WELLINGTON CENTRE ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS - March 2008 - A solid ride to finish 5th
Around about 9 women including myself lined up for the Centre Championships. Again I was impressed at the numbers that just seem to keep growing and growing for women's cycling. To think that in another twenty years, there could be 50+ women racing at a national level is amazing, especially when you consider that the sport is still quite young.
The weather was overcast as we rolled off the start line, with an unknown rider on the front, looking strong and aggressive. I was thinking this is going to be a great race! As we approached the first descent (about 1.5km's in), Gabi Bahler jumped on the front and made a strong attack. We all chased and regrouped at the bottom of the hill; I then attacked again. The group chased, regrouped, and it stayed relatively calm untill we approached the blue mountains. I positioned myself near the front of the pack as we started climbing, but a strong attack from Mellissa Pilla lead herself, Emma Crum and Tracey Best away with a 30 sec - 1 min lead.
Myself, Jessica Jolly and Gabi chased all the way up the blue mountains, lungs screaming for oxygen, legs yelling out in pain. As we approached the start of the second lap, we could see the girls in front by about a minute, and it became frustrating to be so close and yet so far away. Gabi did some hard yards on the front, and as we climbed the blue mountains for the second time, we managed to pull away from Jessica and lapped it out to try and make up more time. However, the last time up the blue mountains Gabi got out in front and rode away to finish 4th. I came in 5th with the other girls with a minute behind me. I really had to put the hammer down for the last 15 mins as I solo time-trailled to the end.
Tracey Best had an excellent race to outsprint Emma Crum, and Melissa Pilla came in just a minute behind them.
It was a good course. Three times up the blue mountains is testing to anyone. We only did it twice at the elite NZ Road Championships last year, and I remembered thinking that that was bad enough. Needless to say, my legs weren't very happy on the training ride on Sunday.
There aren't many races on in Wellington from now until June '08, as the season comes to a halt. Due to this, I will be heading to Palmerston North quite a lot to do their local races as preparation for the USA. I definitely don't want to head over there without some hard racing under my belt!
