PC(Pricilla Calderon) and I (Pam) decided another day with 30 of our BFFs was in order when we couldn't get enough and raced Monday at CBR. PC took the win out of a 4 person break and I got the last money spot field finish for 5th. We got lucky raced again with our hearts for those who died for us. We also won $300 and $500 to be used for Franco frame if anyone is interested we would love to donate to you...contact PC!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Barry Wolfe Grand Prix -05/29/2011
The Barry Wolfe Grand Prix women's pro 1-2,3 field was decorated on this Memorial Day weekend with the usual powerhouse suspects Lagrange, NOW and always amazing SC Velo/Empowered women on wheel teams. A sprinkle of sorry single but always a factor to be reckoned with riders from the always in the mix Dara Rogers, faster than fast Kendal Ryan and the light speed San Diego future Olympian Jennifer Valiente all out to race the day with their hearts! The spectators were in awe and the comments from the gallery was, "now that was a real race"" The suspense was always incredible with zero dull moments as numerous serious breaks going, forming, changing with everyone guessing as to who, what how the show would go down. We showed our strenght throughout the race. Thinking we were in good shape with Beatirice Rodriquez creating the break when we soon realized Kendal Ryan was so strong she was attacking the break and blowing up the break. We had to go to plan B so it was Katie Donovan to first make the bridge and when the final break with the changed players came to the final laps it included Lisa Cambell, Bonnie Breeze,Katie Donovan and Myself(Pam Schuster). As planned we kept the pressure on when Bonnie Breeze breaks away for the win with 2 to go only to be caught and Lisa Campbell counter attacking with one-half lap to go but with victory so close the eager sprinters were closing every move. When it came to the final turn it was the break attacking super star Kendall Ryan who arrived first. We raced with our hearts on the day, Barry was smiling from above as we pray many veterans were.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Mid Season criterium - Ontario - 5/15/2011
Once again, the weather was the star of the day. It was pouring on our drive out to Ontario, but I was confident it would let up. It, of course didn’t, until we were lined up on the start line. The downpour made our field size pretty small. Several women who had driven all the way out turned around and drove home. As the whistle blew Bea took off, as was our plan. To have a break from the beginning. Little did we know that “break” would be literal…as in broken bones.
It was just the second turn, 30 seconds into the race when the carnage was forged. Our friend Joy lost control on that turn and did her best impression of superman, or superwoman in this case as she lay splayed out on her stomach with bodies and bikes sliding out around her. I remember not being worried or stressed out at all as I saw it happening because I was pretty far back and sure I had enough space to get around everything to the right. But unfortunately the wet road had other ideas and those bikes and bodies were sliding fast and I ran out of pavement and seeing that curb with some nice dirt and dried grass just beyond…I unclipped and headed for that. After landing I looked up and with dismay saw that Lea was down and she was in pain. Behind me Joy was on her stomach looking up like “what the heck just happened”, Jennifer V was on the ground and her front wheel had come off her bike and was circling around us like it had a life of it’s own. Katie and Bonnie were unhurt but helping tend to Lea, two other girls were off their bikes but unscathed. Basically half the field was out.
The medics showed up to help take care of Lea..I was worried because when someone tough is not moving around a lot and holding their arm…you know something is hurt bad. However, I felt a lot better when Lea said, clear as day “Lisa, can you do me a favor and pick up my Garmin, it’s right near your left leg”. Well darn if that wasn’t the mark of someone whose head was just fine. Once the medics arrived we headed over to the pit to see about getting back into the race. The officials informed us that our race was being stopped and restarted so the ambulance could get on to the course.
We all assessed our damages, and Joy showed us her not so pretty full frontal road rash that was actually showing up through her black kit. Lea got safely to the hospital, and the officials had us take a warm up lap to gather ourselves before starting us again. We were informed that we had 23 minutes left to race. So off we go again. I do not remember how I ended up on Pam’s wheel in a break, but I do know that I was going to try and stay with anyone what was getting away from the pack. I wanted to go around those turns ALONE if possible. So thanks to our awesome team I did find myself alone with Pam and that’s where we stayed until we lapped our group with about 4 laps to go. Pam told Katie and Bonnie to go out and try and get a break so we could have 1,2 and 3 locked up. That is just what Katie did and as we came into the final sprint Bea fought a valiant battle against young Jennifer for that 4th place. I am not positive of the final result, but I know it was close.
