Corning Circuit Race, Saturday, May 24th, 2008.  Women¡¯s Open. 
Pictures:  http://fifthfloor.zenfolio.com/

 First road race since 2005.  I was curious to see what my
fitness level was and how much work I¡¯d have to do to get in shape.  I¡¯d
ridden a lot over the past few summer and autumn seasons but hadn¡¯t
raced since finishing one season as a collegiate Women¡¯s B rider.  I
was also looking forward to meeting a new teammate, Marsha, and
riding with her.  A small field of 12 riders pre-registered for the Women¡¯s
Open race.  The course was a circuit of a little over a mile (1.3?).  The
start/finish was a flat section then the road went downhill fast to a 90-
degree left turn, followed by a long sweeping turn left going downhill,
then a flat-to-downhill section, then another left turn uphill onto a
curving climb back up to the flat start/finish. The wind was very strong,
at your back going through the start/finish but coming around the back
side out of that sweeping turn it hit you very, very hard head-on and
continued through most of the climb-though it helped you finish the very
top of the climb by becoming a cross tailwind from the right.   We would
ride 18 laps total. 
 The pace started out fast.  I cornered terribly and lost ground
immediately at the 90-degree turn.  I sprinted to get back in the group
but somehow ended up next to the pack instead of in it, couldn¡¯t find a
wheel, got smacked hard by the headwind, and had to drop back to find
shelter from it.  When we hit the climb the first time I was already in
trouble, not being a climber and having only a 12-23 on my back wheel. 
Corning¡¯s Ruth Sherman, in her first year of racing but VERY strong,
went to the front and paced everyone up the hill.  I couldn¡¯t hold that
pace going up the hill 18 times.  How long before I got dropped?  Not
long.  It was my first race on a new bike that I hadn¡¯t even ridden 450
miles on.  I didn¡¯t have a good feel for it yet and I made pretty much
every cornering mistake in the book due to tentative riding.  Jeff Poulin
estimated later that I lost 30 yards every time through the corner.  That
sounds about right.  Marsha did her best to help me out, pulling me
along, telling me to follow her line, don¡¯t brake, and so on.  We were
both dropped on the first prime lap, I think (?) I tried to stay with
Marsha, continuing to corner very poorly.  I made myself get up and
sprint hard every time after the corner. So what if I got dropped, I was
determined to at least make it hurt and count for something later. 
Marsha and I rode together for a while, passing another dropped rider.  
At one point, we were heading up the hill yet again (I don¡¯t remember
which lap it was), and I glanced over my shoulder.  Me:  ¡°Uh-oh.¡± 
Marsha: ¡°What?¡± Me: ¡°Pace car. Behind us.¡±  Okay, we were about to
be officially lapped.  Marsha stomped on the gas pedal and was gone. 
No way could I keep up, though I sure wanted to.  The pace car passed,
followed by Jillian Behn and Pam Gass, who'd shaken off everybody
else and were cruising along together.  I was alone for several laps and
kept going, passing one more dropped rider, and being slowly lapped by
most of the field, which had broken into individual riders and groups of
two. I kept trying to latch on to any wheel that went by but couldn¡¯t hang
on to anybody.  Eventually I caught up with Marsha again on the climb. 
¡°Sorry,¡± she said, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to get lapped.¡±  She didn¡¯t need to
apologize.  After all, nobody WANTS to get lapped.  We rode together
again for a bit, we only had a lap or two to go and then at some point I
lost Marsha...I¡¯m sorry to say I don¡¯t remember exactly when, I thought
she was right behind me, but it must have been on the last lap
somewhere.  I had some guilt over that-after all, she'd done much more
work when we rode together than I had.  After the race I at least had
some idea of how much work it would be to get back in shape:  a LOT. 
Marsha said that she¡¯d lost a lot of fitness over the winter but we could
work to get back in shape together.  Sounds good to me¡¦

Final results:
Women's Open    

Pos                     Bib               Time                          Name                              Team 
  
1                          52               1:04:41.060               Jillian Behm                Hollyloft/Truck-Lite   
2                          56               1:04:41.602               Pam Gass                      Susquehanna Valley Velo Club  
3                          61               1:06:56.844               Jennifer Rea                Nalgene/R3    
4                          58               1:07:07.219              Shana Lydon               Full Moon Vista    
5                          62               1:07:24.691              Ruth Sherman             Corning Race Team   
6                          60               1:07:58.524             Abigail Newell              Terry Precision Cycling   
7                          51               1:09:58.452           Janel Bedard                Preferred Care Elite Cycling  
8                          53                                               Michelle Beyler              Corning Race Team   
9                          59                                               Vanessa McCaffery       Mission in Motion/Tioga Velo Club
10                       57                                                 Marsha Kapinus             Mission in Motion Cycling /Tioga Velo
11                        54                                               Cindy Cassetta             unattached