By Amanda Eaken -- Bariani (Zamora) Road Race (W1-3) -- 03/18/07
We had seven Metromints show up to the pre-race meeting for the Zamora RR yesterday morning – Marcela, Elis, Jane, Amanda, Kristin, Heather and Ali. This was the first 1-2-3 race of the year, so it was a great chance to race with my cat 3 teammates.
The course is mostly flat with one noticeable climb for the Queen of the Mountain that is not much more than 1 mile before the Start Finish. We did 4 laps of the 10 mile circuit.
The touchstone climbing team girls did a nice job pace-setting basically off the line and as we rounded turn after turn of the flat/rolling course, it quickly became clear that the QOM hill was going to be the critical feature of this race. The first time up the climb Jane Despas, one touchstone and a few other girls pushed the pace and it seemed they might try to make a break go. I quickly stood up and tried to bridge up to the group of 5 or so of them to make sure to get in any lasting break. As soon as I caught them, however, it looked like the whole pack had caught on, so I sat up. I saw potential for a break to get away after that climb and so made sure to position myself well leading into the climb the next few times up the hill.
During next few laps, all of the Metromint women worked well together, giving each other rides up the side of the pack to the front, letting each other in when we reached the front, and communicating well. Marcela, a seasoned racer, did a great job coaching the newer riders about pack positioning, stealing wheels, moving up through the pack and covering moves. Realizing that the hill was the critical place to drop riders that could be competitive in the final sprint, Elis Bradshaw made an incredibly honorable suicide attack on the second (or was it third?) lead up to the climb. Elis felt the pack slowing down since everyone was trying to rest up for the hill, and recognized an opportunity to do some damage to the opposition. She put in a very solid attack that strung out the pack and made the other teams work hard so that they were winded heading into the hill. This was incredibly helpful as it broke up the pack and set me up once again to try to work in a break with the other 5 or 6 top riders up the climb. Cresting the hill, I saw that I had a little gap from the field with 4 other riders and we tried to paceline a bit to stay away, but were caught again by the pack shortly after the start/finish line. Starting the fourth lap, a little recon showed that Jane, Ali, Kristin and I were the four metromints left in the main bunch. Elis of the suicide attack, Marcela of the med school schedule (pulled an all nighter Thursday night), and Heather in her first 1,2,3 race put in solid performances and worked together well to chase the main bunch by only a few hundred meters.
My teammates did a great job checking in with me about when I wanted them to attack next, and Jane mentioned that she had not been staying with the pack up the climb, so that I should get ready to position well in the field sprint. I told Jane that if Ali and Kristin wanted to attack, they should do it just like Elis, right before the climb, to make people hurt before the real hill. This last climb was going to be critical, as anyone not with the main field up the hill would have a hard time catching up for the final sprint.
Leading up to the climb, I dropped to the back quickly to survey the field and the remaining competition. From our starting group of 55, it looked like only around 30 were left. I mentioned to Ali that I wanted to get quickly back up to the front and she did a great job giving me a little ride up the left side, timed well actually since Kristin almost immediately came flying up the left side, attacking the field hard at just the right time. I could block a bit at the front, and the other riders had to chase hard.. The other girls were not happy with this move, clearly one made possible only by a teammate who did not care about her individual finish. The field surged and strung out to catch up with Kristin and I got into the top 8 or so riders. Moving up slowly, I was where I wanted to be, and then, a few minutes later, Kristin attacked again! This time Jane tells me, one of the girls in the field groaned “Not again!” By now we had reached the bottom of the final climb and I was sitting third wheel paying careful attention to Jane Despas, who had been pushing the pace on the climb each time. Pat of Touchstone was sitting on Jane’s wheel – where I wanted to be. I tried to steal Jane’s wheel, but Pat was not having any of it. She pushed me on the hip to move over, screaming “No!” I persisted… this was the wheel to have up the last climb and for the lead in to the final sprint. Pat once again touched my hip and said “Move!” I seized an opportunity when Jane surged ahead a bit and slid right onto her wheel. Somehow this time up the hill seemed the easiest of the 4 (that’s adrenaline for ya) and we were quickly up and over the climb, I was second wheel on Jane Despas and we rounded the right turn to the second to last long straight away before the left turn into the sprint to the start/finish. During this straight away, the typical jockeying for position started as we began to really ramp up the pace. I saw Kelly McDonald of Touchstone coming up the right side and Flavia Olivera of Tibco on the left. Then Jane Robertson of Metromint yelled at me that she was on my wheel! No kidding! Jane made it over the climb with the bunch! Feeling pressure from both sides and not wanting to lose position, I pushed my way up the middle, and back into third position. Rounding the final left turn into the start/finish straight away, I jumped from third wheel to second wheel, and was again sitting on Jane Despas’ wheel with the green tent in sight. Up the left side a Proman woman, whom I can’t remember seeing much of during the race, jumped early and no one could respond to her. She rocketed ahead and Jane Despas picked up the pace. Right before the start finish, there is a downhill and a small rise, which made the sprint a little unusual because the pace was so fast leading into the downhill, and then the pace quickened, so sprinting away from that pace was a challenge. Jane Robertson later said that she didn’t even stand up to sprint because she was already going so fast. Jane Despas accelerated and I tried to come around her, but by that point it was too late and I crossed the line probably a few inches behind for third.
Jane R. finished a bit back in fifteenth, Ali and Kristin with the main pack, and Elis, Marcela and Heather very shortly thereafter.
It was amazing to race with so many teammates and to see so many well timed suicide attacks. Apparently Mr. Bariani, in addition to being a cycling fan, is a producer of fine olive oil and balsamic –a perk for all racers finishing in the money. The cash prize is a nice start for next year’s prize pot and I’ll be sure to bring the bonus Olive Oil and Balsamic to the next team meeting!