Fort Ritchie - Where I was almost a Champion

This weekend's Masters Championship race was sparsely attended by the women. In total, the 35+ and 45+ field had 7 pre-registered and 2 day of. One of the pre-registrants couldn't make it so we were still a tiny field.

It's a fun course and the weather was darn near perfect for a fast race while working on the bike-tan lines. The thing about such a small field, there's really nowhere to hide and you don't get a line of riders to latch on should you blow yourself up at the front and drop back.

Dana was in the 45+ racing against two Colavita riders, Tania and I were racing for the 35+ jersey against Mary from NCVC, who is on fire right now, Tsahai from Artemis and a relatively unknown Stacy Jensen with an out-of-district team.

Dana went from the gun while I had what might have been my worst start ever. I couldn't clip in, nearly impaled myself on the top tube when my foot slipped and then killed myself to catch up as our small field crested the initial rise in the course. I realized that I was in the small ring - which explained why I was spinning out trying to catch back on - about halfway down the hill into the last turn. I guess that's one way to start a race. Sheesh.

We settled into a pretty good pace with some attacks from Colavita and NCVC but I was successful to stay around 3rd wheel most of the time. Dana launched a couple of times and I would counter but to be honest, no one wanted to do that course alone with the headwind on the backside. I saw others make attacks and noted that attacking into the wind didn't work because everyone would come together with the downhill into the turn. It seemed like a lot of jockying for shelter but no one was able to sit in.

While we kept the pace pretty solid, it was still a relatively uneventful race with the exception of the beer primes. Those prompted some momentum but it normally fizzled out by the first turn. A prime was called with 4-to-go so coming to the line the speed picked up. I had planned on countering the prime but was a little bit out of position so I charged past the line with everyone else, picking off spots. There was a melee behind me and I found out it was my teammate, Tania, that went down. They neutralized us with 2-to-go as the ambulance had to get on course to help Tania. I have some pretty gruesome pictures of her helmet that Phil sent out - definitely a good "wear your helmet" campaign message. Thankfully she is ok and home, healing with plenty of road rash.

The Chief Ref had us spin around while we waited and let us know that they would start us with a neutral lap and then we'll be on for 2-to-go.

Starting what amounts to a sprint race is always tricky - everyone has lost the rhythm of the race and we're all a bit twitchy, trying to organize our respective plans of attack. We got going neutral and then got the whistle to go for reals. Kind of. Going around the backside no one wanted to take the wind so it slowed down a tick. Come into the bell lap and we started jockeying for position. Dana took a flyer on the backside but we were catching her as we went into the downhill. I knew this was now or never so I dropped a gear and flew up the inside. For a second I thought I might have gone too late and would run out of real estate before the turn but I came through clean, leaned into the turn and immediately straightened up to start my sprint. YES. You read that right. I actually sprinted.

I threw everything I had into it, running to the line and no one was passing me. I saw the red tape and heard a wheel coming around me. Stacy just out sprinted me for the win. Dana came in on my right, winning her category. I was pretty happy with myself. While I didn't win, I knew I had a good race.

Then the drama. I was informed that I had won the jersey. Stacy is not in a club in our district and, to be honest, I was shocked and thrilled at the same time. Dana and I BOTH won jerseys. Yay!

Not so fast.

The MABRA rules changed in the last couple of years. Unlike VCA, where you have to be a member of a club in good standing, anyone who is of age can come in, take the championship and maybe dip in sometime next year. Apparently you don't have to be associated with MABRA at all to win the championship. You can simply have an address in a certain zip code zone and you are eligible. How does that encourage people to be a part of a club or encourage clubs to bother to pay dues and promote races?

As we were waiting for the ruling as to who actually got the jersey, she actually said "I don't care about the jersey, just give me the payout". Don't get me wrong, I have raced with her in other venues and I have nothing against her at all. Yeah, she won the race, all well and good. But she's not MABRA. She's not going to represent MABRA. Her club does not promote races in MABRA, nor do they pay MABRA dues. She DOESN'T CARE about the jersey, does that not say enough??  Is THAT who you want to call your "Champion"?

What was a great race for me pretty much turned into an emotional rollercoaster. It was a tiny race of 8 people but it meant something and now it represents something different. I never ask for anything to be handed to me but this is completely unfair and unsupportive of those who support you, MABRA.

I suppose this is where someone will say "too bad, life isn't fair".

Whatever.