Bermuda Grand Prix
September 22-25, 2005
Webcor Cycling Team: Cat Malone, Betina Hold, Karen Brems, Amber Rais
Report by Karen Brems

STAGE ONE:
While half of the Webcor Women's team is racing for the US and Canada in Madrid for the World Championships, the other half is enjoying the final race of the Women's Prestige Series, the Bermuda Grand Prix. The team is Cat, Betina, Karen and our newest team member, Amber Rais. Carmen is directing and Sasha is keeping all the bikes in top shape.

The first stage was a 30 min night crit in downtown Hamilton. This is the Cat's Hill Crit of Bermuda and the stage I won last year, so the pressure was on for a repeat. The course has a 2 block long, small ring hill and a hairpin turn shortly after the start/finish. The pace was kept high with cash primes every other lap or so and they weren't pocket change either, ranging from $100 to several $500 ones!

The plan was for Amber to try to get some of the primes and then Cat and Amber to lead me out for the finish with Betina on my wheel ready to take over if necessary. We also wanted to make sure we were in any breakaway attempts. Lynn Bessette made her first appearance in Bermuda, racing for a local team. SHe told me at the team presentation that she was here for "vacation" and brought her snorkel gear etc. I've known Lynn for a long time and didn't believe it for a second. When she shows up at a race, she's there to race hard even if it is Bermuda and even if she's snorkelling in the morning! In Christine's absence, I became Lynn's shadow for the race. She made a number of attacks on the climb and was very active at the front, but she was never able to really get away. A few times I ended up in front of her and then she marked my wheel! Old habits die hard :).

The race seemed more aggressive and faster than last year in the absence of the pure sprinters like Laura and Gina who would go full bore for the primes, but then usually sit up. Quark and Basis made a number of attacks. The only thing that stayed off for more than a lap though was Chrissy Ruiter (Basis) who gained a maximum of about 15-20 sec. solo. She was eventaully reeled in by the pace of the race though.

About half way through the race, they announced the first $500 prime. Grace Fleury (Quark) took off at the top of the climb and Amber went after her and the 2 got a good gap on the field. Amber attacked Grace going into the 2nd to last corner and held her off for some nice cash!

There was a "Gambler's Prime" of $500 with 1 lap to go that Lauren Franges (Victory Brewing) took. Lynn countered that, but was caught by the hairpin turn at the bottom of the course. Amber went out of the turn to start the leadout, but she got a slight gap, so I let Liza Rachetto (Lipton) close it with me on her wheel. Amber kept the pace up all the way up the hill and through the last 2 turns with Liza and I following. The finish straight is long (maybe 300m) but a tailwind and I could tell Amber was fading (she had been at the front about 3/4 of a lap!) so I jumped hard a little early to avoid the swarm and got a good gap and held off the field for the win. Lynn was 2nd and Melissa Sandborn (Subway) was 3rd. Our Betina took 5th. Cat and Amber finished in what was left of the field, which was probably half the size it started with.

Time bonuses were 5, 3, 1 sec. So I have a 2 sec. lead over Lynn going into the 1km hillclimb TT tomorrow, which may be tough to hold. Sat. is the only RR of the stage race, and where we hope to use our numbers and strength of the team to make something happen.

STAGE TWO:
Today was a 1km hillclimb TT. Not to much to say about a 2 1/2 min TT - it hurts but it is over quickly. Kind of like the Egan ride, but you only have to do 1 hill! The remnants of Hurrican Phillipe dropped a tropical storm here and the winds were howling all day with off and on rain. Luckily the race was held in mostly dry weather and tailwind, but it did interfere with our beach time :(.

To nobody's great suprise, Lynn won. During warm-up, it took her about 2 nanoseconds to notice that I had TT booties on and she did not...(I really just wanted to wear then to keep my shoes clean from the rain...). Grace Fleury was 1 tenth of a sec. ahead of me in 2nd and I was 3rd.

