Today's stage was very cool. We rode out of town, did 2 laps over the Horseshoe Curve climb and then back into town for the finish. The Horseshoe curve climb is about 7 miles long. The bottom half is mostly gentle grade along a railroad line - all big-ring. After a few miles you leave the railroad grade cutting under the tracks through a tunnel. At this point the grade steepens but it's still manageable. After a few miles of this you see a KOM 1k to go sign. This is when the hill really begins to bite. The 1k section averages about 15% and is particularly brutal because everyone is accelerating for the KOM sprint. As you cross the KOM line the grade drops off again, but the climb keeps going up for another few miles until it finally flattens out along a ridgeline.
I left it all on the road today. I ended up redlining big-time on the steep part of the climb and lost a lot of ground. This meant I spent the remainder of the race chasing in various groups. Not knowing how many people were up the road I kept it at 100%. When the pace of my group slowed down, I attacked and formed a new group that was willing to work hard. When those riders failed to hold the pace high enough (I could see a group catching from behind), I attacked again and rode solo for the last 5k to hold off the chase. I was caught just before the line by a single rider, but he graciously let me cross first. The resulting prize for all this effort? 41st place (out of 75 finishers). It's kind of frustrating being so far back. But nevertheless I feel good because I know I prepared well, came into the race with great form, and I gave the race everything I had.
I need to add some words here about how well this race is run. We had a rolling enclosure again today. Even when I was in my small group racing for 41st place, we still had our own lead motorcycle and follow truck. It was especially awesome on the descents where we could take the entire road for the curves. Everything went smoothly. Races started on time and results were posted quickly after each event. The drive is about 5 hours, so it's not even that far away. Toona is a definite "must go" for our team next year.
