Cherry Blossom Challenge
The early Spring Series in Branch Brook Park, Newark, NJ always concludes with a full day festival, kicked off by the final day of bike racing in the series aptly named the Cherry Blossom Challenge. If you haven't experienced it, I highly recommend it. Despite the chilly weather and threat of rain this weekend, the park was still as beautiful as ever.
We had a solid turnout given the weather, with 18 starters in the Women's 4/5 field and 18 in the Women's 1/2/3, with 2 separate starts and the entire course to ourselves!
Megan was in the green jersey as the sprint competition leader and our goal was to keep her there, but Nataly from 1kflips Racing was only 2 points behind her, so we had our work cut out for us. The race started out fast with Tori from CycleSmart getting on the front and hammering. After the officials rang the bell for the first sprint, Lucia moved into position to cover the front and watch for attacks. Our goal was to support Megan by helping her keep position and scooping up any points behind her to provide a larger cushion for her lead. But we also had to make sure we were ready for any counter attacks launched from the sprint. I was in 4th place in the competition for the yellow series leader jersey, and although unlikely to take the yellow, I wanted to give it a try if possible.
We rounded the corner going into the finish line stretch on the first sprint lap. Lucia looked back and moved left so Megan could grab her wheel. I moved up and boxed in Nataly so she couldn't get on Megan's wheel. Lucia led Megan out for a perfect sprint. Lucie from W.0 was on Megan's wheel and I scooped up 3rd. Sprint 1 done and success. However, as one would expect, Lucie used the sprint to launch an attack. This became one of MANY attacks she launched. I grit my teeth and went with it, re-tasting the oysters and champagne from the school fundraiser we had the night before.
Lucie tore my legs OFF this race. The attacks were relentless and the pace never let up. We covered every one as a team and were ready to execute sprint 2 when the bell rang.
Once again, Lucia was there to cover the front. She and I had already done so much work and were so tired. Good news is Megan was right there and ready to rock. Megan told me where she wanted me and I moved out into the wind. Lucia tried to helped cover Megan's wheel. I led Megan out but did not put full gas in guessing that there would be a counter attack that I would need the legs to jump onto. Megan, once again, executed perfectly and secured the green jersey.
Then Lucie countered... again. This time we actually got some distance but it was all sprinters except for Tori and no one wanted to commit. Pretty quickly it got reeled back in. Then the axe came down. There were multiple attacks by W.0 and Lucia and I were spent. The group of 5 got away. I tried to get people to work together but W.0 was doing a nice job of blocking for Lucie and I couldn't get people to go around them so we could gain momentum. Then Lucia and LuLu from Rockstar went to the front and put in a HUGE combined effort to reel back the 5 person break who were all working really well together. I was so impressed! I tried to move to the front to help them but I couldn't get other racers to move around W.0 to help me work with Lucia at first. Eventually, I convinced one of the All.ways racers to help and we got to the front just as Lucia threw in the towel having gotten us 85% of the way there. We were able to bridge to the break and they sat up with 2 laps to go.
Then it was a waiting game. I had Jess Chong's wheel and was battling to keep others off. There was a last minute flyer by Louise from Continential - Ostroy and Lucie sent Christine, her teammate, up to pull her up. As we caught Louise, Lucie attacked. Jess reacted and Tori was able to slip between us. I knew Tori had done too much work and probably wasn't going to be able to overcome Jess for the sprint. I tried to go around her but she held her ground. Unfortunately, when Lucie, Jess, and Nataly jumped, I was still behind Tori's wheel and they got a gap. I tried so hard to make up the distance but just couldn't. I had no more legs! Pulled off 4th.
Props to all the racers out there! These smaller fields of incredibly strong women are so brutal.
Photo Gallery by Eric Ostenberg
