Boulder Roubaix

Boulder Roubaix 2015

By: Sarah Lukas

The first race of the season. The first race since your legs really screamed in pain last season. The first race to gauge where your fitness is. The first race to light the fire. My first race this season did all of that and more.

I am beginning my second full season with SBR Quantum Racing and couldn’t be more thrilled than the first race I ever did with the team. With a new season ahead of us brings a lot of new sponsors,
teammates, and experiences. Since relocating to Boulder, Colorado, I am psyched to still have a connection to Missouri where I felt like I started living my life again. I am so appreciative to be working with Nick again and the rest of the guys associated with the team. Not only my direct teammates, but to have the support of sponsors Swim Bike Run – St. Louis,  Federal Ag Supply, Town Square Pub and Grub, St Louis Tattoo Company, Precision Health Group, The Cup, The Olinger Insurance Company, LLC., and some awesome returning sponsors including Quantum Solutions and Peak Nutrition, 2015 is shaping up to be insane. I mean, come on, we have St Louis Tattoo Company and The Cup supporting us…tattoos and cupcakes?! Hell yea!

Boulder Roubaix had been screaming my name since I moved out to Boulder. The 56.1 mile Roubaix road race consisted of three 18.7 mile laps with 43% paved roads and 57% gravel. I was going into the race overcoming being sick that week prior, but with some solid base miles in my legs. At the same time, my expectations were relatively mellow with the hopes that I will have a better judgment of how to structure my next couple months of racing and training.

The weather was perfect – very little wind, sun shining, temperatures in the low-70s, and a great group of women in the Pro ½ field. It was primarily made up of two teams, Evol. and Stages. Having the field ultimately dominating one of the two teams can make it tough to be a part of the tactics, but we would later find out that the teams wouldn’t be our only challenge for the day.

Lap 1 was quick tempo. I felt comfortable; the gravel sections were fun and I definitely thrived there as I have always been most comfortable on dirt and technical sections. I surprised myself with my
consistency on the climbs. The group stayed together a majority of our 18 mile lap. Small attacks here and there, accelerations occurred, and as we came through on lap 2 we had one rider from Evol solo off the front. We didn’t begin a solid chase until the rider began to fatigue on lap 2 and we could get her in our line of sight again. This was the beginning of quite an interesting lap. I found my legs starting to twinge here and there. Little spasms of muscle cramps on-setting, typical early-season fatigue, and so it goes. The field has split a little as we dropped riders the first lap. The peloton grouped back together and we were comfortably cruising. About half-way through we were rerouted by our moto due to a fire that had spread on our race course. We weren’t quite sure the cause of the fire, whether a controlled burn got out-of-hand, or some brush fire started. Nonetheless, we had to tack on some extra mileage (about 4-5 miles). The turns got confusing, the group split even more, then the field was stopped completely at a stop sign along with a men’s field that was in front of us. The delegation of rerouting back on course occurred and we were neutralized. While stopping and getting off the bike is never ideal mid-race, it did allow us to regroup and get some much-needed hydration. After the neutralization led us back to the race course, we let a couple of the riders who had a slight gap gain that 15 second advantage back, then we were back at it! It was a quick restart and my legs were not ready. I was red-lined on the back of the group until the end of the strange, detoured lap. Leading into the 3rd lap I was alone and dropped off the back. I wasn’t the only one in this case. A few riders didn’t find much enjoyment carrying on riding alone and DNF-ed. A DNF was not the way I wanted to start my season. I pressed on and finished the lap, slightly slow and cruisey, but finished.

A lot of things were pulled from the race, one being a huge motivation and confidence. While I would’ve loved to have finished in the bunch sprint, I was really happy with my fitness leading into it, how I felt that day, and what I accomplished in the race (it is only early-April, after all). Tactically, it was refreshing to get back into a road race and remember what racing feels like. I am left excited for what is to come and cannot wait to meet up with some of our men’s team and show people what we can do!