Santa Rosa Clo-terium

Jenni Tafoya

By Jenni Tafoya
Date: June 4, 2006
Category: Women Pro/1/2/3
Teammates: Julie
Winner: Helene Drumm (Proman)
Results: 3rd
Course: Fun, flat, downtown course

Julie and I had done the Women's 30+/3/4 race earlier that morning which served as a great warm-up. In that race, since we were the only 1/2s, we cleaned up. We felt kind of bad, but it was nice to win some schwag for once. We knew the Pro/1/2/3 race wouldn't be so easy. To our surprise, Laura Charamada, who lives in Santa Rosa and almost always wins this race, was absent. But we did have Jenny and Kate from Morgan Stanley, 3 Proman riders including the Drumms, Cindy Carroll, and several other strong riders in addition to 15-20 cat 3s. Jenny went for the first prime, Helene won it. At this point they were WAY ahead so Cindy and I bridged up to them because those two riders are too strong to let out of your sights. Good thing because the four of us proceeded to work together for the next 50 minutes, lapping the field with about 6 laps to go. We tried to keep going but the pack joined so we settled in for some recovery before the finish. On bell lap I got on Julie's wheel for what I knew would be a stellar lead-out, but soon found out she was having tummy problems so I went to plan B and found Cindy's wheel since I liked the way she was taking the corners. I went through the last corner in 4th, which I thought was perfect given the fierce headwind and long sprint, but Helene gapped/chopped Jenny by a bike length going through the turn, so that was the race. I passed Cindy in the sprint for 3rd, and Jenny took 2nd.