Race 9: Killington Stage Race Day 1

Day 1 was a circuit race on an 18 mile circuit. my field did 3 laps plus a little bit to get from the start to the actual loop itself. The loop started with a fast flat to slightly rolling 6 miles to our first turn, a right hander onto a single lane bridge and then up a 6 mile gradual climb to the QOM sprint point - the line was the start of the feed zone - a bit awkward, but it seemed to work OK. After the feed zone we had a super steed downhill on bad pavement that led into a sharp right hand turn. Then it was back to the rolling terrain until around 5 km to go when we descended again - not too steep but still fast to the sprinters line/finish line. Somewhere in the we went through the town where President Coolidge was born and is buried.

There were 48 women preregistered for my field including a former US champ and the woman who won Tour of the Battenkill. I also recognized several riders from Bear Mountain a couple of weekends ago and Green Mountain Stage Race (last September). I went to the race headquarters to sign my waiver and collect my numbers (two on the jersey; one on the bike) and then down to staging to put the numbers on and get dressed and sign in and warm up. It was a surprisingly mellow scene. With 8 or 9 fields they split us into a morning group and an afternoon group - so only 1/2 of us were there at any given time. I had not pre-driven th course figuring with three laps I would be able to evaluate on lap one and be ready for any moves in lap two or more likely lap three.

We took off at a brisk pace and pretty much maintained it - very little surging and slowing. The Stevens team was here but there were only 4 of them and were unable to control anything. I started in the second row and stayed in the top third of the pack for around 6 miles and then the flow of the group put me in the back third. I stayed there for all of lap one. We all stayed together and even though I was dangling on the steep descent the group slowed enough for the turn that I was with them again as we went around the turn. As typical they accelerated out of the turn and being on the back there was not ideal. Happily they slowed up a little bit around 100 meters down the road so it wasn't too bad, but I didn't think they would do that on lap three, so it was a spot to watch. The downhill sprint to the line was insane and I was quite happy to be at the back of that one. Lap two was about like lap 1, though I started feeling a little more comfortable finding holes and moving into them, and with not letting others push me out of my line. I was still near the back though - I couldn't move up very far. We all stuck together for lap 2 as well. Lap three was the same again, though this time on the climb I did a little cross and advanced on the inside over rough stuff and was near the front at the steep downhill. I rode it my own pace and people went by me, but I was still in the group around the corner for the surge. They did slow down again, but I stayed where I was - top half of the group. I lost my nerve on the sprint to the line and crossed near the back of the group but with the same time as the winner.

One Stevens rider and two other ladies were penalized 30 seconds for crossing the center line to advance. I was super happy to see that. :) Today is the ITT. Results from yesterday and the stage on Communique are up, along with ITT start times at the Killington Stage Race webpage. The pace was high for most of the race but it felt easy. Maybe deceptively so. It really didn't feel like I worked at all. My average heart rate for the race was barely over my recovery HR. We'll see just how deceptive this morning. Time to get ready!