Funny to think about now, but one of my original posts covered my participation in this race last year. The IVRR is in our back yard… and Saturday it was a cold/rainy/snowy mess. I started with the pack and ended by myself, having been dropped on one of the hills. (Okay, the first hill…) The temperature hovered around 34 degrees, with large snowflakes falling and lots of rain. I was soaked within a few miles. The two laps of my race were very different from one another. Each was 20 miles, but the second seemed much longer, of course.
I worked through my first lap with a chase group that had one or two strong riders in it. I wasn’t one of them, but as it turns out I was more stubborn/persistent as they chose to go home after the first lap. I turned uphill for the second lap which I would complete mostly by myself. I made sure to eat and drink all I could during that lap because I was getting cold by then. Not shivering yet, but getting very tight though my upper back due to the cold. I did have the pleasure of riding along with Kerri from the Women’s Cat 3 race who was passing me. We shared our Green company for a few miles until she turned off to take her third lap. I was done, though, as my two laps were up!
Back at the tent I was greeted by well wishing from my teammates and then started shivering that didn’t really stop until I was nearly home! I finished 25th out of 58 with more than 25 competitors having dropped after lap 1 due to weather.
