ALTOLAB LAKE FRONT ROAD RACE
Milwaukee, WI - July 22, 2009 - Cat 3/4 Women
The day started out rather gloomy for us - tired legs and cloudy skies, but we headed out the door and rode the ~4-5 miles down to the race start. The course was 5 laps of an approximately 4.2 mile loop with 2 punchy climbs and 2 descents - one curvy descent and one wide open, gradual descent. After warming up on the course, we headed to the starting line, despite talk of running off for waffles.
The next lap also saw 2 crashes, one on the descent, which kept the field fairly polite. However, as the laps went on, the roads started to dry and the winds on Lake Dr. picked up, so everyone started fighting for wheels. People kept throwing attacks out on the second climb of pretty much every lap, but the field would catch them on the narrow park roads before our sweeping descent to the start/finish. I wouldn't say that I was feeling good, but my legs were doing ok and I was able to tag onto the back of all the attacks on the climbs, which I was pretty happy about. Also, I finally got my racing head on straight and was able to be more aggressive about fighting for the wheels I was on, which was good (I was having serious pack anxiety in the first 3 races).
At the end of the 4th lap, Christine Riker (Dolce Vita) launched an attack up the second climb (she led some fantastic attacks throughout the race) and when we got to the top the pack was nice and stretched out. However, just before the right turn to the sweeper descent, our pace car pulled us over and basically stopped us so we could be passed by the men's pack before the turn. Unfortunately that also allowed all of the pure sprinter types to grab on to the pack again, which came back to bite me later on.
When we finally took off again, we headed down the descent at break neck speed and flew back up the first hill. I dropped to the back of the lead pack on the curvy downhill (I just couldn't get the sight of all the skidding crashes out of my head), but sprinted back into the pack in time for the final hill of the race. The wheel I was on got gapped on the downhill, but I was able to get myself (and sadly, most of the pack) up to the group of leaders with about half a mile to go. I wasn't able to tuck in, so I found myself even at the front of the pack as the sprint started. It was all going pretty well and I was even with the others in the top 3-4 until the last 20m when they all put it into an extra gear and I found myself sitting back on my seat. So, in the end I finished 11th, but I'm definitely the happiest I've been with my race so far. Dana and Jill took 22 and 23 and worked their butts off time trialing it in the horrible headwinds.
But, the day did end on a bright note with the three of us getting to watch the pro men's race and see some amazing racing. And tomorrow, we're off to Racine for a funky almost figure eight of a crit. Wish us luck!
RACINE.ORG CRITERIUM
Racine, WI - July 23, 2009 - Cat 3/4 Women
The fifth race in five days (!) was in Racine, about a 40 minute drive from where we're staying near Milwaukee. Our race was 28 laps of a very short course -- about 0.7 miles per lap in downtown Racine -- with eight turns per lap. The online description of the course says it's "flat" but that is, quite frankly, a complete lie. Also missing from the online description is the fact that the pavement in some places is just terrible, which caused a couple of explosive flats during our race as well as one near crash.
It was a warm sunny day, and quite humid. Our warmups over the past five days have been getting less and less enthusiastic, as we've been more tired and sore and as the days have been getting warmer. I think we may have put in scarcely 30 minutes on the trainer before wandering off in search of shade and rest before our race. We were a bit disheartened to see a number of new jerseys in the mix, people who haven't been racing for multiple consecutive days and therefore have fresh legs. (We've been joking that there should be a 20 pound penalty for each Superweek race a person hasn't participated in.)
The race started somewhat fast. I stayed on for a couple of laps, trying to keep a steadier pace rather than sprinting out of every corner which seems to be the general M.O. of this group. When I fell off I started working with a girl named Alma in a plain kit. We caught up to a Project 5 girl named Jeryl, and worked with her until we caught Dana. The four of us worked pretty well for several laps, and were eventually able to catch three others, including Dolce Rachel.
Right after we caught them, though, we were lapped by the pack (did I mention it was a really short course?), which still included Emily (yay!). The pack had slowed down considerably at this point, so most of us stragglers were able to hop back on. It was clear that whoever was in front of the pack was tired of pulling, and no one was willing to go up and take their place. Dana and I stayed with the pack for most of the rest of the race, until the last lap when they all took off again; we weren't going to kill ourselves sprinting for 25th place so we continued our time trialing.
Emily said she wasn't well-positioned at the end for her sprint, and we don't know exactly how she placed. We didn't go check the results after the race. We were parked pretty far from the registration/start/finish area, and by the time we had cleaned up and packed the car, we were more focused on root beer floats than on walking 3/4 mile back to registration. So far they've been pretty good about posting the results quickly so we should know soon.
Sorry this isn't the most exciting report. Also we don't have any photos from the race. Maybe tomorrow....
