Kern Co. Stage Race
www.ncnca.orgKern County Women's Stage Race
Event: 2008 Kern County Women’s Stage Race
By: Anny Henry
Category: Women’s Pro/1/2
Field size: 11
Team mates: Lindsay in the 3s
Team mates: Lindsay in the 3s
Placing:
Stage1: Friday, May 16 - Bena Individual Time Trial, 5th - 28:11
Stage 2: Saturday, May 17 - Walker Basin Road Race, 5th
Stage 3: Saturday, May 17 - Mt Breckinridge Hillclimb, 7th
Stage 4: Sunday, May 18 - Iron Mountain Road Race, 8th
General Classification – 7th
24 months ago at Kern, as I was pinning on a number for the 4th time in my brief bike racing career, I looked up in awe at the P/1/2 women as they blew by me as I prepared for my first TT and stage race ever. For a second I thought – “can we go home now?”…a few seconds later the adrenaline hit me, a few minutes later I learned what suffering on a bike was really all about, by the end of the day I was hooked and by the end of that race weekend I began to, for the first time, believe I could do something with my cycling. So, you can imagine the soft spot I have for Kern and the anticipation I had as I pinned on a number to race with this group. I’ll try and do Kern for as many years as I can and hope to someday take a team as there’s nothing more fun than 3 days of racing with people that want to be there as much as you do. I know Lindsay and I had a lot of fun even though we weren’t racing together.
Expectations. Yeah…I’ve already become tired of the “oh, I’m new to the 2s and I’m just learning” bit and I went to this race with results on my mind. The field was a little smaller this year since several of the girls who would normally be here were up at Mt. Hood. Even so the competition was sharp and the racing tactical. My plans were to go all out for the TT on Friday, conserve in the circuit race on Saturday morning and again all out on the hill climb on Saturday afternoon and be ready for a race of attrition or a break on Sunday. My opportunity for the podium would be on the Hillclimb and perhaps in a break in the RR on Sunday.
Stage1: Bena Individual Time Trial – 10 mile out and back course with a decent at the ¾ mile mark which is the climb on the return that starts with about 1.5 miles from the finish. We rode the course the day before and other than normal pacing I decided to do the climb out of the saddle. Start times began at 1pm and of course this was predicted to be the first 100 degree plus day in Bakersfield so it was super hot. The 2 spots in front of me didn’t show so I didn’t really have anyone to pace against. I felt solid on the decent and as I was reaching the turnaround felt a little fatigued, over heated and ready to barf. I could have had a better turn and I settled in for the return. As I’m approaching the climb Pat Ross who started a minute and a half after me and is having a huge run passes me, 10 seconds later I hit my mark to stand for the climb and I catch her and pace her through the climb and she rolls away a bit through the finish. I was a relatively happy with my time and finished this stage 30 seconds off of 3rd place and 1:30 off of Pat in 1st place.
Stage 2: Walker Basin Road Race – The next morning we make the trek out to Walker Basin which is a 7.5 mile circuit with 2 power rollers. We were slated to do 8 laps or 60 miles. Hot again today so we were doing all we could to keep temps down which mostly included pouring water over our heads every time through the feed zone. Our race was pretty fast with a few attacks and Pat laying down a brutal pace several times during the first few laps. There were time bonuses on each lap and my job was to conserve and not go for any of them. Early on the last lap I’m on Pat’s wheel and the 3rd place girl jumps bringing a couple others with her. The 2nd place girl quickly joins this group which now has 10 seconds. I’m thinking, since Pat is the leader that she will be going any time now and I’ll get a tow up to the lead group and continue to do my job. The lead group of 5 is now has 30 seconds and we are less than 4 miles to the finish, they are single file and the girl in front is out of the saddle so they are moving away from us, fast. I figure Pat is fatigued from her earlier efforts and I’m going to loose a big block of time sitting here. So, I take one last breath, shift into a bigger gear and pull along side Pat and shout at her to get on my wheel and then I hit it hard and closed what was about a 40 second gap rejoining the front group. I’ll admit I was a little surprised with myself and I also knew I was a really gassed at this point. Little did I know I was about to learn a stage racing lesson. I caught my breath and took a pull as we set up for the finish and I ended up 5th with no real loss in time accept for the time bonuses.
