Stage 1 of the San Dimas Stage Race: A 3.8 mile uphill TT that wound its way up Glendora Mountain Road; An amazingly picturesque setting which would have been breathtaking... if you had a single gasping breath to spare. TTs are all about pain, pain and more pain. Throw a hill into that equation, and things can get messy!The womens' field was 100 strong, with a host of top teams and riders to make for some tough competition and great racing experience. With a dose of Coach Dan's HTFU formula for breakfast, we attacked the first stage with vigour. As long as you keep the pedals turning over, and cross that line with your legs and lungs still functioning, you've won the battle. We all won the battle and posted respectable times, having a good hit out and testing out the engines ready for the next stage.
Stage 2 was the San Dimas Community Hospital Road Race. Eight laps, totaling 56 miles (approx 90km). Any race with 100 riders is bound to be interesting. Throw in some narrow but fast sections of road, a decent climb followed by a fast decent, and a touch of wind, and the race pretty much makes itself. The race of attrition, is won by position! Sounds good and is spot on to an extent, but there's always more to it as well.
I failed miserably in the position part, so had a backrow view of the race most of the way (which is good for writing a race report, right?!). The first lap is for settling in and getting a feel for the course. With the wind blowing the way it was, it was going to be fast, so any breaks were going to be hard to start, let alone maintain. We set off at a reasonable pace, but everyone was playing it fairly cautious, and it was the hill taking its victims that split up the race on the first few laps. Early on it was definitely a race of survival. If you got gobbled up by the hill, or spat out the back, the wind was picking up and it would end up being a lonely day chasing in the hurt box.
About half way through there were a few small attacks of the front, countering the field after a prime sprint. This strung things out and we were tip to tail playing gutterball for a while. No-one likes gutterball all that much though, so we soon resumed to standard bunch racing.
The hill was hungry, and gobbling up riders left, right and centre, so the main field had almost been halved by this stage. Apparently at some point 2 riders snuck off the front. I say apparently, because even with my armchair view, they'd pulled off a Houdini and disappeared in a flash.
If the CIA is looking at recruiting any time soon, these girls should be top of the list!
With 2 laps to go a Colavita girl was still off the front. The HTC train formed at the front in an effort to pull back some time, but they obviously were confident of their hold on GC, as they never got rolling at full steam. The last time up the climb it was a matter of holding on and trying to return home with the bunch. The sprint was left quite late, but Colavita were on their game this race, and organised the lead out train to go one-two for the stage.
Mary showed off her awesome bike handling skills (former BMX bandit perhaps??), by holding it up when a stray drink bottle tried to end her race prematurely. She also made the wise move of no making acquaintance with the bitumen, when a small group of girls in front of her foolishly thought they'd do just that.
Haley learned never to make fun of Coach Dan's scout boy attitude of packing the kitchen sink, and that being sponsored by Powerbar is only awesome if you actually remember to take their super energy products with you during the race! Bonking is not fun. Just ask her.
Holly floated through the bunch like a seasoned pro, and floated up the hill on the first few laps with just as much apparent ease. She definitely showed she'll be a force to be reckoned with once those upgrade points come through.
Jane got to experience the dynamics of a chase group, who the name 'chase' group sometimes doesn't actually apply. All good training for next year though, when she wont have to worry about chase group dynamics. The main field is calling.
I learned that 100 riders is a BIG field, and that although riding near the back may be good for writing a race report, it's not so great for conserving energy and smart racing.
Sunday we were off to downtown San Dimas for the final stage - a 55 minute crit on a fast L shaped circuit. The newly introduced Webcor warm-up included a good 10 minute game of marks up (note from Andi: Bec is teaching us how to play Aussie football), and then we were set to go, joining the 67 strong field at the start line. It was pretty much on from the start, and that's how it stayed. Not much to report here. I played ticket collector for the whole race and I think I rewrote the book on how NOT to ride a crit. If you ever wanna know, just ask! Thankfully I took those ticket collecting duties seriously and wasn't going to drop off and let someone else take my place, so I clung to the back by the skin of my teeth and finished with bunch time. The sprint was won by Chloe Hoskings from HTC leading it out of the last corner and holding off any challengers to the line.
So that's San Dimas done and dusted, and now we rest up for a few days before heading off to Redlands.
As much as I complain about the pain, if the following quote is true, I'll happily hurt for many more races to come...
"It never gets easier, you just go faster" - Greg LeMond
Take it easy
Bec
Well written Bec :)
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