USA National Championships

Cincinnati, USA, June 25-27, 1999

Karen Kurreck reports:

This race did actually happen, but it did not go the way I had hoped. The problem is I just can't breathe in Cincinnati! There were smog alerts here for the last 10 days, and the RR being downtown made things even worse. I think the city is kind of in a "bowl" and with the heat, humidity and no wind, all the pollution just collects.

The course was similar to last year with the addition of another climb. When I registered and got my race bible, it said the recommended gearing was 39x26! This information would have been a lot more useful had it been printed in the race announcement in the Cycling USA magazince BEFORE we all got to the race! The climb was about 600m long and doable in a 23, but definitely a grind and you had to stand the whole way. Then there was a short, steep descent in to the climb from last year. From the top of the 2nd climb to the finish was a basically flat 5-6miles. I was happy with the additional hill - it should have been a good course for me and with no teammates, I needed a hard course to make some natural selection. I was coming off being sick and then a forced rest period so I wasn't really sure where my form was, but my last few days of training had gone well, so I was hoping for the best.

We started at 8am which was pretty early to race, but it meant the heat was not as much of a factor. It is very hot and humid here, but not nearly as bad as last year. We had a relatively small field of about 65 women. Most women racers don't live anywhere near Ohio and so people don't make the trip unless they think they are competetive. We did 8 laps of 8 miles each. The first 2 1/2 laps were pretty uneventful. I wanted to just sit in and conserve energy the first half of the race and it seemed a lot of people had the same idea. The first 3 times up the climb were not particularly hard - just steady tempo. On the flat section on the 3rd lap, a rider I didn't know attacked (Ratkewitz-Bowmen or something like that). Actually there were quite a few riders in the field I didn't know which was kind of strange - that's what happens when you leave the country for 3 months! Anyway, Pam Schuster (Timex) followed the attack and Julie Hanson (Saturn) bridged up shortly thereafter. The field didn't react much, and the break gained 20 seconds almost instantly. Cox-Atlanta Velo chased sort of, but the gap continued to grow. At the base of the climb on the 4th lap, they had something like 46 sec. SOmebody had to do something, so Mari Holden (Dream Team) set a hard pace up the climb. Julie Young (Timex) and I were right on her wheel and Elizabeth Emery (Celestial Seasonings) and Kendra Wenzel (Timex) followed. This ended up being the first major selection of the race. I was still feeling reasonably good at that point and hadn't hit my limit yet...We descended and started the 2nd climb with the front 3 well within sight. We caught them shortly before the top. This was when I started having trouble with my asthma. I backed off a little to try to stay within myself over the top of the climb, but the damage was pretty much done. I tried to sit on the back of the group and recover a bit but I couldn't and I got dropped from the break on an overpass. I could still see them and they weren't all that organized, but I just couldn't push any harder without wheezing. Heather Albert (Charles Schwab) caught me and when on to chase after the front group of 6. All I could do was sit on her wheel. We did catch up again but I knew I would probably have trouble on the next climb. I did. It wasn't even that hard, but I was now having a regular asthma attack. It was all I could do to make it over the hills and back to the start-finish area. Most of the field passed me. Even in the medical tent, it was a good 5 minutes before I could stop wheezing. So much for my national champoinships... I had trouble here last year as well, but I though this year would be better because I was coming off a rest period and hadn't had trouble with my asthma before the race like I did last year.

Meanwhile, the front group which was now 7 continued to gain time on what was left of the field. Since I wasn't there, I don't know all the details, but they were still all together at the end of the 6th lap. Timex had 3 riders in the group, so they had the advantage of numbers. No other team had more than 1 rider in the group. On the 7th time up the climb, the group split with Mari, Julie Young and Kendra in front and Elizabeth, Pam and Heather in the back and Julie Hanson alone behind them. GOing into the last lap, it was Mari and 2 Timex riders in the lead and Mari did the only thing she really could at that point. She attacked hard on the climb and dropped her breakmates and time trialed alone to the finish for the win. Julie and Kendra were at least 30-40 sec. back and Julie finished a bit ahead of Kendra for 2nd. Pam dropped Elizabeth and Heather and finished alone in 4th. Heather outsprinted Elizabeth for 5th. There was a group of 15 or so sprinting for 7th and I don't know any more results than that. It was a good course for a national championships and Mari was the strongest rider in the field today and she won, so it was a good race.

The latest news was they announced at the RR that the TT had been rescheduled to Monday on the same course as before! This was after a lot of people who had come just for the TT had already gone home. As for me, I have to board a plane for Italy Sunday am for the Giro, so it is not possible for me do do the TT this year. This makes the 4th continent I have lugged my TT bike to this year and I've never used it except for training!!! This whole national championships was somewhat of a fiasco. The junior RR yesterday was shortened by 8 laps in the middle of the race! A guy was off the front with what was supposed to be 10 laps to go and then they all of a sudden showed 2 laps to go and he stayed away and won!

