Fitchburg Day #- Road Race June 2007

(Martha and Lisa wave at the top of Wassachusett Mountain the afternoon before the road race)

Unfortunately I had too much gatorade and cream (pesto gnocci) before bed and woke up at 4am feeling so sick. My stomach hurt so bad and I could barely sit up in the bed. How was I going to race? I was also nervous, so that didn't help anything either. I thought about staying in the room since I could barely even walk. Martha said to me well, you could just stay here". I knew I had to fight the awful feeling and just get to the race.

We got to the parking lot to warm up and I took some Pepto Bismal that another racer had in her car. I warmed up with Yvette (she was #1 in the GC) on some road near the parking lot. I did feel better on the bike then I did sitting or standing. Somehow while I was pedaling it didn't burn so bad.

The race started out really slow. I wasn't complaining. It was a nice day, I was among some friends and I wasn't feeling so great...seemed like a good pace. Of course the pace picked up as we hit the series of hills by the church. One woman kept attacking. She would sprint off the front, float around in front of us for a while and then we would catch her. She did this maybe 3 times. I was exhausted just watching her.

Every lap I felt a bit better. I think the Pepto really helped the acidic stomach. Thanks Bonnie!

On the fourth and final lap our field was neutralized as the men passed. We were maybe 1 mile from the turn into the final climb. Girls kept moving forward, even though we were supposed to remain in our positions, stay to the right and go slow. I yelled at one woman. I knew she had been racing for several years and I had no doubt that she knew better. When we were un-neutralized, I worked my way back to the front. I took the turn and shifted into my small ring too early. Bad move. Had I stayed in my big ring, I could have cranked ahead. I was scared to lose my chain though, so thought better to be safe than sorry.

The climb immediately shredded the field. As I moved forward, more riders fell back. Then Anna McL powered up the hill with great speed. It was impressive. Yvette jumped on her wheel and went with her and so did Sinead M. I tried to go with them but ended up playing cat and mouse with Shelly the whole way up the climb. Finally at the top I dug deep and put my head down and gave it all I had. I passed Shelly and re-gained a bit of time on the 3 women up ahead. I didn't reach them, but came in a respectable 4th.

I threw up a bit and had some water. The climb was hard, but it seemed so much harder last year.

So, with only the crit race to go, I knew 4th was the best I could do in the GC. I am not a great sprinter and I hate crits, so I would be playing it safe and trying to just not lose any time.