National Road Race Championships by Maria

Elite Women's and Women U23 National RR, Seven Springs Resort, Pennsylvania, Monday, July 16, 2007 (Master's RR report follows below)

Our race is a 92KM, 2 lap course, starting with an extremely fast descent, hard right turn to a short steep down hill, through narrow twisty roads, a hard right then kicks up a short power hill. Briefly, the course flattens out, before a right turn onto highway 31 which climbs steadily to Laurel Hill Summitt topping off at 2700 feet. The next section is very fast through Bakersville before heading south on Trent Road, which rolls upward. The Elite course completes a fast descent into Trent before the same final 10KM as the Masters' course. (The climb ascends for 2 miles, slowly getting steeper, has a short descent, then a final ascent shallower than the first 2 miles. The course finishes this part of the climb with a left turn into mountain condos, then descends fast and twisty to land riders on a short 4-5% uphill section. The road courses down a short, steep hill, then hits the final 1KM with a bit of a stairstep climb, the final 200 meters being a slight uphill grade.) The pack flew down the descent. I have no idea how fast we were going, but there were some speed whobbles going on, and I was grabbing my top tube and pressing my bike into the ground as hard as I could to stay stable. The power hill on Roaring Run was a bit of a rude awakening after the long descent, but I considered it a good warmup for the coming ascent to Laurel Hill Summitt. After a steady pace to this summitt, Webcor and Lipton traded attacks on highway 31, ensuring our speed was very high back onto Trent Road. The attacks continued across Trent Road, and back down on Copper Kettle Highway; a highway speed meter showed our speed at 48-50 MPH, which felt quite tame for the day. The attacks continued as the final climb of our first lap began and a mishap by one of the Tibco riders held me in a trackstand, while 2 other gals remounted their bikes. I finished the climb getting into a small chase group behind the front group. After the completion of the first lap, more riders caught my group, and we began to negotiate the speedy descent. We were totally strung out through the narrow, twisty section and I found myself gritting my teeth over the short power climb. I started working hard to bridge to the group in front and managed to regain the main chase group just before the Laurel Hill summitt. There were 11 of us in this group behind the 8 leaders. Kristin Anderson attacked on the main climb. By this time, I really knew this climb and was able to work the uphill and our group stayed together. With the other riders for protection, the short, shallow grade which taxed me in the Master's race did not cause me the same difficulty. As we came to the final 1KM, our group was paced by one of the U23 riders gunning for the silver, but everyone jumped for the final 200 meters. What amazes me about these results is that Laura Van Gilder put 10 seconds on me in 200meters???? eegads


Masters National RR, Trent Loop Lollipop Course, Tuesday, July 10, 2007.

A small field of about 15 started our 73KM course at 11:30am under sunny and very humid conditions. The race began with a short climb then a fast descent into Trent (Trent is a town with a deli. Yep, don't blink, that's Trent, just a deli...). We turned right onto the 11mile loop, which has some rollers and a GOOD 6 minute hill, a steady hill at probably 11%. We were scheduled to complete the loop 3 times before heading back up the 10KM climb to the finish (which, BTW, is the same finish as the Elite RR course). The climb ascends for 2 miles, slowly getting steeper, has a short descent, then a final ascent shallower than the first 2 miles. The course finishes this part of the climb with a left turn into mountain condos, then descends fast and twisty to land riders in a short 4-5% uphill section. The road courses down a short, steep hill, then hits the final 1KM with a bit of a stairstep climb, the final 200 meters being a slight uphill grade. We just rolled around the first time, with minimal activity. The feed zone (which my mother loved to call the 'food place'-like I was going to pick up a burger or something) was fun, as 3 of the 40+ y/o women had their mom's handing out bottles! On lap 2, I did the pace making on the 6 minute hill, and our speed continued at a good clip to the start of the 3rd loop. Terry from Title Nine, out of Boulder, set the pace up the 6 minute climb for the 3rd loop, and our group was down to 3 at the top. A bit of a slow start to our rotation allowed 3 gals to bridge. Our group of 6 rotated through the rollers and feed zone. As we approached the base of the finishing hill, Terry, (Title Nine), Mara (Advil-Chapstick) and I were left to battle it out. Terry put a small gap on Mara and I with a slight acceleration on the final steep section of the initial 2 mile section. She kept her gap on the down hill and I began to make time as we began the climb again. I made a good tactical decision, moving to the right side of the road to get Mara off my wheel. This allowed me to put a gap between Mara and myself before the left hander to the twisty descent. I really struggled on the short, shallow climb, losing significant time. My pace picked up in the final 1KM, and I could see Mara ahead, but she was too far and late for a catch in the short distance to the finish. I rolled over the line in 2nd.

