Housatonic Classic, Danbury – Sunday 19^th May 2002 – 22^nd

Conditions: 60F (13C) light northwesterly winds,

Course overview: 111km – endless short steep hills, dangerous twisting descents, narrow roads.

Today was the inaugural Housatonic Classic 2002 road race for women, held in Danbury, Connecticut.  The race attracted 28 teams (approx. 160 riders) with a number of dominant teams attending in their quest for national road calendar points.  The field was represented by a number of very successful international riders, with a total of 14 different nationalities making up the field.

The course profile looked like a jagged saw edge with dozens of climbs ranging from 300m to 2km in length.  Most of these hills were less than 1km long but frequently had gradients of 15% or more and were brutal on the legs.

As predicted, the field was split to pieces in the first 3km as we rolled straight out of the start line into the first hill with a KOM at the top of a 3.5km climb.  I dashed up the gutter straight out of the start and managed to get in a reasonably good position for the climb.  The officials had made us stand around for 30min prior to the start introducing us and building up the moment – so with cool temperatures and cold legs, the hill really hurt.

About 15 riders split off the front which included my teammate, Erinne.  I was in the 2^nd bunch of 20 riders with teammates Hiroko and Ann Marie.  We were content to sit and do nothing but a few teams were keen to chase as the time gap had quickly gone out to 50 seconds.  It took nearly 30km before our group sighted the lead group, but once sighted, the two groups were quickly back together.

At a guess, at least half of the riders lost contact up the first climb and were never in the race.  I presume they rode until they reached Danbury but were not able to ride the multi lap finishing circuit.

Our merged lead group now had around 40 riders and the attacks started one after another.  Anna Millward (Saturn) launched an attack after several earlier attacks and Clara Hughes (Quebec Provincial) and Amber Neben (T-Mobile USA National) jumped on, with Erinne (Verizon Wireless-Cervelo) chasing alone, followed shortly after by a Diet Rite rider.  Erinne couldn’t quite get across on her own and the Diet Rite rider didn’t have the legs to help her out and within a few minutes they were re-absorbed into the peloton.

The break looked dangerous as it gained a minute on us in no time at all.  Diet Rite started the chase, however the rest of the field looked content to sit in and see what would happen and soon the time gap grew to 2min30sec.  Saturn had their forces on the front and worked hard to neutralise the field, however on nearly every hill, someone would try and launch an attack but our group had too many strong riders in it, that chased down everything that went up the road.

I narrowly avoided a mishap in the feed zone when a bidon rolled in front of me and I had no choice but to run right over it with my rear wheel.  Luckily, I held the bike up and then managed to manoeuvre over to Patrick to grab a bidon.

The hills certainly took their toll on the field, with our chasing peloton being reduced to about 30 riders as we reached Danbury at the 100km mark.  The race concluded with 5 laps of a 2.5km circuit which was lined with people and cowbells.  The noise was absolutely deafening and we hit the first circuit at 45km/hr, strung out in a long single line.  And in true Housatonic style, even the circuit had a 1km uphill drag in it – and although easily a big chain ring hill it was murder on the legs at the pace we were riding.  Each lap was just as fast as the first and the crowd was going wild.  With the crowd screaming and ringing their cowbells, it was impossible to hear the announcer to get confirmation of how many laps to go, but luckily an official was at the line, holding out his fingers as we sped by.

On the last lap the single line of riders split on the uphill.  About 15 riders managed to stay together to fight out the remaining top 10 places with Erinne (Verizon-Wireless Cervelo) finishing in 13^th place.  Unfortunately I got caught behind the split, wasn’t able to close the gap in time, and so I missed the bunch sprint, finishing in 22^nd place.  Both Hiroko and Ann Marie were right on my wheel as we crossed the line, finishing in 26^th and 28^th, respectively.

Teammate, Julia withdrew from the race after puncturing at the 60km mark, and after not feeling 100%, whilst Petra didn’t start today, wanting to recover fully from a head cold she picked up in the horrendous conditions at Bear Mountain last week.

In all, our Verizon-Wireless Cervelo team rode well today and although we missed the break and a top 10 finish, we have a long season ahead of us, and I am sure we will find an opportunity to shine.

Final results were:

1          Anna Millward             Saturn
2          Amber Neben              T-Mobile USA National
3          Clara Hughes               Quebec Provincial

13        Erinne Willock             Verizon-Wireless Cervelo
22        Helen Kelly                 Verizon-Wireless Cervelo
26        Hiroko Shimado                      Verizon-Wireless Cervelo
28        Ann Marie Miller                     Verizon-Wireless Cervelo
DNF     Julia Farell                               Verizon-Wireless Cervelo
DNS     Petra Ford                                Verizon-Wireless Cervelo