Kelly, Janeen rise to the occasion at Kern
Kelly wins Kern County SR CAT 1/2! Janeen 2nd in CAT 3 Race. Report below...
CAT 3 GC Winners
CAT 1/2 GC Winners
Kern County Women’s Stage Race Report
Sorry in advance for the length, but after all, it was a long weekend!
Day 1 – Bena TT: The start of the10-mile TT was pleasantly located next to the Bena Landfill, which conveniently obscured the usual smell of port-a-potties. The out and back course had one short, but fairly steep hill, and was otherwise flat with some moderate winds. I started 30 seconds behind Molly V. and 1 minute behind Jane Robertson (both of Metromint) and 1 minute in front of Jane Despas. Molly quickly opened up a significant gap on me, and I couldn’t catch Jane R. so keeping myself focused was a difficult task. Unable to catch anyone in front, my new goal became not getting passed by Jane D. before the turnaround. This goal was amazingly accomplished and was modified to not getting passed by Jane D. before the final climb, 1 mile from the finish. I knew she was chasing me down and several times I thought I heard her off to my left about to pass. Sporting my new Bell helmet with a serious tail, I convinced myself that looking behind would create substantial drag and lose me significant time, so I fought the nagging urge. Chasing down and passing a Proman rider on the hill gave me a brief reprieve from my obsession with Jane D’s whereabouts. As I crossed the finish line, immensely proud of myself for holding off Jane, although wondering if she’d flatted or lost her way, I turned to see her only seconds behind. Oh well, a valiant effort. After the first Stage, Jane D. had the lead, then Molly, Shelley Olds, and me (just under a minute back from Jane). Back to the hotel for some food and ice bath #1.
Day 2, Race 1: Walker Basin RR: The morning opened with an ~60 mile flat road race, broken up into 8-7.5 mile laps. To make this race more interesting (for sprinters, that is!), there were intermediate sprints at the start/finish line of each lap with time bonuses awarded to the top 3 (10,5,3 seconds). The sprint line was at the top of a 200-meter power climb. Could this race be any less suited for me? With some really good sprinters in the field, I had no choice but to sit at the back, rest my legs and concede the time bonuses. I was accompanied by Molly, who apparently had the exact same race plan. Holly stayed at the front for the entire race, insuring that there were no breakaways and allowing me to linger at the back and enjoy the landscape. For me, this race was completely uneventful, but relaxing. I sat at the back, chatting with other fast-twitch challenged athletes and calculating the number of seconds, no minutes, which I was losing to Shelley and Jane D., as they went for every intermediate sprint. From my vantage point, it appeared that Shelley won most of them with Jane D. picking up some 2nd and 3rd places. Then, Shelley won the final sprint (greedy little thing!), adding an additional 30 sec time bonus to her collection. Things were not looking good at this point, but the hill climb was yet to come!
Day 2, Race 2: Mt. Breckenridge Hill climb: More disappointing news awaited me and the other hill climbers as we learned that 1,000 ft of climbing over 3 miles had been eliminated from the hill climb (reducing the distance from 13 to 10 miles). Actually, I may have been the only one disappointed by this news. That, however, was the least of my worries, when Holly, Janeen and I found ourselves quite some distance from the hill climb venue after heading 30 minutes in the opposite direction. A quick turnabout and some radical driving on my part got us to the start with just over 30 minutes to spare. Really good thing Maria was not in the backseat!! Holly said the adrenaline would work in my favor, so I tried to stay positive and get in a short warm-up. I overheard some advice being given to Shelley before the start - “you need to keep your core temperature down, so douse yourself in ice water before you take off.” Hmm…I had just enough time to run to the car, strip off my jersey and dump it in the cooler with ice water. It woke me up, if nothing else.
The hill climb started on a 2 mile rolling section with a bit of a headwind. Holly was right there to help me out! She sat in the front in the wind and pulled me all the way to the turn-off for the main climb. At the turn, Holly shifted to the left and I stood and attacked. I knew I needed every second I could get so I couldn’t wait any longer. I looked back and had a small gap so I kept pushing as hard as I could. When I looked down at my computer expecting to see I’d made it at least a third of the way up the climb, I saw it had been only 3 miles! Oh lord. I’d only gone 1 mile up the hill and I was suffering. I reminded myself that I usually suffer early on and that I would get in a rhythm and feel better as the climb continued. At the switchbacks, I could see 2 chasers not too far behind. It was really windy, and I just hoped they weren’t working together. Miraculously, I kept increasing my lead, and as it turned out, the 10-mile hill climb was really only 8.5 miles. Had I really been disappointed that the climb had been shortened? Was I delusional? After catching my breath, I rolled back down to the finish line to determine my gap. Shelley and Molly made it up 2 minutes behind and Jane D. 3 minutes. I wasn’t sure where this would put all of us on Day 3, but I new it would be very close! Back to the hotel for more food and ice bath #2.