Oh, I also took 3rd in the Women's 40-44 for BAR (best all-around) points for the 3-race masters series.

Thanks for listening, maria

Infinion and Beyond...

Kelly, OTF at Lafayette

After about a month and a half off of racing, I was ready (or nagged by my racing-obsessed husband) to jump back in. Might as well dive in head first and start with Infinion on July 7th – an NRC, a strong pro field, a lovely power hill – what fun! I told myself to make it to lap 3, then I could decide if I wanted to drop out, which I know is usually not an option for me at lap 3, but setting my expectations low was all part of my psychology. Christine T. of Webcor attacked on the second climb and although the pace accelerated, it was actually nice with her off the front, as the rest of Webcor just got into blocking and drafting mode. Cat Carroll was quite active, but being the lone Aaron’s rider, had her work cut out for her. Teammate Pat got some PR as she tried to help Cheerwine pull Christine in, but that proved a lofty goal. I admired her ambition as I shamelessly sucked wheel in the pack. Christine stayed away for about 40 min. - hmm, what a nice TT workout with Nationals around the corner. When she rejoined the group, the fun began. As I was holding on for dear life and basically performing my longest ever lactic acid interval (somewhere around 45min, I’m guessing), I lost track of the sequence of events. There was another break, Webcor was in it, need I say more. I got in trouble on the second to last lap and fell off the back on the last climb, but Teammate Janeen was awesome and hung in there to finish with the pack in 18th – her first NRC race - brilliant! I slugged in for a 20th position finish, but made it past my 5 lap minimum, didn’t get pulled, went to the wine country for food and beverage with Pat and my husband afterwards, so overall a happy day! Congrats to Amber Rais for her win and thanks to Katherine Kuri for her hug.

Next up were the Mt. Diablo Hill Climb and Layfayette Crit (July 14/15) sponsored in part by my favorite team, Touchstone! I love Diablo and really wanted to do well at this race, but unfortunately I also love wine and Tofutti and in my little hiatus indulged in a little bit too much of both. Nonetheless, I had a great warm-up and felt ready to go. And boy did I go – WAY too hard in the first mile or two. I passed a few riders and found myself suffering quite a bit for the rest of the climb. I wanted to win, but didn’t’, I wanted to break 30 min, but didn’t, I wanted a burrito and Pete’s coffee afterwards and was wildly successful in finding both!! Pat finished 5th, I was 7th and Janeen was 8th. The top 8 riders all finished within about 45-50 seconds, so despite our failure to podium, we had some good efforts with some impressive competition. Congrats to Flavia for her win.

