Gloucester - Elite Women, Cris Rothfuss, 10-7
Another wicked pissah race at Gloucester. With the exception of reigning national champ Katie Compton, the who’s who of the women’s elite field came out to play on a gorgeous day. For a rider like me, that’s both exciting and more than just a little nerve-wracking. I’ve gotten used to seeing Lyne Bessette on a routine basis, but being surrounded by the rest of the country’s best on the starting line sure is something. Dave McElwaine made a point of introducing Luna Chick Katerina Nash to me in the staging area. That was sweet, but it also made me aware that a national caliber pro mtb’er was lined up directly behind me. Egad. Katerina, of course, smoked me and just about the rest of the field en route to a 3rd place finish.
I got my first call-up at Gloucester and also lucked out with an outside position in the staging box. This gave me a clear shot up the right side on the long uphill pavement start and allowed me to move past quite a few riders in the first 300 meters. At the end of the pavement, the course bears right onto dirt and grass, and narrows considerably. It was plenty exciting barreling through that bottleneck with 66 riders. I can’t imagine how it felt for our teammates in the much larger fields. After a short, bumpy, slightly downhill stretch, the course hairpins back – with the field still together, at full tilt and bouncing all over the place. I hesitated through this section and promptly gave back many of the places I had just gained with a good opening sprint. Crud. It’s a fine line between aggression and recklessness on a ‘cross course, and I came up a bit on the conservative side of that equation this time.
The course highlights included the usual Gloucester ‘Selle Italia’ chicane and the run-up with hurdles….with each spiced up this year to include ‘z’ shaped approaches. The approach to the chicane was especially tricky, as it was fast and very, very rutty. Point, shoot and hang on. The picture of Scott in cyclingnews.com is in that section.
Overall, I feel pretty good about my race. After losing those initial placings, I tried to race steady and strong. I managed to attack a few times, and did a better job of jumping on wheels when attacked. In the last lap, I knew that Pauline Frascone (IF) was closing fast even though I was concentrating on keeping my speed up. She caught my wheel as we entered the sandpit for the last time and I goosed it running (the sand had to be run). No dice. She stuck right there and went around me just after our remount. It occurred to me that that was actually a good thing, as there was a good long stretch in the windy grass before the final obstacle and I was happy to have the draft. As we passed the pit, approaching the final grass climb / chicane, she sat up, clearly wanting me to come around. Ohhh. Tough decision. Generally, the rule is to be first into the last obstacle, but in this case there would be a long, uphill asphalt finish stretch (more akin to a crit finish). Perhaps it would be better to play this like a crit and not lead out the sprint? I decided to go with the ‘cross rule of thumb and attacked her. I led up the grassy hill, through the final obstacle and down onto the finish stretch. As we headed onto the 250 meter uphill straight, I knew I had played it wrong and was in trouble. I gave it everything I had (which still amounted to a slow motion sprint) and watched as her wheel slowly came abreast of mine….and just passed mine as we arrived at the line.
Good to see NEBC out in force on a beautiful day. Thanks to everyone who was cheering on the sidelines. I heard and appreciated each and every one of you!
Cris