The UCLA Road Race comprises nearly the same course as Devil’s Punchbowl, excluding the final turn and climb. The course is hilly, has a decent amount of climbing, and has the potential for a nice headwind, given its location in the desert. With this course description in mind, I am shocked that only seven women raced the Women’s 1-3 race.
Halfway into the first lap (after the first climb), it became obvious that we had perfect weather for a race. The other racers were friendly and the first lap was on the slow side, with only a few accelerations that dropped two riders. We lost one other woman on the descent, but her teammate worked hard to slow us down so that she could catch up with the group. We formed a nice pace line and worked together on the flattest section of the course, which actually had a few mellow rollers and false flats. The second lap started slowly as well. There were a few attempts to speed up the group, but the second lap finished with the main “pack” all together.
I attacked at the beginning of the first climb of the third lap. This was quickly caught, but I countered my attack on the next steep section and broke away with another woman. We worked hard up the last part of the climb, me on the front, but I gave her an elbow to pull through on the descent. We pushed the descent, each of us taking hard pulls. When we got to the “flat” section, we each took a few pulls, but I wanted to make sure that our gap was comfortable, so I took a hard pull, trying to keep the other racer with me. She soon fell off of my wheel, and I was alone. I crossed the start/finish line and started the final lap on my own.
As I started the first climb of the last lap, I pushed myself, knowing that this is where I could best broaden my gap on the other women. I climbed hard and sat down to spin when I felt my legs start to fatigue. I hit the backside of the course and noticed the same white (grey) horse that I remembered from Devil’s Punchbowl last April. I was then descending. I pushed the descent, knowing that at least three of the other women could be very quick in this section. I did my best to ignore the crosswind and used riders from other races as my carrots.
On the final “flat” section I had a tailwind (I was hoping for a headwind here). I pedaled hard through this section, but made sure to keep spinning. Because I refused to look back, I had no idea where the other women were at this point, but rounding the final turn into the final climb, I knew that I had locked the win. I pushed up the last climb, not maxing out my effort and I finished alone. Finishing on a climb is so fun!
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