Last, but not least – Layfayette Crit. Although crits are not my thing, I decided I would be very aggressive and get in a great workout. It was hard to keep myself psyched up when I could barely get into my medium endurance zone on my trainer and then had two other riders say to me, “what are you doing here – you do know this is a crit, right?” I decided I was going to make them pay for that! Although my legs were a little slow to warm up, I held true to my plan. I tried to attacked, tried to bridge to some breaks, tried to chased down some breaks, then attacked again. Finally, my efforts paid off and when I least expected it, I looked back and had a small gap. I stood and went as hard as I could and managed to get myself away. As I continued, I was encouraged by the supportive group of spectators lining the course giving me time gaps…5 sec, 8 sec, 14 sec…where are the damn lap cards??? Soon, they appeared and I had 5 to go. Unfortunately, with 2 laps to go, the time gaps were narrowing and I looked back to see 3 riders, with Flavia on the front. With 1 lap to go, I was caught, but hoped the 4 of us could work together to stay away on the last lap. Heck, I’ll take 4th. Then the 3 went by me a little fast (trying to drop me?) and I had to work very hard to chase back on. Then they just sort of sat up. I needed a breather and couldn’t work right away. One by one the other riders started breezing by and I was blown. Pat came around my right side and I tried to finish strong with her, but was back around 15th place at the finish line. I accomplished my goal of riding aggressively and definitely got a great workout, and as an added bonus got one of the primes while out in front. Thanks SO MUCH to Markham and other Touchstoners and Steve for cheering me on and to Carol for her words of encouragement and mostly for sharing her Vegan Ginger Cookie (had to mention food at least once – it’s a genetic thing).

It’s great to be back!

Kelly

Maria at Master's National ITT

So, I showed up at the Seven Springs Mountain Resort to do the Master's National Races, starting with the ITT yesterday. The course was an out-and-back, out-and back on the Northbound Section of a 4-lane highway. The highway was closed to cars for our race. Each section was approximately 6KM for a total of 24KM of racing. There were slight grades in each direction but no real rollers. Fortunately with the narrow lanes we had for racing, the officials gave us 1minute between riders. I found the course to be deceptively challenging and much more racing friendly than I expected.

After charging off the start ramp, the course headed onto an exit ramp for the first 180 degree turn to start the initial "out" section. A northwest cross wind on the slight uphill grade made the first 4KM of this "out" section difficult. There was a rumble strip to ensure I rode a straight line. The last 2KM of this initial "out" section was slightly downhill but with the wind it still wasn't too fast. 180 #2 was next followed what felt like the fasted 6KM of the course. I am assuming that this section was protected from the wind. 180 #3 and back out I went. The slight uphill felt more fluid than the first time, as again I am assuming I was protected from the wind by being in the "middle" of this serpentine TT. 180 #4 and then the wind started to feel stronger, as I was now on the totally unprotected side of the course. The gal starting behind me caught me as the road started to go down in the final 5KM. I was able to keep pace with her for a while but really began to feel the effort in the final 1KM. I rolled over the line at 35:54, good enough for 5th place. I was able to sport my Touchstone Jersey on the podium for my "third place bronze" last night. You'll be happy to know that my mom took photos. I also learned that I was the carrot for our new 40-44 Women's National Champion.

Maria

Maria at Masters Crit Nationals

Our field of 15 lined up at 8:45am yesterday for 21 laps of a 1.61KM course (35k total), which included 2 left hand turns, one sweeping curve to the left, then a final left hand turn onto the short finishing straight. The first lap was slow, so I attacked the final corner of the 2nd lap. The field chased back on easily, as there was a slight head wind into turn two. Unfortunately the field did not counter attack to keep the pace high. In general the activity level of the race was low, and I tried attacking in various spots along the course. If I was the most active on a totally flat course, you know the field must have been less than inspired. There was, however, some activity from 4 other women, including a rider from Delaware, with whom I worked later in the race.
After much attacking, counter attacking and attack covering (hey - where's my Claudio Ciapucci award????), all with some limited success, I find our race with just 4 laps to go. With just over one lap to go, the Delaware rider attacked into the final corner. I countered, and called her to my wheel. We had a small gap going into the first turn. Mara Miller, Advil-Chapstick, countered as the field closeded our gap. Mara held her lead going into turn two (Delaware and myself were in the back of the field at this turn). I maneuvered around some of the riders out of turn two, but found my speed insufficient to reach the chasers at the left handed sweeper. Mara's gap stuck into the final turn, which was easily held to the line. I found myself crossing the line in a dissappointing 9th. However, the high point was that my parents had a wonderful time as the announcer cued in on me with my impatience at the undermotivated field. I also got quite a bit of sprinting practice.

Maria

Pat Scores 5th and Schwag at Coyote Creek Circuit Race