Race, Recreate, Advocate
The Team will be in full force this weekend for the first race of the US Cup.
Racers this weekend:
- Alexis Ryan Cat 1 15-18F
- Kevin Ryan Cat 2 55-59M
- Eric Colton Cat3 25-29 M
- Becky Siegel Cat 3 19-29 F
- Nick Humphrey Cat 3 30-34 M
- Allen Lin – Cat 2 25-29 M
- Christina Probert Cat 1 40-49 W
- Anna Fortner Pro W
- Jeff Steinhart Cat 2 Singlespeed
- Paul Bracken Cat 2 Singlespeed
- Jay Kwan Under 34 Clydesdale
Dot and Jeff will be there… let’s convince them to race!
The Team had a four racers at the Dominguez Hills Criterium course. Becky Siegel, Meghan Delehanty, and Roxy Zuckerman took on the 4s and Dorothy Wong represented in the Women’s elite 1-3 race. The 1-3s started minute before 4s, and the race started out without being too eventful. With four laps to go, a rider went off the front. I had been off the front a lap with her earlier in the race, and did not think she had the strength to hold the lead for four laps, so I did not jump off with her. After a lap of her being alone, the gap was already shrinking. This is when the chaos happened.
The women’s 1-3 field caught us with 1.5 laps to go, and the rider off the front. We were forced to let them go by, but they weren’t going enough faster to let us finish our race peacefully. For the final lap, we were caught up in the mess of their race and didn’t have a clear shot even during the final spring. The off the front rider got an easy win even though she would have most likely gotten caught otherwise.
We couldn’t really tell how we finished, since we were surrounded by people in two races. I finished 10th, and Roxy finished 15th. Dorothy was officially 2nd in her race, until they realized it was a mistake and ended up mid-pack. Meghan was also mid-pack in the 4s, and happy to have survived the chaotic race.
-Becky
Lisa Crowe races her first crit of the season in the Women’s 3/4s … Look out for her later this year!
The Women’s Cat 4 criterium at Mothballs was a great one. The ladies of Team CICLE—SoCalCross made a fine showing with 7th, 8th, 9th, and 12th place finishes! This was my first foray into road biking—I spend the majority of my time racing a mountain bike—but, man, criterium racing is fun! Roxanne, Becky, and I worked together the whole race to stay in the front pack, each of us taking a turn at pulling eachother and the peloton. I found myself out in front quite a bit—more than I should have been, in fact, because I hadn’t quite yet learned the art of making it clear I was done pulling—but my legs felt good and I found I could pretty much stay exactly where I wanted to be. Well, until the final two laps, when another rider went shooting up the right side and on down the road. Another couple riders chased, but I couldn’t quite make the gap with them and opted to hang with the pack. In the end, though, the pack couldn’t catch the ladies off the front, and instead me Roxanne and Becky rounded the final turn together and fanned out for a final sprint to the line. A great debut for CICLE-SoCalCross!
-Anna
