Wow... this was my first weekend with no race or other major road trip on the schedule.
My body is not quite sure how to deal with it. Did have a nice ride Saturday afternoon - over new to me backroads that parallel well known busy roads. My route (Ithaca to Endicott) worked pretty well with only about 3 miles of dirt. Looking at the map again I think I could get rid of 2/3 of that dirt if I wanted to. Not that the dirt sections were in any way unridable. They were fine - I am just still running some super light race tires that won't last very long if I insist on taking them over gravel.
Sunday was a lovely lazy day spent watching the rain. I have to be careful lest I awaken the couch potato in me too much...
I need to do some major tire shopping - need to get a new set for the commuter, the studded tires could stand to be replaced before the snow flies, the mountain bike tires are looking rather tired, I have no 'cross tires, and to save the super light race tires for racing, I ought to get a good set of training tires for the race bike.
I know what I want for training tires and commuter tires (Conti Gator Skins) but it has been so long since I have regularly worn out mtb tires that I don't know what is what anymore, and the whole 'cross tire thing is brand new to me. I have always run fairly narrow tires on the mtb and think I'd like to keep that going.
Thoughts?
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Race 16: Capital Region Road Race
Well.
It was a beautiful day and quite a fun course, some gradual climbing, some steep climbing, a bunch of flattish terrain that was too fast for a compact drive train, and some pretty safe downhills (well safe if you were not in a 3/4 or a 4/5 field).
I had a great ride on that pretty course, but that did not translate into a good race. In fact it was pathetic from a race stand point. They started all the women together which meant we actually had a reasonable pack on the line. With a three mile almost entirely climbing neutral section we should have had plenty of room to work out the dynamic for this pack, but with a pace car that seemed to surge and slow, it was pretty squirrelly in the neutral zone and at least one person crashed. The crash made the pack antsy and as soon as racing began the ladies at the front took off like rockets in an attempt to shell the beginner riders. I was not positioned well in the neutral zone, so I was playing catch up and dangling the first part of the race. I hung on until after we dropped most of the new racers, but then fell off. I worked with a group of 3 others to try to catch back on, but I spun out on the back stretch and did not dig deep enough to stick with my little group. So I ended up in no man's land and switched mental focus to steady endurance (it should have been TT, but I didn't feel like working that hard) and rode over half the distance alone.
My position was DFL for the 1/2 group, but ahead of most of the 3's and many of the 4's, and all of the Master's women. Results were done by Atwood Racing Services and are posted at fastalracing.com and bikereg.com.
There was at least one photographer out there shooting the race and his pictures are posted at Base Twelve Photos. You want to click on the link for "Capital Region Road Race 2010" and look for photos 111, and 349. Incidentally this photographer was also at Tour of the Battenkill and happened to shoot my field. If you click on the "Tour of the Battenkill 2010-Women's Pro" link, I am in picture 12.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Lost the element of surprise
This week was another TVC race week. I joined TVC so can now ride with them, just in time for the last couple of races of the series...
This week the element of surprise was gone. Well at least for the TVC regulars with regards to my riding. For me, not knowing any of their courses, I still got some surprises. This week they did the hilliest course of their Tuesday race courses - the Binghamton Empire State Games loop plus a little horseshoe on Gardner Rd. It starts with a 2.5 (or is it 3?) mile climb up Pennsylvania Ave, descends a little bit and then climbs up some more before a long descent and a few more fairly substantial climbs before a fast hilltop finish. Andrew W. gave a brief run down of the turns (all right handers) before the start and I was only sort of listening...
We all headed out en masse. The first little bit is neutral - to get through a stop sign, but from the start it is climbing. I started a bit back in the group, but as racing started and Dave Y came around me, he tapped my hip. To me that meant "I'm taking off now follow if you can". He probably meant it as "I'm taking off now, see you at the finish". I slotted in on his wheel and just focused on it. Trying to keep the gap small. I was having trouble finding a comfortable gear, and was spinning more than I am used to but I managed to hang on until the top where it flattened out a bit. I shifted a bit early and had trouble getting on top of my gear and waved the rider behind me, Andrew W. around while I floundered. I was able to slot back in behind Andrew W. and hung on on that first descent to the first right hander. That pretty much set us up for the second climb. I lost contact with Dave Y. and John H. after the first pitch. When Andrew W, Chris J. and a rider who's name I didn't catch came around me shortly there after I hung on for a few meters but then fell off them too... leaving me alone and feeling "lost ... lost ... lost [in a crowd]".
