TEAm Lipton Conquers the Finger Lakes

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Owasco Stage Race: May 15-16

This past weekend, TEAm Lipton made the long trek to Auburn, NY to participate in the second annual Owasco Stage Race. We arrived at our host house Friday night, from our various homes in the Northeast. The race promoter, Dean Furnia, volunteered his brother, Patrick, to house a team of starving female athletes. He decided four women in one house was too many, so flew the coop for the weekend, leaving the house in our hands. Although we were sad to see Patrck go, we were thrilled to be staying at his house because it was only about 500 meters from the start of both the Time Trial and Road Race.

Stage One: East Lake Time Trial

The first stage of the race was a 16-mile out and back time trial along the east bank of Lake Owasco. The first half of the course proved to be the most challenging. There were two false flat sections and a head wind that the riders had to battle before hitting the halfway mark. Once you hit the turn-around, however, the return trip was relatively smooth sailing. The first wave of riders took off at the early hour of 8AM. Usually the early bird gets the worm but today this was not the case. Earlier in the morning, there were dark clouds inhabiting the skies above, the temperature was cool, the roads wet, and there was a strong headwind and crosswind that greeted riders on the first half of the course. TEAm Lipton was racing in the Women Pro1/2/3 field so we went off at 10:50 AM. Luckily for us, about an hour before the race the clouds parted, the wind died down and sunny clear skies greeted us at the start line. I guess our dance to the sun god the night before was not in vain. In the past, I have struggled with my time trialing. This season, however, with each race, I have been steadily improving and gaining more confidence in my ability. The TT is no longer like the dreaded trip to the dentist. Today, I got to borrow my TEAmate Julie Upton’s time trial bike, and wow, what a difference it made. Although I was suffering like a dog, I was actually having fun and had one of my best rides ever. Usually during a time trial, I get caught from behind by a couple of riders like I am standing still, but today I was the one doing the passing. I finished in 5th place with a respectable time of 39:45, about two minutes down from the winner, Merrill Collins. Anna Milkowski had the best finish of the day for TEAm Lipton finishing in 4th place at 39:30.

Stage Two: Prison City Downtown Criterium

Stage two took place Saturday evening so there was not much time for the riders to rest and recover from the hard effort earlier in the day. The close proximity of our host house to the course, however, gave us ample time to shower, eat, relax and plan our strategy. Our goals for the race were to try and gain some time for one of our top placed GC riders by contesting the bonus sprints and also getting a podium finish. The course was a 1.5km oval with no sharp corners. The Women Pro1/2/3 field was racing 14 laps, or about 20km. About an hour before our start the dark clouds from earlier in the day decided to return and as we lined up for the start the raindrops were falling on our heads. The race started out fast and furious and with each successive lap the rain came down harder. Eventually the streets were flooded and we would have been better off racing in kayaks. Every third lap there was a time bonus for the first five riders who crossed the start/finish line. Zoe Owere and Anna Milkowski were able to capture a few of those precious seconds. Several of our riders attempted to attack at various points during the race but everything was being chased down. Towards the end of the race, TEAm Lipton had a bit of bad luck. With two laps to ago, Elisa Gagnon got a flat. We, however, did not have any wheels in the wheel pit. Despite having an excellent race, she unfortunately received a pro-rated time. Also on the second lap, Zoe Owers, thinking it was the last lap made a huge attack, outsprinting everybody to the finish line only to find out that there was still one lap to go. Despite her good intentions, finishing first on the second to last lap does not count for much in the final result. Needless to say, we missed out on the podium again and were still 4th and 5th on GC.

Stage Three: Owasco Challenge Road Race

Stage three proved to be TEAm Lipton’s day of redemption. Despite missing the podium in the first two stages, we were determined to make some noise today by winning the stage and moving one of our riders up into the top three GC. We had the largest team in the field so we were determined to use this to our advantage. The race was 124km long and there were three Queen of the Mountain time bonus sprints in addition to an intermediary sprint time bonus. Time bonuses were being awarded to the top five finishers across the line. Anna and I were about 2minutes from first place and a little over a minute from second and third place. Our goals were to win as many of the time bonus sprints as possible, and then try to get one of us off the front of the field towards the end of the race.

The race started out at a leisurely pace. The first QOM was only 5miles from the start so no one was going to waste any energy beforehand. About a kilometer from the QOM, the pace quickened as riders tried to jockey for position near the front. When we hit the base of the climb, I was not in a very good position so started my sprint from a little too far back. As the hill steepened near the top I was able to pass a bunch of riders running out of gas and managed to get fourth place.

For a few miles after the first QOM, the pack decided to go on a Sunday stroll in the park. No one wanted to take up the responsibility of pace setting because there were only about 12 miles until the next QOM. For fear of finishing the race after dark, our TEAmmates, Katie Lambden and Zoe Owers got to the front of the pack and set a reasonable pace leading us into the next climb. The second QOM was 1.2 miles long with an average grade of 7% and had two sections the second section being a little steeper. I attacked about midway up the climb and got a little gap and got first place across the line. The climb split up the group a little and apparently the third place GC rider had been dropped on the climb. Anna, Zoe, Katie and I were in the front group so we decided to drive the pace to increase the time gap. Despite our efforts the chase group caught us and the field was back together again.

About 25 miles to go in the race, Anna attacked and got a small gap on the field. She was able to hold off the chasing pack for about 10 miles. As soon as Anna was caught, Elisa, counter-attacked with about 15 miles to go in the race, and gapped the field. The pack, however, was not letting anyone go and chased her down. Laura Schmidt from Team Terry attempted to attack about 1km from the final QOM, I got on her wheel and counterattacked. I got a small gap on the field to take the third and final QOM. After the QOM, I still had a small gap so I continued to drive the pace in hopes that I could get away. A small group of about 10 riders caught on, including Anna and Zoe. The third place rider on GC was in the chase group so we drove the pace to the finish. A few kilometers from the finish line the Mens Pro1/2/3 field caught us so our field sprint for the finish got a little messy. Zoe somehow managed to pass through the men and nip a Diet Cheerwine rider at the line to take the stage win. Anna and I moved up to 3rd and 4th overall in GC so TEAm Lipton ended the weekend on a good note.