The NEBC Elite Women’s Cycling Team returns in 2009 after another successful year in 2008 with six racers: Rebecca Wellons, Susanne Delaney, Natalie Dumont, Samantha Dery, Clara Kelly and team director/racer Brooke O’Connor.
Philadelphia, PA
UCI rated 1.1 (which means all the top level teams in the world are invited!)
Clara Kelly (31)
Rebecca Wellons (54)
Carola Berger (pulled)
Samantha Dery (pulled)
Natalie Dumont (mechanical)
How it unfolded…
We enjoyed wonderful sunny weather this past weekend for our trip to Philadelphia. It was a treat to ride in such an exciting race with spectators lining much of the course and many well known riders in our field. We had four laps of 14.4 miles though boulevards of Philly, along the river and out to Main Street, Manayunk. The crown jewel of the course, Manayunk Wall, featured a 17% section and was preceded by 3 tight turns and a short section of cobbles. The playground of the course was Lemon hill, another steep hill but much more sporty. It featured turns on the power climb and on the fast decent.
The first time out to Manayunk was my (Clara’s) first experience in such a large field. With 144 women, it was a big change from our local races. There was constant movement among the group as we headed to the turn at the start of Main Street. The turn slowed folks down, then it was back to jostling. Anticipation and trepidation built in the group as we raced down main street towards the wall. The turns at the base of the wall served to really string the group out. Only a few people could exit the turn at a time and then it was up the wall. It was difficult to pass on the climb because the road was narrow, so position prior to the turns was very important. The climb was tough, but thrilling because there was a lot of cheering to keep up motivated. I was relieved to reach the top of the climb without seeing any gaps open. The field remained mainly intact for the 1st lap. Natalie had mechanical issues with her chain and had to withdraw after it became firmly stuck on the wrong side of the gear.
Gaps opened on the climb in the 2nd lap. A break of about 15 riders got off the front. Smaller groups formed to chase the field. Sam and Carola worked with their chase groups to try and catch the field on a flat section.
The third lap, officials neutralized the men’s field to allow to women to pass. Not to gloat too much, but it was an exceptional moment. The hill started to seem a little steeper this time. At the end of the lap, riders behind the field were pulled.
This left about 75 women in for the final lap. Clara and Rebecca started the wall near each other but were separated when a gap opened. The climb up Lemon Hill was fast and furious with several sections of stringing out prior to the field’s sprint finish.
Team Columbia-Highroad dominated the race with Ina Teutenberg winning the race and three of her teammates in the break.
National Road Calendar (NRC) crit, Somerville, NJ
“The Kentucky Derby” of cycling
Brooke O’Connor (9th), Rebecca Wellons (19th), Clara Kelly (29th), Carol Berger (dnf), Natalie Dumont (dnf), Susanne Delaney (dnf)
How it unfolded…
Essentially flat, long rectangular shaped course with thousands of spectators and lots of grills and food vendors emitting smells all along the course. Newly repaved road between turns two and three. Race total was only 20 miles.
Pace didn’t appear as fast as in previous years and all the NEBC ladies stayed with the pack throughout the race (until the very end, get to that in a minute). Susanne spent time near the front of the field, as well as Nat, Rebecca and Clara. Clara is getting more and more comfortable in a big pack crit situation, but true comfort comes with time.
Near the beginning of the race, they called a $20 prime. Some people may not have heard the prime called and some others were probably waiting for bigger dough, but coming up the home stretch with only about 200 yards to go and no one gunning it up for the prime, Brooke decided to jump up the right side and easily grabbed it. Then proceeded to lead the field until the third corner to get some airtime for NEBC.
With 2 laps to go, Clara lead Brooke right up to the front of the pack. No breaks ever formed and no one team was able to push the pace through the last couple of laps, so with groupo compacto with 1.5 laps to go and the peloton spread 6 across on the back side, someone was pushed into the right side curb, which in turn pushed back to the left side and unfortunately Susanne’s handlebars got linked in with another’s (local Eve McNeill), they coasted for a couple of seconds and then they both went down and both ended up breaking their collarbones. It appears that someone from behind rode over Susanne back and that is how her collarbone broke. Nat also went down in the crash but survived with some minor road.