So I would like to thank this great team for keeping Pam and I out front. It was exciting for me to be there. Also, Lea has a broken forearm and wrist, but her spirit is alive and well and receiving some great drugs…I say it every time, but it’s true. This is the best group of women on wheels in southern California. Let’s hope for some sunshine next time around.
May Day May Day Criterium – CBR 5/8/11
Today it was just Pam and I at the criterium. Our sprinter Tammy was there…but she was the victim of the dreaded “I know I’m forgetting something but don’t know what it is” syndrome…unfortunately it was her shoes. The good news is that will probably never happen again to poor Tammy. We missed having her in the race, for sure.
But, on the bright side, Pam won the race...and this is how it happened:
There were 8 women from NOW, probably 6 from Helen’s…a few SDBC…some LaGrange and a bunch of other players thrown in. As usual, we had a pre-race meeting and it was Pam telling me to take a shot at primes (which would mean I would have to attempt to win a sprint…a scary thought for me), and to not do too much of the work but let other girls attack.
Well, it was only ten minutes into the race and attacks were happening…honestly I can’t remember who was doing the attacking because I was still trying to find my legs…I just knew I didn’t want to be in the back…ever…So as attacks happened Pam and I were there. Actually I think that Pam was doing some of the attacking…no, I’m sure of it. Anyway we had a little attack that seemed to make a tiny gap. I looked back a few times and the pack wasn’t closing which was a bit surprising. As I looked around I saw that our “break” (I was calling it a break now) had 2 NOW women and I think 3 Helen’s, SDBC, La Grange and a few others. So obviously the pack was slowing things down behind us. However, no one wanted to work this break. Pam did a few good pulls and I got on her wheel. But I was thinking “hey, wait a minute here…why isn’t anyone else working?” I knew I couldn’t outsprint at least 6 of these girls but I would much rather race for 1st through tenth than go back to the pack so I just started working and yelled at the others to do the same. After two laps one of the girls yelled at me “so you want to work this?” And I said “what do you think I’ve been doing for the last 2 laps”. I mean, I thought I was working, I can’t be that slow!!!
So that’s pretty much how the next 20 minutes went, with a few attacks that didn’t amount to much and the announcer yelling “hurry up cupcakes, make something happen”. With about 4 laps to go Pam came over to me and said “You’re going to have to attack”. I said “Okay”…but every time I thought I’d try something someone else would make a move. So my “attack” actually came as we went into the last lap, and like I said, I wasn’t going to outsprint anyone so I just went as hard as I could into the headwind past the start finish and by the last turn coming off the uphill the pack went by me and I just hoped I had done something to help Pam. When I saw she was 3rd wheel behind the two NOW girls I knew she was going to get it…and she did. Yee haw. And…I came in 9th…in a break of ten. So that’s pretty exciting to me. I am pretty sure that I am the only woman in the Pro 1/2 category that gets really excited about a top ten crit finish.
Oh, and about the primes. Well, I never did actually get to sprint for one. But Pam did, and guess what. Yep, it was the wine prime. And she split it with me. It was a good day!!!
Devil’s Punchbowl Road Race 4/23/2011
It was a beautiful day in Pearblossom…a perfect day to race. For once there was no snow on the ground…and we were actually shedding our arm and knee warmers at the pre-race meeting. Speaking of pre race meetings…we always have them…we always talk strategy...we always attempt to implement those strategies...But it doesn’t always work. There are often 20 or so other women at the races trying to make sure our pre-race strategy does not succeed. Not so today.
Now, our meeting took place at the start line...so the other women were able to listen to all our planned goals. I even said once “hey, Pam…don’t talk so loud, everyone is listening”...the other girls just laughed…but I saw them leaning in closer to get an earful.
Pam wanted her and me to cover attacks…as well as Lea and Tammy. The goal was to get Katie off the front and then have Dotsie bridge the gap on the climb, or vice versa. The race started off neutral through the throngs of cars lining the highway (a first for this race and a great move by the promoters…I thought…made that beginning much safer). Our first turn onto the highway and we were met with what would later become some nasty wind. Pretty mellow pace as we made the right and hit the rollers. The head wind was making things harder than the pace was and the pack stayed together. Unfortunately I bumped Dotsie’s wheel at slow speed (my fault, not hers) and had to swerve off my line and that caused some commotion behind me…a few people went down but everyone was fine and caught back up on the downhill. We were flying and had some pretty strong crosswinds on the descent. As soon as we made our right hand at the bottom of the hill it became apparent that we had someone who wanted to attack and that is what she did. I kept calling her “the red girl” because her kit was red. However, her name is Antonia and she was definitely strong, but her attacks were continually covered by Pam, or someone else on our team. But Pam was on this girl the entire race, like flies on you know what.
