Independence Valley RR

I traveled down to Richland, WA to do the Independence Valley Road Race on Saturday. The course was a 19.5-mile loop consisting of 2 laps for the Women 4s. The turnout for the Women's Cat 4 race was about 16-17 riders, most from Team Group Health.

This race went much better for me than the one at Mason Lake. This time the "neutral rollout" really did seem neutral and for the first couple of miles I actually got some pack riding experience and managed to work my way up to the middle of the pack to stay away from some sketchy riders.

A few miles into the course there was a long challenging hill climb and I somehow amazed myself by just hanging on to the tail end of the main pack. After the hill there was a long fast (39mph) descent before getting to the flats and that's where I finally got dropped. I seem to have a weight-disadvantage on descents, so I need to get more comfortable with drafting downhill so I don't get dropped.

Once I hit the flats I was solo and there was a decent headwind that was making it hard to make up any ground. I kept plodding along and eventually I started to see two riders up ahead. I knew they weren't good hill climbers so I made an effort to keep them in my sight and I managed to catch them on the hill.

The three of us rode in a nice paceline to the end and we decided to sprint for our finish to get the practice but unfortunately my legs were so shot I just couldn't pass them. I ended up placing 14th out of 15 finishers but I think there were a couple of girls that dropped out of the race, so overall I can live with that.

Two road races down, no crashes, and I haven't finished dead last yet, so good times! At least this time I got some pack experience, actually chased down some riders, and finished with some other girls.