Claires Report

I�ve been looking forward to writing this race report just because I wanted to put a picture of my niece on the site so you all can see what a precious little munchkin she is. I�d been at my folk�s house in SoCal during the week prior to Watsonville and I spent a few days babysitting dear sweet Laura. She�s only 11 weeks old, and check out the personality on this kid! This is a picture of one of her �giggloops�.

So I swung by Watsonville on my way home Saturday. It was a pretty small gathering for the women�s race but there were some well-represented teams: Los Gatos, Velo Bella, and Palo Alto each had about 4 girls apiece. And there were some other strong women in the field, like Rita Szeto and Stella Carey.

On the start line I was remembering what happened to me at the Barry Wolfe Criterium in SoCal. Essentially I got totally schooled by the teams after a breakaway formed. On that occasion, I didn�t know any of the women I was racing against and I didn�t have any teammates. So when there was a breakaway, I got completely shut down whenever I tried to bridge or work to bring it back. It was so frustrating to be stuck in that pack, feeling strong and motivated but unable to �get �er done�. I really did not want that to happen again.

Today I just resolved to ride near the front and really pay attention, and I got lucky! By staying active at the front, I managed to get in a break with 3 other women, Amber Rais (Palo Alto), Brooke (?), and Martina Patella (Los Gatos). To tell the truth, I couldn�t believe it. I�ve never been in a real breakaway other than at a Tuesday Twilight. These girls knew what they were doing so I just put my head down and worked as hard as I could.

I was definitely the weakest link in the chain, and up to that point I wasn�t paying any attention to the lap cards. I was seriously just focused on riding my heart out and picking good lines so I wouldn�t piss anyone off. When I settled down a little bit and looked at the cards I was shocked! �Huh? 16 laps to go? Oh, good grief, I can�t keep this up for 16 more laps! I�ll die!�

But I didn�t die. We worked really well together. People were telling us we had 40 seconds. We didn�t go for any of the primes, we just kept driving hard. Then one of the girls suggests �we should really try to get that gap up to a minute�, and I�m thinking �okay, that�s going to polish me right off�. But we just picked it up for a few more laps and I was okay. Then someone (maybe the same girl) suggests that we try to lap the field. Jeezus.

Fortunately, the lap cards were starting to look more friendly and soon there were only a few to go. I was so stoked! Yippee~!

Something happened before the last turn, one of them attacked or something. I just tried to grab a wheel! Any wheel! But they were gone�up the climb and to the finish line. 4th place for me.

I�m very proud. I really want to do this again. Yes, I love bunch sprints, but this was WAY fun! Now, if I could just get strong enough to get in a break AND unleash my sprint! That would be cool!

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004