As we avoided the carnage on the last lap, Clara and Rebecca avoided a last lap crash between turns 3 and 4 (with Clara having to use cyclocross skills to go up on the sidewalk). Brooke stuck with the front bunch and finished safely in 9th, with Rebecca and Clara having to make up the gap that formed from the crash.
Not-National Road Calendar (NRC) crit, but with a $10,000 prize list, all the national level racers were there, Washington, DC
Susanne Delaney (13th), Brooke O’Connor (17th), Natalie Dumont (29th), Rebecca Wellons, Clara Kelly, Carol Berger
How it unfolded…
Course is a 1.8 mile loop for 35 miles and winds its way through one of the bigger parking lots at RFK Stadium on the eastern edge of Washington, DC. Although its almost pancake flat, there are two 180 degree turns, followed by a tight chicane, two fast 90 degree turns and a 120 degree turn into the finishing straight. The wind played a factor as usual by hitting us straight on the section before the last turn into the finish stretch. If the sun is not out and the pavement not 120 degrees F, it’s a fun course. Because of the equal distance and prize money to the Men’s Pro/1/2 field, it has started drawing all the big female teams in the past two years, especially since everyone was in town for the Tour of Somerville was just up the road the next day. Teams in attendance included Colavita-Sutter Home and the Australian National team, and not to forget one of the top sprinters in the country, Laura Van Gilder. Did I happen to mention its promoted by Hub Racing – the team I race for the previous 4 years, and the team Sally Annis is now racing for this year.
We were happy to have our new teammate Carol Berger join us for her first race as a NEBCer. She proved to be very strong in crits and always up at the front chasing or attacking. The whole NEBC team spent time at the front and all were fairly comfortably moving around the pack as the course was pretty wide. We had someone represented in every break, but the pace of the field and the wind brought all breaks back. There were many large $$ primes during the race, but unfortunately for us, the pure sprinters from the other teams were able to snatch all of them from out of grasp (including one for Sally).
In the end, Clare did a good job bringing Brooke up near the front and Rebecca and Brooke tried to coordinate a lead-out for the finish, but the wind was fierce enough that there was much swarming and it was a free for all for the finish. Susanne rode strongly to pull off 13th while Brooke got caught between two ladies who stopped sprinting and thus had to be satisfied with 17th. There were over 60 cat 1/2 women finishing in the field!
Brooke O’Connor (13th), Rebecca Wellons (20th), Clara Kelly (mechanical), Natalie Dumont, Susanne Delaney, Sam Dery
How it unfolded…
Course was a long, rectangular shape, with slight uphill into a headwind on the start/finish, and slight downhill tailwind on the backside and 0.8 miles a loop. Gaps opening through the first two corners would be accentuated on the long backside. Third and fourth corners were a fast uphill that you really hoped the person in front of you didn’t brake going through to give you momentum to accelerate coming out of the fourth turn. First NRC race of the year, so we knew it’d be fast, just not prepared for just how fast it really was. With over 80 women on the start line, it was one of the largest fields of the year. Luckily Rebecca got a call up to the front line as a Verge Cyclocross winner and the postergirl for the Wilmington Grand Prix brochure. The rest of the NEBC ladies were good about getting to the start line 15 minutes early and getting a good start position.
Right from the gun it was fast with Rebecca and Laura Van Gilder getting to turn one first (hole shot!). The race was superfast from the gun with the Australian National team, Team Type 1 and Colavita all pushing the pace. Not to mention our friend Anna Milkowski attacking a couple of times. The pace never slowed down. Gaps opened up during the turns and on the straights and the officials just kept pulling riders who were going to get lapped. Sam, Susanne and Nat gave a good go, but were among the victims to get pulled. Clara, Rebecca and Brooke were in the front group until Clara got a flat. She raced up to the pit on the sidewalk on the other side of the barriers, was a little unsure about getting back onto the course to get a new wheel and decided to call it a day. Rebecca got gapped off the front group at one point and was not able to make it back up as the pace was still fast and furious. Meanwhile Brooke was suffering like a dog just to stay in contact with the front group of 13.
While Brooke was sitting on ex-NEBC teammate Sally Annis (Hub Racing) for a lap and a half not able to come around and help in order to stay with the front group, Rebecca joined in a chase group of 14. The chase group wasn’t working too well together and was eventually lapped by the front group with about 7 laps to go. Brooke was very excited to see Rebecca and received additional help from Rebecca to keep in contact with the front group. On the last lap, Rebecca made sure Brooke stayed in contact while Brooke was happy just to cross the finish line in 13th. Rebecca grabbed another money spot in 20th place. Only 27 finishers of about 85 starters.
