Women's cat4 & Mstrs 70+ Sunapee RR - 5-20-08
Sunapee RR – 17 May 2008
Women 4: (27 starters)
Clara Kelly – 2nd
Shannon Madison – 5th
Erica Mains – 6th
Katherine Snell – 10th
Loraine Warner – 12th
Kathy Martin – 19th
Michele Archambault – 20th
Clara:
Lesson of the day – ride the finish prior to the race and pay attention to it
At the start of the race I was very excited to be riding my bike – too excited actually as I pulled the Cat 4 women’s field around for quite some time. I felt like I was going pretty slow, but no one was coming up to ride with me – the exception being a girl from Harvard who took turns with me for a bit. I knew that the strong girls from the competing teams were enjoying my draft – but I didn’t really know what to do about it. I was not thinking ahead to the end of the race – or I would have softpedalled and forced someone to pass. I can see that I am going to need a real attitude change to do well in this sport. It is a lot different that the running races or endurance cycling I am used to. After Loraine came up to inform me of the obvious – that I needed to get off the front. I made an effort to slow down. I did draft off Katherine for a bit – thanks Katherine!!
At mile 12 or so, things started to pick up. Amy Kemper from North Hampton was doing a heck of a job passing me or gaining time on every decent. One of the girls from Independent Fabrication was up with us and I focused on staying on her and Amy’s wheels. I found that I have a lot of trouble decending in a line. I welcome advice from more experienced riders on this point. Several times I lost my place in the line because I pulled to the side instead of braking.
There was a very windy section in the last miles and we slowed down to take rotations. I got a glimpse of Shannon at one point and hoped she was coming up to take over the race.
As it happen, I came into the traffic circle behind Amy. I was in a good position and proceeded to really screw it up. I hammered HARD up the first part of the hill past Amy. Unfortunately I underestimated the remaining distance and grade to the finish. I didn’t have the juice to hold a sprint from the traffic circle to the finish. On top of it, I failed to shift into the small gear for the climb to the finish and I couldn’t generate the turnover I needed for a final sprint. While I desperately mashed away, Amy passed me right at the line. I was lucky to make it over before Independent Fabrication.
Chalking this one up to a learning experience.
Shannon:
The morning of the 2008 Lake Sunapee RR was absolutely beautiful. We couldn’t have asked for a clearer sky or more awesome temps – not too hot, not too cold. The women’s Cat 4 field took off just about 1 minute after the women’s P/1/2/3 field. It was a pretty mellow pace at first, but then began to pick up – especially after we overcame the P/1/2/3 bunch. I believe it was on the 2nd hill that a group of 7 split off the front. Luckily, I was in this group. We stayed together for the rest of the race, and it wasn’t until the Finish that we got split apart a bit. From an effort point of view, the race wasn’t terribly difficult since our field only did 23 miles (one lap). However, the course was quite hilly, which hugely contributed to the amount of energy that was output. I had felt like I’d done a fairly good job of conserving energy during the race, however. I wanted a reserve for the finishing sprint – I knew that last stretch after the rotary would be tough! What energy I did have left certainly got used up. I felt like I finished strong and was quite happy with both my individual result and the team performance.
Erica:
After my experience getting shelled off the back of the group last year I was very anxious for this race. On the plus side, based on what I saw at Sterling it didn’t look like there were many strong climbers in the Women’s Cat 4 so that helped boost my confidense slightly. As it turned out Loraine’s game plan was dead on – people would just start falling off the back. Clara set up a strong pace going out of the start. I started near the front, but somehow found myself slipping to the back and inside of the group. The pace slowed down as we headed along the straightaway – directly into the wind. I tried to tuck myself in the best possible – because wind is one of my number one enemies! As we charged along I realized I was about mid pack and on the inside – if anyone attacked up the first hill I would be left in their dust for sure. I finally made my way up to the front – without an attack taking place. At this time we caught up to the Women’s 1,2,3 field, we passed them, then they passed us. It made for some confusion and I was on the look out for an attack from someone taking advantage of the confusion, but nothing happened. We continued along at a good pace and by the second hill I looked behind me and all I saw was Shannon – like I said, Loraine was dead on – everyone else had just dropped off. I was thrilled, no attacks needed and we were already down to a group of 8. A little ways down the road the 8th girl dropped off. Clara and an NCC girl kept the pace pretty high. I wanted to help Clara out, as I had planned to, but all I could do was hang onto the back of that group. My head and legs were throbbing. Ideally the three of us NEBC’ers should have launched an attack on the rest of the group, but I just didn’t have the legs for it. As it worked out it was the 7 of us sprinting from the circle up to the finish – way to far for a sprint on my tired legs. I thought the other girls (besides Clara and the NCC girl) in the group were just as tired as me, but they flew up the last hill without too much trouble and I found myself surrendering to 6th place. I was glad to hear this put me in the money and I was thrilled with another great finish for NEBC.
