2008 Suckerbrook - Women's 3/4 Team Report
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Conditions:
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The day was bright and sunny, with temps quickly warming as the day progressed. A little warmer than desired for cross, but the dry conditions were welcome after last weekend’s wet course in Amesbury.
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The Course:
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The course was a nice mix of open fields, double-track fire roads, a challenging sand feature, some off-camber grass and a slight grade paved section at Start/Finish. There was one set of traditional barriers after two short power uphills (the high-speed barriers were removed this year), and a short stair run-up. There was a new lollipop section in the woods to bypass some of the normal roots, and many of the rocks in that section were also removed (or painted bright orange ;)). Lots of high-speed grass and power sections, and very little elevation change made the course very fast.
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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 11 of 34 starters! Many of the women were taking the line for their first ever ‘cross race, and everyone finished well. Kathy Martin got a special call up to the front row by Dick Ring in honor of her 40th birthday!
Results
- Clara Kelly – 3rd
- Shannon Madison – 12th
- Janet Ramos – 18th
- Loraine Warner – 20th
- Katherine Snell – 21st
- Kathy Martin – 23rd
- Jean Cunningham – 25th
- Kathy Graves – 26th
- Michele Archambault – 27th
- Kristen Lukach – 28th
- Julie Lockhart – 29th
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Reports:
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[Clara Kelly]
I was relieved to see that the course today was much easier than Amesbury last weekend. No mud and no roots. There was a sand pit and I was very fortunate that Rebecca gave a little pre-race clinic instructing us new riders how to ride through it. Another big plus for me was I had loosened up my pedals. Last weekend I bruised the inside of both knees badly in efforts to wrench my feet free of the pedal.
My goal for the race was to stay on the bike.
We started 30 seconds behind the Cat 4 men. I didn’t sprint off the line and sure enough saw the leaders pull away quickly on the first section of turns in the grass. I tried to get in some hard efforts on the straight sections while keeping it safe on the corners. I quickly discovered that it was very challenging to maneuver around other riders in the corners. I think this will be an incentive for me in the future to go off the line harder.
I felt like I did ok on the stairs although they was a lot of room for improving technique. I was very proud to make it up each embankment and through the sandpits on the bike. Not so hot on the hurdles.
On my 2nd lap, I passed some of the Cat 4 guys. A few of them appeared like extra obstacles ahead of me right at the time when I needed to build speed for the embankment. I found that the embankment was do-able without speed which came as a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, I was in for a shock when I rounded the corner. My husband was lying at the bottom of the embankment! Right in a position to be run over!! As much as I wanted to get off my bike and come to his aid, it seemed that would cause another crash because it was a very tight place with a lot of folks behind me. I was very worried about him the rest of the race. (He got up ok out of there, but was in a much worse crash later when he took a corner too fast. He is ok except for a bashed knee and bruises.)
I went hard in the woods and passed a few people in there. The girl ahead of me bogged down in the sandy turn and I nearly plowed into her rear wheel. I yelled at her and she got moving just in time. When I came out of the 2nd sandpit, there were several people on the little embankment. I wasn’t sure that it was safe to pedal through them up the hill and hesitated. I didn’t get enough speed and ended up getting off my bike.
Big thanks to Cathy Rowell and Geoff Martin for their enthusiastic cheering! Geoff told me that I had a good position which was a surprise. Cathy told me that places 3 and 4 were just ahead so I put out an effort to find them.
On lap #3 I made a mistake to accelerate into the corner after the sandpit. I fell very hard on my side right by Cathy who told me to get back on my bike. That was what I needed since a girl passed me when I was on the ground.
On my last lap, I went too fast into another corner and ran myself off the course into high grass. That was bad, but at least I was going so fast that the bike stayed up and I rode out of it.
It was looking good coming into the finish. I was in 3rd and had a good lead on #4. Then I skidded in sand in the final corner (on pavement) and nearly won myself a trip to the ER and a serious injury. I thought I had completely lost control of the bike for a moment – but it did stay up. According to all witnesses, it was a real miracle. Yea!!! Survived another race.
