YES! Racing season is here in the Midwest, and with it one of the best parts about racing. Re-living the experience later.
Chris and I loaded our black lab, Jazzy, the Trek Madone (thank you ABD, it's fantastic!) and Chris's stuff into our big "new" minivan and headed south for Hillsboro Friday after work. We rolled into Pheasant Valley Farms about 10pm. Kristen lined up this fabulous farmhouse 10 miles out of Hillsboro where she had stayed last year. We could actually see the stars and hear the coyotes at night out there -Thanks Kristen! If you ever want an affordable early season getaway where the weather is a tad warmer and the training is excellent, contact Vicki and John at www.pheasantvalleyfarms.com
Saturday morning we all got up early to have coffee, eat, dress and head to the course. It was just a bit chilly and breezy, but the sun was shining. For those of you who have never done this race, it's a 29 mile loop through farmland with a few rollers thrown in for fun and a nice little kicker hill before the brick paved circuit through town that leads to the finish line. Our race was two laps for a total of 58 miles. We rolled up to the start line with 45 of our Cat 1,2 and 3 racer friends. We actually ended up way in the back of the pack. Jessi and the rest of the team very wisely moved up during the neutral roll-out to get to the front of the pack. I got jammed in the back, but I wasn't worried since the rest of the team had great position. Things heated up quickly as a few girls put in some digs after about mile 5. Jessi, Kristen, Sarah and Elena were in a great position to neutralize those quickly. It wasn't long before I saw Jessi attacking and rolling away with 3 other ladies. I was super psyched! This is what we wanted! Since the attacks spread things out a bit, I was able to start moving up to cover anything that tried to go after Jessi. A few people made some efforts, but thanks to the wind, it was tough to make anything else stick. Two of Jessi's breakmates got popped and came back into the peloton, so it was just her and Kim Eppen left to do a two woman time trial for 50 miles.
As we rolled through the feed zone/finish area, we were told that Jessi and Kim were safely away with a 4 minute lead. I figured that now I could try to make a few things happen. The last thing I wanted was to end up in a bunch sprint. Tracy Tolson of the Texas Roadhouse team and I started throwing in digs. It got really hard into the headwind and things started to string out. I got super frustrated that nothing was sticking and threw in one last hard dig and it worked!!! Tracy was with me along with Lindsey Hurst and Christine Roettger who caught on Tracy's wheel. It wasn't long before it was down to just the three of us as Christine dropped back. We worked together beautifully to make time between the group and ourselves for the last 15 or so miles. As we came into town, I actually saw Jessi and Kim doing their post-race talk, so I knew Jessi was safely in with either 1st or 2nd! On that final hill, I kept the pressure on and put a nice gap between myself and Lindsey and Tracey and was able to roll it in for a 3rd place finish. Lindsey took 4th, Tracy 5th.
Kim Eppen did, unfortunately for us, take the big "V", but Jessi and I were 2nd and 3rd! What a great way to start the year for ABD!!
Elena, Kristen , and Sarah all safely finished up after lots of hard racing and work to ensure Jessi and I stayed away, and we were all fortunate enough not to have suffered any punctures or mechanical problems to cause the dreaded "DNF". In fact our Treks served us very well indeed! They are very smooth and fast machines! You can believe the hype about their incredibly silky smooth ride, as this trait was really noticeable (and appreciated!) on the bricks!
We decided to stay over another night, so we were able to do some team bonding over dinner, then a campfire with s'mores! -Hey, we earned it! :) On Sunday the wind really whipped up, but we were determined to take advantage of these country roads and ventured out to ride the course again. After Chris (who by the way took 5th in the Masters 40+ race -Yay!) checked out some of the bikes to be sure they were alright after their hard use the day before, we all noodled the 10 miles to the course from the house we were staying at. Chris had the team working on a few bridging drills, but the wind kept getting stronger, so it became just a matter of working together to finish the race course route then headed the 10 miles back home. Kristen was the lone brave soul who decided to take advantage of the day and rode another lap by herself for a total of nearly 80 miles! Crazy lady!! I'm sure she'll post nice sunburn pictures on her blog. OUCH!!!
Thanks as always to Mike Farrell and Ebert and the club for supporting us!
Here's the link to my FB photo album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2121828&id=1184494671&l=cb18b1f4f4
Let's all send good vibes out to Jessi as she leaves for Europe to race with the National Team!!! Safe travels and good racing to you Jess! We're looking forward to hearing all about it!
Stacy
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