Merced Criterium

By Julie Adams
Date: February 26, 2006
Course: 0.7 mile loop of flat city streets -- three 90-degree turns, and a narrow loop around the Old Courthouse
Conditions: drizzly quickly turning to soggy
Category: Women 1/2/Pro
Teammates: Jamie, Tracey
Field Size: About 40
Place: 9th
Winner: Taitt Sato, McGuire

I had entered into my first w/e of this year's racing season saying that I'd do the Merced Criterium only if it was dry. Ah yes...famous last words. The weather was fine (cloudy, relatively calm wind-wise, and fair temps) -- up until about 10 min before our race. As we completed our warm up and were getting ready to head to the start line, you could feel droplets of rain here and there. Oh please, please, please hold off for another 50 minutes, could you please? Pretty please?

Yeah, so much for sweet talk. Standing on the line listening to the final announcements before race start, the heavens began opening up. Will I still do this race after boldly stating that I didn't really want to start off my race season doing a criterium in the rain, nevermind an open field criterium? Bike racers are funny like that...once at the line, all dressed and ready to go, it is quite difficult to walk away at race start.

So, there I am at the start line...with the words GO I am off the line pretty quickly heading into the first turn in the top 10. Feeling uncomfortable doing a very technical course in the rain w/an open field, I quickly slid to the back of the pack. Once there I couldn't decide if going slower was any better than hanging out in the back of the pack. I decided after seeing people slide out left and right, in corners and on straight aways that faster was better and quickly launched an attack on the finishing straight that would put me in a solid position (in/near the front) for the rest of the race. My only mistake was being unable to go w/the break that would stay away for the rest of the race. Just after my attack, that break was initiated and I just didn't have anything at that exact moment to go w/them. DOH!

As I said earlier, crashes were happening regularly...it was the first rain in quite some time, and as such, the roads were very oily and slippery. Knowing well that I had too much pressure in my tires for this race in the rain, I had no choice but to be very aware of the lines I chose and to carefully shift my weight in order to stay vertical (not an easy task). It was a difficult day mentally and physically - I learned earlier in the race from Jamie that Tracey had crashed out and was no longer in the race. Mid-way through the race I watched our old teammate Amber slide out RIGHT in front of me heading into turn 2. It's difficult maneuvering through carnage to continue racing...especially when the carnage is your friend.

At that point, after numerous crashes and 'almost crashes' (I can't tell you how many times I felt my tires sliding out from underneath me only to adjust my position quickly to 'save it'), the peloton agreed to “take it easy.” What that meant was being a little more attentive to the lines chosen and the speeds heading into corners. No more crashes happened in our group after that agreement was made, but then came the frustration. The break wasn't that far up the road. We could see them but just couldn't get organized.

Last lap the solo T-Mobile racer decided to drill it to keep the pace high...it was perfect for me b/c I was on her wheel. What wasn't perfect was that immediately after completing turn 2, she sat up! Quickly jumping to get a decent position back in the strung out field of racers, I find that I've expended more energy than I would have preferred heading into the final 1000m of this race. Through the alley behind the court hourse, then the S curve around the park, it's a mad dash to the finish line and I find myself staying seated in my saddle ramping up the watts to sprint home. Amazingly I do end up passing a few people, but never to the point that I’m able to recover my initial placing heading into that last lap. Oh well. The good news was that I was able to stay vertical, quite the feat on this dreary day.