Lesezeichen für diese Seite setzen
Code 3 Racing's Journal
Snelling Race Report
veröffentlicht von: Bike Candy at 23:21 on Februar 24, 2008
Snelling CA, near Merced, 2-23-08
Windy, wet, dreary and cold-ish
Coming into Snelling I felt dull, not tired, not stressed, just sort of dreary like the weather. In retrospect I think it was a combination of nerves and a feeling of dread about crashing as I have seen or been near several mix ups in the last few weeks, part of me must have been wondering when my number was gonna be up. Carla and her musettes gave me a lift, it's hard to be flat when Carla's around handing out chocolate, and the rest of my teammates just plain rock!
Race morning: Kimmy, Karena, Monica, Mouse, Katherine and myself (missing anyone?) lined up for the A's and my heart rate was already through the roof with nerves and nearly missing the line up. Promenade was COLD, brrr!!!! Race began uneventfully and I managed to stay near the front, keeping Kimmy in sight at all times. Safe corners, manageable pace...it wasn't really hurting yet and the surges were answerable...the pack was racing well. My only frustration was being slow to figure out which side the wind was coming from and getting onto the right side of the pack, having the entire road open was also new and added to my confusion when people went up the left side. Basically I was guttered, but did eventually learn my lesson. A quick check behind me shows that the pack must have thinned out cause there are only 20 or so left. Along the back side before the roubaix Mouse and Karena tangled laying their bikes down in front of me taking my bike down. It was surreal, time slooowed and I had lots of time to consider my options possibly because I saw it coming and possibly because we weren't moving very fast. I unclipped my foot and jumped over my bike, landed on one foot then skipped over Karena's body/bike and landing on my feet in this crazy ballet move. A quick check of my teammates and bike, Mouse yelled GO! so I fixed my chain and stood completely still. Deja vue all over again...chasing a pack alone into the wind for who knows how long. Nope. Don't want to do it. DNF, no problem.
But sheer stubbornness (?) and maybe adrenaline got me back on my bike and eventually back to the pack. Waa hoo was I bursting with pride, come to find out later the pack was moving really slowly :) After resting through the roubaix a group of five or so, including Kimmy!! took off up the hill and I just couldn't keep them. I tried valiantly to catch, on my own TT'ing it again through the feed zone and my cheering teammates on the sidelines! until being caught by Eagle cycling and working with her to catch Kimmy. We were eventually caught by a few more and started an eschelon paceline to deal with the wind, but it became clear after a few minutes that only a few of us were taking turns so Kimmy suggested we sit in and chill. Karena!!!!! catches up to our small group! She's exhausted from her own TT ordeal and rests as much as she can...counting the riders and calculating our odds of placement. Yeah, but there's a break of 5 or 6 ahead of us, news of which propels Karena into the front of the pack, exhaustion forgotten, yelling, c'mon!! what's the matter with you, we've gotta go get the leaders! We speed up but the leaders have too much gap on us.
The finish was on a hill and after Cherry Pie I decided I don't finish well on hills so I didn't give the sprint my all. Grrr, I was irritated with myself for being slow on the draw AND psyching myself out at the very end, I think I finished 11th.
Learning points: ALWAYS sprint for the finish, even if people are going past you, pay more attention to the wind direction.
Thanks again for all the ground and race support, I really feel for those racers out there on their own.
MC
Kategorien Road - Kriterium Rennberichte
Schon Mitglied? Jetzt anmelden um einen Kommentar zu schreiben! »
Kommentare (0)