was able to get back on her wheel.

When it came time to sprint, I was caught off guard when Debbie went for it at the 500m to go sign. Rebecca, Leigh, and Debbie’s teammate were on her wheel when she jumped, so they got a stellar leadout to the finish. In the meantime, in the confusion of such an early jump, I ended up getting boxed out into the opposing lane of traffic (good thing it was open for the finish) and ran over several sets of rumble strips at approximately 30 mph. Even though the remainder of the field was breathing down my neck, I was able to hold them off for 5th place.

I’m a little disappointed with my tactical errors this weekend. My fitness is good (although losing a few pounds would be a good idea to make the hills a bit easier), but I lose it at the end of the races. I’ve got plenty of practicing to do before the NRC crits in May…

Photos of my race as well as some of the men’s races can be found on Ryan’s blog