Race Report

[BalaRoja]

I sure posted my share of questions (some smart I think, some silly I admit ) in another thread:

This past weekend was the race itself finally. OMG, the nerves. I was near putty as the start approached. Despite the months of training, the preparation, and the 200x or so I told myself I was ready, it sure did not feel that way at the start line.

Then it was just another bike ride, at least at first. I managed to stay near the front but also moved around a bit to try to get in a better spot (shelter from the wind that is). While I was shuffling around working to a better position, 2 girls launched a big attack. I noticed of course when suddenly everyone around me picked up the pace a bit. It seemed like a slow reaction though because the two attackers had gotten what looked like a big gap real, real fast.

With the winds being what they were (strong tailwind), there wasn't as much of an advantage to drafting. Plus the pack didn't seem that organized and there was this general looking around with people's expressions almost saying "so who is going to go up front and pull these two back?" It was obvious to me that getting a big group of people organized to do a dedicated chase is not easy! Possibly if a large number of riders had been in the bunch from one team it might have been different but I don't have enough experience to say for sure.

Anyway, now that the 2 girls seemed to be getting enough of a gap to be gone for good, a few others tried to escape too. This time I was ready and went with 3 other girls who made a move. Once again the pack was kind of loafing. We got plenty of separation and began working together. Lo and behold, getting 3 other people to work with you on a break was way easier than getting 25 or so in the pack to work and chase a couple of riders

The pack eventually got it together it seems but by then we had a comfortable margin. The terrain features (lots of curves and short hills), made it easy for us to be out of sight. I think that made it seem as though we were further ahead than we really were. No matter, it all worked and we didn't have to deal with the pack again.

The 4 of us stayed together till about the 10km mark to the finish and then one cracked and went off the back. Then one of the girls took a flyer at around the 5km point and I grabbed her wheel. Our remaining breakaway companion was toast and she was well back.

Once we lost our former breakaway partner, we slowed things down up till about the 1km mark. I got the feeling this was where the games kind of start between riders. Being fairly good over the short stuff (< 5 minute long), I liked my chances and soon went kite. I didn't glance back but friends at the line who watched the finish said I had a big margin over the other woman, who looked like a climber type (she was pretty small/lean). So that was that. A 3rd place out of about 30 in my first race and one darn big grin on my face