Going into elite road nationals, I imagined a day of suffering: the best women in the country putting the hammer down with no relief until the field was shattered. On the day of the race, I sat at the start line as the announcer called roll for the 100 registered women. The first woman called was last year’s national champion, Mara Abbott, who, I then realized, was positioned right in front of me. Perfect, right? Just keep her there for the rest of the day and I’d be sure to come out with a great result.

The start of the Women’s 2008 US National Championship Road Race

As we rolled off the line I started looking for her and other top women to follow. I had no idea what to expect and figured I’d be smart to stay near the one’s who knew. I kept my eyes on Mara, watched Marisa Asplund as we climbed, chatted with Tina Pic on a flatter section, and made sure I never slipped too far back.
Our first lap stayed pretty mellow. Surprisingly, no one attacked. I felt pretty good and decided not to take a feed on our first time through the feed zone. 20 miles down. 60 to go.
This time, the big teams started playing their cards. On one of the only sustained climbs on the course I happened to hear Alison Powers of the pro Colavita squad telling their main climber, Kristin McGrath, to go for it if she felt good. I braced myself for the pain. No attack. The pack stayed together. Suddenly as we crested the top of the hill a flurry of attacks and counter attacks began. Colavita, Webcor, Tibco–it was like a crit as we cornered at high speeds and sprinted to bring back each break away. Two laps down. Two to go.

Liz takes a feed at the end of lap two. 40 miles into the road race.

I got a much needed feed going into our third lap and finished the bottle within 30 minutes as the heat started catching up with me. After getting a better feel for the course I began to really dial-in my approach to the hard sections of the course: one sustained climb leveled out briefly in the middle, but by staying in the small ring and letting the pack sweep me along I saved energy; I got low and aero on descents and started pedaling only when I had to. As we neared our fourth lap, the surges and attacks were constant. The big teams used their numbers to their advantage, sending one after another rider up the road.

The third and final time up the feedzone climb and the pace is fast…
About 20 miles to the finish!!!

The girls preparing to go up the final climb where Tibco and Colavita forced a split and the resulting winning break…

With 8 miles to go, we climbed to the final turn-around on the course. Suddenly, several of the top pros exploded out of the right side of the pack, charging up the hill. My legs burned as I tried match the pace. A slight gap formed between the main field and a small group of ten women, including Mara Abbot, whose wheel I had long since forgotten about. The pace stayed high as a chase ensued. I got into a strong group of chasers but didn’t have the legs to work with them and dropped back. As we approached the finishing climb it was a free for all with probably 75 of the original 100 all sprinting for the line. The final 700 meters to the finish were a blur of riders accelerating, blowing up and swerving to get ahead. With 300 meters to go, a Tibco rider slammed right into the back of 5′8″ Alison Powers and crashed hard as Powers looked completely unaffected. Swerving to miss them, I gave it all I had to the line, lactic acid burning in my legs.

The finish of the 2008 Women’s USCF National Road Race Championships

Later that day I heard I had finished 36 seconds off the winner in 49th place out of 91 finishers. In retrospect it’s easy to think I could’ve gotten up that hill just a bit faster at the finish, or that maybe if I’d been closer to the front on our last climb when the break went I could’ve gotten in it, but for now those aren’t the important details. I did my first race at the elite national level with some of the best women in the country and survived it, with a decent result. I know the more I race with women of that caliber the faster I’ll learn and improve to make the next break.
Now I’m taking what I learned in California to Criterium nationals in Downer’s Grove.