Going in Circles

5/29/10 Stage 1 Circuit Race
Audrey Scott, Women's P/1/2 Race Report
Morning came quickly today. It's always a test to see how your body reacts to the stress of packing, travel and a night in a strange hotel room. I can't say I was feeling great as I dragged myself the 8 feet across the room from bed to the kitchenette to try and procure some coffee and a toasted bagel. Of course we had no coffee filters. Luckily, I found some paper towels. Hopefully we don't get cancer from using chemically bleached paper to make coffee. To top it off, I didn't make it anywhere near strong enough.
At 7:30 we trudged through the hotel to the registration room to pick up race numbers. Just walking up a few stairs back to the room made my legs feel awful. I told myself it's OK, they'll come around after a lap around the course...
So I pinned my jersey, suited up, filled a couple of water bottles and Rivers drove me the 4.5 miles to the start, where I signed in, exhanged some pleasantries with the competition, warmed up a little bit and went to staging. 9:35 start.
Today's course started with a mile or so of neutral down to the 18 mile race loop. The first 4 miles or so were wide open, but the wide shoulders squeezed in every once in a while for a bridge. I floated around at the very back of the pack through here, willing my legs to come around, and they started to. We made a sharp right and came into civilization, where there was a single lane bridge that was being worked on. I made a mental note: do not be at the back again the next 2 times we go through this section. The next portion of the course wound its way up to the feed zone and KOM line, and the road was very rough, though no real potholes. I was still floating around the back, checking things out. As the KOM approached, Silke from Team Kenda and a few others going for the points started to hit it and string things out and I worked my way forward as people went backward. The feed zone came immediately after the KOM and there was a swing left and a right turn then a little roller and a steep, descent to a sharp right onto another wide open road. I was mid-pack on the descent. Mental note # 2: do not be mid pack the next time down the hill and have to gun it after the right turn when the front riders are already down the road. This road was mostly flat and fast, with a really fast gradual descent the last 5k to the finish line. There was a sprint for points through the line, and then a right back onto the first open road. The second and third laps I spent some time at the front, including getting though the bridge first each time. The last time up the KOM I kept speed up and got to the descent first but the hill was really not big enough to make any real selection so everyone was still there when I looked back after the right turn. The last 5k was was fast and nervous, with people going over the yellow line and getting pushed over the yellow line. Only on the last 500m did we have the whole road. I tried to get myself in a good position on the left side to make a run for the line but it didn't work out so well. I finished 20th. The first 5 finishers got a time bonus but the winner Anna Barensfield (yes, her again) was given a 30 second penalty, maybe for a yellow line violation, who knows, so her 12 second time bonus did her no good and she's actually 41st on GC. So today's second place finisher is now 1st on GC, and a whole bunch of us are 8 seconds down going into tomorrow's TT.
All in all, it was an OK day. Made it through safely. Maybe I spent too much time with my nose in the wind considering I have no teammates and should really never be in the front at all and there's a TT tomorrow, but it's more fun up there.