Brianne driving the break (photo courtesy of Byron Services
http://ebyron.smugmug.com/Sports/314482 )
Adventures in the 1/2 field
Madera Crit: stage 1-20 mile flat 4 corner
There was a good and strong field size of 25 women this year including 4 Cheerwine, Christine and Bev from Webcor, 3 or 4 Proman including Virgina Perkins, and 4+ from Touchstone, 4+ from Metromint (if you include the Cat 3's) and a few others. Erin and I were ready for anything. The race started off at a nice pace with the attacks starting after 3 or 4 laps. Keith gave me good advice and told me that the teams would end up neutralizing themselves and to not waste energy doing work that the big teams should do. I was forced to listen to his advice because I was feeling slightly under the weather. I am not one who does well in the heat. It is hard for me to find the perfect balance of water, electrolyte and food. Today was no exception. So I was hanging out at the back of the field watching the attacks go and watching the other teams cover. Erin went to the front for the second prime lap and put up a good fight but was caught at the line so the 5 seconds went to a Cheerwine (I believe). Shortly after with 7 laps to go Olivia from Proman put in a hard attack with Sara Bamberger from Cheerwine and Jen Joynt from Metromint covering. I decided to follow them so from the very back of the pack I put in a huge effort and was able to pass both Jen and Sara and hop on Olivia's wheel. We started working together fairly quickly but after a lap it was obvious that Jen wasn't making very strong pulls and seemed to be struggling to stay in and Sara wasn't going to pull bc she had a "sprinter in the pack". Therefore it came down to Olivia and I. I was quite nervous that we were going to get caught but for some reason it seemed the peleton stopped chasing. As the lap cards showed 3 to go I became more hopeful and Olivia and I did most of the work. I felt bad that Olivia was driving the break, but I knew how strong she was. I also know that Sara always sits in and then attacks early for the win. The same happened at this race, she attacked right after the railroad tracks on the last lap and somehow managed to stay away for the win. I was able to react but not fast enough bc I was still a bike length behind her at the line. I was ecstatic to be in my first crit break that stuck and to sprint for my second week in a row for a happy second place. Erin came in with the pack about 20 seconds later feeling good herself.
Madera TT: stage 2-bumpy flat 10 mile
I had an interesting few hours between races and was already struggling with a headache. Despite my unfavorable state, I was trying to stay positive and not annoy Erin with my ailments. We arrived about 50 min before our start time. It was blistering hot and we wanted to enjoy the AC in the hotel room as long as possible. I was going to ride my TT bike with full TT gear in my new position for the first time. I had been excited earlier in the week bc I thought I was going to have a great TT. i knew today was going to be anything but great. After riding around for 10 min I thought I was ready to get today over with so I lined up 10 min early. I wish now that I would have went back to the car for more liquids bc I was out of water and Keith took off my water bottle cage thinking I wouldn't need it in such a short TT. The TT started off not so good when the guy holding me at the start didn't let go. I almost fell over sideways so to recover I had to unclip and reclip which cost atleast 10 seconds. Within three miles I was so parched I could barely swallow. It was so bumpy I was struggling the entire time to control my bike. I never really got into a rhythm. I was so out of rhythm by the 5th mile I was standing up and sitting up to relieve pressure on several areas including my neck :) To my dismay I was past by my 30 second women shortly after the 5 mile mark and by another at 6 miles and by a 3rd rider with 3 miles to go :(. At the same time I was approaching a couple of riders and luckily passed them, but it didn't help my legs feel any better. I was still feeling like I was going to pass out and wanted to get off my bike, but somehow I dug deep and pushed through until the end nearly falling over at the car from dizziness. Luckily after consuming 16 oz of liquids I was feeling a bit better and went back to make sure that the officials got my number. I was disappointed bc according to my stop watch I was in the high 26 min range and my goal was in the 25 minute range. I found out the next day I finished 17th and was 16th overall bc of the TT. There were 6 of us pretty close in time in the 26 min range, but it was still very frustrating to feel so awful. Lesson learned after talking with Christine that on a bumpy course like this I should have reduced my tire pressure to somewhere around 100 psi. I rode Keith's disc close to 130 psi. No wonder why I was being tossed around so much!!!
