So I managed to hitch a ride to the Bristol Road race this morning with a
nice Cornell grad student named Dave. Unfortunately he only had room for
2 people and bikes so I was unable to get Charlsie hooked up with a ride.
I was happy to see Margaret in the parking lot-she was planning to do the
Pro/1/2/3 race. I also saw Shana Lydon who I'd just met last weekend, and
assumed she'd be riding in the 4 race-but she had actually just upgraded
to Cat 3, so nope, I wouldn't be riding with anyone I knew.

The Cat 4 field-only 8 women total-was combined with the mens' 55-plus
field. After leaving the start and turning onto the open road several
guys moved up the side to the front. Everyone accelerated, then the
headwind smacked the men at the front-who promptly decided it was no time
to start working. A few different men moved up then, and the same thing
happened again. Five of the women had moved up and started trading pulls.
I was one but knowing we had to do two laps I was not interested in
taking long pulls and nobody was working very hard into that wind. We
girls chatted a bit-Angela Schnuerch from Full Moon Vista commented that
she didn't think it was very gentlemanly of the men to make the women
work.
As soon as we turned right onto Egypt Road the pace picked up. The first
climb wasn't too long but split things up a bit. I paid attention to the
other women-most were breathing hard pretty soon and several of them,
along with a lot of the men, were attacking the hill but slowing toward
the end of the climb-the result for most of either using too big a gear or
not trying to pace themselves. I tried to find a pace I could maintain
and found several riders, men and women, dropping back toward me. Some
flat and downhill, then the second climb came, which was longer. I found
a rhythm and watched everything move around. Some men going forward, some
dropping back. I made the mistake of not watching very sharply who was
going up the road. I thought one woman might have gotten away.
Two men rode near me for a while then lost me on the downhill coming
around to the start/finish for the first time. They were in sight turning
back onto the road with the horrible headwind starting the second lap. I
couldn't close the gap to them. The wind made me really angry. I stayed
in the drops and made myself small but it felt like getting a shove in the
chest every time it gusted.
I rode the second lap mostly by myself. I finally caught the two men in
the distance after turning onto Egypt Road again-I climbed back up to them
on the second hill. I traded places with them for the next few hills, and
was overtaken about 2 miles from the finish by the lead group for the
Pro/1/2/3 women, who had another lap to go.
The downhill sections and the finish were fun, but I was still wondering
if someone had gotten away from me. I rode a little way to spin out with
Margaret, who had ridden two laps of the Pro1/2/3 but was feeling depleted
after some weeks of consecutive racing.
When I got back to the finish three or four women were there from my
race-they congratulated me and then laughed at me because I didn't know
that I'd gotten first. That's what happens when you momentarily stop
paying attention-not that you win, but you might sound pretty darn
clueless.
Oh gosh. Unfortunately because the field was so small, the race promoters
reduced the prize money. So there wasn't a very big payout for MiM-I got
most of the entry fee back. Sorry, ladies, we'll have to just try and win
some more next weekend...
Vanessa