Rachel's first race on her BMC Streetfire
Hey ladies,
I want to tell everyone on the team how awesome it was racing with you all this weekend. For those of you that weren't there, let me give you a little run down:
The team for the weekend was 7 strong, with the 5 towers and the two shrimps in attendance. Going into the race, I was a little nervous and unsure about my fitness and how I would feel in this kind of a race. The circuit race at Sea Otter is pretty tough. It's about a 2-mile race course, wide-open and usually very windy with a significant climb and a fast descent on every lap. We did 22 laps on Saturday...
I knew going into the race that it was going to be a race of attrition. I also knew that I had 6 very strong teammates to race with and I was confident that we would be able to control the race. I spent the entire first half of the race conserving energy, watching other teams go for the sprint and QOM points, and spinning as lightly as I could up the climbs. PROMAN was patrolling the front and Rachel was the first to go with an early move that had Tina Pic, Brooke Miller, and Stacy Marple. The move was probably designed to set up a counter move and so Rachel covered it perfectly. Back in the field, Helene was moving towards the front to prepare for the counter. As soon as the move was brought back, Helene attacked off the front and quickly established a big gap on the rest of the field. She stayed off and increased her lead even more.
Rachel in an early break
Then all of a sudden there was a group of 8 riders off the front of the peloton with members from Tibco, Cheerwine, and Colavita in chase of Helene. PROMAN immediately responded and moved our entire squad to the front of the race. There was a moment of indecisiveness when we all tried to figure out if we should bring the move back as a whole, or have one of us go across the gap to join the break. Helene had been on her own for at least 4 laps battling the wind and the course itself. It was in our best interest to send someone else up the road.
Everyone did their part to close the gap just enough for me to jump across on the climb and catch the break on the descent. As soon as I made contact, the team shut down the field and the break was gone. Helene was still off the front and we were gaining on her slowly. Eventually, Helene dropped back to the break and we were comfortably riding the winning break with everyone back in the field resting in for a possible field sprint if the break ended up getting caught.
The break was strong and sort of steady in the beginning with Cheerwine doing most of the work. They had 3 riders out of 10 in the break and one of them was Laura Van Gilder. Helene did her share of the work in the break, even after being off the front for days, and both Tibco and Colavita used a rider to set the pace. In an effort to drop the strongest sprinter in our break, Colavita's Tiffany Cromwell, put in a huge effort on the climb and shattered the break into pieces. The first three chasers were Stacy Marple, Rachel Heal and Dotsie Bausch (who was just covering the move in case they caught her teammate Cromwell). I was not far behind with Catherine Cheatley and the rest of the break was gone, including Van Gilder, Buchanan, and Helene. Now there was a break of 5 with two Cheerwine, one Colavita, one Tibco, and myself.
I did a little work early on to bring the Colavita rider back, but our chase was highly unorganized. Colavita was there to doom the break and allow her teammate to stay off, so that left 4 of us to work. I took my turn trading pulls with the two Cheerwine girls early on until it was obvious that the move was gone and there was no real commitment from anyone in our break to bring her back. That was when I started racing smart, conserving energy, and constantly trying to position myself to cover a move should it come from the Cheerwine duo. Luckily, it never did and I was able to stick with the group of 5 until the end.
Kristin on her BMC Streetfire
With one lap to go, Stacy Marple put in a strong effort on the climb and the break split again, but we reunited at the top of the climb just before the descent. I rolled through and hit the corkscrew first, opening a little gap from the group on the descent. I was reabsorbed on the small riser before the last left hand turn and the attack immediately came from Tibco's Rachel Heal. Marple covered and they opened a small gap on the rest of us. I moved across the gap and caught the two leaders going into the sweeping turn. The group cam back together again before the last right hand turn and we were creeping towards the finish line. Everyone was waiting for the other one to attack and I was patiently waiting for the right moment to jump. I was positioned in the back and waited until about 150m before the finish to jump.
In the field behind me was Virginia, patiently awaiting her moment to unleash her sprint for the finish. Helene and her break had been reabsorbed by the field in the last lap so the field was racing for 7th. Virginia, Kristina, Rachel, and Helene were all nicely positioned in the top 10 coming into the final straightaway and finished the day for PROMAN with 5 in the top 21 riders. The entire team finished the race, which is something to really be proud of as well.
Rachel prefers the rough line!
I am really proud of the team. We were a force in the Sea Otter Circuit Race this year and held our own against the best teams in the country. Everyone did their part, we communicated well, and we made decisions on the fly and as a whole that ultimately paid off big time. It was truly a pleasure joining you all for my real first race of the season. You have really established yourselves in the women's national racing scene and I am honored to be a part of it.
Can't wait to race again.
Shelley
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