Mike and I showed up early to pre-ride the course, and since the course was still wet from rain early that morning, we decided to watch for a bit as there were a number of guys already on the course warming up. Even at non-race speeds, rear wheels were sliding as guys hit the final downhill corner (which had a brick cross walk and large painted strips), with one guy crashing - not an encouraging scene!
But the race gods were smiling today, as the rain that was forecast never came, the course dried out, and the racing was great.
Lisa and Amanda raced first, and they provided a lot of excitement as Lisa, in the leader's jersey, found herself in a group 30 seconds or so back from a lead group that contained her main rivals for the overall. Even though she had over a minute on her main rival, she could not afford for her chasing group to lose more ground, and she was really working hard to keep the gap from growing (I think she was just trying to make the race suspenseful as the spectators were loving the "drama"). In the end she finished with a comfortable margin and was crowned the 2013 Champion!
In our race, two guys managed to escape about half way in, and although the rest of the race was pretty animated (with about 15 guys getting shelled and then pulled), it came down to a field sprint for 3rd. We tried to set up John Van Susteren for the sprint, Mike led him out, and John ended up 2nd or 3rd in the sprint. All in all, a great 4 days of racing - Mike ended up 14th on GC and I ended up 9th.
Post-race Lake Champlain ice cream was the perfect recovery food while watching the remaining races. We definitely plan to go again, and hopefully with even more teammates (hint, hint - put it on your calendars for next Labor Day weekend!). It was a great race, fun courses, strong competition, and lots of fun!
Congrats Lisa!
ReplyDeleteSounds like great racing; thanks for the race reports.