Folsom Crit

Webcor was split up all over the Bay area this weekend. Emily was racing collegiate for Davis. Haley and Jane were riding up Old La Honda 17times. Bec was (still) in Australia and Mary was racing in the good old Folsom Crit. Those promoters (Bicycles Plus Bike Shop and Sierra Nevada Brewing) put on a good race and they do it with smiles on their faces. Excellent pavement, great weather, good tough competition, and a Jamba Juice 1 block away, Folsom is the perfect local bike race. I'm not just saying that because Sacramento is my home town, because I'm partial to the weather or because I love the people.

With no teammates in the race, the tactic was simply to be smart about expending energy. I made an attack out of turn 1 on the first lap. I wanted to see if anybody wanted to play. Rather, I wanted to get the 45 minute race started and invite someone to counter attack. Somebody did. I think it was
Ruth and then Touchstone. That pattern basically kept repeating itself until about half way through the race when Beth was warmed up.

Beth (Leadout) didn't have any teammates either. Ruth (Lombardi) had her mom. To be quite honest Ruth Winder and her mom make a pretty amazing team. Margaret Winder is probably the most tactically brilliant Cat 4 cyclist the Womens peloton will ever know. WARNING! Do not be fooled by her slight stature or race license category! She's the one in the Lombardi kit that isn't Ruth.

A little head wind had developed on the back side of the course and with only 1 complete team (Touchstone) in the pack, breakaways were doomed. A nearly perfect break formed with Touchstone, Webcor, Leadout, and Lombardi that was gaining seconds on the pack with each rotation was attacked repeated by Leadout until the pack absorbed it. Not all races have to have a break but simple mathematics tell us that 1 out if 5 gives you a 20% chance at winning which is more than 1 out of 45. When 2 of the five are Touchstone then you can pretty much guarantee that one of them will work or the other and your chances actually sort of increase for the other 3 riders.

Sprinting from a pack can be fulfilling. I did it on the bell lap and it felt amazing until I crossed the finish line. I want to blame the guy flipping the lap cards. I'd like to say that I swear that I counted down from 3 laps to go and saw the card and I sprinted and won. But I can't. I can't get mad at the lap card guy volunteering all day so that I can roll around in circles. I'm not going to be mad that I didn't win an Early Bird Crit. Even though Beth is my competitor, she's also my friends and I'm happy when she wins a bike race. All I can do is realize what is happening and try to fix it. I made it about halfway around the course when the pack caught me and I got ready to sprint again. This time I took second to a fresher pair of legs. Not a bad come back.

The 1892 Census of most popular baby girls names was the last time Beth, Mary and Ruth shared a top three together. The most recent was the Folsom Criterium.

Lesson: #1 Pay attention to lap cards. Pay extra attention to lap cards! #2 Giving you daughter a lead out will probably make her more likely not to test your authority with regard to dating and curfews. Be a cool mom when you grow up and have kids. #3 Try to support your race promoters and the folks that donate prizes. They are spending money & time and negotiating with the city & nearby businesses to close their doors to regular income flow just to grow the sport. If you need more incentive, Bicycles Plus in Folsom gave me a 15% bike racer discount on the day of the race.

-Mar