2009 Blogs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWvBj_BsBvI
With four foreigners on Team Webcor (who speak English pretty ok, I guess), and with Janel recovering from her crash, we found all 3 of us Americans in last night's team meeting begging our director, Karen to race the US National Championships with us. But no, we buckled down and decided our best bet was to use our legs AND brains for this race. We knew Tibco and ValueAct were to have eight riders each, so we knew they would be the aggressors, while we would pick our battles. Like a good milkshake needs to have the perfect combination of flavors, the combination of riders needed to be just right for us to chase or to bridge.
We also knew the course well, as it was the same course as the final day of Cascade - 4 laps of a 17-mile circuit with punchy climbs, fast descents, and wind-nipping straightaways. It's a great course because it can suit a scrappy climber as well as a gritty sprinter - it's anyone's guess who could be the victor.
The first few miles of the race began with an attack by Anna Milkowski, which led members of the bigger teams and a few strays out. Not gaining much ground, it was eventually reeled back in and it was groupo compacto until the first real climb. Amber Rais solo-ed off as we were cresting the climb (the same spot as her winning move last Cascade with Kristin Armstrong). Amber stayed off for about 2 laps, when the bunch eventually caught her as we were climbing the QOM climb from Cascade.
The Elite and Under-23 fields raced together, and anyone U23 had a number beginning with 800, whereas the Elites held numbers 1-100. Going into our 4th lap, I saw an 800-number attacking on the left. I was on the right side, on Alison Power's wheel, when she began her surge to catch onto Lauren Tamayo's wheel, who was surging to grab Chrissy Ruiter's wheel. Perfect flavors I thought!! We established a bit of a gap on the descent which was reeled back in at the top of the climb. Kori Seehafer shot off solo, quickly getting a gap. This grew up to 45 seconds through the rolling flats, until Karen told us to begin attacking. We wanted to make the climbers work so they wouldn't have so much turbo on the real climb. Katheryn put in an attack with authority, gaining a bit of distance before being swallowed. Rebecca countered that, leaving the peloton scattered and scrambling. As that was reeled in, I tried my luck, going up the left hand side. Meredith Miller of Tibco was hot on my wheel, and we rotated through the downhill. Looking back, we saw that Chrissy Ruiter of ValueAct, Kristen Lasasso of Mellow Mushrooms, and Jen McRae of Team Type 1 had bridged. My favorite flavors I thought!! Kristen drove the break hard up over the feed zone hill. After cresting that, Kori was in sight and Kristen and I worked together to reel her in. Our gap to the bunch had grown to a minute and a half. Chrissy and Meredith drove it up the big hill, but my climbing legs were there and I was easily able to stick to their wheels like glue. Jen fell off the pace and Kori was dangling as we turned our final pedal strokes over the hill. With 4k to go, Kristen was back to the front, and it was just Meredith, Chrissy, and myself behind her.
At 2k our comfortable gap had shrunk to 40 seconds when we learned that Evie, Mara, Powers, and Kat Carroll were chasing. Uh-oh, not my favorite. Meredith jetted off to the left hard, leaving Chrissy, Kristen, and I in her dust, looking at each other to chase. We somewhat organized, but Meredith had rockets on and held on for a big Win. I thought I had prime positioning as we entered the round-about with 250m to go, sitting 3rd on Kristen's and Chrissy's wheels, but when I jumped to get around, my legs were already in the purple zone and I had nothing left. I came across the line on Kristen's wheel in 4th place for the Elite field and the first Under-23 rider.
As we did all last week at the Cascade Cycling Classic, we rode a wicked team race. Thank you to Webcor Builders, Donn Kellogg at Challenge, KneadEd Massage, Coach Ben Ollett, Excel Sports, Andy at Oakley, Williams Wheels, Lance at Hudz, Mike at 1st Endurance, Chamois Butt'r, David at Skins, Stan's NoTubes, and Stefano at Kenda. You all make good performances tangible. And good is my favorite flavor.
