Green Mountain Stage Race

I have just returned home from beautiful Burlington, Vermont. I was competing at the Green Mountain Stage Race on the composite team, TRIA. The race consisted of four stages, an 8 mile hill climb, a circuit race, a long course road race and a 30 lap criterium. My team consisted of 4 girls including myself and we all worked really well together and achieved some pretty respectable results including the Sprinter's jersey and the team won the criterium. The first stage of the race was not my best. By trying to save money, I booked myself a painful flight that consisted of 3 transfers and long lay overs- saweeet!!! Needless to say, I got very minimal sleep the night before the hill climb and my legs felt extremely heavy and SLOW. The upside to this bad race was that the next day could only be better, and it was much better. I really enjoyed the circuit race. My team did a lot of work at the front and we set a good pace. We also executed two brilliant lead outs and Nicky Wangsgard was able to take all of the sprint points for the day! With the last lap to go, the pace slowed down significantly and I started to get a little antsy. I decided that if I wanted the yellow leaders jersey I had to get away in a solo breakaway or with someone who had less points. At about 8km to go, I attacked off the front and hammered as hard as I could. I held the group off, but apparently as the finish line got closer, the girls started to chase hard. With 500m left, I was swallowed up by the pack and the finish came down to a bunch sprint. I was so sad to see the pack come up on my right, but happy that at least I tried and was very close to being successful. The next day consisted of some serious climbing and a 3 mile dirt road. The dirt road was soo much fun. I hammered to the front and went as fast and hard as I could in such rough terrain on a road bike. I can't wait to do a cyclocross race!! The pack split up at the Queen of the Mountain and there were about 18 girls in the front pack, including myself and my teammate Suz Weldon. As the race progressed, a couple of more girls fell off the pack and then when the final 5km of climbing hit, the pack slowly started to shatter. I hung on for dear life and prayed that I didn't have to get off of my bike and push it up the hill. It was soo steep, I could barely turn the cranks around. In the end, I came across the line in 11th place with my teammate Suz Weldon who took 10th place. The final stage was the criterium and it had two hills and one fast decent. On the 5th lap, my job was to lead Nicky out for the sprints points. When I looked back to see who was on my wheel all I could see was my good friend Alison Testroete, another good sprinter. I decided to just keep pushing the pace and as the line neared, Alison and Nicky both came around me and Nicky took the points. My team made a lot of solid attacks throughout the crit forcing the leaders to chase hard and in the end it payed off and Nicky was able to win the final sprint. I finished with the main pack, but barely had the legs to get across the line let alone sprint for a solid placing. In the end, I was the top Canadian by placing 12th in the GC. It was a great race and a great experience and I can't wait to go back next year with some more fitness and stronger climbing legs!!! Well I better go rest up because there are still more races before my season is over!!!