Wente Road Race
Women’s 1,2
Teammates: Lauren
The course: 66 miles undulating with one climb each lap that was approximately 2 mile, 4 laps of the loop, 5 times up the climb to the finish.
This racing was challenging for a local race; the quality of the field was high with Peanut Butter and Tibco representing. The first lap was calm, the hammer went down on the second lap, and girls were spread out across the climb, but then regrouping took place on the downhill. The same was to be said for the third lap—no real groups being formed just spread out, battling for wheels up the climb. On the third lap downhill there was a group of 5 or so up the road and the remains of the “main” bunch, which I was in, turned very negative, with no one chasing down a gap of 20seconds to the “breakaway” riders. Half-hearted attempts were made, and I put in one large effort to catch the girls off the front, but honestly I was cooked by this time and really just needed another girl to hit over me once I pulled my turn, but there were no takers. The last lap saw our group getting even more negative. The final result was Shelly Evans taking the win. Lauren did a great job to finish in the third bunch, 19th place. I placed 13th, good last hit out before The Tour of Gila next week in Silver City, New Mexico.
Ange
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Santa Cruz Classic Crit
Race Report from Lauren
Race Report: Santa Cruz Classic Criterium
W1,2,3
Teammates: Ange McClure, Katheryn Mattis
Place: Lauren 8/44, Ange 23/44, Katheryn 13/44
This is such a great race. The course is so unlike anything else in the area. And, lucky for us local gals, a bunch of the professional gals were around to show us a good time. It was a beautiful day in Santa Cruz as 44 of us lined up to race 30 laps.
No one wasted any time getting things started. It helped that the first lap was a hot lap that had $20 on the line. Several attacks went off and, to be honest, I was suffering so greatly that they all became a blur. The tearing of legs for this race became indistinguishable from the tearing off of legs the day before at Sea Otter. Eventually Olivia Dillon and Amanda Miller got off the front and it looked promising, only after Mrs. Mattis’ painfully impressive prime attacks. In the next few laps Mary Maroon bridged the gap to the two off the front and they remained there for the duration. That didn’t stop the field from putting the hurt on; we dropped a whopping 15 riders.
Katheryn rolled back and asked me how I was feeling and, unfortunately, my response was less than reassuring. Ange put out a great effort in the last 8 laps or so to try and shorten the gap to the break. She brought it down by about 10 seconds but no one else was interested in bringing it in. On the last lap I tried to muster as much strength as I could, still feeling less than ideal. I came out of the last turn on the Tibco/Peanut Butter Co. train and did the best I could to get up that hill in the sprint. My position was not the greatest I just didn’t have it in me to pass many people. Great, hard racing!
--Lauren
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Race Report: Santa Cruz Classic Criterium
W1,2,3
Teammates: Ange McClure, Katheryn Mattis
Place: Lauren 8/44, Ange 23/44, Katheryn 13/44
This is such a great race. The course is so unlike anything else in the area. And, lucky for us local gals, a bunch of the professional gals were around to show us a good time. It was a beautiful day in Santa Cruz as 44 of us lined up to race 30 laps.
No one wasted any time getting things started. It helped that the first lap was a hot lap that had $20 on the line. Several attacks went off and, to be honest, I was suffering so greatly that they all became a blur. The tearing of legs for this race became indistinguishable from the tearing off of legs the day before at Sea Otter. Eventually Olivia Dillon and Amanda Miller got off the front and it looked promising, only after Mrs. Mattis’ painfully impressive prime attacks. In the next few laps Mary Maroon bridged the gap to the two off the front and they remained there for the duration. That didn’t stop the field from putting the hurt on; we dropped a whopping 15 riders.
Katheryn rolled back and asked me how I was feeling and, unfortunately, my response was less than reassuring. Ange put out a great effort in the last 8 laps or so to try and shorten the gap to the break. She brought it down by about 10 seconds but no one else was interested in bringing it in. On the last lap I tried to muster as much strength as I could, still feeling less than ideal. I came out of the last turn on the Tibco/Peanut Butter Co. train and did the best I could to get up that hill in the sprint. My position was not the greatest I just didn’t have it in me to pass many people. Great, hard racing!
--Lauren
•Follow The Team
–http://facebook.com/avbridge
–http://avbridge.blogspot.com/
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Sea Otter
Sea Otter Classic --Women's 1/2
15th April- 17th April
This was my first experience at Sea Otter and for the most past I was doing it solo, without my usual Bridge Team teammates!
