This course is pretty simple, you are either going uphill or downhill...there are very few flat sections. There was about 2000 ft of climbing in just 22 miles so I knew it was going to be tough.

I was racing all the other CAT 5's, Juniors and I believe CAT 4 women. In total there was about 65 of us. I kind of started off near the back as it was my first time riding in a group. I just wanted to get a feel for it. Two important points that I learned pretty quickly 1) You need to pay attention ALL the time 2) There are a few people racing that should have the left the training wheels on there bike...scary stuff.

We start off and we are going 30 mph...holy shit. I am so used to leave space between me and the bike in front that I keep losing the draft. I soon realize that I am pedalling as hard as I can while they are coasting and I make up no ground. So quickly I get smart and tuck right in tight...mmm much easier. I am still pretty far back and quickly getting sick of the speeding up/slowing down as we react to what the people are doing up front. So as we hit the first couple of inclines, I start moving up and get into the top 20 were it is much smoother. Through the first 8 miles, it is downhill with a few rollers. Since we are only going 22 miles, the pace is quick and I think burned a little too much energy by not staying the pack.

At about mile 8, we make a right hand turn and the real climbing starts. One of the people who forgot their training wheels doesn't know how to turn, clips a tire, flies across the group and takes out two cyclists. This all happened right in front of me...sweet.

So lets get back to the paying attention at all times. I am not sure when it happened, but I look up and a big group is gone. They had accelerated and I missed it. I jump out of the saddle to bridge the gap and my legs said "NOPE"...shit. I sit back down, spin for a minute and try again..not happening. My quads lock up and I am hurting. The hill is a little steeper than I like so I had trouble spinning the 12-25. My quads are burning, the lead group is gone and this is only the first part of the first climb. Okay, damage control. I slow up, work on spinning as smooth as I can and just relax. For the next several miles, it is pretty much all climbing and I end up in no mans land. There is the lead pack, a few miny straggler packs, me and presumbly some people behind me, though I didn't look. We finally crest one of the hills and hit a semi flat section. I slip into the drops and try to catch the two guys in front of me. My legs are still not there but I figure I just need to push through it. I am making pretty good progress when two guys go flying by me. I latch onto them and the we start rotating through a three person pace line...cool and much easier. We nearly catch up to the two in front of us when a group of about 10 rolls up behind us. Now as a much bigger group, we really start flying and catch a few more stragglers has we go up the last couple of climbs before a big downhill.

After flying down the downhill (hit my fast speed ever at 49.58mph). We hit the final climb to the finish. It is 2.2 miles of steady uphill. When we get to the bottom, we see a group of about 20 riders that we haven't seen the whole race...pretty cool. But they are most likely too far away to catch but there were a few falling off the back. My goal became to beat my little mini group (now about 20) to the top. Right from the start, about 6 of us breakaway. The grade is perfect for me and having sat in the group for a little while, I finally feel like I have good legs (only 20 miles too late). I figured we would pace line up the hill but I think a few of the guys were fried. I was 6th in line (too far back again) and I notice one guy pulling away off the front. So I passed the other 4 guys and tried to real him in. I was making no progress so I jumped out the saddle and started closing in. What I should have done is either gone right to his wheel or gone right by. Instead, for some reason I stopped about to bike lengths short and relaxed...he then proceeded to pull away again. I didn't have the energy to try again. Near the top, someone came up behind me. As he was smarter than me, he just sat on my wheel and then sprinted near the end and beat me to the line.

Obviously I have no strategy or pack riding skills but I was suprised I had no legs on the first climb. It should not have been a hard climb for me at all and I should have been able to stay with the lead group. Maybe it was the first 8 miles of speed up/slow down just fried my legs enough...oh well.

The finish line is just a line in the road and I wasn't even sure I was done. I just road around for a little while and got a little food.


This $@#$%#$^ is hard!!!!!


This was awesome. Everyone was very helpful and very friendly. I am sure it is a little more fierce at the higher levels, but there was a few times during the race that I told people it was my first time and they helped out with paceline, etc. It is a completely different sport than TT'ing and I think it is a great way to get better on the bike. I will definately be back for more.