This was the 2nd year that Millersburg pulled out all the stops for a 2-day, 3-event stage race. The courses were thoughtful, safe and challenging, but not so much that the racers couldn't impact the race. Everything was located in/around the center of town so parking, registration and getting to the courses was a breeze. They added a ton of nice touches - neutral water, cookies and wraps after the road race, two opportunities to schmooze with Bob Roll ... very cool. The best part was the obvious support from the community. People came out to see the racers they met last year. They would see us riding on the roads to warm up or cool down and they'd wave or cheer for us. They gave us recommendations for food, tried to hook everyone up with host families (see the C3 blog here) and generally encouraged us to have a good time. We were treated like they WANTED us there. It was novel and much appreciated.
On to the race. The 1-2-3 field was small but had some depth - again the Juice Plus star, Laura, showed up. HPC sent 4 strong riders, C3 had a squad of 5. Team CycleLife sent a team of 3 1/2 .. I say 1/2 because I was but a shell of myself. Three or four consecutive days of little or no sleep, stress from work and family combined with being on my feet Friday night finally caught up with me. I had lost most of my personality and felt terrible before we even got there.
The TT course was perfect for me - I should have rolled it pretty well, but I didn't. I couldn't get focused, I couldn't get my pacing right and when I finally got into the groove I nearly missed the turn around b/c I wasn't paying attention. I lost a good 10sec there, I'm certain. Sara got 9th, Robin, 10th, Mel , 14th and I came in 12th -even with all that drama, I was only a couple seconds off the top 5, so I guess I should have been pleased with that. I wasn't and so the day went on.
The girls went to check out the crit course and I was grateful for a little bit of solace while I tried to regain my personality and recover for the crit. Given our TT finishes, we were protecting Sara as our GC contender. I raced fairly conservatively most of the race, chasing a few things and bringing back a couple of dangerous moves ... I was in good position and tried to stay relaxed the whole time. On the whole, I felt much better about this race. Until we got the bell lap. Someone attacked and (unnamed rider) decided she wanted to chase as we were leaning over into the first left turn - she didnt even look before she abruptly swerved left. I saw it happening and yelled at her not to do it ... she did it anyway and I had to slam on my brakes or T-bone her. Seriously ??? I know we all make questionable moves sometimes but this was blatant. I slammed on the brakes. And then had to get restarted in the middle of a hill. In my 53-13 (at least it felt that way). Fabulous. That was the split in the pack and while I chased my little heart out, I couldn't catch. I wound up about 12th while Sara made the split and wound up in the top 10. Melanie finished right behind me and Robin stuck it out to finish at the back of the pack.
My lack of filters kicked in here b/c I tore off in search of (unnamed rider). I was pretty heated - I absolutely HATE when people take my safety into their hands... If I hadn't seen it happening, she would have taken half the field out in that turn, going about 22mph up a hill. For my fellow competitors, you're welcome - I made it crystal clear that this was unacceptable.
That night we stayed in a cabin - a straight-up cabin, bunk beds and a bathroom, that was IT. It was mildly entertaining but I was so tired I don't think it would have made a difference. We slept until we woke up, which was good.
Our race was at 1:15 so we had plenty of time to relax and get our things ready. 54 miles was a long race for us but by this time I had something to prove. We were again protecting Sara since she was highest in GC. Race was fairly animated with the big guns launching attacks and the field responding. 3-laps,18 miles. By lap 2 I knew it was going to end in a field sprint. There was a fabulous downhill into town with a hard right turn and a chicane leading into the sprint so this was going to be interesting. I went back and grabbed Sara several times to bring her to the wheels she needed to be on (near the front). I chased a few things and helped bring back a few things we weren't in.
After a last lap move by Lorena (HPC) was brought back, Juice Plus jumped. We had about 2k to go and it was ON ... we were like a freight train, no moving up and back, you were on the wheel or you weren't. We came into town and had it up over 40mph for the final sprint. I was in decent position - We made the final turn and I jumped with the sprint. I saw a white line and thought that was the finish - I hesitated for half a second before realizing the finish was another white line 5meters ahead. I lost a good 3 or 4 positions to that Cat4 move. But, still finished 10th and I'll take it. Melanie managed to sprint for the correct line for an awesome 5th place, while Robin and Sara survived the pack finish.
Once all the racing was over, things relaxed. We sat down for some pizza at the "Wooden Nickel". A local couple correctly pinned us as cyclists (what gave us away? Do we have it stamped on our foreheads or is it the panda-tan?) and chatted us up, asking about the race and our input on improvements.
We saved room for ice cream, because everything is better with ice cream. Truly. We sat in the town gazebo and read a little about the town's history on the plaques in the town square. The same couple from dinner came over and offered a tour of their beautiful yard- in DC or Baltimore, this would be odd and borderline frightening, but we're in small-town-America.
They lived about a block away in this gorgeous old home. Kathy had attended school in DC (horticulture) and was dying to show these DC dwellers what she does in her spare time. Their yard was absolutely covered with beautiful annuals and perinnials; trees, shrubs and flowers of all types. It looked and smelled wonderful. A winding stairway, lined with flowers, led us up to their wrap around porch where you could see the river and the sun setting.
Now thats the way to cap off a weekend of stress, sweat and tears ... If you can make it next year, put Millersburg on your list of things to do. You won't regret it. More Millersburg stuff on the Team blog.
