Lake Auburn women's race report - 6-4-08
Lake Auburn RR
30 May 2008
Women cat 4 – 11 starters
Clara Kelly – 1st
Shannon Madison – 2nd
Erica Mains – 3rd
Katherine Snell – 5th
Clara Kelly:
1st for Cat 4 6th? overall
Auburn…what a disaster. It was cold and pouring rain most of our race. I made a big mistake by not wearing my vest even when I realized it was cold at the start. I was cold at the line and starting shivering when we got poured on. I survived the first downpour but the second lap in sustained cold rain put me into survival mode. I lost focus on the race and spent the entire race sucking wheels in complete misery. In retrospect, it may have been smarter to move to the front of the group and increase my power output to warm up. Staying behind slow riders was a sure way to stay cold. In the few moments that required a strong effort, I forgot about the cold.
The fields were combined and I was happy to ride with an open women’s field so I could see how strong the Cat 3 women are. One rider went off the front very early in the race. Noone chased and she won (I hear by 2 minutes or so). I kept in the front 10 ladies for most of the race, they had me chasing on hills the last lap, but I was able to catch up since the speed on the flats was slow. I think I was the tail on the front group coming into the final sprint.
A few times I saw Shannon, Erica, and Katherine pumping by me up the hills. Way to power up those hills, ladies!!
Other excitement in the race was a first lap body check by Sunapee for no good reason and an RV taking a left turn in front of our field causing us all to put on the brakes. I’m hoping for sun next year!
Clara
Shannon Madison:
Unlike last year, the clouds did not part for the start of the Auburn road race this year. In fact, they did not part for the entire race. We lined up to dry skies, but knew that there was a very good possibility of running into some rain during the race. The two women’s fields had been combined since the numbers weren’t high for either one. This seemed like an advantage to me. As long as I could stay with the leaders on all of the hills, I felt that I could have a great race. The first time up “the wall” everyone pretty much hung together. There was a split at some point, but I don’t remember exactly when that happened. One thing that I need to work on is being more aware of how the pack is moving around and where everyone is. I seem to have a hard time knowing what’s going on behind me. But, I figure as long as I don’t let anyone get away in front of me then I’m doing fairly well. There were about 9 or 10 of us when things got split up. Fortunately I made the front group. Unfortunately, it seemed that no one in the group (except for one woman) was interested in actually racing. It was actually quite frustrating at times, seeing 13 or 14 mph on the cyclometer. As a result of this speed, the few ladies in the chase group caught us on the final lap. However, we were mostly able to maintain the lead group for the finish. It was an exciting day for NEBC women Cat 4’s, taking 1, 2, and 3!
Katherine Snell:
I went into the Lake Auburn race with hopes of doing fairly well if I had a chance to get out on a break and stay ahead of the pack on the climbs. Due to the relatively poor attendance the race organizers decided to combine the Category 1/2/3 and Category 4 fields with separate scoring and in the process blew away my simple-minded strategy. I was able to hang with the pack at the first climb making sure I was on the front in the descent so I didn’t get gapped on the way back up “The Wall”. Then on the flat/descending part of the first lap, a Cat 3 friend of mine (Ivy Luhrs) made a breakaway which I started to join but no one else came out so I let myself be reeled back in. We were all together when we hit the big climb up Perkins Ridge Road but I found myself in too high a gear to finish the climb with the pack and dropped back with a few other gals, including Kristen who organized us to work together and cheered us on to chase back on to the pack (Thanks Kristen!!). During the chase with one of Debhony Dheil’s teammates (Sunapee S+W), their team car pulled up to announce that she had made a break and was 1.5 minutes ahead of the pack. We rejoined the pack just before the next climb up Perkins. Again we were dropped on the hill, unfortunately losing Kristen in the process and again we chased back on to rejoin the pack before the hill. The finish was a repeat of the previous laps as we dropped back on the hill again. I hung on to finish 5th in the Cat 4’s just behind Kate Leppanen of Quad Cycles whom we had towed around on the chase. I might have finished ahead of her if she had actually contributed – Oh well that’s bike racing I guess. Teammates Clara, Shannon and Erica finished 1, 2, and 3 respectively – Great job ladies! Debhony finished 5 minutes ahead of the main pack. I greatly enjoyed fresh warm, guilt-free donuts and coffee afterwards as a reward for finishing as I shivered from the beginnings of hypothermia.
Lake Auburn RR
30 May 2008
Women cat 1/2/3 – 9 starters
Kristen Neagle – 9th
Auburn – 9th
This was an 11-mile course with one quick, steep hill just after a downhill start, and a final longer ‘step-ladder’ like climb for the last mile. Luckily, the two fields were combined and it was three laps instead of four. It didn’t seem all that bad weatherwise, until we got a mile or so in and the torrent started. And then the hail. I know it was hail because it hurt and made a little pingy noise on my helmet and glasses. That’s right. Hail. Anyway, I felt I had a great first lap. I stayed about 5th wheel for most of it, that is, after catching back on from being dropped on the first hill. Interestingly, the Velo Bella woman was also dropped and grabbed my wheel when I caught on, only she kept going and sat off the front until the last hill. I believe no one was interested in catching her, I saw people looking around with the look of something like “If she wants to, I’m happy hanging her out to dry”. Katherine, Clara, Shannon, and Erica did a great job riding around and moving through the pack. At hill two I was dropped again and worked with Katherine and a few other women to catch them. A woman from Sunapee was doing a darn good job of doing no work. I don’t know if that’s because she was sufficiently happy with helping her teammates or she was toast. We FINALLY caught them at the same climb I had gotten dropped on. Pffft. That was pretty much the end of my race mentally. I was struggling with cramps and the cold, but was proud of myself for finishing the race and happy knowing four of my teammates were up front. I now have two new polo’s from LL bean to boot. I’ll tell myself I worked really hard helping Katherine get back on and that’s why I finished last….