rwt, seems like we were in two different races, other than the constant that was the weirdness. The accelerations/decelerations/fighting for every single spot, flat wore me out.

Thank you shovelhd. It made my weekend.

thanks shovel.


ahem, it was your second 60' race of the day.

One thing I will agree on was that that race was a 60' battle for position. In this aspect it was indeed relentless; it was much harder than other 45/4 races I've done. "If you're not moving up, you're moving back" was radically true in this race. It was probably caused by a combination of the course, the wind, the alternating fast and slow pace, and what I feel is a general escalation of fitness and savvy over the last year or two by our frenemies.

This last point is interesting to me. Both LAJ and I were newbies 2 years ago, and we both regularly got mid pack finishes. Now we've got 2 years' experience, and a lot of miles under our belts. By perception, LAJ is much smoother, more aero, and vastly stronger. For myself, my power numbers are up at least 20% over 2 years ago. How do we both regularly finish now? Still mid-pack.

LAJ, rapwithtom, Congrats on staying upright in big sketchy packs!

Tldr: Denver Federal Circuit Race, MW45+, 3rd/18(?)

I raced Denver Federal as well, MW45+, we raced with SW3, scored separately. As LAJ described, the course is a 4 mile circuit with a lot of corners, some of them narrowing, lots of curbs, and it was hard to tell which direction the upcoming corners were going to be until you were practically on top of them. I normally race 4's but did the 45+ today because we had 5 of us on my team in the combined 45/3s field. We discussed tactics, and my role was to sit in and sprint for the win, another gal was to mark the woman who frequently wins from a small break (T), and the rest were hang in / attack if it made sense.

Best laid plans... none of us attacked, one of our cat 3s and one of our 45+ team mates got dropped. I sat in but marked T, and if she had gone off the front I would have gone with her, but she didn't. So i stayed in the back of the pack the entire race, it was pretty smooth in terms of the accordian effect, for being in back, there was a split in lap two and the people having trouble were gone, so there wasn't too much surge and chase. Some of the corners, however were a bit tight, off camber, and there was some yelling in the pack, and a little wierdness.

Lap 2 they announced a prime for the next lap, and then when we came around they were ringing the bell, but it was well before the time the last lap should be starting, so I misunderstood and thought it was something to do with the prime - didn't realize it was last lap! (doh!!!). Anyway, I was sitting in back, not working too hard, waiting for the pace to heat up, and it started not too far before the start/finish, i thought it was my gal getting ready to head out for a solo last lap and I was on her wheel, trying to stay with her.... but then I see people sprinting! WTF? SO, I'm like, well i guess i should sprint! End result, I got an accidental lead-out from the strongest TTer in the race, I passed her and a couple others, ended up 3rd in my race, about 7-8th overall among the 45/3s. I'm happy with the result but not happy with how often I screw up understanding the finish. at least half the pack was just as confused as me, though, lots of people were like "wait, was that the finish?"

I was originally considering sticking around and racing the 35+ race later, but instead spent the rest of the afternoon in the ER and shuttling cars for a friend in the 55+ race who broke her collarbone. Another friend crashed in the 4s and broke her arm. Lots of crashes and ambulances out there today. My take on it was that there were so many corners and you didn't know which way they were going to be, but at the same time you only rode the course a few times since it was a long circuit not a crit, it was easy to make a mistake in a corner. My combined pack was probably about 35-40 people, I can't imagine how sketchy it was with 50-60.

Valygrl, that was great report! You rode a smart race. And a strong one. You have enough masters women where you are to have M45+ and M55+ fields? Oh, I'd love that! I totally get the screwing up the end of a race. I haven't figured it out yet, myself.

Once again - great efforts, great race, great finish!

Tom and LAJ, congrats to you guys! Sounded like chaos, but you both came through it...that's the good part!

Nice job vlygrl. I had some friends in your race and I know they were all confused about the finish as well...I think most people did not realize that the final lap was indeed the final lap, and the conclusion was that the refs really fubared this one.

Thanks sara! Yes we have MW 35+, 45+, 55+. Turnout isn't huge, but it's usually enough to feel like a race. The 45+ is the biggest masters category, usually 5-15, 55+ usually has 3-8 riders. These are all open, though, so there are lots of Cat2s in the 35 & 45's. The race programs this year race the 55+ with the 4's and the 45+ with the 3's, so you would still be on the course with the youngsters in the 55+ category, but only competing for the podium with the crones. Depending on the course, the 55+ ladies sometimes hang with the 4's lead pack for the whole race, sometimes do not. For a few of the crits the masters and seniors have a small gap at the start so they don't actually race together, but sometimes it's a simultaneous start. Sometimes the 35+ have their own race, sometimes they are with the P12s.

