This is from a young woman who used to race for Velo Bella when she was an exchange student in the US. Now she's a pro racer in Europe and was the only woman in the road race representing Belgium.

She has done quite well in the European pro races. Here's her take on the Olympic road race, which she posted to a VB site:

I am back in belgium since yesterday from Beijing! It was a great experience although the race itself was horrible. If there is one thing that i can't stand, it's cold and rain, hypothermia is pretty common for me in such conditions...and yeah it was there again...You train all year long on conditions of extreme humidity and hot weather and then this is what you get! I performed way underneath my abilities, normally I climb way faster, but anyway...it happened and there is nothing i can do about it! One world...one dream was pretty much one nightmare :-) The first 80km were flat and the pace in the peloton wasn't really high. Then we came on a local circuit of 24km, with 10.5km climbing, normally really my thing! We had to do this lap 2 times and then we finished at the bottom of the climb. Once we started climbing, my legs blocked right away due to the rain and coldness and I felt right away that this wasn't gonna be my day. I managed to stay in the group untill the top of the first climb, but then we had to go down and my body started shaking from the cold and the rain. My muscles cramped up...We started climbing again and I get dropped pretty early. I first was in a group, but then the group broke and I was left behind with 3 other girls...It was pooring so much that I didn't even see that our group broke; all I could see was the rear wheel from one girl in front of me, no further! It was like we were riding our bikes in a river! Puddles 30cm deep, unbelievable! They said the conditions in Beijing would be extreme...well this was extreme!