but that was cancelled. That left the Owasco Stage Race, which was then

reduced to the "Owasco Challenge Road Race."

The preregistered field was 14, but I think only 13 started. The course

was more fun than I expected. We actually started outside Emerson Park

right on the NYS TT championship course from last year, and the finish was

basically right across the road from where we started. So at least I knew

what the finish would be like, but didn't know much about the rest of the

course except that it involved a good amount of climbing.

Yvette Labombard was signed up for this race and we all knew she's on a

different level than the rest of us. My goal was to hang on to the front

of the race as long as I could and in the meantime work on really hitting

the best tempo I could on the climbs. The race started out in a neat

rotating double paceline-like we were back at training camp! Then Yvette

darted up the first couple of short climbs then let us catch back on-just

warming up a little for later?

On what I think was the third climb, which was a lot longer, I started to

go backwards. Yvette and three others were opening a gap. I'm starting

to understand from past experience how long I can ride "in the red" and

pushed as long as I could but had to back off to my own pace for the last

third of the climb. Climbing is my limiting factor and don't I know it! I

get reminded every race where the road turns up.

The next climb to come was a lot longer and the Yvette group was opening a

gap on the chase group, which was now Jennifer Rea of Nalgene, Shana Lydon

from Full Moon Vista, and me. I was focused on the group just ahead. The

gap was opening slowly and I was convinced that maybe we could still find

our way back to them. But we seemed to hit one climb after another. At

the 16-mile mark we hit Long Hill which was 1.2 miles at 7.6 percent

grade. At this point I could see the group of four above us on the

climb-Yvette, Cheri Fager, Christine Schryver, and Natalie Stoll. The gap

was too big.

After we got over Long Hill we chased hard for a while and traded pulls.

But then I realized I was pretty much doing all the work. Shana was

taking pulls but not putting her best effort forward, she admitted right

then, because she had two teammates up the road and she didn't want to

help me get to them. Jen was strong enough to hang on to Shana and I but

seemed to occasionally struggle to do it. No way was I fast enough to

catch those four up the road by myself-especially not being able to climb

as fast and with all the climbing in this race it wouldn't happen.

Looking back none of the other riders were in sight behind us.

I was slightly irritated with the situation but I couldn't blame Shana for

not really working. Although if she had we probably still wouldn't have

caught the others. As far as I could tell Shana wasn't stronger than I

was or any better at climbing, that's why we both got dropped. We were

pretty comparable on the hills...except she seemed to be breathing a bit

heavier when we reached the top. I decided the best I could do was ride

my own pace. Shana and Jennifer occasionally took pulls.

Things were pretty uneventful over the series of rollers leading up to the

finish. When we turned back onto the NYS TT course and headed for the

finish I started thinking about sprinting. This was a good chance to

practice and I knew where the finish was ans picked up the pace. The

other two had decided to sit cozy on my wheel. Fine with me, they were

still NOT going to outsprint me. Jen was on my wheel and Shana behind

her. I shifted up and stood on my pedals at 1K to go. Not sprinting,

just testing the gear I was in. Jen jumped and went for it but didn't

have acceleration. I stayed on her wheel and waited. When the 200m

sign came up I decided to go. Jen was done. I couldn't tell if Shana was

really getting into the sprint or not, but she was certainly dropping

back. So I won the sprint for 5th.  It was still fun and good training.

Hoping to find a race or something to go to this weekend. It's been a

light week and a half riding-wise, and next week will be a heavier week

for me on the bike since my work schedule is slowing for a couple of

weeks. Looking forward to seeing everybody for the fall meeting!

Vanessa

> http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2009/07/19-Owasco-Challenge-Road-Race.asp

>