The Dirt Field

The Race: Speed Week NCC Belmont Criterium
The Course: 25 miles, one long climb through the start/finish and descending the rest of the time
The Field: 1/2 women
The Finish: Strong! 5th, 6th, 9th

Belmont was a new addition to Speed Week and offered a great course with a long climb set in a cute town. Team Colavita’s goal was to work together better as a team throughout the race and play off each other strategically. The race started in the middle of the climb and after the initial surge, I settled in near the front of the field. After a handful of laps, Starla Teddergreen attacked following a prime and Jen and Jamie jumped on it. It was a perfect response and a promising break. When Teresa Cliff-Ryan jumped to join it, I knew it would hold until the end. A lap or two later, another rider (Whitney Schultz) attacked to bridge and I got on her wheel for the ride. Sara Clafferty joined us and I sat on them while they tried to bridge to the front group. They started to slow down after a while so I attacked and established a small gap, but after working hard alone for a number of laps and not making any progress in catching the leaders, I sat up and rejoined the two of them. The three of us circled the course and I did some courtesy pulls until I heard that our riders from the front group had been separated and were in their own group, at which point I started taking more regular rotations.

As the race neared the end, I heard from the announcer that the front group had lapped the field and was back in the main bunch. Beth Newell had been dangling between our break and the field, and finally caught on to make us a group of four. Since I knew we weren’t going to end up lapping the field, I stopped working and sat on the back of our group while the three of them took pulls. I sprinted to pick up the remaining points for the 5-to-go points prime and then settled back in to wait until the end. At one to go, Whitney led up the climb with me on her wheel and then pulled off. I panicked a little: was it better to get on the front at a dangerously late time or let the pace drop while we played cat-and-mouse and risk the field swallowing us up? I got on the front and planned to make a move going into the final turns, but just as we approached the second to last corner, Whitney blew past me with Sara on her wheel. Now sitting third wheel, I braced to jump hard for the sprint after the last turn. It still could have worked out, but just before the last corner, a guy crossed the course with his bike. Whitney and Sara yelled at him but made it through without interference and I should have been able to do the same, but instead I lost my focus for a moment and blew the corner. Shaved off too much speed and then took a more sweeping line up to the finish, ending up 3rd out of our break for 9th overall. I was furious at myself – how could I ride a smart race and then blow it at the end with a series of stupid mistakes??? Of course I burst into tears, because DUH. [In my defense, I was tired. A beer later, I was back to being all smiles.]

Back in the rest of the race, Jamie and Jen had worked their butts off to follow the lead group in lapping the field and were in it for the final sprint. That resulted in us picking up 5th and 6th overall. It was an excellent race – active, exciting, and a great show of teamwork – and while I was disappointed by my own failure at the end, it was awesome to see how things came together for the team. Now to carry that momentum through to the last race of the week at Sandy Springs…