Mizzou! Women's B

Photos are up at: http://www.flickr.com/gp/24311744@N03/200248

Paige and I headed down to Mizzou for the road race and crit. With a long drive and questionable weather (forecast for Saturday at race-time was 22˚F/"feels like 16˚F" with wind chill...yikes!) we were both a bit nervous about the race, especially after the large and competitive field that turned up for Women's B at the DePauw races. It promised to be a long and chilly weekend!

The Mizzou road course was held on residential country roads around a 11.5ish mile loop. The race flier said that there would be some climbs but even the elevation information that they gave us didn't prepare us for the hills on this course--there were some monster grades (for the midwest, of course!). Also, we found out that the race had been lengthened by a lap--we'd now be racing a course just over 33 miles, which promised to test our endurance (and destroy the hamstrings!). Needless to say, we were jittery as we warmed up (or was that the frigid temps?)

Lining up, we noticed that there were many fewer riders than last week. Apparently the
combination of spring break and inconvenient location (read, Missouri) meant many riders sat this one out. We had just under 20 in the field, compared to 45 the week before! Off the line the pace was painfully slow--nobody wanted to do much work and it seemed as though everybody was a bit daunted by the upcoming hills and the long course. As we approached some gentle rollers, Paige and I got up front to take a pull and pushed the pack a bit to see if they'd wake up. At this point I lost Paige--it turned out that she repeatedly threw her chain (any time she applied any torque on the hills it would come right off the front chainring--oh no!), so she pulled out due to mechanicals. Trooper that she is, she coasted/pushed her bike all the way back and still had energy to cheer me on for the rest of the road race. Thanks for the hearty encouragement!!!

As soon as we hit the hills it became clear that this course favored the climbers among us (and shrimp that I am, this felt like my calling). I was shoulder-to-shoulder with a girl from Lindsey Wilson College up the first big climbs and by the end of the first lap we had established a pretty good gap, shedding a third Purdue rider in the final meters of the climb towards the start/finish. Contemplating a long 2 laps to go, we decided to trade pulls and try to widen our break, punching it especially hard in the hills where we felt we could make big gains for time and recovering on the flats and downhills. It felt really good to work hard with another rider, and though we kept looking over our shoulder, the pack never came into sight. The LWC rider and I were fairly evenly matched on the grades but she had better legs for the hill sprint to the start/finish so I had to settle for 2nd place. Once again I felt like I had underperformed in the sprint finish but was sure happy to come away with my first podium finish of the year. It must be the crushing headwinds on the Lakepath that prepared me for the climbs--who says that we get no hill practice in Chicago?!

Day 2: the Lindenwood crit and a very very early morning (between early races/daylight savings/and a 4o min. drive from the hotel). As I nursed a bottle of Accelerade and watched the sun creep over the misty hills, I worried about the technical course, the fact that I hadn't had enough coffee yet, and the daunting climbs in a course advertised as "mostly flat with one minor hill every lap"--yeah right!! The whole course was one big climb and descent!

As Paige and I watched the Men's D race unfold we noticed that the field, though big, had gotten lined out pretty quickly, and much of the field had been shattered on the hills. The course had several tight turns, notably into a narrow bottleneck on the first big climb, around a corner to the big descent and at the bottom of the downhill section towards the start-finish. However, the hills made up for the slowing in corners, and it seemed as though selections in the field were made based on those with legs for the climbs (which boded well for me and Paige!). We were both tired and sore from the road race (my riding and Paige's heroic pushing/running), but hoped that the rest of the field was also feeling a bit beat by Saturday's effort.

Once again we rolled out slowly and took two laps around the course at an easy pace. Frustrated, I moved to the front and punched it on the hills and took an aggressive line on the descent, trying to gauge who really wanted to race today! A two lap effort strung the field out and I was happy to cede my position at the helm to the Lindsey Wilson College and Purdue riders that had been the strongest climbers on Saturday. After they took a pull the pack slowed down again to catch its breath and I figured that keeping the intensity high would work to my benefit since I still had a bit of gas left in the tank. Right as I was about to fade back into the pack I was delighted to see Paige charging up on my left and pushing hard at the effort that I had started--yay for having teammates in the race! With 5 laps to go, she set a blistering pace on the hills and I was happy to sit right on her wheel. Figuring that in all fairness UCVC didn't have to do all the work, we pulled in behind the Purdue rider with two laps to go. During the final climb of the last lap I decided to make my move and punched it hard (legs, don't fail me now!!!) and tore around the turn for the last descent. Down in my drops I prayed that my tinny little bike would be nimble enough to carry my momentum through the bottom turn and that my legs would respond when I asked for the power up the hill. Thank goodness both were the case, and I finished 1st with Paige close behind in 6th as we sprinted across the line. Way to go teamwork, and a solid finish for UofC women!

I feel like I learned so much this weekend about working with other riders--strategic cooperation, more than anything, makes or breaks an attack effort. It felt so great to have another teammate in the race--I can't wait for our next chance to race together, Paige!

And thanks also to a fabulous group that made the long trek down to Missouri! Men's D--you were fantastic support (and Bernard was a brilliant photographer!) through the whole race, and I really appreciate the great attitude that everybody had to racing. If it weren't fun, why would we do it, after all?

The rest of the race reports should be up soon.
yay!
~Carly