From the Break at De Vlees Huis Ronde - 4/21/2012 - Lisa Campbell

Race report from the break!

I still don’t know exactly what the title of this race literally means. They call it “A race for the strong”…but what race isn’t? This year they could have called it “A race for those that love the heat, the bees, the snakes and the lizards”. Because all of that and more was out on the course with us. You know you are in trouble when the officials tell you on the starting line “Watch out for the bees and keep your mouth closed when you come back to the start for the turnaround and the finish”.

SC Velo/Empower Coaching Systems was represented today by Ruth, Amber, Holly, Bea and I. We had our usual pre-race pow-wow and Ruth (smartly) decided we should not do our usual style of attacking, but take people by surprise. We planned to go early, well before the first long climb and get out in front, make the other teams chase and give Amber a chance to rest and then if and when our break was caught she could do her thing. It was hot and toasty on this race day topping out at almost 100 degrees when the day was over…warm for April. Luckily we started at 8:30 so we didn’t have the searing heat until the second lap of our race. However, we did have great support from Dennis, Jacob and Holly’s brother Denny…thankfully, they were handing us out Gu bottles just as fast as we needed them.

The field was pretty small, under 20 riders, with Colavita, and LaGrange represented, as well as a sprinkling of other teams. It was all nice and chatty (and downhill) in the beginning. I knew I was in trouble when Amber started singing me Bob Dylan songs and told me her heart rate was under 100. (Not telling you what mine was…and just kidding Amber, you have a lovely singing voice). Just about the end of Amber’s second verse, I looked back to see what was happening, and Ruth nodded at me. I was kind of near the front…so slipped back towards Ruth and she took off, with me on her wheel. We just went; we didn’t look back...not for a long time. In fact, we didn’t speak for a long time. Our break came at about mile 3 or 4…and we finally took a look back around mile 10...I would say that our gap varied between 30 seconds…and a minute, at different points of the race. It seemed like a long time we were just out there, taking turns on each other’s wheel. As we started up the climb Ruth reminded me to not kill ourselves and just keep the gap that we had, to just make them work, and hopefully our team was just sitting in...getting ready to counter attack if we were caught.

Not gonna lie…I was SUPER EXCITED to be on a break with my own teammate. And such an experienced teammate who knew just how hard to push and when to back off. We had several rattlesnake sightings and many lizards darting out around us. Ruth noticed the snakes, I think I was too busy trying not to blow up, shoving Gu Chomps and gels in my mouth and sneaking peeks back behind us when I could. This course is great a because there are switch backs where you can see exactly where the peloton is, and then climbs where you can get out of sight. At the first turn around we were able to see that Amber was NOT on the front (good job Amber), and Bea and Holly were tucked in to the pack, doing their job.

As we made our way back to the start finish we practiced our TTT work…and surprisingly (at least to me), the pack did not make any time on us. We headed to the start for our turn around and there was a massive swarm of bees ahead of us. We had to zip up, put our heads down and just ride through them. Once around and through the bees we checked in to make sure no one was stung and then just time trialed it again to the first climb of the second lap. Half way up the climb we could see that the pack was pushing their pace now, and they stayed under 30 seconds behind us. A few minutes more and Ruth said “here comes someone”. It was 2 girls who had bridged up to us. They caught us and were pretty excited, they said “we got it, let’s go”. I was like, “you go, have at it”. They would push the pace, and then drop back, while Ruth and I just stayed steady. Finally Ruth said, “okay, let’s get a pace line going”. So we did, but the two girls would slow it down, or speed up. It was not very organized and my legs were in no mood for cat and mouse, especially since Amber was behind us and we knew the pack was gaining. I wanted to wait to do anything til we knew where our team was. One of the girls said “what are we waiting for, let’s go”. I said, “You go ahead, I’m serious, race your race, if you want to go, go”. So she went…but didn’t last very long. She attacked a few more times, each time we rolled back up to her. One last surge at the top of the hill, and Ruth jumped on her wheel. I felt my legs saying “that’s it, you are done”. I was a bit panicked at the 190 HR I saw…and thought “Oh great, I’m done and we have 15 miles left”..but somehow I looked at Ruth’s wheel, bridged up to it, and thankfully we had a downhill to the turn around. Once we hit the turnaround the pack was within seconds of us and as we climbed back up Ruth said “here they come”. We were probably at mile 42 or 43. They caught us just as the road got a little steeper and Amber did exactly what we hoped she would, as Ruth yelled “Go Amber go”…she went…and Julie chased her. Another Colavita went after them but she was too far off the initial attack and hers was a solo attempt that would land her third. I made the mistake of chasing after Colavita because I knew we could get her and reel her in. However, I heard Ruth yelling for me to stop and reminding me that I was just pulling everyone along and we needed to eat and drink and recover in case something happened and Amber needed us.

So that’s how our next 15 miles went. Colavita, La Grange and our team were represented in the break and the peloton, so none of us were doing any work. The other women would push the pace, do a few little attacks, but for the most part we just stuck together. I made a fledgling attempt at an attack with 2 to 3 miles to go but it didn’t go anywhere. There is a long climb to the finish and going up it we heard Dennis say “Amber got it”…I know that made both Ruth and I very happy…I think it made us so happy that we forgot to shift into our big ring as the climb leveled out…and as the other girls stood up and sprinted we stood up and…well…you get the picture. I am blaming it all on my bike being in the little ring. Otherwise I would have nailed that field sprint for 4^th!!! That’s my story and I am sticking to it. It was a great day of teamwork by everyone, on a very tough, very hot day. Next time we see this course will be the state championships in June.