By Heather LaBance

It was cold and windy, but no rain!! We couldn’t complain. The first lap of the 90k course was pretty slow as everyone checked each other out. There were a few accelerations here and there, but nothing to write home about.

At the very beginning of the second lap Team Lipton started a series of attacks. The field did a good job ‘taking turns’ chasing them down, and then Lipton would send off another attack and so on. At one point a Lipton racer attacked and no one chased. We just looked at each other, but no one went after her. There was no sense of panic or fatigue in the group, just no reaction. Katie Lambden from Team Lipton bridged up to her teammate and still no reaction from us. We let the twosome dangle for almost an entire lap. A few of us got to the front and kept the pace up so that they didn’t get too far away from us.

As we started the Brodie Mt. climb, our group started to ‘really’ reel them back in which splintered the pack. By the time the chase group descended and started the third lap, we caught the breakaway. We slowed up a bit and a lot of the pack caught back on. We were still a very large group considering the difficulty of the route.

The third lap was full of attacks from Lipton. With about 6 miles left, Katie Lambden got away and I bridged up to her alone. I pulled through and by that time we had a significant lead. If we worked together, I think that we could’ve stayed away. Unfortunately for me, Katie had instructions through her radio not to take any pulls. I kept up the good fight for a while thinking I had a 50-50 chance of making it on my own. Katie sat on my wheel while her team chipped away at our lead. When it was clear that we were going to be caught, I stopped working, and we were swallowed up by the pack. I was hoping that I had the legs to continue and not get shelled off the back. There was no time to recover! The pace was fast and furious downhill to get in position for the third and final Brodie Mt. climb to the finish. As soon as we hit the 90 degree turn and hill, Sue Palmer-Komar (Colavita/Cooking Light) took off. I managed to stay in the select group that broke off from the pack. We trudged up the climb as fast as we could. Mckenzie Dickey (Team Bicycle Alley) slowly pulled away from us to come across the line first. Susan Palmer-Komar, Zoe Owers (Team Lipton), Sara Bresnick (Ford Cycling), myself, and Kristen Lasasso (Team Lipton) willed ourselves across the line in that order. I was happy that I had the legs to stay in it after just getting caught by the group, but disappointed again. Did I waste too much energy trying to get away? Naaaaah! You gotta try. It only makes you stronger….right?!

Your intrepid reporter and NYVC fave, Heather LaBance.