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Team Wines of Washington (Ally, Alisha, Annie, Amity, Leah, Gillian, Trisha, Lindsay)Alisha says: This is going to be one of the longest posts ever (and is really late getting on our blog because of internet problems and I've been super busy), suffer through it if you want but mostly it is for my own memories so I'll give a quick rundown followed by the real deal!!
Cascade Classic, 6 stages, Rode on a composite team Wines of Washington with Michael Engleman directing, Tough competition, 114 of the best female riders registered, all of the pro teams represented, Best finish 9th, GC 27th, Good times, Tough times.
Stage 1: 71 mile road race. This one was a flat stage for the sprinters. The first half of the race was rather mellow and then it was as if someone flipped the switch and it was game on. My game was hang on. It was so hot, the ladies in the peloton were going through H2O like you wouldn't believe. It came down to a huge field sprint the top 74 women all got the same time. I was happy with same time and was 55th.
Stage 2: 80 mile road race. This profile was looking more like my style with a 10 mile climb to a summit finish. Once again it was hot!! About half way through the race a break got away that had all the big teams represented, unfortunately Wines of Washington was not in it. The gap got up to as much as three minutes before our director told us to work like a pro team and bring it back a little bit. My team worked awesome and went to the front and drove the pace to bring the break within one minute at the start of the climb. I was told to sit in and then go for it on the climb. I was up at the front and then there was an attack that I just didn't have the legs or pop to follow so then I was kind of in no mans land for a little bit. It was so cool having the radio though as Michael kept on telling me to ride at my own pace and keep going. I bridged up to two TIBCO girls and then passed them. I was gaining on the break but the finish came a little too soon. I was excited with my 9th place finish (this would be my best finish of the week). I was only 36 seconds off the winner and only 9 seconds off a group of five that finished just in front of me.
Stage 3: 16 mile Time Trial. Gentle climb on the way out and slight downhill on the way back. This was one of the best learning experiences of the whole week. I was sitting 9th in GC because of my finish the day before so Michael was able to follow me in the vehicle. Dave got to ride with him. They had spare wheels ready and another bike ready just in case I had any mechanicals. I had a radio so that he could talk to me. I loved it, I have struggled with time trials and although the end result wasn't anything special (42:22, 40th place, 3:27 behind winner) I thought that it was a good time trial for me. Michael kept on telling me to keep my cadence up, ride smooth, stay focused, when to stand, keep the momentum going. It was a cool experience.
Stage 4: 71 mile Cascade Lakes Road Race. This race started out with a long descent that I had been nervous about the whole week. Luckily it was no problemo, I felt comfortable and stayed with the group. This was a very active race with tons of attacks. It ended by climbing up to a ski resort that split the field to pieces. I was feeling tired and sadly watched at the leaders cruised away. I finished a semi-disappointing 23rd.
Stage 5: Worst stage ever!! Even Tiff P. who is a crit superstar said that it was one of the fastest crits she has done all year. Well, I was in big trouble from the start (yes, I was in the back). It was a flat rectangle with long straights. It went so hard from the start, we would be flying down the long straighaways, break jam into the tight corners and then accelerate like mad. I couldn't handle the hard accelerations. It was my own fault I had bad position and got gapped. Game over. I was super embarrassed to get dropped and then pulled. It was a total confidence crusher, I even got the pitty clap. This pretty much screwed my hopes of being top 20 in GC.
Stage 6: 3 Laps of a 17 mile loop with some steep climbs and fast descents. Another hot hard day. I felt so good the first lap, I had good position and rocked it up the climb. The second lap I drifted back in the pack a little and made it up the climb. I refocused on the last lap and was doing okay. I made one big mistake and slowed to pick up a bottle in the feed zone because I was parched!! I lost quite a few places. I finished 26th, 48 seconds off the winner. Overall I was 27th in GC.
Racing on the composite team was such a neat experience. I learned a lot and got to meet a bunch of fun girls and work with an awesome director. Everyone worked hard and did a lot of work for me which I totally appreciated. We enjoyed many days floating and icing our legs in the river after the stages. I have to give a big huge thanks to Trisha and Michael for organizing our team and for all that they did during the week.
Bend was a super fun place to visit and we stayed at the super cool Roy household. They were super nice to let us crash at their place for a whole week. The entertainment was great and the food was awesome.
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