Lake Pleasant Cyclocross Race, Women A + B Cat 1-2-3, Janet Ramos, 11,26-06
Lake Pleasant Cyclocross Race, Lake Pleasant, MA
November 26, 2006
Women A + B Cat 1-2-3 – 45 minutes (5 laps)
Temp: Mid 50’s, sunny, quite nice
11 Starters – 8 Finishers (3 starters had mechanicals)
The Lone NEBCer: Janet Ramos (8)
Well, there was not a girl in a coconut bra at my race but it was just as fun. So you tame and non-tame NEBCers should think about doing this race next year since is was a mountain biker’s dream. The course was a mostly twisty, turney, bumpy, back-wrenching, challenging single track ride to say the least. In my mind, I broke it into 3 sections so I could anticipate the more twisty parts and not wipe out.
Here’s the break-down: (Section 1) A flat fast start into a dirt road that turns into an area with power lines complete with twists, turns, bumps and has a pair of barriers to help keep your wits about you. (Section 2) Head back onto the dirt road and into a series of twisty, turney, wooded u-turns. The cool part about this section is that you can watch who is behind you (in my case nobody). (Section 3) More twisty turney stuff in the woods, a little bit of pavement, back into the woods, pop out into the power lines again, more barriers, a sweet descent with a big tree stump at the bottom on the right, a u-turn chicane around a tree that I dismounted/ran every time, another fun downhill onto the beach of Lake Pleasant, back into the woods, more pavement into the one and only run-up (a walk-up for me), at the top you pop back out into the start/finish stretch. Wow, that made me tired just writing the description.
As I was warmed up on the road, I saw a few familiar faces from the Elite races and the B races that I usually do. So I lined up at the start on the front and only line with everyone else. The official quietly said ‘go’, like they always do here in New England, and we were off. I was able to stay with the group through Section 1 & 2 on the first lap but then my quads started to feel quite heavy during Section 3. Now to quote my good friend Cris Rothfuss, ‘what did I learn from today’s race?’ DON’T DO HILL REPEATS 2 DAYS BEFORE RACING (my coach told me to do them)! So in Section 3 I rode like hell to keep the rider ahead of me in my sights (West Hill) while trying not to puke. On Lap 2, Section 1 I almost caught and passed West Hill but the quads really rebelled so I did my best to stay with her. Race goal revision #1, don’t come in last. As I started my 3rd lap, I saw West Hill ahead of me and that is when my slowdown really started to happen. Race goal revision #2, don’t get lapped. So I kept the pace as high as I could, hoping to get just a teeny weeny glimpse of West Hill or someone else ahead of me. Nope – nobody. On Lap 4, Section 3 just after the 1st descent I saw someone running with their bike, it was Maryann Stover. As I rode past her I asked if she was okay and she said ‘I’m fine, just go’. As I started the 5th lap I had all these thoughts going through my head, ‘what if she makes it to the pit and gets going again’, ‘she may catch me…got to keep going as fast as the quads will go before completely seizing up…’ It may not sound like a nice thing to say but Maryann’s unfortunate flat provided me with some newfound inspiration to finish the 5th lap as fast and strong as I could. When I crossed the finish line I wanted to throw my hands up in the air out of relief but I just did it in my head instead. I have to say this is one of the toughest cross races that I have ever done, maybe I will ride my husband’s mountain bike next year. ;o)
This was my first elite cross race (they called it A + B) and needless to say it did not go as I hoped it would. Damn those hill repeats! Hopefully they will help me more for Nationals than they did today. I hope that everyone had a good Thanksgiving with family and friends. Thanks for reading about my cyclocross adventure.