Queen on the Mountain!!

The River Gorge Road Race weekend in Chattanooga is this weekend. I, along with Gina and Paula got guilted into racing it, against out better judgement. The race is a climbers race. Not just sort of, completely. The road race course has over 4600ft of climbing in just under 40 miles. It ends in Raccoon Mountain which is STEEP (average of about 8%) and long (4 miles).

We are all still very tired from a long season and none of us had any expectations and HOPED to not get dropped on the first climb where the QOM (Queen of the Mountain) bonus was. For those who are not familiar, QOM is a point at the top of an intermediate climb in the race where there is a monetary (or time) bonus. For us, it was $40. we got to the first climb and I sat at the front to try and control the pace. with 200 meters to the QOM I was still on the front. hmmmm... I can sprint for 200m and then recover on the downhill. I went for it and WON it. WOW!! I am a self proclaimed "non-climber" so winning the QOM was huge.

Paula controlled the climb up the "stair steps" on Hwy 41 (a little too hard but she can't help it...she's so strong). There was a group of about 12 of us left at the base of the final climb. Everyone started attacking and I let them go. I knew I couldn't surge on that climb and make it to the top so I gambled that everyone else would struggle too after such an attack. My strategy worked!!! I slowly started passing girls and I ended up 2nd!!! If I would have had more road I think I could have gotten the girl that won (all 90 pounds of her....). I was gaining fast but the finish came up too quickly. Paula took 3rd and Gina was 5th. It was so fun and I am so proud of the three of us.

I can't explain how happy I am about today's race. It was definitely a personal victory for me. I have spent my cycling career working on going up hill. I am not built to be a climber (too much muscle) so climbing has always been a struggle for me. To be able to come out to the hardest climbing race of the season, without being anywhere close to "on form", and be able to not only hang on but be able to control the race and finish so well is HUGE for me. Thanks to all the SCV guys for talking me into racing!!!

More later on the time trial and crit....