Menlo Park Grand Prix
I've never been a sprinter: In seventh grade, I joined my school track team, because everybody else was doin' it. I decided I wanted to be a sprinter, because the short distances seemed way more fun than slogging away for a mile or more. But I really sucked at it. I got my ass handed to me every time I lined up for the 100 meters. By ninth grade, I had resigned myself to doing the distance events if I ever wanted to not come in last. And since then I've always thought of myself as more of an "endurance" athlete (I still do).
But I've also realized over the past couple of years that if you want to win bike races, it often helps if you can sprint (not always, but often). Last year, I worked on it a bit, and today I worked on it a lot more.
I got up at 5:00am and got myself on the road close to 6:00 to head down to the Menlo Park Grand Prix. Got there with plenty of time, fiddled with my bike, registered, pinned my number, and then broke my valve stem as I was putting air in the tires. Crap. So of course I hadn't brought spare wheels and had to change the tube. Then as I finally was ready to put the bike on the trainer, I realized the only skewer I had brought didn't fit. Crap. The women's 3 race started at 8:00, so I lined up without much of a warmup. I finally met Sabine in person, which was sweet, and she reassured me that I would probably be able to hang with the group, since we didn't have an entire pro team in our field. The official then said a bunch of stuff, blah blah, 45 minute race, blah, lap cards, blah, and there will be 11 primes. Dang! That's a lot of primes! The course was a 4-corners, pancake flat, 1km per lap, safe and wide open. There were two short sides, and two long, with the finish near the end of one of the long sides.
We started out at an easy pace, people were mellow, and so I figured I would go ahead and try for the first prime to get a bit more of a warm-up in. I don't really remember exactly how it happened, but I somehow managed to catch someone right at the line and took the prime by actually throwing my bike, which amazed me. For the rest of the race, I tried to stay near the front of the 29-woman pack and went for a couple more of the 11 primes. I ended up getting 2 more and getting second in one of them. I was kind of surprised that more people didn't go for them. The way I see it, everyone was going to be saving it for the final sprint, right? So I may as well try to pick up some primes along the way since I don't actually have a chance in the end (that's an attitude I need to work on). But seriously, going for the primes is such good sprint training! It's a great way to learn when to sit on a wheel, when to launch the sprint, feel out how long you can hold your speed, figure out what gearing works best in that situation, etc. When there are multiple chances to do that in one race, it's a great time to learn. And at the cat 3 level, we're all still learning.
At the end of the race two girls went off the front with about 3 to go. The field didn't really do anything about it, so I didn't worry either - I figured one of the teams with several people there would reel it in. But when we came down to the backstretch before the final finishing sprint, the two were still dangling off the front. I probably should have been more patient, but I went ahead and attacked to try to bridge up. To my surprise, I didn't bring anyone with me. I caught the break of two and then kept going -- they had been out there for a while, and didn't have much juice left. Which left me, by myself, with a bit of a gap on the charging field, two corners, and one long straight stretch to the finish. (too long). I didn't have any choice but to wind it up and give it everything for as long as I could. At one point, I thought I might be able to stay ahead and take the win, but three girls caught me at the line, so I ended up in fourth. Initially I was bummed that I didn't get it, but all in all I had an awesome race, lots of fun, and met some really cool ladies. And I've almost started to believe that maybe there is a bit of a sprinter in me somewhere.
But I've also realized over the past couple of years that if you want to win bike races, it often helps if you can sprint (not always, but often). Last year, I worked on it a bit, and today I worked on it a lot more.
I got up at 5:00am and got myself on the road close to 6:00 to head down to the Menlo Park Grand Prix. Got there with plenty of time, fiddled with my bike, registered, pinned my number, and then broke my valve stem as I was putting air in the tires. Crap. So of course I hadn't brought spare wheels and had to change the tube. Then as I finally was ready to put the bike on the trainer, I realized the only skewer I had brought didn't fit. Crap. The women's 3 race started at 8:00, so I lined up without much of a warmup. I finally met Sabine in person, which was sweet, and she reassured me that I would probably be able to hang with the group, since we didn't have an entire pro team in our field. The official then said a bunch of stuff, blah blah, 45 minute race, blah, lap cards, blah, and there will be 11 primes. Dang! That's a lot of primes! The course was a 4-corners, pancake flat, 1km per lap, safe and wide open. There were two short sides, and two long, with the finish near the end of one of the long sides.
