Courteney Lowe: San Dimas and Redlands

After returning from Florida to Asheville for a couple of days, Emma, Annie, Rachel, Adrian and I flew to California for some more racing. This time it was the Redlands Cycle Classic which is a 4 day, 4 stage tour and is part of the NRC series (the National Racing Calendar) so has all the biggest names in it (from America, to Australia, to Europe (and NZ =).. everyone).

Before Redlands was a build up 3 stage tour called San Dimas. Lining up next to people like Kristin Armstrong and Clara Hughes was pretty cool, as well as all the top teams from over the world. The first stage was an up-hill prologue.. Lets just say I am glad I don't have to do that again for another year. Then the next day was the road race, in the absolute pouring rain and freezing cold. It was miserable, and fast! Our team again rode really well, Joelle (team mate) got in the break with

Kristen Armstrong, Clara Hughes and Alison Starnes and then we tried to control the bunch and let them stay away. Because Joelle was up the front it meant we did not have to do a thing, just stay safe up the front and chase anything that went. We ended up dropping a bit over half the field. They screwed the finish up for the leaders so Joelle finished 3^rd. It supposed to be 8 laps, then when we came through for the 6^th they said there was one lap to go, so we only completed 7 (think it was something to do with everyone being border-line hypothermic) whereas for Joelle’s group, they made them start the 8^th lap, then stopped them half way through saying what-ever order they rode through the start/finish line on the 7^th lap is there finishing place.. A bit screwed up! When we eventually rolled in I was able to give my team mate Jade a big lead out before the finish (she was higher on GC so we wanted to get her as much time as possible). She did great and got 3rd in the field sprint.

Time-trialing it up the San Dimas climb.. Terrible choice of aerodynamics.

Riding in the beautiful Californian sun.

The next day was a criterium. It was hard, and fast. Jade got in a break up the rode with Ina Yoko-Teutenburg (German National Champion) and a couple others. So again our job was to sit in the bunch and chase breaks. Jade did awesome and got second in the sprint to Ina (one of the fastest sprinters in the world).

The next couple of days were spent relaxing and getting lots of massage! We then went to Redlands for the next 4 day race, the big one! Again it started with a prologue, and again my legs did not like it particularly. The next day was a 115km road race. It was pretty fast but was good fun at the same time. The aim was for me and a team mate to go for the KOM points (King of the mountain) and my other team mate, Joelle, to get the sprint points as they were also time bonuses. We did exactly that, with my team mate and I getting first and 2nd each time up the climb and Joelle getting a handfull of time bonuses. Coming into the finish was fast. We had dropped about 3 quarters of the field by this stage, starting with about 85 and finishing with about 25. Joelle finished 2nd, literally mm away from first. Great race for her!

Getting the tt bars set-up before the tt.

The next day was a criterium around the streets of Redlands. It was fast, it was hard. My job was to try some attacks and start the big lead out with one lap to go. With 1 to go I went to the front, lead out super hard and then blew up.. it was awesome. Further up ahead my team mate Joelle had managed to dodge a crash right in-front of her on the last corner, and come from a standing start to winning!!

The last day was another road race. 9 Laps of this hard, fast course with a rather large hill in it (total of about 110km). It was fast from the start, and was painful. The first time up the climb bout 25 of us broke away, and then as the race went along it slowly dwindled to about 19. With the KOM points Jade, my team mate, was a couple up on me from the previous day so it was important to help her out so she could be assured of the jersey. There were 3 laps that were up for points and on one I lead her out with about 200 metres to go, she got on my wheel and then past me with about 50 to go.. I blew with about 35...Still got 3rd though.. Success! Leah and Denise were both super aggressive ad got in some long break-a ways, unfortunately getting caught but working for us as it makes the other teams use their energy to chase. With 4kms to go the plan was for me to attack and give it everything, just to attempt a break.. I did that but could only stay up for a short while; the teams were on me fast. The rest was a grovel holding on for dear life. Joelle got a 2nd bringing her up to 3rd place overall. Jade won the KOM Jersey (I got 3rd by 1 point) and Joelle won the sprint ace Jersey. So was a very successful first NRC race for the team. I can not wait for many more ahead!!