Stage 3: Mt Breckinridge Hillclimb – We finished the circuit race around noon and the start for the Hillclimb was at 3:00 so we immediately got some shade and ate before heading over to the start. It was so hot by this point I was forcing myself to eat and I suspect I did not eat enough and I could have done more to keep cool. The result was I felt pretty stale by the time we were getting ready for the Hillclimb. I did my warm up and felt a bit better. This stage is a 2.5 mile rolling approach to Mt. Breckenridge followed by about 6.5 miles of constant climbing to the finish, not really steep just hard, particularly as temps near 100. We roll out and I am having a good effort. Coryn Rivera takes off and little gaps are materializing as everyone is testing their form and recovery from the morning. A little past midway through the climb I’m starting to feel pretty flat, crack a little and start to loose some time on the leaders and end up 7th in the stage and drop to 7th in the GC as well.
The stage racing lesson is: The girls that did not follow the move at the end of the circuit race ended up loosing about 30 seconds or so but were much fresher on the hillclimb and were able to “exchange” that 30 second loss with a 2 minute plus gain on the hillclimb. The lesson is you need to be able to give up time at the right moment in order to be better prepared to gain time later particularly if the later stage favors you -- Maximum effort ONLY where YOU can gain maximum benefit.
Stage 4: Iron Mountain Road Race – I’m now 3-4 minutes off of 3rd place as we drive out to the RR course. It really is a beautiful ~21 mile course with good roads, the terrain reminds me of Wards Ferry a bit and we were set for 3 laps totaling 72 miles. The 3 leaders were all within about 1:30 of each other so combined with a 103 degree late morning heat I was thinking nothing was going to get away. I’m sitting in the shade 50 minutes before the start and it is already too hot to get on my trainer and I’m not feeling too perky. I manage to get my act together and start my warm ups on the finishing hill and surprisingly I start to feel good, really good. We roll out and the first lap is pretty fast but no one was really trying much of anything, mostly defensive from my point of view. We do loose a couple of girls by the second time through the feed zone and I’m thinking about trying something on the climb. Somewhere in the next couple of miles my front derailleur fails and I’m stuck with my small ring in the front and the small half of my cassette in the rear as my chain was impacting the derailleur. No way was I going to quit, so I hung with the group for about the next half lap, did most of the last lap solo and roll in the last girl on the course. I was able to keep my spot on the GC which by itself was a good enough reason not to quit but finishing was its own reward even if it was the hottest I’ve ever been.
I love this race and I love stage racing and I’m thinking today, “How can I do more of this” as I try to get back to reality even though every minute is still in my head and it won’t go away. Lessons learned in addition to above are eating, drinking and temperature management make all the difference and let you show whatever form you brought to the race. I learned I can bridge a big gap at race pace though I suspect I wouldn’t do that again in the same circumstances knowing what I know now…funny how racing educates you quickly on what you don’t know and at the same time let’s you surprise yourself at what you can do and endure…
A final note of thanks to Robert for putting on this race every year and the guys that come and work…I suspect all the women there appreciated all they did.
See you at Mt Hamilton.
-Anny
Race Reports
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
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| - US Pro Criterium Championships | 2004-08-22 |
| - Corral Hollow RR | 2004-08-21 |
| - TransAlp Challenge | 2004-07-17 - 2004-07-27 |
| - Superweek | 2004-07-09 - 2004-07-25 |
| - Wine Country Criterium | 2004-06-13 |
| - Fremont Criterium | 2004-06-12 |
| - ICCC Dash for Cash | 2004-06-05 |
| - California Outdoor Sports Championships | 2004-05-14 - 2004-05-16 |
| - Sea Otter | 2004-04-14 - 2004-04-17 |
| - Pilarcitos Stage Race | 2004-03-27 - 2004-03-28 |
| - McLane Pacific Foothills Road Race | 2004-03-14 |
| - McLane Pacific Downtown Grand Prix | 2004-03-13 |
| - Land Park Criterium | 2004-03-06 |
| - Apple Pie Criterium | 2004-02-07 |