...take two

Well after i deleted my last post in sheer desperation i will try and re-write my mammoth entry which took me only for ages... dammit.

Well as Rick said, today there was going to be blood. Somehow i had to make up 50sec in the next 3 stages, with this one being the only real one to gain any significant advantage. Woke up to the sound of rain pouring outside our window. today was definitely going to be tough. had an early start to the day, headed off to breakfast at 6:30 and had a goodluck buffet consisting of the good old cereal and vegemite toast. We then cruised over to the course (it was only about 30min from town) and did usual race prep. it was still raining and it was freezing! thought i left the cold back home... was wishing i bought arm warmers like Michaela instead of laughing at her as she packed them...dammit.

So we headed off and the first part of the course was basically all down hill.. nothing too special. The commisaire said that henk vogels crashed going down it and broke his neck? kinda scare the hell outta me but the girls were going painfully slow down it so it didn't really matter... The second half of the course was full of shortish steep hills ontop of which was was the KOM points. My orignal plan wasn't to go for the points but found myself up there and managed to roll across the line comfortably to pick up the max points on each of the 3 laps. On the 3rd and final lap, we had to head up this massive berg with a bunch of about 20-30 girls still in tow. no joke, this thing was huge! It is like the base of Black Mt for about just over 1km.. but it is the top the climb so you cruise for about 2km at a solid gradient then like BAM! (ha ha) it goes uphill...I broke away at 1.5km to go and managed to get a jump on the pack. and swear to god it would have been quicker to walk the last 200m then ride up it it was that hard lol. Anyway, managed to hold off for solo win by 25sec. was quietly stoked as i wasn't too confident i was going to make it up the berg in one piece! to finish in a solo break uphill was an awesome feeling.. something always dreamed of doing! It was unbelievable.

The only thing i wa bummed about was that no one told me I had to stay for presentation at the top of the hill (i though it was down back at the start) so after freezing my butt off for 10min i decided to cruise back down to the bottom with the rest of the girls only to be told when i reached the bottom that they had done the presentation without me! so i missed out on getting top spot on the podium and picking up my green jersey. but i went over to the race director after the race to apologise for missing the presentation and he gave me the jersey then which was really nice of him.

Also a special mention should go out to the other girls Michaela, Brodie and Lara for actually finishing the race! and a even placing in the top 20! They were all sceptical about the race, especially the last climb but i was delighted to hear Rick shout out their names at the base of the climb. I'm so proud of them, it was their longest race ever and that berg was epic. Also in the boys, Thommo broke away and rode himself into yellow with a 30sec buffer. Pat, Pete and Mitch also place top 10 which made it a good day for the team.

After the race, we made our way back to the college where we had a good chat with the Hincapie and Mesa Cycles team who are all really cool! We started trading some of our Aussie stuff for a variety of their US kit. Michaela got the trade of the day, picking up a sweet Mesa cycles jacket (looks soooo hot), 2 shirts, socks and a bottle.
After our trading, we all headed off to a carpark to set off fireworks for the 4th of july! however, this was short lived as we got pulled up by the cops. Have to admit, i was a little puzzled that they pulled us up when the area we are in makes stuart flats look like the hilton.. thought we'd be the last of their worries! So yeh, we thought just what Rick needed.. to be called out to jail to pick the team from jail. Fortunatley the copper just sent us on our way. After the fireworks pretty much headed straight to bed as we had a long day ahead of us tomorrow.. 25sec to make up in 2 flattish stages. It was going to be yet another tough day in the office... but i'm looking forward to the challenge.

Wish us luck
xo