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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.
With a little help from my team
4th Solano Bicycle Classic, Fairfield, CA , March 27-30, 2003
Stage 3 - March 29: GeniSoy Criterium, 90/60 min
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I think all the T-Mobile girls, including myself, were pretty nervous about today's criterium. As always, anything could happen. Maybe that sounds silly to some when we have a 2:40 lead over second place, but to me, nothing is for sure until every stage is complete and we're still in the jersey. My ex-teammate and one of my best friends, Suzanne Sonye, would tell you that I could have a 15 minute lead going into the final stage and still think I was going to get trounced upon. We all look at things differently!
I am continuously grateful to all of my teammates from the past two years for all that they taught me. After riding on the previously ranked number one women's team in the world for the last two seasons, I learned so much about bike racing that I can now, hopefully, pass on to my new T-Mobile teammates. Between my over-analyzing mind and our very calm, very knowledgeable, and very laid back director, Mike Engleman, we came up with a great plan for today's crit: don't let Lyne and Manon get too far up the road. Yes, a LOT of work went into that plan.
On the short ride over to the crit course, my teammate Stacey Peters shared with me how excited she was to ride in defense of our yellow jersey. She went on to say she hadn't ridden for a team in over two years that had had a chance to ride for the overall G.C. Stacey is one of those girls who is the perfect model of the ideal teammate. She will do anything for you. I watched her last year in the women's Tour, La Grande Boucle, and she was incredible. She'd be at the front bringing back breaks, then shoot straight to the caravan behind to pick up bottles for her teammates and zoom straight back up to the front. If that was me gathering bottles for my teammates, I'd be so far off the back, they'd probably never see me again. Stacey is such a huge asset to this team and having her here means a lot to me.
At 1pm the gun went off and we zoomed away on our fancy paint-job Cannondales. Sixty minutes we had to hold Lyne and Manon in check. Manon attacked straight away and my heart rate sky-rocketed, but it was too early in the race for anything to escape and she was quickly reigned in. It was an aggressive race from the start with all teams hungry for a win after two serious climbing stages. At one point, I saw Lyne attack as I got boxed in. I panicked for a moment and started yelling to Dotsie and Stacey, "It's Lyne! It's Lyne!" They were probably thinking, "Oh Kimberly, just shut up." But they played it very calm and cool and with Lara aiding them, they reeled her back in.
With about 30 minutes to go, a sizeable break got away with Ina Teutenberg, Tina Mayolo-Pic, Lynn Gaggioli, and about seven others; no one an immediate threat to us. We were happy to let it go up the road. The break gained quite a good lead and I figured that was the race. Then all of a sudden, Ina came flying to the front of the peloton and the rest of Saturn amassed at the front of the field and started chasing like mad. I didn't understand what was going on, but it wasn't exactly the time to start asking questions. I sat comfortably behind my teammates and let the chase go on. Those girls brought back the break with five laps to go and the rush for the final sprint was on. I did my best to stay near the front and stay out of trouble. Dotsie, Stacey, and Lara did their best to keep me in their sights and make sure I didn't do something stupid in the final laps like miss a corner or take myself out. Laura Van Gilder did an awesome job of taking the win with the help of her teammates, closely followed by Tina Mayolo-Pic of Diet Rite and Nicole Friedman of Basis.
I talked to Ina after the race and asked her what had happened in the break. She said a leaf had gotten stuck in her wheel and it sounded to her like she had a broken spoke. So she pulled into the pit for a wheel change and a free lap. But by the time she pulled into the pit, the leaf had blown away and there was nothing wrong with her bike. No true mechanical problem, no free lap. She said she looked at the commissaire in the pit and said, "I'm fucked, aren't I?" And he shook his head sadly and said yes. So now Ina was a lap down and their team had no one in the break. Thus, the ensuing chase. Which still ended in victory on their part. And it helped us out too. We didn't lose any time today and we're still in the jersey. Rest up well tonight girls... it could be a tough one tomorrow.
