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Time for a change: The Kimberly Bruckner Journal 2003
Last year the 2001 US Road Champion Kimberly Bruckner left the number one ranked women's team in the US after two years with Saturn and joined the growing force that is Team T-Mobile. With her sights firmly set on the Worlds in Hamilton and the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, Kimberly's diary is sure to provide compelling reading.
Two for two at Solano
4th Solano Bicycle Classic, Fairfield, CA , March 27-30, 2003
First of all, let me start out by saying that the people who participate in host housing, families that open their homes to riders to stay in during stage races, never cease to amaze me. These families are so kind and so giving. Even in times of war. My T-Mobile teammate, Kristin Johnson, and I are staying with a super kind woman named Kari and her two young children, Travis and Jamie. Kari has given up her bedroom to Kristin and I during the Solano Classic here in Fairfield, California. She stays in her son's bed because Travis is having trouble sleeping, His father, Charlie, is in the Air Force and is away fighting the war in Iraq. So even in the midst of serious family separation due to war, families like these still find it in their hearts to open their homes and their lives to lowly cyclists like us. We are very grateful.
I'm here with my T-Mobile squad and happy to be out of Colorado for the time being. It started snowing there again the day after I left. I don't think I could have taken one more day on the rollers after all my indoor sessions last week. T-Mobile is made up of both a global squad and a national squad. I've got Stacy Peters from the global team here with me along with Kristin Johnson, Lara Kroepsch, Dotsie Cowden, and Sara Hammer from the national squad.
The Solano Classic is a 4-day stage race that started out Thursday with the Jelly Belly-sponsored road race. That's right: the top 3 men and women were to each receive a big 40-flavor box of Jelly Bellys. Now if that isn't incentive for me, the sugar-lover that I am, I don't know what is. Our road race was 54 miles with 3 substantial climbs, the toughest one coming in the final three or four miles of the race. Our T-Mobile director, Mike Engleman, had driven us up and over the first long climb the day before so we could check it out. Climbs always look different from the car, I should have remembered that. In looking at the long climb from the car, in which the QOM would come at only mile 15 of the race, we thought the race would significantly break up by that point. We thought that one wrong.
Stage 1 - March 27: Jelly Belly Road Race, 54 miles
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The women were lined up and ready to go for the 10am scheduled start. But of course we first had to wait for the men to pass, and due to strong head winds and who knows what else, the men were taking a bit longer than expected. Finally around 10:40am, the gun went off and 101 women were off and racing. In the last few years, the Solano Classic has really grown in numbers and the women's field is always big. It's really encouraging for American cycling.
Like I said before, nothing really interesting happened on that first long climb up past the dam to the first QOM. I stayed near the front in case anybody got an itch to jump, but Ina Teutenberg and Stacey Peters did a great job of setting a good tempo up the climb and it all stayed together. I stayed on the wheels of the three girls who jumped for the QOM points just in case something might go, but it was a long winding descent and the group stayed intact.
Shortly after the feed zone at mile 22, we hit a flat windy section and attacks started flying. Ina's always good at putting in some great hard attacks and she got the group riled up and more into the racing mode. Finally two riders were able to escape, Meredith Miller, Team Grace, and Anne Samplonius from Salsa Racing team. No one responded straight away to their attack and they quickly put 30 seconds into the field.
When their gap reached 1:30, both T-Mobile and Saturn became a bit concerned. I asked Lara and Sara to come to the front and rotate with Ina, Laura Van Gilder, and Amy Moore just so we could bring the break back before the final climb, which they did successfully. All the climbers started massing at the front as we approached the final five miles. My teammate Kristin Johnson came to the front to take a pull and help protect me from the wind and I saw that her shorts were totally ripped and she was bleeding from the elbow. I felt so badly because I hadn't even know that she had crashed.
And in fact she had been so unfortunate as to have crashed twice. The first time was in the mad rush for sprinter points. The girl in front of her had stood up and thrown her bike so suddenly, Kristin had no time to react and was thrown down. The second time a girl cut right in front of her, hit her front wheel, and toppled her straight over. Kristin is such an awesome mountain biker and somehow our directors lured her to the road racing scene this year. So it's still a bit new to her. But for being thrown into the pro ranks so suddenly, she's doing an amazing job. I was just happy she was back up and on her bike and at the front, no less!
