Subaru French Broad Cycling Classic Omnium Asheville, North Carolina

Canton Papertown Association Road Race

Last year I raced this course in a positive monsoon. It can’t possible be as bad as that, I kept telling myself. Our race was at 1:50pm, and by the time I rolled to the line, it was over 90 degrees outside. I was really glad my husband had raced in the morning and would be in the feed zone for me. This was gonna hurt. I looked around the start and saw a lot more women than had done the time trial, and guess who’s here, and with fresh legs? Iona Wynter, an Olympic Triathlete and super strong road racer. This was really gonna hurt. I’m a decent climber, but she is stellar.

The first two miles were neutral, but even after we officially started racing, the group rolled along at a steady tempo. I kept a wary eye on Alison and watched out for attacks from Candice, who is famous for attacking early. We made it through the feed zone before anyone started racing, and everything was still together when we hit the first climb. I focused on holding a good position on the climb, but conserving my energy for the rest of the 52 miles and several thousand feet of climbing to come. I was mid-pack when we hit the first descent and Candice went. She is a fearless descender, and she flew away down the hill. I am not so fearless, and I struggled to maintain contact with the pack. When we got to the bottom and made the turn, I was in a chase group of 5 desperately trying to regain the front group. It took us miles, and I was sure I wouldn’t make it. I was dying, and there were probably 15 girls up the road.

We chased hard up the second climb, and were getting closer when the lead pack sat up and we all jumped on. I moved my way up through the bunch for the descent, but was quickly shuffled backwards on the twisty, fast downhill, (damn and blast! I suck at descents!). A group was off the front, but I couldn’t see who or how many when we hit the third and most difficult climb. I was still in dismal spirits on the first part of the climb, sure that I’d been dropped for good and contemplating dropping out when I looked up and saw some girls crawling up the hill not too far ahead. I picked up the pace, and started passing them one by one. On the short descent, I felt the fear start to vanish, and bombed it. On the super-tough second part of the hill, I picked up two more women who jumped onto my wheel. We came to the steepest part of the climb, a nasty switchback at about 10%. At the middle of the switchback, there were two ladies in lawnchairs ringing cowbells and cheering us on, and then just around the bend was a car full of guys cheering like crazy! It was pretty funny – a nice distraction from the pain.
I asked the other two how many were up the road, and they said three. Well! That was a bit better! I knew Candice and Iona were up there, and I assumed Alison was, too. The strongest riders in the bunch were up the road together, and I was not optimistic that we would catch them, but at least I wasn’t 20th on the road or something.

The three of us worked together on the flat section, and just before the feed zone, a group of four bridged up to us. Our group of 7 worked steadily together for the second lap, but at every intersection, the marshalls were giving us ever increasing time splits to the break. 1:20…2:00….2:45…. I stopped listening. I focused on conserving my energy, eating and drinking often, and biding my time. On the third lap, no one attacked, it was as if we were all just happy to survive to finish. I let the others dictate the tempo on the first climb, and just sat in. On the second hill, Jodi Kosinski started to set a high tempo, and then backed off. Not willing to give anyone too much rest, I took over and pushed some more before backing off. Marianne Holt came to the front and had several of the girls gasping before we crested the second climb, and then we bombed the twisty descent and made the final right hand turn to the last wicked climb all together.

I hate field sprints, but I hate sprinting even more at the end of a long, hard, hilly road race. This was my third omnium in a month, the third hilly road race, and the other two ended up with me getting spanked in a sprint. I did NOT want to suffer like that again. As we hit the first section of the climb, I went to the front and pushed the pace to about 98% of my max, testing the waters. I looked back and saw I had a gap of a bike length or so. I continued to push, and stole another peek back – the gap was a bit bigger! I got out of the saddle, gave it just a little more gas, and pushed hard over the top and down the short descent and up to the brutal steep switchbacks. The ladies rang their cowbells and cheered again, and as I made the turn up the switchback, I could see the rest of the group struggling up the lower portion of the climb. Now I really had to do or die. I kept telling myself to get far enough ahead before the end of the climb so I wouldn’t be in sight – there was still 3 or 4 miles after the crest before the finish, and I needed to be out of sight, out of mind. I passed a guy from another field who was walking his bike up the climb (ouch) – he gave me a cheer, and I pushed a little harder. Damn this climb was long! I was suffering, but I knew the others were suffering, too, and I had to get a bigger lead.

Finally, I hit the crest, the sweat drenching my jersey felt cool as I picked up speed. I tucked low and fought off the urge to feather the brakes on the descent. I ducked to the side of the road to hide myself from view, and took a peek behind before I dove into the next bend – outta sight. I made the final left into the finishing straight, and began telling myself to time trial. I looked back at 1 mile to go, and could see a chase of three about 30 seconds behind and looking very determined. “No way! I will NOT get caught!” I told myself, and I begged my legs to give it a little more. Finally, I hit the bridge at 500m to go and knew I had it. I had enough time to sit up and give the thumbs-up to my friend Eric who was at the finish. Best of the rest again, but at least I didn't have to sprint for it! I did some more math. Iona had won, Candice had taken second. I could hold onto either a tie for second or third place if I finished ahead of the right people in the crit. I knew I didn't stand a chance against Iona - the crit course had a big long hill in it. I couldn't realistically overtake Candice on the GC unless I got away and she finished 10 places back - highly unlikely. Since Alison wasn't doing the crit, all I had to do was hang on and I could get 3rd overall. So why was I so incredibly nervous?

Next: The Criterium