Turlock Road Race

Date: 3/29/14
Race: Turlock Road Race
Rider: Sarabeth Maciey
Location: La Grange, CA
Weather: cloudy and brisk but no rain
Cat: Women's 4
Distance: 45 miles (2 laps of approximately 22 miles)
Terrain: flat to rolling
Field Size: 20
Place: 3rd

First time on the podium! I was really glad the rain held off. I haven't raced in the rain before and it doesn't sound like too much fun. The pace was fairly laid-back between attacks, although fast enough to get us hot on the heels of the women's 3's in front of us at one point. I think they sped up when they saw how close we were. The two Integrity Roofing teammates were pretty much the only women who attacked throughout, and myself and some other women took turns chasing them back, so nothing stuck off the front and a few were dropped off the back.

Not much activity most of the second lap all the way up until the sprint. Coming into the finish, there is a hill and then it flattens out a little ways before the line. I was second wheel with about 1k to go when the motorcycle official came alongside us and told us to move left as we came into the finish. We were confused as to why, and I was a little irritated thinking we were being neutralized for another field just as we were about to finish. We had the whole road and in the next few moments women filled in around the sides of the group and I found myself pretty boxed in. Because the field was small enough, I decided to take a risk and drop to the back in order to move to the outside and free myself up. Luckily, no one attacked as I was dropping back and I came back up toward the front of the group on the left side. This prompted the riders at the front to attack, thinking I was going to go off the front, and I jumped on the second wheel.

As we came around the last turn we realized what the official had been trying to tell us, which was that a few women in the 3's had crashed on the hill right before the finish on the right side of the road. It was a confusing moment of hesitation as I tried to determine if the sprint was still on, gauging whether the other riders were slowing or just giving the crash scene a wide berth. But once past the downed riders we all finished strong.

Another great day riding for the DBC Women's team!