Lake Sunapee RR

What a weekend. I graduated on Friday night...went to the all night school-sponsored Harry Potter themed senior graduation party...bailed at 2am (3hrs short of the 5am closing time)...and woke up Saturday for some bike racin'! I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the whole Harry Potter scene, but this party was a blast. The whole school was decorated right outta' Hogwarts – amazing work, parents! Not to mention I got my first manicure, I had my fortune told, I played lazer tag, I was up doing karaoke, and Marko the Magician blew my mind. That's one packed night.

My first manicure ever...and it was free! Not too shabby.
Probably won't be getting another one ever again...

Anyways, when we arrived at the Mt.Sunapee Resort it was extremely hot – my race (women's Pro 1/2/3) started at 1:25pm allowing the sun to heat everything up real nice before we went out to race two laps on the 23 mile course. I had a good hour or so before my race started, so I laid out in the shade behind the van on the warm pavement and shut my eyes...man that felt pretty good! The course is very fun, but hilly – especially on the backside as where you take Rt.11 to Rt.103 and Rt.103A before heading back alongside the lake. My field wasn't very big, maybe about 15 women total, but most of them were Cat1/2 riders – so I was pretty nervous. 

Can't remember what lap this was for the life of me...

 At first my legs felt extremely lame – but luckily the smaller rollers at the beginning of the course opened them up well for the later part of the race. On the first lap, several riders attacked but nothing really happened except for some gut wrenching accelerations. Later on, my friend Yuri (an MIT rider who I raced against during this year's ECCC series) attacked towards the top of the steepest climb on the backside, and put in a huge effort to bridge up to her. Karren Strevell (FarmTeam Elite) and Amy Miner (1KtoGo-Onion River Sports) came with me, and the four of us tried to open up a gap but the field was pretty quick to close things. Oh well, one of three matches burned there. We tried once again to get away again on another difficult hill after the descent, but no dice. We finished off the first lap as a pack, but several women had already been dropped.

On the second lap things really started to pick up several miles after passing by the round-about, especially on the climbs. We had a headwind, but it was a relief to have some breeze in the heat. On the same hill, Yuri attacked again, and this time I was right on her wheel. Karen and Amy once again bridged up, and several other women joined us to form a break of 6 and we opened up a gap on the field...

At first, working with everyone was painful – we were all pretty gassed from the initial attack and we were coming up on another tough hill (not steep, but a leg burner no doubt) but no one wanted to be up front pulling. Man, that kinda frustrated me, so I pulled up to the front and hammered hoping to put more time on the field and get the message across to the other women that we needed to pull ourselves  together if we wanted to make the break happen. I guess it worked, because after my hard effort we started pace lining and finally said 'Hasta la vista bambinas!' to the rest of the field. 

The finish of this race is pretty tricky and it's all about timing your sprint: right before the uphill finish line there is this strange downhill, and if you don't attack at the right spot on that descent it's difficult to gain on anyone because the finish comes pretty quick. We entered the traffic circle, exited and proceeded up the hill to the Mt.Sunapee Resort, crossing over to the same lane we descended at the start. I was sitting in the top three wheels after the beginning of the climb, then going into the little downhill I started sprinting right at the most opportune moment...like everyone else! I was able to distance myself from most of the others but I was neck and neck with Amy Miner and she beat me to the line by less than a wheel for the W. Now that's what we call a photo finish!

The finish...Amy (eventual winner) is in blue on the left. 

I'm psyched to have gotten 2nd in this race – I remember the first time I did it several years ago: I was on my black Bianchi  (now ancient feeling, it even had rasta-themed bar tape!), rockin' my bubble-gum pink leopard print helmet, and my Coyote Hill Mountain Bike Camps kit. I thought I was so cool...too bad I didn't have the legs to prove it!

Next up: USA Cycling Junior National Road Championships in Augusta, GA. That's right, it's time for this Green Mountain girl to start melting! Keep checking back for updates on my blog, and while your at it explore USA Cycling too (schedule of events, results, rankings etc).