This course broke up the pack last year as well with a lot smaller field. So we’ve concluded that it’s not the size of the field and pace (although that didn’t help this year), but the course also contributes to splitting up the field (split the men’s Pro field also – less than half of them finished as well).
National Road Calendar (NRC) level crit, Baltimore, MD
Clara Kelly (21st), Rebecca Wellons (29th), Susanne Delaney (37th), Natalie Dumont, Sam Dery, Brooke O’Connor (crashed out)
How it unfolded…
From first glance, course appears to just be a big “D” shape through a park. Think again – right from the start, the course narrows to go counter-clockwise 3/4 around a rotary and out on a sharp right. Fast down a slight hill, to still fast on a flat and then 3/4 around a clockwise rotary and exiting with a sharp left. Finally 400 meters is a bend to the right and up into a headwind to the finish line. This course can be a bit dangerous in the fact that it narrows a couple of times, there are two sharp (>90 degree) turns out of rotaries and there are no curbs between the roadway and grass. Can you say “practice your cyclecross skills”? Most all the same women who were in Wilmington the day before showed up to the line in Baltimore.
Another fast race from the beginning. Ladies must have been tired form the day before as the pace didn’t stay at the high pace as consistently as it did the day before. Australian national team, Team Type 1 and Altarum were instigating attacks this day. One of the Australian team members got off the front with a 8 second gap. Right afterwards, only about 11 laps into this 20 lap race, there was a woman who went into the dirt/grass on the right side of the field, lost control of her bike, it went flying through the air and caused a pile-up of about 30 women (everyone behind the crasher). No one from NEBC went down, but someone from another team (Verducci) might have broken her collarbone. Since the pit and the start line were right up ahead, the officials stopped the field as it came around. They let the Australian have her 8 second lead, and then let the rest of the field go.
At one point we got to within 5 seconds of the Australian, but no team was making any concerted effort to close the gap and she opened it to 20+ seconds at one point. As we were moving up the field towards the front to prepare for the finish, with a little more than 2 laps to go, as we were coming out of the second rotary, the woman on Brooke’s left (inside of sharp corner) got up to accelerate out of the corner, her rear wheel came out of the drop-outs and she wiped out her bike right in front of Brooke and another woman. Brooke flew/slid/rolled on her back and somehow landed on the dirt/grass on the right side of the course. The woman who caused the crash fled the scene right away carrying her bike (she must not have wanted to hear us yell at her for not making sure her bike was in proper condition for racing). Brooke’s rear wheel was trashed and she got a tire mark road rash on the BACK of her left knee – very odd. NEBC skinsuit was thick enough material to get dirt skid marks, but did not rip and saved Brooke’s back from getting totally rashed. The Australian ended up finishing 8 seconds head of the field in a well-deserved victory. Sprint queen Laura Van Gilder (who won Wilmington the day before), won the field sprint this day for 2nd.
Clara, Rebecca and Susanne hung in with the pack to the finish strong, while Nat and Sam came to find Brooke and make sure she was okay.
Tough first weekend of NRC crits, but we’re getting ready for the next sets of crits this upcoming weekend…
We are now 2-for-2. Our second team race ended with another NEBC win.
Rebecca Wellons (1st), Clara Kelly (7th), Brooke O’Connor (9th), Cathy Rowell (11th), Natalie Dumont (12th), Susanne Delaney (13th)
How it unfolded…
Neutral 2 miles from the school to the start/finish hill. Why have all the recent races started with a “neutral” climb? Once we started racing, it was quiet for the first lap. At the end of the first lap, came the first push up the hill, led by possibly Anna Milkowski (unattached). It was enough to split the field, with Nat, Clara and Rebecca upfront, and Cathy, Susanne and Brooke having to chase back on. Each lap up the hill this happen the next couple of times, with different people pushing the pace and slowly ladies being spit off the back. This saved NEBC from having to initiate all the attacks and made for some fun (and hard) racing up the hill and into the next few miles. Action was usually quiet on Rte 12 as everyone prepped themselves for the hill and because it was too windy to stay out alone here. Susanne, Cathy and Brooke took turns keeping the pace going on Rte 12 so our climbers would be ready to respond on the hill. After the hill at the start of lap 4(?), Debony Diehl (Sunapee) attacked and got a good gap. We weren’t too worried about her at first because it was still a long way to the finish to be alone. She steadily gained a sizeable gap for the rest of the lap. At the start of the 5th lap, Kristen Gohr (Colavita) attacked hard with only Rebecca able to stay with her. Another group of Clara, Kat Carr and Karin Holmes (Sunapee), Anna Milkowski and Rebecca Blatt (Kenda) formed behind. Cathy, Nat, Susanne and Brooke were in a third group with two others.