Day 3: Iron Mountain RR: 72 miles, 3-24 mile loops. At sign in I learned I was in the lead by 15 seconds over Shelley and ~1:30 over Molly. Problem was, there was a 20 second time bonus for the winner and the finish was on a short, power climb. I needed a really good plan. Holly and I warmed up together and decided I should rest as much as possible early in the race and only attempt to get in a break if Shelley was in it. Holly would stay at the front and help bridge other attacks, including any by Jane D. and Molly. We started slow, but Jane D. got bored and started attacking midway through the first lap. Holly helped to reel her in once or twice. Finally, one of Jane’s attacks stuck and she was off the front. Proman had 4-5 in the pack, so Kristina and Kate (I believe) worked hard to pull her in midway through lap 2 with some help by Jane R of Metromint. It was quite an impressive effort and it took some time to catch Jane D. It didn’t take long for the action to start again. On the hills at the end of lap 2, Amanda of MM went to the front with Molly on her wheel. I should have known they were up to something, but have to admit, I was taken off-guard when Molly attacked. No one went with her and no one wanted to chase her down. I tried once to jump and bridge to her before she got too far away, but Shelley was on my wheel immediately so I shut it down. Molly kept increasing her lead and I was trying to stay calm, but couldn’t get anyone to work with me to pull her in. Proman and Metromint still had 4-5 riders each, so I was worried that they would pull me in if I tried to bridge and then it would be a wasted effort. At the start of lap 3, with Molly nowhere in sight, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I sensed that Proman might be tired from pulling in Jane, so on the hills, I went to the front and pushed the pace. I looked back and was amazed to see I had a small gap. I stood and went as hard as I could through the remainder of the hills. It probably took me 7-8 miles to catch Molly, but when I did, we had a significant gap. We worked together, and since I was extremely paranoid, even after hearing from the official that we’d opened up a 2-3 minute time gap, we went hard for the remaining ~10 miles. When we came across the finish line (me right behind Molly), we had opened more than a 4-minute gap, giving me the GC win and moving Molly into second. Janeen’s family was there to greet me at the finish of my first Cat1/2 win and first Stage Race victory. Janeen was not far behind, clenching 2nd in the Cat3 GC and the few points she needed for a CAT2 upgrade!
As always, this was a team effort. Thanks to Holly for looking after me in the races and giving some superb tactical advice!! Thanks to Janeen for the excellent company on some long drives and warm-up rides! Thanks to Mike, Dallas, and Michelle (Janeen’s family) for supporting us in the feed zones and some excellent post-race company. AND, thanks to Michelle for the wonderful post-race massages!
Kelly McDonald
CAT 3 GC Winners
CAT 1/2 GC WinnersKern County Women’s Stage Race Report
Sorry in advance for the length, but after all, it was a long weekend!
Day 1 – Bena TT: The start of the10-mile TT was pleasantly located next to the Bena Landfill, which conveniently obscured the usual smell of port-a-potties. The out and back course had one short, but fairly steep hill, and was otherwise flat with some moderate winds. I started 30 seconds behind Molly V. and 1 minute behind Jane Robertson (both of Metromint) and 1 minute in front of Jane Despas. Molly quickly opened up a significant gap on me, and I couldn’t catch Jane R. so keeping myself focused was a difficult task. Unable to catch anyone in front, my new goal became not getting passed by Jane D. before the turnaround. This goal was amazingly accomplished and was modified to not getting passed by Jane D. before the final climb, 1 mile from the finish. I knew she was chasing me down and several times I thought I heard her off to my left about to pass. Sporting my new Bell helmet with a serious tail, I convinced myself that looking behind would create substantial drag and lose me significant time, so I fought the nagging urge. Chasing down and passing a Proman rider on the hill gave me a brief reprieve from my obsession with Jane D’s whereabouts. As I crossed the finish line, immensely proud of myself for holding off Jane, although wondering if she’d flatted or lost her way, I turned to see her only seconds behind. Oh well, a valiant effort. After the first Stage, Jane D. had the lead, then Molly, Shelley Olds, and me (just under a minute back from Jane). Back to the hotel for some food and ice bath #1.
Day 2, Race 1: Walker Basin RR: The morning opened with an ~60 mile flat road race, broken up into 8-7.5 mile laps. To make this race more interesting (for sprinters, that is!), there were intermediate sprints at the start/finish line of each lap with time bonuses awarded to the top 3 (10,5,3 seconds). The sprint line was at the top of a 200-meter power climb. Could this race be any less suited for me? With some really good sprinters in the field, I had no choice but to sit at the back, rest my legs and concede the time bonuses. I was accompanied by Molly, who apparently had the exact same race plan. Holly stayed at the front for the entire race, insuring that there were no breakaways and allowing me to linger at the back and enjoy the landscape. For me, this race was completely uneventful, but relaxing. I sat at the back, chatting with other fast-twitch challenged athletes and calculating the number of seconds, no minutes, which I was losing to Shelley and Jane D., as they went for every intermediate sprint. From my vantage point, it appeared that Shelley won most of them with Jane D. picking up some 2nd and 3rd places. Then, Shelley won the final sprint (greedy little thing!), adding an additional 30 sec time bonus to her collection. Things were not looking good at this point, but the hill climb was yet to come!
