Berkeley Road Race

Women Cat 4
Berkeley Road Race Race
Sunday, May 8, 2005 8:03am starttime

Course Description:
Short promenade up service road from inside parking area, directly onto, and then a short distance on San Pablo Dam Road. 1.7 loops of traditional loop (each approx 19 approx miles, total 33miles): San Pablo Dam, Castro Ranch, Alhambra Valley, and Bear Creek Roads, clockwise. Pavement good to fair.

Pre-Race Assessment:
I wanted to do well and I felt pretty good. During warm-up my bike wouldn't shift to my big ring. I've had this problem before but it wasn't an issue on the road. Earlier in the week, I finally got my bike shop to admit that I have some major frame issues with my bike so it had been in the shop and I although I thought I gave it a good test ride apparently it still had some issues. (long story short, cannondale owes me a new frame dating back to problems I had on my first VG recruitment ride which Denise can attest to!)

Race Narrative:
Promenade was uneventful as was the ride down San Pablo Dam road. I had quite a few girls come up on my right and take the wheel ahead of me. I didn't like their aggresiveness and tried to hold my position but rather than make a wrong move by trying to hold onto the wheel I decided to play it safe and let them go ahead. Obviousily still not 100% back on holding onto wheels.

Onto Castro Ranch, I did well on the climb holding a good position in the front.


hanging with the pack in the first lap

Right at the crest of the descent, a CycleTraining girl went down right in front of me, apparently, she had looked down to see if she had a flat and lost control of her bike; it was pretty slippery. I held my line and was ready to do whatever I needed to go over her bike and just barely missed her rear wheel. I hammered down the hill staying in the bike lane where it was clear.

I stayed with the pack all along Alhambra and felt pretty comfortable going into Mama Bear. I knew I was going to have to work hard to stay with the pack and I was determined to do so and I did. CC was with me, too.


Me and CC hanging in there!


The rollers were tough as I still didn't recover from Mama Bear climb and I ended up having to push hard again to try to keep with the group. On the descent before Papa Bear, I knew I wasn't going as hard as I usually do and was losing the pack. I was bummed cause this is usually where I can catch up easily. Wasn't so easy this time.

On Papa Bear, I struggled and watched the pack get further and further away. I kept on it and did my best. Then I lost sight of CC and hoped I could catch them somewhere down the road.

On the descent I caught a girl named Kelly, who was unattached and we worked together and caught up with Jackie from AltoVelo. I was worried to paceline with her based on Miriam's experience at Wente. I wanted to make sure she did her share of the work. She did a good job although I can't say she had any very long pulls... in hindsight, we probably were pulling too long. However, the pace was slowing and when i went to the front I wanted to make sure I kept up the pace, if not upped it, so I ended up working a lot.

I didn't know how far back we were and our slowing pace I think put us back. At some point I tried to push us harder but I was pretty disappointed with our 14-16mph pace on the backside.
2nd time up Mama Bear, I kept a good pace and did better this time on the rollers. Unfortunately I had problems shifting into the big ring and lost time as Jackie and Kelly took off. I had to work hard to catch them, which I did.

Jackie and I finished climbing Papa Bear together and Jackie said she wouldn't fight me for 20th place. However, right at the top I picked up the pace and crossed a few inches ahead of Jackie (for Miriam at Wente :). I figured someone had to cross the line first might as well be me, even it was 18th place!


Almost to the top with Jackie


lesson learned
1) Get out there and train some more
2) Dont be afraid to get your group to pick up the pace and/or take off on your own.

teammates I helped:
1) did I do anything? we were all scattered out there.
2) Mailed Susan her bike bag after the race.

What teammates did 4 me:
1) Kathy and Tim were great being out there in the rain helping out! Thank you!!!
2) Lauren drove and was great company as always on the way there and back.
3) CC gave me a jacket to wear while I waited back at the cars.

Happy Mother's Day to all who raced and all the other mom's on the team!!

Stats
AVS - 17+ mph
MXS - 39.8 mph
DST - 33miles
Max HR - I've decided to not use my HR monitor much anymore. Good for warm-up for other than that, I seem to get a better workout without it.

Placing 18th of 32??