You should come check it out some time, i bet you would love the 55+ races here. But remember there's not that much air here, our lowest races are at 5000 feet. :)

And on top of that the finish line camera wasn't turned on and they called us all back to recreate the finish to figure out who placed. bizarre.

Give me a month, and I'll get used to it! I'd love to try your races. Maybe someday!

I really like the open Masters fields. Even you have to race against 1, 2, 3, that's cool. Having them scored separately can be a nightmare for the officials, and that's the argument out here. But, NCNCA is starting to come around on that for the women, and I'm hoping the LARGE women's Masters turnout at the Wente Road Race yesterday will put that over the top. I've been bothering people about letting the 4's who are 35+ (even though it's not scored or recognized) get a chance to race with each other by starting them either behind the kids or ahead of them, and that wouldn't cause delays or mess with the scoring at all. I hope it happens!

Hey, LAJ, where are you in that video of the finish? (The rider in the red kit was "Unbelievable!" - whoa...)

I see your point, LAJ - video didn't make it look very 'masterly'. And I agree with Shovel - great job. Also on what you had to do rapwithtom. If you get pushed into the gutter, you need to get out, and those around you know that.

Great finish valygrl - way to react to what's happening.

Thanks valygrl, and well done yourself! A little podium action is great!

Thank you sarals. I had a good time, even though there was some stress. The camera was mounted on my handlebars.

AZTR, to the Master racers credit, the riders getting passed, including the fool in the red, were off the back of the 35+4 race. I just find it hard to believe how unaware people are.

Great job AZT and valygrl.

Valygrl. Terrific racing.

My wife did 2, 11 mile ITTs today. She decided to do the 60+ and the Cat 4 women. The races were 45 minutes apart. Here are the results. Just incredible.

60+

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...psfade0c99.jpg

Cat 4 women

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps74507e7a.jpg

Hammer.

Diva! Diva! Diva!

Congrats to MEA!! The gal in second in the W4 is Trish Pacheco. She's very fast, but Velo Diva is clearly the class of the field, in both W4 and 60+. My team mate, Heidi, took second in the M 55+.

Wow! Well done!

had an opportunity to travel to arkansas and stay with some friends (who were also new to the region) to race joe martin. i'd never been to the area, and one thing i enjoy about racing is traveling to places that otherwise might not appear on my radar.

for those not familiar, joe martin is on the NRC calendar, and while the professionals do one more RR stage compared to the amateurs, the amateurs benefit from the infrastructure.

the fayetteville area was AMAZING! the roads are narrow and winding, and one is always climbing or descending. wind were very gusty, which only adds to the race craft required to do well.

i've had to adjust my season post-clavicle repair, and a week at the gila (5 days, 5 stages) was no longer in the cards; joe martin (3 stages in 2 days and only 1 bike required) fit the bill.

the TT is a 2.25-mile uphill effort (~6-7%) after a 1/4-mile flat/downhill start. it's a really cool climb--the grade is fairly constant and only eases for the briefest of moments. i've never really done any maximal efforts in the 10-minute range, and things are a bit different when i race at lower elevation, so i wasn't quite sure what to expect. i had a power range in my head (40W spread). it rained that morning up until my start time, then the sun appeared. i wound up hitting the lower end of my range, but it was good enough for 2nd place.

later that afternoon, our field raced on the road -- 8.5 miles to a loop, two 23-mile loops (featuring wind and climbs) and an 8.5-mile return. i spent the first half of the race figuring out the course and reading the riders in the field. one rider in our field -- a strong rider -- felt the need to attack through the feed zone. really? so that's how it's done here?

i chased him down and didn't mind dragging the field. when confronted, he said "there shouldn't be a feed zone there." i happen to agree that it is a perfect spot to attack, and at ~65 miles we probably don't need any feeds, but the fact is that there IS a feed zone there, and you don't launch an attack from the FZ. after the race, other riders told me "yeah, that's just what he does." sad, because he doesn't need to race that way. it also struck me that his attacks were efforts just to wound people, not to kill. they seemed ineffective. i'd rather attack once but make it my best effort.

i watched the GC leader do a bunch of questionable work.

i attacked on a descent leading into some rollers, and after a few miles the lead group was whittled down to 5 riders. 3rd and 4th in GC were among them, but the leader had been dropped. #3 's teammate was with us and was clearly working hard to make up time while delivering his teammate to the finish.

i wasn't worried about #3 but thought #4 might be a guy to watch for in the sprint. i was feeling great and thought about attacking from 5-10k to drop the sprinter, but reconsidered. i thought the race was mine to lose.

