Women's 4 Sterling Road Race - 5-9-09
Sterling RR, 33 Starters
5/9/09
Lexi Cruse – 11th
Lisa Ludwig – 16th
Joy Stark – 19th
Kathy Martin – 23rd
Michelle Harrison – DNF (crash)
Loraine Warner – DNF
Lexi Cruse:
Right from the roll out the woman’s 4 group felt tense which is not so unusual considering it’s a 4 race at the beginning the season. By definition the 4 fields will have new riders coming to road racing for the first time that have less experience at riding in a tight group. So we ride defensively and try to stay out of trouble.
I have rarely experienced overt hostility when I’ve raced with any group men or women. The one instance I can recall was during The Bob Beals when a rider deliberately tried to push Annette Kennedy off the road. Anyway, Saturday’s race just seemed particularly hostile and I spent a sleepless night Saturday trying to figure it out. One woman felt a need to vocalize continuously. There were a few overt yellow line violations.
The crash occurred at the end of the first lap. I was riding as far up as I could in the field trying to stay out of trouble. Michelle Harrison and Joy Stark were right up front riding side by side… I saw a woman in a black and red jersey leaning into (I think) Michelle from the left. It didn’t look good. They squeezed together, wobbled and fell. If I continued I would have run over them….I didn’t want to break hard and be hit from behind so I opted to swerve off the road, over the curb and onto the dirt. I was fine but confused. Immediately I checked on our fallen teammates, telling them to relax and stay calm. I wasn’t sure what to do. Kathy Martin was getting back on her bike so I decided to pull mine out of the sticks and finish the race.
I felt pretty good considering I was pretty much dead last with a ways to go. I caught up to Kathy Martin and continued on trying to gather riders as I went. After the climb I saw Lisa Ludwig on the side of the road adjusting her chain. She joined the group, which by now were about 10? Lisa and I tried to form a rotation with this group. It was a learning experience for some. We kept this up to the end of the second lap when I felt I could pull ahead and stay there. Mary Fuchs from CT was with me on the climb and we worked together nicely from there. We passed one or two other women and finally ended up with three doing a very nice rotation on the last leg down rt. 12. I felt my best chance to move was on the climb so I went ahead right before we started coming into town.. At that point I just went as hard as I could up the final climb to the finish.
My son Billy was in the pace car behind the field and saw the drama unfold. He didn’t know whether I was down or up and was relieved to see me at the end. Then he said, “Can we go home now.” I believe there was another rider that was hurt not on NEBC? I actually did much better than I expected and was unharmed so I can’t complain. Crashes happen and fortunately our teammates will be back riding shortly.
Joy Stark:
Sterling was my first road race, and I was very excited to try out the skills that I learned in the NEBC racing clinic over the last few weeks. Doing Wells Ave last weekend made racing seem less intimidating, and I found that, oddly enough, I wasn’t even nervous as we rolled up to the start of the race. My goals for the race were to finish, stay relaxed, race well, and feel good about my performance. In our pre-race meeting, Loraine indicated that she wanted me and Michelle to try to stay out in front, so after the first climb I inched my way up. I liked being near the front because it made it easy to respond to changes in speed and take the corners the way that wanted to. The pace felt easy and I was having fun.
Once we turned onto Route 12, the pace seemed to pick up as people attacked and the pack responded. In a surge, I felt a woman on my left side accelerate and come up beside me. The next thing I knew, our handlebars had locked. I don’t know who it was—but I could tell that she was a lot smaller than me. I distinctly remember telling myself to stay calm and straight—I hoped that she would fall back and we would become disentangled. Well, that was wishful thinking. Suddenly, I felt a big jerk and then the impact of the crash. Riders went down all around me, but everyone seemed to be getting up and continuing. I stayed on the ground for a while, and then figured out that I was okay. I got up and went over to Michelle, who was still on the ground and not moving. The side of her face was bleeding. I felt like I couldn’t look at her and stay calm. I wasn’t sure what to do—I didn’t think I could be of any help if I stayed with her, but I didn’t want to leave my teammate behind. On the other hand, everyone else had continued the race, and there were people tending to her and I didn’t want to be in the way. Once I figured out that my bike was rideable, I decided to ride back to the start.
Along the way, I started to feel better and decided that I wanted to finish the race, even if I came in last. Soon after I started the second lap, I caught up to two riders from Quad Cycles and rode with them for the rest of the lap, but they dropped off at the hill and another rider—I think her name was Emily—caught up to me. On the second hill, I saw an NEBC kit ahead of me and I worked to catch up to her. I was thrilled to see that it was Kathy. Along the last lap, we picked up various riders, so when we turned onto Route 12, we had assembled a group. I took a turn at pulling and then tried to come off—unsuccessfully. To my dismay, this happened several times in the race—I couldn’t figure out how to get the people behind me to pull through! I found that I had to be really dramatic about it. Eventually, I managed to fall back, but then the pace seemed too slow. As we were heading into the last couple of miles I decided that I didn’t want to be in the back because I was feeling good and was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to respond if there was a break. So I rode up on the inside of the line. Sure enough, as we approached town, Emily took off. I held back a little too long, but eventually went off, too and had a nice, painful climb to the finish.
