Ward's Ferry Road Race

By Jamie Crawford
Date: April 1, 2006
Category: Women 1/2/3
Field Size: 20-30
Teammates: Tracey, Alexis, Elizabeth, Katie
Place: 7th
Winner: Beverly Harper, Touchstone Climbing

It was great to show up at the start line and see a decent-sized turnout for this race. The past few years, the field size has been 10-12, not to mention the horrific weather on Friday made traveling to Sonora pretty tough. There were some strong starters in the 1/2s including Touchstone Climbing represented by India Sanjuan, Penny Avril, Bev Harper, & Pat Ross; Cyndi Mommsen & Lisa Hunt from the Olympic Club; Jane Despas from Klein Real Estate; and Maria Monica from McGuire. It was also great to get the opportunity to race with the 3s. Alexis and Elizabeth were looking very strong out there!!

The course lies in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada's, and winds through narrow roads on pretty good pavement. The terrain goes something like this - up and down. Nothing flat on this 12-mile loop. A 2-mile neutral promenade led us to the start of the race. The moto pulled off, and immediately the pace was set by Lisa Hunt. Following the first decent, there is a climb of approximately 1k. Touchstone began their attacks immediately, with the pace proving to be painful on some fairly cold legs. Nothing stuck through the first lap, but the field size shrunk as the pace remained high. At the beginning of the second lap, the P 1/2 men's break passed us, which motivated Jane to attack and lose herself inside and in front of the men's field. Penny and an AV rider joined her. I tried to follow but was too far back and stuck around some men. The 3 of them made it up the road, but were shortly neutralized because of the confusion with the men's field passing.

By the beginning of Lap 3, we were down to 9 in the front -- Maria, Jane, Lisa, Bev, Penny, India, and myself with the occasional appearance of a Joselyn's rider who was dangling off the back. I was starting to feel a little worked over trying to cover the ongoing moves by Touchstone. Bev attacked on the longer climb at the beginning of the course, and I couldn't manage to get on her wheel. She dangled out in front by about 20 seconds as we chased through the rest of the climb. We could see her for the longest time, but couldn't get organized to chase with Penny & India in our group with no intentions of helping us out. On the descent, there is a 180 degree hairpin turn. Jane snuck away here and hammered across the rollers. Clever move, I thought, and bridged up to her on the next section of rollers. We stayed away and had Bev in very close sight.. but got caught by the feed zone as Touchstone continued to neutralize our chase.

Final Lap, Bev stayed away at about 40-50 seconds. The finish was on an uphill section after 2-3 steep rollers. I was toasted by that point, and started my sprint a little early, to come in for a cool 7th place. Oh well, I tried and need to work on stronger finishes!

Great job out there to everyone -- it certainly is a fun & challenging course! Victoria, put this one on your calendar for next season. :-)