Happily the next intersection option was at a T intersection and then the next one I saw cars slowing for what looked like bikes in the distance so I went that way (a slight right at a Y intersection). The turn onto 26 was also at a T. At this point I didn't remember what Andrew had said was next so I slowed a bit - giving up on catching the trio in front of me. A group of 3 (two local riders, and fellow Ithaca rider Dave H.) caught me. We rotated through until the turn onto Gardner when we lost one of the locals. Near the false summit broad left hand sweep on Gardner we saw the trio in front again and although we tried like mad, we just couldn't catch them. The three of us pushed each other - not quite working together but definitely keeping the pace honest to the finish. The other local rider lost steam on the finish hill and I tried super hard to catch Dave H. but he held me off with ease.
It was good for 7th overall (one better than last week). I am bummed I let myself drop off the trio in front of me on the second climb. If I had dug a little deeper and held on... Last week I was coming off of three hard days of racing a week after 4 hard days of racing and managed to hang. This week I came off of several days completely off the bike, but also three nights of less than 4 hours of sleep a night. Tired muscles attuned to racing vs rested muscles but tired body... I have to say the first wins out for feeling better.
Thanks again to the TVC group for welcoming me again and bearing with me on a very warm and humid evening. That was a great course and a lot of fun to ride. Legs are tired today. :-)
This week the element of surprise was gone. Well at least for the TVC regulars with regards to my riding. For me, not knowing any of their courses, I still got some surprises. This week they did the hilliest course of their Tuesday race courses - the Binghamton Empire State Games loop plus a little horseshoe on Gardner Rd. It starts with a 2.5 (or is it 3?) mile climb up Pennsylvania Ave, descends a little bit and then climbs up some more before a long descent and a few more fairly substantial climbs before a fast hilltop finish. Andrew W. gave a brief run down of the turns (all right handers) before the start and I was only sort of listening...
We all headed out en masse. The first little bit is neutral - to get through a stop sign, but from the start it is climbing. I started a bit back in the group, but as racing started and Dave Y came around me, he tapped my hip. To me that meant "I'm taking off now follow if you can". He probably meant it as "I'm taking off now, see you at the finish". I slotted in on his wheel and just focused on it. Trying to keep the gap small. I was having trouble finding a comfortable gear, and was spinning more than I am used to but I managed to hang on until the top where it flattened out a bit. I shifted a bit early and had trouble getting on top of my gear and waved the rider behind me, Andrew W. around while I floundered. I was able to slot back in behind Andrew W. and hung on on that first descent to the first right hander. That pretty much set us up for the second climb. I lost contact with Dave Y. and John H. after the first pitch. When Andrew W, Chris J. and a rider who's name I didn't catch came around me shortly there after I hung on for a few meters but then fell off them too... leaving me alone and feeling "lost ... lost ... lost [in a crowd]".
Happily the next intersection option was at a T intersection and then the next one I saw cars slowing for what looked like bikes in the distance so I went that way (a slight right at a Y intersection). The turn onto 26 was also at a T. At this point I didn't remember what Andrew had said was next so I slowed a bit - giving up on catching the trio in front of me. A group of 3 (two local riders, and fellow Ithaca rider Dave H.) caught me. We rotated through until the turn onto Gardner when we lost one of the locals. Near the false summit broad left hand sweep on Gardner we saw the trio in front again and although we tried like mad, we just couldn't catch them. The three of us pushed each other - not quite working together but definitely keeping the pace honest to the finish. The other local rider lost steam on the finish hill and I tried super hard to catch Dave H. but he held me off with ease.
