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An interesting race report
Fri, 10/28/2005 - 1:15pm
I'm not interested in being a "tatle tale" so I protected the "innocent", but here's an interesting report:
Sea Otter - Circuit Race --
I think that all the auto racing on the Laguna Seca race track has pushed the pavement up higher on the climb than it was last year. Other than that, I had a great weekend of racing at Sea Otter. The circuit race was fast but I stayed with the pack longer than last year. I saw hanging on with the lead pack also. I think she hung on until the fourth lap or so. A few of us then formed a little chase group just behind the lead pack. We picked up a few riders as the laps ticked off. On the last lap, there were eight of us. When we hit the windy side, I saw up ahead off to the right. As we passed I saw it was , a new Cat 4 teammember in her first year of racing. I yelled encouragement and then focused on trying to get in second position for the last stretches before the finish. In the second to last turn, I was second wheel and feeling good. The problem was that the woman on the front faded in the last straight stretch before the last turn. As she faded, riders came up on the right and left of me and boxed me in. I was now in a really bad position and had no choice but to drop to the back and hope that I could come up the outside and find a wheel. We were now half way to the last turn. Just as I reached the back of the pack I heard this voice say "Just tell me when you want me to go." It was . She had chased onto our group and had pulled out into the wind to give me her wheel. I jumped onto it and yelled "Now, go now." Boy, did she ever. I had a hard time holding her wheel as we raced to the last turn. We hit the last turn off the front. was giving it her all. I kept yelling. "Go , go! We've got it! Just put your head down and go!" I saw the finish line approaching and told her I was coming around. I came around and saw no one on my wheel. What an awesome leadout! No prior practice, no prior experience and it went like clockwork! What a great feeling!
As the women's team captains of Revolution Racing (f/k/a McGuire Cycling), we felt it important to respond to this posting, which questions the integrity of one of our riders, and ultimately questions the integrity of our team. Revolution Racing prides itself on the quality of its riders, both on and off the bike. Sportsmanship and fair play are extremely important values to our riders, and hopefully to all riders in the peloton. The tactics discussed in this race report are not only legal, but smart. If a rider ever feels that the behavior of one of our team members or any other rider in the peloton is inappropriate or unsportsmanlike, the matter should be addressed immediately after the race with an official. As an interesting coincidence, just a few weeks ago, the women on the team voted Laurie the team's best sportswoman of the season. Uncanny, but true.
Julie and Monique
Revolution Racing Women's Captains
This was my "interesting" race report. Just for context, this was a women's Cat 4 race where I finished 13th, well behind the winners. I gained no points, no prizes - not even a kiss on the cheek by a poduim girl. While I appreciate that "tattle tale" wanted to bring attention to what he or she thought was a violation of the rules, I wish that he or she would have contacted me rather than posing to a discussion group as he or she obviously knew who I was. I hope that I'm an approachable rider and I hope that if another rider feels that I've made a mistake in a race that he or she will tell me. In this case, I was allowed to work with my teammate without violating the rules.
One thing most people don't realize is there isn't any such creature as a circuit race under the rules. A race is either a Criterium, for laps of up to 3 miles, or a road race, for laps over 3 miles. In Crits lapped riders can work with riders on different laps while in road races lapped riders can't work with people on a different lap. since the Sea Otter course is less than 3 miles technically it is considered a Crit so riders on different laps can work together.
Another difference between Crits and road races is that all riders finish on the same lap as the leader in a crit while in a road race riders must complete the entire distance to get an official finish ( unless the Chief Ref excuses riders from completing the distance).