CCCX Road Race

Race: CCCX Circuit

6 laps, 75 minutes

Teammates: Mary

Field: 15

Place: 3

Keith DeFibre loves racing so much and it really shows at his circuit

races. He marked off 5 miles of road between Sea Otter and some

Military housing with some climbs. It's a really good course that

doesn't necessarily favor a pure climber. Our field was a little on

the little side because they raced the Masters Women and the Cat 4s a

minute behind us and there was another race in Danville.

Last year I battled the race out with Laurie Fenech (MadCat). She was

here this year too. Neither one of us had official teammates but we

both had a back up plan. Laurie was talking with Jane (Yahoo) before

the race but I drove down with the Mexican National Road Champion

soooo...

The tactic that Laurie and Jane devised was pretty good considering

the field. Laurie would attack. I would jump and bridge. Jane would

try to chase me down. The rest of the field would follow. This

happened twice. On one occasion I countered Laurie and the same thing

sequence of events unfolded. It was pretty clear what was going to

happen all day. There was not going to be a break with me in it.

If you can't instigate a break and you can bridge to a break, you can

always thwart a break. Keeping a close eye on the girls who want to

attack and just going with them will keep the field together. This

plan is great and almost completely executable. The only variable is

there are other women.

I'm not going to try and control the race. It's not realistic and

philosophically speaking a little unethical to think you can make

other people do your bidding. I'm not going to just sit back and be

reactive. Letting other people determine how you race is just plain

stupid. Racing is like boiling a pot of water. All the molecules are

moving around together.

So anyway, I loose track of Laurie for 3 seconds and she pops off the

front again. For about a mile she was only a few feet in front of us.

No one chases. Then Jane, instead of putting herself at the front of

the race and sitting up, separated herself and rode on the opposite

side of the road. Most of the field followed her out of habit. Then

all of the field followed the rest of the feild. The next thing you

know, Yahoo has very passively managed to get the entire field behind

her and at sub 15mph. And Laurie rolls up the road.

Dulce, our heroine of the story and our Maxican National Champ,

doesn't know the racers and their shenanigans, doesn't know the course

but for the 2.5 laps we've been on it, and quite frankly doesn't know

she can trust me. In English, I tell her she might want to go after

the girl up the road. I'm not sure she understands what I said so I

give some hand gestures and indicate that I will block. She jumps and

starts a little TT after Laurie.

Right at that moment I overcome with contentment because I know Dulce

will make contact and win the race. I know that she has a little ways

to go before she gets there and that she'll have to work for it but I

know it will happen. It felt really good to "tell" Yahoo and MadCat

that it was fine that they wanted to play tactics with me but I was

going to counter them with something they couldn't expect. Right at

that moment Yahoo was physically trying to chase and mentally

realizing that Webcor and Touchstone were not going to let it happen.

It took Dulce 1.5 laps to catch MadCat. Dulce won the sprint by at

least 3 bike lenghts. The rest of the women's field was so proud of

her and the promoter was super stoked to have her at his race. As for

my race, I rode at the front with Yahoo on my wheel. I sat up for 2

seconds and let her lead out the sprint for 3rd.

On a day like Saturday you realize that racing is not always going to

be getting taken to the curb by Vanderkitten. Sometimes it's you and

10 of your best friends trying like hell to crush each other and being

really proud of whoever makes it to the top that day. I can't write a

race report for Dulce, my Spanish isn't that good. I know she worked

super hard to bridge and she earned a well deserved first US win. I

can tell you that I will be racing with these same world class, world

champion, tough as nails women for a long long time to come and we

will love every minute of it.

-Mary