University Road Race

By Victoria Vallstrom
Date: August 27, 2006
Course: 14 laps, 42 miles
Team: Bri, Holly, Stacy, Flavia, Jamie, and Victoria
Category: Women 1/2/3
Winner: Amber Rais, Webcor-Platinum

PABW Powered by Tibco had a 6-woman team for the race; Webcor-Platinum also had a very nice lineup with 4 strong green ladies: Christine Thorburn, Amber Rais, Karen Brems, and Katheryn Curi. Also present were Touchstone with three good climbers: Beverly Harper, India Sanjuan, and their recent and strong addition Kelly McDonald. We knew we were in for a tough race.

The first couple of laps, Webcor was in the front keeping the pace up. We stayed close, staying on their wheels and watching for any attack attempts.

Lap 4 or 5, Christine attacked on the base of the climb, I got her wheel and covered the attack, she slowed down, and Amber countered - I was not able to get Amber's wheel - and no one else did either. Bev tried to bridge and I got on her wheel. Then Christine launched a 2nd time. I reacted and tried to get her wheel but she jumped clear really fast and I was just not fast enough. I tried to get it, hearing Stacy screaming and cheering me on (where do you get all that energy from?) "Go Victoria, Go!" - I tried hard - but could not get on Christine's wheel. It was a fact: Amber and Christine were in a break.

The next lap, Stacy did a beautiful attack at the base of the climb and Katheryn got on her wheel. I grabbed Katheryn's wheel. We got a gap on the field, but very soon Bev bridged up.

On the following decent, Bev and I started to push the pace, with Stacy and India following wheels to stay fresh.

The next descent, I was on the front pushing the pace with Stacy on my wheel when she said that she was going to drift back a bit since she wanted to attack on the hill again. I kept the speed up downhill and at the turn to the climb I looked back. To my surprise, I had completely gapped the field. I thought that they must have gotten confused by Stacy pulling back, and that since they were all watching her they just let me go. I kept on pedaling and the gap just got bigger and bigger with no chasers in sight. By the time I reached the feed zone, I was between the Webcor break and the chasing pack, with roughly 4 laps to go.

I decided to take some water, and got a nice red bottle from Spanky. Drinking on the descent, I for a second reflected over the fact that the drink I got seemed carbonated - "weird, who wanted carbonated soda?" I asked myself. I keep on pedaling, trying to catch the Webcor break but they keep their distance fairly constant.

The following lap I got a kick from the "soda" and realized I had just been fed RED BULL (Sorry Stacy, I think that was your bottle--now I know where you get all your energy from :))

Final lap, high on Red Bull and in my "gotta-catch-the-green" mode without thinking about it, I was climbing in the big ring. People started screaming that I should gear down. "Oops!" I said to myself, "click", "click" and wow, it got easy again. (I am still learning A LOT every race -- I should make this long list "110 rookie mistakes you will do your first season" -- it may come in handy for others.)

By the final climb I still had not gained enough to catch Christine and Amber, but I took a fully satisfying 3rd.

Things I learned in this race