May 5/14 21:19 pm - Woodstock Cycling Grand Prix report and results

Posted by Editoress on 05/5/14
 

Woodstock Women's Cycling Grand Prix took place this past weekend and the Stevens - The Cyclery team had a few girls there to represent. This is the second year for this race and even though it's a race, there was some beautiful scenery along the route if you took the chance to look around, and the course was really great with tough climbs and descents.

The night before there is a great dinner of pasta, salad, bread and a delicious cake. This year we watched Half The Road, a film by Kathryn Bertine about the state of cycling competitively as a female. Definitely worth a watch when you get the chance!

Carrie Cartmill, Emily Flynn and myself started on the line with about 35 other women from the States and Canada. After a neutral start, the peloton was fairly inactive until the first little climb. I knew it was key to stay near the front and keep good positioning going into the Cat. 2 climb up Meads Mountain.

This is where the group broke apart. Meads had an average grade of about 8% and was about 4km long. Two riders took off up the hill. I kept the pace and tempo up and finished atop the QOM in third place. A fast descent down the backside finished with a sharp 90-degree turn. Emily had a great descent with fast speeds and great turns.

The two riders off the front stuck as the second chase group was made up of about 15 riders including Carrie and myself. With attacks happening to try and bring back the front group, nothing was holding. Riders were tired and there were some teammates of the front group that was in hopes of her holding that lead. We had another 3 climbs, which dropped some more girls off the back of the group. The last of the three climbs was another QOM and a Zimmer rider and I pushed each other until the last and I finished in front.

In the final 3 miles there were about 8-10 women left and I took off up the final climb with as much energy as I could muster because I knew the finish was a slight downhill and there were no climbs after this one. My breakaway secured me a third place finish! Carrie and Emily rode EXTREMELY well and finished 11th and 17th respectively. I'm pretty sure Emily had a small cassette on the back too, so kudos to her legs!

Our season has started off really well with podium finishes at every race and I can definitely foresee many more great results throughout the 2014 season!!

Courtesy Ellen Watters, Stevens - The Cyclery

Results from the Woodstock Cycling Grand Prix in Woodstock/Saugerties, NY on May 3rd