Teamwork

Day 3 (Sunday): 11k TT rolling

W.O.W . Sarah ROCKED, 3rd!!
Today was a TT, 12k (later shortened to 11k, due to pot hole issues)…an out and back….out—downhill/tailwind, and thus back, uphill/headwind. Sarah Tolitson got 3rd today…smoking great finish!!
I followed w/ a 5th place finish, then Lisa M, Martha W, Starr, KB, Niki, and Jen (Niki and Jen rode easy saving themselves for later!!

I was pleased w/ my race for 95% of it, I missed a turn and had to turn around to get back on course…and my gears jammed shifting from big to small ring….so I know I could have shaved a little time off there…it stung a little extra because I was only 2 sec from 3rd….ain’t that a bitch!

“Individual commitment to a team goal is what makes a team work”: second stage:60k, 12laps 5k rolling circuit
The second stage of the day was a circuit race of 12 laps of 5k ea (yet shortened to 10 due to …not sure, don’t care). Of course, it was pouring rain the entire time. The course was like a big oval..we had a round-about at one end and a guy in the middle of thr road w/ a red flag at the other. The profile had said Dead Flat….well, NO….rolling.

Most embarrassing moment of the entire race:
So there are sprint laps on lap 2, 4, 6…but the are on the opposite side of the road (divided by a median) from the S/F…and as was explained to us, it was in the second lap….well, what happened was we totally lead out Niki and she won BUT it wasn’t a sprint lap..the give away was the bell ringing as she crossed the line….no wonder no one challenged us! I’m sure Nobili was VERY impressed w/ our lead out!

So, as planned I countered a teammates move….and got a small gap on the field. Like so many times before, I just kept going, as Nicole taught me. I knew the field did not want to race hard, the conditions were horrible, the road was full of holes, turtles, cross walks. So after a lonely 1.5 laps, and taking the ACTUAL sprint I was joined by Miho Oki (Nobili), and Larrissa something (Germ nat team)….Miho wouldn’t work due to having the yellow jersey on her team, and being a sprinter…so Larrissa and I worked HARD together…we had 6 laps to go. Because the course was an oval, we could see the pack on several parts of the course….we had between 22sec-1min gap on the field. Then a chase group formed of 3 Nobili, 1 Germ Nat team, and 2 of my teammates (our two highest GC riders). They caught us w/ 1.5 laps to go. We kept the pace high, and tried to sprint at the finish…ending w/ Sarah 5th , me 7th, and Lisa 10th. But the good news was Sarah and Lisa moved up in GC because we had 1min on the field which contained other top GC riders (Alisha, unfortunately lost out).

In the end, we have Sarah in 3rd GC, and I was given the Combativa jersey (most aggressive)….which was cool! I’d also like to acknowledge my team who blocked, and were completely committed to the team goal….today’s success was a combination of all efforts….