USCF Report:

Mari Holden and Danny Pate of Colorado Springs each captured the elite road race national title Saturday at the U.S. Cycling Federation National Road Cycling Championships in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Holden, the reigning national time trial champion, took off from the competition on the last of eight laps over the course which covered downtown Cincinnati and crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky. The runner-up at the HP LaserJet Women's Challenge last week, Holden posted a winning time of two hours and 57 minutes and 39 seconds to win the 55-mile race by 1:02 over Julie Young of Sacramento, Calif., while Young's Team Timex teammate Kendra Wenzel of McKenzie Bridge, Ore. finished third (1:09 behind the winner)

"I wanted to win this so bad," said Holden who has won three of the past four national time trial crowns and will defend her title on Monday. "Every since not making the 1996 Olympic team, I wanted to prove to everyone that I could become a complete road cyclist. I chipped away and chipped away, and this win brings me great personal satisfaction."

"The last climb was my only chance to break away from my competition (Young and Wenzel), and I had to remain patient throughout the race and make my move at the right time. I did that, and I am excited to win another national title."

1999 national road race champ Pam Schuster (Cupertino, Calif.) earned fourth-place honors.

Katie Compton of Newark, Del. won the women's under-23 road race with a time of 3:02:55 to edge Colorado Springs Leah Toffolon by two minutes. Toffolon is a USA Cycling resident-athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

"My mountain bike training helped me and gave me great strength on the climbs, and that was the difference in this race," said Compton, who began racing at age eight. "The course was a perfect setup for me, and I loved the short steep climbs, and that is what helped me to win the national title (her first)."

Meanwhile, Pate became the first cyclist to win both the elite and espoir (19-22 year old) road race with a 52-second triumph over fellow Colorado Springs resident Derek Wilkerson. He is a resident-athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Pate captured the espoir (19-22 year old) road race crown over a similar course in Cincinnati last year and finished second in the elite road race.

Pate's teammate, Michael Creed (Colorado Springs) lead a break with about 30 miles remaining in the race and helped position Pate for the victory, Creed, who is just 18 and competes as a junior, finished fifth in the espoir competition.

"After last year, I wanted to come back and win both titles," said Pate. "I was so close , yet I wanted to win both races. I received strong support from my teammates (Paul Collins (4th) and Michael Creed). Knowing the course was a definite advantage, and the course was well suited for my style of riding. Like Compton, Pate plans to return to mountain biking competition next week with appearances in Mammoth, Calif. and Park City, Utah as part of the Chevy Trucks National Championship Series (mountain biking).

Defending elite road race champ Patrick Heaney (San Jose, Calif.) finished 10th.

The third day of action is the criterium for both juniors and elite cyclists on Sunday in Loveland, Ohio, followed by the individual time trial in the Greater Cincinnati area.

Women's Elite Road Race, 90 kms:

 1. Mari Holden (Acca Due o Lorena) 		2.57.39
 2. Julie Young (Timex)				2.58.41
 3. Kendra Wenzel (Timex)  			2.58.38
 4. Pam Schuster (Timex)  			2.59.42
 5. Heather Albert (Charles Schwab)  		3.00.34
 6. Elizabeth Emery (Celestial Seasonings)  	3.00.34
 7. Tina Mayolo (Celestial Seasonings)  	3.02.54
 8. Nikki Gugliotta (Cox Atlanta Velo)  	3.02.54
 9. Jen McRae (Timex) 	 			3.02.54
10. Jamie Nicholson (CRCA-Metro)  		3.02.55

Women's Espoir Road Race, 90 kms:

 1. Katie Compton (First State Velo Sport) 	3.02.55
 2. Leah Toffolon (Celestial Seasonings)  	3.02.57
 3. Heather Woodhouse (PPCC) 			3.11.09
 4. Sarah Wilson (Best/Specialized) 		3.20.49
 5. Jenni Buckley (Potmac Racing) 		3.20.52
 6. Elizabeth Morse (Children's First) 		3.20.52
 7. Cecilia Potts (SoBe) 			3.29.45
 8. Janine Verstraeten (NESCA Trek) 		3.37.11

Men's Elite Road Race, 180 kms:

 1. Danny Pate (Colorado Cyclist) 		4.48.24
 2. Derek Wilkerson (Mercury) 			4.49.16
 3. Scottie Weiss (GoMart West Virginia) 	4.49.31
 4. Paul Collins (Colorado Cyclist) 		4.50.39
 5. Chris Pic (Cox Atlanta Velo) 		4.50.39
 6. Curt Davis (Wheelworks/Cannondale)  	4.51.45
 7. Kevin Monahan (Breakaway Couriers) 		4.51.45
 8. Dale Sedgwick (UCC-Now Sports)  		4.51.45
 9. Christopher Humbert (Mi Duole) 		4.51.46
10. Patrick Heaney (GS Lombardi) 		4.51.52

Men's Espoir Road Race, 180 kms:

 1. Danny Pate (Colorado Cyclist) 		4.48.24
 2. Derek Wilkerson (Mercury) 			4.49.16
 3. Donny Lopez (Kissena) 			4.52.25
 4. Justin Spinelli (Wheelworks/Cannondale)  	4.57.30
 5. Michael Creed (Colorado Cyclist) 		5.03.52
Thanks to Rich Wanninger, USCF