Submitted by Karen Brems on 11/25/09
Race # 5 of the Central Coast CX Series was at Manzanita Park in Prunedale. We raced race #1 here as well. I like this course - a little climbing, some sandy, technical turns, bumpy descent - a bit of everything. Finish is a gradual uphill pavement sprint of about 200-250m. Unusual for this race however was no dismounts at all. They removed the barrier before the run-up we had last time, making it rideable (although a bit of a grind!).
I am leading this series by quite a bit (Kerry missed 2 races!). Fields are a bit smaller than for the other series. I knew my main competition to be Kerry Barnholt (Scott-Ritchey), Stella Carey (Rock Lobster) and Gina Hall (Cal Giant). We had an uphill pavement start and I had a slight pedal fumble, but got to 3rd position by the top of the hill behind Kerry and Jill Fattor (Rock Lobster). Starts are still hard for me. I passed Jill on the first descent, but somewhere along the way, Stella passed me. There was another descent, some flat grass and then a section of technical turns where Kerry gapped the rest of us. It took me a while to get around Stella after the turns and I set off after Kerry. I made a huge effort on the uphill pavement at the end of the first lap and finally caught her wheel at the top and did my best to stay there.
It seemed like every set of turns, I would go into them right on Kerry's wheel and come out 4-5 bike lengths back and have to accelerate across the gap. By the end of the 2nd lap, she wanted me to take a turn pulling. I was pretty gassed, but I could see that Stella and Gina were not that far back and I wanted to stay away from them. I also though that it might actually be easier to take the turns at my pace instead of Kerry's! I pulled the 3rd lap and I did notice the Kerry was not quite on my wheel either coming out of the turns, so I think some (but not all!) of the difference was that being 2nd in a series of turns it just a little bit harder because you have to slow earlier and accelerate later.
Kerry led lap 4 and the start of the 5th and final lap. Now I started to think about the end game. I figured my only chance to beat her was in the sprint and that finish was suited to me. I had beaten her in that same finish in the first race in a sprint for 2nd (the only time all year I have beaten her!). The last turn before the finish was loose and tricky and you had to really slow for it. I wanted to try to lead there, which meant I had to lead the last technical turn section before it where Kerry usually gapped me. I came around Kerry in the grass before the series of turns. She sensed my plan however and did not like it. We basically sprinted for that turn, but I was inside and got through it first. Then we came to the section of 3 turns up and down the side of a small berm. There was a lapped rider standing in the middle of the first uphill turn. I hesitated for just a second deciding whether to go left or right of her and in that hesitation, Kerry came around on my inside. We both got around the lapped rider but after the 3rd turn, Kerry again had a gap on me. I clawed my way back to her wheel on the on the steep ride-up. I thought the sprint was long enough that I still had a chance even coming out of the last turn in 2nd.
On all the other laps, I had shifted down quite a bit before the last turn since I had to slow so much, and I got bogged down coming out of it. I did this on the last lap as well, but that was a mistake as then I had to shift up a couple of gears to really get up to speed in my sprint. I was still on Kerry's wheel, but she was moving fast. I still thought I had enough time and started to come around on the right. I got to where my bars were only a few inches behind hers with still 20m to go or so, but there was a lapped rider on our left and Kerry moved right, which effectively shut the door on me. That was it and she took the win and I was 2nd. Stella took 3rd. I felt kind of bad about getting beaten in a sprint, but on the other hand I felt good about being able to stay with Kerry, and it made for a fun and exciting race!
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