Rain, rain, rain... yesterday’s circuit race

yesterday, we had stage 2 of the tour of montreal. this really has been a fun stage race, in that people have been forced to RACE their bikes. normally, a stage race will start out with a time trail or a hilly stage that will set the GC right away. with this race, however, the GC has been far from set since the first two races have been pancake flat sprinter’s races... and today’s time trail was only 3.5k. it means that we have not had a situation where a low GC break could escape up the road and let the peloton have a tea party and watch them ride.

yesterday was another 107k of flat racing. this time though, there were really only a couple corners, as the course was really fairly straight forward. nothing too technical to break up the pack. unlike the day before with the bazillion highly technical corners, today was an easy course- therefore one that would be hard to get a break to stick on. with the sprinters leading the GC, it made for an interesting race... a break would not be able to slip away on a course like that, since nothing was selective. with a very technical course, sometimes a break can form from the peloton splitting, but not on yesterday’s course. a break might have formed with the top riders, but most the teams wanted sprint finishes for their sprinters- meaning that unless a sprinter was in the break, it would be hard to get it to stick. but if there WAS a sprinter in the break- no one would want to work together. so.... it made for an interesting race. better yet- the 3, 2, and 1 second time bonuses really draw out a thrown down sprint each time since those seconds are precious. it makes it exciting when they are often not worth the physical strain on GC riders.

there were many attempts at breaks, and one that COULD have stuck at one point, but for the most part- teams brought back moves fairly quickly aside from letting solo riders burn their legs off the front and give the field a break. team TIBCO did GREAT! it was really fun to see how well my teammates are adjusting to the UCI racing. they were up front the whole day and covering moves. i really was very proud of them. much better than the race before (although they did great there too!) and racing like a team in contention- which we are! i am thrilled to see how far we have come and how quickly. two of our riders were cat 4 local racers last year. and now? they are throwing it down with riders that wear rainbow world champion stripes on their sleeves... wow.

we were doing 11 laps yesterday and lucky me... heading into the second lap, i flatted. i was very proud of myself (my back is still a bit red and raw from the self-praising back patting that i applied), that when i flatted, i kept my composure and did what i was supposed to do. radioed that i had a flat, drifted back to the back of the pack and kept riding with my arm up until they told me that i had to stop. then i pulled over to the right (always the right) and shifted into my 11. calmly got off my bike and stood over my top tube while the mavic neutral guys swapped out my wheel in about .2 seconds. i was pushed back in and was still in the caravan. i make a big deal out of this because i am still a new rider and i have not had a lot of mechanicals yet. it is so easy to get a bit panicky and do the wrong thing and have a bad wheel change. chasing on is hard and if you lose your head, that is another second or two off the back that translates into a lot more suffering to get back on. it was a conscious effort on my part to stay calm and remember what i had to do. even getting to chase from within the caravan was hard work. i am glad that i did not have to chase up to it!

what was fun though- as soon as i was pushed back into the race, the sky opened up and rain (no, not rain- water droplets the size of marbles falling from above)... it was crazy hard rain! i was fortunately able to catch back on quickly. the rain was falling hard when i was weaving in and out of the carvan cars and cursing the directors who would tailgate and not let me leapfrog.

on that lap- we had one corner that was so flooded, i swear the water came up to my bottom bracket! i confess- i loved it. i think that it is kind of like telling people that you liked ochem... you have to be careful- or you might get lynched. but don’t tell... it makes it crazy and epic when you have SUCH crappy weather. good stories for later. my hands were working, so i could shift and break (unlike CVC road race last year when they were so numb that i could not grab the break with my right hand OR shift!)- so i felt safe. but i like bad weather. i also know that if you like bad weather... it is a good thing. so many people hate it, that it becomes a big advantage when you don’t mind getting pissed on while racing. at one point, we got a big, beautiful bolt of lightening right in front of us! i got giddy from that one. judith arndt looked at me like i was a bit crazy... “well, if we are going to get rained on, at least we get a light show!”. i am not sure she shared my enthusiasm for the elements.

about 3 laps to go though, i was wondering how the heck i was going to get by buttocks up there and elbow my way on slippery pavement for a sprint. i knew that i had to be up there at least 10k out, but holding position and wrestling for wheels in the rain is scary to think about doing. but, sure enough, 13k to go, i moved up and did not think anymore. instead, it was game on! the sprint was crazy and super fun. i was up with the big sprinters and we were all watching each other. one would move up and the rest of us would respond. i was calm and not worried that i was getting swarmed and boxed in, since i would just push forward and move people out of my way. that is how they did it... and dammit... that was how i was going to do it too! it really was my first time getting to watch how bronzini, wood, schleicher and gilmore moved around. they were really calm and collected but aggressive as hell. i learned a lot. i was really happy with how well i was able to be where i wanted to be and where i needed to be for the last 3-1k. i still need to work on my final positioning, as i am still learning, so i was a few too many wheels back for the final sprint. i had to jump early since my positioning was too far back and was coming up the right hand side of the shoot. the train was on my left and i was closing to the line when wood jumped hard to the right and was followed by gebhart from getranke-hoffman... when gebhart jumped, she came right into me and about 75m from the finish, i had to stop pedaling and lose speed. i might have been able to close on a few more riders, but there was no where to go.

i ended up finishing 6th. i was really happy about it too. unlike the day before’s 7th place, this one i know i earned. i felt like i was along for the ride yesterday, but today- i was racing. i learned a lot and am starting to get back into the mental and physical game again. it was fun.