ESG 2006 in Rochester
The Empire State Games are like the Olympics of New York State. Athletes compete in their sport against the best of six New York State regions. For the cycling events, a stage race is held over the four days of the games and points are won by every team member who completes an event. Since the mens teams each have up to 10 riders, it's a medium-sized field. The women, on the other hand, have three riders per team. And when some eligible riders choose not to attend, leaving a field of 12 riders ranging from cat 4's to cat 2's, the women's cycling is less like a proper race and more like the Olympics when the East Germans are beating up on the Jamaican bobsledding team.
Or something like that. Erin Dwyer, Cindy Ma and I were the New York City team and we felt a lot closer to the Jamaicans than the East Germans!
Day one started off with the 10-mile individual time trial. Kerry Traynor of Western took the gold, a full minute ahead of her teammate Cindy Dunn. Kerry would have beaten 2/3rds of the mens field with her time. Erin shocked herself by coming in the middle of the field, 45 seconds ahead of Cindy and me. It was a hard ride—I haven't been focusing on time trialing, and I probably overgeared a bit. I have this theory that I could be a good time trialist if I could only find the right gear....this was not the day I found the right gear though!
Day two, we were all woken early by the sound of thunderstorms rolling through the Rochester area. They stuck around through the beginning of the road race which made for loads of fun when we hit the big downhill. By that time, Kerry had flatted, so while the group had broken up in the uphills, the leaders were still in sight for a long while as Western tried to hold things up for her. Unfortunately, the wheel van was following the LI girls who'd been dropped on the first hill, so it took Kerry nearly half an hour to get her wheel change. I can't say I was sad to see her by the side of the road—I need all the help I can get in road races and not having her drive the pace up front gave me a chance. To make a long story short, Erin took the field sprint, was relegated one position for theoretically taking pace (on a 45mph downhill!) from another field, and ended up with a bronze. Kerry caught me right before that downhill despite having had another flat after her first one, so we battled it out for...7th.
Day three, the crit. Kerry and Cindy took off from the gun, shattering the field. Western ended up taking all three medals, I took fourth, Erin fifth. The course was a fiasco—short and non-technical, the mens field was halved within 20 laps.
And then a TTT on day 4. The three of us weren't the strongest riders out there, but we were very well matched. Despite a bobble in the turn-around, we won silver over Adirondack by 8 seconds, despite their having two riders who'd done much better in the ITT.
Put together with the mens results, and we all took home a bronze in the overall team ranking as well. I never think I'll enjoy ESG but this was a pretty good year—good fun and a good bunch of riders.
Or something like that. Erin Dwyer, Cindy Ma and I were the New York City team and we felt a lot closer to the Jamaicans than the East Germans!
Day one started off with the 10-mile individual time trial. Kerry Traynor of Western took the gold, a full minute ahead of her teammate Cindy Dunn. Kerry would have beaten 2/3rds of the mens field with her time. Erin shocked herself by coming in the middle of the field, 45 seconds ahead of Cindy and me. It was a hard ride—I haven't been focusing on time trialing, and I probably overgeared a bit. I have this theory that I could be a good time trialist if I could only find the right gear....this was not the day I found the right gear though!
Day two, we were all woken early by the sound of thunderstorms rolling through the Rochester area. They stuck around through the beginning of the road race which made for loads of fun when we hit the big downhill. By that time, Kerry had flatted, so while the group had broken up in the uphills, the leaders were still in sight for a long while as Western tried to hold things up for her. Unfortunately, the wheel van was following the LI girls who'd been dropped on the first hill, so it took Kerry nearly half an hour to get her wheel change. I can't say I was sad to see her by the side of the road—I need all the help I can get in road races and not having her drive the pace up front gave me a chance. To make a long story short, Erin took the field sprint, was relegated one position for theoretically taking pace (on a 45mph downhill!) from another field, and ended up with a bronze. Kerry caught me right before that downhill despite having had another flat after her first one, so we battled it out for...7th.
Day three, the crit. Kerry and Cindy took off from the gun, shattering the field. Western ended up taking all three medals, I took fourth, Erin fifth. The course was a fiasco—short and non-technical, the mens field was halved within 20 laps.
And then a TTT on day 4. The three of us weren't the strongest riders out there, but we were very well matched. Despite a bobble in the turn-around, we won silver over Adirondack by 8 seconds, despite their having two riders who'd done much better in the ITT.
Put together with the mens results, and we all took home a bronze in the overall team ranking as well. I never think I'll enjoy ESG but this was a pretty good year—good fun and a good bunch of riders.
posted by liz at 8:10 AM
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