With four foreigners on Team Webcor (who speak English pretty ok, I guess), and with Janel recovering from her crash, we found all 3 of us Americans in last night's team meeting begging our director, Karen to race the US National Championships with us. But no, we buckled down and decided our best bet was to use our legs AND brains for this race. We knew Tibco and ValueAct were to have eight riders each, so we knew they would be the aggressors, while we would pick our battles. Like a good milkshake needs to have the perfect combination of flavors, the combination of riders needed to be just right for us to chase or to bridge.
We also knew the course well, as it was the same course as the final day of Cascade - 4 laps of a 17-mile circuit with punchy climbs, fast descents, and wind-nipping straightaways. It's a great course because it can suit a scrappy climber as well as a gritty sprinter - it's anyone's guess who could be the victor.
The first few miles of the race began with an attack by Anna Milkowski, which led members of the bigger teams and a few strays out. Not gaining much ground, it was eventually reeled back in and it was groupo compacto until the first real climb. Amber Rais solo-ed off as we were cresting the climb (the same spot as her winning move last Cascade with Kristin Armstrong). Amber stayed off for about 2 laps, when the bunch eventually caught her as we were climbing the QOM climb from Cascade.
The Elite and Under-23 fields raced together, and anyone U23 had a number beginning with 800, whereas the Elites held numbers 1-100. Going into our 4th lap, I saw an 800-number attacking on the left. I was on the right side, on Alison Power's wheel, when she began her surge to catch onto Lauren Tamayo's wheel, who was surging to grab Chrissy Ruiter's wheel. Perfect flavors I thought!! We established a bit of a gap on the descent which was reeled back in at the top of the climb. Kori Seehafer shot off solo, quickly getting a gap. This grew up to 45 seconds through the rolling flats, until Karen told us to begin attacking. We wanted to make the climbers work so they wouldn't have so much turbo on the real climb. Katheryn put in an attack with authority, gaining a bit of distance before being swallowed. Rebecca countered that, leaving the peloton scattered and scrambling. As that was reeled in, I tried my luck, going up the left hand side. Meredith Miller of Tibco was hot on my wheel, and we rotated through the downhill. Looking back, we saw that Chrissy Ruiter of ValueAct, Kristen Lasasso of Mellow Mushrooms, and Jen McRae of Team Type 1 had bridged. My favorite flavors I thought!! Kristen drove the break hard up over the feed zone hill. After cresting that, Kori was in sight and Kristen and I worked together to reel her in. Our gap to the bunch had grown to a minute and a half. Chrissy and Meredith drove it up the big hill, but my climbing legs were there and I was easily able to stick to their wheels like glue. Jen fell off the pace and Kori was dangling as we turned our final pedal strokes over the hill. With 4k to go, Kristen was back to the front, and it was just Meredith, Chrissy, and myself behind her.
At 2k our comfortable gap had shrunk to 40 seconds when we learned that Evie, Mara, Powers, and Kat Carroll were chasing. Uh-oh, not my favorite. Meredith jetted off to the left hard, leaving Chrissy, Kristen, and I in her dust, looking at each other to chase. We somewhat organized, but Meredith had rockets on and held on for a big Win. I thought I had prime positioning as we entered the round-about with 250m to go, sitting 3rd on Kristen's and Chrissy's wheels, but when I jumped to get around, my legs were already in the purple zone and I had nothing left. I came across the line on Kristen's wheel in 4th place for the Elite field and the first Under-23 rider.
As we did all last week at the Cascade Cycling Classic, we rode a wicked team race. Thank you to Webcor Builders, Donn Kellogg at Challenge, KneadEd Massage, Coach Ben Ollett, Excel Sports, Andy at Oakley, Williams Wheels, Lance at Hudz, Mike at 1st Endurance, Chamois Butt'r, David at Skins, Stan's NoTubes, and Stefano at Kenda. You all make good performances tangible. And good is my favorite flavor.