Another weekend, another trip to Iowa. While it might not be so great to do these small races every weekend, they are in some ways a nice break from the high intensity races done previously this season.
The weekend consisted of two races in picturesque Clear Lake, Iowa, famous for the Surf Ballroom, the last place that Buddy Holly performed before his death. Some of you may have heard of him :)
Saturday evening's criterium was a fun, technical course near the business area of town, and along a city park where a blues festival was also going on. The fields were small overall, but the atmosphere was festive, the weather was great and the event was well run.
My field was indeed small. I was not feelin' it that evening. I really struggled to feel like I was actually racing. I gave 90% effort for a few prime sprints but quickly realized it was not going to be my day. I gave it my all at the finish, and thought I could pull off second place. However, I got nipped at the line and ended up third. Tomorrow is another day, right?
Sunday morning we met at the Surf Ballroom again for the 42-mile road race, a large loop in the pretty flat and windy countryside south of Clear Lake. Because there were so few of us, we started with the Master's 40+ men. We got to sit in with their equally small field for awhile, before they started attacking each other. We (the women) all got dropped at that time, but really liked the idea of riding a few more miles with the men, so we put in a valiant "team time trial" trying to catch the master's 40+ "team time trial". We lost. They rode away from us, giving us the impression they didn't want us barging in on their race (hard to imagine!!). We simply kept time trialing as if we were in a well-organized breakaway. There were so few of us, we did not really want to start attacking each other.
The finish for the race is tricky only in that for some reason the exact finish line is hard to determine. Despite it being well marked, people always jump too early or too late because they just aren't sure. I had this knowledge on my side. I had also warmed up in the area so I could get a feel for where the finish would be.
One of our foursome jumped pretty early, and I figured it was meant to be a ploy to make the two of us who were not her teammates chase her, therefore allowing her teammate to counter. Her teammate did counter, but it still left us all a pretty long way from the finish. I sensed that we all inwardly groaned when we realized the finish was in sight, but a long sprint away. We were all sort of in a line across the road, heading into a decent headwind. I realized I needed to go now or risk being caught off guard. I jumped, fully expecting someone to come blasting past me. It did not feel like a great jump or even a great sprint once I got going. However, I thought I actually might make it, as the line got closer. All of a sudden, the IS Corp girl who nipped me on Saturday was right in my peripheral view. The line came, and I saw her catch me at it. I couldn't believe it, to be caught right at the line two days in a row!
These races have awards ceremonies for every category. When they did the women's ceremony, I got ready to go up after they called the third place girl to the podium. Much to my surprise, they called the IS Corp girl up for second. Thank goodness for the finish line camera! What a nice surprise.
(Too close for me to call!)
(Hey, why am I up here, and why is there a beer in my hand??)
Apparently, the "312' beer was a sponsor of the race. We were all give these as we were up on the podium.
As an aside, the promoters are really invested in providing a good venue for women's racing and would love to see more women at the event next year. The courses were fun and safe, the event was very organized, and the prize list was good.
Soon, it will be off to a race or two of Superweek, and then the weekly trips to Chicagoland, where I can finally hook up with my teammates again!
--Anne
(Kristen in the final sprint. Joelle Numainville is on the right. Photo credit Ed White)
