Church Hill Road Race

The original plan for this course was a 10 mile loop with a 2 mile climb and fairly flat to downhill roads in between. Unfortunately, construction on a crucial bridge forced the organizers to change the road race into a 15 mile loop that included more climbing and less recovery. The morning of the race, the lead official found that one section of the alternate course had just been covered in an inch of pea gravel, forcing yet another change to the course that added yet another grueling climb up a tiny excuse for a road called “Scravel Road”. So instead of several hundred feet of climbing per lap, we were going to be doing well over 1600 feet per lap. This was going to hurt.

I didn’t sleep too well, and I didn’t eat enough for breakfast (scrambled eggs, toast, jam and OJ) – my stomach was empty when we were called to the line, and it was grumbling. Maybe it was just nerves. I was a little afraid of climbing and descending in the pack of over 30 women that gathered at the start. It’s always sketchy in the first climb when people of varying climbing abilities are going side to side, forward and backward. I lined up at the front near my GC competitors. They had their race faces on, because they weren’t very chatty in the roll-out. Meanwhile, I like to talk when I’m nervous, so my old teammate Laurey and I caught up while we waited to start. My teammate Jamie, in her pink leader's jersey for the cat4 women, pulled up next to me, and we had a few photo ops. I felt so proud to be wearing the maglia rosa! Finally, the whistle blew and we were off.

The first climb was less than 1k into the race, but it wasn’t too bad. Everyone made it up together and then there was a quick descent with a right turn into the finishing climb (we’d see it four times). This climb was about 500m long and about an 8% grade. We rounded the turn to see the fans and volunteers in the feed zone and … wha???? A crazy man dressed up like the Devil jumping up and down!!! Hahahahahahaha!!! It was my teammate Brad imitating the famous Il Diavolo that graces the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France. I almost did a spit-gag!

As we got further up the climb, I heard a few chains dropping and was glad to be near the front. Once over the top, Laurey took over for the decent, and led the pack on a 50mph roller coaster ride down to the bottom. A quick left onto a narrow, twisty country lane led to another climb that appeared tame at first, but then just before we reached the crest, we were directed to turn right onto the infamous, the horrible, the torturous Scravel Road. The grade went from maybe 6% to double that in a few feet once you made the turn. The road was narrow, and the pavement terrible. As we made the turn, I heard another chain drop and a loud curse. I was still really glad to be near the front. I rode a steady pace for the mile long climb, keeping in contact but not trying too hard to pass anyone. I knew it would be a long day of climbing, and didn’t want to use up too much too soon.

For the rest of the first lap, the selection continued on every climb. No one really had to attack, the course pretty much sorted out the riders by strength. By the time we got to Garfield, there were maybe a dozen women in the lead group. We caught the juniors, and they got mixed in with us for a while. I called out to the other women to sit up and let them ride away on the descent since they were only racing one lap. “Because the maglia rosa says so!” OK, the pink jersey in a puny omnium in Maryland doesn’t command the same respect as the patron of the pro peloton, but what the heck. Eventually the juniors rode away, and we got on with racing our own little race.

Past the feed zone and our friend the Devil, we dropped another rider as she threw her chain into her rear spokes and nearly ripped her derailleur off – guess she was looking for a gear she didn’t have… Again, over the top, Laurey led the descent at a furious pace. We made the turn onto Easterday, and continued flying down the narrow lane. I was right behind her, but backed off before the road made a sweeping right turn. Then, I watched in horror as a blue Jeep appeared on the left side of the road just as Laurey entered the turn. She saw it, locked up her brakes and somehow, miraculously, managed to narrowly avoid diving into the grill of the SUV, shooting past the fender and off the road into the brush. My heart stopped, then pounded like a jackhammer, but we had to keep racing. I knew there was nothing I could do except pray that she was OK.

Freaked out or not, this incident didn’t prevent anyone from racing, and Scravel road pared down our numbers even more on the second lap. When we turned off that road, there were only 8 of us. The rest of the race was a lesson in pain for me. On every climb, I started to feel worse. I would get tailed off a little on the climb and then the others would sit up after the crest. They could have dropped me 10 times if they had just pushed it a little more. I hung on for dear life. After the 3rd trip over Scravel Road, I was about 10 seconds back, and saw the lead three riders moving away from me. Then, the woman who almost broke her derailleur, Lisa Jellett (CTS) came powering past me with Cara Lagerblooom on her wheel. I jumped on the train, and we caught the leaders. My legs were two big wads of hurt at this point, and by the time we turned onto Garfield, I was popping off the back on the climbs again. I seriously contemplated turning onto the time trial course that would be a shortcut back to my car. I had to force myself to stay in the race by shame – what would it look like if the maglia rosa dropped out? I’d bring shame to the whole team! I gnashed my teeth and started up the climb past the road home.

I had some time to recover and plan my finish on the long descent back into town. I decided to try and stay on Aimee’s wheel because I thought she was a better climber than Kristy, and had had very good finishes in hilly road races. Coming into the small hill before the turn to the finish, I was in the perfect spot, glued to Aimee’s wheel while Kristy was next to me. We sped down the short descent toward the last turn, and I took the outside line while Lisa led Aimee and Kristy up the inside and jumped hard. I stood to respond and was instantly rewarded with huge cramps in my quads that forced me back into my seat. I watched the three others speed away up the hill, and tried desperately to catch up, to no avail. Andrea Dvorak, a stellar new road racer who had made the switch from Tri’s last year, came up on my left and we fought each other for the last few meters. She started to get away from me and I tried to stand again and the pain was so intense that I couldn’t help but howl out loud! I heard the cries of the women ahead, as each one passed the finish line, they all cried out in agony. Kristy had won it from Lisa, and Aimee had come in third. Andrea took 4th and I was 5th, while Cara came in just behind.

But this race was so incredible – the finish line/feed zone volunteers were immediately upon us offering bottles of water. My wonderful husband was there to walk me down the side road (I wasn’t ABOUT to finish climbing the hill!). This was the most intense pain I have ever felt on a bike – even worse than last weekend’s road race. I was happy just to have survived. I knew I had lost my leader's jersey to Kristy, but I felt like I had put in a respectable performance. I wasn't terribly disappointed. I then set out to cool down and try to find out what had happened to Laurey in her crash. I heard she went to the hospital with a broken collarbone, but was otherwise OK. As we waited around for a massage later, we heard that she had come back and nothing was broken at all!

NEXT: The Criterium