I didn’t fare as poorly as Michelle, but my hip is badly bruised from bearing the brunt of the fall, and I’ve got some nice scrapes and road rash on my back and arm, which have been grossing out my colleagues all day. While I’d be happy to not repeat the crash, I’m glad that I was able to finish the race and not finish last! The spring clinic did a wonderful job of preparing me for the race. The leaders did an excellent job of covering everything I needed to know to feel comfortable—and I even managed to pin my number on correctly (using 8 pins). I had a great time and can’t wait to do it again!
Kathy Martin:
Sterling was my first “real” race of the season (the others were Wells). My goal was to finish with the pack. I was still in the pack when we got onto Route 12 – was working hard, but didn’t feel like it was killing me yet. At this point people started jockeying for position, setting up for the start/finish hill. I was on the left side, mid-pack when a crash started on the right side near the front. Having crashed at Wells only 6 days prior, I was determined not to hit the deck again, braked hard, and came to a stop. As I slowed, I felt a serious impact on my back wheel and after stopping, looked back and saw handlebars though my spokes. Holy cow! The rider apologized profusely and untangled herself, but my chain had come off, and on further inspection, my skewer was open and the wheel was starting to drop out. Before I could do anything, one of the Mavic guys was there and he reassembled me and sent me on my way. My bike computer says I was stopped for 1:11. Sigh.
The rest of my race was either in TT mode or working with other riders. I rode on my own to the start/finish, I then worked with Emily Curley (Gearworks) on the rolling hills on the backside of the course. We were trying to catch a group of about 6 or 7 just ahead of us. Unfortunately, I could not stay with her up the last roller before the turn onto Rt. 12. She joined the group and I was on my own again from there until the start/finish, when teammate Joy and Emily Currey (Bike Alley) picked me up. The three of us worked together and continued to pick up riders until we had a group of 7 – including Leah (Cambridge) & Carmen (CVC). As we all got to the end of Rt. 12, Emily attacked hard, the rest of us followed, I screwed up my shifting coming into the hill and sadly finished 6th from our group.
Later I found out that Michele H. had gone to the hospital and that Loraine went with her to help. Heal well, Michele!
Michelle “Maytag” Harrison:
I was excited to race Sterling – I knew that it was completely within my control to do well. I also knew that I would have the team’s full support. I lined up behind Loraine not wanting to be on the front line and completely trusting her wheel. I was completely shocked and unprepared when she bobbled the start and I almost went down. I found myself now at the back for the neutral rollout. No worries right? I had 2 miles to work back up to the front which is exactly what I did. I was sitting on a Gearworks rider’s wheel when Loraine schooled her on proper conduct during a neutral rollout, and she sheepishly pulled off. I found myself on the front with with Danielle Fisher from Colavita. I had watched Danielle crash hard at Battenkill, recover and go on to place 10th, so I knew I needed to stick with her. We set the pace up the first climb and then we were off.
There were a few attacks after the hill and I was thrilled to see Joy right in the mix on her first race. I tried to stay off the front as much as possible, but watched Danielle and Natalia Gardoil from Cambridge Bicycle closely covering when they surged ahead not wanting them to break free. As we turned onto Rt. 12 , I was sitting in the second row, second wheel in from the right, when I saw riders bounce around on the left side of the row and one slammed into Joy. I remember Joy bouncing into me, but I still thought I had a path out of the mayhem. Next thing I knew I was launched off my bike and body surfing through the heavy sand. A volunteer pinned me down as I tried to get up and told me to lie still and wait for the ambulance. Everything hurt, but nothing hurt that badly to be on a backboard being transferred to the ER. I heard Loraine ride up and I told her to get back to the race. She so nicely rounded up my stuff and promised to meet me in the ER. I joked with the EMTs that I had sand in my teeth and it was a good feeling. I later learned that my face was covered with sand and blood and I looked worse than I felt. After 9 hours and two ERs, Loraine was finally able to drop me off at my car with my newly stitched ear and sore body covered with roadrash. Kudos to Loraine, she went above and beyond and I am very thankful to have her leading the team.
Loraine Warner:
Low expectations for me… I was hoping to work for Michelle for this race, and so was mortified when at the start I somehow managed to catch myself off balance and almost caused a crash with Michelle on my wheel. L She managed to recover and move her way to the front of the pack. About half-way up that first hill, I knew I was in trouble. I gradually drifted further and further back until about mile 6 when there was a steep little kicker that someone accelerated up, and poof, I was gone L So I resigned myself to TTing the rest of the way, maybe I’d get lucky and pick up a couple others. Rolling up rte.12 I saw ambulances, and then that it was Michelle laying there in the dirt. I made a snap decision that my race was over, which it pretty much was anyway. When I rolled up to her, her face covered in dirt, ripped kit, bloody, dirty road rash everywhere, and a pool of blood collecting at her ear, she looked at me, said she was fine, and asked why I wasn’t still racing. Unbelievable!
All in all, I think that this early in the season, and with new-to-racing women in the pack, crashes are not a surprise. I think there was an elevated general tension to the pack, most likely since this was one of the first races of the season, but really, a little tension is normal. I hope that the newbies aren’t turned off racing from this, crashes really don’t happen that often, or at least ones where people end up in the hospital.