Hey ABD'ers,
Just a super quick note before I crash for the night. 66 women were registered and it looks like 59 finished the 73.1 miles and I don't know how may vertical feet of climbing. If anyone's interested, here's the link to the course profile: http://www.tourofthegila.com/racecourses.html
The highest grade was 19% today. Just a little bigger than Fox River Grove! :)
Our group pretty much hung together until the last 15 miles. At that point, there's a right turn toward the Mogollon climb where the girls got serious and hit the gas! Note to self: be at the front at the turn! A few girls got gapped and it was impossible to get around and make up that ground into the head wind quickly enough and just like that, the group was gone. Coulda shoulda woulda. Who knows!? I may not have been able to hang on with the pack until the base of the climb. At that point I was able to rotate through with a few girls until the beginning of the ascent where everything splintered further. Our 8 turned into three and I was the last of those three. It's 6.7 miles of nasty hairpin turns and super steep climbs.
As Chris, my trusty partner in this crazy life always reminds me, an athlete has to believe in themselves and have a bit of hope that if they had been there at the front through the turn, they would have held on and maybe been up a few minutes more. It's what keeps me coming back for more! So, although I was 32nd on the day and ended up 6:49 behind today's winner Mara Abbott, I had a great day. It was warm and sunny and we rode through some amazing NM country! AND I was surrounded by many of the women that are role models for me! Here's a link to the results page: http://www.tourofthegila.com/2011race/day1womens12.html
To no one's surprise, Mara Abbott of the Diadora Pasta Zara team rode away from everyone and is up 19 secs on F. Parks Oliveira of the Pactimo Cycling team. Ms. Oliveira'steammate, Clara Hughes, is another 21 seconds back.
After the race, Chris and I rode back down the "Mogy" climb and saw Ben Damhoff of our men's elite team climbing. Of course I yelled "GO ABD!" We had a chance later to officially meet and chat a bit.
So, we're in recovery mode now. The forced feeding continues and we're back for another 80 miles tomorrow! I guess that wasn't such a quick note!
More to come!!
Thanks for all your support!
Stacy
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