Tour of the Hilltowns - Women's 3/4 - 7-28-08
Tour of the Hilltowns
21 starters
Michele Harrison – 18th:
This was my first road race of the season after major surgery at the end of March. In retrospect, probably not my brightest move… I had pretty severe pre-race anxiety which only got worse as we waited to roll out and the conversation in the group turned to how much fun they had at Battenkill earlier in the year.
The small field hung together through the first twenty miles of the race. The gnarly downhill section was fairly uneventful save for a lost water bottle, which I would sorely miss later in the race. I was completely unprepared for what would happen when we made the turn onto E. Hawley road and started the climb. The front half of the pack attacked (duh) and I was immediately blown off the back. I spent the climb trying to regain my composure and find a rhythm. Eventually I picked up a few riders and once at the top we organized a nice paceline with our sights on the group just in front of us. One of the gals (Julie Levbre of IBC?) was stronger and pulled away. The other gal dropped off the back and I was alone until I caught up to another rider about 5 miles from the feed zone. We worked together until the feedzone where I complete fumbled the handoff and rode over one of my two replacement bottles. I rode the last 20 miles alone into the headwind and up the sneaky hill. It was pure torture – I was out of water and my legs were throbbing. I wasn’t the only one suffering – I passed a woman from the 1/2/3 field who was also limping along. About 5 miles from the finish another cat 3/4 woman passed me – not sure where she came from but I was surprised and didn’t have anything left in the tank to jump on her wheel. A finish line never looked so good. This was a great training race – it really tested my mental toughness and made me acutely aware of my weaknesses.