SLO Crit, A State Champ is Crowned!

Hi all!


Today was the SLO crit, which was really not slo(w) at all... I got my still-coughing-but-feeling-slightly-better self up at 5:30am to drive there this morning and race the crit. Chicken Ranch had a full women's squad out there, with 5 of us toeing the line. Susie, Jane, Sarah, myself, and our newest member, Edina (Eddy), were all up for this race.

We actually had strategy, and team tactics to play, and play we did.

Unfortunately the field was more than a bit sketchy, and there were THREE crashes during the race! Things started off well, with Jane winning the first prime. The 3 of us cat 3s decided to use the 2nd prime as a practice leadout, and Susie and Jane delivered me to the line first in perfect form :-). That in hand, I was feeling pretty good for most of the race. We tried to tire people out with some attacks, and I'm happy to report that Chicken Ranch got some serious airtime!

With 2 to go, I was too far back and getting nervous about positioning, but yet again a teammate came through in the form of Sarah Patz! Sarah had raced yesterday, too, and yet still had the energy to try and help me get up where I needed to be. I found a hole, and went up front. I saw some people coming over on the outside, and Jane was 2nd wheel.

Perfect. I latched onto that train, and around the final turn we went.

With about 1.5 blocks to go I launched, and came around them both, and never looked back. Finally a victory!!!!!!! Unfortunately, the sprinting pack got a little squirrelly, however, and behind me a couple of people got together, and Jane was caught up in a crash, which took a few riders right into the barriers (this is what I heard...I didn't even know it happened until I came back around...I guess when you're sprinting for the win you lose your hearing???). So that dampened things a bit. Susie and I went to see Jane at the ER on our way home.



She was being really brave, although she has a broken wrist and cracked scapula... ouch. Please send her your good thoughts, as she raced a really awesome race today (and yesterday, too where she claimed a 4th place).

I must say, that the womens CR team really came together today, and I am really happy to have been able to deliver us a V. :-) And since it was the So-Cal State Championship, even better!

I don't know how the other Races went today, as Susie and I left rather early to go check on Jane, but I hope all was well!

As always, I'm proud to be a part of this team.

Kimberly

 
Way to go Kimberly and to the rest of the girls!!


We were in the staging area waiting for the 3's race when the womens race was coming through on their final lap. It was an awesome site seeing all the CR girls drilling it near the front, then seeing Kimberly driving it w/ no one being able to get around her. Kimberly "State Crit Champ" Turner :-) sounds pretty good! As for for Jane, hoping for a quick recovery. Jane's crash looked really bad.


The men's 3's race was going really good.....until the final corner. The race had a full field of 75 riders and was fast w/ constant attacks. After dodging a number of mid-race crashes, all the CR'ers found themselves in the top 10 w/ only 2 corners to go. We were all sitting in good position when the rider sitting 3rd wheel overcooked one of the final corners and took out Matt, Ben, and myself. Most of the top 10 riders got taken out. Matt was shoved into the barriers, but managed to stay upright, Ben took a flyer over the hay bails and the fence, and I went down suffering minor scratches to the body and bike. On a good note, John VanMan managed to get through the mess for a top 10 finish. We're all OK, but bummed that we were all there, but couldn't finish it off.

I saw a bunch Ranchers riding around and racing, so hopefully we'll get more race reports.


Gabriel

July 4, 2009. A small field of 20 or slightly more 55, 60+ took off shortly after 800 AM under overcast skies and cool weather at Camp San Luis. It was a bit unclear to me, but I believe 3 riders broke away individually over the first couple of laps, including our own local, Karl (or Carl?) Weber. I heard later from Karl, these three eventually joined up at some point, but at the sprint finish, Karl emerged the winner. Note; Karl is 59, top of the


55 group and will be a formidable 60+ next year.

I managed to hang with the chase group of 6-7 riders through 5 laps of the 6 lap race, but unfortunately got dropped near the top of the final hill.

