Cheyney Road Race June 14- Ashley Was Feeling Good Again

CHEYNEY ROAD RACE

Sunday I headed down to Landcaster County- armed with promise of temps in the 80s and a clean cardiac bill of health.

There were about 25 girls lined up- it was a combined Women's field- and I really didn't know anyone but for Betty-

The course is a 10 K loop ( same as central park) with a pretty nice climb in the middle- well a 2-part climb. The first climb started out a bit steep at the bottom but was steady ( 1.5 k of climbing combined)- leveling out a tad towards the top. At the top of that main climb there were QOM points on all laps but the 1st. After the first climb there is a slight down-hill then a 2nd climb that was long and steady ( not as steep as the first) that leads into a face tech downhill- with the finish at the bottom- so fast finish.

2nd lap- I stick with the girls going for the QOM- legs a bit tight- and get 4th- but I realized that the other 3 girls had really gassed themselves and I had a lot more in the tank, interesting.
3rd lap- I pushed it on the hill setting the pace - I was not planning too, but no one wanted to go that hard- and I wanted a work-out so I pushed it a bit. One girl came with me, Laura McCaughey (Australian track champion living at T-Town over the summer- I didn't know this until after the race) she took the sprint just barely- and would sit up after the sprint- we had a huge gap- and I felt good- so I decided to just go- what the hell? I pushed up the 2nd climb got out of sight for a bit but they really made up the time on that fast downhill and I was caught after a half lap- I should have saved this move for the last lap but well- I was antsy I guess :)

So I kept up the strong climbing with Laura clipping me at the line every time- I encouraged her to go on the 4th lap- but she was not interested- why would she be- she will win the sprint!

So now I am a pretty marked woman and knew I would have to wait until the 6th final lap- the first hill we went pretty hard but they fought to be on my wheel- so I sat up a bit and decided to go on the second climb- the 2nd climb there was one team with numbers and they set up an attack counter attack- I went with the counter- she went hard- we got away! wow- a 2- person break! we made it down the hill coming into the finish with a group chasing hard and catching us on the line!!- DARN- there went my finish- I ended up in 8th- but had a very fun time- the best by far I have felt this year-