The sprint involved a right hand turn at 350m with a strong tailwind. i figured i needed to be 3rd wheel going into that corner, with a jump shortly after the turn. i felt it was the kind of sprint where you could make up only a spot or so. i was 3rd wheel approaching the turn (exactly my plan...esp as 1st wheel was still drilling it and would not be a factor in the sprint) but had left GC#4 behind me. mistake! (turns out he is a national champ-caliber crit racer.) he jumped about 50m before the turn. i saw it and had the legs to respond but was too stuck in my plan. i also thought that #3 GC was going to close that gap. i hesitated just a second, but a second is too long to give a good sprinter. 2nd place for me. in the end, they said he crossed the line 2" before me. other racers later said that scoring was some home cooking. 2" in that sprint is 100 feet. he had, at best, a bike length on me.

other than nationals, it was my first masters A race.

when we factored in the TT, time gaps, and bonuses, i was leading the GC by 5" over 2nd and 11" over 3rd going into the crit. #2 is the crit racer; bonuses were 6, 4, and 2" in the crit, so even if we finished at the same time, i'd need at least 3rd to hand onto the GC lead.

the forecast was for heavy rain and tornados--made for a nervous night for many. i arrived at the crit super early so i could pre-ride the course a few times, and not just for the 1 lap prior to my race. falling on my shoulder was not an option for me, and i told myself that if i didn't feel safe i would not race. as luck would have it, the course was dry up to my start time, but dark clouds were building. would we get 45 more dry minutes?

the crit course is pretty amazing -- 110' of climbing per lap, high speed turns, a cool chicane...perhaps the best course i've done. about 1/2-way into the race the rain began. i even checked in with myself and was willing to withdraw if i felt things were getting unsafe.

they weren't...or they didn't seem to be. 4 laps to go. we had a small field, riders were racing smart, and the clean lines through the high-speed turns seemed solid. my key mistake was focusing my attention on inspecting the few fastest turns of the race. i didn't think about the turn where you're going fast but start heading uphill. this turn has a patchwork of new asphalt. it's impossible or nearly so to avoid hitting some of the new stuff. i guess things reached the critical point as i washed out in that turn. took the full blow on my hip. as i sat there in the road, i was grateful that my clavicle was OK, but i couldn't get up under my own power.

on a funny note, the volunteers (trying to be helpful) started squirting liquid from random bottles on my road rash. some of it was sports drink from god-knows-who's bottle. managed to collect my bike, drive to walgreen's to buy crutches, pack up my bike and belongings, and drive 2h to the airport. 2 flights and 12h later i made it home.

found out today that i did, indeed, fracture my femur. surgery tomorrow. guess that explains the pain i was experiencing. i wasted to believe it was just the normal pain/swelling that gets worse 24-48h after a beating.

my friends asked if i had checked in to see if i still won the GC as the crash occurred close to the end. honestly, the though never even crossed my mind. i knew i needed to get home and was already thinking about the burden on my family as a result of this. only bummer was not getting to show up at the podium to at least shake the hands of the guys who did well. i felt disrespectful to them.

the racers -- and all of the people i encountered in fayetteville -- were simply amazing. it was shocking. people at the grocery store said "why don't you go ahead of me?" really? the people staying in the guest house on the property where my friends and i were staying turned out to be friends of a friend...and also incredibly nice. the other racers in my field (with one exception) were incredible. in fact, i bumped into one of them while crutching through the airport. genuinely good-hearted people.

i would have loved to bring home the yellow jersey and can honestly say that my crash was not motivated by reckless abandon. obviously, i took the corner too hot for the conditions. i think things might have been safer if we had started in the rain. conditions changed throughout the race. at some level, i might have let my guard down a bit on that slightly uphill turn as i was so focused on the two high-speed turns (tons of hay bales were a clue!). live and learn.

left off the most important piece (how did i leave anything out??) -- i was leading the GC in a stage race 8 weeks post-clavicle repair. hearing stuff like that from others inspires me, so i hope i might do the same for someone else. i'll also lean on it to fire myself up again sometime over the coming days/weeks, i'm sure.

i am quite upbeat headed into surgery and am grateful i had the chance to race this past weekend.

Oh Teton. So sorry.

Sorry about the crash,​ Tetonrider heal up fast.