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RACHEL LLOYD's
European Diary World Cyclocross Championships 2001 |
| Left Marin Thurs Jan 26 at 4am, arrived Zurich Switzerland 8am Fri Jan 26...Met the US team and drove to our hotel in Ruti. We all unpacked and went for a team ride "to get the legs back" from all that travel. Trained the next couple of days in beautiful Switzerland and raced in Wetzicon Sun Jan 28. My first international cross race. Placed 9th.not bad for still being jet lagged.Monday did a nice ride with the team around Lake Zurich, beautiful Swiss Alps looming above and the rolling green fields. Pack bikes for the drive to the Czech Republic. Depart hotel Laufenbach 8am Tues. Jan 29. The weather had changed considerably, it started snowing! Nice drive across Switzerland, Germany, a tiny bit of |
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Saturday Feb 3 race day. Up at 6:45am, eat breakfast
at 7:00 and ride to the course 9:00. Ride a couple of
laps and hop on the trainer. Dale Knapp dials in some
better spikes for my shoes (pointer ones to dig into
the ice while running. My other ones were just sliding
out from underneath me.) I ride one more lap on the
course and stage at 10:45am. I am actually quite
excited for the start, and not too nervous. I keep
thinking "I'm racing in the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!!" The
trip has already been a great experience for me...To
finally get to "race in Europe." It's been a long time
coming for me!!The US team has been awesome, the staff
Clark Natwick, Jiri Mainus, great coaches/managers.
The mechanics, Jack Guebard, Chris Zigmont and Stuart
Thorne, hardworking and very supportive. Not to leave
out the racers Marc Gullicson and Dale Knapp our
seasoned veterans. It was great to get to know them
better, and glean useful knowledge from their
experience. Ann Grande was my roommate for 2 weeks,
and we had a great time rooming together. It's so nice
to get to know fellow racers better, we can all learn
and teach so much to each other. The "youngsters" Josh
Anthony and Alan Obye (U-23) and Jeremy Powers, Aaron
Bradford, and Aaron Menenburg (juniors) were all very
entertaining and fun to complete the team with! Now
all I have to do is race well and make everyone at
home proud.
11:00am: After all the announcement/instructions in a
few different languages and were off!! I didn't get a
great start off the line (I was 2nd row back) and felt
swarmed by the girls. First two left's on the pavement
they all went wide, I kind of cut inside and gained a
few spots. Then we dropped onto the dirt (snow.) The
field was all trying to ride the right line and I rode
past 20? girls on the left in the snow. (Warming up I
had checked out this line and hoped this would
happen.) Hit the 1st dismount/stair section in 6th or
7th! Then through the dips and got around a couple
more girls on the next descent. Through pit#1 I'm in
4th or 5th. Try to pass a couple of the Dutch girls on
a little drop but get cut off. Pass them on the left
hand off camber sweeper going to the 3rd dismount
section. Hit the stairs and run, re-mount and pass
Corine Dorland on the big drop/descent and I'm in 2nd
place!! Hanka (current World Champion) is probably 10
feet ahead of me. Stay with her till the hill climb,
Corine catches me after the 4th dismount/stairs past
pit#2 and onto the pavement through the start/finish.
Try to stay on her wheel, but can't do it. No worries
once we're on the snow again I'm on her. Then pass her
again on the descent. We leap frog a bit for lap 2, me
on the DH, her on the climbs. Then halfway through lap
3 before the 2nd dismount/run section, I go down
(crash).
Thinking I have a flat, mentally I get flustered. My
front brakes are rubbing and 2 or 3 girls get by me. I
get the brake to stop rubbing after the 3rd set of
stairs, re-pass a girl from Great Britain on the big
DH. But she passes me again on the climb. Ann Grand
comes around me on the climb back up says my tire
doesn't look flat and "stay with me" but I can't. The
strength is gone, I'm blown. Struggle in the 4th lap a
couple more girls get by, I figure that I'm in 9th and
see no one near behind me. Finish the race 9th and
disappointed, the tears come. Ann got 4th!! But I was
in 2nd and 3rd. Keep thinking "I blew it, I was there,
I could have been on the podium." Guess I'll have to
use that to motivate me for next year! Ride back to
the hotel, shower, eat and ride back for the U-23
race. Cheer madly for the rest of the weekend,
everyone does great. Marc Gullicson 13th in the elite
men's race. The fans over there are like nothing I
have ever seen!! It was so fun and exciting watching
the elite men's race. Inspiring!!
I ended up spending three days wandering around
Prague, without my bike. Then had the marathon trip
home starting 10pm Wed Feb 8 with a train ride from
Prague to Munich.and ending 11pm Thurs Feb 9 finally
at home in Marin. It's great to be back. I'm now
training for the MTB season. Can't wait to get the new
bikes for both DH & XC!!
See you on the NORBA circuit!
Rachel Lloyd
http://rachellloyd.8m.com
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