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Karena Shannon's Journal
Snelling Race Report
posted by Karena at 10:32 AM on March 10, 2008
Race: Snelling 23 Feb 08 Women Cat4 8:20AM start time
Weather: Really windy!!! mid 40s to start and warmed up to low 50s
Course: Rolling hills with wicked winds (why does it seem that there is more headwind than tailwind).
Code 3 Racers: Cat 4--Kimmy, Mason, Jen, Jeanine, Katherine, Haze, Michelle, Monica, and Me
The race started with a 5 mile neutral promenade. We enjoyed the neutrality and chatted away as we approached the 11 mile loop. The relaxed pace was not to last and the pack accelerated as we approached the start of the race. The race was on and there were multiple accelerations/attacks throughout the first lap. Not surprisingly, we lost almost half of the 50 women field just in the first lap. Fortunately, the pace returned to a more manageable level during the second lap.
Things got exciting at about 1.5 laps (out of 3 laps). I was on the wheel of one of my teammates, when, all of a sudden she broke hard. As she slowed I overlapped her rear wheel to the inside. Unfortunately, her rear wheel swerved inward (I later discovered that she rubbed tires with the girl in front of her) and she took out my front wheel. I tried to keep the rubber side down but couldn't keep her upright and ended up falling on my left side (scrapped knee, elbow, and ankle) and I even took out another teammate. Two of my teammates stopped to make sure that I was okay. I told them both to take off but one insisted that it was her fault and that she wanted to stay and help me back to the pack (BTW, in my opinion, the crash was my fault. It was my front wheel and I'm responsible for my front wheel...).
So, after dusting myself off, fixing my shifter, and recovering from a massive left calf cramp we jumped back onto our bikes and tried to recapture the pack. We worked together for a bit but eventually I went out on my own in attempt to recapture the pack. I picked off one rider at a time (it was fun to motor pass the boys, one even asked my why I was trying so hard since the pack was so far ahead). The headwind on the backside was wicked and I was completely alone in time trial mode. As I passed the finish line I was told that I was about 60 sec behind the pack, not bad, I had probably caught up 90sec in just ½ a lap. With only one lap to go I was determined to catch up…
I tried to rally some of the girls that I encountered during the last lap. We would work together for a bit but eventually I returned to time trial mode to catch up to the peleton. I was working my tail off and approximately 2/3 of the way through the last lap I caught up with a group of 6 containing 2 of my teammates (Kimmy and Mason). After catching my breath (the girls were doing a rotating paceline and I just hung off of the back trying to recover a bit) I discovered that there was a group of 5 or 6 girls ahead. I tried to get the group to work a bit harder, but nobody had any juice left and that the lead pack was just too far away.
Since we weren't sure if there were 5 or six ahead of us I decided to contend for the sprint. After a 90 degree right turn the finish had 100 meters of flat followed by ~150 meters of a hill. Surprise, surprise, I decided to sprint early on the flats (I hate gravity) and just pray that I had enough to make it up the hill in the lead. As I hit the hill I looked back and I had a good lead. My HR skyrocketed and I downshifted all the way down to the small ring (yes I still have a triple) and "comfortably" crossed the finish line. My teammate, Kimmy, finished right after me and Mason finished 2 places behind her. I was dead tired, I gave this race my all and was really proud of how well I did. In the end we discovered that there were 6 girls in the attack so we finished 7, 8, and 11. Not bad for our first team race of the season!
categories: General
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