Triple Valley Stage Race

No pics yet but hopefully soon. Here is how it went down- at least for me.

Stage One: Skull Valley Road Race. This was a 40 mile out and back rolling hills course. We started with 10 Cat 4 Women and 2 Masters, at least that is what was on the start list. Early on we realized we were missing Nancy and Allison. The pack headed out at a reasonable pace and it wasn't until about mile 10 we started to see some attacks. Nobody got away for long because the Ski Utah women easily worked together to reel them back in.

About mile 18 Diane (Mazda One) attacked and when we had caught her Margaret indicated that this would be a good time for me to counter. So I got in my drops and powered out ahead. My first attack ever. I stayed out suffering for what seemed an eternity (it was probably only a few minutes). The pack almost flew by the turn around as they were working to catch me. It was about this time that I realized Allison had TT'd her way up to catch us!

After the turn around Brandi and Michelle (Procyclery) got away. They were working together and we could see them getting farther away. The Ski Utah Ladies used this opportunity to sit up and let the unfortunate few that had no teammates figure out how to catch the break. Finally after the kind of cattiness that only a woman's race can bring, they started working hard. Once we could see they were going to get caught we started working too. With 5K to go we were all back together. My goal was to follow Margaret. She was resting off the back with me when we hit the 1K line she suddenly took a great line nearly riding in the dirt to move up and won the sprint. I was blocked in and finished the sprint in 7th. We got the same time since we were all together.

Stage 2: 12K Time Trial. I warmed up well and with my new aerobars I was optimistic that I could do a decent TT. I went hard but wasn't able to stay in my bars the entire time because so much of the course was climbing. In the last few miles I got caught and passed by Jillian, Breanne, and Diane! AAAArrrrgh! I new I was losing serious time. I was mumbling and cursing TTs when my friends Brent and Stan showed up to check out this racing scene. I'm not sure they are convinced that racing is a lot of fun since I was taking off my aerobars and getting ready to see how well they would work as boomerangs. I just couldn't figure out how I could feel so good in the road race, go for break aways, chase attacks and then be so slow in the TT. I guess I really will have to practice!

Stage 3: Circuit race. I really wish this had been a crit. I warmed up by trying out the course with Jamie. My legs felt like lead weights. I don't think the muscles were turning the pedals I think I was just picking up each leg and letting gravity pull it back down to turn the pedals. But it was a beautiful sunny day and I hoped I could warm up a bit more as we rolled out.

Thanks to the TT I was 4 minutes behind Jillian. Teammates Breanne and Allison were closest to Jillian in the GC but we still needed to gain 41 seconds to get a Ski Utah win. The plan was for Margaret, Jamie, Brandi and me to work on blocking Jillian so Breanne and Allison could get away and get the time they needed. It wasn't long before that plan went awry as Margaret, Brandi and I were all unable to hang on the long grind. Brandi and I worked together to finish 6th and 7th. I guess up ahead of us things got crazy as Breanne missed the turn and Jillian followed her. Jamie and Allison made the turn and took off. Diane also missed the turn and after the second miss DNF'd. Working together Allison and Jamie held off the rest of the field and Allison finished 1st in the GC. Jillian dropped to 2nd, Jamie 3rd, Breanne 4th, Unknown girl 5th, me 6th and Brandi 7th.

Ski Utah also did well in other Cats as well. Chase barely lost GC in the Men's 3s. He ran out of gears on the super fast downhill sprint. Just wait until he gets to use big gears. He will be flying! Patrick also pulled out a win in today's stage in the Men's 1/2s field. I'm not sure how everyone else did. Jeremy put on an awesome race! It was so much fun!

One bad side note, Clint Carter crashed hard in the men's 3 field on Stage 1. He was airlifted to U of U hospital. He had a nasty gash to his face and has injured his neck but he is home now and doing better.