I arrived the sunday before the start of the race with teammate, Chamblee, and another girl Chris from Athens. We made the long trek from somewhere in NC. We arrived in Altoona to find nobody else from the team there yet. We were told we were staying in some sorority house. One would think, ah sorority girls. This place is going to be a nice joint with pink walls and lots of frilly carpet. Hah, nothing close. This place was a dump. It looked haunted and there were cigarette holes all over the carpets and the furniture that looked like it had been sitting on the side of the road somewhere. Nonetheless, this is what we would call home for the next week. We made the best and since Chamblee and i were there first, we picked out the "nicest" room we could find and settled in.
The TT or prolouge came quick Monday evening. I was prepared and ready to get on the course. It was less than 3 miles long and basically was a crit course so i was loving it that i didn't have to use any TT equipment. I went to the start line to line up and i saw the start list. Out of all 80 something riders entered my 30 second girl happened to be the newly crowned TT and RR National Champion, Kristin Armstrong. Talk about nerves well mine went through the roof. She was all decked out in her stars and stripes and full TT bike, helmet, shoe covers...good grief can you be any more aero. I took the starting block. The official was counting down from 5, 4, 3, when i was rolling my cleat and my foot came unclipped. There I was being let go from the holder starting to fall over while rolling down the ramp with my foot still unclipped. 6-8 seconds went by and I looked by and saw Kristin about to start chasing me. Like a woman possesed i clipped in and starting sprinting as hard as i could away from the start. I felt fast up until the last stretch when I heard the roar of a disc wheel coming on my left. Sure enough there she was passing by me so fast that I couldn't even catch her draft, believe me I tried. After a few minutes of feeling demoralized by the fact that i got passed in a less than 3 mile TT, i decided to shake it off and do better the next day.
Tues wasn't so bad. It was the shortest day only being 63 miles. That sure was nice of them to ease us in to the week. This race was not very excting. It was a fast circuit that ended up in a pack finish. I was safe for another day finishing in the pack. Here is a pic of me that was on cyclingnews.com from that day. BOY I look MEAN!
Wed was the first of the 95 mile stage. The pace was fast and the long climb broke up the field. Once you got to the top, it was moderately downhill till the finish which was 30 miles away. I climbed decent that day and made it over the climb with group that was interested in getting to the finish. I finished 27the that day and brought my gc standing up to 33.
The next 2 days of racing were both circuits. It just so happended both these days we would experience severe rain. Thursday's circuit was a little messy. About 20 minutes in the rainstorms the first big crash occurrred. Lots of girls went down including me, luckily i just slid into a few people popped back up and caught the main pack after chasing for a few minutes. My teammate, Kathleen, wasn't that luckliy. Her wheel tacoed and it took forever to get her a wheel change. That incident ended her race. Throughout that race there were a few other crashes but I avoided all of them and finished in the main pack losing only a few seconds in the very last stretch to the finish.
Friday was races a little more conservative. The pace wasn't slower but the peloton was riding more careful. Today was a hard day for me. I wasted A LOT of energy being cautious and hanging slightly off the back. Not a smart move. I worked way too hard closing gaps when i should have just stuck in the pack where it is easier. I was just too timid about going down. I finished one again in the main pack. There was a small break but it only gained about 20 secs on us. Tomorrow would be the deciding day.
Sat was our last 92 mile day. The race started out hard. The first 20 miles we went through constant rollers and the pace was being pushed. The suffering for me started the minute i clipped in. My breathing was erratic and I felt like poop on all the climbs. I knew this was going to be a miserable day on the bike. I had to figure out a way to hang on without dropping too much in gc. When we hit the first major climb i started to try to move up but my legs felt like lead but worse my lungs felt like there were going to pop out of my chest. I watched the girls i needed to stick with climb right away from me. Stuck between 2 groups, I looked over and had one teammate with me, Kristen. Without her i would have slipped even more. We sufferred bad on the climb but eventually made it through after getting off my bike briefly. I was hurting so bad i didn't think i could finish but I gave myself a swift kick in the arse and got back on. The next 40 miles we would face 2 more QOMs. It was unbearable and the dirt road climb pissed me off so bad. At one point one girl was crying and eventhough i felt like crying, that was not an option..."there's no crying in cycling", come on!
We finally made it to the finish. All i wanted was my bed. Later that evening i found out I dropped to 40th on gc which made me very unhappy. All i could do was hope that tomorrow i could redeem myself in the crit. Lucky for me i would rather race a crit anyday than a 90 mile RR.
Sunday turned out surprisingly better for me. The crit started fast and pace was pushed by Lipton the whole day. Girls were falling off left and right. My legs felt so heavy but everyone else was hurting too that day so i took every advantage to move up. Kathleen was on the radio with me telling me exactly what was going on so i knew when it was getting harder or when the group was letting up. With 5 laps to go I knew i was going to make it with the main pack. I finished 29th which i was happy about considering that half the field was pulled.
At the end of the day, I had moved up a few spots to 38th on the gc. It's nowhere near the top 25 I had wanted but for my first 7day stage race, I felt it was an accomplishment. Now i know i can race for 7 days straight and with a little work during the off season maybe i won't have that one severely crappy day. It's definitely not a race for everyone but I have more respect for any racer that attempt s toona and even more for those who survive the week.
Big thanks to Jeff & Shawn @ LUNA CYCLES in Lenoir City, NC for getting my bike race ready and finding the gallon of water in my bottom bracket prior to race week. That would have been a bitch to carry up all those climbs.
Thanks to the KENDA girls for being so supportive all week and thanks to Paul for single handedly working his tail off to help us during race week. Most teams had multiple people and he worked the race all alone.
Off to the Bank of America Crit tomorrow night in Charlotte, NC. Let's hope all the girls ride a little safer this year than last. I don't want to visit the pit 3 times in the first 3 lap like last year. Stay tuned for a race recap on Sunday.
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