Race Report for Claremont Criterium - '07
As Posted on team website
Race Report on Claremont Criterium, Another personal report
There are races where we suffer, hurt, gasp, hanging on by that proverbial thread hoping that the elastic wont snap and we go rocketing off the back faster than a Studebaker at a Nascar race. Then we have those races where we feel neither good nor bad but as Pink Floyd once said “Comfortably numb.” Suffering a little, recovering but not quite making it to the right place at the right time, we seem stuck in that "purple haze". Finally there are those races where our legs feel like pistons on a locomotive, efficiently moving around in circles, a blur to the bystander. With our race face on, we read the pack like a psychic reads tarot cards and when the stars align it is our day to take one for the team and a win for ourselves!
I certainly have had my share of good days and bad days. Coming back to racing from a nearly 4 year hiatus and to return to a level that is as good or better then when I previously raced has not been easy and somewhat discouraging. It can be quite intimidating knowing that some of the rivals you use to race with are now Cat. 1’s racing with the Pro’s and have been at nationals. Exeter was my worst day on a bike in a race. Fitchburg I felt better but I think in retrospect it was a little premature of me to attempt a shot at GC. I should have stuck with what I am good at, sprinting. Now, I finally feel like my sprinting legs are back and my form has returned.
Hello my name is Samantha and I am a sprinter.
The Claremont Criterium while it was a very small field there were some strong women there. Namely Teresa Garcia from Brown University as well as Frances Morrison from Fitchburg Cycling.
For the women it was a strange race. It started out in a typically fast fashion with us clocking a pace faster then the men’s cat. 5 race did earlier in the day. On the first prime Teresa jumped and I followed being about 4 bike lengths back I decided it would be better to let her take it rather then try and follow and burn myself out. After the catch the pace settled down…..down…..then down again. At one point we were doing 17mph. It was a race gone training ride. I, however was not going to let the women soft pedal and keep their energy for the last lap. I attacked, shot the pace back to a more reasonable 23mph. That kept up for a few laps then it went down again….. this time to only 18mph, I attacked again. Surely I was going to make them suffer every bit as much as I was going to.
Now I have this to say, the first 4 attacks I laid in all got caught, bad positioning, mostly but tactically I was not playing it right. Teresa and Frances both had the legs to catch me after I laid in my accelerations because as I would shoot by they could quickly match my speed by 2-4 bike lengths. Time for something different and maybe the cycling goddess herself would grant me my great escape.
Pace went soft again this time only coming down to 19. I let myself roll to the back of the group (only 5 of us at this point), sized the situation and then soft pedaled off the back by about 2 bike lengths. It was about at that time I dropped a sprocket stood up prayed to the almighty diva herself and let out a screaming attack, 20, 22, 25, 27, 29, 31. By the time I went by on the inside past Teresa whom was pacing these soft pedaling women I was already tipping out at 32 miles per hour. It was the most successful attack made during our race. Well, the almighty herself did not grant me my wish, I got caught after about 2 laps but that did the trick, pace was now finally staying more reasonable . It was about this time that Teresa tried an attack, I countered and caught her, Lesli Stevens from Anthem tried right after that, I countered again catching her. Wow, this is great, finally some aggressive racing!
Peg Mitchell from Team Placid Planet had been dropped by the pack at about the half way mark. As we were about to lap her with 7 to go Caroline Cole a local girl made a brilliant tactical move, one I don’t think she realized she made. Caroline attacked as we were beginning to lap Peg on a corner. Now even though Peg stayed to the inside it forced the others and me to take a wider line losing ground to Caroline. Because we were forced to take that line our speed came down a fraction allowing Caroline to gain more ground on us. Brilliant move, and I wish I had thought of it (put that one in my bag of tricks for next time), I managed to catch her wheel after about 30 seconds of some moderately hard pulling.
Last lap Teresa attempted to go hard out of the corner on the back side of the course. I was on her wheel, did not come unglued and as we rounded the last corner she was out before me which meant she was already up on her pedals. Where she made her mistake was swinging a little too wide. I managed to keep a tighter line and even though I was already 2 bike lengths behind her after the corner I was carrying more momentum. That allowed me to spin up, catch her and beat her by 2 bike lengths. Fun race, wish it would have been a bigger group but it was
still challenging and fun