In the front group, Rebecca and Kristen took steady turns pulling, caught Debony and eventually left her behind for the second group to pick up. They gained about 2 minutes on the second group. For the finish, Kristen was pulling hard up the last hill on Rte 12, so as they got to the base of the start/finish climb, Rebecca sat behind Kristen until the hill flattened slightly when Rebecca pushed it hard to come around and beat Kristen up the rest of the hill, with time to put up her arms in a victory salute.
In the second group, they put 2 minutes on the third group. Unfortunately for us, there were now 3 Sunapee ladies in that group. They set up the finish so that Sunapee finished one-two in that group for a 3rd and 4th place of Karin and Kat, with Clara pushing it hard to finish a strong 7th place overall.
In the third group, it was a beautiful picture of teamwork on Rte 12. We had Susanne and Cathy taking short rotating pulls to keep the pace up and discourage any attacks from non-NEBCers. Nat sat third wheel preparing to attack up the finish hill, with Brooke sitting fourth wheel to sweep. This was working awesome until we got to just about the top of the last hill on Rte 12. Cathy kept pulling, Susanne was backing off and Brooke was waiting for Nat to follow Cathy so she could let the gap open. Nat let out a scream of sorts (found out later that a cramp suddenly developed in her leg), so Brooke went around Nat, yelled at Cathy to keep going (as she was already burying herself like an awesome teammate) until the base of the finish hill when Brooke powered around Cathy, encouraging her to keep going, and nabbed 9th place. Cathy was totally spent, but kept going, allowing only one to pass her, and finished 11th. Nat and Susanne finished right behind Cathy.
Upcoming team races (all national level crits):
Our first official team race started another season off with a bang!
Congratulations to Shannon Madison and the NEBC cat 3/4’s for making it a double NEBC women’s day!
Clara Kelly (1st)
Brooke O’Connor (4th)
Rebecca Wellons (6th)
Susanne Delaney (7th)
Natalie Dumont
How it unfolded…
Lap 1: Susanne and Brooke held pace at the front of the group the first time up Oak Hill (neutral start). At one point, Brooke had to tell Susanne to slow it down a bit as Susanne was climbing well. After coming up over the top, the race was on and there was the nice long downhill for a couple of miles. Pace was a bit too slow for Brooke on the downhill, so she half-heartedly decided to jump to see if she could mix it up a little bit (it IS a race after all). That attack came back very shortly afterwards and was countered by Rebecca. After passing the cemetery and turning onto Shaker Rd, Brooke decided to attack again to warm up everyone’s legs and make sure that no one was too rested for the next big hill. This ended up being a decisive time in the pack. Kat Carr (Sunapee) bridged up to Brooke and the two started working together knowing that they both had teammates in the field to block. Brooke didn’t think they could stay away for the whole race, but at least it was giving some action to the race and letting our teammates rest. Once we hit the 2nd (steep) hill of the lap, Kat fell off the pace, but Clara, Debony Diehl and Karin Holmes (both of Sunapee) bridged up to Brooke. Brooke told Clara to conserve her energy and Brooke pulled the next couple of miles down the hill to end the first lap.
Lap 2: Once we got going on the 2nd time up Oak Hill, Clara rode off into the sunset with the two Sunapee girls in tow while Brooke fell off the pace. The rest of the pack had splintered by this point. On the downhill, Brooke decided to wait for a lone rider named Melissa (moved to the area last year from WY). Then looked back again and saw the red and white of NEBC and told Melissa to wait so that we could get more horsepower. Rebecca and Susanne bridged up and the 4 were off, except Melissa couldn’t quite figure out the rotating paceline thing and kept surging ahead. It broke up our rhythm a bit, but also caused Melissa to waste more of her energy. We never caught Clara’s break, so we settled into our own pace.
