On notice after Durand
Womens OPEN
27 mi
Sara 6/30+
Sherry 7/30+
Sherry & I lined up with hoards (relatively speaking) of women including members from pretty much ALL local teams (Bellas, Peace Coffee, Birchwood, Flanders, Alan, SPBRC, Nature Valley) + a few others. Goal of the day: no bonehead moves.
Racing started right away with attacks from the start, but nothing really dangerous. Fun to actually have a pack of riders, other people available to chase down riders. We were having a real race. Strong SSE wind slowed the group as we turned south, but noticed that we had shed riders over the first few miles.. Pack down to ~ 15 or so riders. Helped with some pacemaking up the big 3 rollers on the backside to keep things under control. Drifted back to seek some shelter (Sherry was toward the front), when suddenly a 20 m gap opened. I was riding next to a B-wood rider who was trying to close the gap, towing 2 other B-wood & one Nature valley). Notable absence of Nature valley up in the front group, and only 1 B-wood rider up front, led me to the decision that Sherry was there so we were represented if the break went up the road. I did not try to close the gap because I suspected I would bring 3 B-wood ride! rs & nature valley back to the front of the race.
The gap was never closed & the break was up the road. Counterattacked a B-wood attack through the start/finish, attempting a solo bridge as we turned back east. Eventually reigned back in by 2 Nature Valley riders (one had a dropped chain & had rejoined the race) + 1 B-wood. Rotated a bit with these folks after spotting what appeared to be Sherry & another rider off the back of the original breakaway. Since Gophers were no longer at the front of the race, I worked with a Nature Valley rider to get back to the front of the race. When reaching two more riders who had come off the front of the race, I attacked to check their status (could we just ride by?), but was covered immediately. Dropped to the back of this now 4-some waiting for the sprint. When the sprint started, digging any deeper was not in the cards, so I rolled in 4th of this bunch for 6th overall. I actually thought we were sprinting for 5th place! , but had I known we were sprinting for 3rd, I might have played some cards differently. Satisfying day, however, with no bone-head moves. Just need to work on that math thing now…counting riders up the road.
Results are quite funny:
http://www.cvccbike.com/node/76
I heard we had another top 10 from the guys…good gopher day.
Thanks for reading.
Sara