2008 Blogs
Here's my race report from the U23 crit:
Thursday morning Rebecca and I awoke beside another, hoping that the crit fairies had come to us in our sleep. We followed our strict routine coffee and breakfast rituals and were soon on our way to the crit course, which happened to be in the Anaheim Stadium. It was the most parking lot-tiest course I have ever seen. In the immense Angels parking lot, metal barriers lined a 1.2 mile loop. Because of the nature of this course we knew it would be difficult to get away from the group because you would always be in sight and because it lacked any corners or technical aspects. In our pre-race meeting, Karen advised us to test the waters of the field a bit before attempting any attacks. We also decided that the best case scenario would be getting a break with one or both of us in it, considering that neither Bec nor I are thoroughbred sprinters. Plan B would be Rebecca leading me out for the sprint.
At 9 am the field of 20 under-23 women were off for 21 laps in the parking lot. Dave was the only mechanic in the pit and did a good job cheering, as Avery kept us awake with the number of laps remaining. For the first few laps Rebecca and I just sat in conserving and observing. Shortly later a prime was announced and Karen told Rebecca to counter that move. The rest of the race was fairly similar. There were 3 primes to counter off of. We made use of those, and Bec and I were like clockwork as we countered another's moves. Several times we were able to work a bit of a gap, but the field would always quickly swallow it up like a ravenous wild boar. At 6 laps to go, nothing in the entire race was able to gain more than 10 seconds on the massive 20-women peloton. We decided to go for one more explosive attack. Rebecca went and opened up the biggest gap of the day. I hopped on a girl's wheel who was trying to bridge, then tried for the counter but again the field was on me like white on rice.
Plan B was now on our plates. Metro-Volkswagen had three girls in the race and wanted to set Kim Geist up for the win. With 3 laps to go they were already starting their lead-out train. So Bec and I comfortably sat behind it until the final lap. Rebecca came on my left and pulled me to the front. At 500m she started accelerating into her sprint. We lacked some communication and the innate Gina-ness of a leadout, and were swarmed with 300m to go. Girls were shooting right and left like dull bullets for the final 200m and my sprinting legs led me to 7th place with Rebecca rolling in just a bit later.
After that mayhem we went to the beach. Cycling tan lines are not "in" right now. We got a lot of stares and some pointing, whispering, and laughing.
Rebecca and Jono look for sharks,
while Katheryn soaks up the rays,
...and I avoid drowning by running away from the waves.
Mmm, shalty.
Saturday was the road race which started at 7am, and then we boogied home.
Thursday morning Rebecca and I awoke beside another, hoping that the crit fairies had come to us in our sleep. We followed our strict routine coffee and breakfast rituals and were soon on our way to the crit course, which happened to be in the Anaheim Stadium. It was the most parking lot-tiest course I have ever seen. In the immense Angels parking lot, metal barriers lined a 1.2 mile loop. Because of the nature of this course we knew it would be difficult to get away from the group because you would always be in sight and because it lacked any corners or technical aspects. In our pre-race meeting, Karen advised us to test the waters of the field a bit before attempting any attacks. We also decided that the best case scenario would be getting a break with one or both of us in it, considering that neither Bec nor I are thoroughbred sprinters. Plan B would be Rebecca leading me out for the sprint.
At 9 am the field of 20 under-23 women were off for 21 laps in the parking lot. Dave was the only mechanic in the pit and did a good job cheering, as Avery kept us awake with the number of laps remaining. For the first few laps Rebecca and I just sat in conserving and observing. Shortly later a prime was announced and Karen told Rebecca to counter that move. The rest of the race was fairly similar. There were 3 primes to counter off of. We made use of those, and Bec and I were like clockwork as we countered another's moves. Several times we were able to work a bit of a gap, but the field would always quickly swallow it up like a ravenous wild boar. At 6 laps to go, nothing in the entire race was able to gain more than 10 seconds on the massive 20-women peloton. We decided to go for one more explosive attack. Rebecca went and opened up the biggest gap of the day. I hopped on a girl's wheel who was trying to bridge, then tried for the counter but again the field was on me like white on rice.
Plan B was now on our plates. Metro-Volkswagen had three girls in the race and wanted to set Kim Geist up for the win. With 3 laps to go they were already starting their lead-out train. So Bec and I comfortably sat behind it until the final lap. Rebecca came on my left and pulled me to the front. At 500m she started accelerating into her sprint. We lacked some communication and the innate Gina-ness of a leadout, and were swarmed with 300m to go. Girls were shooting right and left like dull bullets for the final 200m and my sprinting legs led me to 7th place with Rebecca rolling in just a bit later.
After that mayhem we went to the beach. Cycling tan lines are not "in" right now. We got a lot of stares and some pointing, whispering, and laughing.
Rebecca and Jono look for sharks,
while Katheryn soaks up the rays,
...and I avoid drowning by running away from the waves.
Mmm, shalty.
Saturday was the road race which started at 7am, and then we boogied home.