[Shannon Madison]
This was my first race of the 2008 cross season, so I was pretty excited for it. Not having done a TON of cross skills practicing yet concerned me slightly, but I wanted to get out there and give it my best shot anyway. The course was FAST – lots of power could build up lots of speed. Too much speed, as I witnessed, in the corners was treacherous. Clara’s husband wiped out right in front of me on one of the grassy wet corners. Luckily I was able to respond quickly enough that I didn’t hit him. Instead, I rode right over his rear wheel. (I hope you and your bike are doing well!) The trouble-spot on the course for me was right after the second sand pit, making the right hand turn onto that off-camber section. I never had quite enough speed to really make that move effectively. I realized, after the race, how important tire choice can be in a cross race. I was running a pretty low profile, narrow tire. I think that if I had been running something wider, with more tread, I would have had more confidence in the wet grassy corners and would have had more success riding the sand portion of the course.
[Janet Ramos]
YAY CROSS!!! This is what I have been waiting all year for and it’s finally here! What can I say, I love Suckerbrook, it’s a roadie’s dream! Back in 2005 I did this race the first time they held it and there were 6 of us on the start line—this year there were 34 of us on the start line, my how this event has grown.
I went into the race with no expectations since I have been away from racing for a while so when the whistle blew at the start I cranked it up and just kept riding full tilt. One of my favorite parts was the double track in the woods – this is where I big ringed it and cranked up the pace. The other part that I liked was the sand pit. Here I heeded Todd Rowell and Cris Rothfuss’s advice from the cross clinic to make a motorcycle noise, a al Tim Johnson, to power through the sand pit and by golly I made it through every time. If anyone heard me on the sidelines I hope it made them laugh. :-) As I rode through the start/finish the 3rd time the official told me “1 to go” and 5 seconds later I saw a guy ride up on my right with his hands in the air – he was the men’s cat 4 winner. Phew, I said to myself and my other goal of not getting lapped was accomplished.
So all in all it was a good first cross race and it was also really great to see my cross friends once again. Also, thanks Rebecca for the clinic after the race. Good luck to everyone racing cross this season.
[Loraine Warner]
Oh yeah, now I remember—> this hurts….. my expectations for this race were to jump start my motivation and get back into racing. Since this course was not very technical, and all about power and endurance, it’s no surprise that my finish result wasn’t great (fitness, fitness, fitness!!). However, I was happy with how I managed the technical sections, and was thrilled that I was able to ride the sand every lap. Big thanks to Rebecca Wellons for the pre- and post-clinic. I think that’s the reason why I was able to ride the sand ;) Great job everybody!!!!
[Katherine Snell]
I just picked up my ‘cross bike on Friday and was hoping to get some ‘cross practice in before the race but except for about an hour riding around Julie’s yard and a fairly easy ATV trail that did not materialize. I still had problems getting shoes clipped and unclipped and my dismount and remount technique was almost purely hypothetical. Anyways, I planned to get to Sucker Brook early and try and do Rebecca’s clinic as a practice/warm-up session but again waiting for my daughter to get home from babysitting until 1 AM didn’t help with that either. So I arrived, registered and did a loop around the course. It was definitely scary my first time around a ‘cross course since I’ve never ridden off-road before. I thought how nutty this was and was completely apprehensive by the start of the race so accordingly I set my expectations very low – finish better than DFL. I started in the second row and still had trouble getting clipped in as the pack surged ahead with the front significantly ahead by the time I got on the grass. Anyways I dug in and kept going around the course, messed up the dismount etc for the run-up but then boosted my confidence as I successfully rode the steep up and down section. Messy technique through the barriers and into the woods where I successfully negotiated the sandy corner. I made it most of the way through the sandpit but had to get off and carry. When I hit the road it was like the smoothest road I’d ever been on and I powered around the corner. The second lap went a little better and I passed one of the men in the woods and rode through the sandpit and around the hairpin after (Yay!). Third lap I ended up falling in the pit and was pulled as I crossed the finish line not DFL. I was kind of happy to finish at that point as I was starting to get really tired and knew I was going to drag through the final lap. It was definitely unfair though as we were lapped by the Men’s lead rider who had a minute head start on us. Later I discovered the joys of crashing in the sand pit as my shifter jammed up. The remedy is to blow out with compressed air and flush with spray lube.