Erin rode the TT Eddie Mercx and finished the day with good legs.
Madera RR: stage 3, 17 mile loop x 4 for 68 miles
Today for some reason they decided to start the Cat 3 women with us, despite the fact that the race bible said that they would be racing separately. It made the race a little more interesting bc I had to work harder to get around riders getting gapped in the bumpy section, but the day was otherwise uneventful. Having not slept the night before bc of my severe headache and neck pain I was hoping to just finish the race and be able to drive home safely. Erin was feeling good and her goal was similar to mine, to safely finish. I basically watched the entire field against Christine Thorburn. A solo rider would get away and Christine would slowly reel them back with an occassional rider helping out for a short bit. Kelly McDonald put in an amazing effort and was off the front for an entire lap. Several other riders including Jane from Metromint and a Cheerwine made solo efforts off the front. Nothing got away. it was a close call as we caught the last solo rider, another cheerwine off the front, on top of the first roller with a couple of kilometers to go. I managed to work my way up to top 10 and then to top 5 by the top of the second roller. I was nervous about getting boxed in so I attacked at the bottom of the last roller. Unfortunately, I was passed by three riders about 20 meters from the finish. I looked behind as I crossed the line to see I was safely 4th place with the next rider a few seconds back. I couldn't believe I did it again. I didn't hesitate or doubt. I finally have been able to sprint and go for it. I did go super early, but it was better than waiting and not placing at all. Erin unfortunately had a mechanical and was unable to finish the last lap, but she ended the weekend in good spirits despite her frustration.
So my entire goal for Madera was to rack up as many points for my Cat 1 upgrade. Goal accomplished. I am 8 points away so hopefully I will continue to race smart and have good luck!!
Thanks for reading. so much for being short!!
Bri
Adventures in the 35+ field
Angela and I were signed up for the Masters 35+ group for Madera this year. Although Angela raced Madera last year, this was my first time. Many thanks to Angela for providing me with some details and insight into the stages and players before the start!I arrived on Friday afternoon. WAY later than anticipated.
My plan: ride the TT course, and drive the RR course. Due to the lateness of the hour, I dumped all my crap into my room (including my dog), changed and raced out to the TT course to do a pre-race ride. I could find no info about the RR course, so driving it was clearly out of the question. When I set out onto the TT course the first thing that struck me was: YIKES! This is one, bumpy road! The 2nd thing that struck me (repeatedly, actually) were the volume of BUGS hitting me in the face. Note to self: breathe through nose during TT. I got some valuable insight into the course, pavement and turns, and then I drove it, marking the mileage at each turn. I then relayed that info to Erin and Bri, racing the 1/2 field. Back to the hotel, got cleaned up and off to find food and groceries. I'd forgotten sunscreen, and it was apparent that I was going to seriously need it.
Stage 1: Madera CriteriumGot a reasonable warm-up in the shade next to Angela. Not much in the way of tactics for us, since we were just 2 against a field of 20 others, notably almost half of which were Velo Bellas. Clearly, they would control the race and we would just have to choose how we would react. For some silly reason, I thought the race would be somewhat mellow, saving us for the TT in the afternoon. It was anything BUT. I swear that the attacks started immediately. I found myself at the front, either patrolling or chasing. Angela was right up there with me. Dang, this is hard! There were a few short-lived attacks, which were all brought back. Then other attacks started that were a bit more worrisome. 2 Bellas in a break. Uh oh. 1 Bella attacked, and I went with her. For some reason, she turned, saw me and sat up. ARGH! Wasted match! A time or two, I found myself in no-mans land: unable to expend more energy to get to the break, but ahead of the pack (hate that). A break of 5 or so was up the road and I started to chase, but I swore Angela was in it. So I started to sit up and block. After my eyes focused a bit, I realized: "Oh. That's not Angela." Oops... back to chasing. (I should extend thanks to my dog here, for keeping me awake half the night on Friday, SNORING.) With 5 to go, there was a break of 2 Bellas up the road (and possibly a 3rd woman?). Not good. 4 to go, they were still away. 3 to go, Sarah from ProTech came to the front and was able to bring it back. When we passed the final corner with 2 to go, another Bella or two attacked. UGH. I was realizing that I spent too much time at the front and I really needed to recover. No time for that. Miraculously, the break was brought back at the bell lap, and it appeared that VB was setting up a lead-out. I had two of their women marked, but when we were between the 3rd and final corner, they seemed slightly disorganized. I sensed a moment of hesitation in them, and it was then that I chose to attack. I realized just how FAR away the finish line was, but I was inspired by a similar tactic a male teammate had exhibited in the race before ours. He won with a pretty sizable gap. I just accelerated hard away from the pack and thought, "no guts, no glory!!!". When I took the final corner and looked back, a decent sized gap had opened. Sweet! If I could just hold it... It was like a bad dream. The closer you get to the finish, the further away the line gets. I was hurting and coming in on fumes. If the entire pack had passed me, I would have been utterly unable to respond. A check over my right shoulder showed the pack closing, but I should have checked my left shoulder. Lori Simonson was coming up on my left and nipped me at the line. I couldn't react anyway, and all I could do was grunt at her... Obviously, my grunt meant nothing and she won anyway. Ha. 2nd wasn't bad, and Angela rolled in for 7th of 22 finishers.