We started out at an easy pace, people were mellow, and so I figured I would go ahead and try for the first prime to get a bit more of a warm-up in. I don't really remember exactly how it happened, but I somehow managed to catch someone right at the line and took the prime by actually throwing my bike, which amazed me. For the rest of the race, I tried to stay near the front of the 29-woman pack and went for a couple more of the 11 primes. I ended up getting 2 more and getting second in one of them. I was kind of surprised that more people didn't go for them. The way I see it, everyone was going to be saving it for the final sprint, right? So I may as well try to pick up some primes along the way since I don't actually have a chance in the end (that's an attitude I need to work on). But seriously, going for the primes is such good sprint training! It's a great way to learn when to sit on a wheel, when to launch the sprint, feel out how long you can hold your speed, figure out what gearing works best in that situation, etc. When there are multiple chances to do that in one race, it's a great time to learn. And at the cat 3 level, we're all still learning.
At the end of the race two girls went off the front with about 3 to go. The field didn't really do anything about it, so I didn't worry either - I figured one of the teams with several people there would reel it in. But when we came down to the backstretch before the final finishing sprint, the two were still dangling off the front. I probably should have been more patient, but I went ahead and attacked to try to bridge up. To my surprise, I didn't bring anyone with me. I caught the break of two and then kept going -- they had been out there for a while, and didn't have much juice left. Which left me, by myself, with a bit of a gap on the charging field, two corners, and one long straight stretch to the finish. (too long). I didn't have any choice but to wind it up and give it everything for as long as I could. At one point, I thought I might be able to stay ahead and take the win, but three girls caught me at the line, so I ended up in fourth. Initially I was bummed that I didn't get it, but all in all I had an awesome race, lots of fun, and met some really cool ladies. And I've almost started to believe that maybe there is a bit of a sprinter in me somewhere.
posted by karla at 10:34 PM
11 Comments:
thanks for racing, Karla! It was nice to meet you yesterday. and welcome to California!
Lorri
Congrats.
We got to fedex the best kit ever out there to you before some other team tries to 'jack' you off our roster!
Did you go no hands after winning a prime?
Did you email Tim M and tell him about your exploits?
Thanks Lorri, good to meet you too - awesome race! Thanks for putting it on!
Super - I now have the kit in hand. It will hit the CA races next weekend.
Awesome race Karla! And race reports in early March? We're still in spring training!
you should probably try to get mono every spring... it seems like it worked out for you.
nice job.
4th is about 20 place better than i've done in a crit... you better be happy!
Go Karla!!
Wow! Nice! Did you get schwag for the primes?
Way to be aggressive.
I was soo not going to sprint for cookies. I am finally able to sprint because of the lack of cookies. Thats like sprint sabotage or something.
You were hot at that race. That was a sweet move at the end.
Hey, I hope you don't mind but I am sharing your contact with a couple of cool gals in the Oakland area.
Wow! Very interesting post. And this is coming from a guy who just about never reads blogs...ever. But quite well written, and held my attention all the way through.
Catch you later,
potter
p.s, what's a prime?
Thanks everyone!
Potter, welcome to the world of weird cycling lingo. A "prime" is a sprint in the middle of the race for a prize - usually some swag or cash. It doesn't have any effect on the final result, but it's a great way to add excitement to the race. I linked to a prime explanation.
VB - where were the cookies? I did not get any cookies. I would have loved to get some cookies, but you're right, in the end, they might work against me. But, to answer your question Adam, I did get some yummy galaxy granola, a stylin haircut gift cert, a free MASSAGE, and some new knee warmers. Not bad!
I love how primes are so random! My favorite was a smoothie-maker that I won at superweek last year.
Laura told me she wanted to win me the haircut preme. Whats that supposed to mean?
Lots of the premes were girl scout cookies.
urp
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