Battle at Barlow, Sept 27, 2009
Womens Masters 35+ A, 14th Place
by Elaine Bothe
Cyclocross season is here! I’d been consternating for the last few weeks about what grid to run in, so I went gonzo and signed up for Womens Masters A, expecting I’d probably be in over my head but not sure I belong with the Masters B either.
I lined up with the big girls, front row, even though I’m older than most of them. We are all staring down the starting maw I mean road, pointing at the downed metal sign, the big chunky gravel, wondering if they’re going to move the teeth I mean cones wider to let all of us make it through. There are 15 women in our group, we are all on the front row I think!
Go time.
Well, I manage to clip in, so that’s a total of two, then maybe three pedal strokes. I’m pinched between Teammate Sarah on my right and my friend Eileen on my left. Dominoes, maybe starting up the hill to Sarah’s right. I think 6 or more of us were involved, all aiming for the same spot in the gravel.
Mayhem. I remount but the front wheel isn’t feeling quite the way it should. Flat. Game over, short race. Rats.
I’m fine, but I’ll probably have a Technicolor butt cheek tomorrow, along with some other good bumps that I’ll discover later.
Wave after wave of women race by me, I’m blinking in the hot sun, thinking about my flat kit in the car. But then spectators start offering me wheels. John, Eileen’s husband, gives me his! I swap, and off I go trying to recoup some sort of race mentality. Those first couple of corners were rough, re-warming up on an unfamiliar tire. I’m dead dead last. I pull it together and start passing people. I was impressed with how many Sorella jerseys I saw out there! Yay!! I lost count and who was who, what a club! Everyone looked like they were having fun through their suffering. Hopefully I was polite and called my passes… good job all!
I also really enjoyed all our spectators, every corner, every straight seemed to have people yelling “Go Sorella” if they didn’t know my name. Anne, Sage volunteering, cool! And lots of others, friends and family. Thanks all!
But there were plenty more people in front of me that I didn’t see. Colleen, Sarah, Eileen, Julie… I didn’t catch up to the back of the Master As main pack. I took note of one of the last women I passed, turns out she finished 2nd in the Masters B. And at least the Masters A never caught up to me, so I still finished on the lead lap, whoo. And not last... Beth had a flat too and had to run out her lap, ouch, but good job!
For the next round I have plenty to work on, such as having a plan for the start, better mounts and dismounts, attacking stuff, but if it was easy, why bother. But I think I’m in the right group, hopefully next time I can at least hang with the pack!
Photo by Mark Bothe.
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