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
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
posted by Touchstone Climbing/ AB Cycling at 7:50 PM
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