March 6-8, 2009 - Tucson, AZ - The Webcor duo of Janel and Rebecca went to Tucson for some early season racing in good weather at the 3-day Tucson Bicycle Classic. They had a great time and took 1st and 3rd overall!
Here is Janel's report:
This past weekend, Rebecca Much and Janel Holcomb descended upon Tucson, AZ to represent Webcor Builders in the 23rd Tucson Bicycle Classic. The 3-day stage race consisted of a short time trial (TT) on Friday, a 60-mile road race (RR) on Saturday, and a 39-mile circuit race (CR) on Sunday.
On Friday, 22 women took to the start of the 3-mile TT. It was a gorgeous course! Downhill for the first half, the course then gradually worked its way up, winding through cacti, toward the desert mountains. A great place to see a sunset, and a very cool place to have a TT! As with any TT, you may feel generally good or bad about your efforts once you've finished, but you never really, truly know how to feel until you hear the results. Back at Rebecca's after the race, we had eaten, grocery shopped, eaten (again!) and finally got the call... I finished in 2nd place, 4 seconds behind the Tucson-TT-specialist, Melissa McWhirter (Veloforma), and Rebecca was 3rd, only one second further behind. Not too shabby, but we went into the RR anxious to take over the lead.
Saturday was a bright and early morn; we were up and heading to the course before 5:30am. Our race started before sunrise and, had we not been racing, I'm sure we would have loved it! The course was a 20-mile loop, starting with a 5-mile gradual drag up a 2% climb. After that, the course rolled through the hills (again, gorgeous!) for 5-8 miles before heading back into town on a straight, slightly downhill road with a right hand turn about 600m from the finish line. We did three laps... On lap 1, there was a time bonus sprint. We planned to go for it, launching Rebecca early, then me, so hopefully one of us got closer to being in the "virtual" leader's jersey. Well, it turned out that only five miles into the race, at a sprint line we couldn't find, our legs (and brains?!) were still asleep. Rebecca had a good go for it with three other riders, but the 10 and 5 seconds were swept up by two other women further down on General Classification (GC). When we hit the rollers on lap two, it was time to animate the race. Rebecca and I traded attacks in excellent style, got some distance on the pack a number of times, but the pack had us marked and things always came back together. The third lap was similar, maybe even a few more promising breaks, but nothing stuck. Coming into the final eight miles, it was team meeting time; we made an on-the-road decision that one of us should attack at the turn before the finish, draw out the antsy riders, and the other one of us would capitalize on the pack action and go for the win if the pack did, in fact, react. Who was going to make the first move? Well, we were both feeling fine, so we figured whoever had the better position would attack first. When it came time for the finish, a hole opened up on the right side of the road as people started to watch each other, so I made the move; at first I was thinking the pack would catch (it was a long way to the line!), but soon realized they weren't. So, I sprinted, sprinted, sprinted, and, just at the last moment, Joelle Numainville of Team Kenda Tire came around. Rebecca finished 8th, holding on to 3rd place in GC, and my 2nd place in the RR gave me a 10-second bonus, which meant I had taken over the yellow jersey.
Sunday was even earlier, a little chillier, but even more fun. Since Rebecca was only 5 seconds behind 2nd place McWhirter, we had multiple approaches to Sunday's circuit race. Our plan was to get Rebecca some bonus time at the intermediate sprint and the finish, perhaps moving her into 2nd or 1st in GC, or even go for a break that would move her into the race lead. The next layer to our plan was to defend the leader's jersey. If we could do a combination of all these things, why not?! :) To defend our lead, we primarily needed to watch McWhirter, her teammate, and seven women from the Specialized Design for Women Team (they held 4th place on GC, not too far behind). The course was really quite fun – lots of rollers on the first half of the course, narrow roads that twisted and turned, and a sprint finish that was slightly uphill – a great course to play and control things on. Play and control, we did! For nearly half of every lap, I stayed on front to keep an eye on things, control part of the road, and set pace if it got too slow; the pack seemed content to let me pull them along for the most part. And, all the while, Rebecca kept an eye on things and chased down anyone who tried to make a move. The intermediate sprint didn't quite go our way, but we were very happy to let Joelle take the 10 bonus seconds, and Chloe Forsman (pro mountain biker for Luna) take 5 seconds because they weren't GC threats. Rebecca and I continued to cover moves, pull the race along, and keep control of things, knowing that Rebecca still had a chance at time bonuses at the finish, but I couldn't let McWhirter or Sborz (Specialized) get time bonuses there. Specialized and Veloforma tried to get away and tire us out, but we managed to hold things together. On the final lap, I was up front for the first two miles and Rebecca took control as we approached the descent. Rebecca kept the pace high enough to neurtalize attacks and help me stay in good position. As we came toward the final kilometer, the attacks started in earnest and, after I chased down the first big attack at 300 meters, the sprint was on with a drag race between Rebecca, Joelle, and Chloe. Rebecca took 3rd, picking up 5 seconds, and I finished in 4th. Rebecca's bonus seconds TIED her with Melissa McWhirter for time, but she needed one more second (or a higher placing in the RR) to pass her in GC.
So, it was a very fun and successful weekend for our Webcor Builders team of two! We had a blast, took home the overall win and 3rd place, plus multiple top-3 placings in each stage. We're excited for team camp to start next week so we can get ready for a full Webcor representation at Redlands!!