The Carl Dolan Memorial Race - we hate it but we love it. I hear people speak of this race with both opinions, sometimes in the same sentence. The things we love include the class that DC Velo always puts into their events, the recovery tent (complete with Nutella, the nectar of the gods), the fun lead cars, the quick results and random touches like Ryan running around in a Curious George outfit asking if we're curious about clean energy. The things we hate - well, hate is a pretty strong word, so lets just call it the things we don't love: the inevitable headwind on the backside of the course, the fact that the course makes it so hard to shed weaker riders, that godforsaken turn at the bottom where everyone (at least in my experience) hits the brakes and causes a domino effect in the field, and the inevitable terrible crash(s) that happen(s) every year.
Some teams make this their goal race with all hands on deck. This year, many raced a partial squad with teammates disbursed to Battenkill. There are always the one-offs and, with Evolution, the two-off. We staged a decent field of Senior Women with a solid Novice women starting a minute behind us. Unlike most years, the race started at the gun with American University dragging the field in single-file for the first lap and a half. This was not going to be the normal cookie-ride to the sprint. When AU pulled off, we had various volunteers to keep the pace fairly high. ABRT had 3 in the field and staged more than one attack and counter attack move. We (Kelley and I) were glued to their respective wheels with a keen eye on Artemis, who has won just about every race she's entered this year. A few laps in they called a prime so I thought it might be a good time to test out the legs. I wanted to gauge that hill and how long I could hold a sprint. (I use the word "sprint" very loosely here).
The test was a good one -I figured out that if I went before 400m, I couldn't hold the power to the line. Good to know.
At one point toward the end of the race, ABRT launched an attack that turned into the makings of a break - all teams were represented and once we had a gap, I thought it might stick. Unfortunately, no one wanted to commit and after about a half a lap, we all came back together.
Kelley and I covered the attacks that looked dangerous but otherwise tried to stay out of the wind. By the end of the race, we were both in good position through the last turn. The field played chicken as we came up the hill until the 500m line. I found myself on the left side as the field surged. Unfortunately, everyone wanted to be on the left so I was trapped in traffic. I saw Kelley fly up the right side as I finally cleared a line. She had a gap and would have taken the "W" - but had an asthma attack 100m from the line. She coasted in for 5th as I cleared the line in 8th place.
We'll take the top 5 and top 10 for now ... but we're gunning for more.
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