Weekend Racing
I'm tired of looking at the truck balls, so I'm posting a quick recap of this weekend's racing...
Saturday's ROAD RACE was a whopping 28 miles over 2 loops of the course. The team rode together for 40 minutes to warmup before the race.
At the start line, Ms. Candince Blickem rolled up, so I figured she would be the one to watch. The race stayed together until the third hill on the first lap. A little Belgium rider attacked, but I was at the back of the field at this point watching
Candice. With the attack, Candice booked it all the way to the front of the field bridging up to the attack. I started to follow but got caught by slower riders in front of me, so I yelled to Nat to 'get on that.' I then followed a rider who was trying to bridge up to the break group. When everything flushed out, there were 4 riders in the break (Nat, Kristin, Candice, and little Belgium girl), and 5 of us in the chase group. 2 of us (Carrie Ann and I) weren't chasing since our riders were in the break, so we just sat on.
On the first climb of the second lap, I just sat next to the woman who was driving the pace, and we dropped two of the other women. The two other women who got dropped eventually caught back up to us. We were together for the field sprint, but then one woman cut off my front wheel and put me in the ditch. By the time I got out of the ditch, Carrie Ann was already near the finish line, but I managed to catch and pass the others for 6th place overall.
Natalie had gotten dropped on the hill, but she rode strong and single-handedly staved off the 3 chasers for 4th.
Sunday's race was pretty awesome. In the beginning of the race, I was having a hard time staying at the front, so I was doing way too much work at the back. Eventually, a break formed with the same riders as yesterday minus the little Belgium climber.
I finally figured out how to stay at the front, so Rebecca and I just sat on wheels and covered stuff. I didn't go for any primes 'cause I didn't want to waste any energy for the finish. However, towards the end of the race, when the announcers called out a coffee prime, Anna, who had been instructed to sit in until the second half of the race, came flying up the side of the field to lead Rebecca out--I guess there's something to be said about those girls' coffee addiction.
With 2 laps to go, the breakaway lapped the field. Coming into the last lap, Rebecca got on the front with Natalie on her wheel and me sweeping. Kristin was trying to take Natalie's wheel, but I held my ground, so she was left riding in the wind. When Kristin's teammate Carrie Ann saw this, she jumped to try to get in first place with Kristin on her wheel, but I saw the jump and told Natalie to get on Carrie Ann's wheel. As soon as Carrie Ann saw that she had Natalie on her wheel and not Kristin, she slowed up. At that moment, I jumped, yelling for Natalie to get onto my wheel. She did, and I delivered her through the last corner on my wheel. She started her sprint in the final straightaway, and no one could come around her. She won, and I was able to hang on for 5th. It was really cool!
Saturday's ROAD RACE was a whopping 28 miles over 2 loops of the course. The team rode together for 40 minutes to warmup before the race.
At the start line, Ms. Candince Blickem rolled up, so I figured she would be the one to watch. The race stayed together until the third hill on the first lap. A little Belgium rider attacked, but I was at the back of the field at this point watching
Candice. With the attack, Candice booked it all the way to the front of the field bridging up to the attack. I started to follow but got caught by slower riders in front of me, so I yelled to Nat to 'get on that.' I then followed a rider who was trying to bridge up to the break group. When everything flushed out, there were 4 riders in the break (Nat, Kristin, Candice, and little Belgium girl), and 5 of us in the chase group. 2 of us (Carrie Ann and I) weren't chasing since our riders were in the break, so we just sat on.
On the first climb of the second lap, I just sat next to the woman who was driving the pace, and we dropped two of the other women. The two other women who got dropped eventually caught back up to us. We were together for the field sprint, but then one woman cut off my front wheel and put me in the ditch. By the time I got out of the ditch, Carrie Ann was already near the finish line, but I managed to catch and pass the others for 6th place overall.
Natalie had gotten dropped on the hill, but she rode strong and single-handedly staved off the 3 chasers for 4th.
Sunday's race was pretty awesome. In the beginning of the race, I was having a hard time staying at the front, so I was doing way too much work at the back. Eventually, a break formed with the same riders as yesterday minus the little Belgium climber.
I finally figured out how to stay at the front, so Rebecca and I just sat on wheels and covered stuff. I didn't go for any primes 'cause I didn't want to waste any energy for the finish. However, towards the end of the race, when the announcers called out a coffee prime, Anna, who had been instructed to sit in until the second half of the race, came flying up the side of the field to lead Rebecca out--I guess there's something to be said about those girls' coffee addiction.
With 2 laps to go, the breakaway lapped the field. Coming into the last lap, Rebecca got on the front with Natalie on her wheel and me sweeping. Kristin was trying to take Natalie's wheel, but I held my ground, so she was left riding in the wind. When Kristin's teammate Carrie Ann saw this, she jumped to try to get in first place with Kristin on her wheel, but I saw the jump and told Natalie to get on Carrie Ann's wheel. As soon as Carrie Ann saw that she had Natalie on her wheel and not Kristin, she slowed up. At that moment, I jumped, yelling for Natalie to get onto my wheel. She did, and I delivered her through the last corner on my wheel. She started her sprint in the final straightaway, and no one could come around her. She won, and I was able to hang on for 5th. It was really cool!
posted by Bovis Fugit at 10:58 AM
3 Comments:
KEWL!! Nice write up, Rachel. It's fun to get another vantage point of the race--well done.
What a fun weekend of racing.
Gawsh this weekend was such a blast! Thank you ladies so much for a great time and the teamwork was brilliant!
Ok -
Twice I read this write up and and twice I got shivers.
That's great racing! Way to go girls.
Very impressive.
J
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