By Amy McGuire -- Menlo Park Grand Prix (W3) -- 04/15/06
On the ominously gray Saturday morning of April the 15th, five Cat 3 Metromint women descended upon a very flat square block on the very edge of Menlo Park, CA. Whether we liked it or not, with that many of us if we didn’t control the race, it would be a bit embarrassing. There were dots everywhere you looked! So, after a lively pre-race meeting with some good discussion of the best strategy for the situation, we decided we’d just have to go out hard and attack, attack, attack. We’d keep some eggs in our basket for a field sprint, but everyone else would take turns wearing out the pack, and we’d just see where we were with a few laps to go…
As the sun finally broke through the clouds (and the wind picked up just a bit for an added challenge) all 15 women in our field lined up along the Start/Finish. Yes, every single one of us got a front row start position…but then we were off, and soon after that Sarah was off. She made a nice attack up the left side, took a few of the big sprinters with her, but got a nice gap. The break group didn’t get too far off the front and eventually a couple of riders decided they just weren’t comfortable with them sitting up the road, so while Metromint was keeping its collective legs fresh, the break was reeled in. Much to the chagrin of the chasers, Amanda made a quick counter-attack.
This one played out pretty much the same as the first. Amanda hammered up the far-left side and a couple of other riders went with her. The rest of the Metromints sat in and let the rest of the field work out when they’d had enough of letting a lead group stay up the road. As Amanda’s group was coming back to the pack I got my first comment on our tactics…”so who’s going next?” an already tiring Velogirl asked me.
With a little smile on my face, I went for it as soon as the break was caught. And boy was it fun. I attacked just before the second corner in the loop and just went for it down the back stretch. Much to my surprise, no one came with me. Holy crap! I was in a solo breakaway, and my gap was growing. Sweet! I have to admit though, when I came around to the Start/Finish and they announced 30 minutes to go, I was not so psyched. So, okay, I wasn’t going to hold it until the end, but I’d hold on for as long as I could and just try to slip right back into the pack and rest up to be able to do something a little later in the game. 1 lap, 2 laps, 3 laps, 4 laps, damn, where are they? Oh, right there. Okay, here I go just slot right back in a try to rest a little, sweet, Elis opens up a nice space for me, and wow, this is much easier. =)
But there goes Sarah again. I think the rest of the group was really hating our numbers advantage by then. No one went with her and with 10 laps to go, Sarah got a nice gap herself, while the rest of us just lined up behind whoever was willing to try and chase at this point. Sarah put in an amazing effort and must have been gone for 5 or 6 laps. Our plan had worked perfectly, anyone willing to chase was exhausted and the rest of the group was resigned to letting us take the top spot and duke it out for the field sprint. Sarah did eventually get pulled in, but with 3 laps to go, Amanda and I launched a double attack, almost just to see what would happen. It was amazing. We got a nice lead right away. It took some serious team work in our little paceline and a lot of cheering each other on, but when we got to the end without being caught, man, that was a cool feeling. And then to hear that the rest of the Metromints had set up a perfect lead out for Elis to win the field sprint! Brilliant! Metromint takes 1,2 and 3.
What a day! Well done ladies and thank you ever so much to all the folks that were out there cheering us on. It was amazing to see so many smiling faces and hear so much yelling and screaming. Thank you, thank you, thank you. (And special thanks to Amanda’s parents for coming out and watching us and to Melissa and Jon for making the trek from the East Bay, it was wonderful to see you there!)