Tour of Pelham

So excited to see this one back on the calendar for 2011! Well, excited until I was mid-way through the suffer-fest today, when I kinda wished I'd stayed at home, and then excited again because I felt good at the finish (I won't post my very grumpy looking photo. I was excited to finish, in that so-exhausted-I-just-need-to-stop-coughing-long-enough-to-pass-out-so-don't-even-try-talking-to-me kind of way.)

The morning started painfully early so that we could be down in St Catharine's well before the 11am start. I find that I am so scattered at the first races, it is nice to have plenty of extra time for forgetting things/being slow/chatting. I had time for a quick warm up with a few laps around the parking lot, then it was time to head down the hill to the start. I went for a bit of a warm up on the road at the bottom, and nearly missed the start entirely because I thought it started about 200m higher than. Oops! Just missed a few intros on the start line - still got the major instructions, and more importantly, still made the actual start.

The start goes straight up the escarpment, with a killer climb. I paced myself fairly well, but couldn't recover well enough and lost a few places leading up to the single track. I could see at least one woman, just in front of me, and knew Leslie was also ahead. I spent a lot of time trying to bridge up to the next woman and her group, and finally pulled it off, just as we hit the road. When we turned down the Chute, I lost contact with the front of the group, and though I could see them ahead, I was never able to bridge that gap. I spent most of the race riding on my own, but close to a couple of juniors. We hit this absolutely soul-sucking and back-crushing cornfield, and just as I neared the end, I saw two women ahead - and neither were Leslie, who I figured was further ahead. Realized I was likely fourth place woman, but you never know in a race like this and anything can happen, so I kept the pressure on, hoping for the best. This years course had a fun section where the course doubled back on itself, and I got a boost of morale from the Boy as he went by in a great position. I made it through the killer hills around Shorthills Provincial Park, but as I headed back towards the single track leading to the finish, I couldn't see anyone ahead. The last bit of off-road was really chewed up, and my tire/fork combo was picking up mud and every leaf I rode over. I stopped to get the wheel moving and ran, but still needed to stop and unclog things again. Shouldered the bike, ran to the road, and hopped on to ride over the finish line. Done!

Did a quick post-race cool down, heard about Mike's bad luck with a tire, and got cleaned up and changed. I wandered back to wait for the Boy's podium, and got a nice surprise of making the podium as 3rd 19+ Woman. Wooot! Turned out one of the gals ahead is under 18, but I was so sure I wasn't on the podium, I wasn't wearing my jersey for the photo.

Heather (2nd) and I (3rd)... missing Leslie

Bike is running great, and the body is running pretty good for early season. Excited to be back to riding outside and racing!