Riding alone, I maintained my position until the final few yards when someone passed me, possibly a 55+, but I’m not sure.

Final result, 11th over all; 4th 60+ against some of the top 60’s. If there had been a 65+, I would have won that, but believe there was only one rider older than me. See, eventually everyone dies off ;), so the longer you can last your odds of eventually winning increase.

All in all a good day, and I liked the course very much in spite of a few well marked pot holes and ruts. No one crashed in my race to my knowledge.

Note: I had an excellent pre race breakfast at Denny’s which included two poached eggs, Oatmeal, brown sugar and milk, a large bowl of fresh fruit and a cup of yogurt for $5.99 as I recall. Needless to say, I didn’t run out of gas during the race.

Steve

Bakersfield "The Final Day!"

The race reports are fast and furious these days. I'm just posting them as they come in. Great Job B Teamers! So read em all and leave some comments!

Hi all!

So today's race was scheduled to be 75 miles of hilly terrain (for those of you who raced way-back-when (I didn't, but I learned this from Mark Fennel's blog)--this is the old Woody course that they used to use for
the so-cal championships). There was about 2000 feet of climbing per
25 mile lap. However, due to a concensus among the 3s, with a brutal forecast for today (over 100 yet again), the race was shortened to 2 laps. So instead we had 50 miles with 4000 feet climb.

The race started on a neutral, because one of our field was in the port-a-potty, and seeing as we were in a nice mood, we started slow till she caught up! Once the race got underway, one of the girls in non-contention went to work attacking from the get-go. It made for a fun race. The course is a really fun one--almost the right combination of rollers, the best descents you could ever want, and lots of climbing. The descents were as fun as I remembered from last year, and I again managed to top my previous in-race top speed (53mph) on the fastest of them. (the new bike is speedy...) Unfortunately the climbing was just a bit too much for my non-climber self, and I got shelled on the first big hill. I caught a lot of people, though, until I was most certain that only 5 were in front of me. Unfortunately those five were speedy climbers, and there was no way I was catching them! And the folks behind me were too tired to do any work to add much, so I had over
25 miles solo ahead of me. The good news is, that Susie was in this
break! Susie will have to add her own race report to tell about what
went on there, but from what I heard, even with a mechanical, she still finished strong, and got 3rd in the stage, preserving her 2nd in GC. I held my 6th in GC as well.

We had a ton of fun. We stayed around for the awards ceremony, which for this race is quite extensive. Not only did we both take home cash, but Susie won a CLOCK for winning the TT, and even the LAST place finishers in each category get awards (the RED LANTERNS). It is a Velo Bob race, after all, so we all got t-shirts as well.

So there you have it. Another Kern women's stage race behind us. I think the Chickens were well represented. And Susie will be a 2 before we know it! She doesn't believe me...but I say, add up the points!
(really, Congrats, Susie--you had a fabulous race)

Cheers,
Kimberly

Bakersfield Day 2

Hi all,

Here are the day 2 highlights. Susie is doing awesome!

Susie and I had a good road race this morning. We were both able to
collect some bonus points on the intermediate lap sprints, and Susie
finished 2nd. I had a great position going into the final climb, and
had a ton of momentum going into the sprint, but I got pinched off, and
don't quite have my normal sprint aggression going, so I had to sit up
and be content with 6th. Knowing we had the hillclimb in the afternoon,
no one went crazy. We protected our positions in GC and were still 1st
and 4th.

The hillclimb was just plain hard. It was the main selector of this
race. As most of you know, I'm not really a climber, especially this
year, and it showed. It was over 100 at the start of the climb, again
today (someone said yesterday's TT was 112 degrees), and so that didn't
help. Susie had a great climb, but unfortunately the girl who was 2nd
in GC after stage 2, who is 18 and wears a kit advertising Dewars (I
found that amusing), was superfast and managed to win by enough to put
Susie in 2nd in both the stage and GC. I got 7th, and am now in 6th in
GC. Did I mention I wasn't a climber this year??? Thankfully we
didn't get heatstroke (there was at least one victim of heatstroke at
the top of the climb, shivering and lying by the side of the
road--although I heard later she did recover fully), and managed to keep
pretty hydrated.