Katherine:
Well, that was a tough race. I initially had great hopes going into the race coming off a pretty good finish at Sterling and having been on a recovery week. The first signs of trouble were riding on Friday where I was still feeling some tiredness. Race day I felt OK but nowhere near as strong as for Sterling. After a rest week? – go figure. Anyways, Loraine offered a good plan of having our stronger riders staying near the front and controlling the pace and the race. This worked quite well for the initial few miles where no one seemed to feel like pushing the envelope. I took a few turns on the front, trying to get Clara to back off and conserve her energy since I knew she’d have a good chance of being at the finish on this hilly race. The gals from NCC (Amy Kemper and Ashley Krause) were also out on the front. I’m starting to notice a pattern here – these races start slow and stay that way for quite a while. It turns out the Big Girls (1/2/3 Women) where even more tentative than we were as we passed them about three or four miles out and then after a short while they ended up passing us just before the first climb. I was feeling felt pretty good at this point and had good position and then we hit the first climb. Knowing there were four more climbs, I did not push as hard as I should have nor did my legs really want to cooperate. I then ended up moving to the back of the now mixed field of the Big Girls and the Cat 4s and riding next to my Cat 3 friend, Ivy Luhrs. The pack was well ahead of by the end of the climb but I chased back on during the downhill stretch. But we then immediately hit the next climb and I dropped back again. I continued the chase but this time the gap had widened and the downhill was not long enough for me to chase back. Rather disheartened and now thinking I was at the back of the pack I continued with another gal as we chased together (mostly her drafting me) back to the finish line. Around the last corner, my pursuer passed me and put on a considerable distance. At that point I didn’t feel like chasing her down – I just wanted to finish. However I held on, spun up the hills she was standing climbing on, passed her as we climbed up the finish hill with my legs almost refusing to turn the cranks and slipped in to finish 10th place. I guess she bonked worse than I did. I was glad to see Clara buzzing down the hill and Erica and Shannon at the top. Amy Kemper (NCC) took first with Clara second. Congratulations to everyone who participated in such a tough race – everyone who finished was a winner!
Take-aways and Stats: I learned from this race not to get hemmed in on the right side of the peleton. It is far better to stay on the left even if not as effectively drafting in order to be able to control position and chase any breaks. I can do OK on races with one hilly section since I have time to recover but races like Sunapee with multiple climbs are a big problem for me. Average speed was the fastest yet, 20.8 mph over 25 miles and 1770’ of climbing. Max speed 45.4 mph (probably on -14% max grade). Cadence: 84 avg., 140 max.
Loraine:
Sunapee is a tough course. I knew that I couldn’t ask people to go too hard attacking when it could mean they would struggle just to finish the race. I also knew that we have some strong hill-climbers who would naturally drop people just by going their own pace up the hills. Thus I recommended that Erica, Shannon, Katherine and Clara simply do what they do and the field would break as a result. Then hopefully a few of them would be able to work together in the lead group and outsmart the NCC girls. Sure enough, by the secondish hill, it seemed like things were really peeling apart. I tried as hard as I could to stay with at least someone, and ended up on Helen Pearce’s wheel from Boston Scientific. We worked together for the duration, and managed to pick up and then drop a couple of riders. I seemed to drop her up the hills, then she would catch back on, so I accurately predicted that she wasn’t able to stay with me at the finish, and rolled across the line all by my lonesome. I’m totally thrilled with my finish, which as a non-hill-climber, was a really good result for me. I’m so happy that next weekend we actually have a CRIT coming up. YAY! Crits make me happy, hills do not ;-) Great job Ladies!!! :-)
Kathy M.:
After the first couple of hills the pack split up and I found myself in a chase group. I hung in with them for a while, but then lost touch on one of the bigger hills. I’m a pretty good descender, and I was able to catch them again on a downhill. Sadly, on the next big uphill I got disconnected again. After chasing for a while, I took a look around and saw Michelle and Julie coming up behind me. The three of us worked together and started to reel in the group. On another of the big downhills, I worked really hard (probably too hard) to catch the group again. Julie stayed on my wheel and when we reconnected, she kept up her momentum and went right to the front of the group. This was the smart thing to do. I was exhausted and not thinking clearly so I slowed and latched onto the back. The next thing I knew the group was leaving me in the dust and I never saw them again. Michelle and I worked together for the rest of the race and it was nice to have the company.
Michele A.:
Beautiful day. Beautiful course. Knowing how hilly the course was, my goal was to try to have company for as much of the race as possible, and not be riding alone. I lost the main pack once it all started breaking up when we hit the first big hill. I have been taking the descents too slowly and I think that was how I lost everyone at one point, and did end up alone. It was a nice flat stretch and I was taking in the scenery of the lake when Julie L came up behind me and said, “let’s go catch the group, they are not that far away”. It was a good reminder. She and I caught up with Kathy M and we worked together for a bit. At another downhill, I lost the both of them, but then caught back up with Kathy. Since we had developed a pattern of me losing her on the descents and she losing me on the climbs, we made a deal to stay with one another for the rest of the ride, and crossed the finish together. I’m sure some more things happened along the way
that I don’t remember. I wish it were possible to take notes during the ride! Anyway, good time had by all. I’m hoping as I get more used to racing and start training a little
differently, I will eventually be able to make a contribution to the team.
Master’s 70+: (6 starters)
Annette Kennedy – 2nd
Julie Lockhart – 3rd
Annette:
Goal was to finish first or second.
Pet Murphy caught me 3 miles to go, we worked together. We thne were playing cat and mouse turning the rotary and up the hill to the finish. I heard him shifting, getting ready for the sprint. I went but he caught me as his wheel crossed first. It was a good day to ride Sunapee in the sun and finish in second.
Julie:
Goals : Rubber side UP, good start, stay with the pack up the mile 5 to 8 hill(s), find someone to work with. Do better than last year.
Great start, and tried to get on Katherine’s wheel for the descent … got pretty near the front of the pack some of the time, managed to remember to stay out of the wind most of the time. drifted off the back near mile 9 or 10, caught up with Michelle, we worked together to catch a group … later joined Kathy to try to pull back the group … I was lucky, on a descent, I got to the front of the group, and was able to stay with them to the top, descending at the front again, and not losing them by the top … repeat several times. Lesson Learned!! One of the descents, I was able to latch onto the draft of someone heavier (faster) than I am, and got a free ride to the next UP. Fun! wish I had been stronger on the hills at the beginning, so I could have applied this earlier.