After Antonia had attacked and pulled for what seemed like miles, Dotsie jumped and you know what happens when Dotsie jumps….she’s gone. Antonia attempted to follow, but there was no way. So we just kept ourselves on her wheel and she tried to time trial her way up to Dotsie, but Dotsie was gaining time and as we took the little descent right before the sharp right on to the last climb before the start finish I attacked, but it wasn’t enough to drop anyone. However Katie attacked after that on the steeper part of that climb and she got away. No one can match Katie’s attack on a climb so off she went to hopefully bridge up to Dotsie. The pace on the rollers was a bit faster this time, but honestly I lost track of what was going on behind me and was just focusing on keeping up with Pam and Antonia, who was still attacking as soon as we ended the descent for the second time. I tried to cover some of the attacks to give Pam a break, but Pam is so fast. We also had Alexis Ryan with us who was happy to just sit 4th wheel and let us do most of the work covering attacks. I did look behind me as we started to climb and realized that we had dropped the pack. So now it was me, Pam, Antonia and Alexis as we headed towards the climb up to the start finish for the second time. I’m pretty sure Alexis was getting tired cause her attacks were fewer, but she still stayed in the wind and at one point she looked at me and said, “are you gonna go?”. I looked at her like “Ummm…no, I have two teammates up ahead in the break and no way am I gonna help you get up there”…but I just looked at her, slowed down and sat on her wheel. I think that answered her question. On the rollers she attempted some more attacks and then just cracked. I actually thought she had a mechanical. Alexis took off and so did Pam and then Pam backed off and I stayed with Alexis. I learned later that Pam, according to her had “cracked too”. Pam actually offered water to Antonia…Now here is a little side note about that. The officials let us know right before our race that there would be no feeding for our 48 mile race, it was too short. Even though all the men’s races that were 48 miles had been taking feeds…So we had our guys up at the feed zone and coming into the second lap there they were all smiling and happy, holding out those big beautiful Gu bottles…and Antonia yells “No, no feeding, no feeding allowed”…so none of us took any water (which we needed…it was hot today). I could just see us winning the race and someone protesting because we took a feed. So how nice of Pam to share her water…
Okay back to the race. I kept looking back and Pam was still with Antonia so I just kind of paced with Alexis. As we came to the end of the rollers Pam was way back there. I wasn’t sure what to do. I knew we wouldn’t catch Dotsie or Katie, but do I slow down for Pam…but if Alexis takes off….so many questions!!! But Alexis looked at me and said “do you wanna get away cause I really don’t want to let red girl beat us”…so I said okay and we took off…at least as fast as someone with junior gearing and someone like me can go downhill. We got to the straight away and took turns pulling. Then I hear this faint little cry in the distance…”Lisa…Lisa”…I looked back and there is Pam. I don’t know why I was surprised. It’s Pam for God’s sake. So Pam, me and Alexis work it hard, but not too hard and just as we are getting to that little descent I look back and see Antonia…Gosh darn it. I started to pick up the pace. I did not want to take her to the line. I already knew I couldn’t outsprint Alexis. Even though it was an uphill finish, there was a nasty headwind. However, we didn’t have to worry because I think Antonia cracked again just trying to catch us and she never did close the gap.
So I had a futile attempt at an attack coming into the uphill towards the finish. However, Alexis was on my wheel. So now began a game I had no idea how to play…Pam would attack, Alexis would follow…then I would kind of attack…but not really…Alexis would follow. Then like a dork I thought, well I have no idea what I’m doing so I’m just gonna just go over here to the left and watch these two…Seriously that’s kind of what happened. Alexis ended up crossing the line in 3rd and Pam and I came in 4th and 5th. However, our strategy did work…except for Alexis sneaking in there for 3rd, we accomplished what we wanted. And let’s not forget about Lea, who did a lot of work in the first lap and who controlled the pack just behind us and finished 9th…and Tammy did awesome. She had been nursing an injury and finished the race strong. I also got some good words of wisdom from Pam and Thurlow on what I should/could have done going into that finishing sprint. As always it was a fun, positive learning experience riding with this amazing team.
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