It was good for 7th overall (one better than last week). I am bummed I let myself drop off the trio in front of me on the second climb. If I had dug a little deeper and held on... Last week I was coming off of three hard days of racing a week after 4 hard days of racing and managed to hang. This week I came off of several days completely off the bike, but also three nights of less than 4 hours of sleep a night. Tired muscles attuned to racing vs rested muscles but tired body... I have to say the first wins out for feeling better.
Thanks again to the TVC group for welcoming me again and bearing with me on a very warm and humid evening. That was a great course and a lot of fun to ride. Legs are tired today. :-)
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
A quick trip to the 14th Century
As seems typical this summer, my first racefree weekend in a bit was not actually a weekend of rest. It was a weekend of driving, catching up with my closer-than-a-sibling friend, little sleep, and middle-evil imersion.
Dawn has been active in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) for a very long time and has been attending one of the SCA's largest events for nearly as long. I have had a standing invite to Pennsic War for at least 5 years now - and likely much longer. This was the first year where my location and my work schedule allowed a trip to Pennsic.
Pennsic war is a two week event with week 1 being dedicated to set up and week 2 being dedicated to the war. I never understood the need for 1 week of set up until I witnessed the results of set up week. People are in households and kingdoms. Households tend to camp together and some of the larger households have very intricate camps with amazing front gates accompanied by super ornate and ornately appointed pavillions. There are also a lot of vendors at Pennsic, with wares from jewlery to period leather goods, to armour, to weaponry, to books, to clothing. Those folks need to set up their shops as well as their camps. Along with the vendors and the camping, there are classes (from dancing to mucic to illuminating manuscripts to fighting styles) and tournaments, and battles, and parties. Lots and lots of parties. People also tend to come to Pennsic year after year (this year was Pennsic War 39) so there is a fair bit of searching for a shady spot to sit and catch up with folks you haven't seen for a year.
I arrived Friday afternoon of setup week and we immediately did a food run to town for some Gray Gargoyles camp supplies. Then Dawn set me up in the 14th century peasant dress she made for me for this occaision (including insect themed ribbon on the sleeves :-D ). The rest of Friday was taken up by wandering through the whole site in an utter daze, followed by some food and then the evening wander to Vlad's - a camp Dawn has told me a lot about. To bed at 2 or so, and cursed with a clock that wakes me up early these days... so up by 6:30 on Saturday. Saturday we wandered through the vendors a bit, and I met a huge number of Dawn's SCA friends. Lots of walking, lots of gawking, lots of looking utterly dazed by the sheer scale of it all. Another late night followed by my internal alarm clock waking me super early. Sunday was opening ceremonies where everyone was in their period finest and war was declared. That evening we watched The battle of the 30, supporting the Earl whose household Dawn belongs to. Monday it was up and on the road early for a 6 hour drive back home to pick up my freshly tuned Madone and do a day's work in one afternoon.
Dawn has been active in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) for a very long time and has been attending one of the SCA's largest events for nearly as long. I have had a standing invite to Pennsic War for at least 5 years now - and likely much longer. This was the first year where my location and my work schedule allowed a trip to Pennsic.
Pennsic war is a two week event with week 1 being dedicated to set up and week 2 being dedicated to the war. I never understood the need for 1 week of set up until I witnessed the results of set up week. People are in households and kingdoms. Households tend to camp together and some of the larger households have very intricate camps with amazing front gates accompanied by super ornate and ornately appointed pavillions. There are also a lot of vendors at Pennsic, with wares from jewlery to period leather goods, to armour, to weaponry, to books, to clothing. Those folks need to set up their shops as well as their camps. Along with the vendors and the camping, there are classes (from dancing to mucic to illuminating manuscripts to fighting styles) and tournaments, and battles, and parties. Lots and lots of parties. People also tend to come to Pennsic year after year (this year was Pennsic War 39) so there is a fair bit of searching for a shady spot to sit and catch up with folks you haven't seen for a year.
