Women's Cycling Challenge - Kick Off Weekend
Barrio Logan Grand Prix & San Luis Rey Road Race: May 6 & 7 2006
By Heather Rose Paramount Racing - Cat 3 & 4 Team

What a great kick-off weekend for the Women's Cycling Challenge: the SoCal/Nevada Criterium Championship at Barrio Logan, a great road race course at San Luis Rey, and perfect racing weather! I was neither hot nor cold at any point during either race, how often does that happen?

BARRIO LOGAN (CAT 4)
The women's 4 race was off at 4:16 and it went fast from the gun. I think the high pace was due to a combination of a strong group of riders and the fact that they had a prime every other lap (which I somehow managed to snag 3 of them: coffee, wine, and socks, what more does a girl need?). Paramount Racing and Kahala LaGrange had the most riders out there with 3 team members each, followed by the always present Helen's riders (2 racers). From previous races I also knew we would have to keep a close eye on Morgan Kapp of South Bay Wheelman, as she's been pretty unstoppable lately.

I was determined to get a breakaway going in this race and since an unattached rider decided to ride off the front in the very first lap I went up and joined her, 3 of us had a bit of gap for about a lap, but it was never big enough to be convincing. I continued attacking (thus all the primes) and my teammate, Kelli Jones, and I kept pushing the pace on the front throughout the race trying to keep it fast and safe. Our best hope for finishing speed was Amy Wiener, so we hoped that she was staying out of the wind and as fresh as possible. With the slight uphill on the backside, just before the finishing stretch, riders were strung out coming up to the line. Carine Bester (Kahala LaGrange) unleashed her explosive sprint for first, followed by Morgan Kapp (SBW) and Erika Graves of Helen's. The Paramount Ladies ended up with two in the money, Amy Wiener at 5th and myself in 6th. Not quite the placings we were hoping for, but all and all a good day on a fun and challenging course and we made our best effort at teamwork, which always makes us happy at the end of the day!

SAN LUIS REY
The next morning we were back at it and many of the same faces were present, with the addition of quite a few Simple Green, DeWalt riders (fresh legs, just what we didn't want to see!). Women 3 and 4 raced together, but were scored separately; it was great to see close to 40 women lined up at the start. Paramount Racing had the same squad as the day before, plus Dianna DelFante who had taken 4th place in the Cat 3 race at Barrio Logan. Dianna and Amy were doing their 2nd and 1st road races, respectively, so there goal was, of course, to finish! The first 2 laps were pretty uneventful, just riding tempo on the climbs with a few riders slipping quietly off the back. On the final lap, just past the start finish line one of the Simple Green riders decided she had had enough of this pace and laid down a vicious attack on the short steep hill, about 7 of us managed to dig deep and go with her over the climb at the feedzone, but regretfully the peleton managed to pull us back on the descent.

Tempo again until the tight turn at the base of the final climb when I think it was the same women (Ruth Clemence, the eventual Cat 4 winner) showed us how it was going to be. That was the end of the peleton with riders strung out all along the climb. I was chasing, chasing…getting passed, uh, oh!, ah, passing some of them back and even able to pull out a decent (for me) sprint at the finish. We then had to wait for the results to be sorted and it ended up being another pretty good day for Paramount. Dianna DelFante (remember the one who just wanted to finish?) got 6th in the Cat 3 race! Amy Wiener finished her first road race and felt good about it and Kelli Jones did a great job coming back after being off the bike with an injury for many weeks. I managed to hang on for 5th place and fell in love with a great course that I can't wait to race again next year! It was a great weekend of racing and the perfect time for the WCC to kick-off their race series!