I rode in the Cat 4 women's category and ended up doing most of my riding with a very nice group of Sorella Forte riders who very generously let me race with them (included me in strategy, let me in the pace line if I got blocked out, etc). It made the whole weekend of racing a whole lot more fun than it would have been otherwise.
Maureen Kavanagh, Sherry Jako, Anne Linton & Judy Richardson: The Sorella ladies.
Abby & I rolled into town on Friday night in time to eat dinner with Shana, Tom & Shana's mom, Bonnie, & stepdad, Mark. Bonnie & Mark have a 'guest house' in their back yard and very generously let Abby, Maureen & I stay with them for the weekend of racing - it was like having our very own homestay!
Saturday was the Maxon Road Race - which was about 26 miles for the Cat4 ladies -- it was kind of a mess. First off our lead car took off at about 60mph in the neutral zone and then promptly took a wrong turn resulting in a bunch of yelling amongst the riders in the group trying to decide if we should follow the lead car or go the direction we thought the course went. We ended up ignoring the lead car and just following the course - which was fine - until the lead car caught up with us again and decided to pass us on a double yellow line headed into a blind corner. Of course another car came around the corner in the opposite direction and did our lead car let up and pull in behind us? NO - of course not! He gunned it and continued to power around us which forced the oncoming car out onto the shoulder and partially off the road. YIKES! (and this after we were very sternly lectured by OBRA officials not to cross the center line). Fortunately no one was hurt and we just got nasty looks and a honk from the other driver -- could have been worse. About 15 miles into the course the lead car took another wrong turn (this time we knew not to follow him) which resulted in another crazy passing scenario on a blind corner. sigh.
Aside from the crazy lead car driver the racing was pretty typical for a Cat4 race. Minimal cooperation in terms of pulling -- about 3 people doing most of the work -- with a stubborn rider in the second place position who refused to pull at all. The pace surged and fell
back depending on who was in front - but no one could quite get organized enough to do a break away.
Here's a shot of the OBRA timing tent for those of you who have no idea what goes on at a bike race!
I'm crossing the finish line here - -it's a bit blurry, but the best Abby could do with an unfamiliar camera. My friend Tom took a video clip of the finish that I'm hoping to get from him and I'll post that later if I do get it.
Abby at the finish line - she had a great race and only finished 26 seconds behind the Pro 1/2 leaders in her race!
A shot of myself, Shana & Abby after my race on Saturday, but before Abby went out.
Sunday a.m. was the time trial....I am starting to think that maybe a time trial helmet or some aero bars might be in order if I plan on doing many more stage races. The differences in time between the people who had aero bars and the people who didn't was pretty staggering -- neither Abby or I had any special TT gear and our times were definitely some of the slowest amongst all the women out there.
The Sorella ladies warming up pre-time trial. Everyone happy, happy on their trainers. (boring!)
Sherry, Anne & Judy decked out with their aero bars. Anne had an amazing race and was 2nd!
Abby & I happy to be finished with our time trial!
Sunday p.m. was the Celebration Crit. Around 1pm or so we got a call from Shana telling us it was pouring rain in Portland so we started crossing our fingers that it wouldn't move south & rain for the crit in the afternoon (Shana went home Saturday night because she raced the Portland Triathlon on Sunday). We got VERY lucky. It poured rain all through our warmup (fortunately the Sorella riders let me warm up under their tent with them or I would have been soaked!)
Me on my trainer escaping the rain (great Red Burros Racing t-shirt complements of Erica & John Tingey. Thanks!)
Fortunately about 5 minutes before our race the rain let up. The course was still pretty wet, but no issues with traction at all. Our goal was to try and attack multiple times to try and tire out some of the people chasing so that Sherry Jako & Anne Linton from Sorella would have a good chance of finishing well in the crit. It worked! They were 2nd & 3rd place which put them in good position for the final road race on Monday.
Judy, myself & Sherry after the crit. You can't really see it in this picture -- but our faces are covered in road grit that we kicked up during the race on wet pavement. Yummy.
Abby during the Cat 1/2/3 crit -- she was going too fast to get a good picture. But you can recognize her beautiful, baby-blue moon Gunnar frame.
On Monday we had our final race and The Wolf Creek Road Race was absolutely gorgeous! I had heard from Josh & Amy (other Bridgetown riders not at the race) before that it was one of their favorite road races and I'd have to agree with them -- the scenery is beautiful and we couldn't have had better weather for the race. It was sunny & clear, not too hot for the long climb, but warm enough that you didn't get chilled at all on the descent - it was perfect. At the last minute the officials decided to start the Cat 1/2/3 & Cat 4 women all together in the same race -- this turned out to be quite nice as the 1/2/3's set a pretty chill pace for about the first 10 miles of the race until we hit the first set of hills - and then in an absolute explosion the front of pack disappeared (abby with them) and were never to be seen again. I flailed around on my own for awhile and eventually caught up with Jan Moss & Tessa Sugahara of Group Health and decided that as long as I was with Jan Moss I couldn't be doing too badly. =)
The elevation profile. You can see why I was flailing on my way up to Timber Ridge. Ouch!
We continued plugging our way up the hill and picked up Jill Andrews from the Poplollie's (an all women's team from Eugene) along the way -- the four of us stayed together and pace-lined for the final 18 miles of the race until the 1km finishing hill. At that point I tried to visualize Michelle & Thor standing on the sidelines yelling at me to stand up out of my saddle and sprint (for any of you who watched Tabor you know I DON'T EVER stand up on my pedals....very bad, i know) and I managed to pull ahead of the other three and wobble across the finish line for 5th place in the race (amongst Cat4's). Not too bad -- and good enough for 4th place overall in the GC and a $25 gift certificate to Hutch's in Eugene.
King Estate Winery -- where the race on Sunday began -- you can see how amazing the scenery was. The worst part of the race was not being able to relax and enjoy the winery!
Another shot of the amazing blue skies we had for racing on Monday.
Abby & I back at her house late Monday night. We are pretty giddy about the idea of walking up to Vincente's for dinner...mmmm....beer & pizza....finally!
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