I arrived Friday afternoon of setup week and we immediately did a food run to town for some Gray Gargoyles camp supplies. Then Dawn set me up in the 14th century peasant dress she made for me for this occaision (including insect themed ribbon on the sleeves :-D ). The rest of Friday was taken up by wandering through the whole site in an utter daze, followed by some food and then the evening wander to Vlad's - a camp Dawn has told me a lot about. To bed at 2 or so, and cursed with a clock that wakes me up early these days... so up by 6:30 on Saturday. Saturday we wandered through the vendors a bit, and I met a huge number of Dawn's SCA friends. Lots of walking, lots of gawking, lots of looking utterly dazed by the sheer scale of it all. Another late night followed by my internal alarm clock waking me super early. Sunday was opening ceremonies where everyone was in their period finest and war was declared. That evening we watched The battle of the 30, supporting the Earl whose household Dawn belongs to. Monday it was up and on the road early for a 6 hour drive back home to pick up my freshly tuned Madone and do a day's work in one afternoon.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Race recovery
I took Monday mostly off and then at Dave's behest and with the generosity of my folks letting me use the car I decided to head to Owego for the TVC Halsey Valley Rd RR Tuesday night. As a guest rider who did not know the course and coming off two hard weekends of racing, I felt a bit unsure about how it would go and if i should bring my phone so I could navigate back to the car should I find myself riding alone. I ultimately decided to leave the phone in the car and hope for the best. I signed up for the A group since four of my ESG Central team mates were also riding A. Off we went. I managed to make the first split (I think it happened within the first few miles) and found myself cruising along in a group of 9 - three ESG team mates, 5 folks I didn't know and me. The pace was pretty steady and pretty fast. I had to hold on or risk getting utterly lost. There were repeated attacks that were chased down by the rest of the field. I did my small part to help close a few down and the 9 of us finished together. 25 miles in just a hair over an hour. I had a blast on a fun course with a great group of people.
Today the legs feel it though.
The Madone is in for some professional TLC ... can't remember the last time I didn't have her home overnight...
No riding planned this weekend. Instead it is off to Pennsic War to be be dressed in 14th century 'garb' by a good friend and to take photos of the event. Dawn has been going to Pennsic for years and has invited me along most of those years. This year I am finally able to make it and Dawn went all out and made me a wool tunic and a dress to wear while there. Should be good times.
Race 15: Tour of the Catskills Stage 2
I woke up Sunday with a headache and feeling a bit low after coughing on and off all night. I decided to start despite feeling less than stellar. I was nervous for the climb up Platte Cove Rd as was most of the women's field. While we were warming up and staging gear ratios seemed to be the only thing the women were talking about. I was also a little bit nervous because I had only seen the last 12 mile of the course and a 10 mile stretch in the middle that we had ridden the day before (a section of 23 into Windham, and the climb out and that long downhill that worried me in Saturday's race). With the exception of a few courses where we did multiple laps, I have at least driven the whole loop before racing it.
The course started off fairly flat and we climbed to KOM1 within 7 miles of the start before descending down to Rt 23 for some false flat rollers into Windham, the climb out and the crazy long descent. This time we made a right off of 23 for a bunch of flat with a few rollers that took us through a super fast (almost down hill) feed zone. After the feed zone was more of the same until mile 45 when we hit the climb on Platte Cove Rd. From the top of the climb in held a few more rollers and a fast descent into a flat finish at mile 56 ish.
The women’s race was odd. We started out fairly slow, but things heated up for KOM 1 when we were still 8km out. I stuck with the main group most of the way and then ended at the top in the second group on the road but we worked together and bridged before the end of the downhill (I barely hung on on the descent). Being back in the field things got more comfortable until we reached the town of Windham. The other groups on the road bridged back up for the most part but they had to push for longer so I am glad I extended myself a little to stick with that second group.
As soon as we crossed what had been Saturday’s finish line, a major attack went off and the pace skyrocketed. It is a gentle climb out of Windham and we hammered it. Things then went into surge and slow mode and people attacked and then things settled and then attacked again. The second major attack came at the beginning of that same long downhill we did the day before. Having ridden it once I was a little more comfortable – hanging 1 – 2 bike lengths back. After that descent we went into rolling terrain for 20 miles and things settled in pretty steady...
