Central Valley Classic

My first race in California was the Central Valley Classic, in Fresno. Here is what happened.
Photo @ CJ Farquharson, WomensCycling.net

Road Race

Result – 54th

108km

Sunny, 17C

I arrived in San Francisco four days ago and am almost sleeping normally, although a time change of 16 hours usually takes me at least 7 days. Fortunately the weather was similar to Melbourne, so I didn’t have to also cope with being cold.

The road race consisted of two laps of a 54km loop. It was hilly (2500ft of climbing per lap) and my legs felt horrible from the very first pedal stroke. I hoped they would feel better after warming up but it was to be one of those “suffer days”.

With tomorrow’s long time trial, our team goal today was to not let any good time triallists get into a break. I rode near the front and chased as many attacks as my legs would allow me. On the second lap, Colavita became active on the climb and I started sliding out the back of the field. By the top of the 5km climb I was in the cars and gratefully took a bottle from the team car, as it slowly disappeared in front of me.

Fortunately, I was just ahead of a group of 30 riders that had also become a victim of the climb. I joined them and together we worked to try and catch back on. It took about 10km but soon we were in the cars and rejoined the race, although my legs were hammered. During my chase back on, a group of 8 had escaped up the road, including team mate, Mara Abbott. Her job was just to sit in the break but not to work, as we had team mate, Christine Thorburn (bronze medallist at the 2006 World ITT Championships) in the main field.

The break was caught with 2km to go, just as my energy reserves ran dry. I was gapped from the main field and finished 45sec behind. Tina Pic (Colavita) won the bunch kick and would be wearing the leaders jersey in tomorrows time trial. All my other team mates finished in the main field.

Our self contained apartments in Fresno, had a cold pool and hot spa so I returned from the race and did some hot and cold plunging. After a massage and food, I felt revitalised and ready to start preparing for tomorrow’s time trial.

Individual Time Trial

Result – 29th

26km

Sunny, 25C

After only being back on the bike in training for 8 weeks, I was being realistic about my hopes of doing a great time trial. My Orbea TT bike felt fast and extremely aero. After only being on my time trial bike for 1hr a few days earlier, my hamstrings and adductors felt stretched and sore. I hadn’t been on a time trial bike for 13 months and it is a position that requires getting used to.

As I warmed up, I realised how tired I felt from yesterdays hilly road course. My heartrate refused to go above 170, and I usually time trial at 188.

The time trial course was completely flat with a gentle 1km rise to the finish. There was a headwind for the first 20km which made things hard but I put in a solid ride and finished 29th, 4mins10sec behind my team mate, Christine. She succeeded in earning herself the leaders jersey by 23seconds, over Dotsie Bausch (Colavita). Webcor finished the day with 4 riders in the top 10 so we were extremely happy with our position to win the tour tomorrow.

Our director, Karen Brems, took us to a restaurant in Fresno, where we celebrated our day with a Napa Valley red and a grain feed grilled steak.

Criterium

Result – 25th

40km

Sunny, 29C

In the morning, I did a 40 minute easy spin on the trainer and tried to easy the soreness out of my legs. I ached all over and felt worried about my ability to help defend our leaders jersey.

We rode to the course and then did a final warm up on the trainers to get the heartrate up. I drank a redbull on the start line and hoped it would give me wings in the criterium. The course had a 180 degree corner which zapped the legs. It was important to come out of the corner in an easy gear to try not to trash my already tired legs.

I started the race and felt great. I still don’t have my usual power to close gaps easily but I was able to ride at the front and cover the dangerous attacks. We were in a fortunate position to have a 23sec buffer and didn’t need to worry about the intermediate sprint that had bonus seconds up for grabs.

The race stayed together and the field sprint was again won by Tina Pic. Team mate Laura rode well to finish in the top 10 and most importantly, we succeeded in defending Christine’s leaders jersey. So after my first race, the Webcor builders team has already put a win on the score board. I am sure we will have many more successes during 2007.

Final General Classification results for team webcor

Christine Thorburn – 1st
Katheryn Curi – 3rd
Rachel Heal – 6th
Mara Abbott – 9th
Helen Kelly – 30th
Amber Rais – withdrew from the final stage with a slight leg strain (but has since made a full recovery).