Rewind! Wente Road Report

This is what happens when the blogmaster takes a header in a crit....reports don't get posted timely, sorry peoples! Below is Brianne's report on her victory...

Wente RR
Karla, JV, Jaime, Bri, 35 starters
Erin and Angela in the feedzone
66 mile race composed of a rolling 17 mile loop with a 1 mile climb to the finish

This was my second year doing the race and I had targeted this race for a podium finish, specifically a win, to get my final points for my Cat 1 upgrade! I was super excited to have teammates in the race and in the feedzone. Everyone was excited to help me reach my goals. The craziest thing was that everyone seemed to believe that I could obtain my high lofty goals, which I didn't quite believe myself. The race started mellow which was good for me because I was over heated from the beginning of the race. I have been trying to make sure my tan lines don't get too bad for my wedding and my best friends wedding which are right around the corner, so I started the race with armwarmers and an undershirt. Unfortunately, I didn't make it more than 15 minutes into the race before I had to magically take off my undershirt and arm warmers. Vanity was going to have to wait I told myself so Jen was kind enough to make sure I was ok as I undressed. Thanks Jen!!

At any rate the race was pretty uneventful. We were neutralized for almost a quarter of the second lap because of the masters and pro men's field which frustrated us so Flavia put in a good effort on the climb to try to get people racing on the third time up. Rachel Lloyd followed that with some amazing efforts and attacks on the back side of the course on the third lap. A group of about 10 of us stayed together, but once Rachel stopped pulling no one else pulled through. I wasn't about to drive the break, considering my lofty goals and that my teammates were out of sight. So because of our disorganization and lack of working together nearly 10-15 more women caught back on. Luckily JV And Karla were with the group of ladies who put in a hard effort to catch back on. Both were anxious to help out what they could before they got "dropped again". Luckily, but unluckily we were neutralized again the 4th time up the climb because the men's cat 3 field was finishing, so we went into the final lap with about 25 women and me with two wonderful teammates ready to sacrifice themselves for me to finish well. Rachel tried to string things out again, but she was unsuccessful of shedding any women so we noodled to the straight away before the last two right hand turns into the climb where Victoria from Tibco started launching some attacks along with Anna and Sarah from village peddler. Little attacks continued on the "false flat" with JV countering another attack by Victoria. Just as I was about to get boxed in Karla saves the day by making sure I was at the front of the field going into the last right hand turn into the climb. Flavia attacked around the turn brushing my hip, which kick started my adrenaline pumping for fear of crashing and for fear of letting her go. I jump hard and was able to gain good ground and pass her when the climb pitched up. I somehow easily pulled away as her legs blew. I heard Erin, Keith, Angela and various other people cheering and screaming you have it, you have a huge gap, keep digging. I looked back to see everyone much smaller behind me. Part of me starts to get excited so when I was getting close to the finish I sat down to zip up my jersey and peddle "slowly" to the finish so I could put my hands up, but I looked back to see three girls gaining on me so I had to stand up and put in one last effort and cross the finish with my head down in unbelief that I had actually done it. I won my first road race and reached my one goal this year of getting my Cat 1 upgrade (strictly for my own bragging rights---I can't marry a Cat 1 racer without being one :) ) I was so excited that Jen and Karla did exactly what I needed to make sure I was in good position which was critical for my finish. They did an amazing job of team work and still managed to finish 14th and 19th respectively. We were all very thankful to have such great teammates in the feed zone (thanks Erin and Angela).

Thanks for reading!!!
Bri