bicycle.net -- cycling news, product reviews, original essays, podcasts & video :: Tour de France 2009

Temperature dropped sooo fast I had no idea what happened! I went from walking around in a light sweatshirt to bundleing up with all the jackets I packed! Warm up wasnt the greatest as I was making sure my bikes were working the way I need them to and that I had the right choice of tires on. The course conditions were really nice! The ground was dry with just a touch of tacky-ness, so you can really lay it down in the corners. I started in the 4th row which isnt so bad. As I stood there freezing to death I wasnt nervous really, I just wanted to get the race going to I can run to a heater afterwards! I usually take off my leg warmers at the start because I hate racing with leg warmers, but I didnt because it was just SO cold! From the gun I was stuck behind some riders, but once everyone got spread out I was able to slither my way up to 6th place!!! Right behind the leaders! I was in awe when I saw that only Katie Compton, Georgia Gould, Rachel Lloyd, Amy Dombroski, and Mo Bruno-Roy right in front of me!! As we headed up towards the climb the big girl’s power started to kick in as I started to struggle, its amazing to see how much power the pros can actually put out. I tried and tried my hardest but I just couldnt hold on, well maybe I was but only by a thread. And finally my one and only thread broke. And I began my fall back to 20th place. It was a hard cold race and I appreciated Brad Huff’s cheering me on and supporting me with the “86 inch gear cheer!” With 2 laps to go my toes were frozen and I was basically pedaling(pounding) with my ankles. When the race was over and tried to catch my breath. The only thing I wanted to do was to feel my toes again so I started to ride towards my dad’s motorhome. On the way over I met my Metro Volkswagen teammate Andrea…unfortunately I was still dillusional, frozen, and out of breathe we didnt have much time to talk. Once I got in the motorhome I shoved my toes into the furnace. When I finally warmed up, I went out to watch Treefarm tear up the elite mens race and cheer for my Redline teammates. After all the racing was over, I said bye to my dad who immediately left to begin his trip back home. And I helped the team put all our bikes into boxes and put all the equipment into our trailer. It was rediculously cold but was still worth it as it was my last moment with Team Redline for 2008.