[Race Report] Wheels of Thunder criterium

Life has been a whirlwind lately, and I owe a number of race reports. First, the Wheels of Thunder criterium at Flatrock training center:

Wheels of Thunder was my first criterium ever three years ago. It was on a completely different course, long (for a crit) and hilly but not with super hard corners. It eventually was changed to a circuit race due to the length of the route, which, if I remember correctly, was about 1.6 miles.

This year, I guess some issues came about with the course and they changed to a police training center track. We often train on a police training course in Golden on top of a mountain and my experience with such is that the roads are smooth, the corners are not much to speak of, and the race is consequently very very fast. 

As we set out to the course that morning, it was sprinkling rain and about 60 degrees. I threw on my long sleeve jersey thinking I was very surprised I needed it, but glad I had it. We arrived and started setting up trainers under Sue’s tent, which was nice to keep us dry while warming up! Eventually, the rain subsided which was nice but the roads were still wet, so we let about 20 psi out of our tires to increase our grip on the road.

Soon enough, we were taking warm up laps of the course after the juniors’ race was over. One side was a smooth and sweeping corner and the other was two surprisingly sharp left hand turns up a punchy bit of a hill. I thought to myself  “ooph, this is not going to be a great race for me if I have to keep dragging myself up this hill.”

We were in a group of varying levels – some seasoned riders and some first timers.  I think people we a little worried about the wet roads. In general, people struggled to hold on to the wheels in front of them (they were very easy to snag) and a little squirrely at times. We spent two laps going very slowly until people got bored and the speed drastically picked up.

Coming in to the first sharp left up the hill, I immediately understood that these two corners were not going to be fun. With varying strengths and technical abilities, some people surged through these. Some people fell back. Some people had terrible lines. Some had good ones. Brakes were over used, but we made it threw it every time.

We had two primes in this race (intermediate sprint laps)which was a lot for our fields. Sue took the first one with a fast, impressive attack around the first of the sharp lefts. I lined up to try to take the second one from a similar place, but another rider attacked with a half lap to the line. It was a seriously impressive effort. I jumped as she came up on our left, I chased her down with another teammate, but there was no hope of catching her as I was reacting to a strong attack she had already executed very well.

With 4 laps to go, and no more primes, our team began to drive the pace.  We tried to send flyers off for my friend Erin who is really gunning for podiums for the rest of the season. With two laps to go, I caught Erin’s eye – holding about the same position 1 wheel back from either side of the pack and we came around the group at a fast pace, opening up a small gap – just a few bike lengths. We couldn’t hold it, but definitely it amped up the energy of the race.

We came through the line with one lap to go with good positioning. We swung through the final turn to the back half of the course and Sue took off dragging a train up to the first left hand turn, leading out Erin for her goal. Seeing them coming, I immediately hit the gas hard to grab on. I figured I’d either hop on and be able to sprint, or lose it but create a gap for everyone else making it harder for them to catch Erin because they’d have to put in an additional sprint to close the gap. Plus, I’d come out of no where, with the train sliding up the field on the left, and me coming from the right, gapping and cutting out in front of the group. Heading up to the turn I looked ahead – two category 4s (my category), two master’s women. I snuck a peak behind me through my left arm, hanging on to the wheel in front of me – and there was a gap! I was in a 5-woman train, with only two people in my category. I was on the podium.

As we swung into the first left, I knew the only way I would gain any advantage here was having a clear line in front of me with no braking. The group was starting to catch but I powered through. As we came through the last left I shifted, and was up and out of the saddle, powering through the end of the hill, preparing for the downhill sprint. My breathing was labored, as I was gasping for air and determined to hold the very small gap I had managed to maintain.

I’d held it! I held the gap and secured my spot on the podium. It was a surreal moment and I couldn’t believe it. 4^th in the pack sprint (as Sue had swung out to let Erin and me sprint) and 3^rd in my field!

I’ve thought long and hard about what was different – and while I know I’ve gotten stronger and been working hard, I think I also have allowed myself to be a more aggressive rider, less afraid of “what is going to happen” and just letting it happen.