Until the feed zone. The feed zone was in a flat and fast spot so it was a bit chaotic in the field going through there. I just moved to the yellow line and stayed there. While half the field was still in the feed zone someone on the front attacked and we went tearing out of there. However, literally 20 seconds later, once we were around a bend the women on the front stopped for a pee break – nearly causing a wreck in the back. I don’t know why they attacked out of the feed just to stop around the bend. I guess someone really had to go. The whole field was stopped (lead car stopped so we all had to).
After we got rolling again things were steady until mile 40. The climb up Platte Cove Rd (Devils Kitchen, 2 miles or so of average 11% grade with some pitches up to 23%) started at 45, but it seems no one really knew where it started. The whole peloton got really nervous. Can't really describe the feeling. There were subtle changes in the demeanor of the riders. We slowed a little. The women started talking a bit more with each other. People started moving around in the pack a little - though not in a way that obviously said they were positioning themselves near the front.
The climb was tough, but I just kept it steady and didn’t worry about anyone else. I had put on my 12-27 and was wondering if that was an easy enough gear. It was. I climbed out of the back of the pack and was pretty steadily passing men and women all the way up. My HR stayed under control, my breathing regular, the legs weren’t burning Yes, I know that means I could have and probably should have gone harder, but I was enjoying the climb. At one particularly steep switch back I must have looked like I was smiling because one of the many many people lining the sides of the road told me to stop smiling and keep riding. The only black mark on the climb was a van driver ignored the road closed and kept stopping in the middle of the road (pretty much directly in front of me) because the riders in front of the van were going slowly and many were getting off to walk. That forced me to the sides of the road where the pavement wasn’t nice and on some of the switchbacks I couldn’t choose the part of the road with the easier pitch. The van kept leap frogging with me and it was making me crabby.
Anyway I stayed on the bike all the way up. Caught someone at the top and another woman caught us and the three of us worked together the last 10 miles of rollers into the finish. Landis was at the race and in the second group of Pro/1/2 men on the road. His pack caught my little group about 400 meters from the finish causing a little confusion in our sprint, but I got to finish with Floyd. Yay or something and stuff. Anyway I managed a 29th on the stage (out f 48 starters and it only lists 44 finishers), and a 29th on the GC. Not great results but I had fun, learned a lot, and managed not to get dropped on the big descent!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Race 15: Tour of the Catskills Stage 1
The Catskills Epic Road Race:
Took a while to clear the lungs Saturday morning, but they felt many time better than the night before. A quiet night's sleep also made Saturday a rosier day that I might have guessed it would be given how I felt Friday night. The day got better at sign in when I saw the results for the first time: my painful, lung busting 9:02 minute effort was good for 23/52 starters and 51 finishers.
The course: Start at the Windham Mountain Ski Lodge and neutral down off the mountain and through the town of Windham. Then it was gently climbing (a few small dips along the way) for 6 or so miles before the first big descent. Driving the course, this descent made me whimper - long, sort of steep in sections, a few curves, variable pavement, and a hard left at the bottom. After that it was rolling for several miles until the climb up to KOM1. That climb went on for a while and then it was down and rolling into the feed zone and rolling and up into KOM2. From KOM2 it was a screaming (ok whimpering for me) downhill with a sharp S curve at the top down to Rt 23. The last 10 miles on Rt 23 were flattish to false flat rolling into a bit of a headwind for what looked to be the potential for a super fast sprint finish. I knew my first key spot would be not to get dropped on that first long downhill. Having been dropped on hills like that before, I was a little concerned. Knowing some of the ladies in the field, I also knew that between 5 and 3 km to go to the first KOM there would likely be an attack and I made sure I knew the landmarks leading up to that spot.
I contrived to hang on on that first long downhill. We did drop a couple of women there, and I was dangling on the back with one to two bike lengths of open road between me and the person in front of me. Not great, but that is a gap I am fairly certain I can close if I need to (provided I am paying enough attention to know it needs to be closed at a given time). I hung with pretty easily after that – drifting to the back of the pack on the downhills and moving back up towards mid-pack on any climb. The first big climb was several miles long with varying pitches, but steepest right off the bat and then again near the top. I focused on keeping a steady pace and a smooth cadence and stayed with the field as the riders started dropping. There was a surge at 5km to KOM and I hung with. At 3km to KOM the expected major attack came and I was dangling and then off. It was curvy in there and by the time I came over KOM 1 I couldn’t see the two women who came off just before I did. Looking back there was no one in sight. Mile 27 out of 52 and alone in no man's land. Crap. There is nothing quite like the sinking feeling you get a you watch the gap grow to the point where the race caravan pulls around you and leaves you 'unprotected'. Don't get a flat now! I found out later that 20 women had been shelled before I got dropped, but I just knew that there was a large pack ahead and some off the back behind.
