Berkley Hills RR (Win!)

Sunday was the third and final stage of the 'Webcor Bridge Team Stage Race - Proudly Presented by Sportvelo'. After being taken to the Beth Newell Track School on Friday night at Hellyer, then lighting it up at the Pittsburg Twilight Crit on Saturday, we arrived at Berkley Hills Road Race with the legs well and truly warm (or almost cooked in some cases) and ready to race. Today Haley, Holly and Bec took to the start line with the 30 or so other racers, ready to tackle 115km and the fabled 'Three Bears', and defend our lead on GC.*

*It's hard to say if anyone else was actually aware of this, or the fact that there was a stage race on at all, but whos fault is that right?!

Now Berkley Hills doesn't have windmills, but I'm currently in the process of writing to the Department of Energy, COS IT SHOULD!! The wind obviously didn't bother everyone though, as after leaving the pituresque lake and rolling through the neutral section to the main road to get the official race start, Jane Despas from Yahoo jumped away, never to be seen for the next 70km! Now that's some serious TT training! Respect.

This, combined with the fact that noone else really liked having the wind in their face, meant that we were strung out tip to tail fairly early on in the race, with Fremont Bank, Metromint and Webcor the main forces in keeping the pace rolling over. Annie from Metromint and Suannah from Fremont moved to the front on the climbs and kept the pace high, stringing out the bunch, but the majority of the field was still hanging on heading into the second lap.

So I'm not 100% which climb is which 'bear', but it didn't really matter. From what I hear, bears aren't all that friendy, and these were no exception. And just like in the fairytales, to get past the bears you had to venture into their cave, which in this case was a very deep pain cave. So at the end of the first lap, the prospect of passing them another 3 times made me feel more scared than Goldilocks when the bears arrived home to find her in their beds.

The second lap was much the same, as we kept the pace rolling over in pursuit of Despas. Luckily we were being given fairly regular time gaps by the moto, otherwise I think she could have easily been forgotten altogether. Coming into the third lap, the time gap was closing and we eventually reeled Jane in. I'm thinking that if the Department for Energy don't like the idea of windmills at Berkley they should definitely entertain the idea of employing Jane and Beth as the first Human Power Stations, cos those girls can put out some power! Both are always keen to keep the pace high and willing to drive on the front.

Berkley bacame a race of attrition, with no great surges in pace but a consistent and unrelenting tempo, riders were gradually gobbled up by a hungry bear, or spat out in the wind. So we entered the final lap with a lead group of around 10, including 3 Metromint, 2 Fremont Bank and an assortment of other individual riders. Everyone was being very cautious and waiting for the team with numbers to make a move, but nothing came.

After a few unconvincing attempts at getting away were made, Beth laid it on the line and made the decisive jump on the back rolling section about 15km from the finish. Two Metromint's suddenly found their legs and made the surge to latch onto her wheel, and were eventually joined by Webcor and Missing Link who scrambled to claw onto the back of the Newell train, cos once that train gets chugging you know its not stopping till the final station.

With Metromint holding the upper hand with 2 out of 5 riders, they were eventually forced to make a move, and chose to lead us to the finish at quite the comfortable pace. Cheers. On the final downhill Webcor took the lead and was left there to lead it up Papa Bear to the long awaited finish line. Trying to stay calm and not take on Papa too early, we tapped away until rounding the corner where the finish line stood, lit up in all its glory and beauty seen through the eyes of cyclists delirious from picking a fight with a bear, not once, but 12 times! Webcor got a bit excited by this sight, and went for it, jumping away. The others were quick to react and the legs and lungs were quick to realise that it was to early, sitting down and trying to keep some kind of pace while waiting for the the dreaded counter attack. It didn't come, and at this stage with all brain cells and any rational thinking having been puffed out on the side of the road, along with half a lung, Webcor went again, this time wobbling accross the line and holding on for the win and the coveted stage race GC. Anna Barensfeld from Missing Link came in for 2nd, with Beth from Fremont finishing off the podium. Holly came in a very respectble 12th in her first cat 1/2 race.

Congrats to the whole team on a great weekend of racing.

Bec

Menlo Crit & Easter Classic Crit

Menlo Crit
Women 1/2/3
Place: mid-pack out of 47
Teammates: none, they were at Copperopolis

I did this race twice last year (W3 and W123) and liked it well enough, but
this year was so much better. Mostly it wasn't 45 degrees and raining, that
helped a lot. There also weren't any crashes this time around, and the race
felt very safe to me. I felt like this was a very good race for me, not
because I finished well, but because I learned some lessons and felt much
more solid cornering in a pack. Cornering has always been my weak spot in
races, but I've been working on it and I think I'm getting better and more
comfortable. Anyway, lesson #1 was don't work to bring back the break when
you don't have any teammates, especially when there are a couple of teams in
the pack that aren't represented in the break. Lesson #2 was don't bridge to
the break when the gap gets down to 6 seconds - I bridged across, but the
leaders were tired and the pack was hungry, so we got reeled in quite
quickly. Lesson #3 was move up in the pack early for the finish and stay
there - I lost position when the pack slowed with 1.5 laps to go and then
the speed picked up so I couldn't move up. Anyway, not a great result but a
good learning experience for me.

Easter Classic Crit
Women 1/2/3
Place: 10th of 14
Teammates: none today

This was a bit of an odd race, with two hairpin turns. The field was pretty
small, probably since it's a new race and a lot of people spend Easter
Sunday with family, etc. I rode over to the course for a nice 10 mile
warm-up and got there plenty early, which gave me time to watch the Masters
35+ 1/2/3 race and see just how brutal the wind was in combination with the
hairpins. I think their small pack split in two only a lap or two in, then
further splintered as the race went on, so I knew going into my race that
positioning was going to be key and no matter what, this race was going to
hurt.

Well, I may have known that positioning would be important, but
implementing that was a bit harder, and after about 15 minutes I got dropped
on a hairpin after a couple too many times around at the back of the pack
with tired legs. After not too long, Josie Morgan caught up to me, since
she'd been dropped too, and we settled into a nice long chase. For most of
the race, it looked like this: Liza Rachetto and Elis Bradshaw were off the
front widening their gap, there were 8 women in the pack, and then me and
Josie holding steady behind the pack. We went pretty hard the whole time,
not letting the pack get too far away from us, but we didn't really have a
chance of catching back on. So, we practiced our corning on the hairpins,
went hard out of every turn, and got some good training in. On the last lap
we passed another girl that had been dropped, and I beat Josie to get 10th.
At least we managed to not get lapped by the leaders, who were probably
about half a lap ahead of the pack and a quarter lap behind us by the end.

Copperopolis (Win!)

So it was a hell of a day in the Hell of the North. With Easter being a little later this year, the weather kept it's end of the bargain - bringing the Spring - leaving it up to the riders to make it a Classic.

Having driven the course the week before, we left Webcor's Sportvelo team headquarters at a bright and early 5am, as prepared as one can be for a course that can be best described as sections of pothole, with a small strip of road thrown in. Bike bolts had been tightened and re-torqued. Extra wide tyres had been acquired, and the cushiest chamois selected.

The pro 1/2 field were joined by the 3s, much to our delight, as it meant Holly would be joining Haley and myself for the bone-jarring 100ks that lay ahead. Things set off at a good pace, and it was obvious that the girls had come to race, and not just leave it up to the course to pick a winner. Metromint had the numbers, and after riding tempo up the first climbing section, they used that card to their advantage and threw in some attacks and counters over the rollers. It was early in the race though, and nothing looked too dangerous at this stage. All the same, Webcor brought the green machine to the font just to keep the pace high and the break in sight, not wanting the old adage of out of sight, out of mind to come into play, and things were brought back together pretty quickly.

We crested the second climb at quite a high tempo, with everyone wanting the best view as we hit the 'cobbles' (note: they're not actually cobbles, but it sounds so much more Euro and romantic than 'crap road with giant potholes'!). Things got a bit strung out on the descent, and there was a slight split in the field, forcing the second group to multi-task, and chase at the same time as focusing on not swallowing now dislodged fillings, and regaining feeling in arms that had been tenderised more than your Easter lamb roast. It came back together comfortably as we got our first view of the rollers coming up to the finish line and passed through town to start our second lap of three.

We picked up the pace a bit over the climb this time, and by the top there was a select group of 5, with Yahoo, Fremont, Metromint and Webcor all represented. No-one was up for really pushing the pace and getting turns rolling at this stage, and with half the group taking a wrong turn into the farmhouse, the chase caught back on not too long after, and the second lap finished much the same as the first.

The Fremont girls, who had been looking strong all day, flatted on the rollers before the second climb, and after latching back on, launched a girl solo off the front heading into the deciding lap. The laps are long, and it would be hard to stay away, but this was definitely more than a half hearted teaser, and the field would have to react.

As we entered the main climb for the last time, Fremont had the advantage of getting out of sight on the many bumps and bends that peppered this section. Webcor moved to the front to push the chase, as Metromint seemed content to sit on in the hope that the climb alone would bring her back. Not wanting to take that gamble, I zeroed in on her with the intensity of a Woodside cop, and as we reached the final kicker, we'd brought her back and it was now a case of two Fremont and one Webcor - definitely not ideal, but better to be off the front and outnumbered than not there at all.

Beth launched as we entered the flat section by the lake, and it looked like I was going to be burning matches just to make it to the finish. Grabbing her wheel, I tried on a bit of Aussie charm and we agreed to pull turns to try and stay away to the finsh. As I pointed out earlier, I may not be a gambler, but I know that 1 in 3 odds are better than a bunch sprint, and thankfully the Fremont girls agreed!

We got things rolling nicely, and Beth was obviously feeling the earlier effort and dropped on a little kicker at the turn around. To my surprise (and delight!) Susannah kept rolling through, and not knowing what gap we had on the fild we kept pushing hard. Some have labelled it a bad lapse in communication on Fremont's part, but I'd like to think she chose the 1 in 2 odds and rotating at a fast pace over the risk of being caught. Chugging along in our two carriage train over the back end rollers, we we're informed by the moto that we had a handy 1:20 lead on the chase, with about 12km to ride. There was a noticeable headwind though, and still the final climb to come, so there was defintely not time to relax.

Riding the final climb at the front, my plan was to keep the pace high enough to thwart any thoughts of attacking on Susannah's part, and thankfully she didn't. Riding the pothole rollercoaster was that much easier and faster with a clear view and the knowledge that this was the last time my brain would be rattling in my skull - for today at least.

Carrying our momentum into the final climbs to the line, I followed the wheel, waiting for the cat and mouse to start, but it didn't come. It was a long drag to the line, and praying that I had the legs, and that going early would put just enough doubt in her mind to not want to come, I pulled the trigger and gave it all I had to get my hands on that t-shirt!
Holly made it a Webcor double, taking out the 3s in strong style, appearing completely in her element on a road course made for mountain bikers.

Well done to Fremont on a strong race, and all the other girls for making sure we held our end of the bargain and put the classic in Spring Classic.

Bec

Spring Schedule

• Santa Cruz Crit on Sunday (pre-reg closes tomorrow)
• Presentation to the Alto Velo club
• Copperopolis on Saturday, April 23
• Wente on Saturday, April 30
• Berkeley Hills, Sunday, May 8
• Cat's Hill, Saturday, May14
• Scott's Valley, Sunday, May 15

Remember: our eyes are on the NCNCA Premier Series: http://ncnca.org/ncncaseries/ncnca-premier-series. Don't forget that Mt Hood Stage Race is sneaking up on us June 2.

Redlands Stages - Bec Updates:)

After 'warming up' the legs yesterday, and a feast for dinner, featuring Cid's meatloaf and other homemade delights, we were ready and raring for today's stage. SoCal once again put on the good weather for us - blue skies, a nice 98 degrees (36C) and a cooling breeze.

A whopping 113 girls lined up for the stage, which comprised of 3 laps totalling 72.3 miles (about 116km). A fast and mostly flat course, with one decent section of climbing. HTC entered the stage with both aces up their sleeve, sitting pretty with 1 and 2 on GC. This therefore left it up to any other team with GC aspirations to make something out of the race. Either everyone missed the memo, or the torture TT from the day before had had a greater impact than expected, and crushed peoples will to attack along with their legs. For Webcor I think it was the latter. We had the will (aptly displayed by Haley's solo 2.5 lap TT after a mechanical) but the legs didn't quite match.

There were a few attepmted breaks, but no real threats, and HTC easily defended, driving on the front and stretching out the field whenever they felt it was necessary. Apart from this, a couple little spills, a busy feed zone and the in race game of bidon dodgeball, not much else happened, and the climb became the race deciding factor. The main field approached the climb hard on the last lap, and a lead group of about 20 was formed. The run into the finish after the climb was fast though, and the first chase group caught back on, bringing it down to a bunch sprint, which was lead out quite late, with the final little uphill drag taken out by Theresa Cliff-Ryan of Colavita.

All the Webcor girls rode well. Karen and John were kept on their toes in the support car, doing a great job, especially without a working radio, and left to rely on carrier pidgeon... or maybe it was just the race official. Haley toughed it out solo on a long, hard day in the saddle, only to be dealt the rough news of being time cut. She leaves with the dignity of no DNF though. HUGE respect coming from this direction, and I'm sure she'll be an amazing swanny!!

For now the rest of us are resting up, ready for tomorrows 60 minute crit. Keep your ears pricked for that report, should be an interesting race.



Redlands Stage 3 - Sunset Road Race
I headed into today's stage full of apprehension. Being my first time at Redlands, I had no idea what to expect, and was relying completely on the stories and legends told by riders past. This was not a good thing. Many are to scarred to talk about it. The mere mention of the name 'Sunset' in conversation with cyclists and at pre race meetings drew gasps and screams, and looks of utter dread and horror. Position would be vital. The race would be rough and fast. People would be dropped, and gaps would form right at the beginning...and this was just in the neutral start!

With a build up like that, I jumped at the gun like a startled rabbit, but my nerves settled a bit when I realised it was only half as bad as all the legends made it sound. There were only 1 or 2 crashes in the neutral section, and the main race at the start was to see who could edge the furthest in front of the neutral car without being pulled back.\par
Unfortunately Mary and Amy were caught behind the second crash, putting them on the back foot heading onto the loop for the first time, which the field hit at a ferocious pace. There was a time bonus up for grabs at the first QOM, so the climbers and GC girls gave the rest of us a lesson in climbing, and danced away up the hill, instantly shattering the pack and gaining a lead of 1:30 in what seemed like no time. All the big players had someone in the break, so that first climb pretty much set the field for the rest of the race.

If you can stop focusing on simply holding onto the wheel in front for one second, you realise that although it may be hard, Sunset is a really cool loop. It initially winds it's way to the start of the climb through the suburbs, keeping you on your toes as the road is never straight for more than 50 metres. Then the climb starts quite steep, before plateauing and kicking up again into a longer drag, where at the top the QOM points would be decided before a flase flat gives you no time to relax and clear the lactate. It then bumps along through the feed zone until flowing back over the top of the TT finish and quickly winding its way back down to start the loop all over again. Nine times!

The first three laps were pretty straight forward. Mara Abbott glued herself to the front and set the pace, and everyone else followed along, fluctuating from about 30 seconds to a minute and a half behind the leaders. When a course is like that and the break goes early with the best climbers up the road, there's not a heap you can do. Everyone climbs as fast as they can, and as long as the lead group doesn't stop pushing inbetween, they stay away.

At some point the pack behind the main chase caught back on, and on about lap 6 or 7 we caught the front group momentarily. It only took them till the next time up the climb to decide that they didn't like sharing their playground with all the other kids, and they burned us on the hill, once again shattering what was left of the race. We then rode the last lap in our splintered groups, until we finally reached the finishing circuit. It was a nice downhill and then flat detour back to the start line. With the leaders completely out of sight, and 9 laps of the legendary Sunset in the legs, everyone was fairly content to roll the last bit home without too much stress.

Put on paper, it sounds so much easier than it was. Of course there were the usual screeching of brakes and crunching of carbon on bitchumen that you dare not look back for. I'm sure there would have been a lot more happening in the front group... but I wasn't there to know. Plus I know much more happened in my part of the race that I've failed to mention or skimmed over, but to be perfectly honest, I couldn't really tell you. I didn't quite have the armchair view today, and when you're chewing stem and well inside the box, the thought process can be very limited, and concentrating on what's happening so that you can write an awesome race report doesn't even come into consideration. So think of some of the crazy and exciting things that make a good bike race and insert them in here, cos I'm sure they would have happened!

For the record, Colavita won the stage, and HTC held onto the leader's jersey and 3rd place, sandwiching a Tibco rider in between.

Well done to all the Webcor girls, it was a ripper of a weekend.

Take it easy

Bec

Redlands Prologue

March 31, 2011
Place: 68th out of 113 starters
Bec 28th

This first day of the Redlands Stage Race was the Prologue which is a 3.1 mile uphill climb according to the race bible. We had Bec, Mary, Devon, and myself just off of the San Dimas Stage race last weekend. Emily met us in LA and Amy came out from Boulder.

The Uphill TT was a gradual uphill with a power hill then a nice grade past some orange trees. Then you take a right hand turn to a big hill to the top. Emily and I talked about it and divided the hill up in our minds into thirds. A steep climb that you had to redline a bit, a quieter left turn to a final 200 meters to the top. How it actually played out was a bit different.

Before the race, we found our spot right in the middle of the parking lot and set up camp with the Webcor car and SportVelo tent. John, our mechanic, had everything in order which is super awesome as we could focus on just warming up and staying hydrated.

I was third of our team to go and once I rolled off the starting platform I tried to keep an eye on the girl who started 30 seconds in front of me. The hard part here was to hold a fast pace but not go over and flood the legs for the climb. I think I gained a couple seconds when we turned onto the actually hill section. Then my focus turned to keeping my breathing steady and trying not to blow up.

Our host house mom, Cid, was at the top of the steepest part and her encouragement kept me pushing as hard as I could. The last little bit to the top I got close to my 30-second target but was caught like I was standing still by a Colavita racer. She would end up 4th so I don’t feel too bad about that.

I met up with Bec at the top and we rode down to the team base to cool down then ride home. Overall I think it was a good start and almost like a warm up for tomorrow’s 72 mile Road Race.

--Haley

Follow the team:

– http://facebook.com/avbridge
– http://avbridge.blogspot.com/

San Dimas SR

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.

For the Webcor girls, we all learned a lot and showed we can mix it with the big girls.

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