Lap 3: Debony and Clara traded pulling while Clara was worried about how well Karin was resting up in the back of the group. Clara didn’t know that the 2nd Sunapee girl was Karin and she was concerned that it was actually Kristen Gohr (Colavita) who last year beat Clara a few times by sitting on her wheel and then powering around her on a short climb.
Behind in the second group, Brooke and Melissa kept the pace at the front of the small group up Oak Hill which unfortunately was a bit fast and Rebecca and Susanne dropped off the pace. Melissa and Brooke kept going for lap three while Susanne started feeling the need for more water.
Lap 4: Debony tried to get around Clara at the base of the long climb on the third lap (the steep bit). Clara was able to stay up and tried to maintain a good pace up the rest of it and over the top. Clara’s not sure what happen to her, but realized she wasn’t there when Clara was pulling the section after the descent. With maybe half a lap to go, Karin told Clara that she wasn’t feeling well and didn’t plan on sprinting if she made it with Clara to the finish. She hung on into the the final stretch and Clara didn’t see what she was doing when she started (too early) a sprint to the line for the win.
Behind, Melissa and Brooke made a pack not to kill each other on the 4th time up Oak Hill and stay together. On the final downhill before the finish, Brooke led at first, but then Melissa came around, so Brooke let her lead all the way until the 200m to go sign when Brooke easily sprinted around her to grab 4th place. Rebecca and Susanne finished shortly afterwards and grabbed 6th and 7th place.
This year the NEBC Elite Women’s team will concentrate their efforts and energy on competing against the best women in the country at the NRC (National Racing Calendar) designated races, but will still be around New England proudly displaying the NEBC red and white on many podiums throughout the season.
April 25 – Turtle Pond Circuit Race, Loudon, NH
May 9 – Sterling Classic Road Race, Sterling, MA
May 16 – Wilmington Grand Prix, Wilmington, DE +
May 17 – Kelly Cup, Baltimore, MD +
May 24 – RFK Crit, DC
May 25 – Tour of Somerville, NJ +
June 7 – Liberty Classic (Philadelphia, PA) ++
June 27 – NEBC Kids Crit
July 2-5 – Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic, MA +
July 19 – Yarmouth Clam Festival, Yarmouth, ME
Aug 1 – Concord Crit, Concord, NH
Aug 2 – NEBC Bow Road Race, Bow, NH
Aug 12 – Witches Cup, Salem, MA
Sept 20 – Portsmouth Crit, NH (Susanne’s race!!!)
Sept 26 – Boston Downtown Crit, Boston, MA
+ denotes NRC races
++ denotes UCI 1.1 race
[As told by Susanne]
5th: Susanne Delaney, 7th: Karin Mackin, 8th: Rebecca Wellons, 15th: Clara Kelly, 16th: Tami Buhr; Sam Dery – DNF (crash on last lap)
From the start S&W pushed the pace hard with Debony leading the way. There were several attacks throughout the race, by all S&W riders but nothing that stuck or got away. NEBC Elite women launched several attacks of our own followed by counter attacks on most of them. Rebecca got a prem. With 5 to go the pace picked up, one last attempt by S&W to shake us, but it didn’t work. Then on the final lap coming around the final corner, it was S&W 1st and 2nd, but there was a lag in when they decided to jump and sprint. I found the field clogging up so I went right and started sprinting at the same time Katherine Carr and Eve McNeil went.
We’re very excited to announce that Clara Kelly is joining the 2009 NEBC Elite Women’s team!
Earlier this year, Clara was a participant in the Intro to Racing Clinic. She caught the road racing bug in the spring and rode away from her competitors when the road turned upwards. After she quickly upgraded to a cat 3, Clara went on to have a phenominal performance at the tough Fitchburg-Longsjo stage race where she got 3rd in the road race and the overall in the cat 3/4 field. After a few more good results, including a 6th place on GC in the cat 1/2/3 field at Green Mountain, Clara had enough points for an upgrade to cat 2! Upon joining the elite team, Clara will benefit from learning the finer points of team tactics from all of her more experienced teammates.
Please welcome Clara to the best elite women’s team in the northeast!
Yet another upgrade from within the NEBC to elite level.
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