Redland's Panorama Point Road Race - A Rider's View
 
Ugh. What a hard day. At least to me, it was. The stage was a new circuit race that started on a 5 mile parade through town and then started four loops of a ten mile circuit that included a climb that was more painful than anything I've ever done in my life. In the car it didn't look like much, but on the bike it was hideous.

The first part of the climb was better than 10% for a half kilometer, then we took a left turn that started about 200m of what the race bible called a 20% grade. I'm not certain it was really 20%, but in my 39-27 I was barely making it up. Granted, my legs are pretty tired right now, but I bet even with fresh legs it would be pretty hard. Then the grade leveled off to a perfectly manageable 10% up to the KOM line. The rest of the lap was lots of downhill. So you'd think it wouldn't be such a nasty circuit...

Well, the first time up the hill the break was already away. Of course, Genevieve was there, along with Lyne Bessette, Amber Neben, Manon Jutras, Kim Bruckner and (yay!) Felicia Greer from Velo Bella! I had said in my preview that I was hoping she'd do well, and it was great to hear she made that break.

I was at the back of the pack going up the climb the first time, and wound up having to chase back on after the top. We reached the main pack quickly, and the rest of the lap was pretty quiet. The last 5K of the lap is almost entirely downhill, and it was cold again this morning. By the time we reached the small climb before the feedzone, I was happy to be going uphill so that I could get warm again.

Second time up the hill, I was on the back again. This time when I got tailed off, I had to chase a lot longer to get back on. About six of us worked together, but we lost a couple people just before we regained the pack with about 7k to go on the lap. Again, the long downhill froze my legs back up, and by the time we hit the hill before the feedzone, I could barely pedal.

I lost contact and had to chase back on through the caravan. It was really cool, just like you see in the Tour de France when some guy has a flat and he weaves up through all the vehicles. I tried to make my drafting look discreet since the organization has been handing out fines pretty liberally. I got back on just before the third time up the killer hill only to get dropped on the steep part and have to chase again.

This time I was chasing with a group of four, and this time it took me until 5K to go to regain the pack just before the fast descent. The fourth lap was pretty much the same, only this time I never regained the pack. I was off the back with Ina Teutenberg who had no interest in trying to chase. She's obviously saving her legs for the crit tomorrow. I rolled in somewhere like 58th, only to find that the pack of 30 behind me didn't even have to ride the last lap! Damn. I wish I hadn't done all that chasing. I would have given anything to not have to climb that damn hill the 4th time. What was I thinking?
I guess I was thinking that I should give it my best shot. Today wasn't my day, and tomorrow might not be either, but what the hell. I paid a whole lot to come out here and do this race and I have to race as hard as I can every day. If the legs aren't there, they're not there. I'll just keep racing until they decide to make an appearance.

Until next time...

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