Ladies Go Out Like a Lion

Hincapie/Coca Cola presented by Barkley Women’s Race Report
Out Like A Lion Race Weekend

Remax Town and Country Road Race:
Saturday’s race certainly lived up to the name for this weekend of racing! The weather came in like a lion and went Out Like A Lion!! After heavy rains on Friday night, we woke up to very dense fog that would delay the start of the first race by over 2 hours. Many racers found themselves sitting around, not knowing when their race was going to begin. The talk among most of us focused on: Do I have enough food to sustain me up to and through my race? When should I eat? When should I begin my warm-up? Should I race in my rain jacket?

There was a short rain shower just before the masters race but luckily the women were able to start and finish on dry roads. (The Pro/1/2 men were not so lucky. They were pounded with hail in their 2nd lap so the race was called. But, that’s another story for another blog post!) We stood in the staging area for 30 minutes before our race finally got underway. We were neutral for the first half-mile as we made our way to the 6.6 mile loop. Even with the neutral start, racers were already fighting for position to be ready for the first hill on the narrow country roads.

There were several teams attending this race that were well represented by numerous racers: Lees McCrae, BMW/Bianchi, Team 19 Cycling and of course the Women’s HCCB (Hincapie/Coca Cola presented by Barkley) team. We had Lauren Trull, Lara Cassidy, Lisa Preslar, Lori Harkey, Bridgette McLean and Marianne Holt. The focus of today’s race was to stay near the front and be ready to respond to the numerous attacks. Robin Farina of Team Cheerwine was fresh off of the Cheerwine race team’s two-week training camp and raced aggressively as always. The women from Lees McCrae also raced aggressively. Lauren and Marianne monitored the front ready to respond to the inevitable attacks on the hills. The race distance was already short (33 miles) and with the weather delays, it was shortened by one lap for a total distance of just 26 miles. With the shorter distance, our pace was more like a criterium than a road race and we dropped many racers early on.

By the time we reached the fourth and final lap, the peloton was tiring and setting up for the finish. The last half of the course included a flat, two-mile section before the push up the final hill to the finish. We cruised along on the flat section at a reasonable pace until Lori and Lisa moved to the front. Feeling good and knowing that once the race was over, they would need to hurry to Lori’s house to prepare for Lauren’s bridal shower, they pushed the pace and began the final surge to the end. This was a great move but was a tad early to begin the leadout. Soon Marianne was at the front on the opposite side of the road with Lauren on her wheel. Again, a tad early but Marianne kept up the pace as long as she could. Finally, Lara powered her way to the front, setting the peloton in a frenzy to chase her. Lauren jumped in mid-pack and made her way to the front to contest the sprint placing third behind Kacey Manderfield and Hadley Trotter. The rest of the team finished in the pack.

After a very short cool down, the winds whipped and the rain began so we all packed up to get ready for the party/bridal shower for Lauren and her fiancé, Michael Rigby. Lisa Preslar and Lori Harkey hosted this celebration at Chris and Lori Harkey’s home in Mt Pleasant. The event was attended by nearly the entire HCCB team and friends and family of the happy couple.

Food Lion City Park Criterium – This WAS in OUR Plan:
Luckily the skies were clear for Sunday’s race although the winds and cool temperatures definitely kept a bite in the air. Today’s races featured a Women’s Cat 4 race and Women’s Open. Bridgette competed in the Cat 4 race finishing second! She raced aggressively and strong throughout the entire race. However when Team 19 Cycling racer Stacie Schnitkey attacked for a solo breakaway, Bridgette could not close the gap. She chased hard at the front with the peloton glued to her wheel, but to no avail. Congratulations to Bridgette for her second place finish, especially after such a hard effort!!

When we arrived for the Women’s Open race we wondered if it was going to be a repeat of Saturday in terms of delays. They were already running about 20 minutes behind schedule. As we were warming up on our trainers we saw the Masters 45+ race finish. Then we heard "all women to the line" and we still had 25 minutes before our race started! No more delay - now they were running early?!

We looked at each other and thought they must just be mistaken so we just kept warming up. Then our friends started coming by and telling us they were indeed calling all women to the line and we'd better get ourselves down to the start. Marianne, the consummate veteran, kept pedaling on her trainer: "They can't start the race before the scheduled start time. No way." Still being new to the sport, and having heard horror stories about missed starts, Lara decided she wasn't going to chance it - she hopped off her trainer and got out on the course to continue her warm-up. Lauren calmly got her gloves from Bridgette and got on the phone to call Lori to tell her to step on the gas and have Chris drop her off at the start line!

As it ended up Marianne was right, they didn't start before our scheduled time - even waited for a few people to show up while we were staged! But - good way to get that heart rate up before the race even started!"

The were more than 30 women in today’s race including several members of the Lees McCrae, BMW/Bianchi and Team 19 Cycling race teams. The Salisbury City Park is the perfect venue for spectators to watch an exciting criterium. The nine-tenths of a mile course encompasses the entire park and features a short, tough power hill up to the finish. The HCCB women raced aggressively from the gun and gave the spectators plenty of excitement to watch. All four HCCB women: Lara, Lori, Marianne and Lauren attacked relentlessly making solo breakaways, only to be reeled in by the determined peloton. Lauren was away for more than 2 laps during her first breakaway; and once caught, attacked again for a second solo breakaway! She was chased down again but still had enough left for the sprint finishing second to Madeleine Pruissant of Athens, Georgia. The rest of the HCCB women finished very strong with Marianne, Lori and Lara finishing mid-pack.

We’ll take a break from racing for the next couple of weeks and start up again in April with the Rock Hill Spring Omnium. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more exciting race updates!