Stage 4 - March 30: Daily Republic Circuit Race, 82/60 miles
I've got a few minutes to report on today's race before we head out of Fairfield, California and move onto Redlands for the next big stage race. I can't thank my teammates enough for today. They were absolutely incredible, worked their asses off, and brought home the win. To top off winning overall G.C., we also won team G.C., boosting team morale even more. What a fun trip it's been!
Here's how it played out. We began the 60 mile circuit race at the start/finish line of the downtown criterium from yesterday. Nearly three miles of neutral got us out to the Rancho Solano subdivision for the start of the 5.6 mile circuit that we were to race nine times. At the beginning of each circuit was the climb. And with the first of three QOM's awarded on the first lap, the race was off to a quick start. Once the 200 meter to go sign to the QOM was in site, Manon attacked and was determined to gain the points. I still held the mountain jersey going into this stage but didn't want to be greedy and waste effort going for the QOM points. I did know, however, that I certainly needed to follow wheels that went for them just to make sure nothing threatening got away. One of the Basis girls actually won that first QOM, Manon was second, and either Lyne or I was third, I think. Dotsie was right there with me too, my little guardian in case anything serious should happen. We had formed a small break going for the QOM, but with the descent immediately following, the group easily came back together.
It was a really fun circuit to race with lots of corners and ups and downs, and each circuit seemed to go by really quickly. Lots of attacks were going on with teams interested in forming a break and going for a stage win. My girls were incredible. My job was to follow Lyne and Manon. Lyne seemed busy covering attacks for her team, and I followed her. Finally, Ina put in a strong attack and got away with Cathy Marsal of RONA, Sandy Espeseth of Amoroso's, and three or four other women. It was a strong break and quickly rode to a good gap. I was doing math in my head trying to figure out where the second to sixth placed riders in overall G.C. Were. They were all with me, so the most time we could allow the break was something like 6:30. That shouldn't be a problem!
Once the break was established, I still knew there still may be a race within a race if Lyne or Manon was interested in putting time into me. But it didn't seem like that was going to happen. Even so, in order to discourage attacks and minimize our losses, I had the girls come to the front and rotate through steadily. We were still interested in winning overall team G.C. And all my girls made it to the front. I was so psyched that Kristin and Sara were up there helping Lara, Dotsie, and Stacey. I can't say enough about how they all rode today. I felt like a proud little mother hen!
At the top of the climb with two laps to go, it finally sunk in that, barring any disaster, we had the number one G.C. wrapped up. What a great feeling! Saturn seemed happy with Ina up in the break - that's pretty much a sure win. Lyne Gaggioli was constantly aggressive though, and really trying to get away from the field. But Lyne had her marked and no one was going anywhere.
As we passed through the feed zone the final time, our director radioed to us that we needed to keep the gap to under 2:00 in order to maintain team G.C. Even though the girls were totally worked, Dotsie and Stacey came to the front with me and we set up a strong rotation as we came off the circuit and raced the final miles back into town. We swallowed up the three or four girls who had fallen out of the break on our way. About a mile from the finish, Diet Rite and Saturn took over to set up their designated riders for the field sprint. Up ahead, Ina Teutenberg took the win over Marsal and Espeseth. Tina Mayolo-Pic, Diet Rite won the field sprint for fourth. We stayed safe and came in successfully defending the yellow jersey. Mike also told us that if Stacey, Dotsie, and I hadn't chased at the very end, we would have lost team G.C. We won it by just 36 seconds.
We had quite the celebration after crossing the finish line. What a great four days we've had. Usually after races, I'm not worried about my recovery so much. I just want to hang out and enjoy myself. But then I was reminded that Redlands starts the day after tomorrow. So I hopped on the trainer and did an actual cool down. I actually need to do some serious recovery today! As for the rest of my teammates, they now all have a break and can go home happy with our win. To Dotsie, Stacey, Lara, Sara, and Kristin: thank you girls! I could not have done it without you!
Talk to you soon,
Kimberly
