Why can't more races be like this one? Instead we have a ton of races with lots of climbs and strung out fields. I guess I should move somewhere flatter?
The race was fun and remarkably no one went down despite the constant battle for second wheel. The first flat 20 miles were pretty uneventful. There were a few short lived attacks from Ski Utah and two even shorter attempts at a paceline. As we neared the rollers the "other Stephanie" (not THE pirate hooker ICE Stephanie) went to the front and set a hard pace. I kept up with her and attacked on the hill. This managed to break our field from 20 down to 10. Unfortunately, I lost all of my teammates and a few good allies in the effort.
The Other Stephanie continued to keep working her way back up to the front and was very content to pull and even resisted offers to take a break- that woman is an animal! ICE Stephanie launched attack after attack on the downhills. I covered each one but everytime I caught her she'd slow down and the rest of the field would catch us. This continued throughout the rollers. Other Stephanie pulls, ICE Stephanie attacks and I chased.
As we headed toward the finish the pace slowed and I had a feeling that ICE Stephanie was going to give my last year's early break and solo finish a try. Sure enough, when the turn was in sight she took off. I once again chased but couldn't hold on. Finally another girl took up the chase and soon I was caught by the pack. With nothing left I gave a meager attempt to sprint but gave up when I realized I had been passed by all 9 women in our pack.
So I'm not too happy with my placing. In hinsight I realized I should have hung back and waited for someone else to go after ICE Stephanie and saved myself for a better sprint finish. But overall I am happy with my racing. I managed to stay up front all day, pull a few hard attacks and chased down several attacks by a kid half my age. The bright side is that ICE Stephanie will likely upgrade and instead of working us over she'll be getting worked over.
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4 comments:
Way to make the ICE, ICE babies take pulls, take pulls.
I wouldn't say they actually took pulls. I don't think slowing to 14 mph when at the front constitutes a "pull".
I'm waiting for a few upgrades before I play with you guys on the road. IT sounds too brutal for me. Looks like a lot of fun though. Are you going to make it out to anymore Mt bike races? The solitude series is starting up this week. It's always a good time.
For sure we'll be out to do some more dirt racing. We really had a blast last time.
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