Race: Georgia State Road Race Championship
Date: 5-25-2002
Place: Sonoraville, GA
Speed: 20.8 mph
Time: 1 hour, 16 minutes
Distance: 26.89 miles
The course for the Georgia State Road Race Championships was a 13 mile circuit through the rolling farmland of Gordon County near Calhoun, GA. There were no major climbs although after the second turn, Lovebridge Road had several short, steep climbs. The hardest things on the course were all of the technical, tight corners on the narrow country roads. It looked like a course where it would be hard for a breakaway to stick. Cat. 4 women were to do 2 laps, or about 27
miles.
About twelve Cat. 4 women lined up at the start. I quickly took stock of who was there. Genesis was the only team with two riders. I figured that they would try something if they could both hang with the pack. The rest of the field was every
woman for herself. We started in the gravel parking lot of a small church. I grabbed a spot on the front row, not wanting to go down in the parking lot. Once again, a lack of bike handling skills was evident in the pack. The beginning of
the course was a long downhill before the first turn. I glanced at my computer and saw that we were going 25-30 mph. An unattached rider sat at the front pulling the pack. She would stay there for most of the first lap. Consequently
and much to my delight, the pace was not very high. We hit the hills on Lovebridge Road, and everyone slowed down when she did. After standing and sprinting over the first steep climb, we sat the rest of them and spun up. My
heart rate skimmed 172, below my usual race pace. As soon as we finished the hills, the pack settled back into a pace of about 21 mph. My legs felt good, and I was sitting about 4th in the pack. I stayed there through most of the first
lap. About 3/4 of the way through the first lap I saw the bubble girls trying to get together. I figured at attack might be coming, so I tried to get something going with 2 of the triathletes that I know of. We decided to try to set up one
of us for the sprint at the end if the field stayed together and to let one of them cover any attacks that went off of the front. Let's just say in this race I've learned that in general, Cat. 4 women don't know much about tactics. The
triathletes then moved to the front and pulled the pack going into the second lap. One of the girls kept dropping back and half wheeling me; it was driving me crazy.
One of the tri-girls picked up the pace as she was pulling the pack. Turning onto Lovebridge Road, I found myself too far towards the back of the pack. I was unable to move up before the first hill and had to hit the hill really hard to
make it over with the group. My legs felt the burn of lactic acid for the first time in the race. I was stuck towards the back of the pack. By this time, I'd lost the wheel I was on. It was very hard to move around in the small pack. The
first 4-5 women were in a paceline with the rest of the pack bunched up at the back and several people sitting in the wind instead of drafting. Since the pace had settled back down, I decided to take my chances and move to the front of the
pack, out in the wind. After a few miles, I was finally able to get back in the first 4-5 women "paceline" and to a place where I was more comfortable. I trusted the first few wheels more than I did those at the back of the pack. About half way through the lap,
Leigh, one of the Genesis riders, decided to try to go off of the front. Three of us responded and quickly reeled her in. I looked around for her teammate, who should have been up front blocking as they are known to
do, but she was no where to be found. I later discovered that she'd been dropped. One more unsuccessful attack would be launched, but there were enough strong riders at the front of the field and with no teammates, the attack was
doomed. The bubble decided to take her turn pulling before pulling off and settling back into the pack. Through the feedzone, reshuffling began within the pack. I had someone try to come up on my right, and she nearly knocked herself
onto the shoulder as there was not enough room to pass on the right. I was stuck over to the right and could not maneuver. Every time I tried to get around one particular person, she would swerve terribly and not let anyone pass her. At one point, she nearly took out several people when she would not hold her line. I was finally able to get out towards the left going into the final turn. The sprint started right after the turn. I hung on towards the back of the pack,
which was now whittled down to 7 of us. The last 5 people did not contest the sprint. I was powering with all of my might with the girl swerving ahead of me.
The final 200 meters was blocked off from traffic, and I tried to swing wide
left, only to be cut off by one of the trigirls not holding her sprint line. At that point, I was about 4th. About 20 feet before the sprint line, I sat up. I'd rather save my skin for another day than contest a squirrelly sprint. There are
2 NORBA National races coming up as well as several important AMBC races. I'd rather be in one piece for those races than break something. I wound up 6th, which isn't bad. The race was won by the
Leigh.
The Cat. 1/2/3 women consisted of 10 bubbles and 3 other riders-2 from Veloclips.com and
Lisa Ropke, an Expert mountain bikers who races for Independent Fabrications. Three of the bubble girls broke away and eventually got some ridiculous time like 10 minutes up on the pack. Two more broke away on the second lap and had
several minutes on the pack. The rest of the bubbles were cruising along at
18 mph "blocking" all of the other 3 riders from even trying anything. I am not
sure who won.