Race Report

Saturday was the big day! The night before, we had already loaded our bikes and trainers. We climbed into the vans with our race gear at 6am and headed north to a little town called Murrieta to compete in Stage 2, the road race, of the Tour of Murrieta. http://tourofmurrieta.californiabicycleracing.org/
The Women were all at one start time: 9:15am. All the girls on the Resident Team were racing as Cat. 3 but we still were going to give all the Cat 1, 2, & 4's a good race! All the guys on the Resident Team were Cat. 3's also...and they raced at 11am so they were able to see us start and cheer a bit as we road by.
We started right on time and headed out for 40 treacherous miles through mud, water, potholes, slick roads, rocks, and rain! The course was 3 loops of 13.4 miles and there was a prime on the 2nd lap...but it was only for points in the GC so none of the triathletes bothered to sprint. All was going smooth during lap 1 & 2...the large pack was getting smaller thanks to a few sprints up some hills.
Speaking of hills, the course was GREAT! It was relatively easy for a chick from Florida who stinks at climbing hills...they were very small, gradual, and followed by a sufficient down hill that if I had fallen off the back, I could have caught up in no time at all.
But there was never any need to 'catch up' because I think we spent most of the 'race' averaging 15-17mph! The hardest we worked was up the hills and we we braking on 90% of the descents! My brakes almost need new pads:)
Back to the race course conditions...I have never heard 'HOLE' yelled so often! It was like riding through a mine field...2 miles into the race and I was thanking myself for pumping my tires to max pressure because I would have flatted 10 times over if they were remotely low! Another common sound was 'SLOWING'...I hate to admit it but the few road races that I have competed in as a women are a JOKE...no one wants to go fast, or pull, or work hard, or do anything but chill until the last 400 yards and then sprint their butts off! 'MUD' was a common occurrence...the roads had rivers of mud and water crossing them every few feet so not only was it treacherous to ride...I got mud splattered on to EVERY part of my body, including mouth (very crunchy) and I was not enjoying riding directly behind other chick's wheels!
Back to the race...the first 2 laps were uneventful...all 5 girls on the Resident team were still in the lead pack. With 1/2 a lap to go, there was a big crash behind me and when I was able to look around, I couldn't find 2 of my teammates in the group. At this point, I could see Sarah Haskins and Kelsey Withrow still riding near me...but Jasmie Oeinck and Rebecca Wassner were missing. I thought "I hope they are OK, and if they don't show up at the finish a few minutes behind me...I'll send out the ambulance!"
2-3miles to go and we are still slowing down...it's getting a little ridiculous so Sarah Haskins and I move to the front and start rotating to pick up the pace. Kelsey was suposed to jump in the rotation with us but she was unable to get to the front (we were not allowed to cross the center line and the roads were very narrow). With 1/2 mile to go, other chicks started moving to the front to jockey for position...and I can only say 'thank goodness' I was already at the front because as the sprint started...there was a HUGE CRASH behind and to the left of me. I was in a good finishing position so I just kept on sprinting! I crossed the line in 4th...and ended up being 1st Cat. 3 woman! It was a pretty decent finish considering I was pulling the whole time to the sprint! (Note to riders...safest place in the pack is AT THE FRONT!!)
As soon as I finished...I turned around with Sarah H...and we raced back to the area that they crash happened...it was our teammate Kelsey...she went down hard and was being loaded into the ambulance. Jasmine ended up finished just a few places back after her crash earlier in the race...she landed soft (thanks to the chick she landed ON) and was able to hop up and keep riding. Rebecca also went down and mangled her front brake so she didn't finish the race. At the end of the day, we picked Kelsey up from the hospital...she was good to go with the only injuries being some minor road rash and a slight concussion. (The main damage was too her front wheel where 5 spokes broke!)
I had a great time in the race, the weather was fun, the conditions were memorable, and my teammates are a tough group of girls!