Norba National #1
Waco, TX
March 15, 2004

The first big race of the year came earlier than usual and forced all of us to dust off our race legs even though most of our trails are still covered in snow. We all converged on Waco, TX last weekend. Not a tourist destination by any means. But it was the site of our first national event and the first chance for those of us trying to make the Olympic team to get those coveted UCI points.

When Norba was reorganized this past winter, the higher ups decided to add stage races to the overall series. The Waco event was run as a three-day stage race. On Friday we had a short but painful time trial. The course was partly on pavement and then mostly on really tight twisty super fun single track. The kind of trails we don’t have in Colorado. The terrain was full of short steep descents and climbs connected by a serpentine of winding trails. The vegetation was quite dense with lots of low-lying trees. The course designers wrapped any tree branch that was capable of a painful headshot with lots of yellow caution tape. There were yellow branches everywhere on the course. You really had to pay attention. The time trial was 3 miles. The start order was based on last year’s final Norba rankings. Because of my shoulder injury last year, I was ranked 40th and got to start quite early in the women’s field. Being such a tight course there was little room for passing and that was a concern of mine having to start behind riders that normally aren’t in the top twenty. The advantage I had, however, was that when I crossed the finish line my time was almost four minutes faster than anyone at that point and it made me look like a hero. Had I started amongst the top ten women, my time wouldn’t have been a big deal. In the end it was fast enough for third. Alison Sydor won and Kiara Bisaro was second and then myself. I was only 13 seconds down on Sydor so it was a good start to the weekend.

Saturday’s race was the short track event. The first half of the race was on pavement. We hung a U-turn onto the dirt and rode back to the start/finish line paralleling the pavement. Then we did another U-turn back onto the pavement and that’s how it went for twenty-five minutes. Kind of boring but plenty painful. Our first lap was marred by a bad crash in the back of the field. They stopped our race as soon as we came through the start/finish line. Too many bodies strewn across the road. We had an unexpected 30-minute delay while the girls were whisked off to the hospital. Not good for anyone. When we did finally get going again, the pace was fast and aggressive for the first third of the race. Because of the stiff headwind on the pavement section, no one was able to get away. I think everyone gave up and decided to ride conservatively in the group. The last two laps were fast and exciting however. I had good position coming down the final stretch, but Sydor jumped and came around me and I just didn’t have the turbo rocket I needed to outsprint her. She held on for the win and I was second. My teammate Katerina Hanusova rode a great race and was third.

Sunday’s race was the big cross-country. It had a E1 ranking which meant that there were forty UCI points to the winner. All I really cared about was winning today. We did two laps on the same kind of twisty convoluted trails that the time trail was on. With little to no passing, getting into the single track first was half the battle. I sprinted up the paved climb and dove into the trail first. Whew! Sydor was right behind me. I set a hard tempo and tried to avoid the trees wrapped in yellow. Within ten minutes I had dropped everyone but Sydor. And that’s the way it was the rest of the race. Since she was the leader in the overall by 13 seconds, it was really my job to try and drop her so I could make up those seconds. She didn’t have to do anything but follow me around and be my shadow. She rode strong and I wasn’t able to drop her. So we stayed together all the way until the finish where of course I had to beat her in the sprint! So I won the cross-country event, Sydor was second, my teammate Katerina was third, Willow Korber was 4th and Sue Haywood was 5th. I ended up second in the overall. And we actually got prize money for this race. First time since 2002 that a Norba race gave out prize money. Way to go Texas!

The next big race is the Sea Otter Classic on April 14th. Until then.

Cheers!
Alison