Day 2, Race 2: Mt. Breckenridge Hill climb: More disappointing news awaited me and the other hill climbers as we learned that 1,000 ft of climbing over 3 miles had been eliminated from the hill climb (reducing the distance from 13 to 10 miles). Actually, I may have been the only one disappointed by this news. That, however, was the least of my worries, when Holly, Janeen and I found ourselves quite some distance from the hill climb venue after heading 30 minutes in the opposite direction. A quick turnabout and some radical driving on my part got us to the start with just over 30 minutes to spare. Really good thing Maria was not in the backseat!! Holly said the adrenaline would work in my favor, so I tried to stay positive and get in a short warm-up. I overheard some advice being given to Shelley before the start - “you need to keep your core temperature down, so douse yourself in ice water before you take off.” Hmm…I had just enough time to run to the car, strip off my jersey and dump it in the cooler with ice water. It woke me up, if nothing else.
The hill climb started on a 2 mile rolling section with a bit of a headwind. Holly was right there to help me out! She sat in the front in the wind and pulled me all the way to the turn-off for the main climb. At the turn, Holly shifted to the left and I stood and attacked. I knew I needed every second I could get so I couldn’t wait any longer. I looked back and had a small gap so I kept pushing as hard as I could. When I looked down at my computer expecting to see I’d made it at least a third of the way up the climb, I saw it had been only 3 miles! Oh lord. I’d only gone 1 mile up the hill and I was suffering. I reminded myself that I usually suffer early on and that I would get in a rhythm and feel better as the climb continued. At the switchbacks, I could see 2 chasers not too far behind. It was really windy, and I just hoped they weren’t working together. Miraculously, I kept increasing my lead, and as it turned out, the 10-mile hill climb was really only 8.5 miles. Had I really been disappointed that the climb had been shortened? Was I delusional? After catching my breath, I rolled back down to the finish line to determine my gap. Shelley and Molly made it up 2 minutes behind and Jane D. 3 minutes. I wasn’t sure where this would put all of us on Day 3, but I new it would be very close! Back to the hotel for more food and ice bath #2.
Day 3: Iron Mountain RR: 72 miles, 3-24 mile loops. At sign in I learned I was in the lead by 15 seconds over Shelley and ~1:30 over Molly. Problem was, there was a 20 second time bonus for the winner and the finish was on a short, power climb. I needed a really good plan. Holly and I warmed up together and decided I should rest as much as possible early in the race and only attempt to get in a break if Shelley was in it. Holly would stay at the front and help bridge other attacks, including any by Jane D. and Molly. We started slow, but Jane D. got bored and started attacking midway through the first lap. Holly helped to reel her in once or twice. Finally, one of Jane’s attacks stuck and she was off the front. Proman had 4-5 in the pack, so Kristina and Kate (I believe) worked hard to pull her in midway through lap 2 with some help by Jane R of Metromint. It was quite an impressive effort and it took some time to catch Jane D. It didn’t take long for the action to start again. On the hills at the end of lap 2, Amanda of MM went to the front with Molly on her wheel. I should have known they were up to something, but have to admit, I was taken off-guard when Molly attacked. No one went with her and no one wanted to chase her down. I tried once to jump and bridge to her before she got too far away, but Shelley was on my wheel immediately so I shut it down. Molly kept increasing her lead and I was trying to stay calm, but couldn’t get anyone to work with me to pull her in. Proman and Metromint still had 4-5 riders each, so I was worried that they would pull me in if I tried to bridge and then it would be a wasted effort. At the start of lap 3, with Molly nowhere in sight, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I sensed that Proman might be tired from pulling in Jane, so on the hills, I went to the front and pushed the pace. I looked back and was amazed to see I had a small gap. I stood and went as hard as I could through the remainder of the hills. It probably took me 7-8 miles to catch Molly, but when I did, we had a significant gap. We worked together, and since I was extremely paranoid, even after hearing from the official that we’d opened up a 2-3 minute time gap, we went hard for the remaining ~10 miles. When we came across the finish line (me right behind Molly), we had opened more than a 4-minute gap, giving me the GC win and moving Molly into second. Janeen’s family was there to greet me at the finish of my first Cat1/2 win and first Stage Race victory. Janeen was not far behind, clenching 2nd in the Cat3 GC and the few points she needed for a CAT2 upgrade!
As always, this was a team effort. Thanks to Holly for looking after me in the races and giving some superb tactical advice!! Thanks to Janeen for the excellent company on some long drives and warm-up rides! Thanks to Mike, Dallas, and Michelle (Janeen’s family) for supporting us in the feed zones and some excellent post-race company. AND, thanks to Michelle for the wonderful post-race massages!
Kelly McDonald
posted by Touchstone Climbing/ AB Cycling at 5:12 PM
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