The TT was the same course as last year. A 5k TT that starts on an up
hill and finishes at the top of steep 1 mile climb. It's always the
hardest decision whether to use the TT set up or not. Should I carry a big
disc wheel up that climb? In the end, if you are light and can climb
the disc isn't such a bad idea. If you are like me where grams count you
leave the disk in the trailer and go for the lightest set up possible.
I was picked to go first out of 104 riders. Everyone was telling me how
lucky I was to go first and get it out of the way, but I had nobody to
chase and it was my first TT and race of the year, so I was super
nervous. After getting that one out of the way and our team having 3
people in the top 20, we moved into Beaumont in a good position.
Beaumont was the race everyone was talking about. It didn't seem hard
on the pre-ride but there was some crazy corners and narrow roads that
had many worried. Not us, we were excited to get to race a road race.
All of the other NRC races so far this year had been crits and TT's. We
were ready to light it up and ride for our leaders. The first few laps
proved to whittle the field down. We had our climbers and a sprinter in
the lead pack going into the last climb on the last lap. The final lap
was brutal and there were a series of attacks and high speeds to the
finish. Leigh, Anne and Stacey made the final split to the finish and
Leigh took 3rd in the uphill sprint. Laura came in right behind the lead
group and I finished a couple of minutes behind that group after
falling off the lead group on the final climb and hanging out in the caravan
for a couple of miles. At the end of the day, we had 5 riders in the
top 21 giving us great position going into the crit and Sunset.
The crit, which is one of Cheerwine's specialties, did not pan out the
way we had planned. It started fast and furious as most crits do. We
were on everything and had representation in every break but none were
sticking. After several attempts at a break and Anne attempting to solo
it for a while, the pack had settled for a field sprint. With 5 laps to
go, we were all moving up to get closer to the front to prepare for our
lead-out train, when I took a hard digger after the coffee shop
corner. Sudden movement and anxious riders can sometimes throw you off your
line and send you flying along with your bike. My bike happened to break
in 6 different places. Impact from a Tibco rider behind me caused my
precious Orbea DIVA to go snap crackle pop. With a quick take of
inventory of my body and road rash I got back in on a MAVIC neutral bike with
SRAM. DAMN that SRAM! I didn't know how to use it. Shifting was
impossible so I got caught in the same gear all the way to the finish. All the
while, the rest of the girls were starting the lead out. Some how in
the final laps the officials got confused on what lap it was. It
basically screwed up our lead out. Our girls where on the front way too long.
With 500 meters to go our train had fizzled and the massive swarm
began. All our GC riders held their spots and all was ok but the finish did
not reflect the way we raced. That's ok we had the Sunset loop
tomorrow to get things all worked out.
Sunset loop came early for me. After the crit while in the medic tent,
I found out that I am extremely allergic to Neosporene. As the docs
were cleaning me up and patching the road rash they doused me in
Neosporene. When i joined the team for our post race meeting, i began to itch,
squirm and basically freak out. I was having an allergic reaction. My
tongue was swelling and had to go back to the medic tent for help. They
sent me straight to the emergency room. Thankfully Jame, Rich and
teammate Marisa were there with me to make sure everything was ok. A couple
hours later and a typical trip to the ER with no shoes on they let me go
home. Everyone else was enjoying a BBQ thrown by our wonderful hosts
Janie and Jim. I got to join in later and really don't remember much due
to all the Benedryl that I was on. Rest assured, everyone had a great
Onto the Sunset loop with a not so neutral roll out...It was typical
Sunset style. Everyone was jockeying for position leading up to the loop.
Once again there was nothing neutral about it except that no attacks
were going off. Instead we got to ride threshold for 5 miles leading to
the climb. The first lap brought it usual carnage. I believe all our
riders made it with the front group on the first lap. The next few laps
weren't as tame. Anne S made a super attack and went solo for several
laps, not an easy course to do that on. In the closing laps of the race,
we had our top GC contenders sitting exactly where we needed them in
the front group with a few of us there for support. With about 2 to go,
the pace picked up and more riders fell from that top group still
leaving 3 of our girls. There were 3 of us, Laura, Bam and myself in a chase
group that continued to ride a decent pace. We wanted to keep as many
of us as we could in the top 20 for NRC points. At the end of the day,
Stacey pulled a great move and went solo up until 200 meters to go. The
small pack caught her and sent the sprint off early. Leigh managed to
pull off a great sprint for 2nd place on the stage and helped us secure
TEAM GC. We were all super happy for the team's success and went to
celebrate our win and Catherine Cheatley's birthday that night at a
great Thai restaurant with our hosts. Redlands was a great win for the team
and a nice way to start of the season. Lots was learned and we are
looking forward to more races in the next couple of weeks.
Next stop is Sea Otter this weekend in Monterey, CA then back to the
Southeast for Athens Twilight and Speed Week!
Redlands Official Results:
