Redlands Bicycle Classic – Stage 3 – (or 4… if you count the TT…which my legs definitely counted…)
Sunset Road Race
Well, day 4 of one of the hardest stage races in North America was definitely that…hard. However, unlike last weekend, Mother Nature took pity on us and we had dry roads and clear skies at the start of our race. The men were not so lucky and had to race in a downpour, a déjà-vu to last weekend’s San Dimas Road Race. Did I mention this race was hard? Our field of 87 women was whittled down to 57 by the end of this stage…57 finishers out of 87, that should say most of it…but I will fill you in anyway.
There were 4 of us left to start this stage, me, Amber, Joy (our awesome guest rider and adopted teammate), and Jenny. PC, Bea and Holly just missed time cuts in the Beaumont Road Race so they raced the Redlands Criterium while we were warming up for Sunset.
The race starts with a “neutral”, approximately 5 mile roll out. Last year this neutral was so fast I thought my lungs were going to burst, this year it truly was neutral, thank god, but everyone was chomping at the bit and there were a few close calls as girls pushed close to the lead car. We were quickly brought back down to speed by the red paddle yielding official. Once the neutral roll out is over, game on…literally. Joy came by me and said “get ready, it’s gonna get fast”. I am not going to lie, I wanted to cry. I knew I was racing on fumes and sheer willpower and the desire to not let my team, my coach, or my family down. (My husband and father drove out, not really so much to watch me race, but to enjoy Dennis’s barbecue in the feedzone. PC was seen running alongside several of the pros with meat in hand yelling “sausage, anyone want a sausage?”...)
And fast it got, as soon as we turned to make our way on to lap 1 of the Sunset loop and hit the climb on ridge road, the field split. I saw Joy go up the road, and I wasn’t sure where Amber was, I thought I felt her getting pushed slightly to the back and Jenny is so little I didn’t know if she was in front of or behind me (she was in front of me). The relentless climbing continues for the first few miles and into the feed zone. Joy’s group was pushing hard to try and catch the peloton (about 20 of the fastest women in the United States who were about 40 seconds up the road) and our group was pushing hard to catch on to Joy’s group. Just as we came through the feed zone we latched on to Joy’s group. I didn’t see Amber and it took me 4 laps, and I am not exaggerating. It took me 4 laps to be able to muster the energy to yell to our great support in the feed zone “where’s Amber?” But it came out as a whisper and no one heard me. I knew she was probably a casualty of that split second of time where you just miss grabbing on to the peloton…and then you are history on this course. It’s full of twists, turns, and screaming descents that make it so hard to get back on when you have a big peloton working like mad to win. I was right; Amber needed a lap to get her legs in gear, and unfortunately didn’t have anyone to work with because she kept dropping them on the climbs. But she stayed in for as long as the officials would let her and that is good enough for a finish, and on this course that is awesome. Next year she will be in that peloton, of that I am sure.
So Joy, Jenny and I pushed on with our group of 20 something riders. We knew the race was ahead of us and we were just racing to finish. Joy looked like she was out for a Sunday ride, she lead us down the descents and up the hills. I just focused on her to get me through. Jenny also looked like she was not feeling any pain, strong and smooth. Jenny and Joy stayed in front on the descents and I was last or second to last, playing catch up in various spots, which didn’t help my already maxed out legs. I had two scary moments of fishtailing on the steeper off camber descents in the beginning of the race and it took its toll on my mental state. As Amber so aptly described herself at one point to be, “descending like a grandma”, I’d like to say that I was also participating in the grandma moves during this race.
The next 8 laps were just repeats of each other for us. I got up to 47mph on some of the descents, then we’d push up through the climb, descend again…repeat. A nice pro told me I was “holding on the brakes just a tad too long”. I thanked her and then continued to hold on to my brakes too long. The moto told us as we finished our 8th lap that we were being pulled at the “fire station”. If the leaders are starting their last lap before you start yours, you can’t finish the last lap. But I only made it 4 laps last year, so 8 laps was okay with me. The fire station is where the officials sit and take your number if you get pulled, or if you pull out. When we got to the fire station I was so bonked that I just leaned over my bike. All the girls had their jerseys off and were unpinning their numbers. I could not seem to muster enough coordination to do this, so a nice man came over and said “here, let me take your number off”. He also asked me if I needed medical, (which I did not tell anyone…because it was a little embarrassing.) I said I was fine now that my legs were not moving. I ate every Gu chomp I had emptied into my pocket, sucked down every Gu gel I had and emptied my bottles. I can honestly say that I left EVERYTHING on that mountain. I’m not proud of it, I would have liked to finished strong, or stayed with the peloton for a lap or two…but when we got back to the team van and everyone was there, joking, laughing, and congratulating…I forgot my disappointment. I only felt pride and remembered how lucky I was to be on this team, riding with people that are like family to me. The best group of women on wheels in southern California.
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