1 post tagged “wente”

Wente RR

40 starters – teammates – JS

Course 3 laps (4 times up Carroll). Weather: cool and WINDY.

Bike: Felt b/c it has climbing gears!

I warmed up solidly – got the HR up to 160 on the trainer. Learned that some friends had missed their start and that the officials were running about 3 minutes early so I made sure to get there early. Good thing I did!

On the start line, the officials announce the QOM prize on the FIRST time up the hill – wtf? So we were all together finding good position, made the right hand turn onto Altamont road and came to a screeching halt as a HUGE red truck nearly took us out by turning INTO the peloton as we were making the right hand turn… where were the volunteers and police??? Why did the truck run past the barricades that said BIKE RACE? After nearly rear ending the truck, it took me about 10 minutes to calm down – just as I was getting my heart rate back down, we got too the right turn onto Carroll and the fireworks started. Marley and Davis girl were way off the front and I was just hanging onto the peloton… So we had a pack together for about 3 miles – before it was blown apart.

I made sure to ride the hill like I know how to ride, and refusing to be dropped or blow up. I got up and over the freeway and into the slight uphill and I was dangling with April Hamlin and Colavita gal. We worked super solidly together and chased and chased and chased and finally caught back on after the downhill – Colavita said “we’re there” and I still had 10 yards to make up and no matches to burn to get there. April and I were now dangling, and refused to give up. We were ON and then we made that right hand turn to go up and over that tiny but steep hill – I stood and just said (a la “A Christmas Story” … FUUUUUUUUUUUDGE) and I was dropped. That was it. They were only 10 yards ahead of me but I had fallen off. I set about recovering and sitting up to see who was behind me. Hooray it’s 5 gals including Lucia and a few others… I got into their paceline and sat in to recover.  Then Lucia pulled out and I mentally was ready to too. The front group sat up and recovered as well so we caught back on as we were making the right turn again in Altamont. Whew. Recovered and surely they wont ramp it up until the last lap. Wrong. The two were still off the front and the climbers started putting the hurt on. I just didn’t have much left to burn. After completing the climb I was with Mason and Dolce… I decided enough. I’d been dropped and caught the field twice – and the third time I got dropped, I decided it’s a training ride.

Meanwhile the wind really picked up by this time. I rode the climbs my pace and rode away from the other two gals, and caught up to a SJBC Jonathan Racine. I passed him on the uphill, and then he passed me on the flats, and so we decided to ride it in together. Solid choice to save it for tomorrow.  I rounded up a VeloBella who was clearly fading in my race and got her on my wheel and paced her to the finishline to help her recover… she was ever grateful.

Fitness for climbing is just not there and this race confirms my need for a break.

SUNDAY

Wente Crit 1-2-3. 3’s prized and scored separately.

Weather: 60 and light breeze – much warmer and less windy that the RR.

Teammates – Bev

Start time: 2:40.

Avg speed 25mph

Ate at noon – good choice of a bland sandwich to give me enough energy to stay competitive!  Watched the W4 crit. Good times – with Ash taking 4^th! Woot!

Bev and I were on the trainers for a solid 45 minutes – legs felt like crap for a full 15 minutes. Around 30 minutes I finally started feeling loose. I did three solid one minute high HR efforts. Felt good and warm.

Took a lap before the race. On the start line in the second row. The gals in front of me SUCKED at clipping in… But I was warm so once out of traffic, I was up and INTO the race. I’ll be honest, I was a bit scared right off the bat – remembering the total trouncing we had in Santa Cruz, and then deflated again from yesterdays race.

I was tentative in the first 3 laps – just seeing how people were riding and checking out the course at speed. There were a few instances of guttering after turn 2 – into the left gutter. Once I found where I could be comfortable (and it was different areas on the course) then I stayed there. I was totally protected about 66% of the time, but around turn 4 the gals were taking a crappy line too much inside, so I consistently moved to the outside so I could steadily pedal but took the wind, and found myself out in the wind fighting to get back into the pack. So either stay on a line and grit my teeth – or move outside and move up!

About halfway thru, a vanderkitten filled a tiny gap to my right where there wasn’t really a gap – so we ended up leaning into each other and pedaling until we moved off each other – it was surprising but I wasn’t going to let it go, I refused to go down. Yay!

Around 6 laps to go, a break had formed after a prime – and I was moving up anyway so I jumped across and was in a break for about ½ lap. Pretty cool to try anyway. It crumbled as metromint gave serious chase.

With 5 to go I had drifted back to chill and recover – Bev was up front looking awesome. With 4 to go I was still in a bad position. Bev was looking good in 3^rd wheel.

With 3 to go I was moving up up up.

With 2 to go I was thinking move up move up move up. I needed to be in the top 10 -15 by the last turn.

With 1 to go I was moving up and listening to girls breathing really hard. But I didn’t position myself well – I guess maybe I started moving up too late. When the sprint started, I was about 4 rows back – I passed about 6 gals maybe more by my count. We were all over the road and as girls were falling back and I was passing them, I was having to choose to move around them, left? Right? I hope nobody is coming up behind me? Anyway – I passed a few gals but was solid mid-pack. However I felt I had another sprint left in my tank.

In the end:  I moved up, back, around up thru the middle in this race and was very happy to have made a few moves in the front of the race. My confidence has taken a beating lately so this was a good race for me, I turned self doubt into confidence again because I was totally fit enough to hang with these women. Some of the major competitors that Bev and I have been racing with the first part of this year did not do anything during this race – and we were both solid and impressed with our finish. Next time, move up with 3 to go, no matter what.

GTTM