1. Lynn Bessette 2:22.6
2. Grace Fleury 2:26.1
3. Karen Brems 2:26.2
4. Sarah Tillotson 2:31.2
5. Sima Trapp 2:31.3
....

11. Amber Rais 2:37.7
17. Betina Hold 2:41.7
27. Cat Malone 2:46.2

This puts Lynn in the lead, 1.6 sec. ahead of me and 6 sec ahead of Grace. There are time bonuses of 15, 10, 5 sec. in tomorrow's 80km RR.

Webcor is 3rd on team GC currently 4 sec. behind behind Quark and Subway. Interestingly, time bonuses don't count towards team GC here, so my 5 sec. last night didn't help there.

STAGE THREE:
We didn't have the ideal schedule for this stage, getting home from last night's TT around 9pm and having a 5:15am wake-up for an 8am start this morning! I don't think any of us slept much last night partly due to the late racing and partly due to the banging shutters all night from the winds of hurricane Phillipe! There are no rental cars allowed in Bermuda, so we normally have to get to all the starts by bike. The stage was about an hour's ride away, but due to the weather, Carmen arranged for a Taxi to take us to the race, while she and Sasha loaded our bikes onto their scooters! We were very grateful to be in the cab as we left our host house at 6:30 am in pitch dark, howling winds and a light rain!

Luckily the rain held off during our race and the roads dried out. The men who raced this afternoon weren't so lucky!! Maybe the early start was worth it! The course was similar to last year - 9 laps of a 6 mile rolling loop. We got a bit of a late start (all stages here start on "Bermuda time" which seems to be about 10-15 min past the scheduled start - kind of like Bob Leibold time!) and with so much wind, they shortened out race to 8 laps partway through. There were 3 time bonus sprints for 5, 3, 1 sec. and 15, 10, 5 sec. for the finish. The plan was for me to go for the first 2 time bonus sprints to gain some time and then sit out the 3rd one to have one of us try to go with a counter attack or make one of our own to get a break off.

Becky Broeder attacked within a mile of the start and nobody reacted. She gained up to 2:45 by the 2nd lap, which was the first time bonus. I think everyone thought she would just fry in the wind, but we never found out because she flatted somewhere on the 2nd lap and was out of the race. There is no follow caravan here, only 1 neutral support car, and if you don't put wheels in, you don't get wheels out and many teams don't bring spare wheels here. Also, the car will follow any break, so if there is a break and you flat in the field, your race is over. To make things worse, we rode through a parking lot as well as a construction zone, both of which were full of glass. I was amazed there were not more flats than there were!

The first time bonus sprint was on the 2nd lap. The time bonus sprints are full on finish line sprint efforts since times are so close and everyone who thinks they are in contention for GC wants a few sec. Cat and Amber kept the pace up going towards the finish straight and I parked myself on Bessette's wheel. She jumped early and I was able to come around and take the 5 sec. Brenda Lyons was 2nd (presumably to try to take time away from me for Lauren) and I think Grace was 3rd. It took me most of the whole next lap to recover!

SHortly after, there was a counterattack by Lauren and Betina marked her and the 2 of them got a gap. Kele Hulser (Basis) bridged up, but wouldn't work, so the break came back eventually. There were quite a lot of attacks and counters and Lynn attacked a lot of the small uphills. I know she was watching me, becasue every time I covered something, she would counter or if I got myself boxed in a bit in the pack, she would attack up the other side.

Cat, Amber and Betina did a good job covering the attacks and staying near the front. I tried to mostly watch Lynn and Grace.

The 2nd bonus sprint came at lap 5 and Quark led out Grace. I was on her wheel in 2nd going to the line and decided it would be too much effot to try to come around her for the 2 sec. gain. I had 6 sec. on her going into the race, plus another 4 from the first sprint and I knew she would be unlikely to get in the top 3 in the final sprint if it came to that. I knew I needed to save some energy for Lynn's attacks! Lauren Franges took 3rd.

