Tour de West Lafayette - Stage 1

West Lafayette.

Quick drive. Windy roads. Peed twice. Ate some donuts.

Arrived at the course pretty early, got a pre-ride in jeans in.

Lots of cars on the course.

Cars cars cars.

Just parked. Kind of obvious they weren't going anywhere.

A woman asked us what was going on. Her house was right on the course.

"Can I back out?"

"When?"

"In 20 minutes..."

"Didn't you get a flyer?"

She had but not much else in the way of what was happening. Seems she got it the night before. Nor were the police towing any cars.

Course was halved.

The hill stayed in. So did the time limit. Course / 2 + hill x same time = fucking HARD.

57 riders started. 12 finished.

The only flat section was the 100 meter start/finish stretch, and that started after a tight fast corner after a fast hill.

I was 3 wheel first lap, then rode at the front for the next 3 getting some points. With the hills and trees, there wasn't much wind expect for the flat part, so it wasn't really pulling. But after a while I did need to sit in and recover for a while, but never more than 10 wheels back.

But the constant climbing took a massive toll. With 5 to go I remember looking back and thinking, "that's ALL?"

Yep.

Last lap, the move happened on the back, just below the stinger that decided the race. The order at that point was pretty much how it finished. And I missed it. I only moved back maybe 2 wheels but it was enough to keep me out of the upgrade points. The hill down to the turn was fast and the line was always single file. Early on as I was on the front for bit, I nearly ended my race there, thinking for a couple of awful seconds I was going to have to bail it in the grass.

So I was just a bit skittish enough to stay in line and try to get back it back by licking a few plates clean. Which I did. The results weren't posted by time we left, but I believe I am sitting 9th in the GC.

Tomorrow is the 22 mile road race, with an even bigger hill. So we know who to watch for and although the pack shouldn't shell off as much as it did today, the 3 of us who finished today are in good position going into the decisive 5.7 mile time trial.