Stage 2: Sharon Time TrialMadera, that's so hot. How true is that... I opted to head out there as late as possible, lying on the bed in my air-conditioned hotel room resting. I blasted the A/C on full on the way out and really dreaded getting out of the car. It was at LEAST 90 degrees when we started at around 2:45 p.m. I totally skipped my warm-up, and just rolled around for 10 minutes before heading off to the start. Figured I'd use the first mile as my "warm-up" and try to stay as cool as possible. Knowing the course was super bumpy, I must have slathered on about 4 inches of chamois cream. This proved to be a life-saver, and the only thing I'd do different next time is keep the tub of chamois cream in the cooler. 3 minutes before my start, I felt hungry. Luckily, I'd shoved a GU up my shorts leg. Big mistake #1. Big mistake #2: not letting the holder hold me. I started in the small chain ring (mistake #3) and could not get clipped in. I'd clipped directly in the other 7 times I'd clipped in after getting on the darned bike... fumbled and fumbled and fumbled and finally got my foot in. Estimated that I lost 45 seconds or so here. Grrr. Then into the big ring and off we go. It was hot. And bumpy. And miserable. My goal was to keep my HR around 165 bpm for the first third, then 170-175 for the second third, then 175+ for the last part. Clearly the heat was playing a part because when I looked down, uh oh. 170. Mile mark: 2. Not good. 8.5 more to go and I'm already into the 2nd part of the course... so I backed off a bit. Ahh, 165. Whoosh. Crap, there goes my 30-second person. Sped up again, and back up to 170. Then, I puked. Bleah!!! Backed of a wee bit, then back on again, trying to keep the woman in sight that had just passed me. Tried to maintain 22 mph, but it was hot, and windy and bumpy and bleah. 21 was doable. 22 was just asking for trouble. I rounded corner one in the aero bars and kicked it up a notch. Well, since I was already UP, now I was at 175-180, well above my plan. I reasoned with myself that the heat played a part in that and all I could do now was keep going harder till I couldn't go any harder. Almost puked again. So I took a drink. Then I really DID puke. Okay, no more liquid unless I'm lying on the ground convulsing. Continued on, and drove to the next corner, reasoning with myself that when I got there, I was greater than half way done. I realized that I was way deep in the pain cave and this would actually be a first for me: taking a TT seriously enough to bury myself. Definitely painful, but a good learning experience. The next corner was narrower, and bumpy and I opted to get out of the aero position to get through it. Probably smart. The road was so bumpy and it was so hot that my arms were slopping around in sweat on the aero pads and because I wasn't wearing gloves, my hands were sliding on the grips. Best to be careful so I didn't lose my grip and lose control, since TT bikes are uber-maneuverable. Ahem. I think I almost puked about 3 more times, then I was over it. I bumped it up again, and now I was between 180 and 185 bpm for the remainder. I still had woman that had previously passed me in sight, but my 30-second person had slipped out of site. I then got passed by my minute person (Andi Smith) at around 2 miles to go. Drat. I could also see 2 other women up the road, and they appeared to be flailing. I took the last corner in the aero bars and proceeded to pick off the two, whilst keeping Andi in sight. I finished, and rolled directly back to the car with Andi, in order to get out of my clothes, and into my air-conditioned car. I'd forgotten my dry clothes. Andi gave me some cold water and I drove back to my hotel in my sweat-suit (aka: skin suit). Placings: me in 14th, Angela in 16th of either 21 or 22.Had a glorious dinner (after an even more glorious shower) with Bri, Erin and Angela, then off to bed!
