Thursday, September 10, 2009

GMSR Stage Race Report from the Pro-1-2-3 Feild. Another Great Race

Ashley's Race Report

Day 1: TT Friday
I rode the TT perfectly, having learned from my trial run on Thursday.  I figured out what worked and what didn’t. I figured I finished mid pack and I did finishing 15th. Not to worry as I usually feel better with every day- Sunday is what counts!

Day 2: Circuit Race Saturday
We were back on the old circuit race course after a change last year. On this course the race usually stays together- my goal was to finish in the front with the same time- Maria wanted to try for some sprints and the finish. On the climb I was super happy- I had my climbing legs back! I could dig in and find myself easily at the front with no signs of dying or holding on by a thread. Over the climb there would be a selection ( I made the selections) but by the end of the downhill we were back together and girls slowed way down until the sprint. Coming into the finish Maria got on my wheel letting me know she was there- the road opened up on the left for the last km- we were on the right I thought we would have some space but the right side got jammed up Maria then jumped off my wheel to sprint finishing 10th- that jam up didn't help! But we finished with the same time.

Day 3: Road Race Sunday
The RR was going to be 75 miles this year going over Brandon Gap- just like last year. Brandon gap is a steady stepped climb but it can be made hard with the right effort- and chasing after a world class pro moutain. biker from VT was hard!! I managed to stay with the front group-
3 of us started to come off the back of the front group over the top of the
climb- I was seeing stars but was close enough to tack on to the back for the selection- fantastic! But unfortunately we all got stopped on the decent because of a bad crash for about 10 minutes
Our race was all together now and we were just taking it easy up the valley when we got a warning that were going to be passed by the 3/4s in 2 min. We all decided that was not going to happen and we pace lined- (all 30 of us!!!!) for the next 20 miles- so much fun- and beautiful!
The race got spicy on the second KOM ( the kicker of a hill just before the dirt road section) I popped from the front group- and had to chase hard down the dirt road with 3 riders. We kept out efforts up- more girls tacked onto the chase group- we didn't give up- and caught the front by the top of baby gap! Yeah!!!!! Then at Ap gap.... we were all strung out again. I ended up finishing 10th. I felt good all day- so I was happy and looking forward to next year already.

Day 4: CRIT Monday
I was in 11th overall according to the posted results- sad I was not going to get a call up- but then they announced "from Brooklyn NY in 10th place!”
That was a good start to a very hard crit. The race was totally strung out for the first 15 laps. I kept getting gapped off by girls which meant I had to jump around to close a gap. A gap in that race can turn into a break in no time! We had one good attack from Silke that took 3 up the road- but we chased them down and the race came back together again- I maintained my position pretty well in the top 10 during the race- the pace was high for the whole race.
I was happy, I got 10th for the race.

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