Bow - Women's 4, 35+, 45+, Cathy Rowell
Total Starters: 28
NEBC Starters: 4
Carrie Lemieux – 12th (8th – Cat 4)
Cathy Rowell – 13th (9th – Cat 4)
Annette Kennedy – 18th (5th – 45+)
Aiyana Currie
Let me start off my report by saying a huge THANK YOU to all of the organizers and volunteers who made yesterday’s race happen. You all deserve a rest after all of the work you did. It was very much appreciated, and I know that I had a BLAST at this race. Thanks to all of you. Going into last week, I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to race at Bow. I was on the fence until the very last day of pre-registration, and decided last minute that I would do one more race this season.
For Carrie and I, Bow can best be described with the subtitle – ‘Stronger, not Smarter’.
Since this was my last race, I went in with no definitive goals. I wanted to hang onto the front group longer than I did last year (Bow was my only race last year, and really the first of what started this season – I held on until the second climb up the QOM hill and then was on my own), and to finish the race. Carrie had similar goals, although she did much better at Bow last year than I did – she is an awesome climber, and this race suits her well.
As expected, the pace started out fairly reasonably, and kicked up a bit going into the first big climb. I managed to stay with the pack, and led down through the following downhill, into the next turn, and down the entire downhill section. I know – I’m not supposed to pull, but I felt great, and wanted to see what would happen. I even tried to break things up by sprinting some of the hills. Unbeknownst to me, the group had actually fractured on the first climb…Once through the high-speed dowhill section, things started climbing a bit again, and Carrie was right there on the front going up the hills. One of the racers from Quebec blatantly violated the yellow line rule on this section, and many of the group called her on it. Someone then said that they didn’t think that she spoke English. Somehow, with my heart working at 168 bpm, I managed to pull together enough French to tell her she can’t pass on the left of the yellow line! In English, she replied, ‘I know.’ At least I tried, but at that point, I also told her to watch it, and to be more careful. Together, Carrie and I crested the final hill, and I pulled down into the fire station turn, with Carrie going by to pull the ENTIRE hill through the top of the QOM climb! Yes, we know, not supposed to pull. I got dropped pretty hard going up the QOM climb the second time through, and with my legs screaming, figured there was NO WAY that I would be able to do that climb one more time. I worked hard on the downhill, getting passed by the follow car at one point. I managed to bridge before the left hand turn, however, and reconnect with the group. I still felt great, but sat on for a little while, before pulling through on the downhill section into the next left hand corner (thanks to Darcy – Team International/NERAC – I was able to take that left a little faster than the previous time around). Every climb on the backside of the lap was contested pretty hard, but the group of us managed to stay together. As we crested the final climb and started back downhill, I was again on the front of the pack when we were neutralized to wait for the masters to come through. It took longer than anticipated for them to catch us, and they didn’t actually manage until just before the turn at the fire station. We were told to remain neutral through the start/finish, so I was still on the front going through, and surprised a few spectators!
One more climb up the hill, and somehow, I didn’t get dropped as hard on this lap as the previous one. Myself and a PVC rider did have a small gap, but we worked together to close it up pretty quickly. On lap three, there was attack after attack, with myself and Carrie as the primary instigators!
I attacked and pulled most of the fast downhills, and Carrie was attacking on all of the ups. We pushed the pace, and the other racers matched us the entire way. It was really fun to see how things would play out. Strong kudos to Carrie – she was AMAZING on all of the climbs, picking her way to the front and setting the pace for the group. We didn’t get a chance to communicate during the race, but I was impressed with her strength and tenacity! The group was still all together going into the last climb before the finish, and Carrie attacked again. This time, I was all done, and couldn’t hang on. I figured I would still be ok and could try to bridge on the final downhill, but that didn’t happen. Carrie had also had enough at that point, and was just hanging on until the finish.
We didn’t finish well, but the best part of the race for us was after the finish. Most of the women who had been racing in our pack came up to us and had comments like, “You guys are so strong.â€, “You owned that race.â€, “You are my hero!†It made Carrie and I feel like we had won, even though we had finished at the back of our group! We went out to see what we could do, and we managed to push the pace for our entire group, and we had a BLAST! This was one of the most fun races I had all season, and with the comments and support of the other racers, I could have cared less where I finished. BTW – Carrie doesn’t like to go fast on the descents. When we finished yesterday, her max speed was almost 43 mph – she’s never gone that fast on her bike before!
Kudos, also to Annette. She worked with a group of four women through the race, and looked great when she was done.
Now, it’s time for a break from all of the racing – at least until cross season ;-).
Cath