Stage 3: Daulton Road RaceWoke up Sunday feeling sore! At least I made the dog sleep on the chair, so I slept reasonably well. Didn't matter much. I had left too much of myself on the crit and TT courses the day before. The simple goal was this: race as strong as I could, for as long as I could, then just worry about finishing the race. Got on the bike and was pedaling squares. Oof. Opted for another short spin to warm-up, then go to the bathroom, then roll to the start. Once we started, I got a decent enough warm-up in the promenade going uphill and felt somewhat human when we hit the course. Things seemed fine in the pack. I moved around. Left side. Right side. Up to the front, at the back, in the middle. I was just trying to enjoy myself in the pack while I could. Then it happened. A crash. A woman in front of me appeared to either hit a pothole, or try to dodge one. She veered into the woman to her right. They were leaning on each other for a bit, then she moved back to the left. Unfortunately, the other woman (Pam Davis) was still leaning and went down pretty hard. I had to veer a bit left to avoid Pam and her bike, and then her bike must have hit something because it appeared to cartwheel off the road into the ditch. The pack splintered at that point and some of us were yelling and whistling trying to get the pack to neutralize for a bit, so we could all catch back on. Even though a few women chased back on, they only backed off a bit and I had to chase pretty hard to get back on. It probably wasn't THAT far, but in times of duress, things seem to take SO MUCH LONGER! Anyway, I caught on and said that people were still chasing. We chilled for maybe 5 minutes, and that's when the attacks started. Angela was behind me still chasing and I wasn't entirely sure if I should stay with the pack, or wait for her. I'm trying not to hesitate anymore and so I stayed with the pack. I survived the series of attacks over the Paris-Roubaix-in-Madera-Country-Road, only to roll into the rollers in zone 5. I'd lost my mojo after seeing Pam go down and it was then that I switched into "survival mode" - just finish. My bike started making a funny noise and so I stopped just prior to the feed zone hill. Brakes were fine. Started up again. Weird screeching noise. By this time, I had a partner in crime (Katherine from Code 3), who was just ready to abandon. I'm happy to report, she stayed in with me. Checked all the spokes. They were intact. Started up again. UGH... Still screeching at me. Last resort: take the front wheel off and put it back on. I'll be darned: it was the skewer. Figured I'd already stopped, so stopped at neutral and got some water in my bottle. Off we go. We picked up another woman on lap 2, Angele. The 3 of us were passed by the Pro1/2 men on the bumpy stretch, and then they asked to stop when the next men's field passed a few minutes later. At that point, I just wanted to finish, so the time didn't really matter. Got more water at neutral and 2 more women caught us on the feed zone hill, so now we had a good paceline going. I made it till corner 1, and had to back off the pedals. My legs were freaking out and even though I'd been drinking a lot of liquid to stave off cramps, it was also causing me to have a pretty bad side stitch. I spent roughly half the race with a side stitch! Can I just have a normal day, please? Sheesh. Anyway, the finish was rather anti-climatic and we all called it a day. Placing: 16th of 17 finishers. I think I was 16 of 17 in the GC.While the end result wasn't the greatest, it was a really good block of training, and my second stage race this year. I'm definitely not going to cause any anxiety by showing up at a stage race, but it sure is great training, and it's always so nice to have teammates there to share in the glory, and the pain!
Thanks for reading!
Holly
Angela showing a strong presence throughout the race. 
Karla winning a two place prime.
Karla and ME..so cute yet so deadly in a sprint!
Brianne on the podium...1st place!
Best way to spend a Saturday :)
Karla warming up and feeling good!
Erin focused and determined (photo courtesy of Byron services, check it out 
