I didn't execute the best recovery plan after the crit and decided to go to bed rather than eat some extra food when I got hungry. Oh well. Monday's course was 34.3 miles total and consisted of 2.5 laps around this circuit. The first big hill climb was 2.5 miles long. The finish was at the top of the large hill so we would have to climb it three times. Ouch.
Two more riders opted not to start the race and the Women's Cat 4 field was now down to 6 and the Cat 1/2/3 field was down to 7. This bumped me up to 6th place in the GC. I figured if any more dropped out I would get a top 5 finish - crazy!
Our race was delayed 35 minutes while the officials found the necessary follow/lead cars which pretty much negated the nice warmup I had done. Once we finally got rolling my legs weren't feeling chipper. We had a nice easy pace to the base of the big hill climb, where Martha Walsh and another rider took control to keep the pace even to the top. If I had been fresh I really wouldn't have had any trouble but halfway up I was concerned. My legs weren't working for me.
I hit a wall hard and got dumped off the back about 1K before the top of the climb. Damn! I very nearly pulled off at the finish line and called it a day but I decided I had come here to finish the race and finish I would. I kept reminding myself that if only one other Cat 4 rider didn't finish I'd be in the top 5. So, around I went again. The second time up the climb I asked the official if I should keep going since I knew I was probably 25 minutes behind the rest of the pack. He told me to go so I went.
Once I was passed by some straggling men from the 1/2 field I started to get worried I was the last one out there on the course. I asked a corner marshall if I should pack it in and head back to the start and he encouraged me to keep going as well. I honestly have no idea how I made it up the hill the 3rd time. By this time all I wanted to do was invent some nuclear device to blow the damn thing up. As I was heading up riders were coming down to the finish and most were cheering me on and yelling encouragement. At this point I knew I had to have been the last person out there.
I got across the finish line and there were two officials waiting and everyone was pretty much cleared out of there. On one hand I felt elated to have finished but on the other I felt a little embarassed to have been so far behind and to have kept so many people waiting. Maybe pulling out of the race would have been the best decision in this case. Hey, I finished though!
As I rode back down the hill to the start one of the officials pulled up next to me in his car and handed me an Energizer battery. He said it was the only thing he could think of giving me. Haha! I told him I felt bad to be the last rider in and he just shook his head and said, "Didn't you see the number of women who dropped out?". This really was a race of attrition.
I lost 35 minutes in this race and ended up 6th place in the GC about 48 minutes down. I guess I finished about 15-20 minutes behind some 1/2 men and some other women so it wasn't SO bad. I have to remind myself that of the 20 women that started only 12 finished. And most of the ones that dropped out were Cat 4s. It turns out that the other 5 Cat 4s that finished are on the verge of upgrading, so I was out there racing with mostly a 1/2/3 group. No wonder I got my butt kicked. I think I was the only true beginner out there that finished.
Anyway, it was a phenomenal race, I had a great time, and this was a perfect end to the road racing season. It's the first time in a while I'm not eager to hop back on the bike for a few days, though I *am* signed up for Escape from the Rock on Sunday. Hmm...we'll see how that goes.
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