Due to the shortened race, the last time bonus sprint came on the very next lap. I wanted to just come in on wheels and scoop up a second or 3rd place if I could do it without too much effort. Grace won again and this time Lauren slipped around me, so I was 3rd. I now had a 9 sec. gain and Lynn had not gotten any bonuses, so I was leader on the road, with Grace now only 3 sec. back.

Kate Sherwin got away solo for a bit and gained something like 20 sec. but was brought back in half a lap or so. Then Betina got into a break with Liza Rachetto (Lipton), Kate Sherwin and another Victory rider. They were starting to drop Kate, so it looked like it had promise. A break without Quark or Subway would have given us team GC. Kele was chasing with me on her wheel and as we rounded a corner, we see Kate on the ground and Kele swerved to avoid her and the other 3 break mates are looking back at Kate. Appearantly a car backed out right in front of the break and caused Kate to go down! The other 3 only narrowly avoided it. Kate was pretty scraped up, but did finish the race.

Sometime after that, Lynn made yet another attack and I ended up in a break with her, Grace, a Basis rider and I think Lauren. I didn't want to work too much, but everyone else did and I didn't want them to start attacking me, so I rolled through at about 90%. We got caught with about 1 lap to go.

Now it is half a lap to go and looking very much like a field sprint. There was a last ditch attack on the slight rise about 1km from the finish which Amber covered nicely. Subway was amassed at the front and I was right behind. Then suddenly, with maybe 600m to go, Melissa Sanborn (Subway) takes off and gets a gap. I didn't want to be the one to chase her down, but Lauren Franges went and I got on Lauren's wheel and we caught Melissa on the downhill finish straight. We were single file by then, with no real team leadout train, so I jumped a tad early - maye 200-250m to go as I felt the pace start to slow and the inevitable swarm about to happen. I didn't quite have the legs left to hold everyone off though and I got passed by 3 people in the last 10 meters to take 4th and no time bonus!

Lauren Franges won, Nicole Freedman was 2nd and Liza Rachetto was 3rd. Betina and Amber finished safely in the field and Cat was just a little ways back after getting popped with about a lap to go. This put me back in the leaders jersey, 3 sec. ahead of Grace and 6 sec. ahead of Lauren. Tomorrow is a 50 min crit with 3 time bonus sprints as well as finishing time bonuses, so the race is far from over!

STAGE FOUR:
The final stage in Bermuda was a 50 min. criterium. This is probably one of the most technical crit courses I've done. There are 9 turns and almost nowhere is there room for more than 3 riders abreast. Moving up is tough and the final 2 turns are both less than 200m from the finish line.

I started the day 3 sec. ahead of Grace Fleury (Quark) and 6 sec. ahead of Lauren Franges (Victory). Lauren is a very good crit rider and sprinter and I was most concerned about her as there were 3 time bonus sprints as well as finishing time bonuses: a total of 20 sec. on the line.

Since we were already in the lead, the best scenario for Webcor would be to have riders off the front taking away the time bonuses. Betina was to try to get away while Cat and Amber were to help me with the sprints.

About 1-2 laps before the first sprint, Elizabeth Begosh (Vello Bella) took off solo. This was fine with us. On the last lap leading up to the sprint, Victory started their leadout for Lauren. It was appearantly Brenda Lyons' (Victory) job to try to keep me off Lauren's wheel. I knew that was the wheel I had to be on though, so Brenda and I were fighting elbow to elbow the whole lap. I finally got Lauren's wheel before the 2nd to last corner. I tried to come around her and her leadout rider before the last turn, but Lauren accelerated and there was no more room before the turn and she got there first. The finish line is less than 100m from the corner and there is just not time to come around a fast rider like Lauren in that space. With Liz still off, Lauren took 2nd in the sprint and I was 3rd. This brought Lauren up to 4 sec. behind me. Note to self: go earlier next time!

