TGIF - 7/26/13

This past weekend I decided to skip Lost River and collect myself after Coppi. I haven't raced Coppi since ... maybe 2008? And I remembered why about halfway through the race. The course doesn't seem overly hard but it's a doozy.

I was there early to hang out in the feedzone with the likes of Katy and Kat - both of whom are formidable road racers so I knew it was going to be a long day. As I watched the guys finish up, I wasn't feeling any better about it; most of them looked like death. The clouds were parting and temps were rising - definitely a long day ahead.

As I'm pulling myself together I realize that I forgot my race wheels. The boy had laid the bag against my bike so I'd have to see them - and I did, as I moved them out of the way to carry my bike out to the car. Thankfully, he was finished with his race wheels so we quickly made the change and I was on my way. The 1-2-3s were racing with the 4s but scored separately, so it made for a decent size field, given the time of year and the difficulty of the race.

We got underway after a neutral-ish roll out and commenced with small accelerations but nothing super hard. ABRT had the most riders in the field, as usual, and we all knew it was a waiting game to see who went first (and who countered). The attacks started and the field shrank but Kelley and I both held on and made it through to the rather civilized climb to finish the first lap. As soon as we made the first right turn, it was on for reals. One after another, attack, counter attack. It's a simple and effective strategy if you've got the bullets to spend. I followed one, got brought back, recovered, followed another ...(repeat a couple times) until we hit the dreaded stair-stepper, where ABRT attacked again and I just couldn't follow. I was summarily dropped and considered soft pedaling in. But no, I could still see the pack ahead of me and Kelley was up there so I went into "rabbit/greyhound" mode - chase what's moving in front of me. I made it up to one group of riders and we slowly clawed our way up to what was left of the pack after it split. Kelley was in that pack and I was happy to see a friendly face. I had recovered a bit by then and I started pushing the pace. A cat4 kept jumping, trying to break free, and I kept jumping with her as the 2 ABRTs in the group would bring us back. I didn't understand - the main pack was in view, we could do this!

I proceeded to question WHY - why won't they let us go? It's a Cat4 and me. Let us dangle out there, let us drag you up. The 2 ABRTs with us had been given the direction that they were to ride slow and keep anyone from rejoining. Really? If I went, killed myself to get up to the pack and brought them up to their teammates, wouldn't that make more strategic sense for them (not necessarily for me!) I tried to explain this to them in vain. They did wind up letting a Cat 4 slip off the front but refused to let me race. By this time we had whittled down to 4 - two cat 1/2/3 and two cat 4s. One ABRT in each category. Why the Cat4 ABRT let another Cat 4 off, I'll never understand.

So, I sat on. I surfed wheels, let ABRT pull me around and refused to pull through. Coming through to the bell lap, it was something close to a cookie ride. I looked around and realized we had dropped one of the ABRT riders so we were down to 3- ABRT, NCVC and me. I still let the ABRT drag us around and we picked up a Kenda rider - she was obviously suffering but rallied to catch the train as we came through.

We kept a decent pace through the rest of the lap. I couldn't do anything but wait for the finish. Quote of the day was something to the effect of "Oh God, there it is" ... as the finishing hill came into view. We all giggled in commiseration. I practiced a sprint up the hill - I was actually trying but it had to have looked ridiculious. One of these days, I'll figure out how to be graceful on the bike. Maybe.

I need someone to explain to me why the strongest team in the race (and in the district right now) with the most riders in the peloton (most races) would need to instruct their racers to ride negatively. We could have made it a race and had some fun doing it. In my opinion, they would have done better to get back up to the pack to help their riders do something else. The apparent global thought is that if you have a teammate up the road, your race is over. That's nonsensical - the teammate up the road was alone with several other riders of different teams. Bringing 2 of their team and one of another team (lets face it, I'm not setting the roads on fire right now) would have helped the numbers, if anything. 

Someone explain the logic because I'm clearly missing something here. 

Commentary, a couple of race reports and some pictures.

So, it's been a while. I have plenty of excuses but the bottom line is I wasn't inspired to write. I know, and I suspect my readers can tell, when I'm forcing it - the end result is informative but not especially interesting.

