PESCADERO ROAD RACE

Pescadero RR 75 hilly miles Field: about 30Kristina Seley and Emily ZellEmily and I had a short warm up in the fog, we knew we didn't need much as the race was a nasty 75 miles--mostly up or down. Pescadero is possibly my most favorite NorCal race (Ward's Ferry is up there too) as it is long, hilly, and very challenging. Emily and I joked about strategy before the race as if we would do anything but hold onto wheels up the hills. There were lots of strong nor cal ladies in attendance.The race started slow, a lot slower than expected. We approached a sprint point and Webcor took it with no one to contest. Emily and I saved our legs for the climbs. A few attacks went out, but nothing stuck. We rolled over and descended a few climbs, and got to the long straight section; I just hung in the pack. Emily notched it for a bit and I heard many girls breathing heavy. She was looking strong at the front. Finally, we got to the main climb, which is also the finishing climb and the pack strung out. Emily and I were hanging on, but I lost the wheel ahead of me and a dozen girls got away. I was then in a chase group with Emily and about 8 other ladies, (two McGuire riders, Lisa Hunt, two Vello Bellas, etc). We chased hard for awhile, but were never able to catch onto the pack. McGuire refused to work, as they had a few girls in the break, and Corolla of Alto Vela dropped out awkwardly. We chased and chased, but not hard enough to catch on. Long story short, we gave up chasing and a chase group behind us caught us on the third of three laps! We were all pretty disappointed, but it made the race a little more exciting. Up the finishing climb, I ended up fourth for a 15th place result with Emily right behind me. I loved the race, it was hard and technical. I was quite frustrated we did not organize well enough to catch the lead group. Well, I guess next time we will make it over with the lead group. Thanks to Emily; she was able to finish well in an infamously difficult road race coming back from an injured hand. - kristina