At least I got to take the short steep down hills at a comfortable pace to me and I didn't have to worry about drifting into somone's line or someone drifting into mine. I pushed KOM 2 just because I didn’t want to lose too much time in teh GC - not that I was in contention for anything, but it is the priciple of the matter and the fact that if you finished too far back on stage 1, you would not be allowed to start stage 2. I do have to admit though that there were times in there where my thoughts went towards "if I got dropped this early today, tomorrow is going to be an even longer TT so maybe it would be a good thing to be time cut". At the top of KOM 2 there were a couple guys on facny motor cycles (tricycles where the two wheels were in the front and only one in the back) and I did offer to trade with them. They just laughed at me and told me to keep it going. As soon as I hit 23 I put it into time trial mode and hammered the final 10 mils wondering if I would be outside the time cut to start on Sunday since apart from a sturggling junion I had seen no one on a bike for 15 miles. The false flat rollers felt completely un-flat and the wind felt pretty strong, but I just put my head down, cranked up to cadence in a big gear and powered it home. I started passing single riders and pairs of riders from the masters field at this point. Having those riders in front of me as rabbits was a huge help. I was hoping to catch one of the other women who had fallen off, so I would have someone to work with, but they were all guys, so as per USAC rules I had to pass them in a reasonable distance and keep on keeping on alone. The field must have slowed down along that stretch because I managed to almost bridge on those 10 miles. I finished in sight of the peloton 37 seconds back. I was shocked by that and by the group of 6 or 7 women who finished together about a minute behind me. There is no way riding alone into a headwind I should have been able to stay away from a group of 6 had they been working together. I managed 31st out of 51. Not great but at least I didn't lose gobs of time and I didn't have to find the snap for a sprint at the finish. I was a little concerned that I had burned up too many matches in my 25 miles of solo riding, but I have noticed that I recover fairly well and hoped that this would not be an exception.
After the race it was time to eat and then I toured the key part of Sunday's race (Platte Cove Rd - the famed and much hyped Devil's Kitchen climb) with several members of the Ommegang Team. The cars were not happy climbing that road, and the nerves for Sunday began to tingle. Once we got back to Hunter from that I went to soak in the river with Dave - the cold water felt really good on the legs and at ESGs I credit soaking after the ITT and the RR with how good the legs felt there. We sat in the river for near an hour - until we got cold. Then Dave went off to a team mates house and I went back to Windham for some supper (greek salad followed by steak and potatos and broccoli) before heading back to my hotel. At the hotel I changed my cassetter from the 12/25 that was on there to the 12/27 I had brought specifically for this race. I took the bike around the parking lot a few times to make sure she was shifting OK and then turned out the light for some much needed sleep.
Took a while to clear the lungs Saturday morning, but they felt many time better than the night before. A quiet night's sleep also made Saturday a rosier day that I might have guessed it would be given how I felt Friday night. The day got better at sign in when I saw the results for the first time: my painful, lung busting 9:02 minute effort was good for 23/52 starters and 51 finishers.
The course: Start at the Windham Mountain Ski Lodge and neutral down off the mountain and through the town of Windham. Then it was gently climbing (a few small dips along the way) for 6 or so miles before the first big descent. Driving the course, this descent made me whimper - long, sort of steep in sections, a few curves, variable pavement, and a hard left at the bottom. After that it was rolling for several miles until the climb up to KOM1. That climb went on for a while and then it was down and rolling into the feed zone and rolling and up into KOM2. From KOM2 it was a screaming (ok whimpering for me) downhill with a sharp S curve at the top down to Rt 23. The last 10 miles on Rt 23 were flattish to false flat rolling into a bit of a headwind for what looked to be the potential for a super fast sprint finish. I knew my first key spot would be not to get dropped on that first long downhill. Having been dropped on hills like that before, I was a little concerned. Knowing some of the ladies in the field, I also knew that between 5 and 3 km to go to the first KOM there would likely be an attack and I made sure I knew the landmarks leading up to that spot.
