(They hardly ever post any images from Women's Cat 4 races on this nice little Oregon Cycling Blog.. so you're just going to have to settle for these and pretend they are Cat4 women.)
(As originally reported on Sat. April 24th:)
Reporting from the CAT 4 women's field... it's going pretty well out here in the beautiful city of TD (aka: The Dalles ) Oregon.
STAGE ONE wasn't as windy as last year and even though that big hill kicked my ass, it didn't kick it till the last 30% of the race. Actually, I was feeling pretty awesome most of the time and helped lead the pace up front for majority of the race by rotating in and out of the lead five. However, going into that last big climb, my legs blew up and I was reminded that I'm not really that much of a hill climber. It's funny because in retrospect, I never saw the blow up coming till it hit and then I was pretty much like... see you kids later, I'll just be cleaning up behind you. Take care! Be safe and have fun, wear your seatbelt!!! Once I crested the hill on my own, I pretty much barreled down and time trailed it to the finish... all the while trying to chase down someone in a yellow kit that was ahead of me. Sadly, it turned out that the yellow kit rider that I thought was a Showers Pass girl was actually some random dude from the mens race still lingering on the course. (Regardless... I passed him before the line so I'm telling myself that counted.) Anyways, I'm getting better at my arch nemesis hills, but there are still several people (read: many people) out there who do it better. Overall, my 17th placing and 3:25 back doesn't reflect how good I felt from the overall race, especially after getting popped after one lap last year. This time I did soo much better and felt great to be making the action instead of just responding to it from somewhere in the back. Plus, afterwards I had some nice unsolicited comments from others saying how well and strong I rode... so, that always makes a girl happy.
NOTE: We had three Bridgetown Velo guys also out on the course that day and sadly, a massive crash happened in the men's CAT4 field that took one of our guys to the hospital and another in search of a new wheel. Margi, who was racing in the CAT3 field narrowly missed out on a podium spot by getting passed right at the end for fourth place.
(Actually, this is the only photo of the CAT4 field I really found and it's just after the start of the race)
STAGE TWO Well... in many a ways.... stage two was kinda a repeat of stage one but instead of one big hill, it had many moderate hills with some nice descents and very very very high cross winds. Once again I was up there at the front, pacesetting and pulling and feeling fine, but in the mid of the third lap... there was a really nice attack once we turned a corner and I just couldn't hang. Add in some mechanical issues, and it was very difficult to regain the pack. Luckily, I DID manage to hammer it out and catch up with one trailing group to which I rode with for half a lap behind the pack. Going into the last two laps though, I forgot how many laps we had done already and when I found out we still had two more, I got very discouraged... add in some more mechanical issues (it's very difficult for me to switch into my big ring after a climb) and I eventually lost that group too. I carried on solo climbing some hills till Lana from team Ironclad caught up with me (happy happy joy joy, a fun person that I know to ride with; which, made getting dropped so much more enjoyable!! Anyways, the two of us finished strong till the end (after we debated how many laps we still had to do and discussed turning around - thinking we had missed our turn). Overall though, we encouraged each other with the promise of beer at the finish line.
Overall, it was a very pretty and nice course, but damn was it tough and very challenging. The men's field, even though they had a different route than we did... totally got blown apart from the start. It's amazing that anyone but the strongest really managed to make a break. Our men who were still racing did well and Sarah Fletcher was able to come back from the deep dark illness that plagued her on Friday for an 8th place finish in Stage Two.
NOTE: Stayed tuned for Stage Three (Time Trial) report and the dramatic story of Stage Four (the Crit). dan-tah-duh...
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