30 May 2003 – Captech Classic – Richmond, Virginia

The Captech Classic criterium was held in Richmond, Virginia on a 1km anti clockwise loop.  The course had a 150m uphill drag to the finish line which tested the legs out after 25 laps.  The climb continued past the start / finish line for another 100m and steepened a little for another 100m after the first corner.

There was a fast descent and then another small climb towards the second corner followed by a wide windy back straight.  After the third corner, there was a fast wide descent followed by a sharp left into the finishing straight.

The race was strung out from the very first lap.  There were constant attacks and I was actually struggling to hold a wheel.  I am usually quite comfortable with the speed of criteriums and enjoy them.  I can typically ride at the front and don’t have any trouble attack or covering attacks.  But today I felt like ‘pack fill”.  I had nothing in my legs.  My breathing was laboured and I felt so tired.

I let Joan and Emily cover the early attacks and sat on Ina Teutenberg, waiting for her to make her move.  The criterium was ideally suited to her and I knew she was the strongest rider in the field.

And as predicted, Teutenberg attacked hard with Kori Kelly (Diet Rite) and myself right on her wheel.  Lynn Gaggioli missed the initial attack but quickly bridged across to us.  After Ina pulled for half a lap, I moved to the front and took a hard turn to help establish the gap and show I was committed to working hard.  Ina dropped back and attacked again on the uphill drag and only Gaggioli could get on her wheel again.  Kori Kelly and I tried desperately to get to her but neither of us had the legs and within a lap we were absorbed by the peloton.  Diet Rite spent the rest of the race chasing hard, but Teutenberg and Gaggioli put their heads down and time trialled away, finishing just under than a minute ahead of the peloton.

I was puzzled at my fatigue but sat in and conserved as best as I could.  With 4 laps to go, on the uphill around the first corner, two girls touched wheels right in front of me and laid themselves down on the pavement.  With nowhere to go, I rode straight over the top of them.  One of their bikes kicked up and sent me flying over the front of my bike in a somersault.  I landed heavily on my right elbow in was completely tangled up in my bike.  I twisted my left foot to unclip from the pedal causing my calf to cramp, which added a new element of pain, to my already aching elbow.

I moved to the edge of the road and sat down, and although I didn’t hit my head I felt dizzy and a little disoriented.  I was also furious at having been caught up in a crash with only 4 laps to go.  The doctors soon arrived on their mountain bikes, cleaned up the road rash and had me bandaged up.  I then headed to John, at Mavic neutral support who kindly straightened out my buckled Kyrium wheel.

And in the race, Gaggioli took out the sprint from Teutenberg, while Mayolo-Pic won the field sprint.  Joan finished 9^th while Emily narrowly avoided a crash on the final corner and came home 11^th.

Now I am off to Washington DC to race the Clarendon Cup.  Lets hope my wounds and energy levels are restored by then.

Results:

1 Lynn Gaggioli (USA) Velo-Bella
2 Ina Teutenberg (Ger) Saturn
3 Tina Mayolo Pic (USA) Diet Rite

9 Joan Wilson (USA) TDS
11 Emily Gloeckner (USA) TDS