Women's Elite Sucker Brook 'Cross - Cris Rothfuss 9-16-07
A bit late, but here are a few thoughts from Cathy and myself on the race.
It was excellent to line with with three other teammates – Cathy Rowell, Libby White and Sam Dery. My start was a bit lackluster, but good enough to follow Amy Wallace (racing for Richard Sachs again this cross season) through the first corner at the lead of the race. Amy and I got off to a small lead fairly immediately, but I had the unsettling feeling that it was all too easy – that we needed to be going FASTER. Unbeknownst to me, Anna Milkowski (the heaviest hitter in the race) had flatted on the first corner. Her absence certainly changed the speed and complexion of the front of the race. I passed Amy prior to the barriers, but as shown on the video Jim just sent around, she scooted past me again prior to the woods. Over the course of the next lap or so, Amy put a few seconds into me, but I was feeling pretty relaxed at that point that it wasn’t out of hand, and the gap back to third place was healthy and holding steady. Ah, never get complacent in a cross race! If it seems too easy, it is…and you will pay for it later. So, later….I closed the gap to Amy mid-way through the race and just before exiting the woods, saw a clean line to pass her. Wanting to do so with authority, I goosed it good. I passed her and took all that speed into the sandpit. Where I wasn’t paying close enough attention to keeping my balance back on the bike. So, when my front wheel met the divot, my face quickly met the sand. A jarring endo. Catapulting over me, Amy kindly asked if I was okay, and then (as she should have) rode away while I assessed the damage. I could detect no apparent damage, although I was somewhat shaken. It took me a good half lap to spit and snort out dirt, refasten my loose helmet and clear my head. The biggest thing to remember was that, even though Amy seemed gone and the third place rider (Kate Northcott) had now passed me, there was still lots of racing to do. I kicked myself for having been complacent earlier and not putting more time into Kate, but there was still work to do and time to do it. I did manage to reel Amy in again, but only got within 4 seconds of Kate. Alas, no win, but a good start to the season anyway.
Cathy reports:
This was my second ‘cross race with the Elite women, and there was some great talent lined up at the start. I was pretty intimidated standing between Marci Titus-Hall and Perri Mertens and behind Cris, but decided to just go out and see what happened. I didn’t get a great start, but didn’t hit the gravel turn last, so was pretty psyched about that. I got caught in a bit of a cluster when Anna slid on her flat on an off camber turn, but it worked to my advantage, as I managed to pass a couple of women as a result.
About half way through the race, I passed Alie Kenzer. She and I ended up leap-frogging each other for most of the remainder of the race, with her putting time on me on the mounts/dismounts, and me putting time on her going through the sand. With about two to go, I caught and passed Alex Jospe (IBC), but she sucked wheel hard enough to later get past me in the final lap, after missing a turn! As we came out of the sand for the final time, Alex was in front and Alie was on my wheel; I knew I was going to have a fight to the finish on the pavement. As I turned the final corner, I gave everything I had to sprint to the line, literally beating Alie by an inch (or less!). I was elated – I put in a strong race, didn’t have any mishaps, and finished much better than I was anticipating. After this weekend of racing, I’m beginning to feel like I might be ok racing in this field ;-).