Between the 1st and 2nd sprint, there were a bunch of attacks and counters with Lynn Bessette being quite active. Everyone watches her though. Betina got into a short lived break for a bit, but it was not cohesive and came back in less than a lap. Sarah Tillotson (Quark) then got away solo before the 2nd sprint. This time Brenda did the leadout for Lauren, so I had a cleaner shot at Lauren's wheel and rode in 3rd position until the 2nd to last corner, when I tried to jump around Lauren. She saw me coming though and accelerated as well. We basically drag raced up to the last turn, which was more than 90 degrees and required some braking. Neither of us wanted to brake first, but she got her handlebars just a few inches ahead of mine and I had to take the 2nd slot around the turn again and again she took 2nd and I was 3rd since Sarah was still off. Note to self: go even earlier next time! Now Lauren was only 2 sec. behind me and if she finished ahead of me again, we would be tied.

Shortly after the 2nd sprint, Grace slipped away as I was watching Lyne and Lauren. Victory needed to bring Grace back as well and did most of the chasing, but with 2 laps to go to the 3rd sprint, Grace still had about 10 sec. Cat came to the rescue and did a hard 3/4 lap effort at the front and brought Grace back within range and Lauren did the final close. With 1 lap to go to the 3rd sprint, we were all together again.

Amber came to the front with a little over 1/2 a lap to go and drove the pace up with me on her wheel. This time I didn't have to jump around the Victory riders, but just went around Amber before the 2nd to last turn, finally hit the last turn first and took the sprint without too much trouble from there. Lauren was 2nd. Now I was back to 4 sec. up on Lauren. She could still win though by winning the race and me placing outside the top 3, which was distinctly possible.

Now it was time for Webcor to really start attacking. Amber took off with about 3-4 laps to go and got a good gap solo. Then they announced a $200 prime on the next lap, which didn't help Amber's chances of staying away any! Sarah Tillotson attacked again to go after Amber and Katherine Carroll (Basis) went after her. We were OK letting them go for the momment. Sarah and Katherine caught Amber, but they wound it up for the prime sprint, and Amber, being gassed from her solo effort could not quite catch their wheels as they went by.

With 2 laps to go, Sarah and Katherine were about 14 sec. up and Amber was back in the field. Sarah started the day only 19 sec. down and had picked up the 2nd time bonus sprint, so with the finishing time bonus, she was now in danger of taking the overall lead. Fortunately for Webcor, Victory needed to bring Sarah all the way back, while we just needed to keep the gap in check, so going into the final lap, Brenda went full gas at the front to close the gap. On the back straight, before the 2nd to last turn, Basis, possibly sensing a stage win, took off - it was Alisha Lion with Nicole Freedman on her wheel. I jumped on, but the order didn't change through the last turns with Alisha taking the field sprint for 2nd, Nicole 3rd and me in 4th. Sarah won the stage, but Katherine crashed in the final turn and ended up having to run across the finish line back in the field.

We actually thought we had lost the overall at that point to Sarah. The officials calculated time gaps and time bonuses for a long time as we sat in the grass trying to figure out what we could have done differently. Then a reporter came over as asked if he could interview me. He said "so, you won the race..." I said "I did??" At this point we sent Carmen over to check with the officials and she came back with the verdict that I had indeed kept the lead by 4 sec! We had forgotten to add in the 5 sec. time bonus sprint I won. Lauren moved up to 2nd, but both she and Sarah were at the same time, so it went to 10ths of seconds from the TT.

Final GC:

1. Karen Brems
2. Lauren Franges @ 4sec
3. Sarah Tillotson @ 4 sec
4. Grace Fleury @10 sec
5. Lynn Bessette @18 sec
...
10. Amber Rais @37 sec
...
12. Betina Hold @41 sec
...
28. Cat Malone @3:22

Quark won team GC.

Overall, it was a fun race and the team all rode really well together. Amber fit right into the team and we are expecting great things for her in 2006! It was a great end to a great season for the Webcor Women.

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