FMRC had a men's and women's team out at the NCNCA TTT Championships earlier this month, and they both rocked the course, with the men taking first place and the women second.
Ladies FMRC team, Carrie Chavez, Karin Laberge, Carolyn Sanchez and Kathleen Wilkins
We found it rather funny that a group of 4 triathletes who have not done a bike race all year could compete in a cycling championships race just by signing up. Weird? In our sport you have to practically give your first born away to earn a spot to a championship event.
It took a week of e-mails started by our very own Chris McCrary to rally 4 ladies for this event.That was a feat in and of itself. In the end we secured 2 post IM CDA racers (Kat and Carolyn- we seriously shmoosed them to give this a try. They made the commitment right around the time of their IM!!!) and 2 PRE Vineman 70.3 racer (Karin and Carrie).
We rarely get a chance to train together but most of us at one time or another have ridden together. We knew we had the chance to be evenly matched and FAST if we could all give it our best. Knowing it was a Championship event we knew we had our work cut out for us to win our division. Chris McCrary is always praising us as cyclists and had us pretty pumped up to perform well. (Thanks Chris for your belief in us!!)
Race day arrived and we got there early so we could practice pacelining and rotating through the pulls. We decided on 40-60 second pulls. I would call out "switch" on the time intervals. We realized as soon as we started the warm up that our legs were tired. CRAP!! The first person could not hear me call out if she was in the back. So it would be a game of "telephone" as "switch" would be yelled up to the front rider. It was SO WINDY that it was hard to hear. Just an insight into things to come.
Right before the start we caught a glimpse of our competition. A VERY serious looking group of ladies in full skin suits, aero helmets and Disc wheels. They were warming up on trainers and checking us out. Here is a pic of us.
OK, so we have aero helmets on, tri suits, water bottles, bento boxes, rear bottle cages, cell phones in back pockets, arm warmers..... OK so we need to work on streamlining our look:). They must have thought to themselves- this will be easy to take this crew.
The way it worked was that our team went first then the other two teams in our division went off 2 and 4 minutes after us. The guys working the race were really nice to us and encouraged us with last minute tips. They looked behind us and said- OH, that group of ladies behind you is STRONG. We said- Yeah whatever, we figured- we will do our best- heck, it is our first bike race. BUT in our heads we all thought we are here to WIN!!! We started with the GOAL of surprising our competition and going for it.
Ready Set GOOOO- and we were off.
The route is 15.7 miles total of an out and back course paralleling 580 starting just EAST of CLUB MOTO in Livermore. You know- where the WINDMILLS are???!!! The winds did not dissappoint and it was INSANE.
On the way out we got into a great groove with our 60 second pulls but within 5-7 minutes the tail and cross wind was incredible and soon we were out of gears and spinning out and hanging on for dear life getting blown all over the place. Before we knew it we were at the turn around in about 14 minutes. WHAT???? That could only mean that the return trip would take FOREVER. And it DID. 14 out and 27 minutes back. YUP, almost twice as long to go back. The head and cross wind was WICKED!!
On our first 40 seconds going back we see the other group of ladies heading to the turnaround. OMG- they are SO CLOSE. They are bridging the 2 minutes they started behind us. PLEASE DON"T CATCH US is all we could think!!!
This is where we made a quick change in strategy and decided on 30 second pulls. Kat said she was tired and we told her to stay in back and not take any pulls. The wind was too strong for her to allow a gap in the back for the rider pulling off to squeeze in between her and the rider in front of her and before you knew it we were all screwed up. Just a bunched up group begging for mercy from the wind. On one switch of the riders Kat lost a wheel and dropped off. We did not realize soon enough and it was too late. We knew 3 riders score so we carried on feeling bad to have to make that decision.
We fought as hard as we have ever fought on the bike to stay together and keep our speed up and get to the finish. By this point Karin and I realize that Carolyn has the legs today because no matter how hard we try we can't get around her to help out and for the last 4 minutes she pulls us in. CAROLYN is a machine!!!
We came across the line in 41:21. Now we watch our watches and wait for the other ladies team to come in. In the end they were able to finish within the 2 minutes behind us
....BOOOO, and take the win by 13 sconds in a time of 41:08!!! SO CLOSE!!!
We raced our hearts out!! Our legs were toast!
ALL in all a great experience!! Teamwork at its finest!
BEST part of racing...the post event meal!!
The men's team was comprised of Bruce Sinclair, Doug Marshall, Dillon Hollinger, and John Hollinger.
From Bruce's perspective:
- On the way out it seemed like a lot of downhill and combined with a tail wind we ran out gears so were running cadence of 115 - 120
- On the way back it seemed like it was all uphill and combined with the strong head wind we were sucking major air with heart rates popping over 170
- My average wattage for the TT was 314 which given the fact that I was tucked a lot of the way out says it was probably around 375 watts average on the way back (corresponds to the HR)
- We had a well orchestrated plan of taking 20 second pulls each. We kept to this plan for a maximum of two rotations. After that, duration and order was kind of random based on whatever strength we had
- We took first place and I think only 3 other teams were faster than us. No teams passed us and we passed no team
- I almost wiped out on a fresh big pile of road kill
- After it was over we debated riding longer or eating breakfast and breakfast won in a heartbeat
From Doug's perspective:
TTT's turn out to be a great way to get in some serious quality in a short period of time. An all out effort that trashed me for the rest of the day. Was glad to have put in a good 10 mile warmup to limit the shock on the body when you redline immediately out of the chute.Ouch!!! And I have NEVER seen it so windy in our own backyard as I saw that day. It easily compared to the heaviest Kona winds; unplanned wheel lifting, lane changing kind of wind. In then end, we all conquered and had a great time. It was a very humbling experience as I got spit out the back early on which only confirms that I must return and do MORE!
I recommend these to any cyclist wanting to up their game!
Forward Motion Race Club
Well, Mother Nature has been at it again. Hand on the switch – Cold, Hot, Cold, Hot. Do I wear arm warmer & mittens, or pack some extra electrolyte tablets? I’m so confused. I must be the only one, though, judging by some of the amazing results from our recent Challenge Series running races. Cold or hot weather doesn’t bother these speedy runners. In case you missed it, let me press rewind on the Tivo remote:
Okay, someone forgot to close the windows and turn on the air-conditioning because it was HOT in San Ramon on the 4th. Even in the morning! I didn’t matter, though, because the FMRC tent was up and the ice-chest was stocked with cold water and frozen juice bars. We even had brownies and strawberries – Yum!
JEFF MAPES:
TANYA GROSSMAN:
BRIAN COLLETT:
