Bumpy Roads At Road Nationals (July 10) RR

Tuesday July 10 the Giant Girls Jenny, Leah, Alena (me), Laura, and our guest rider for BC Super Week Steph Roorda took to the heat and rough roads for the 127km road race. The first 100km of the race had some small rolling hills and two longer climbs before the final kilometers in the town of St. Georges Quebec where a 3 lap circuit with a 1.6 km gruelling climb made the final decisions of the race. The race started out steady and eventually lead to a few attacks where Steph, Jenny, and myself were patrolling the front with the goal of keeping Leah fresh for the final circuit. Laura had a few mechanical problems which were fixed and she was back at the front for the later half of the first 100km. Steph and myself found ourselves off the front with Emily Roy who eventually maintained a solo break until the final circuit, we were called back to the pack to keep our legs fresh for later efforts. There was little action until the first main climb where the race leaders from Expresscopy.com pushed the pace up the climb, most of the riders stayed on, and the Giant girls were active at the front watching for any significant moves. After the feed zone at 75km when most of the field was feeling the heat the attacks started to become more significant. The team had one goal of keeping Leah at the front and protected until the final circuits. All was successful until the eventual winners Gina Grain Expresscopy.com, Marni Hambleton Symmetrics, and Moriah MacGregor AE Sport Development, broke away from the field. Despite a few attempts to organize a chase the peleton did not catch the break and went into the final circuit chasing. Expresscopy went to the front at the first climb and the field quickly split, Leah was in the final top selection going up the first climb, and the remainder of the team was sitting in the middle of the second group. Leah put in a huge effort to stay with the top Canadian girls and ended up 14th. The rest of the team finished off the race as hard as they could and came in mid field with small groups. Laura and Steph finished 5th and 7th in Espoir, good results for the U23's! Overall another day of excellent team work and we are on to great things.