Giro di Coppi Race Report 2010

Saturday, July 17, 2010
Category 4, about 20 racers including four NCVC women: Patty, Sheila, Rebecca and I
Time: 1:10pm, 37 miles
Temperature: boiling

The Cat 4 Women race started at 1:10pm when it was 90+ degrees outside. 3 hilly laps without any flat parts IMHO were waiting for us. Each lap was about 12 miles long. The finish was on top of a two step climb.

Right after the start, I managed to stick with the front, usually 4th or 5th wheel. The race started with an easy to moderate pace, which was totally fine by me because I knew that the last lap will kick my butt either way. The entire time, our pace was quite comfortable; there were no attacks or major pace changes. Nevertheless, Patty and Rebecca did a great job to keep the pace high but noone wanted to test her limits against the heat and the hills. So we rode along for an hour or so without any newsworthy incidents.

I did not know that we dropped half of the field when I suddendly realized in the second lap that the motor kit drove behind me and I was the last rider. I quickly made my way to the front again because it did not feel quite right to be last. I was very happy to see all my teammates in the group.

The third lap was not that much different from the first and second lap except that we all now worked together by rotating in a pace line. I anticipated the uphill sprint to the finish would decide the winner of this race and I anticipated right. After another lap in the boiling heat, the end was near, just on a different horizontal level. To get ready for the sprint, I positioned myself as second wheel and waited until someone would start sprinting. The racer next to me started to push the pace around the 200m mark and I came around the first rider and was head to head with the girl who started to push the pace. We were both sitting and our wheels were parallel with each other.

It was a matter who could last longer and finally I was able to push harder. At that point I was ahead of everyone. Unfortunately, another rider came around me standing. She was much faster that I had no chance to get her. I was worried that when I stand up I would blow up so I stayed seated and hoped that noone else would pass me standing. Fortunately, no one passed me in the last meters and I took second. All NCVC women in this race placed top 10!





Search Engine Optimization and SEO Tools