This is the Rice Mansion in Cambridge, NY. And this was our host housing for the Battenkill Roubaix Race! Elisa, Bill and I stayed overnight in this beautiful mansion. We were served a huge pasta dinner the night before with all the volunteers for the race. Our rooms were HUGE and had the most wonderful king sized beds to ensure a good night's rest. We would need it!
Reem, the trooper that she is decided to drive up on Saturday morning to join in the fun! I had never done this race and only heard great things about the epic dirt climbs. We were to race on dirt for 30 percent of the time, actually we were either going up or down and nothing really in between.
It was a cold and windy day, but no rain and no snow. We were just 24 hours ahead of a big "Noreaster" storm. The race started with a sweet call up for me....that's always nice and doesn't happen that often! The first third of the race was pretty uneventful. I could tell I was in good form up against my competitors on the first dirt climb. I rode up the climb at a good pace and cruised down the decent to find myself at the front all alone. I had a significant gap but decided that I didn't want to fight the winds alone for 40 miles, so I waited. I found myself in another little break with a very tiny girl! Her kit said Nerac...not sure if that is the name of the team...but I'll do more research on it later. We had a good sized gap and after this 80 pound girl and I rotated a few pulls, I decided that I did not want to stay out there all day with no draft. I was hoping that someone would bridge, but that didn't happen. So the group caught us. We settled back into the race and another group caught us with Reem in it. Reem attacked and things picked up a bit. Soon after Elisa put in a strong attack and got into a break with Anna Milkowski and the Nerac climber. Elisa looked super strong as they attacked a dirt climb ahead of us. I got to the front to cover and watched the girls ride away out of sight! We came around a corner to another steep dirt climb and saw Elisa's RED TIME booties way up the road....all alone! Elisa's cold got the best of her and she was popped from the group. I decided to bridge as hard and fast as I could and try not to let anymore Target Training riders go with me. I didn't want it to be uneven numbers to my disadvantage when I got to the break. I popped off the group and bridged solo. I wasn't sure that Anna would continue to work once I got there, but she did. The three of us in the break were comitted to work for the next 25 miles.
We worked hard together and finally it came down to a three women sprint. Unfortunately, none of us knew where the finish line was. It was a looooong straight finish and we basically lined up across the road until Anna jumped first and then me. I sprinted in for the win. It was a fun day and great to ride with Anna and the Nerac girl ( I will get her name soon....so sorry).
They had a nice podium ceremony and then we all went our separate ways. Bill and I met up with some of the Skyland's guys (Kevin K., Roger, James and Paul Walsh) and my biggest fans, the Paraks (Diane, John, Brittany and Lauren) for an awesome Chinese feast. We all had great racing stories to share from the day at Battenkill Roubaix!!
Reem, the trooper that she is decided to drive up on Saturday morning to join in the fun! I had never done this race and only heard great things about the epic dirt climbs. We were to race on dirt for 30 percent of the time, actually we were either going up or down and nothing really in between.
It was a cold and windy day, but no rain and no snow. We were just 24 hours ahead of a big "Noreaster" storm. The race started with a sweet call up for me....that's always nice and doesn't happen that often! The first third of the race was pretty uneventful. I could tell I was in good form up against my competitors on the first dirt climb. I rode up the climb at a good pace and cruised down the decent to find myself at the front all alone. I had a significant gap but decided that I didn't want to fight the winds alone for 40 miles, so I waited. I found myself in another little break with a very tiny girl! Her kit said Nerac...not sure if that is the name of the team...but I'll do more research on it later. We had a good sized gap and after this 80 pound girl and I rotated a few pulls, I decided that I did not want to stay out there all day with no draft. I was hoping that someone would bridge, but that didn't happen. So the group caught us. We settled back into the race and another group caught us with Reem in it. Reem attacked and things picked up a bit. Soon after Elisa put in a strong attack and got into a break with Anna Milkowski and the Nerac climber. Elisa looked super strong as they attacked a dirt climb ahead of us. I got to the front to cover and watched the girls ride away out of sight! We came around a corner to another steep dirt climb and saw Elisa's RED TIME booties way up the road....all alone! Elisa's cold got the best of her and she was popped from the group. I decided to bridge as hard and fast as I could and try not to let anymore Target Training riders go with me. I didn't want it to be uneven numbers to my disadvantage when I got to the break. I popped off the group and bridged solo. I wasn't sure that Anna would continue to work once I got there, but she did. The three of us in the break were comitted to work for the next 25 miles.
We worked hard together and finally it came down to a three women sprint. Unfortunately, none of us knew where the finish line was. It was a looooong straight finish and we basically lined up across the road until Anna jumped first and then me. I sprinted in for the win. It was a fun day and great to ride with Anna and the Nerac girl ( I will get her name soon....so sorry).
They had a nice podium ceremony and then we all went our separate ways. Bill and I met up with some of the Skyland's guys (Kevin K., Roger, James and Paul Walsh) and my biggest fans, the Paraks (Diane, John, Brittany and Lauren) for an awesome Chinese feast. We all had great racing stories to share from the day at Battenkill Roubaix!!
8 comments:
Woohoo! Way to go! Wish I was there.
Congrats to all of you! Excellent job! Thanks for the great write up, I feel as thought I watched it happen. BH
Heather - Super job Saturday. I do question my judgement - absolutely no point my racing conservatively in the local stuff. I think we need to make sure we have huge battles between our two teams in the local races so we can get each other fit for the big races. (And do so while still valuing results, for sure.) And yes, completely insane for racing Bethel, in fact it put me over the edge and I am now fending off some fluish something. Have fun. Anna
Sweet wish I could of been there. I'm so proud...Tear, Bowles
Hello Heather,
I happened to come upon your blog and started to laugh as I read about your description of me. My name is Mary Zider and I live in Newton, MA. I just started racing last year only doing two races one of which was the GMSR stage race. My email address is zider24@mailcity.com and would love to chat about cycling and your experiences as a rider. Hope all is well!
Mary :)
Hello Heather,
I happened to come upon your blog and started to laugh as I read about your description of me. My name is Mary Zider and I live in Newton, MA. I just started racing last year only doing two races one of which was the GMSR stage race. My email address is zider24@mailcity.com and would love to chat about cycling and your experiences as a rider. Hope all is well!
Mary :)
nice-wallpapers
giax x / ay 53
Hey, I am checking this blog using the phone and this appears to be kind of odd. Thought you'd wish to know. This is a great write-up nevertheless, did not mess that up.
- David
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