Snelling Road Race

By Victoria Vallstrom
Date: February 25, 2006
Category: Women 4
Filed Size: About 30
Teammates: None
Place: 5th
Winner: Flavia Oliveira, Joselyn's

There were so many Cat 4 women that they had two fields, and unfortunately Sarah and I started in different fields. However, the lady whom I worked with last weekend at Pine Flat, Flavia, was in my start, which was great.

We were about 30-40 girls in the race, which for me was the largest pack I been in. Squadra Ovest had a full team of girls-I think I counted 6 or 7 of them. They took turns with attacks during the full race. Learning from last week's mistakes (best way to learn!), I managed to not work in the front at all the first 2.5 laps, just jumping on to wheels of the Squadra Ovest girls attacking.

With .5 laps to go I initiated an attack (let's call it a rookie mistake), but the pack caught up and my legs were tired. If I had just saved that power to the end...

The last turn I just sat back in the far back of pack, girls starting to sprint and I hooked on to a girl's wheel, and pushed through and manage push though the pack and get in 5th . The finish was pretty much 7 girls in a pack (they had to look at the video for the 3-4-5 placing) -- Flavia was the strongest and her victory was crystal clear.

This was my 2nd race with a group and this week I learned to be even more patient and sit in longer, gear up before the sprint to finish (I was spinning a bit too much in end).