BOA Wilmington Grand Prix
Hello All,
The Wilmington Grand Prix NRC crit was a success that we had been gunning for. For those who have never seen the course, it is 8/10ths of a mile long and has 4 corners with one of them being very tight and goes from two lanes down to just one through the last corner. The start finish stretch is uphill, and back stretch is downhill. There were rough patches of pavement, some cobblestone and brick, and man hole covers located in the corners. It was a race that could have been dangerous, but no one went down. Now on to the details of the race!
The race started at 3pm and we had to race 30 miles (37 laps). There were about 60 women at the start line, and there were 3 of us (Holli, Laura, Rachel). Gina was still recovering from her crash in Speed Week, so she could not come. On the first lap I launch an attack to get things going, and from there I launch a few more and got away with an Advil and a Kelly Benefits rider. We get a good gap, but the Advil rider was told to sit up, and that meant the end of our breakaway. Once we were swallowed up by the group, I set the temp on the front. I manage to keep the race pretty single file until Jenn McRae and Laura Van Guilder attack. This causes me to finally crack, but we put a rider into the breakaway (Laura). Holli did a great job getting Laura into the break. She rode right behind Laura then eased off the pedals to give Laura a gap. By this point Laura was gone and there was nothing the peleton could do about it, and she bridged up to Van Guilder and McRae. Laura got a flat early on in the breakaway, but recovered and hung well and worked hard in the breakaway. Bill did a super fast wheel change and a very fast shove back into the race. Meanwhile, in the main group, Holli was sitting in and keeping her legs fresh in case the breakaway did not succeed. I ease up and get lapped by the field, and with three laps to go I had to take another hard pull to keep the breakaway from lapping us. We did not want them to lap us because the Advil rider (Jenn McRae) had five teammates in the main group. A successful lapping would have meant an increased chance that McRae would have won. In the last lap the three breakaway riders try various tactics on one another in order to win the sprint, but Laura is a very experienced track rider, and knew what to do. She let Van Guilder and McRae start the sprint, then Laura comes charging past them in the last 100 meters to take a convincing win! Holli was 4th in the group sprint which put her 7th overall in the race. I finish 30th. The race was a team success, and we were able to dictate the pace from start to finish. We are excited for Laura's win, and I feel very proud to be a part of something so great. Our first NRC victory!
Next weekend we have 3 races. On the 24th is Bike Jam/Kelly Cup, on the 25th is Hub Racing's RFK crit, and on the 26th is the Tour of Summerville. We are looking to have more success there. In Wilmington we showed that we are capable of being up there, and we are going to race hard and smart to net some more victories. Gina will be joining us again. She has been able to get back on the bike and train. We are glad to have our 4th teammate back at the races with us!
Check back soon to read our director's take (Bill) on the Wilmington race.
Thanks for reading,
Rachel
The Wilmington Grand Prix NRC crit was a success that we had been gunning for. For those who have never seen the course, it is 8/10ths of a mile long and has 4 corners with one of them being very tight and goes from two lanes down to just one through the last corner. The start finish stretch is uphill, and back stretch is downhill. There were rough patches of pavement, some cobblestone and brick, and man hole covers located in the corners. It was a race that could have been dangerous, but no one went down. Now on to the details of the race!
The race started at 3pm and we had to race 30 miles (37 laps). There were about 60 women at the start line, and there were 3 of us (Holli, Laura, Rachel). Gina was still recovering from her crash in Speed Week, so she could not come. On the first lap I launch an attack to get things going, and from there I launch a few more and got away with an Advil and a Kelly Benefits rider. We get a good gap, but the Advil rider was told to sit up, and that meant the end of our breakaway. Once we were swallowed up by the group, I set the temp on the front. I manage to keep the race pretty single file until Jenn McRae and Laura Van Guilder attack. This causes me to finally crack, but we put a rider into the breakaway (Laura). Holli did a great job getting Laura into the break. She rode right behind Laura then eased off the pedals to give Laura a gap. By this point Laura was gone and there was nothing the peleton could do about it, and she bridged up to Van Guilder and McRae. Laura got a flat early on in the breakaway, but recovered and hung well and worked hard in the breakaway. Bill did a super fast wheel change and a very fast shove back into the race. Meanwhile, in the main group, Holli was sitting in and keeping her legs fresh in case the breakaway did not succeed. I ease up and get lapped by the field, and with three laps to go I had to take another hard pull to keep the breakaway from lapping us. We did not want them to lap us because the Advil rider (Jenn McRae) had five teammates in the main group. A successful lapping would have meant an increased chance that McRae would have won. In the last lap the three breakaway riders try various tactics on one another in order to win the sprint, but Laura is a very experienced track rider, and knew what to do. She let Van Guilder and McRae start the sprint, then Laura comes charging past them in the last 100 meters to take a convincing win! Holli was 4th in the group sprint which put her 7th overall in the race. I finish 30th. The race was a team success, and we were able to dictate the pace from start to finish. We are excited for Laura's win, and I feel very proud to be a part of something so great. Our first NRC victory!
Next weekend we have 3 races. On the 24th is Bike Jam/Kelly Cup, on the 25th is Hub Racing's RFK crit, and on the 26th is the Tour of Summerville. We are looking to have more success there. In Wilmington we showed that we are capable of being up there, and we are going to race hard and smart to net some more victories. Gina will be joining us again. She has been able to get back on the bike and train. We are glad to have our 4th teammate back at the races with us!
Check back soon to read our director's take (Bill) on the Wilmington race.
Thanks for reading,
Rachel
posted by Juice Plus+ @ 3:40 PM
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