Ski Utah Cat 4 Women Rock!

Bear Lake Classic Road Race. Me !st, Breanne 2nd and Jamie 3rd!

Beautiful Bear Lake. . . .

My team rocked the field! I couldn't have done it with out them. Here's how it played out. . . . .

All week we had been strategizing over email. Last year this race had a whole bunch of scary beginners and a whole bunch of crashes. Ski Utah had 7 of 18 registered riders in the Women's 4 field. Our plan was to attack early and often enough to break up the field. We attacked right from the start and the Wasatch Women had a couple of attacks and short breaks early on. After the first turn Kris and Kara attacked and got in a nice break away. They got pretty far out because it seemed no one on the other teams wanted to work to get them. We eventually caught them right before the rollers. I immediately counter attacked and Jamie came with me. We were caught up the first hill but we had finally split the field into only 8 riders.

Through the rollers it was even worse, hardly anyone would work except for Ski Utah. Breanne and Jamie continued to put the pedal down hard and push the pace with Allison and I taking some pulls for relief. Finally after the rollers and into the final stretch the Bike Peddler girl took a good long pull and we used the time to rest and keep ourselves in good position for the sprint finish. Once she pulled off though it was back to us pulling and Breanne did a nice long pull into the wind. Again we attempted to back off and rest. Without us at the front the pace seemed to slow to a crawl.

At this point I was feeling good. Too good to be dragging along at 17 mph. I felt like I had enough in my legs to attack, split up the field, and if I got caught I would still have enough to sprint again at the finish. I went off hard. My awesome team sat up and waited for the rest of the field to chase me down. They either didn't have the legs or the smarts to chase so once again they sat on. I looked back several times. Once, I thought they were catching me but as a pack of Mens 5s flew by I expressed my joy at them being men. (They probably though I just got out of a convent or something!)

I got another wind when I looked back and could see I still had some good distance. My legs and lungs were on fire. I could now see the turn and the finish line and I knew my daughter was there waiting for me. Wanting her to see me win kept me going despite the total body pain I was feeling. I crossed the line a little less than 1k ahead of the rest of my field. It was awesome! Despite pulling a hard fast pace for much of the race, Breanne and Jamie sprinted for 2nd and 3rd place and Allison got taken at the line to finish 6th.

It was a great day and once again my team rocked it! I can't wait to return the favor to my teammates soon.