Snake Alley Criterium
A lot of racing went on this past weekend. Holy crap. I meant to post some updates earlier, but our hotels were a bit too budget to have wireless. So, here come the reports. Bellas Paula, Laurel, and I headed down to Iowa on Friday night, where we met Ridge (from Madison, Hi Ridge!) Paula and I had booked a hotel in Burlington, while Ridge and Laurel spent the night in Muscatine. Paula and I had a truly challenging experience getting to Burlington from Muscatine. We couldn’t figure out which way was north or south or east, or even how to get to Texas. But finally we rolled into the Super 8 and PTFO. We headed over to the Snake pretty early. Read about it here. I can’t give it justice. Quick summary – a crit course over 15 blocks, about 10 of which are downhill, 3 of which are flat, and 2 of which, well… climb. One of those is “the snake,” a cobblestone alley that does 5 switchbacks (in the space of a block) with an average grade of 12.5 percent. (But one of the Pro/1/2 guys thought it was about a 25 percent grade going around some of the switchbacks.)
Paula and I warmed up on the trainers, and then lined up with about 20 other cat 4 ladies, including the super-junior that beat me at Wheels on Willy. So we headed out, and the first time up the Snake pretty much shattered the field. As you all know, I’m not a climber, but I am a descender, so I spent the first few laps yoyo-ing with some girls – they would catch me on the climb and then I’d squeak past them on the descent. But soon things settled out, and I heard the announcer call out that I was in 5th place as I went by. So that was pretty much that. I wasn’t totally sure I was going to be able to haul my butt up the snake for all 8 laps, but I kept cranking. I forgot to mention – it was almost 90 degrees even though our race started at 10:00a.m. I managed to stick it out till the end and crossed the line in 5th. Paula rolled across the line soon after in 7th. Who knows who won. Results here. The mens’ fields were pretty incredible to watch, especially the Pro/1/2. Holy crap they go so fast. They made the Snake look easy. Amazing. Ridge, Paula, and I found it funny that we were in awe over a bunch of guys dressed in lycra with drool, sweat, and snot all over their faces, but hey, that’s bike racing. Hot. More reports to come.
Paula and I warmed up on the trainers, and then lined up with about 20 other cat 4 ladies, including the super-junior that beat me at Wheels on Willy. So we headed out, and the first time up the Snake pretty much shattered the field. As you all know, I’m not a climber, but I am a descender, so I spent the first few laps yoyo-ing with some girls – they would catch me on the climb and then I’d squeak past them on the descent. But soon things settled out, and I heard the announcer call out that I was in 5th place as I went by. So that was pretty much that. I wasn’t totally sure I was going to be able to haul my butt up the snake for all 8 laps, but I kept cranking. I forgot to mention – it was almost 90 degrees even though our race started at 10:00a.m. I managed to stick it out till the end and crossed the line in 5th. Paula rolled across the line soon after in 7th. Who knows who won. Results here. The mens’ fields were pretty incredible to watch, especially the Pro/1/2. Holy crap they go so fast. They made the Snake look easy. Amazing. Ridge, Paula, and I found it funny that we were in awe over a bunch of guys dressed in lycra with drool, sweat, and snot all over their faces, but hey, that’s bike racing. Hot. More reports to come.
posted by karla at 11:16 PM
1 Comments:
Amanda Miller won, as I suspected - that's the girl I was asking about last night. She posted her race report since the last time I checked if you're interested. Sounds like a crazy race.
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