Hello Everyone!

It was great to see so many Mission In Motion faces at the Check Your Legs Road Race on Saturday.  As the name implies, it was the first race of the season for many of us, with most of us wondering how our legs would respond to the course's famous climbs.  Peter Martin always puts on a GREAT race, and although it was chilly the pavement was dry and the sun threatened to come out.  The predicted snow flurries stayed away too.

We lined up in the dirt driveway, and 3 minutes after the Men's groups took off we were off as well.  The first section of the 12.5 mile loop, on Route 51, is notorious for its headwind, and Saturday lived up to this promise.  And it was COLD!  I was shivering, and because of that attempting to ride a straight line, as we sauntered along toward the turn to the climbs.  No one felt like working, so it was a fairly easy ride and the low heart rate did not get anyone's temperature up.

Soon enough, though, the heat was on.  Fomer MIM rider Sarah Krzysiak and up-and-comer Kristin Lotito were busy putting the heat on each other, so I went along for the ride.  Unfortunately, I ended up dropping all my teammates (sorry!) as the pace intensified going up the climb.  We crested the hill together and then enjoyed some well-deserved "rest" as we rode down the other side.

For lap two the ride up Route 51 was a bit more spirited -- or should I say guarded?  While we worked together we were busy sizing each other up and trying to figure out how to make the race work to each one of our own advantages.  We all knew it would "happen" on the climbs again, so no one was very heroic on Route 51.  Kristin, a former Professional Soccer Player in Italy, was definitely going to have a great sprint, so any hope of beating her would be on the climb.  I knew that if it came to a three-up sprint against those two I would end up with a very solid third ;)

Turn the corner, head wind, drill the hill.  Ahh, yeah!  Sarah took the lead, pushing that pace at odd intervals.  She got a gap, Kristin was on my wheel, I sat there, then sprinted back to Sarah.  Kristin sprinted back to me.  Hmmm, dropping Kristin was not going to be easy -- or attainable?  Try this two more times.  Near the top Sarah gets a break, I block Kristin, Kristin sprints around me, I don't have quite enough to stay with her, but she could not catch Sarah.  The selection has been made.  My tactics just did not work in MY favor. 

For the rest of the race the three of us are all time trialing, about 100 yards from each other.  Sarah held on for the win, and while I did start to close the gap in Kristin the handwriting was on the wall when I turned the corner for the final sprint.  I had run out of real estate, and Kristin took a well-deserved second place.   I settled for third, but was so happy with my efforts.

Charlsie was the last one to be dropped in our mad dash up the hill the first lap.  She chased and chased, and her solo effort brought her across the line in fourth place, only 4.5 minutes behind us. Way to go Charlsie!  Tami worked with MVBC rider, and climbing, phenom Barb Kusczala, outsprinting her at the line to take fifth.  Heather Ludwig was seventh (welcome Heather!) and Kim Celecki made a great come-back in eighth place.  Nice job ladies!

Thanks again to Peter and his volunteers and sponsors for putting on this race, which for many is a season-opener.  And thanks to whomever arranged for the dry weather!

Now that we have Checked Our Legs, some of us will spend the week in preparation for this Saturday's Tour of the Battenkill.  The weather is predicted to be super.  And I know the competition will be good as well.  The 3/4 women's race is sold out, with 75 riders.  Tami, Charlsie and Vanessa are signed up for that one.  Marsha and I, both nursing sore backs, will head out with 70+ Women 1/2/3's.  Yikes!  I have preridden the course and it there is some gorgeous scenery along the way.  I just hope that I will be in a good position to race it, and not do any sight-seeing!

Again, great job MIM riders.  See you next week!

Take care,