Tour of the Catskills was the best racing experience I've ever had, and it's not like I exactly won or anything. I did, however, help with some successful teamwork and learn a lot. The first stage was my kind of course: a 12-mile time trial that was mostly flat with a little kicker hill at the end. Kristen had the best result for the team, taking 3rd, with me coming in 2 seconds behind in 4th. I was pleased with our team's standing, and Kristen and I went into stage 2 being protected by our teammes.
Embarrassing:
Stage 2 was a 65-mile road race with the famous "devil's kitchen" climb. I had heard stories about this climb making Appalachian Gap look like a cakewalk by comparison. We pre-drove it the night before, and I thought if my car could make it up the mountain, I certainly could on a bike (anyone who has seen my car knows this is a reasonable statement). I spent the majority of the stage at the back, while Kerrin and Kate brought back attacks at the front. It was cool to have that kind of support, so I hoped to do well on the climb and uphold my part of the deal. I started up the climb at the front, until I heard that familiar heavy-breathing-zombie-chase noise when the pack creeps up on you in slow motion. It was so steep that my front wheel kept coming up off the ground. Every man woman and child on that mountain was suffering. And for the record, I know that there are plenty of people in the world who encounter gut-wrenching suffering without traveling to a resort town to suffer in a semi-controlled context while being followed by support vehicles. That makes me feel both privileged and embarrassed. Additionally embarrassing was the realization that I was getting dropped. If I had known this would happen, I would have worked to protect my teammates instead of vice-versa. Kristen took an awesome second place, moving up to second in the GC, and I...um...completed the stage without dying.
Wet:
Stage 3 was a 60-mile race with 2 major climbs. After blowing my load on Devil's Kitchen the day before, I was now working for the team at the front. That's a scary place for me, and it was good to force myself to be there. I brought back attacks and learned a lot. When the first QOM was close, Kate went off the front alone. It was now our job to keep the pack as slow as possible and not catch Kate. She got the first QOM, and as long as she was out of sight, the team kept things slow. It started to pour while we slowly climbed Airport Road. Several miles of descending followed, and there was a crash in the slippery conditions. Luckily everyone was ok, and we rolled in to find out that Kate had won the stage, snagging the polka dot jersey along the way. When I asked her what was going through her head for the 40 solo miles, she said that she was confident knowing that she had teammates in the pack who were controlling the pace. Wow. That may have been my greatest contribution of the race, but I don't know if I really did that much. Final GC: Kristen 3, Kate 5, Kerrin 8, Me 9.
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| Kristen at the stage 2 podium |
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