Dunnigan Hills Road Race

Jenni Tafoya

By Jenni Tafoya
Date: August 19, 2006
Category: Women 1/2/3
Course: 1 lap +3 mi of 43 mi rolling/flat loop
Team: Stacy, Flavia, Eryn, Julie, me (2nd)
Winner: Brei Gudsell, Velo Bella

The Dunnigan Hills road race, our shortest race of the year at just 46 flattish miles, started the second weekend of the Cal Cup series. With Stacy in 2nd place to Amber, we wanted to be aggressive (with our 5 riders) and force Amber to chase (since she didn't have any teammates present) so Stacy could break away at the end and make up some Cal Cup points. Eryn got the party started about ten minutes into the race with about a 20 minute solo effort. Bummer of it was that no one tried to bridge up, and Metromint and Touchstone were doing all the chasing, so Amber was quietly resting near the front. (Note to self: get in break with Metromint and Touchstone so another team, hopefully Amber, will chase!) Julie countered next, and when it came back together, I countered, didn't get very far, and then there was a momentary lull until Metromint attacked. The pack wasn't too worried and off she went. Oddly enough, a second Metromint attacked, again no response, so then there were two of them up the road together. Eryn and Julie immediately went to the front to start pulling it back but I thought it might be a good opportunity, so I jumped across, taking Lisa Hunt and India (3rd in Cal Cup, which I hadn't realized or considered at the time, I was just thinking "yeah, no Amber!") with me. We immediately started rotating, and were shortly joined by Emily from Proman, a Nor Cal Velo rider, a Velo Bella rider, and Yuki from Los Gatos. Our now 9-person break was actually quite organized and smooth for being so large, even if the pace wasn't blistering. When the pace would slow, India, Lisa and I would move up to drive it. I was having visions of Amber chasing and getting nice and tired, but little did I know the pack was 10 minutes back tootling along at 12mph. After what seemed like an eternity paralelling Highway 5 (the only excitement being my dad, coincidentally at the Yolo truck wash, on the side of the road cheering for me), we made the right-hand turn onto the finishing stretch with the finish about 2K to go. Brei attacked the overpass, but it came back together pretty quickly. I think Metromint started leading out the uphill sprint at about 300m and our group instantly shattered. All I remember is picking my through people and crossing the line in 2nd. Brei won, India 3rd, Yuki 4th, Emily 5th. When the pack came in I hear Amber won the field sprint for 10th, picking up the last Cal Cup points. The race didn't quite go as planned, but we'll live to fight another day. And if we're not leading Cal Cup right now, at least the nicest person in the peloton is!