This week we welcome Bec Werner to the States from Australia, and to the Bridge Team. She had a crazy flight on Wednesday, and then immediately started the 4-day Merco stage race and wound up in a break with Ina-Yoko Teutenberg. Here's her race report:
Stage 1 Merco - MID Road Race - 91km
At 4.30 Thursday morning, bleary eyed but excited all the same, we headed off on the 3 hour drive to our first stage race of the year (and my first race in America); Merco, and the first stage MID road race. Andi, Jane and myself drove together, meeting Mary and Emily there. Arriving at the sign on area nice and early, we did a few quick intros and then had plenty of time to warm up and get ready. The car park was a hype of activity, with a decent sized field and some pro teams well represented, including HTC, Tibco and Peanut Butter Co. With Andi scoring the number 2 spot in the caravan (move over HTC! haha) and stocking us up with supplies and some advce, we were ready and raring to go.
Under clear blue skies, hardly a hint of wind, and pretty much the best racing conditions we could have hoped for, the women's race started, heading off at a nice cruisy pace as everyone settled in and got the legs rolling over. As a team we weren't sure what to expect, as none of us knew the course. So the aim was to stay near the front, and be ready for anything that came our way. Good thing we were, as not far in we hit a climb the organisers had pulled straight out a Euro classic! It started with a narrow turn across loose gravel and continued for about the next 2k at quite a decent gradient, dodging pot holes, cow pats and rough edges. Thankfully the pace was still nice and cruisy as everyone did their best to navigate the smoothest path up. This continued over the top onto the rolling back section, and obviously Ina-Yoko Teutenberg was getting bored, as she attacked on one of the smaller inclines. This woke everyone up a bit and the pace lifted, but no real attempt at chasing her down was made. Within 10 minutes it was being reported back that she'd put almost 2 minutes into us!
Things continued much the same for the next lap, with the pace lifting slightly over the climb, as there were QOM points up for grabs. Unforunately for our team, Emily got to really appreciate the value of the granny gears, as her lever carked it and she got to do the rest of the climb (and the race) in her 11. Nothing like some impromptu SEs!! With an awesome stubborn streak, she finished the race well inside the time cut, with a small chase group. What a trooper! Also, it was at this point that Jane could no longer deceive her body into thinking it was better. Smashing it in zone 5 kind of made it obvious that "I'm totally better, I've just got a tiny bit of congestion" was a bit of a lie. So unfortunately she had to pull out, and got to watch the rest of the race, and cheer us on from the sidelines. So it was just Mary and myself left to fight it out, with Mary being an absolute champ and offering to be super-domestique for me.
Starting the third lap, the bunch was still cruising, so on the final uphill before the climb I moved to the front to try and lift the pace, and make sure I at least started the climb at the front. To my surprise no-one came with me and when I looked back I had a bit of a gap, and decided I might aswell keep going and have a crack at picking up some points. To my delight once I started the climb free of the hustle and bustle of the pack, I saw that Teutenberg was not too far in front, so I tried to just keep a steady pace, and gradually bridged across to her, taking out the QOM points at the top. Cheers Ina!
We were out of sight of the main bunch at this point so kept the power to pedal to try and maintain the gap. It was all a bit surreal for me. Never thought I'd be so excited to have my legs torn off by someone... she is such a machine! Although I don't think I helped her cause to much, she said she was happy for the company, and we swapped turns (by which I mean she tore my legs off and I made some pitiful attempts at helping out!) for the next 20k or so till the final time over the climb where we were caught by the bunch. The girls were definitely pushing harder this time over the climb, and it broke things up a bit, but it came back together over the back section, as no-one was keen to really put the hammer down just yet.
Heading into the final 10k there was a last ditch attempt at a breakaway, by what I think was a HTC rider. Peanut Butter Co. moved to the front and got orgnanised fairly quickly to shut that down. I sat in comfortably as Mary 'super-domestique' Maroon guided me through the pack protecting me from the wind. The remainder of the field was then ultimately broken apart by the course, as the climbers turned the screws that bit more heading into the 3km, predominantly uphill finish, breaking up the field and leaving a group of no more than 10 to fight it out for the win. Unforunately Ina had already eaten my legs for breakfast, and I couldn't go with. Mary had smashed herself for me, and we both joined a smattering of girls strung out, pushing to the finish to try and limit the time gap as much as possible. Amanda Miller from HTC took out the win in a well desreved result, as HTC had really made the race the whole day.
Now it's on to the time trial for the three of us, with Jane heading home for some much needed rest. Emily has a new lever, and we have a new DS, with Andi 'I told you jetlag is good for you' Smith heading home and Katheryn taking over the reins. So tomorrow is a new day, and I can't wait to pull on the Webcor jersey again.
To quote a friend -
Ride happy... and for those of you that are racing... ride like you stole it!
Bec
Follow the Webcor/Alto Velo Bridge Team:
– http://facebook.com/avbridge
– http://avbridge.blogspot.com/
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