Danny- I feel your pain!

Danny Pate and three other riders had a successful breakaway in yesterday’s stage 15 of The Tour (first Alps stage so far w/2 huge climbs). As they approached the finish line, the Credit Agricole rider (Simon Gerrans), who was almost dropped at the bottom of the finishing climb, attacked and won the stage. Danny ended up in 3rd place- still an awesome feat of riding strength, right?

Not in Danny’s opinion!

In a post race interview, his disappointment was obvious (even though he was trying very hard to act slightly happy about his placing). He looked as if he were on the verge of tears. He and the riders had a heroic breakaway, and he was upset that he didn’t win. Most people would be thinking “WTF”? You won 3rd in a hard stage in the freakin’ Tour de France!! What do you have to be disappointed about?
Well, Danny, I feel your pain! I’ve been there before- albeit on a “slightly” lower level of competition… We’re out there to win- not “do our best” and come in 3rd. You can come over & cry on my shoulder if you want, because I’ve felt the same way after several races, and I understand :)

Let’s just say that I’ve raced too much since March, and it’s finally catching up to me in a bad way.

I’m glad the weekend is over…

P.S.- Photos of the women’s, cat 4, cat 3, cat 5, Masters 50/60, and juniors can be found in Ryan’s photo gallery page

…in the making. My race goes off at 11:26 (start is just east of Collierville on the map). Here’s the current (8:25) radar (click for better view):

I started the day in 1st place with a 21 second gap ahead of Lauren Edwards (Probike). This meant that she could win the hot spot time bonus as well as the race and I’d still be ahead. So, since I grabbed her wheel for the sprint win yesterday, I agreed to help her clinch 2nd by leading her out for the mid-race time bonus sprint.

Once the race started, we dropped the hammer early in an attempt to weed out anyone who wasn’t confident with railing the turns on the sketchy pavement. After several laps, the officials rang the bell for a prime. As we rounded the final turn for the finish, Lauren sprinted off the front then sat up as we caught back on to her.

A lap of two later, the bell was rung again for the time bonus. I pulled up to the front , made sure that Lauren was on my wheel, then accelerated down the long back stretch and into turns 3 and 4. I continued to pull hard towards the finish line, not looking back to see what was going on behind me until I heard the announcer saying that there was a rider off the front… I looked back to see the pack barely rounding the final turn!

For a second, I wasn’t sure what to do, but I figured I’d just settle into a steady grind and see what would happen. According to Ryan and Lauren, a few people in the pack attempted to chase, but gave up since they figured I’d win whether or not they caught me. LADIES!!! COME ON!!!! What if I’d had a mechanical or wreck? What if you caught me, countered, and managed to drop me?!? You guys hung on for dear life in the thunderstorm yesterday, don’t ever give up!

Oh well… Anyway…
I finished almost a lap ahead of the pack. I found out later that Lauren had mistaken the first prime for the hotspot and thought that the hotspot was just a merchandise prime. She still ended up winning the pack sprint and holding on to her 2nd place spot.

I’m hoping I feel as good next weekend as I did today. It’s time to defend the Memphis turf!

Ryan took photos of the race: Tour de LA Women’s photos

Here are a few of my favorites (click to the link above for higher-res, unscaled images):

He also finished with the pack today, landing him 13th overall in the P 1/2/3 field. I took some photos of that race, as well as some other random non-race photos including kids playing catch, moto officials having a romantic garden moment, cowboy boots, a team meeting, and a cute little lizard. The gallery is HERE

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.