Turtle Pond Circuit Race – Women's 3/4 - 4-25-09
Turtle Pond Circuit Race – Loudon, NH – April 25, 2009
NEBC Category ¾ Women’s Race Report
Shannon Madison – 1st
Katherine Snell – 14th
Lexi Cruse – 17th
Linda Lampila – 18th
Lisa Ludwig – 27th
Shannon Madison
With over 40 pre-registered (including some of the top performers from last weekend at Battenkill) for the Women’s category ¾ race, it looked like things were stacking up for some good competition. Combined with the temperature (and shock to the system that resulted from the first “hot” day), this was sure to be a true test of pain!
The neutral start up the first hill was actually faster and harder than I had expected to be pushing. This concerned me as I began worrying that perhaps my legs weren’t actually feeling as good as I thought they were. But, as soon as we actually started racing I was reassured. The group had a really nice pace going on the back side of the course and the strong climbers certainly wanted to continue that when we turned onto Hot Hole Pond Rd. The first time up that “wall” was sort of a surprise, but it was short and I didn’t lose any ground to any of the other women. The tight twisty section following is where we started to put the pressure on and I think this is where quite a few dropped off the back. We realized that we were creating a gap and began working to increase it. Coming through the finish area after the first lap, we still had a fairly large group. However, by continuing to push on the long climb after, we dropped to a reasonably sized group. This is the point in the race where the woman from Williams Cycling (Beth) and I started to attempt to organize the pack so that we could pick up the pace even more. A surprising number of the riders didn’t know how to paceline and the organization fell apart every time they were supposed to rotate to the front. Even though we weren’t able to completely organize ourselves, I really think that it was a good experience for those who didn’t know how to paceline to see how it could work and to be exposed to it first hand.
We eventually decreased in numbers even further until we had a group of 7. Six of us were working equally hard in a rotating paceline. The 7th refused to pull through though. It was apparent that she was fading and probably felt like she couldn’t keep the pace on the front. Needless to say, we ended up flying on the back side of the course and we were eventually 6. The pace was high up until right before the final time up Hot Hole Pond Rd. Everyone seemed relaxed, getting hydrated, etc. After that, though, it was pretty much go time. The last time up the hill was intense and the decent through all the twisty stuff was even more intense. As soon as we came out of the right hand turn onto the final straight, but rolling approach into the finish you could feel the nerves! The two women from Colavita were riding on the front, side by side (why?). Everyone else lined up behind them. I positioned myself in the back on the left, as we were riding two abreast. I felt that this was a good spot to be to a) get a draft and conserve some energy for the sprint and b) be able to see everyone else in case someone made a move. We were getting closer and closer to the finish and finally when we reached the 200 meters to go mark I came around the left (we had both lanes at this point) and passed the group in a mad sprint to the finish. This was my first ever sprint finish (for first, at least) and I am VERY happy to say that it was successful! I held my position and crossed the line in first place. Woo hoo, first win!
After the race, it was great to be able to talk to the women. Everyone was very happy with how the race played out and how well we worked together. It was a very fun race and it’s great to be able to see the same faces over and over and get to know some of the other teams a bit more.
Katherine Snell
Turtle Pond was the first race of the newly rekindled Cycling Made Real Category ¾ Women’s Race Series and we had a great turnout. Over 40 riders were registered with n on the line for the start. I previewed the course Thursday evening- the climb up Oak Hill Rd seemed much less steep to me than last year after a full season of road racing and the new climb on Hot Hole Pond Rd was steep but not long so I was psyched about my chances of doing reasonably well. Then, after school Friday night I had Mexican food for dinner and felt lousy Saturday morning.
