Wente Road Race

Victoria Vallstrom

By Victoria Vallstrom
Date: April 22, 2006
Category: Women 3 (Racing with Pro/1/2 picked separately)
Filed Size: Maybe 70?
Teammates: Holly, Alexis, Katie, Brooke, Tracy, Jamie, Amy, Jenni, Eryn
Place: 1st for W3 (about 6th overall)

First race with the W1/2 ladies and I was excited; with a course that had a lot of climbing, my goal was to be able to stay in the front group for the full race. I was also really excited about the large PABW Powered by TIBCO presence in the race.

Victoria and BrookeVictoria and Brooke
Photo ©
Glenn James

The field was huge. Jamie or Eryn (don't remember who) advised me to try to stay in front in the beginning of the course because there would most likely be a sprint at the first hill, and if you were in the back you would get "stuck" behind slower hill riders. I followed the advice and it really helped. After the first climb I found myself in the front pack.

I was a bit intimidated by the experienced and fast ladies, and since I was a bit scared of sitting in the middle of the pack, I stayed on the left side outer side most of the time.

The dynamics of this race were different from the W4 and W3 races I had done. There was attack after attack going on the whole time. In addition, it was really hard to keep your position in the pack (or at least I found it hard). So I just took the strategy of following the wheels of most attacks. This was a good way for me to keep my position in the front pack. It did waste my legs a bit; but I was still able to hang "with the big dogs."

The McGuire and Webcor ladies launched several attacks, usually in a series. Brooke was in the front pack the whole time, and it felt really good to get her wheel every now and then.

I was concentrating so much on keeping my position that I did not pay attention to how many laps we had done, nor where the finish was, so again it was great to have Brooke there. I asked her what lap we where on and where the finish was. Of course she had it all under control: "1 1/2 laps left, and finish is just after the feedzone." I paid attention the final time we went by the feedzone. I still could not see where the finish was (it was marked really badly) but I kind of got a sense of it.

Approaching the final climb before the finish you could feel how restless the pack got. One Webcor lady (I'm still learning the names) went together with a McGuire lady. The pack followed. It was a hill finish so I started to stomp on my pedals. I was about 3rd on the climb, gaining a bit to the Webcor lady the longer the climb went. Then the grade flatted out a bit; and I got passed by someone -- BROOKE. "Awesome," I thought, and then I got passed again (not so awesome), and then Jane Depas passed me; and I finally reached the finish just behind her. I think I made it over the line about 6-8th, which I was stoked about, and even more so taking the Cat 3 1st and Brooke taking the 1st overall. It was a PABW Powered by TIBCO kind of day.