My lack of filters kicked in here b/c I tore off in search of (unnamed rider). I was pretty heated - I absolutely HATE when people take my safety into their hands... If I hadn't seen it happening, she would have taken half the field out in that turn, going about 22mph up a hill. For my fellow competitors, you're welcome - I made it crystal clear that this was unacceptable.
That night we stayed in a cabin - a straight-up cabin, bunk beds and a bathroom, that was IT. It was mildly entertaining but I was so tired I don't think it would have made a difference. We slept until we woke up, which was good.
Our race was at 1:15 so we had plenty of time to relax and get our things ready. 54 miles was a long race for us but by this time I had something to prove. We were again protecting Sara since she was highest in GC. Race was fairly animated with the big guns launching attacks and the field responding. 3-laps,18 miles. By lap 2 I knew it was going to end in a field sprint. There was a fabulous downhill into town with a hard right turn and a chicane leading into the sprint so this was going to be interesting. I went back and grabbed Sara several times to bring her to the wheels she needed to be on (near the front). I chased a few things and helped bring back a few things we weren't in.
After a last lap move by Lorena (HPC) was brought back, Juice Plus jumped. We had about 2k to go and it was ON ... we were like a freight train, no moving up and back, you were on the wheel or you weren't. We came into town and had it up over 40mph for the final sprint. I was in decent position - We made the final turn and I jumped with the sprint. I saw a white line and thought that was the finish - I hesitated for half a second before realizing the finish was another white line 5meters ahead. I lost a good 3 or 4 positions to that Cat4 move. But, still finished 10th and I'll take it. Melanie managed to sprint for the correct line for an awesome 5th place, while Robin and Sara survived the pack finish.
Once all the racing was over, things relaxed. We sat down for some pizza at the "Wooden Nickel". A local couple correctly pinned us as cyclists (what gave us away? Do we have it stamped on our foreheads or is it the panda-tan?) and chatted us up, asking about the race and our input on improvements.
We saved room for ice cream, because everything is better with ice cream. Truly. We sat in the town gazebo and read a little about the town's history on the plaques in the town square. The same couple from dinner came over and offered a tour of their beautiful yard- in DC or Baltimore, this would be odd and borderline frightening, but we're in small-town-America.
They lived about a block away in this gorgeous old home. Kathy had attended school in DC (horticulture) and was dying to show these DC dwellers what she does in her spare time. Their yard was absolutely covered with beautiful annuals and perinnials; trees, shrubs and flowers of all types. It looked and smelled wonderful. A winding stairway, lined with flowers, led us up to their wrap around porch where you could see the river and the sun setting.
Now thats the way to cap off a weekend of stress, sweat and tears ... If you can make it next year, put Millersburg on your list of things to do. You won't regret it. More Millersburg stuff on the Team blog.
8 comments:
You should not have been close to being in the 53x13 going up that crit hill...53x21 or 19 were plenty big for me in the 40+. AND, if you see someone is going to jump out left to attack or chase, MOVE left or slow down a hair or both. Your front wheel is your responsibility, and no one should demand or expect the racers behind to have any obligations to those behind them, short of slamming on brakes for no reason...obviously you saw this coming. It's like when someone behind you says, "on your left"...well, they should just save their breath, because whether they can get by you or not is up to them and their daring and skills, and of no concern to you, let alone needing to hear about their problems.
Thank you for those wise words - kind of like when someone is on the sidelines shouting to "move up!" ... what a great idea, why didn't I think of that ?
Perhaps if we weren't TURNING LEFT and I wasn't already on the inside of the turn when the rider abruptly changed lines, I might have had the ability to move left. As it is, abruptly diving to the inside of the turn is a dangerous and bonehead move.
Mayhaps 53-13 was exaggerating - or maybe I just turn a heavier gear than you. All I know is that restarting after all this drama in a heavy gear was pretty crappy.
Someone as wise as you are should not be afraid to post your name/contact info. I also would submit that if you don't care for my recount of the race, which is mainly for entertainment purposes anyway, perhaps you could spare us all your cattiness and simply don't read/post.
I KNOW I'm not the "unnamed rider" I wasn't there. PHEW!
If I guess the color of the "unnamed rider's" kit will you tell me if I'm right?
I didn't see that particular unnamed rider nearly take you out, but I did see another unnamed rider nearly crash into you on the very next turn (the downhill one). I think you are a magnet for unnamed riders. But seriously, way to keep it upright in both cases. Since I was behind you I can thank you that I have all of my skin right now.
CK-I knew you'd appreciate that (unnamed rider) bit ... I told you that you were never the (unnamed rider). As for guessing the team ... thats too easy!
Chikin-I was so angry about the rider I mentioned that I didnt even notice subsequent near-misses. Who knew cycling was a contact sport ? Glad we managed to keep all our skin, thats what matters in the end. You guys had a great race.
It's not that i don't care for your take on the race...i do care...i've read everyone's account that i could find by google blog searching. I'm just commenting on it, as you have allowed me to do, by putting it out there for the world to read and comment - anonymously. As far as wisdom goes, the anonymous way is the more wise, that's why we vote behind a closed curtain, and aren't required to tell how we voted.
Anonymous is right. If you can't take care of your own front wheel, don't race.
She obviously can take care of her front wheel, all you have to do is read the account of the ridere that was behind her. I just raced a Crit here in PA, and feel the same way. It all seems like someone dives into the corner from a line that they are taking, I just brake and move on, very frustrating!!! Are you doing Millersburg 2009?
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