Bell Tower RR
From: Lee Penn
Date: Jul 23, 2007 9:46 AM
It was a beautiful, although windy, day for a road race, and it was my first
road race in about three or four years. They combined the women’s fields,
so our total was over 20, although I’m not sure of the exact number.
The start was strange as we rolled off with the masters 50+ but were not
allowed to actually ride with them. They started with a nice modest pace,
which probably did me a big favor cuz I was feeling feisty although not
spectacular (probably around 85-90% that morning - woman stuff).
Birchwood was a HUGE presence. They launched off a few small attacks at the
beginning, which Sherry, Linda Sone, and I covered. Jeannette (b-wood) took
a flier, and Sherry, Linda, and I slowly reeled her back in. Then, Katy
(b-wood) took a flier, and no one responded right away. Sherry attacked a
short while after… caught on the climb. Then I took off right after the
climb, but not too hard. I was caught. But then Camilla (b-wood) and I
were on the front only to find, about two-three minutes later, that we had a
reasonable gap going. We both looked at each other - quite surprised… and
went. We worked really well together - especially going into the wind.
Then, we got to the climb, and my “minus 10-15%” took over, and I got
dropped on the climb. After I crested, I just went into time trial mode and
focussed on keeping my effort high. I checked behind me, thinking that the
group would probably catch me, but the group never did. I finished about
one minute behind Cam, and she finished about 1.5 minutes behind Katy.
Overall, I gave 100% of what I had available that morning, and I had a great
time. It was a super fun race for me, and it was especially fun to have no
flats, no near crashes… and a good result! Hooray!
I think I get a gift cert. to a bike shop - Sherry - what kind of gu do you
like? I think I’ll buy us some bike food.
Lee