Janes Winters Road Race Report

First place again, woopee!!!!

At the start I took quick notice of Lisa the Left Coast girl I had gotten in a break with at Corral Hollow and decided I would watch and try to go with her. The first lap the group stayed together until the climb, when a group of four of us got a gap. On the straightaway after the descent we were caught by four women, to become a group of eight. We all worked together at a nice pace to stay away. In the paceline I took an opportunity to have a quick chat with Lisa on a strategy to get away (my idea was to speed the pace up before the climb and then hit the base of the climb hard, attacking one after the other to get a more sizeable gap this time around). She agreed. But before we could put our strategy into play a Velo Bella gal attacked on the climbs after the feed zone. Her timing was perfect. The three of us got a 45 second gap and managed to keep it till the end of the race. When the final straight away came, I rode the VB girls wheel half way there and then went for it just getting first place by half a wheel. I was so happy to be finished I didnt care what place I got I just wanted to pee and drink some agua.

One may ask was it worth the ten bucks a oversized T shirt, severe dehydration and a nasty cold? To a cyclist -yeah!!!

Claires Winters Road Race Report

Winters Road Race was my official christening as a 2nd category rider, and Im feeling a little hazed! We got a late start, and I had my slick new NorCal jersey completely unzipped within the first few miles. HOT!

If youre looking to read a riveting race report, stop reading NOW! The gist of my race was as follows: I was able to stay with the pack for the first lap and the first half of the second lap, until the climb. The race got pretty strung out before the climb, but I was cowering at the back, so that by the time I got to the feed zone, the race was over for me. I had to get water, as I was foaming at the mouth and breathing fire. I tried to high-tail it up the rest of the climb, and caught a few girls on the backside of the course. There was no organization to our efforts, and part of the problem may have been that we were trapped behind a group of men and we were instructed by the race official not to ride too close. We could see our race going on up the road. We finally started to take turns with some short hard pulls, but I was loosing steam fast, and I was the first to drop off the back.

The rest of my race amounted to finishing and getting back to the car. Sorry, folks, but thats racing! The good, the bad, and the ugly.....

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004