Sucker Brook Cross, Elite Women, Cris Rothfuss, 9-17
Sucker Brook Cross
September 17, 2006
80 degrees (!) and sunny
Women’s Elite
12 starters
NEBC: Cris Rothfuss (3rd); Libby White (11th)
The heat and a few added technical elements made this race a bit tougher than last year. The course consisted of a fast set of barriers, a number of tight turns on the grass, a good handful of pesky little climbs (with 90 degree turns at the crests), an exciting dipsy-do in the woods, and a decent sand run. Fast and fun.
I sprinted off the line just hard enough to get the hole shot with everyone right on my tail. No need to go faster, with the point being to get to the first technical elements ahead of the fray, but not try to win the race in the first 200 meters (and have a heart attack in the process). Amy Wallace (Richard Sachs) and Steph White (Velo Bella) came around me prior to the barriers, which was fine with me as I suspected Amy (race favorite) could set the best pace and Steph is a great technical wheel to follow. Getting ahead of the fray proved worthwhile as two mass snafus occurred behind me at the barriers and first technical corner.
At the sand, Steph and I were joined by an ECV rider, while Amy started to gap us a bit. Our trio, in turn, had gapped the field somewhat. By following Steph and ECV, I improved some of my lines and soon the three of us were riding a good solid pace, cornering, hurdling and running for the most part in unison. We got a bit complacent, however, and Amy increased her lead. I realized that I was comfortable and somewhat captivated following the wheels in front of me….too comfortable and captivated, as Amy rode off to an insurmountable lead. ECV subsequently flatted, leaving Steph and I to duke it out for 2nd.
And here is where losing a second here and a few seconds there makes or breaks a cross race. With about 2.5 laps to go (of 7), we crested a big rise and Steph squirted out of the corner a tad more quickly than I did. Then I fumbled shifting into my big ring and a gap opened. I think she saw the gap and hammered through the woods, as did I. I reeled her in a bit, ran better in the sand, but she nailed her remount on that off-camber bit, aced the subsequent sand and uphill corner and picked up a few more seconds. By this time, my legs were fatiguing and for every couple of seconds Steph gained with better technique, I could only bring some back on the straights. One or two seconds per corner or remount adds up….and in this case, translates to 3rd place instead of 2nd.
Kudos to Libby, who won the cub junior race (beating a slew of boys in the process) and then lined up with the elite women! It was super to have a teammate on the line. And a good number of NEBC women raced the B race, many in their first cross race. Awesome to see!
Cris