Colleen’s Killington Race Report: My performance was not all I hoped for, but I had fun anyway learned more and definitely benefitted from a weekend of hard racing. Saturday’s circuit race was a pleasure. The course wound through beautiful roads and felt almost all downhill, including the very fast sprint finish at the end. It provided a good warm-up for the 10 mile time trial the next day, which proved very difficult. The 10.6 miles course began with five miles of gradual climbing, followed by four miles of relative flat with a quick climb into a winding and rolling finale. I decided to try a disc wheel for the first time (thanks to my husband’s recent purchase) which was probably a mistake. Given the wind, I expended far too much energy keeping my bike in a straight line than I should have. The final stage on Monday was the 61 mile road race. We had spent the entire weekend driving up and down the finishing climb to get to the start areas for each race. Although Fabienne said the climb was “flirting” with her, it was just scaring me. The RR began with an initial 2 mile climb, followed by 22 miles of gradual downhill. At mile 25, we started up the first major climb of the race. It was a long, steep climb that quickly shattered the field as the QOM contenders pushed the pace. Although I pushed hard and climbed fairly well, when I started to work with a few others at the top of the climb to catch back on, I felt a sharp spasm in my back and shooting pains down my right leg that kept me company for the next 30 miles. I figured I was done for the day because I could hardly push the pedals. But, I gritted my teeth and did what I could with a couple of other racers who had caught up to me. With about 10 miles to go, we suddenly came up to the entire field stopped on the side of the road along with a long line of cars. Unfortunately, a bad crash in the field in front of us had brought all traffic to a stop. For me, it meant a chance to get off my bike, stretch my back, eat a gel and contemplate that final climb. Eventually, the officials let us go in three waves. In the end, my small victory was coming up 2nd on the climb in my group of fifteen or so. Final place was 20th in the GC. Definitely a race to go back to next year and improve on my placing a good bit and take my turn supporting Fabienne when she takes on the Women’s Pro, 1,2 field.
Colleen’s Killington Race Report:
ReplyDeleteMy performance was not all I hoped for, but I had fun anyway learned more and definitely benefitted from a weekend of hard racing. Saturday’s circuit race was a pleasure. The course wound through beautiful roads and felt almost all downhill, including the very fast sprint finish at the end. It provided a good warm-up for the 10 mile time trial the next day, which proved very difficult. The 10.6 miles course began with five miles of gradual climbing, followed by four miles of relative flat with a quick climb into a winding and rolling finale. I decided to try a disc wheel for the first time (thanks to my husband’s recent purchase) which was probably a mistake. Given the wind, I expended far too much energy keeping my bike in a straight line than I should have. The final stage on Monday was the 61 mile road race. We had spent the entire weekend driving up and down the finishing climb to get to the start areas for each race. Although Fabienne said the climb was “flirting” with her, it was just scaring me.
The RR began with an initial 2 mile climb, followed by 22 miles of gradual downhill. At mile 25, we started up the first major climb of the race. It was a long, steep climb that quickly shattered the field as the QOM contenders pushed the pace. Although I pushed hard and climbed fairly well, when I started to work with a few others at the top of the climb to catch back on, I felt a sharp spasm in my back and shooting pains down my right leg that kept me company for the next 30 miles. I figured I was done for the day because I could hardly push the pedals. But, I gritted my teeth and did what I could with a couple of other racers who had caught up to me. With about 10 miles to go, we suddenly came up to the entire field stopped on the side of the road along with a long line of cars. Unfortunately, a bad crash in the field in front of us had brought all traffic to a stop. For me, it meant a chance to get off my bike, stretch my back, eat a gel and contemplate that final climb. Eventually, the officials let us go in three waves. In the end, my small victory was coming up 2nd on the climb in my group of fifteen or so. Final place was 20th in the GC. Definitely a race to go back to next year and improve on my placing a good bit and take my turn supporting Fabienne when she takes on the Women’s Pro, 1,2 field.