Cat 4
No in Field. 50
Teammates: Lindsey
Overall position:11th
Arrived way to early but always a good idea to use the restroom before they become “busy”. Did my warm up on the trainer, thanks Garry for setting the bike up, rode over to the start area which was freezing, we had the usual pep talk from the mentor, Meredith, and then we were off.
Normally the neutral section is the chance to watch the other riders and see how they are at riding in a group, no chance of that, within a couple of miles my chain came off. Luckily we had a support car and before long I was back on the bike chasing the group. It was great been paced back although at the time it felt like I could cough up a kidney due to it being so cold. I eventually saw the group just before the neutral section ended and the motorcycle official then got me back to the group. Several riders were impressed that I had managed to catch up and they left room for me to ride on the left hand side of the road out of the wind.
The pace was steady for a while and then once we hit the feed zone the pace picked up. However not long after we were neutralized for the first time to let the 1/2 group go past, then not long after that we were neutralized again. After that we picked up the pace and kept it going, we were neutralized a couple more times and by the third lap the group had dropped to about 30 riders. On the final lap small splits started to occur in the group and by the time we got to the bumpy section before the finish, there was a group of around ten at the front, then six of us behind, on the final climb I caught a couple of riders and coming up to the line I caught the Metromint rider but she just pipped me on the line.
All in all a good race considering the bad start and the fact my chain came off a further four times but luckily I was able to keep going. Bit disappointed that I missed the top 10 by such a small margin, but hey hopefully by next year I will have my new Leopard bike.!!!!