2008 Amesbury Cross - Women's 3/4 and Elite Team Report
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Conditions:
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Excellent weather for ‘cross! The skies opened up overnight, and during the Women’s 3/4 race, making everything wet and muddy. Temps were in the upper 60s, though, so at least the rain wasn’t also cold – there will be plenty of time for that as the season progresses. By the time the Elite women’s field went off, the rain had stopped, but the course was already a mess.
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The Course:
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The course was a mix of technical turns, ups/downs and rooty woods sections. A wet bridge crossing had caused some trouble for the men, so a warning was given to all of the women not to pedal or turn while on the bridge. The roots made things pretty slippery in the woods as well. There was one set of barriers that came on a mud bog incline, and a stair run-up on the backside of the course after a fast pavement section.
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Results:
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NEBC was the largest contingent of racers at the start of the 3/4 race, with 7 of 25 starters! We’ll have to watch out for the MRC team though – their numbers are increasing, and they had a great day at the races. Fourteen women took the line in the 1/2/3 field, with Sam and Cathy representing NEBC. Unfortunately, the 3/4 results aren’t QUITE accurate according to some of our racers, but I am posting what is on bikereg.com.
3/4 Results
- Libby White – 2nd
- Teri Carilli – 9th
- Kathy Martin – 16th (Kathy believes she finished after Clara)
- Karin Turer – 20th (Karin believes she finished after Clara also)
- Clara Kelly – 21st (Clara also raced with the Cat 4 men, finishing 42nd of 55 finishers in her first ‘cross race)
- Julie Lockhart
- Caroline Cardiasmenos
Elite Women
- Sam Dery – 6th
- Cathy Rowell – 14th
http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2008/09/14-Amesbury-Cross.asp
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Reports:
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[Libby White]
I started out the race in first place. Half way through the second lap the second place girl caught me, there wasn’t anyone close behind her. I was surprised at the fact that she would catch me on the technical and lose me on the flat sections. We switched off between first and second for the whole race. When she did get somewhat of a substantial lead on me she crashed and I passed her again. On the last lap I was ahead of her but I didn’t quite have enough power to make it up over a quick power move section and flopped over. She passed me and stayed ahead of me for the rest of the race. I felt great when I first finished and I wanted to do the womens’ 1/2/3 race but a little while later my stomach started to feel yucky and I decided that one good effort was enough for the day.
[Teri Carilli]
Goals: 1) stay upright, 2) don’t go out too fast and burn everything in the first lap, 3) ride the crazy little uphill parts 4) get back in the ‘cross groove
In order to achieve goal #2, I decided to start a little back in the pack (field of about 20?) so I wouldn’t feel so compelled to go nuts for the hole shot, sprint on the grass section etc. Last year, I did get the hole shot (my first ever!) and led for 3/4 of a lap but had such an adrenline rush from seeing all these women chase me that I burned all my matches by the end of lap one and faded fast. At the whistle, I headed down the dirt road 2/3’s of the way back in the back and slowly picked off people. By the time we hit the stairs, I was about 12th place and then picked off a few more folks in the twisty, rooty, wooded section. By the barriers, I was in 9th place and pretty much stayed that way for the remainder of the race. I seemed to be trading spots with a rider from ECV. As we headed down the grassy section, I decided I’d just sit on her wheel for a while but as we rounded one muddy turn, she went down and I narrowly avoided riding over her. Much to her credit, a lap later she caught and passed me. I tried to hang with her but just couldn’t and concentrated on not losing ground to anyone else for the remainder of the race.
Also, I had signed up to race the Pro/1/2/3 race later in the day but decided not to press my luck and wimped out.