I contrived to hang on on that first long downhill. We did drop a couple of women there, and I was dangling on the back with one to two bike lengths of open road between me and the person in front of me. Not great, but that is a gap I am fairly certain I can close if I need to (provided I am paying enough attention to know it needs to be closed at a given time). I hung with pretty easily after that – drifting to the back of the pack on the downhills and moving back up towards mid-pack on any climb. The first big climb was several miles long with varying pitches, but steepest right off the bat and then again near the top. I focused on keeping a steady pace and a smooth cadence and stayed with the field as the riders started dropping. There was a surge at 5km to KOM and I hung with. At 3km to KOM the expected major attack came and I was dangling and then off. It was curvy in there and by the time I came over KOM 1 I couldn’t see the two women who came off just before I did. Looking back there was no one in sight. Mile 27 out of 52 and alone in no man's land. Crap. There is nothing quite like the sinking feeling you get a you watch the gap grow to the point where the race caravan pulls around you and leaves you 'unprotected'. Don't get a flat now! I found out later that 20 women had been shelled before I got dropped, but I just knew that there was a large pack ahead and some off the back behind.
At least I got to take the short steep down hills at a comfortable pace to me and I didn't have to worry about drifting into somone's line or someone drifting into mine. I pushed KOM 2 just because I didn’t want to lose too much time in teh GC - not that I was in contention for anything, but it is the priciple of the matter and the fact that if you finished too far back on stage 1, you would not be allowed to start stage 2. I do have to admit though that there were times in there where my thoughts went towards "if I got dropped this early today, tomorrow is going to be an even longer TT so maybe it would be a good thing to be time cut". At the top of KOM 2 there were a couple guys on facny motor cycles (tricycles where the two wheels were in the front and only one in the back) and I did offer to trade with them. They just laughed at me and told me to keep it going. As soon as I hit 23 I put it into time trial mode and hammered the final 10 mils wondering if I would be outside the time cut to start on Sunday since apart from a sturggling junion I had seen no one on a bike for 15 miles. The false flat rollers felt completely un-flat and the wind felt pretty strong, but I just put my head down, cranked up to cadence in a big gear and powered it home. I started passing single riders and pairs of riders from the masters field at this point. Having those riders in front of me as rabbits was a huge help. I was hoping to catch one of the other women who had fallen off, so I would have someone to work with, but they were all guys, so as per USAC rules I had to pass them in a reasonable distance and keep on keeping on alone. The field must have slowed down along that stretch because I managed to almost bridge on those 10 miles. I finished in sight of the peloton 37 seconds back. I was shocked by that and by the group of 6 or 7 women who finished together about a minute behind me. There is no way riding alone into a headwind I should have been able to stay away from a group of 6 had they been working together. I managed 31st out of 51. Not great but at least I didn't lose gobs of time and I didn't have to find the snap for a sprint at the finish. I was a little concerned that I had burned up too many matches in my 25 miles of solo riding, but I have noticed that I recover fairly well and hoped that this would not be an exception.
After the race it was time to eat and then I toured the key part of Sunday's race (Platte Cove Rd - the famed and much hyped Devil's Kitchen climb) with several members of the Ommegang Team. The cars were not happy climbing that road, and the nerves for Sunday began to tingle. Once we got back to Hunter from that I went to soak in the river with Dave - the cold water felt really good on the legs and at ESGs I credit soaking after the ITT and the RR with how good the legs felt there. We sat in the river for near an hour - until we got cold. Then Dave went off to a team mates house and I went back to Windham for some supper (greek salad followed by steak and potatos and broccoli) before heading back to my hotel. At the hotel I changed my cassetter from the 12/25 that was on there to the 12/27 I had brought specifically for this race. I took the bike around the parking lot a few times to make sure she was shifting OK and then turned out the light for some much needed sleep.
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