Cyclonauts crit race report_Women's open - 5-27-08
Cyclonauts 5/24/08
27 Starters
Loraine Warner – 9th
I admit, I was hoping for top 3 at Cyclonauts on Saturday, so when Mike Norton announced that they would combine us with the 30+ ladies with no separation for results, my hopes crashed and burned. The first 8 laps or so were just plain scary with twitchy wheels all over the place. CVC girls were shaking things up with several attacks and counters and I tried to stay near the front so nothing got away. When the attack came strong from the left about 15 laps in, I chased hard to catch on and made the 8 woman break! Holy SH&T!!! I’m in the break away!!! After that things got ugly. Everyone in the break was yelling to organize and establish a paceline. I was torqued and hanging on by the back of my eyeballs, so I didn’t plan on staying on the front very long. When a pseudo paceline finally started to form, the wheel I was on pulled some weird sprinting/pull-over move that put me on the front with no where to pull off. I eventually got myself out of that jam and tried to stay near the back and let people pull in front of me for the paceline, but that’s a skill I apparently need to work on. (Later I learned that I was doing exactly the opposite of what I should have been doing). As a result, I wasn’t drafting/recovering and the pace was killer, so I felt myself loosing it, and I wasn’t able to hold on. I drifted back with about 8 to go and let the field catch me. With 3 to go I was staying at about third wheel determined to at least take the field sprint, then Katherine sat on front for the final lap and I fought some CVC girl, elbows out, for her wheel. Carol Decourcy pulled in front at about ½ a lap to the finish (later she called it “self-preservation”), and I sprinted around her and missed taking her at the line by about 2 inches (I thought I HAD taken her, but I got to see the camera footage and it was literally 2 inches). ARGH! Still! In the break-away with some seriously strong riders, and 2nd in the field sprint, plus the second cat 4 to cross the line, and I would’ve gotten 3rd in the ¾ field. Not too bad! And I learned a LOT about being in the break-away, which I’m not sure I’ve ever been in before. All in all a great race for me, and a great learning experience.
Katherine Snell – 16th
Cyclonauts was my first “real” criterium race so I was interested to see how I would do. The week before was busy as it was my last weekend of school before the summer and I wasn’t able to ride either Thursday or Friday so I was pretty well rested but perhaps not totally loosened up. I warmed up on my trainer and made sure to due a couple redline efforts as my coach had suggested. The race was supposed to be a Cat ¾ race but ended up being an open race since the Women’s 30+ started at the same time and a bunch of Cat 1 and 2s had signed up for that. I was not terribly well psyched for doing the race as I started but soon got into it. I started around mid-field and stayed there for the first few laps but then moved to near the front. A few attacks went off but were chased down and finally a big attack came about mid-race and a bunch of the stronger riders (mostly 1s and 2s and including Loraine) joined it and formed a break group. I then spent the rest of the race near the front trying to work with the other gals to catch up to the break group but no one seemed to want to really pick up the pace, especially into the headwind. Loraine was eventually reabsorbed into the chase group. The last lap I came out of the chicane on front (I found that I can come out of the corners a lot faster than the other gals). It was probably not a good idea to be out front then but I was able to lead out Loraine who finished 8th. I think I had enough gas that I could have done a little better as we went into the sprint – I didn’t push hard enough and ended up going from 8th place (1st after the break group) to 16th.
Erica Mains – 22nd
I hadn’t decided if I wanted to race or not when I got there (Jay was racing and we were headed straight to a graduation afterwords so I had to be there anyway), but when I saw the nice SMOOTH pavement on the track I couldn’t resist! It looked like fun. Not having any competitive spirit that morning my plan was pretty much to sit in and get a great work out. It worked perfect. The pace was very high right from the get go. I could see the break forming at the front of the pack and felt quite comfortable watching it slip away. There were a few sketchy riders at the back of the pack that made parts of the ride more stressful than it needed to be, but towards the front of the pack there were a few girls who thought they were fighting for first place in The Tour – throwing elbows and even hips. I didn’t have the patience or interest in battling with them so I maintained my position at the back. The only move I made was when it looked like some CVC girls were blocking the group, which would reduce the pace, which would interfere with my plan for a good workout, so I jumped on the front and bridged up the little gap that had opened up between the field and two riders that had tried an attack a lap before. When everyone started bustling for the finish I didn’t want to be tied up in any chaos (contending for 10th place) so I pulled to the side and rolled through. Overall – I was very excited to say I raced on a NASCAR track. The end.
Annette Kennedy – 23rd
Speed Way Crit
What a blast until it’s over!
It was the fastest race I have ever been in. I stayed with the pack for 12 laps and was dropped. I had a few other dropped rides with me. Trying desperately to saty in the game, I tried to get them to work with me but they gave up and dropped out. I stayed in for two more laps and then it happened the BIG BOOT! I was hoping to stay in until I was lapped but got the boot. I did protest to the officials as there were many rides pulled, in my opinion, too early. If I was about to be lapped, fine, but hostelry I felt I was pulled too early. In my opinion, anything can happen in a race.