[Kathy Martin]
This was my first time racing in the rain. I was feeling a bit skittish after my pre-race warm up laps. I’m not used to handling my bike off-road in such slippery conditions. At the start line it started to rain and I just didn’t feel like mixing it up into the first corner, so I let myself drift back. Oh well. After the first set of barriers I was on the far left side, there was a left hand turn and when I remounted I steered into the corner post and fell over. Oops. About 3 people passed me while I was getting back up. On the second lap I saw Caroline down in a corner and, while looking at her, hit the badly angled root that took her out, went down and dropped my chain. While putting it back on, found out that she was not ok, so continued on to get help. Saw Cathy R. running toward me; she said “I got it, keep going!”, so I knew Caroline would be looked after. Settled in a bit after that. I managed to pass Kerry C. (Hup), who had gotten past me one of the times I hit the deck. Each lap I nailed the first steep uphill, but ended up running the second. Almost went down once in the off-camber hairpin, but tri-podded and stayed upright. The posted results are really, really wrong. I finished behind Clara and in front of Kerry, and Kerry was not last. The first round of results had me in 3rd place, because I got lapped by Libby and the winner just before the finish line. I told the officials who I really finished with, but they didn’t place me there. Well, at least I tried to get it right. Anyway, I still had fun and I’m looking forward to Sucker Brook – just hoping it’s drier!
[Karin Turer]
Yikes! I forgot how painful cross is – I do a lot of mounts/dismounts drills and they don’t come everywhere near the experience of actually being on the course. Frankly, I wasn’t sure about the mud – it was my first really slippery course, so I lined up in the back and decided to just see how it went. Slowly, as it turned out. Near the end of the first lap, I came upon a riderless bike – no, Caroline was there too, having taken a hard spill and hit her head. Kathy had gone to get help, I kept her company until Cathy R came. Good teamwork! I told the officials we had a woman down, and went off to do the rest of the race, which I suffered at my own pathetic speed :) It was fun though, and I was pleased to stay upright on the bike the whole time, minus a little bit of run-up slipping at the fence section. Thank you Cathy for letting me know that Caroline was okay – the news didn’t make me any faster, but the worry was off my mind! Thanks to the large assortment of people cheering me on – it was fun!
Oh yes – you can add that I discovered at the bikewash (and confirmed at a more coherent time) that my wheel was rubbing against my chainstay! So I’m sure I would’ve won otherwise (NOT!)
[Clara Kelly]
Prior to the cyclecross clinic on Thursday, my previous experience of riding a bicycle off road was 20 years ago when my dad taught me to ride a bike in the back yard. I had never seen a cyclecross race. When I started my pre-ride of the course, I was horrified to see that we had to go up a steep embankment, down it, up it again, and down at an angle after a tight turn. I tried to run my bike up the embankment and promptly fell over (fall #1). I walked up the embankment for the 2nd climb. I then stopped and stared at the tight corner while pondering about trying to get my registration fee back. Thanks to the NEBC member who kindly advised me how to take the corner.
Cat 4 Men
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I started at the rear of the men’s Cat 4 race with the other first timers. I was happy to see that we avoided the embankment on the 1st lap. We did head into a section of roots though. I stopped pedaling once I hit them, which caused my husband who was right behind me to crash. Not a good start to the race. When we did get to the embankment, I popped right up it on the 1st climb and ran up the 2nd climb. I got around the tight corner well, and even avoided the guy ahead of me that wiped out. I had a good pace going and was having fun.
On the 2nd lap, I fell going up the embankment. (Fall #2) I gave up riding it – and ran my bike up for the subsequent laps. As the race progressed, my technique deteriorated. My glasses fogged up and I went over two sections of roots without seeing the ground. Every time I went over the hurdles, I realized that I wasn’t picking up the bike correctly. Actually, every time I got off the bike at all, it was a disaster. I was having a lot of fun anyway trying to pass the few guys within sight of me whenever we hit a straight section.
I kept trying to go fast so I wouldn’t get lapped.
On the last lap, I was beat. The course had really gotten muddy and what had been a good line earlier in the race, now took me into thick mud and I fell over right in it (Fall #3). I got back on my bike and rode the remaining half mile to the finish – so happy to be finished!
Cat 3/4 Women
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The course had really deteriorated since the first race. Everything was muddy and there had been a helmet – breaking crash on the bridge. With my first race out of the way, I started towards the front of the womens’ group. When I got to the section where I made my husband crash before, I pedaled on a root (hmm, didn’t Cathy say NOT to do that) and fell (Fall #4), dropping the chain. I got the chain back on and took off trying to pass as many ladies as possible. In another rooty section, Caroline fell in front of me and looked like she might be hurt. I thought I saw Kathy get off behind me to help her. Later I found out that Kathy really fell on the same root and landed next to Caroline.