Anyway, we have tomorrow's hilly road race tomorrow...so we'll see how
that goes. I'm hoping I feel better after a night of sleep! Susie has
over 5 minutes on the girl in 3rd (did I mention how fast Susie is on
the uphill?), so we shouldn't have to do anything too heroic to protect
her GC spot, and maybe we can work on moving her back into 1st.

Ciao,
now relegated to domestique, Kimberly

Bakin In Bakersfield, or Bacon In Bakersfield Day 1

Hi all!

Just wanted to check in from the depths of h*ll (or wait, is that just
Bakersfield, CA) to report on the women Chickens representing here at
the Kern Co. Women's Stage race.
The good news is that I survived the first day of my second Kern.

I am kind of tired and still dehydrated (even after drinking 1 recovery
drink, 2 water bottles, 5 gatorades, about 5 glasses of water at dinner,
and 2 diet cokes (ok, so the diet coke didn't help, but it sure tasted
good...). It was the worst I have ever felt on a bike. The temperature
was well over 100, although I'm not sure how much! I didn't really want
to know. And it was windy, too. The wind was so hot, however, that it
felt like being in a convection oven (I can only assume that's what
being baked feels like). Although on a good note, I accomplished the
following:

1. Finished.
2. Didn't throw up (came mighty close though)
3. Didn't blow up/pass out/ride off the road
4. Achieved my max heart rate at the finish (201)
5. Ran a higher avg. heart rate than I thought previously possible
without blowing up... (189-my threshold is 167)
6. First time I felt like was racing in a sauna (devil's punchbowl last
year was close though)
7. Didn't drop my chain this year!
8. Got 4th.

And on a great note, Susie won the TT, and is sitting in 1st
place!!!! She remarked to me (before she found out she won, mind you),
"On a scale from one to ten, this race was a zero,"
to which I replied,
"Zero, you're being too nice, it's definitely a negative 10,"
to which she said "you WOULD say something like that, being the engineer,"
to which I think I actually started TALKING about negative numbers! I
really was beat.
Anyway...you get the idea.

She has a tad over a minute on me, and with us sitting in 1st and 4th,
we'll have our work cut out for us tomorrow. Tomorrow we have a 50 mile
RR in the morning (with 7 time bonus opportunities), and a 13 mile
Gibraltar-style hillclimb in the afternoon. We'll work hard to
represent Team Chicken Ranch, at least until we drop from heat exhaustion!

Good luck to all you chickens racing Mountain Bikes this weekend! I
hope the heat spares you a little...our forecast up here is not kind.

Ciao!
Kimberly

Susie Willett's Sea Otter Race Report

Ladies and Fellow Ranchers-

I just want to add a few personal comments to Kim's well detailed race report.

The circuit race was definitely a lower than expected turn-out, but I believe that worked to our advantage as there weren't as many to compete against. We had several good climbers in the group which was the critical element for that race and ultimately the deciding factor in the finishing line-up.

The descending was fast, but not too much that you couldn't get back on down the back side.

After the first lap I noticed we had a brutally strong climber in the lead who decided to torture us on repeated laps. She would gently pull ahead as we would start to climb and then hammer it on the beginning of the steep climb just enough to put several of us at threshold. I saw her once actually turn her head and smile as she watched us agonize.

The wind at the top didn't help either as we were in our easy gears still only doing about a 55 cadence. I managed to stay in the front of the pack and was third going into the final stretch.

The woman behind me came around and the sprint was on. I was pushing too big a gear but managed to keep the rest at bay and took 4th.

Turns out the strong climber who took 1st is Sarah Maile, a pro cyclocross rider. At the podium she graciously mentioned she was headed to registration to upgrade to a 2 for the Sat RR.

Kim described the RR well and I would simply add that this is where having more women in the group (we started with 24) would have made a difference.

