Tour de White Rock – 23 – 24 July 2004

Stage 1 was a 900m hillclimb with gradients of up to 18%.  It was a short tough stage that killed the legs and lungs.  My tactic was to climb seated for the first half and then stand and nail it over the last steeper section.  I finished the climb in 2mins 15sec and took 2^nd place.  I was happy with my result, given it was more of a mountain goat climb than a course for a large power climber.  My host family was also pleased as they found a vase for my 4^th bunch of podium flowers, with the lounge starting to resemble a florist.

Stage 2 was a hilly criterium that I loved.  My legs felt awesome and Willy and I started attacking from lap 2.  I launched an attack and strung out the field.  I drove it hard for two laps and then eased slightly to let Willy counter my move.  The field watched her ride away and she did an awesome job to ride tempo over the next 20 laps, maintaining a 15 second lead.  I had fun sitting on any rider who tried to escape the peloton but eventually Willy was caught with 5 laps to go.

I felt confident I could have won the sprint but for some reason I decided to attack with a full lap to go.  With 200m to go I looked back and still had a gap but was caught in the final 30m and finished 5^th.  I was really bummed, as I knew I could have won today but was just impatient and sadly, my hosts missed out on some wonderful looking roses!

I didn’t race the final stage of the Tour de White Rock, but instead flew to Pittsburgh in preparation for the Tour d’Altoona.  Stay tuned to hear about racing 500 miles in the humidity of Pennsylvania.