Cholet-Pays de Loire by Lauren

Warning: this is a very long race report :) I had a lot to say...

Cholet-Pays de Loire

Date: 3/22/09
Start time: 1:00pm
Distance: 80km (16 laps)
Place: 71/101 (starting field size: 170+)
Teammates: Amanda Miller (58th), Ashley Dymond (DNF), Einat Aragon
COURSE: a 5km loop starting at the top of slight rise. There is a sweeping, downhill left-hand turn about 250 meters into the race that leads into a downhill into a headwind. At the bottom of the hill is another soft left-hand turn at a round-about which leads into a relatively straight section during which we go through one round-about. This stretch has some parts that narrow up because of curbs and/or street dividers. At the end of the straight there is a sharp right-hand turn onto the hill. The hill is about 500 meters long, completely straight and about 6%. At the top of the hill there is a 180 turn to head back down a hill into another sharp right-hander. The next section is an out-and-back section that turns around a very large, pedaling round-about. Coming back there is one, more slight, right-hand veer that leads to the finishing straight-away. From the 500 meter sign to the 300 meter sign is a slight rise which evens out until about 150 to go when it kicks up again slightly.

http://www.cholet-pdl.com/
http://cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2009/mar09/choletwomen09

After breakfast and pinning of jerseys we wandered downstairs to find Chris and were greeted with a lobby full of hopeful fans. We could tell from their attentive looks as they heard our footsteps on the stairs and then their almost immediate looks of disappointment that we were not quite what they were hoping for :)

For this race we had a group sign-in and introduction on stage. That was a first! We all went up in our Canada Trust jerseys (unfortunately our USA kits have not arrived still) and were introduced as the US Development Team (with one Israeli guest-star). We are a motley crew :)

FINALLY (after two and a half hours of pre-race chamois time) we were warmed up (mostly) and ready to start the race. I missed the line-up and was the only one of my team who ended up near the back of the 170-woman field. I was not happy with this but decided to look at it as an opportunity (a BIG one) to practice moving up in the field.

The first lap was MAYHEM. I have never been in a race with a field this large and have never smelled so much burning rubber from braking. I assume most of the girls hadn't ridden the course before hand because its was complete confusion. Every time the road narrowed or turned I found myself in a near-trackstand. At one point everyone basically stopped and some girl in the middle couldn't maintain her balance and just fell over causing the first crash. We made it up the hill around the very tight, narrow turn-around, down the hill (more burning rubber into what should have been a very high-speed turn at the bottom) without any problems. The first big crash happened on the finishing stretch where the metal gates were marking lining the roads. I still have no idea what happened to cause it but I just barely squeaked by on the right side of it and chased like hell to get back to the main group, towing a line of girls behind me. We made it back on right before the climb.

After the descent as I was finally settling down from the effort when the girl three ahead of me ran into these massive cones on the right side of the road. I was edging my way forward through the group to try and land a top-20 spot and was unfortunately right behind this mess. I hit the girl who went down in front of me and somehow landed on my left side. I curled up into a ball, unsure of what was coming behind me. As soon as I saw they could all avoid me I was back on my bike, chasing yet again. This time, though, I was chasing by myself and eventually got swallowed up by the secondary peloton who was behind my crash. I never made it back to the front group.

Still pumped with adrenaline I went to the front and started pulling hard. I wanted to be in that front group! We couldn't quite get organized enough and the front group already had too much time on us so I settled into this being my race. I quickly discovered that there were only 5 or 6 girls in this group who were really strong and good bike racers. I tried to help a UCBH Saint Avold rider start a rotating pace-line but people weren't smooth and there was too much disparity in fitness levels so most of the race it was myself, the French UCBH rider (who I noticed a little late had national stripes on her sleeves), a girl on the Specialized team who were consistently at the front (mixed in with several girls who helped some but kept dropping back). I figured if I wasn't at the front and in the race I was at least going to get a good workout!

I was feeling REALLY good. What a bummer. I stayed at the front easily and suddenly realized the UCBH French Champion had disappeared off the front. I had a feeling I'd be seeing here again later. Around 50km into the race we were nearing the top of the hill when she came flying up the right side and took a perfect line into the turn-around to head down the hill. I reacted immediately, weaving in and out of riders in front of me and hammering down the hill after her. When I made it on her wheel she saw me under her arm and kept flying. I thought once I got settled on her wheel the pace would be manageable - wrong! This girl was STRONG! I kept thinking to myself, "she has to slow down soon, there's no way she can do this for long". Wrong again! I still am unsure of what her national title is for but my guess would be time trial or cycle cross.

I stuck myself in the pain cave with no idea how long I could last, or how long she could last. I think for the lap and a half that I was on her wheel I pulled four times. She didn't seem to mind, nor did she seem to have any intention of slowing down. I gave her a little bit of rest on the downhills and the flats but otherwise thought I was pretty useless.

We were approaching the finishing straight and she started talking to me in French. Then she asked if I spoke English and I said yes. Then she goes, "FAST!" HAHA I was thinking, "what are we doing now?!?!" She pointed ahead to a group we were about to catch and I understood that she wanted to move quickly by them to avoid stragglers latching on. She picked up the pace and I couldn't hold on to her wheel anymore without possibly impeding her efforts and being a magnet for someone in the group we were passing. So I yelled, "non! allez, allez", to try and get the point across that I was dropping off. She kept flying and I latched on to this group. As soon as I had 20 seconds of rest I was ready to go again (of course). I bombed through this group and time-trialed to the next group ahead of them. These were groups getting shelled by the front group.

Eventually I ended up back in a combined field of my original group and some stragglers dropped from the front. I kept working really hard on the front of the group, mostly just because I couldn't help myself. Between crashing and then getting all amped on the UCBH girl's wheel I was too pumped to stop. With two laps to go I shut myself down to rest my legs a bit for our field sprint (which wouldn't matter for much but I wanted to the practice). I was confident I could beat every girl in the group.

On the last lap girls went WAY too early, launching at 1km and 500 meters to go. I just let myself get swarmed and tried to be patient. Just as this girl (who had looked pretty much cooked the entire race) came flying up the right-hand side at the 300 meter sign another girl blocked me from grabbing her wheel. I wove through the last girls at the front and took off in a sprint. I made up a lot of ground but it wasn't quite enough to catch her so I took second in our group.

I felt great and had some bad luck but I am happy with what I made of the race. I pushed myself past my limits and felt confident that I was one of the strongest girls in the several groups I was in (with the exception of the UCBH rider).