The start was neutral until the top of the climb on Oak Hill Rd. After waiting for the men to roll by, we started. I had good position and was able to control the front. I wanted to do this on the climb since I didn’t want to be too far back when we started racing and held what I thought was a steady and maintainable pace. We then crested and I started rolling downhill, being careful to try and conserve energy and not do too much work. I made sure that some of the other gals had their share on the front. I moved up to the front going into the corner on Cemetery St. as to not get squeezed out on the tight turn ahead. We then turned on to Shaker Rd. where I had my first warning of how the climbs were going to hurt in order to stay with the pack as we climbed the rollers. We then turned onto Hot Hole Pond and hit the short wall. My legs immediately began to bitch at me and I dropped back. After the climb I was almost caught on again when a rider in front suddenly pulled in front of me after some mechanical which forced me off onto the dirt shoulder. Cross skills took over and I stayed up on the dirt and managed to get back to the pavement without crashing but by then the field was gone. So it was back to my usual solo TT mode. I did pick up one of the CVC gals (Daria van der Veer) and we chased together until Oak Hill where she out-climbed me. We rejoined later in the next lap with me getting dropped by her on the Hot Hole Rd. climb but then passing her on the finishing stretch on School St. to finish 14th overall. It was great to hear that Shannon finished in first place – Congratulations!
In discussing the race after, Kim Edwards had told be that the second climb up Oak Hill was only 10 W more effort then during the neutral start and I heard comments about me doing a lot of work at the beginning so I probably spent too much energy at the beginning of the race. I’d like to think that at least I wore down the field enough that it helped Shannon with the win. Next race I’ll try and shelter myself a little more and no more Mexican food!
Lexi Cruse
It was like being cooked alive…95 degrees! My goal was to stay with the leaders as long as possible…and to begin with I felt really good…even though my mouth felt like the dust bowl and my head pounded.. I drank plenty before, but like many I wasn’t prepared for such intense heat.
With a neutral start to the top of the first steep climb..@ a mile… I wanted to be in the front group when the race started…it would really really bad to be at the back still climbing… That done I was off…I kept with the leaders until mile 11 when even with a small effort my legs just hurt. My heartrate was very high even though I wasn’t out of breath… I had to back off. On the second lap up the longest of the climbs I felt really miserable. BUT, I knew if I just let myself recover I could make it. I met up with another woman from Portland Velo and we worked together for the rest of the race taking 15 to 30 sec. pulls…I saw Katherine Snell up ahead but did not have the strength to catch up with her…
Not a bad day…no crashes, no flats and I finished. My son Billy was in the feed zone giving me the thumbs up when I went by. That and the great support from all the NEBC women made my day.
Linda Lampila
My only goals going into the race on Saturday were to meet my teammates and to gage my fitness level. I was way too far back on the line and had not moved up much when the pace picked up after the first climb. I had to scramble around some racers to catch the back of the main field. I got caught there at the steep climb and did not get around in time to catch the pack this time. I caught a couple of women heading towards the finish area but dropped them on the next climb. Alexandra was within sight but she was working with another racer and I could not close the gap. TT’d for the rest of the race, finishing behind Alexandra.
Takeaways: Be better prepared – know the course and anticipate where the attacks will happen. Work on my reaction time in response to attacks.
Lisa Ludwig
This was the 2nd road race of my bike racing career (the first was Bow last fall) . So I set acheivable goals: 1) try to stay with a pack (any pack), 2) finish the race, 3) don’t come in last. :) I waffled a little on my first goal. Stayed with the pack for about 8 miles and then got dropped! I just kept a steady solid pace for my ability. I soon found that others were dropped and had overdone it trying to keep up with the fast pack. I caught up to a woman on that nasty little hill on the latter part of the loop. I passed her and kept going. Later, I caught up to a woman from a vermont race team. She seemed to be holding a good pace so I suggested we team and she worked with me. I think it was after that, when I heard a “Go Lisa” from Clara! Clara, mind you, was in fierce competition with another woman in her category, but took the time to cheer me on. (You are a sweetheart. Thank you!) That made my day. Anyway, myself and the Vermonter caught up with another woman and we asked her to join us. She wasn’t as cooperative. She was clearly tired but tried to get aggressive on us. Hello? What was she thinking? She was literally wabbling on her bike, got out of control, and knocked the nice Vermont woman down! I continued riding but looked back to see if the Vermonter was ok. She got up – was OK. I kept riding…. passed another woman who was slowing and slowing so I couldn’t work with her. Finally I caught up with a woman who was cranking along and we worked together for the last several miles. While she was getting her second wind, this old gal was feeling the heat. Muscle cramping set in on my quads during the last three miles. So much for a good camera shot. I couldn’t get out of my seat for the finish! :( Anyway, I achieved all three goals. Thats good enough for me right now.___