Where do I even start? What a cool and exhausting weekend we had…

Sat morning Road Race
Got into Springdale, Arkansas around 9pm on Friday night, unpacked and made plans for meeting up in the morning. Left the hotel around 7am, got there and got equipment staged.

There were 35 women in our field for the 34 mile Cat 3/4 RR. At the start, all I could think about was trying to stay towards the front on the first big hill which was only approx 5 miles into the race…and actually ended up being around mile 3. Ouch. There were bigger teams and more experienced riders in the field and everyone was more aggressive than in my previous road races - trying to jockey for position towards the front of the pack for the hill. I managed to work my way up to the top 15 or so.

The hill appeared quickly and the group quickly splintered up, which made it easier to get around people. I knew that Chris was going to try to go hard on the hill. I tried to go as hard as I could and stay as close as I could to the front of the group. I kept hearing Carrie tell me to stay on, or blow up trying, so thats what I did - push, push, push - round a corner and then push some more. I found myself with Jess and another girl and we started working together to start the chase.

It was windy, so we would need to work together. However, not too long into our chase and a large group of 12 (including Allison) caught us and so we joined them. The group was pretty well organized and there were some really strong riders who were pushing the pace fast! Most everyone was taking turns and many times on the flats I looked down to see us going 25 - 30 mph. The rollers would slow us down a bit, but then we were off again. We could see Chris’ group ahead and finally caught them with only 9 miles or so to go.

However, not long after, Chris let me know she was going to go, and attacked on a small hill. I let her go knowing that my legs were not there. She quickly pulled away from the group and 4 riders bridged her gap to finish with her. Our group surged, as others like me wanted to go with them, but couldn’t quite find the legs to make it happen. I stayed with the surge and our group of 15 split in two. Jess stayed with us for a little bit, but got tired of people not wanting to work the last few miles of the race and broke away on her own and stayed. (Great job!)

Me and Allison hung with the group and didn’t chase Jess. We did not want to bridge the group to her, so we stayed in for a group sprint. Allison got up front and sacrificed for the group and pulled the last mile or so. I could see the finish now and the group picked up the pace…someone drops a chain… Allison tried to lead me out and I had to push really hard to stay on her wheel and then the next wheel. I try to stand for the sprint, but my legs give out quickly and it sit back down, tuck, and draft a wheel in front of me. OUCH! I end up with 18th place.

After the race I say its the hardest race Ive ever done. I guess that depends on how you define hard. It was definitely the fastest hilly road race Ive done so far. We averaged 21 mph over 34 miles. I descended a hill with a group of 15 at over 49 mph. And after all of that we had a hard group sprint at the finish. During the race I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the women that were in our group were Cat 3’s or 4’s, and I was super happy to find out that only two 4’s finished ahead of me and besides me and Allison, there was only one other 4 in our group! The race made me realize how much work I still need to do and every race is definitely a new learning experience. I really enjoyed racing w/ my teammates - Jess and Allison - the whole race. Everyone did an awesome job!

-Jamie V

I have never done a Cat 3/4 crit before, and I knew this would be challenging. Racing with them on an easy course would have been hard enough, but we were racing them on a course that was rated one of the top 5 most challenging crit courses in the nation (by Velo news). In less than a mile, the course has 8 corners, a fast downhill with those new brick cross walks all the way down and a brick corner at the bottom to a short flat section, false flat, and then a 90 degree turn to an ~8% grade hill (3/4 of a block in length) to the finish!

Its in the 40’s and very windy that morning and we all stand shivering at the line for about 10-15 mins as we wait for cars to be moved from the course. The race was only 25 mins, so I knew it would be fast, but wow! The cold muscles didn’t stop some of the stronger riders from sprinting out of the start. The pace was super fast from the gun. The leader was probably on the 3rd corner when I hit the 2nd corner. The field strung out immediately and I’m off the pace of the front pack before turn 3.

I find a group of 3 women and we all try to work together. The problem with this course is that it really displays your strengths and weaknesses and makes it very difficult to work with a small group. They don’t want to wait for you after the corners if you take it too wide and fall behind and you don’t want to wait for them if they cant stay on your wheel on the false flat…. etc. It was hard to keep the group together. Then, you had the hill every lap and it wears on you very quickly. Most laps I stood on the hill since I had to to keep the wheel in front of me. I could hear Bri yelling for me every time I went up the hill - she totally motivated me to keep pushing up that thing! Thanks Bri!

In the end, I was glad I avoided being lapped and managed to get a good group sprint and placed 21st (and had only 3 other 4’s in front of me). Again, this showed me how much work I need to do and will keep me motived to train hard! Need more speed work!