It is very frustrating when I actually open up and question my own preconceived notions out loud, as it were, only to hear gossip going around with whatever hurtful or downright bitchy comments that can be made. In the future, talk to me - shoot me a msg, post a comment - whatever. Have some pride and have an adult conversation.

Enough about the negative. A big, huge, I-couldn't possibly-explain-how-much-it-means-to-me thank you to those who have expressed concern and/or commiseration, offered an ear or shoulder, put up with me being debbie-downer, given advice or simply encouraged me to keep on keeping on. 

In the infamous words of Forrest Gump "and that's all I have to say about that".




Onward. Reston was a rainout for us ladies - simply survival. Several girls (arguably smarter than the rest of us) either didn't start or exited early. The wrecks started on the second or third lap and even in the small, single file groups, people slid out on random corners. Even the steadiest wheels fell victim and, to be honest, I was happy just to stay upright. I believe I'm a contender in the "funniest face" contest with this shot from Dom Boonen.

Not my best side - Photo Credit: Dom Boonen

Teammates Dana, Kelley, Christine and I all succeeded in staying upright and finishing the race no worse for the wear (except maybe emotional scars). Of course, the sun came out with about 5-to go and the rest of the fields had dry, sunny and, as the day wore on, hella hot conditions. I did get a rocking tan from marshaling - only on my back and shoulders. You know, to even out the awesome bike tan lines on my arms and legs. My masseur is going to crack up when I go in later this week.

Overall, I'm glad I did the race not just because I stayed upright, but because we just received word that Reston Town Center will not be hosting us in 2014. Very sad - it's a great race, in a masochistic way, and a classic in our district. We (Evolution Cycling Club) are looking for a new venue as I type, one of similar feel and status for the new and improved race in 2014. Ping me if you have ideas!

Next up: Adventures for the Cure Road Warrior race. This was a new event on fabulous roads in my old stomping grounds. I know these roads well, as I cut my racing/training teeth on them a long, long time ago. Hold your tongue, it wasn't that long ago. Anyway, given my mental and fitness issues, I didn't expect much and got less. Dana had a great day, finishing with the chasing group (chasing Katy - oh, what, you're not surprised?!). I held on well until I didn't and pulled myself with one lap to go in order to spare the moto's and officials from having to search for me when I keeled over in the woods. 'Nuff said. (I have to say, I'm rather pleased with how un-rambling this race report is).

This past weekend - Hagerstown Crit, the Sr. Championship race. Attendance was low, ostensibly due to the holiday weekend, but our field was strong. Evo strong - we had 6 in the race (to include the Cat 3s that were racing with the 1/2s but scored separately). I went into this with (finally) a different mindset - I wasn't going to just ride to survive. I was going to play, dammit. If I blow up, I blow up but if all worked out, my teammates could capitalize on the effort.

this side is a bit better

We went into the race with a plan and we executed. It was FUN. We played, we controlled the tone of the race and ... we were racing, not just rolling around, waiting for a sprint finish. There were some hard efforts as we tried to wear down the pack and get someone away. With about 10 to go, I was off the front and something happened in the pack - two girls went down really hard on the 120 turn and one of our Evo's took a softer dive to avoid the melee. I was caught and heard about the crash while recovering in the pack. We did a lap (slow around that turn as the EMTs cleared the riders off the road) and launched another Evo attack at the top of the hill. Despite a nice gap, they were just letting it dangle -the pack caught up and suddenly got the 2-to-go call. They shortened the race by 6 laps to get the ambulance on the course. Unfortunately, we were all caught out of position for the final hectic scramble. Kelley pulled out nice effort to make up ground for 4th, I finished 5th, Dana 6th and Christine 8th (all in the 1/2 field). Tania and Gwenn finished 3rd and 5th, respectively in the Cat 3 field. While we didn't get the top spot on the podium, I'm proud of the teamwork and good, solid racing by our squad.

Can't wait to do it again.

Tania, Dana, Gwenn, Kelley and me - missing from photo: Christine- I think we did capture her car (on the left side)         Photo Credit: Claudia