Wilmington White Face RR // Saranac Lake Downtown Crit

...And we're back to racing!

Headed to Wilmington, NY with the team for two hard days of racing this weekend. Luckily, the only bad weather we encountered all weekend was during our three hour rendezvous to NY. We waited out the storm after eating dinner at George's in Port Clyde on the way to Whiteface. Good thing they're spaghetti was so good...

We stayed at this great little place called the Wilmington Chalet and it was nice to have a big bed all to myself, and the start for Saturday's road race was only two miles up the road! While the rest of the team had to wake up early for their races Saturday morning, I got to sleep in with my teammates Brendan and Ansel until 9. We lazily put on our race wheels, hydrated, jammed out to some tunes and laid our kits on the beds in anticipation of the afternoon's racing. It was almost too much time.

Anyways, with 30 minutes to go before blast off, we headed to the start. After sitting around more, yawning and nervously waiting in line for the Porta-Johns, the guys finally headed off at 12:30, and I was  next off at 12:45. In today's rr, I would be racing with the big girls, ie the Pro 1/2/3 field, which was largely dominated by the NY based Farm Team Elite women's team. Our field consisted of four Canadians and other NE based racers – mostly all familiar faces but I was too nervous to really look around at them. The race was 3 laps on a very hilly 14mi course, with a 1.6 mile finishing climb scaling Whiteface Mtn (total of 55 miles). The sun was out – it became pretty hot but luckily I knew I had some ice cold bottles waiting for me in the feed zone...

Near the feed zone!

Finish up Wilmington Mt.

As with most road races, there was a lot of sitting in and waiting, but the Farm Team chicks were certainly playing their tactics the whole time. When racers tried to attack, they'd send a few off the front to chase them down; when their teammates would attack the rest of them would block us. That happened several times, and when three of the strongest Farm Team riders attacked and got up the road, I tried to bridge up to them, but unfortunately the rest of the pack came with me. On the last lap coming up through the feed zone after ascending another vertical wall, I made a group of 6 other riders and we finally broke away to maintain a gap for the remaining six miles leading back to the finishing climb. All I can remember about that climb is that it hurt real bad and it felt real slow. I was sitting in 6th at the base, and with 25ft before the finish line I caught the 5th place rider by surprise and out sprinted her to get 5th and place (also the first junior). I don't know what it is, but these second winds man – they just keep on coming!

Women Pro 1/2/3 RR

Unfortunately Sunday came around a bit too soon despite my being in bed by 10pm the night before. Anyways, nothing but blue skies once again, but today was considerably hotter than Saturday. We left the Whiteface Chalet at 7am and drove through Lake Placid to Saranac Lake, stopping at a Dunkin Donuts so the boys could get some breakfast (luckily, I ate a much nicer meal back at the Chalet). The course is pretty short and has this one sweeping left-hand turn that carries you up through the roller on the backside – that's where a lot of accelerations occur. It's also littered with potholes and man covers, and if you get stuck behind a slower rider on that turn your hopes of keeping contact with the lead group slowly dwindle. After the roller, you descend down a bridge and take another sweeping left turn onto the uphill 500m homestretch where the finish line is at the crest of the hill. The whole loop is a leg burner, but then again, isn't that what a crit is all about?!

My first race of the day was the Junior Women 15-18 race at 10:15. I warmed up a bit on some roads that ran alongside the lake, but immediately as I began racing I felt horrible. Man, I dunno what it was but I just had no snap. I was hoping to spend the 20 lap race duking it out with Emma White, a good friend and extremely talented junior rider, but she got a little too far off the front and despite my hardest of efforts to close the gap my body just wouldn't have it. At least I can still say I got 2nd, eh?

The Women's Pro 1/2/3 Crit 

The Women's Pro 1/2/3 Crit 

Anyways I felt pretty lousy after my race, but I sat in the shade sipping bottles to keep up on my hydration. There were three races in between my next race, the women's Pro 1/2/3, and it felt like with every passing minute the asphalt only began to bake more. My start finally rolled around at about 1pm and right from the gun my only goal for the race was to not get dropped. The 30 lap race went by a lot faster than the junior race from the morning. Gaps would open and I'd fight to close them, a few attempts were made to break off the front and I tried to be right there with them, but in the end no dice – we finished in a mass sprint. Going into the last turn I was sitting fifth wheel, and as soon as we hit the homestretch I opened up my sprint and crossed the line in 5th (first junior too). Man, what a race!

Overall I had a great time racing in NY. Not only was the racing challenging but it was also a great learning experience. Especially with Nationals coming up in a few weeks, it was nice to get in two hard races and along the way some great memories were made.

We headed into Lake Placid Saturday night for dinner and sightseeing.
I saw this sign at one of the shops and I couldn't help myself – I had to get a picture. Too cool! 

No photos up yet from these races, but be sure to check back as I'll update things as soon as they come in!

Next up is the Sunapee Road Race on Saturday 6/16. That's right, another local race!

For more info search for the race at BikeReg.com.