Front Range Cycling Classic

USAF Academy, CO
(Event Information)
Road Race on 04/10/2011
Results

This was exciting because it was the first time I got to race with Melanie Wong and it was Women’s Open! The course they use for this race was great for her, Jennifer Barbour and I, but we didn’t execute any tactical efforts much to my coach’s dismay. We are all small and excel when it comes to climbing. During this course we climbed long, gradual hills for 3 laps.

I have heard so many negative things about racing with the Women’s Pro 1/2. That they are harsh and yell at the slightest errors, and just are unpleasant to race with in general. This was really my first experience, because Bikes and Buffaloes doesn’t count because I got dropped right away and didn’t even finish the race.

We only finished the Front Range Classic with 12 women, but I know we started with more, maybe 20?? Right away Beth Fisk and Whitney Shultz took off with no one willing to chase them. I have no idea how many women were dropped right away, but I am sure there were some. Then we had a group that kept shrinking, my teammates and I kept accelerating on the hills and every once in awhile I looked back and saw fewer racers.

Now keep in mind what I had heard about these “mean” cat ones and twos; one of those women in our group started talking to us as a mentor. I thought, “This is great! I can use all the advice I can get!!” so I listened to her advice, which sounds absurd now. She kept telling us to conserve our energy and every time we “attacked” on the hills, we were wearing out the group. Well geez, isn’t that the idea :D, yes it absolutely is and I should have ignored her because she was able to save her energy and used it to beat us on the final sprint 😦 We should have really attacked earlier so that she did not have that opportunity. She was very clever to convince us to do what she wanted. Lesson learned.

Great race, fun course!!