There were few attacks since no one wanted to be out in the wind for long and the race was all about the final climb.

After 45 miles, I was first coming around the final turn into the climb and stayed with the group of 5 until the last km when I started to feel the effect of the circuit race in my legs.

At that point the girl (junior girl) I was with had her cheering section about 100yds from the finish which is all it took for her to get a bike length ahead of me. I could see my daughter and husband at the top cheering me, but my legs had nothing left. I took 6th (although Sea Otter final results show only 5 finishers) and was glad to be done.

The best part about racing at Sea (Or is it a Beaver?) Otter is rolling into the campsite to hang out with other racers and friends. Thanks to all for cheering me on; we'll do it again next year!

Susie

Ps. A BIG thanks to Dave and Luke for dialing in my old bike. It descended and handled to perfection!!

Kimberly's Sea Otter Adventure

Hi all!
Well, I survived Sea Otter for the 2nd year. Survived is about all I can call it, though!

Here's my little race report. Many folks have great results to report, but I won't steal their thunder. I'm sure reports and stories will come in soon!

Circuit Race: My circuit race was on Friday, at lunchtime. The weather was fine--a tad windy, not too cold.

Only 15 women were in my race (cat 3 is a much smaller category than cat 4 in women's racing), so I knew there would be nowhere to hide. And there wasn't anywhere to hide. I got cooked on the steep part of the main climb the 2nd time up! Being a decent descender, for a few laps I would get gapped on the steep part of the climb, and then chase back on on the descent and backside.

Unfortunately this practice was stopped on lap 4 or 5 (they all run together in my mind) when the girl on the front kicked it up a notch on the climb.

Oh well...Anyway, I finished the race in full-on chase. I wasn't too far back, though, and I nearly caught another chaser on the sprint in. However, the times are all off in the results, and the girl I finished right behind does not correspond with the published results either.

Oh well....the norm for sea otter, it seems. Regardless, I was pretty demoralized after that race, and it was more than a bit of a challenge to try and be motivated for the road race today.

Road Race: After yesterday, I decided to take the road race lap by lap, and just use it as a good training exercise. I knew the race was full of strong climbers, and that it was going to be a challenge to stay attached.

Not helping matters were the strong winds and cold temperatures! It was not a good sign when some of the barriers on the track blew OVER while we were lining up for our start! And the neutral start on the track was more like a sandstorm as the winds whipped. I was very glad I didn't have deep section wheels!

Anyway, the race was pretty uneventful, save for the wind. I got gapped on every single steep climb, but thankfully the course has a lot of rollers, so I could just power back on. This was basically how the race played out for me.

I got to know the moto-ref and the follow car guy pretty well, since I was continually passing and getting passed by them! We had a little conversation going a couple of times...the first time I got dropped he was giving me the encouraging "keep working hard" stuff, which I know only means 'I feel sorry for you'...but later on, he was like "wow, you have quite the motor" because I just kept powering back on.

If only I could climb better...this racing thing would be less work! All the more reason to kick up the training a notch.

Anyway, I managed to stick on all the way through the final lap, but alas all that chasing had taken its toll, and when the grade turned up on the finishing climb, my little motor decided it had had enough. It was a slog up the hill, as those tiny climbing girls rode away. There was nothing I could do. Nothing was left.

I passed 3 struggling masters riders as I slogged up the hill to the finish. Susie was already there, as she is one of those tiny climbers I spoke of....she got 6th!

On the spin back to the car, my hamstring completely cramped up, thankfully it let up with some stretching.

I don't know my final placement, not that it matters much, as I got on the road home quickly. I was happy with my efforts today, though, as I worked through the hard stuff, and had fun on the technical stuff, and am not feeling as bad about my fitness as I was yesterday.


In typical Team Chicken Ranch fashion, everybody was super supportive of each other, and I think fun was had by all. At least it seemed like it to me! And congrats to everyone who did well--please post race reports!!

Cheers,
Kimberly Turner