[Kathy Martin]
It was my birthday and my sneaky husband got Dick Ring to announce it on the start line and I got called up to the front row, which was incredibly embarrassing, but also kind of cool. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that he would shout “Go” the minute I got there, and I fumbled around a bit and fell back a bit through the field before the first corner. The first lap went pretty well (I was happy to be following Loraine for most of it) with the exception of the sand pit where someone in front of me bobbled and had to get off her bike, causing me to put my foot down a few times to avoid it, but that was definitely still faster then getting off and running. On the second lap someone undercut me in the left hand hairpin before the stairs, and it annoyed me enough that I wasn’t thinking clearly and failed to unclip my left foot before dismounting and fell over pretty hard, resulting in bloody knee. I got passed by some people here, which annoyed me even more. After successfully riding the first, more difficult sandpit, I totally messed up the easier second one and a girl on a mountain bike passed me. I heard Cathy Rowell yelling at me to pass her back, so when we got on the pavement at the start/finish I kicked it up and got right on her tail, then I was able to pass her in the grass section. For the rest of the third lap I tried to conserver energy because I thought I would have one more, but I had been passed by a few of the Cat 4 men and got pulled. I was disappointed because if I had realized it I would have really cranked to catch the woman ahead of me in that lap instead of conserving for the lap that never came. All in all this was a great course. It was the first time that I raced this course and I really liked it. In the future I need to focus on getting better starts and being more cautious while dismounting and remounting. Having patience is way faster than falling (and less painful, too!). BTW, many thanks for Rebecca for the pre-race clinic – I’m sure that my sandpit riding success is due to that!
[Jean Cunningham]
It was a day of hoorays: For such a big field of women at the startline… for so many NEBC women at the start line… for Kathy Martin at the start line on her birthday (and getting called to the front in honor thereof!)... for Dick Ring doing the announcing… for lots of NEBC fans cheering all the women on… for absolutely glorious weather.
For some reason I had a mental block on Sucker Brook and couldn’t remember the course at all before arriving. It’s a fun one. The grass was just wet enough that I wondered how my tires would do; good news is they’re quite grippy, and I gained some confidence on the turns and off cambers as the race went along. With a big field things strung out pretty quickly. Again, I was able to pick up a few places each time there were straight riding sections, but watched riders pass me at the hurdles and run-ups. I tried a few different lines in the sand pit but struggled each time through the first section… must practice this, and getting more comfortable with the back of my bike sliding around. The only disappointment of the day was getting lapped by the lead men at about 26 minutes… and then pulled from the course before finishing what should have been the final lap. Lesson learned is to keep a better focus on the lap cards and where I am in the field… I think if I’d been a bit faster I’d have squeaked through the cut-off.
At any rate, I’m excited about the upcoming season! Congratulations to all who raced.
[Kathy Graves]
This being my first cross race, I had the attitude that I was there to learn and have fun. I’ve had my cross bike just 2 weeks and before that have only ridden on the road so I have lots to learn. All the NEBC women were helpful and encouraging before the race. I had a great time. Cross is challenging, hard, and wicked fun. The stairs run up was great. Hardest part was the series of three hills up, down and up and I couldn’t make it up the last hill..I tried really hard and about 2 feet from the apex of the hill just fell over second time through and laughed over that. I learned a lot each lap what line was better, knew when I could push harder, gained confidence in my ability to handle tight corners, riding in sand rocks if you make the vroom vroom noise..forgot that twice didn’t make it through. I passed a few folks last 1/2 lap as I knew the men had lapped me so this was my last and I could push as hard as I could.
Next time I will be more aggressive at the start instead of falling off the back and then getting jammed up in the corners as folks string out. Cross is totally opposite as to how I’ve been training all year for Ironman steady state work, this is high HR and varying power outputs in different situations. Cross clinic skills really came in helpful. I can’t wait to race again Sunday!
[Julie Lockhart]
Goals: Rubber side down (protect the collar bone) ... Have fun, pass somebody
Fun race, Geat start, into the grass inabout 20th, passing some before the stairs, and losing some places in the run up. Decided not to risk falling on the ‘up’ before the barriers, first lap I slipped onto the tp tube, lost a bunch of people while I recovered … So, the chase was on made up several spts, then gave them away when I did not clean the sand … passed downed rider at sand chicane and just had a really fun race. I did not fall, I did pass people (some several times).