The day started with a 3 mile very flat prologue time trial. I managed to turn a 6:52- good enough for 1st place and 13 seconds on the next fastest finisher.

Soon after was the road race. When we arrived at the course, the sun was bright, and the air was thick. I felt like taking a nap rather than racing the 32 mile rolling course. Honestly, I was a little worried, because I was wavering between wanting to fall asleep and wanting to throw up. Luckily, my stomach settled a little once we got going. A couple of us took over the front of the pack during the first lap of the race and set a fast pace in order to shed as many riders as possible early in the race.

A few miles from the end of the first 16 mile lap, the air cooled, the wind picked up, and some dark clouds rolled in. Soon after, the skies opened up. By the time we approached the start/finish hotspot sprint for a time bonus, we were in an all-out, blinding downpour. Lauren Edwards from Probike won the sprint and picked up 7 seconds. I was almost edged out by Ashley from Tiger cycling, but something about sprinting in the middle of a thunderstorm inspired me to dig deep and edge her out for the 5 seconds available for 2nd. For the next 5 miles, the rain was relentless. I could barely see, but we dropped the hammer. It was the most epic 5 miles of racing I’ve ever participated in…

Soon after, the rain let up. Realizing that the remainder of the pack was not going to be shaken, Lauren and I sat up and let off of the pace a little. I wasn’t surprised when very few other riders wanted to take a pull (see “Edgar Soto Sunday” post). I didn’t mind too much, though, because even though my legs weren’t feeling an attack/breakaway attempt, I felt good about the sprint.

Once we reached the final stretch, I (as usual) got shuffled to the front. It worked out, though, and I was able to grab a wheel as we made our final surge to the line and get around in the last 100m for the win. Hopefully the time bonuses will give me enough of a lead to hold off for the GC win tomorrow after the crit.

Updates to follow…

She was the top American finisher in the UCI U23 Women’s Cross Country competition, finishing 19th overall. I’ve raced on the road against Jamie, and let’s just say, I’m glad she’s sticking to mountain biking ;)

Here’s a link to the story about her epic race on USA Cycling: Jamie Dinkins Rocks

Here she is in the Highland Rim Criterium last month (followed by me and Kirsten Sass):

The short story- The race was no fun. My legs had nothing left in them for any breakaway attempts. We finished with a pack sprint and I was 2nd behind Leigh Valletti.

Photo of the finish (by Ryan):

You can see more photos from the weekend (as well as other races) on his gallery page

Now the part where I offend some people…
Today’s race was a giant step backwards for women’s racing in this region. It justified low payouts and combining our fields with men’s races. A few of us were willing to put in decent pulls on the front, but for the most part, if these select few were not on the front, whoever was would sit up and go 16 miles per hour. People were yelling at us from the sidelines to hurry up and race. Personally, I was embarrassed.
Here’s how it went: one of “us” would pull a lap or good part of a lap… We’d go to pull through… whoever was behind “us” would either suck wheel or sit on the front going 16 mph in an attempt to get one of “us” back up front to give “them” a tow around the course.

Now, to be fair, I know that some women out there may not be totally comfortable with taking a hard pull. That’s fine. But don’t wheelsuck. Even if it means you’re on the front for a grand total of 15 seconds- do what you can, then pull through so the next one in line can do what she can. Being up front doesn’t mean that you have to bury yourself and get dropped when you pull off. It doesn’t mean that you are responsible for chasing down breaks and attacks. What it DOES mean is that you keep the race going steadily until someone feels the need to attack, go faster, etc.
Now, to be a b*tch, I know that some of the women in the group today were totally capable of taking a faster pull up front, but were perfectly happy to wheelsuck ad nauseum. Sure, there’s no rule that says you have to do any work, but just in case you didn’t know, it garners no respect from anyone. At all. It makes you look like a tool.

Oh yeah, and if someone in the pack is doing a large amount of work, don’t expect them to have the legs to chase down every attack or attempt at a breakaway without a little help.

I’m not naming any names because you know who you are. Even if you tried to do what you could and didn’t feel like you helped much, I still give you respect knuckles. If you were an obnoxious wheelsucker and/or were going 16 mph on the front of the pack, you also know who you are.

Rant over. See you all at the next race.

So after witnessing the sprinting abilities of my competition yesterday, I decided that I should avoid a sprint finish today at all costs. The race (in downtown Nashville) was uphill for the first few turns, so I knew that there would be attacks and chances to get away from the pack.

I was a little worried about the race from the start- I had a horrible first couple of laps, but felt better once the pace settled down. After that, I felt strong. Early in the race, I was in a small break and realized that I had a rider behind me that would probably not follow an attack, so I took a flier on the uphill section of the course. The result was a solo breakaway that lasted about 6 or 7 laps.

It landed me a couple of primes and wore me out a bit, so when the time checks were down to 7 or 8 seconds (I was hearing 18 and 20 the first few laps), I decided to sit up & wait for the pack.

Luckily, when the pack caught me, they all sat up (surprising, given the talent that was in there!) I was able to sit in and recover for at least 4 laps before another prime stimulated a surge in pace. Another stroke of luck- the couple of times that Debbie Milne and Leigh Valletti managed to get away from the pack, it appeared as if they couldn’t agree on how to work together, so they never stuck what could have been some seriously dangerous getaways.

Getting back to my strategy, though…
Fast forward to the last lap. I am trying my damnedest to stay on Debbie’s wheel (which meant I was shoulder to shoulder with a couple of others who wanted to do the same). Then I thought back to my last race of last season (Kim and Gina from Vantaggio can tell you about it :) ) where I used a surprise attack early in the last lap to take the win. In the long straightaway before the last two turns to the finishing stretch, I saw my chance and made the same move- an all-out hammer to the finish, taking the final turns at speeds that could make or (literally) break my chances of winning.

Photo of final turn:

It worked. I yelled and raised one fist in the air (see photo- it’s a little goofy, but hey, it works…)

Somehow I doubt it will work again tomorrow :D

Last night was a lot of fun. The races, a kilo time trial and short, sprint criteriums, were held at the Old Nashville Speedway- a short, NASCAR-style track with high, banked turns.

The kilo was an insane race. It was a hard acceleration followed by an all-out effort. I rode hard enough that my vision blurred and I felt as though I was on the verge of passing out. My time was 1:26.45- good enough for 2nd place (1st was 1:24.39 and 3rd was 1:26.87).

Afterwards, racers were all called to the infield of the track to start the preliminary heats of the sprint criteriums. The official was great- though the race flyer billed us for one, 8-lap race, she ran the women’s races in a similar way to the men’s races. We had a 3/4 prelim and a 1/2 prelim, with the top 5 finishers of each group advancing to the final race. I made it to the final and finished in 4th place.

Though we were racing for fun (no prizes), it was a great time. It was also a great opportunity to size up the competition. I knew that Debbie Milne (ProBike) and Leigh Valletti (Vanderkitten) would be strong, but a few others made good showings as well.

A couple of Kilo photos: