Fitchburg Recap Part 2

With Thursday and Friday in the bag, I was so nervous for the Road Race. There were quite a few reasons for my stomach churning around like it had a herd of buffalo in it. #1 - this was the longest road race I had ever done. The longest before this was 57 miles, so while it was only another 7 miles more, it was 7 hard miles in a Pro field. #2 - it had some BIG climbing on it. and #3 - it was already the 3rd day of a 4 day stage race (with one more day to go)!

Wachussette Mountain Stage Race
6 laps of an 11 mile course for 64 miles total
104 starters

Course: Beautiful rolling start with a few big ring hills leading up to the real climbing section of the course. When you saw the sign for 3K to go on each lap, you knew that the pain was about to begin. A right hand turn led to the first portion of the climb (which was actually the worst part). A small ring, out of saddle climb led to another right hand turn and a 25 meter "sprint" to the line. After the line was another small ring out, out of the saddle climb that led to the feed zone. After the feed zone, the road continued to climb up to the top of the mountain (another 1.5 to 2 miles?). After reaching the official summit, there was a SCREAMING descent back to the rolling start. And I do mean, SCREAMING downhill - my computer got so overloaded on the descent that it simply gave up trying to tell me how fast I was going. I think it crapped out each lap right around 50 mph (yep, Mom...50 MPH!!!).

Race: I actually felt really good in this race, but knew that I was going to have my work cut out for me on the hills. I stayed with the front field through two laps up the steeper climbs. I was comfortably sitting in the pack and managed to avoid one small pile-up on the first lap. On the second lap, I had a really interesting experience of looking to my left and realizing that I was riding next to Jeannie Longo. That was pretty interesting. She's so tiny and so STRONG! She was next to me for a second or two and then cut across the back of the pack and sped up the left side to the front. I never really saw her again after that. :) But, at least I can say for real that I raced with/against Jeannie Longo! Anyway...I was sitting comfortably in the pack, but knew that was only a matter of time.

The third time up, they punched it at the front and I found myself just off the back. However, I did NOT find myself where I expected. I was with a group of riders that I did not expect to be racing with...I was in a group with Amity, Anna Milkowski, Erica Allar, Kelly Benjamin, Rebecca Blatt and about 10 other riders. I was ecstatic! We stayed together for the next two laps and actually managed (according to Richard's calculations at the Finish line) to gain time on the leading group. Eventually, the men's pro field came past us (what a MESS). They passed us just as we were hitting the feed zone. It was CHAOS! I just held my line and prayed that they would sweep in and out of the zone around me. Fortunately, we made it through the feed zone unscathed and realized that we had a HUGE opportunity ahead of us. Undoubtedly, they would neutralize the women's field ahead of us to let the men pass. If they did this, there was a chance that we could catch back up and catch back on for the last 2 laps! We did.

Of course, my catching back up only lasted until we hit the hills for the final time, but at least it kept my finishing time closer to the leaders. After the final climb up the hill, I was with a small group of 3 for the final lap (me, Rebecca Blatt and Kelly Benjamin). We managed to work our way around to the finish line. I decided that I wanted to be the first one across the line out of the three of us, so I punched it up the hill to the right turn to the finish. I crossed the line in 69th place, 8 seconds ahead of Rebecca and 21 seconds ahead of Kelly. Granted she probably wasn't trying to go hard up that hill...but I'll take it! :)

Surprisingly, I really loved this race. I was nervous for nothing. I should have known that. I am really more of a road racer than a crit racer and I already knew that. I was just nervous about the climbing. If I had positioned myself a bit better for the climbs, I probably could have stayed with the front group on the last lap, but my legs were pretty toasted.

Speaking of toasted, my poor legs were in for a beating on the last day of the race - the Crit.

Day 4: Downtown Criterium
28 laps of a sub-1 mile course for a 25 mile race
87 starters (wow did that road race whiddle down the field!)

Course: FAST, FAST, FAST....slight rise up through the start/finish line to the first turn, which was just about a 180 degree left hand u-turn. Sweeping downhill into turn 2 - another left into an immediate left back onto the main drag. MAJOR headwind on the finishing straight led to riders being shed quickly and completely. Once you were off the back and fighting that headwind, it was OVER.

Race: My rain was painful and graciously short! I was not feeling good at the start - a lot of pain in my legs from climbing the day before and my eating was not right during the trip. Anyway...I was hoping to hold on as long as possible, knowing that they were prorating the times of dropped riders (so even if I didn't finish, I would get a time and complete the stage race). I stayed in the field for the majority of the race. Towards the end, they really began to up the pace (especially when they started awarding $770 primes!), and I found myself slipping steadily back and off the field. It wasn't long before my butt was dropped. I tooled around with two other riders for a couple of laps until they pulled us. Even considering that, my average speed was 24 mph! It was a FAST weekend.

Overall, I have to say that I am really happy about my first Pro-level stage race:

1. I moved up from 100th to 75th in the GC over the 4 days. If I keep working on my TT and my crits - I'm sure that those numbers will be much lower next year.
2. These races keep getting harder and better - my time in the Circuit race was 6 MINUTES faster than the WINNING time from last year. Same course, same distance, same riders. These ladies are really upping the ante and it is making for some really challenging racing.
3. I can only imagine how much better I would have done if I hadn't taught through the month of June. Next year...it's dissertation writing and racing...that's IT! Let's see what I can do with my mind and body really focused.

Thanks to my amphibious teammates...the weekend was a blast with y'all. Can't wait to do it again soon!