Stage One - Done!

I probably look a little nervous here - and I was...more nervous than any other race this year. When we drove into Killington last night I was pretty intimidated by the hilly area...I mean - yeikes!

I was also a little nervous about the first 10km of the 30km lap - all downhill followed by a gradual 10km climb to the QOM (Queen of the Mountain Sprint). But, bike was working, body was working - so far, so good!

Here's today's 30km loop climbing profile:


37 women started today - a good sized field for a senior 3/4 women's race. The sky was full of grey clouds that let down a few drops here and there but nothing to cause a fuss over.

The race started off quite calmly - especially for a descent of 10km. Surprisingly a headwind on the way down actually slowed down the pack. There was a lot of chatter going on so I decided to mix things up a little and I launched an attack about 5km into the race. This attack strung out the field but the wind was so nasty that I didn't open up a gap or anything. I humbly slid back into the field and tried to conserve some energy. I truly enjoyed it though - riding in a pack is so exciting...I just love it!

At the bottom of the 10km descent we turned right onto a single lane bridge and into the start of the 10km "gradual climb". Things picked up a bit so I positioned myself nicely in about 10th or 13th spot. The field was pretty good. At one point I thought I was done for when the girl beside me overlapped a wheel and the hit the girl's wheel in front of her. She was able to keep her bike upright and when I commented "nice recovery!" she said "Must have been all that cyclocross I did last fall!"

I had a giggle (or was it a sigh of relief) and proceeded to mash in my 53-tooth big chain ring up this gradual climb.

The 5km mark came, the 1km to go mark came and I blew. Things were going so well - I just came off the back as the pace grew.

Alas - the race was not over - in my mind, it was put PLAN B into action. Chase, chase and go go!

I chased and chased. A girl caught me and we worked together for 10km, echeloning and pulling 10-20sec pulls and then rotating through. With 20km to go we caught three other riders. We then worked as a group of five. I stayed with these girls up the climb (but it hurt!).

The last 10km was excited, these girls were not giving up! They kept pushing the pace. With a kilometre to go I knew we had a sprint on our hands. I drafted a wheel and then jumped with 500 metres to go. I held it until about 200 metres to go and this lady passed me. I had someone on my left and she was inching towards passing me but I nipped her at the line.

I smiled as I crossed the line and this group of five gave each other a floating high five and congratulated each other on finishing.

Phewf!

It was tough - but it was so worth it. Results will be posted later today. Also - lots of Ontario girls out today - Stevens, 7th Groove/Reform and Nanoblur...will let you know how they did too!

Tomorrow's stage is the time trial - my favourite event. 17km of pure pain! The race of truth as they call it... stay tuned!