Thursday brought about a 50minutue criterium around a race smooth asphalt track, the shape of the course being a hot dog with sweeping bends and a hill up to the start finish line. The race was on from the gun and with Team Tibco and Colivatia having full or close to full squads made it a challenging race. The race broke up quickly and soon 10 riders were off the front. I missed the break and my effort with the other teams to bring the break back was unsuccessful, mainly due to all the teams represented and no one willing to help and not that they should, a big mistake on my part. Amanda Miller from Team Tibco won the race in a solo break from the original breakaway group.
Friday was the road race and what a race it was, 6 laps of a tight technical road loop with one descent 1 mile steep hill amongst rolling and pitching terrain, finishing with a 2mile climb to the start/finish. I was annoyed with my race yesterday and was set to be in the moves. The pace was on from the moment we hit the 1st lap of the circuit. I attacked first to get things moving and to try and spark the break away. The first four laps girls where attempting to go off the front but nothing was sticking. Then at the bottom of the fifth I attacked solo and made some ground. I was caught at the top of the hill on the 5th lap to be counter attacked by Tibco, I made it over to the move before another counter went and my legs this time didn’t make the cut. 8 girls were now up the road, everyone was content with being in groupetto. The last climb saw me hold it up the front to finish 12th, not happy with the result, again a breakaway I missed.
Saturday was the hardest stage yet 2hours of the race course route with a nasty climb of approximately 600meters. After 2 days of working hard and being aggressive my legs certainly knew about it while I was standing on the start finish line ready to begin what I knew was going to be a painful 2hours; however, I had some relief knowing my teammate Lauren was racing as well. The first hour was solid but no serious attacks. Once we were at 50minutes to go the pace heated up and again for the third time this weekend the break went and I wasn’t in it. That break survived and Kathryn Mattis did a fantastic job for Webcor finishing 3rd.
This weekend I learnt some big lessons on when to put my efforts in to make breaks and to change the race to my favour. Unfortunately it didn’t come together this time round, but I know with more racing, I’ll be stronger and smarter to make the right moves to get the results the Bridge Team and I want.
Till next time
Angela
15th April- 17th April
This was my first experience at Sea Otter and for the most past I was doing it solo, without my usual Bridge Team teammates!
Thursday brought about a 50minutue criterium around a race smooth asphalt track, the shape of the course being a hot dog with sweeping bends and a hill up to the start finish line. The race was on from the gun and with Team Tibco and Colivatia having full or close to full squads made it a challenging race. The race broke up quickly and soon 10 riders were off the front. I missed the break and my effort with the other teams to bring the break back was unsuccessful, mainly due to all the teams represented and no one willing to help and not that they should, a big mistake on my part. Amanda Miller from Team Tibco won the race in a solo break from the original breakaway group.
Friday was the road race and what a race it was, 6 laps of a tight technical road loop with one descent 1 mile steep hill amongst rolling and pitching terrain, finishing with a 2mile climb to the start/finish. I was annoyed with my race yesterday and was set to be in the moves. The pace was on from the moment we hit the 1st lap of the circuit. I attacked first to get things moving and to try and spark the break away. The first four laps girls where attempting to go off the front but nothing was sticking. Then at the bottom of the fifth I attacked solo and made some ground. I was caught at the top of the hill on the 5th lap to be counter attacked by Tibco, I made it over to the move before another counter went and my legs this time didn’t make the cut. 8 girls were now up the road, everyone was content with being in groupetto. The last climb saw me hold it up the front to finish 12th, not happy with the result, again a breakaway I missed.
Saturday was the hardest stage yet 2hours of the race course route with a nasty climb of approximately 600meters. After 2 days of working hard and being aggressive my legs certainly knew about it while I was standing on the start finish line ready to begin what I knew was going to be a painful 2hours; however, I had some relief knowing my teammate Lauren was racing as well. The first hour was solid but no serious attacks. Once we were at 50minutes to go the pace heated up and again for the third time this weekend the break went and I wasn’t in it. That break survived and Kathryn Mattis did a fantastic job for Webcor finishing 3rd.
This weekend I learnt some big lessons on when to put my efforts in to make breaks and to change the race to my favour. Unfortunately it didn’t come together this time round, but I know with more racing, I’ll be stronger and smarter to make the right moves to get the results the Bridge Team and I want.
Till next time
Angela
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Spring Hill Road Race
Race Report: Spring Hill Road Race
Category: W1,2
Teammates: Ange McClure, Maura Kinsella
Placings: Lauren 2/9, Ange 5/9, Maura DNF
Conditions: less than ideal aka pouring rain, wind and low temperatures
Course: 22 mile loop with three short climbs and rolling terrain in between. Potholes galore. 600m climb to the finish.
