NZ wrap up

I have been back in the states for one whole week. It feels like months since I have been in NZ. Finally, over the last couple of days it really sunk in as to what a great experience it was for me to race with fastest girls in the World.

I want to wrap up the rest of my trip for you. The World Cup race was on Sundy, March 5th. Over 125 girls were on the start list. The course was hard, riding the course a couple of times was hard but the World Cup was 20 laps long, the longest a world cup race is allowed to be. World Cups are races of attrittion and maybe I wasn't exactly fit enough to be in the top 20 for one of these. If NZ was trying to prove that they can come up with a nasty and daunting course, well they win the award. The race started on the steps of Parliment. All 126 racers lined up and headed off into the cobbles. It kind of felt like we were really tough. We went diving into the first turn and you are faced with a tight city street with a head wind you really don't want to even imagine. The street narrows right before the first climb, so everyone is pulling their best bike handling moves to push the other girl out of the way. Once you get through that you make a SHARP right hand turn into the climb. If you have ever been in a big pack before where there is any type of sharp turn, then you know if you are anywhere in back half of the group, you will almost come to a dead stop and then have to sprint at max effort just to catch back on. At this point you hear all kinds of yelling and curse words in every language as to why the girl in front is slamming on her brakes and causing a HUGE gap. Of course I would never yell, that wastes way too much energy. After this little hair pin turn you climb and then you make another turn and climb some more until you reach the top where half the crowd is yelling and watching you suffer up this steep pitch. Once you reach the top, you get NO recovery b/c there is a massive head wind that makes you work all the way down the decent to where you start the other climb on the back side of the course. This is where the feed zone was located but you really can't slow down and the chances of you getting a feed were slim. So the pace is being pushed through the feed zone the top of the 2nd climb and then you get another small rolling flat into guess what ANOTHER full on head wind that about blows you off your bike. You think i am kidding, look up the city of Wellington, NZ on google and what comes up "WINDY WELLINGTON". You get the point. The pace was blazing. All the teams expected a break to happen in the first or second lap, just like last year. It didn't go until the 7th lap. For the first 7 laps of 20, the fastest girls in the world were on the rivot. When they are on the rivot for that long, racers like myself are sucking their dust...So i got popped and found myself chasing with other large groups. Sounds familiar doesn't it. I got to finish 16 laps out of 20 before they pulled me. I still consider it a great experience. At the end of the day only 40 girls out of 125 finished. That is a very small number and I think it shows just how hard the course was. I am not making excuses. I knew going into this week it would be tough. I was hoping some of the Europeans wouldn't have their best legs yet but it didn't matter b/c the New Zealanders and the Aussies were in peak form. The winner was Sarah Ulmer, she is New Zealand's golden girl. She broke away by herself on lap 7 and some how kept it, it was considered a suicide mission. She is a TRACK gold medalist who is giving a run at road racing. I would say she can just about have her way on any bike...

After the race, I had a day to relax, walk around Wellington and pack up for my long trip home. Besides the racing, I was really lucky to have such a great host family. Charlie, the Wholly Bagles owner and sponsor of the team i raced on, has a wonderful family. They treated my like i had lived there for years. They had 3 small children and I spent lots of time with them and even read them bed time stories, I know it's crazy! I got to learn so much about New Zealand and their culture. It is a wonderful and beautiful place. The riding was fantastic, the traffic is minimal and everyone i came in contact with was super friendly. If you get the chance or just need a vacation, VISIT NZ.

As for me now that i am back, last weekend i raced the Greenville training series. I placed 2nd in the RR after several attempts to make a break stick. On that course you really need several people in a break but it never happened so I had to sprint it out. I was pleasantly suprised since i though for sure my legs would be dead from all the traveling.

This weekend, I am taking off from racing and doing a block of killer climbing. Brooks in ATL was tempting but there is plenty of racing in the near future. Speaking of, can't wait till next weekend's training races, wwwtbra.org, around Nashville. I look forward to riding with my favorite group of Nashvillians. Feels like I haven't seen you guys in forever! Take it easy on me, I will be in the "A" races sucking your wheel! Don't forget to check out www.robinfarina.com for my weekly blogs, updates on my season and other important STUFF!