I rolled up to the line with a bit of anxiety as usual. My legs were stiff from the car ride that
began my day at 4:30am, and my lack of a decent warm up. It had been sprinkling the whole way to
Frankenmuth (well at least as much as I could see, as my eyes were closed for a
least half of the ride), and didn’t look like that was going to change anytime
soon. It was (my teammate and little
sister) Lori Hotchkin’s first race as a category 3 rider and our first race
together in the same field. So much fun
to have a family member fully understand the sport of cycling and all the weird
idiosyncrasies that go along with it.
And even more fun to have her race in the same field as me.
Anyway, I had a whole 3 minute warmup prior to the race, so
I wanted to start off by leading the group and controlling the pace to make
sure I could get my legs warm before the attacking began. Turns out that was a smart idea, because I
was able to keep the pace where I wanted it, and managed to ward off any crazy
early attacking. It’s possible this was
beneficial to everyone, since it’s always a bit hard to get in a good warmup
before these events.
Looking around, there was a decent sized field of 16 women
ready to race. The Fusion Cycling Team
had 5 women racing, Priority Health had 3, and there were a few one’s and
twosies from various other teams as well.
From past experience with this race and the lack of hills or anything
conducive to group separation, I went into this race expecting it would end in
a field sprint finish. Since it was
Lori’s first race in with the 1/2/3 group, I advised her to take more of an
observational role. Sit in, watch what
the teams are doing, sit back, relax, and enjoy your first 1/2/3 race – no pressure.
The Fusion Cycling Team launched attack after attack the
first lap of the race. All attacks were
covered very quickly. During one of the
first few attacks and chases, there was a crash behind me. It sounded like several riders were
involved. I hate that sound. I was worried that Lori might have gotten
caught up in it, but couldn’t look back.
I called her name and she quickly responded saying she was still there. Whew!
So we rolled on hoping everyone was ok.
A few times people
just rolled off the front, and created a bit of a gap, but it seemed as soon as
anyone noticed any sort of separation, the gap was closed. Then there was another crash later on the
first lap. Sarah Demerly of Fusion
Cycling had launched a strong attack, which was quickly covered by Chelsea
Clark of Priority Health. Unfortunately
something happened, and Chelsea was down in a blink of an eye. Everyone managed to get around her and her
loose water bottles safely. I was hoping
Chelsea was ok. She’s a strong rider/sprinter. After breaking her wrist last year, and
losing the last bit of the season, I know she is raring to go and ready to kill
it this year. Looking forward to racing
with her.
With at least 2 riders down at this point, the sprinkling of
rain, and constant spray of road debris in your eyes, it was pretty hard to see
and everyone seemed to be a bit more cautious.
Finishing out lap number one through town, I made sure to
scope out the finish. I remember it
being somewhat difficult to spot the finish line last year, and wanted to make
sure I had a mental image to gauge my sprint in the end. Finish line noted, and yes, it is a long,
slightly downhill finishing stretch, just as I had remembered. It’s one of the reasons I come back to this
race every year. That sprint is the
best!
The town of Frankenmuth is so friendly to racers and
spectators. The eateries and touristy
shops are all open and welcome the influx of people. Unlike Criteriums, road races typically
aren’t the most fun for race spectators, but having a cute little town like
Frankenmuth keeps everyone entertained while they anticipate their racers
coming down the finishing straight.
They also have the dog parade, and that’s always cute. J
The 2nd lap was more of the same. Attack/Chase/Attack/Chase. It seemed that none of the attacks would
stick. Our overall pace wasn’t very
high, so everyone seemed to have the energy to chase. What we needed was the right combination of
riders, a willingness to work together, and a weaker peloton. Perhaps the overall caliber of the group was
just too strong to let it happen, or the attacks were placed too far apart and
no one was really getting too tired out.
It seemed that everyone was ok with it ending in a field sprint. Teams seemed to be switching gears and
preparing their strategies for the sprint.
The 3rd lap was just more riding and conserving
for the sprint. Unfortunately, no one
felt like putting themselves at the front, because everyone was in conservation
mode. A new rider to the cat 3 group,
Kristen Jukowski of Cadieux Cycling had taken several long pulls at the front
throughout the race. No doubt she is a
strong rider as I have seen her race in the cat 4 field and she is often found
off the front soloing it to the finish line for the majority of the race. I’m excited to see how her season turns out
as well. I think she’ll do well and will
enjoy the challenge this group brings.
As we took the last right hand turn towards town, I was
expecting a big wind up to the finish, but we were all bunched up from yellow
line to road edge, and it felt like we were barely moving. As soon as the road opened up a bit, people
started scrambling - trying to find the wheel they had intended to take to the
line. I felt a sense of urgency. Lori was on the other side of the road, and I
didn’t think I could get to her, nor her to me.
It was way too late to line up – note:
get that together much earlier next time. I was close to the center line, and was
worried about crossing it, so I followed a wheel (I think it was Dori Leib’s,
but it might have been Danielle Mullis), as we approached the final left hand
corner to the long finishing straight.
As I crossed the red brick crosswalks into that final
corner, I hit the corner fast and took off on the inside trying to get a jump
on the field. I think I was successful,
as looking down, I did not see a wheel right on mine. I looked up and saw the Start/Finish sign. Whoa!
That’s a long way. But it’s do or
die at this point, so I put my head down, gritted my teeth, and felt the
burn. Crap! There was a wheel where there wasn’t
before. I had no idea who it was, but I
could sense they were happy to be there and having fun riding my wheel to the
line. Ugh! Dig deeper.
It hurts, but this is it!
Go! I could hear the crowd going
crazy. It must have looked pretty
cool. At least in my mind it did. J I looked up
again, and there was the line. I
honestly can’t remember if I stood up to sprint or not. If there are any pictures of that, I’d love
to see them. I’m going to get mocked
forever if I’m not standing up. Anyway,
as the orange streak behind me came around, I was just hoping my bike would
cross the line before hers. I did my
best attempt at throwing my bike, but to no avail. Ugh.
Sarah Demerly of Fusion Cycling got me at the line. I knew it instantly. The clock says she won by 4 hundredths of a
second, it might as well have been 4 whole seconds. But I’ll take my second place and all of my
lessons learned.
Alicia Trevino must have been hot on Sarah’s wheel, as she
rounded out the podium with a 3rd place finish.
Now that the race is over, I realize I gave Lori some bad
advice. The pace of the race was
manageable, and Lori is a much more aggressive rider than one to sit back and
watch the race happen. I thought since
it was her 1st race that would be the conservative thing to do. But conservative does not win races, and we
want to win races, so again… lesson learned.
Glad it’s the beginning of the season, so we have a lot more chances to
get to the top of the podium.
As a whole RWT had a great day at Frankenmuth. Here are the results for the whole
group! In the Juniors races, Sarah Hartwell took 2nd in her age group, Ellie
& Kiersen Korienek took 1st & 2nd in their AG. Lori Hotchkin took 5th among the Cat 3 riders.
In the Cat 4's, Jane
VanHof took 1st, Laura Korienek finished
in 7th, Sarah
Hoogeboom-Williams in 10th, and Cheryl Havens in 13th! Fantastic showing RWT!
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