From the moment we woke up it was POURING down rain. Not the kind of rain that lightly falls over everything and freshens up the air but the kind that soaks you to the bone in a matter of seconds. We piled into the car and charged forth to the start, watching the temperature gauge slowly lower as we drove out of town. Our fabulous manager, Andi, called to tell us she was at the race course with towels, rain jackets, and, most importantly, PB&Js.
All three of us managed to change inside my CRV and only touched the rain to prepare bikes and head to the start. Needless to say, there was no warm-up. We descended down to the start line and realized we were a few minutes early so we trudged through ankle-deep mud to the registration tents for cover. Only problem was that we were standing in water and the wind was blowing water that had collected on top of the tent down over the sides and into our faces. So much for shelter.
We rolled to the start to find only six other brave souls. Already shivering we started our shortened race (from three laps of 66 miles to two laps of only 44). Despite the conditions and small field size the pace wasn’t too slow. No one wanted to face the conditions alone so the attacks were limited and mostly intended to tire others out. The first lap was uneventful; it was a “get-it-done” kind of pace. The second lap was also relatively uneventful except for the guest appearance of a medium-sized, unidentified black animal that decided to run out into the front of our peloton. One rider attacked the field two or three times and managed to break it up and cause some chasing.
With three km to go no one wanted to touch the front. Ange said that she was feeling better and would go for the finish so I decided to cover the front. Sure enough a Colavita rider attacked from the back of the field. I jumped to go with her, although rather slowly and numbly. I saw the moto roar up to her and give her the “throat-cut” sign. I assumed she had crossed the centerline and kept my momentum up and squeezed right between them as they discussed the offense. I was caught by the group as my legs gave out. Another Colavita rider attacked and I jumped to go with her only to see the third and final Colavita girl come flying up on the left. I saw her cross the center line and new she would be disqualified as well so I kept going. The winner of the race took off somewhere during that mayhem and I missed the move. As we hit the final climb I found myself with the last remaining Colavita rider and a Touchstone rider. I knew that both were climbers so my only job was to stay with them until the sprint when I thought I could jump them. We played a little cat and mouse and I managed to stay on until the line when I jumped for a short 10 meter sprint for second. Ange rolled across the line just behind my little group for fifth. It was a cold day but we all felt tougher for having faced the weather challenges.
Category: W1,2
Teammates: Ange McClure, Maura Kinsella
Placings: Lauren 2/9, Ange 5/9, Maura DNF
Conditions: less than ideal aka pouring rain, wind and low temperatures
Course: 22 mile loop with three short climbs and rolling terrain in between. Potholes galore. 600m climb to the finish.
From the moment we woke up it was POURING down rain. Not the kind of rain that lightly falls over everything and freshens up the air but the kind that soaks you to the bone in a matter of seconds. We piled into the car and charged forth to the start, watching the temperature gauge slowly lower as we drove out of town. Our fabulous manager, Andi, called to tell us she was at the race course with towels, rain jackets, and, most importantly, PB&Js.
All three of us managed to change inside my CRV and only touched the rain to prepare bikes and head to the start. Needless to say, there was no warm-up. We descended down to the start line and realized we were a few minutes early so we trudged through ankle-deep mud to the registration tents for cover. Only problem was that we were standing in water and the wind was blowing water that had collected on top of the tent down over the sides and into our faces. So much for shelter.
We rolled to the start to find only six other brave souls. Already shivering we started our shortened race (from three laps of 66 miles to two laps of only 44). Despite the conditions and small field size the pace wasn’t too slow. No one wanted to face the conditions alone so the attacks were limited and mostly intended to tire others out. The first lap was uneventful; it was a “get-it-done” kind of pace. The second lap was also relatively uneventful except for the guest appearance of a medium-sized, unidentified black animal that decided to run out into the front of our peloton. One rider attacked the field two or three times and managed to break it up and cause some chasing.
With three km to go no one wanted to touch the front. Ange said that she was feeling better and would go for the finish so I decided to cover the front. Sure enough a Colavita rider attacked from the back of the field. I jumped to go with her, although rather slowly and numbly. I saw the moto roar up to her and give her the “throat-cut” sign. I assumed she had crossed the centerline and kept my momentum up and squeezed right between them as they discussed the offense. I was caught by the group as my legs gave out. Another Colavita rider attacked and I jumped to go with her only to see the third and final Colavita girl come flying up on the left. I saw her cross the center line and new she would be disqualified as well so I kept going. The winner of the race took off somewhere during that mayhem and I missed the move. As we hit the final climb I found myself with the last remaining Colavita rider and a Touchstone rider. I knew that both were climbers so my only job was to stay with them until the sprint when I thought I could jump them. We played a little cat and mouse and I managed to stay on until the line when I jumped for a short 10 meter sprint for second. Ange rolled across the line just behind my little group for fifth. It was a cold day but we all felt tougher for having faced the weather challenges.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Apple Pie Crit
Apple Pie Crit race report from Ange McClure on the Bridge Team
Teammates: Maura Kinsella, Lauren Hecht
4/10/2010
Apple Pie Crit was on Saturday at Santa Rosa. The race begun slowly with the girls just getting warmed up in the first few laps, shaking out the stiff legs from the car ride and the cold freeze in the air. With primes on the line, the race soon heated with Maura attacking and taking the first two primes. Maura stayed out in front for four laps, once caught the counter attacks came and the race was in fully swing. Colavita sent a rider off the front at 10minutes to go, shortly after I went off in chase. For three laps the Colivatia rider and myself were off the front, until the next two laps saw us both swooped up by the peleton. The race resulted in a bunch sprint with Lauren taking 3rd. An exciting day with Webcor/Alto Velo certainly being one of the dominant teams, a exciting indicator for what is yet to come this year!
