Race Report – Green Mountain Stage Race

Race Results

Green Mountain Stage Race, Vermont, 8/31 – 9/3

Report from Lucia M:

The GMSR was my first race since Killington, as I have been off my bike the entire month of July for travel. This was meant to be a training ride for me. TT was short and fast course with a climb right off the bat and a punchy climb at the end. The middle section of rollers were fast and if you kept your head down and body small you could make up a lot of time.

Circuit, Saturday – The road was narrow an there was a lot of bunching at the front of the field making it very difficult to move up. The sprint was ridiculous, as in, if you weren’t in front, you had no chance of doing well. The field stayed together until the final 3/4 lap with the KOM fracturing the group. I made it into the second chase group and we made up a lot of time.

Road Race, Sunday – The field stayed together until the KOM, after the feed, where the pedals went down hard. BIG PROPS to Lucia D who was my support in the zone. Awesome to have a teammate there. I lost the group as I made the rookie mistake of stopping to pee and lit my book of matches getting back to the group. When the attack went I wasn’t fully recovered to go. I got into my groove and took it for what it was. I was able to make up some time and pick people off along the way. The final climb at App Gap was not as hard as I imagined, but the final kilometer was mentally challenging. However, Lucia D was there screaming and shouting my name which gave me the final incentive to hammer a little harder up to the finish. Great learning experience.

Criterium, Monday – As my first crit, I loved the technical aspects, and again, it was a learning experience! The course was fast with 6 corners and a short and small incline after the last corner. I was with the lead group for the first 4 – it was fast and so fun. I got confused with one of the ref’s calls and slowed way down, and jumped onto the chasing ground for another 3 laps and then the group got pulled. I will definitely do more of these next season. BIG PROPS to the Lucia D cheering section! Teammates rock! Overall I finished 29.

– L.M.