SoCal State Champs Race Report

Bakersfield, CA – Sunday May 11^th

7^th (ugh)

62 miles over a 31 mile loop.  Only one climb which, in actuality, was only about 3 miles long and probably around 5%.  Otherwise, start/finish to false flat uphill for 2-3 miles, gradual descent, climb starts around mile 12, switchback descent, the flat for the last 12 miles or so.

The goal here was to be aggressive.  I started attacking at mile 7.  Mostly just little jumps to mix things up.  But….NOTHING happened.  Most of the race was me, Lana of Rock Racing, Ruth of Simple Green, and Morgan of SouthBay.  Bicycle John’s, SDBC, Helen’s, and Banning’s were very smart throughout the race and kept everything in their pants until the end.  I have to say the race was a bit frustrating.  I kept trying to jump, but would quickly get brought in and only a few of us were doing work to bring back other things.  Of course, if I were smarter I’d sit and let other people do the work, but I really wanted something to stick so it didn’t come down to a group sprint (there were TONNES of sprinters in the group).  The climb wasn’t significant enough to separate the group at all and the descent allowed anyone who was dropped to easily catch back on.

In the end, it came down to a group sprint, with super-sprinter Rachel of BJs easily taking it thanks, in part, to a great leadout from Anna.  I was in the middle of it, but didn’t have the pop that the other women did and ended up taking 7^th.  Overall, lessons were learned and I’ll try and implement some of them at Kern County this weekend.