I didn’t even try to ride up the embankment and my muddy slippy efforts at running up it were pretty pathetic. The second lap I took a bad line on the tight turn coming off the embankment and fell (Fall #5). The right hood was totally bent and my pedals wouldn’t go, even though the chain seemed to be on. I tried to get to a safe place where no one would fall on top of me and started to inspect the mud covered derailleur through my totally fogged glasses. After quite a while of no progress on fixing the bike, a photographer came to take a look and realized that the back wheel had come out. I got it back in, but neglected to release the brake before forcing it. The brake was rubbing a lot. Oh well. I was now out riding around by myself trying to get around the course before getting lapped. As documented on film, I did a number of ugly permutations of hurdles, remount, and dismount on the subsequent laps. These included full stop at the top of the stairs. The next time I got to the tight corner, I fell over (Fall #6) because I froze up and didn’t take the corner. I think I headed straight off the course and then fell when I yanked on the handlebar.
I finished this race in an even more muddy condition than the first. I didn’t see many women on my last very slow laps. I did see a junior that took himself out on a corner in front of me.
[Julie Lockhart]
Goal: to check out what I could do.
Hearing stories before the race I previewed the race by riding ‘along side’ the course, I went to the line thinking I would bail if anything alarmed me. I felt the familiar desire to stay with the pack, but decided to drift off the back so I could see things clearly, and not become involved in any incidents that might happen. On the first lap, I found the course familiar but not as rooty, so I used the laps to practice better lines and correct form. Great race, I coined a new descent method, ‘slide on my ass’ since I did not want to risk a fall on the one abrupt/steep descent. Got some laughs, and it was remarkably fast. Geoff may have caught it. Love the ‘new’ course.
[Caroline Cardiasmenos]
Though my warm-up laps went fine and I was feeling decently confident, I crashed in the very last stretch of the first lap. I was toward the front with only a few riders ahead of me so I was probably focusing too much on staying with them and too little on the ground, which was getting more treacherous in the pouring rain. Everyone thinks I hit a bad root that was under some muck in the muddy corner. All I remember is suddenly whamming the ground at high speed, hard enough that I definitely wasn’t getting back up to finish. I cracked my (new) helmet. Several friends helped, including Cathy Rowell who showed up instantly out of nowhere. Ah well – it was fun while it lasted.
[Sam Dery]
Much to my surprise I had a good start. I figured if you can’t be in the first row the next best alternative is to be behind Mo, Rebecca, or Amy – and fortunately I was behind Amy, who of course, bolted off the line! Unfortunately good starts are only that if you can maintain your position! Usually the middle of the race is where I become unraveled, but in this case, I was able to focus on maintaining an effort without exploding and just riding as smoothly as possible, minimizing mistakes – and only two riders passed me. So that’s progress! But this race definitely reinforced two things – (1) look where you want the bike to go and (2) think thoughts where you want the bike to go – not where you don’t want the bike to go! The first time I approached the off camber section (after the fence) I was going entirely too fast and nearly wound up getting wrapped up in the tape. All I could think was “oh my God, don’t roll down the hill, don’t get caught in the tape…” (ok, there was no mention of God, just an expletive)…but my point is, if you’re into mental narration, better to say something along the lines of “take the corner smoothly, stay to the right, follow the high line”…and chances are much higher that disaster will be averted and friends with cameras (ie Geoff Martin) won’t have an opportunity to capture a Kodak moment!
[Cathy Rowell]
An entire week off of my bike certainly showed at my opening ‘cross race of the season. While HR data (and the look captured on my face during the race – thanks Geoff!) showed how hard I was working, my legs were flat and just weren’t cooperating. I managed to head into the first, and second laps in about 10th place, but slid progressively backward from there while still maintaining a HR above 172. Fun? Yes. Satisfying? No. My blog entry pretty much summed up my race – first race of the season; I finished last; the end ;)