Let’s just say that I’ve raced too much since March, and it’s finally catching up to me in a bad way.
I’m glad the weekend is over…
P.S.- Photos of the women’s, cat 4, cat 3, cat 5, Masters 50/60, and juniors can be found in Ryan’s photo gallery page
…in the making. My race goes off at 11:26 (start is just east of Collierville on the map). Here’s the current (8:25) radar (click for better view):
I decided to lower my handlebars, and, since I like my bike to look perfect, I needed to cut some excess steer tube. Here’s a step-by-step guide: click on any of the photos to look at a larger version
Tools: allen keys (for me, it was a 4, 5, and 8mm), saw guide, hacksaw, vice (you can do it without the vice, but it’s harder), and a grease rag or paper towel.
Before:
1. Remove the top cap and any spacers from above the stem
2. Loosen the stem bolts on the steer tube
3. Remove the inner cap that’s screwed into the compression fitting inside the steer tube
4. Mark the steer tube just above the stem with a bright color (needs to be bright enough that you can see the line when you put it in the saw guide).
5. Remove the brake from the fork and your computer sensor (if it’s a wired system)
6. Remove the fork from the headtube. You’ll have two headset bearings- one on top, and one on the bottom. Place them (and the parts that go with them) on your greaserag in the order that you took them off.
7. Put the steer tube into the saw guide- you’ll want the line you made to be just above the saw guide slot so that you’re cutting it almost a millimeter shorter than you marked (this is so that the steer tube/fitting will end up just below the top of the stem when re-assembled).
8. Clamp the saw guide/fork into a vice
9. Saw!
10. The compression fitting in my steer tube needed to be adjusted as well (sorry, no pic). I used a hammer and a deep 5/8″ socket to press it down further into the steer tube so that the edge of the top fitting would sit flush with the new cut.
11. Re-assemble in the reverse order (aren’t you glad you laid those headset bearings out in order?)
12. Perfection!
…and I noticed that I’m drawn to how the guys throw punches/kicks, etc. in a cautious and calculated manner- UNTIL one of them shows the slightest falter or weakness. At that point, the other guy will, without hesitation or thought, attack full force, and they don’t stop until the ref steps in. It’s brutal…
Something about that reminds me of bike racing. I love counter attacks. At the risk of giving away too much strategy, I gotta admit, it’s got to be my favorite move to put on someone who is hurting during a race.
I can’t wait for this weekend.
I started the day in 1st place with a 21 second gap ahead of Lauren Edwards (Probike). This meant that she could win the hot spot time bonus as well as the race and I’d still be ahead. So, since I grabbed her wheel for the sprint win yesterday, I agreed to help her clinch 2nd by leading her out for the mid-race time bonus sprint.
Once the race started, we dropped the hammer early in an attempt to weed out anyone who wasn’t confident with railing the turns on the sketchy pavement. After several laps, the officials rang the bell for a prime. As we rounded the final turn for the finish, Lauren sprinted off the front then sat up as we caught back on to her.
A lap of two later, the bell was rung again for the time bonus. I pulled up to the front , made sure that Lauren was on my wheel, then accelerated down the long back stretch and into turns 3 and 4. I continued to pull hard towards the finish line, not looking back to see what was going on behind me until I heard the announcer saying that there was a rider off the front… I looked back to see the pack barely rounding the final turn!
For a second, I wasn’t sure what to do, but I figured I’d just settle into a steady grind and see what would happen. According to Ryan and Lauren, a few people in the pack attempted to chase, but gave up since they figured I’d win whether or not they caught me. LADIES!!! COME ON!!!! What if I’d had a mechanical or wreck? What if you caught me, countered, and managed to drop me?!? You guys hung on for dear life in the thunderstorm yesterday, don’t ever give up!
Oh well… Anyway…
I finished almost a lap ahead of the pack. I found out later that Lauren had mistaken the first prime for the hotspot and thought that the hotspot was just a merchandise prime. She still ended up winning the pack sprint and holding on to her 2nd place spot.
I’m hoping I feel as good next weekend as I did today. It’s time to defend the Memphis turf!
Ryan took photos of the race: Tour de LA Women’s photos
Here are a few of my favorites (click to the link above for higher-res, unscaled images):
He also finished with the pack today, landing him 13th overall in the P 1/2/3 field. I took some photos of that race, as well as some other random non-race photos including kids playing catch, moto officials having a romantic garden moment, cowboy boots, a team meeting, and a cute little lizard. The gallery is HERE
The day started with a 3 mile very flat prologue time trial. I managed to turn a 6:52- good enough for 1st place and 13 seconds on the next fastest finisher.
Soon after was the road race. When we arrived at the course, the sun was bright, and the air was thick. I felt like taking a nap rather than racing the 32 mile rolling course. Honestly, I was a little worried, because I was wavering between wanting to fall asleep and wanting to throw up. Luckily, my stomach settled a little once we got going. A couple of us took over the front of the pack during the first lap of the race and set a fast pace in order to shed as many riders as possible early in the race.