Till next time,
Ange
Teammates: Maura Kinsella, Lauren Hecht
4/10/2010
Apple Pie Crit was on Saturday at Santa Rosa. The race begun slowly with the girls just getting warmed up in the first few laps, shaking out the stiff legs from the car ride and the cold freeze in the air. With primes on the line, the race soon heated with Maura attacking and taking the first two primes. Maura stayed out in front for four laps, once caught the counter attacks came and the race was in fully swing. Colavita sent a rider off the front at 10minutes to go, shortly after I went off in chase. For three laps the Colivatia rider and myself were off the front, until the next two laps saw us both swooped up by the peleton. The race resulted in a bunch sprint with Lauren taking 3rd. An exciting day with Webcor/Alto Velo certainly being one of the dominant teams, a exciting indicator for what is yet to come this year!
Till next time,
Ange
Friday, April 9, 2010
Copperopolis
From Ange McClure on the Bridge team, a race report describing the Copperopolis experience with a broken wrist:
Copperopolis – 100k road race 3 loops Women's 1/2
Saturday 3rd of April
There is a fine line between pushing injuries to get better while still trying to get every mile you can before you push it too far. Unfortunately despite the frustration of just wanting to race Copperopolis on the weekend I had to pull the pin on the first lap. When coach Dan said “it’s rough” I took it in my breeze and thought to myself “I’ll be right!” For those of you that don’t know I broke my wrist 1 week before coming to the US and it has not fully healed yet.
Copperopolis is a tough road race not just because of the two decent hills, and the rapid descent but because of the race surface, the best way I can describe it is like plated concrete with lap gaps in-between, for 80% of the loop, hence I had to take the option to save my wrist the risk of further damage and headed to the car after lap one, to rug up and head out in search for some smoother roads!
The race I hear from my Aussie friend Jazzy unfolded with it lighting up in the later stages, the result being Mary Maroon in 2nd, a former team mate of mine who guest rode with the Bridge Team at San Dimas.
Till next time
Ange
Copperopolis – 100k road race 3 loops Women's 1/2
Saturday 3rd of April
There is a fine line between pushing injuries to get better while still trying to get every mile you can before you push it too far. Unfortunately despite the frustration of just wanting to race Copperopolis on the weekend I had to pull the pin on the first lap. When coach Dan said “it’s rough” I took it in my breeze and thought to myself “I’ll be right!” For those of you that don’t know I broke my wrist 1 week before coming to the US and it has not fully healed yet.
Copperopolis is a tough road race not just because of the two decent hills, and the rapid descent but because of the race surface, the best way I can describe it is like plated concrete with lap gaps in-between, for 80% of the loop, hence I had to take the option to save my wrist the risk of further damage and headed to the car after lap one, to rug up and head out in search for some smoother roads!
The race I hear from my Aussie friend Jazzy unfolded with it lighting up in the later stages, the result being Mary Maroon in 2nd, a former team mate of mine who guest rode with the Bridge Team at San Dimas.
Till next time
Ange
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
April May Schedule
10-Apr Apple Pie Crit
11-Apr Spring Hill RR
April Sea Otter
24-Apr Wente RR
1-May Cat's Hill
9-May Berkeley Hills RR
May Joe Martin Stage Race, AR
May Women's Amgen Tour of Ca, Sac?
22-May Volunteer Bike Outfitter Lady's Day
30-May Mt Hamilton
31-May Memorial Day cirit
11-Apr Spring Hill RR
April Sea Otter
24-Apr Wente RR
1-May Cat's Hill
9-May Berkeley Hills RR
May Joe Martin Stage Race, AR
May Women's Amgen Tour of Ca, Sac?
22-May Volunteer Bike Outfitter Lady's Day
30-May Mt Hamilton
31-May Memorial Day cirit
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