Canadian National Championships
Time Trial
July 7, 2005
Report by: Felicia Greer

I went out conservatively, and on the first major roller - about 10 minutes into the race - I was trying to decide if I should stand, as I was feeling bogged down, or go into my little ring. I decided to go into my little ring....and dropped my chain. I tried to get it back on while on the bike, but it didn't work, so I had to get off, put it on, and try to stay calm. I finally managed that and decided that since my race was over, I would stay in it and use it as practice, so I did, and was able to get back into it both physically and mentally. The way back was a lot faster then the way out - I ended up 3rd - I was beyond psyched and was very glad I stayed in the race. Here's hoping the road race goes at least as well.

Road Race
July 10, 2005
Webcor Riders: Felicia Greer, Betina Hold, Erinne Willock
Course: 12 laps of a 10km loop with a staircase climb and a good decent with a hairpin turn
Weather: perfect
Total Starters: 68 including Espoirs

Report by: Betina Hold

My plan was to cover early attacks and try to get in an early break (perferably with sprinters I could eventually outclimb), and let Felicia and Erinne focus on the other key race contenders, namely Genevieve Jeanson and Lynn Bessette.

Lynn's plan was to attack the first lap and drop as many people as possible, so we all warmed up super well.

The first lap had a good tempo and we did split the pack just with climbing tempo; we had a safe descent, but then we lollygagged on the rolly start/finish section, so the pack caught us again before the climb. The second lap was just the same. Frustrating! You make the break only to regroup again.

Gina Grain broke the pattern and attacked. I jumped on her wheel, came around but she sat on. Coming around the feedzone, a Quebec rider rolled off the front, Stephanie Bourbeau. Lynn yelled at her to go and she did. I remembered her from Montreal and wasn't worried. Then Gina attacked again and I was on her wheel. I asked if she would work this time and she said "yes" so we went, only to be joined by two other riders whom I did not know. Gina and I shared the load to the climb and then climbed at her pace. We lasted 1.5 laps until top of climb number four when Genevieve just reeled us in, shredding the pack. (Plan working until now.)

The descent came and again we lollygagged on the flats and many of those who had fallen off came back on. Lap five was the same as one and two. At the start of lap six, Amy Moore attacked, and we let her go. I didn't want to be the only one chasing. I went to the front, hanging on the left side of the road so no one could attack from left, and to make sure we didn't go too slow. Then Gina attacked again from the far right at super speed. Darn… I jumped across to the left and sprinted for her. I was closing in, but felt a twinge in my left hamstring… darn again… and then I looked under my arm and saw a big blur of yellow… Gen was right on my wheel and I didn't want to tow everyone up so I sat up.

Lap six proved to be a wakeup call for Gen, because she drove the pace up the climb. It was shattering the pack. Six crested together (Erinne, Gen, Lynn, Felicia, Kirsten Robbins, and Alison Sydor). Leigh Hobson, Audrey L., and I were the closest stragglers, each about 10-20m off. Leigh and Audrey managed to bridge on the next few rollers, but alas, I didn't make it and got popped, to be picked up by the next group of five.

After that, my group worked somewhat together to keep the time gap down and noticed we weren't losing too time so we stayed motivated. If only I had those extra 20m in me before… :(

Report by: Felicia Greer

Both of us stayed close to the front - Erinne was marking Genevieve Jeanson and I was marking Lynn Bessette and Susan Palmer-Koma. For the first time, I felt confident that I could climb with this group, and come hell or high water, I was going to do it.

Once Amy Moore got four minutes on the pack, and Gen had hit the pace hard on the climb, I was getting a little nervous. The time would come down a little cresting that climb, but because no one would do any work on the flats, she would gain more time. I was feeling pretty bad; I hadn't felt good all day, so had been checking in with Erinne to see how she was feeling. She said she was feeling great, so I said I would do some work at the front to keep the tempo up, so we would catch Amy. So for laps five and six I set some tempo, and also went after a few attacks. I also started getting gapped off on the climbs, but could still catch back on on the descent and flats. The whole plan for us was to make Gen work, so I threw in a couple of attacks on the flats and she would chase; but since no one else would do anything, we all stayed together.

On lap seven, Amy was caught on the hill and she descended with us. I threw in a couple more attacks, as did Amy, but again, Gen always chased. Finally, with two laps to go, Amy attacked again and I went; Gen didn't chase, so I went for it. Amy was dead from being out there so long, so I dropped her on the climb. I was feeling pretty aweful and wondering where my Thursday TT legs were. I guess on that lap, Gen ran into Lynn's wheel when Lynn tried to attack on the climb, so that helped my cause a little. I had one minute going into the last climb, but again, Gen hit it hard taking, Sue and Erinne with her . Erinne was hoping that I would either stay away or get caught at the bottom of the last climb so that she could counter, but they caught me with about 300m from the top, with little room for Erinne to counter. I was so dead at that point that I just had to watch them go by. Lynn came by a few seconds later and again I could not stay with her. Alison Sydor caught me on the descent and pulled a little and then slowed. Here were two other riders behind us and if I hadn't pulled, they would have caught us, so I figured getting outsprinted by one was better than three, so I pulled her to the line. I tried to attack, but she was right on me.

As for Erinne, Gen and Sue - Erinne tried to go, but Gen just has a couple more fast twitch fibers and outsprinted Erinne for first. Erinne was second, and Sue third.

Overall, I think we rode well as a team. I heard a lot of compliments after the race about our team, so way to go!.

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