A few miles from the end of the first 16 mile lap, the air cooled, the wind picked up, and some dark clouds rolled in. Soon after, the skies opened up. By the time we approached the start/finish hotspot sprint for a time bonus, we were in an all-out, blinding downpour. Lauren Edwards from Probike won the sprint and picked up 7 seconds. I was almost edged out by Ashley from Tiger cycling, but something about sprinting in the middle of a thunderstorm inspired me to dig deep and edge her out for the 5 seconds available for 2nd. For the next 5 miles, the rain was relentless. I could barely see, but we dropped the hammer. It was the most epic 5 miles of racing I’ve ever participated in…
Soon after, the rain let up. Realizing that the remainder of the pack was not going to be shaken, Lauren and I sat up and let off of the pace a little. I wasn’t surprised when very few other riders wanted to take a pull (see “Edgar Soto Sunday” post). I didn’t mind too much, though, because even though my legs weren’t feeling an attack/breakaway attempt, I felt good about the sprint.
Once we reached the final stretch, I (as usual) got shuffled to the front. It worked out, though, and I was able to grab a wheel as we made our final surge to the line and get around in the last 100m for the win. Hopefully the time bonuses will give me enough of a lead to hold off for the GC win tomorrow after the crit.
Updates to follow…
She was the top American finisher in the UCI U23 Women’s Cross Country competition, finishing 19th overall. I’ve raced on the road against Jamie, and let’s just say, I’m glad she’s sticking to mountain biking ;)
Here’s a link to the story about her epic race on USA Cycling: Jamie Dinkins Rocks
Here she is in the Highland Rim Criterium last month (followed by me and Kirsten Sass):
I think I was somewhere around 7 hours last time I uploaded a photo of my ongoing art project. It’s been just under 13 hours now. Joe estimated that we might be about 1/3 of the way finished (if we’re lucky). EPIC!!
The short story- The race was no fun. My legs had nothing left in them for any breakaway attempts. We finished with a pack sprint and I was 2nd behind Leigh Valletti.
Photo of the finish (by Ryan):
You can see more photos from the weekend (as well as other races) on his gallery page
Now the part where I offend some people…
Today’s race was a giant step backwards for women’s racing in this region. It justified low payouts and combining our fields with men’s races. A few of us were willing to put in decent pulls on the front, but for the most part, if these select few were not on the front, whoever was would sit up and go 16 miles per hour. People were yelling at us from the sidelines to hurry up and race. Personally, I was embarrassed.
Here’s how it went: one of “us” would pull a lap or good part of a lap… We’d go to pull through… whoever was behind “us” would either suck wheel or sit on the front going 16 mph in an attempt to get one of “us” back up front to give “them” a tow around the course.
Now, to be fair, I know that some women out there may not be totally comfortable with taking a hard pull. That’s fine. But don’t wheelsuck. Even if it means you’re on the front for a grand total of 15 seconds- do what you can, then pull through so the next one in line can do what she can. Being up front doesn’t mean that you have to bury yourself and get dropped when you pull off. It doesn’t mean that you are responsible for chasing down breaks and attacks. What it DOES mean is that you keep the race going steadily until someone feels the need to attack, go faster, etc.
Now, to be a b*tch, I know that some of the women in the group today were totally capable of taking a faster pull up front, but were perfectly happy to wheelsuck ad nauseum. Sure, there’s no rule that says you have to do any work, but just in case you didn’t know, it garners no respect from anyone. At all. It makes you look like a tool.
Oh yeah, and if someone in the pack is doing a large amount of work, don’t expect them to have the legs to chase down every attack or attempt at a breakaway without a little help.
I’m not naming any names because you know who you are. Even if you tried to do what you could and didn’t feel like you helped much, I still give you respect knuckles. If you were an obnoxious wheelsucker and/or were going 16 mph on the front of the pack, you also know who you are.
Rant over. See you all at the next race.
So after witnessing the sprinting abilities of my competition yesterday, I decided that I should avoid a sprint finish today at all costs. The race (in downtown Nashville) was uphill for the first few turns, so I knew that there would be attacks and chances to get away from the pack.
I was a little worried about the race from the start- I had a horrible first couple of laps, but felt better once the pace settled down. After that, I felt strong. Early in the race, I was in a small break and realized that I had a rider behind me that would probably not follow an attack, so I took a flier on the uphill section of the course. The result was a solo breakaway that lasted about 6 or 7 laps.
It landed me a couple of primes and wore me out a bit, so when the time checks were down to 7 or 8 seconds (I was hearing 18 and 20 the first few laps), I decided to sit up & wait for the pack.
Luckily, when the pack caught me, they all sat up (surprising, given the talent that was in there!) I was able to sit in and recover for at least 4 laps before another prime stimulated a surge in pace. Another stroke of luck- the couple of times that Debbie Milne and Leigh Valletti managed to get away from the pack, it appeared as if they couldn’t agree on how to work together, so they never stuck what could have been some seriously dangerous getaways.
Getting back to my strategy, though…
Fast forward to the last lap. I am trying my damnedest to stay on Debbie’s wheel (which meant I was shoulder to shoulder with a couple of others who wanted to do the same). Then I thought back to my last race of last season (Kim and Gina from Vantaggio can tell you about it :) ) where I used a surprise attack early in the last lap to take the win. In the long straightaway before the last two turns to the finishing stretch, I saw my chance and made the same move- an all-out hammer to the finish, taking the final turns at speeds that could make or (literally) break my chances of winning.
Photo of final turn:
It worked. I yelled and raised one fist in the air (see photo- it’s a little goofy, but hey, it works…)
Somehow I doubt it will work again tomorrow :D