Myles Standish - Women's Open - 4-19-09
Results
Cathy Rowell – 3rd
Natalie Dumont – 5th
Clair Lunardoni – 8th
Katherine Snell – 12th
Julie Lockhart – 13th
Course & Conditions
Sunny, cool and windy
This course is the same as the Charge Pond training race series (vs. the course from the previous two years which was full of wheel-sucking pot holes!).
From Cathy:
Oddly enough, the butterflies that plagued me before my first MTB race were absent on Sunday. I think I am more confident in my abilities on the road, and I don’t have the same focus/goals for the road season as I do for MTB racing this year, creating less pressure. It felt good to line up without feeling like I was going to hurl BEFORE the race ;).
Two of my main racing nemeses were on the pre-reg list and this year, they are teammates racing for Colavita. Nat and I lined up with Katherine, Julie and new-comer Claire, with a total of 13 women on the line. On the whistle, Nat and I led things out, despite the nasty headwind on the back of the course. Into the first corner, I heard Nat go a little wide and into the dirt behind me (but she stayed upright). I charged up the hill into the second lap (getting yelled at by Mike for being on the front ;)).
Taking stock of those around me, I decided that in the next lap, it would be wise to shake things up a bit and see if we could get a split in the field. I wound up the attack after the start/finish, with both Colavita riders countering. Suddenly, I realized that this was a big girl race – and these racers were wise to the tactics I was employing! I was able to jump on the counter attack, and we ended up with a small gap. Unfortunately, with both Colavita riders having put in a big effort, the group quickly came back together.
So, again in the next lap, I tried to see what I could do. This time, a Webcor racer came with me, and we set off. The Colavita racers kept indicating that we had a gap – seemingly trying to get us to up the pace. I let them know that if they wanted to keep a gap, they needed to pull through. They did, but then proceeded to take only 5 second pulls. They needed some coaching – we could let the field come back, or we could all become more steady (they also had a habit of bumping the pace when they went to the front) and share the work. Our break was now 5 – 2 Colavita racers, 2 NEBC racers and a Webcor racer.
Our gap on the field steadily increased. Unfortunately, this also took a toll on Nat and she ended up dropping from the lead group after letting me know I should go ahead. This wasn’t good news for me with both of the Colavita racers still in the rotation. I encouraged the Webcor racer to make them do the lion’s share of the work. At one point, the three gapped me going up the start/finish hill. I heard a comment on this and the Colavita racers picked up the pace. That wasn’t to be, however, as once over the top, I had the power to match their acceleration and jump back on.
I knew that my ONLY hope in the race was to try and tire the Colavita women out, and to ensure I had good positioning going into the final corner. I wanted to be first in the corner so that I could try to have an advantage sprinting up the hill. With one lap to go, I was in perfect positioning heading into the corner, but got cut on the inside with a teammate on her wheel. The sprint was on, and I was closing. Unfortunately, I couldn’t catch them, but did end up crossing the line 3rd.
This was a great race for me. I felt good. The training seems to be paying off, and I think I worked this race smarter than some of the others I have done in the past year. I know that both the Colavita women are strong riders, so feel good that I stuck with them through the race, and finished as well as I did.
Kudos to Claire for finishing her first race with NEBC! And to Katherine and Julie for coming out the day after a grueling Battenkill