Ladies Race Report!

This weekend Jenn, Erin, and myself travelled up to Devon for our first ABA road race.  It was a BLAST!

All of three of us were nervous, probably more than we would admit about what to expect.  Having two other familiar faces at the start line helped to calm our nerves I think.

After a warning from the commissaire about the massive potholes on the road, we were off.  Things seemed good as we tucked in the middle of the group.  The next thing I knew, I had hit a huge pothole and my front tire was flat.  I could hear Jenn and Erin saying they were sorry as I grabbed a wheel from the wheel car.  Thankfully, this was only on kilometre 3 and the ladies at the front weren't pushing too hard so I TT'd back up to the group.

As we turned onto the highway, we knew the Cat 3 women from Bici would attack, but we were ready and held on.  We stayed together until the first climb where things got spicy with another attack from Bici.  Just when we thought the climb was over, there was more attacking as the road meandered along a false flat.  Jenn and I managed to stay with the peloton and Erin who was only seconds back worked with a few other girls to try and bridge back to us.

The group seemed to ease up in between rollers which was a nice little break.  Just before the turn around, ladies started dropping off the back as the wind changed. At that point I looked around and realized my teammates were no longer with me.  As we looped back to start the return, Jenn made an amazing move to join me and Erin, still working to catch us was close behind.

We hit the second climb on the way back where QOM points were awarded.  This was around kilometre 45 and my legs were screaming.  Despite our best efforts to keep up with the Cat 3 women, things got pretty split up after this point.  I worked with two ladies from Edmonton to try and catch back on, but to no avail.  I came sprinting through the finish line, with what I am told was a "smile" on my face...really it was a pain face (think Andy Schleck in the Tour) and Jenn and Erin not too far behind me.

I am very proud of us for getting out and representing the women in STC!!  It was a ton of fun.  I hope that some of the ladies out there who are nervous or unsure of this whole race thing will come and give it a try!!  We would be so happy to have you join us.

And as a side note, the more seasoned racers were very respectful and kind to us newbies :)

A BIG thanks to Marie who hosted us at her place for an intro to racing night last week.  Many of your tips and suggestions came in handy this weekend.