We had heard stories about how tough this climb was going to be and our trusty mechanic, Duke, had put 27 sprockets on all our bikes. Stellar job, Duke! Stacey and Dotsie did an awesome job of protecting me and delivering me to the base of the climb where I was sent off with all the other top climbers in the bunch. My best bet was to just lead into the climb, set a hard pace, and hopefully drop as many as I could.
Luckily, my simple plan worked. On the steep switch backs, I'd take a quick peek behind to see how many girls were behind me. Each time I looked, it was less and less. Finally, it was just Manon Juntras and Lyne Bessette from Saturn on my wheel. That's when I stopped looking and just rode. By the top of the climb, I was alone and the motorcycle guy told me I had a 50 second gap. I was ecstatic. I REALLY wanted to win this stage. It's seemed to me lately that I'm always close but can't quite finish the job. So finishing this one successfully was important, not only for me but for our new T-Mobile team.
With a two mile descent left to go, I was pedaling like mad. I knew Manon and Lyne would wait for each other at the top and work together on the descent to catch me. Luckily, there wasn't enough time. My mad pedaling got me to the finish line in first place, 46 seconds ahead of Lyne and Manon. It didn't even bother me that the finish line officials didn't notice me since I was amidst a lot of Cat 2 men. Nothing could take the smile off my face. This win means a lot to me personally and it means a lot to my team and our amazing sponsors. Right after the race, I got a call from Bob Stapleton, chairman of the T-Mobile USA board and the reason for our team's existence. Thank you for calling, Bob. I promise to share my Jelly Bellys with you!
Stage 2 - March 28: Solano Garbage Hill Climb, 7.7 miles
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Today's stage was a totally new one for the Solano Classic, a 7.7 mile mass start hill climb. Leave it to the innovative Solano Classic race promoters to throw in something different like this. Actually, a friend of mine on one of the men's pro teams had called me at home on Tuesday to tell me he had ridden the course and to be sure to bring a 27 cog. He had used a 25 cog and had trouble getting up the steepest parts of the climb! The race bible announced to us that the steepest parts of the climb reached a grade of 22% and the elevation gain in the final mile was over 1000 feet. Where do they find this stuff?
The first three miles of the race were flat, then a left turn onto Mix Canyon road... a name I will never forget. Once onto Mix Canyon road, the course was undulating for about 1.5 miles and then just headed steeply up the mountain side with some serious switch-backing. My team's objective was to set a strong tempo from the start while keeping me protected. I rode the first 4-5 miles of the course as soon as we arrived in the morning and reported back to the girls which way the wind was coming from and how they could set up their rotation.
That didn't quite work out as planned. We had a bit of chaos going on from the start. Since everyone was intent on getting to the climb as soon as possible and in the front, Lara, Sara, and Kristin had a tough time even getting to the front in the beginning. Stacey and Dotsie though took turns rotating until the other three made it up there. But the strong head and cross winds were making it a bit tough to keep their little echelon very tight. I just kept telling myself to remain calm.
Three flat miles can only last so long, and before we knew it, we were making the left turn onto Mix Canyon. First Stacey took over for me, leading me up the road and keeping me out of the wind. When she blew, Dotsie moved up and I sat on her wheel, driving her crazy by continuously telling her, "Faster, faster!" Which she did too! They were awesome. Finally, the road rose steeply and it was time to go to work. I pulled around Dotsie with a group of women on my wheel and hoped for the best. I rode without looking behind me until I could no longer hear heavy breathing - except my own of course! When I finally did glance behind me, I saw that Manon had lost contact with my wheel and I was on my own.
Then the road got REALLY steep. Surprisingly, there were fans on the steepest corners of the course cheering. But what worried me was that no one was telling me, "Oh, just 400 meters to go!" Like they normally would. And since I didn't have a cyclometer on my bike, I wasn't quite sure how much further I had to go. Finally, I could see the 'one mile to go' sign which was a relief for a short time, until I remembered the race bible saying I still had 1000 feet of elevation to go. I wasn't able to sit down and pedal; I had to stand. I'm sure my arms are going to be so sore tomorrow after yanking on my bars like I did.
The sight of the finish line was such a relief. I waited impatiently for my teammates to finish so I could tell them the good news. They were looking a little haggard and bedraggled by the time they crossed, but happy none the less. Manon finished second and Lyne finished third for the day. We had to wait until all the women finished before we could head back down the mountain and make way for the pro men who were soon to follow. Our work was done for the day. It was successful once more, the team rode great, and I got another encouraging phone call from Bob. That's a good day
Talk to you soon,
Kimberly
