Pujols

Monday was the Prix de la ville de Pujols -- Pujols is the lovely town where we raced 5 times around a 14km loop which included a good climb and a narrow decent.  I don't have many pictures this time, but just to see how beautiful the course was, here is the view out my hotel window -- the race went through that amazing scenery!

Below is my play by play race report from the day...

race was pretty good despite being a little sick..

i was not feeling great during the race -- i felt like i wasn't recovering super fast...

and there were a couple times that i though i might just fall through the pack and go sit in the car...

i was probably out front a little too much early on which also tired me out...

then on lap 4 (out of 5) there were lots of attacks and i was feeling pretty drained..

a few had a small gap... then i saw jeanie longo winding up

and i wasn't far behind her, but i was zonked and i couldn't get to her wheel and I had two teammates right there

i yelled up up, but they didn't go either...

so then there was a group of 5 with jeanie off the front

ugh!

this was right before the downhill... and i got out front and tried to go fast down the down (but i am not fast down the downs)...

and then i was pulling trying to catch up

and there were a couple others working...

and they weren't getting away, but weren't getting a lot closer

my teammates then came to the front and were chasing hard and others started trying to bridge and we finally caught them!

yay

but i was pretty tired

things came together

there were some attacks and i tried to go with them...

after attempting to go with a few i fell back a little

then there was an attack of 3

and the three got a gap and the whole pack slowed...

and i was like uh -oh

this is not good...

but i was stuck behind some people

so i didn't jump on it

but the pack was crawling...

so I finally squeezed through to the front and I jumped hoping some others would come and we could bridge

i looked back and the whole pack was just crawling

and i was out there all alone

with 3 way up the road

poor devon

so I just went...

and my hard wasn't super hard

but i was getting a gap because the pack was crawling...

and then i hit the hill and the hill was probably 1.5km ish...

and the last .5 is steep and ouch

ouch

and i tried to go hard up it

and i got to the top without the pack catching me...

but the 3 were well down the road

and i didn't know what the gaps were because i wasn't hearing anything over the radio

and i didn't really understand what the signs meant...

but i knew the 3 were like 40ish ahead

i just tried to keep going

after the top of the hill it flattens, but there are some false flats that are hardd...

and that is when things would pick up in the pack so i was worried that they were coming strong

and at one point i saw the big group behind me

its hard to judge distance/time

and i was so sad that they were right there... but i just kept going and then came the downhill

and then i tried to eat a fig newton...

but it was super chewy and i was tired so i threw half away

but I took a drink

and then i was on the mostly flat section and i just kept tempoing it (it was tempo at this point... it was not recovery tempo!  it was ouch i don't feel good tempo)

and then i got to the hill

well... this is the little hill in the loop not THE hill... except the last time around... this little hill goes to THE big hill....

and i wasn't sure how much longer, but i knew the end was close...

but i knew i had a lot of hill left...

and i kept peaking behind me to see if the pack was coming... and the motorcycle guys went "ok" and were giving me thumbs up like i was in the clear

which was a relief, but i was still scared and going as hard as a could (which was not many watts)... 

and then right after i had recieved the thumbs up...

the motorcyle guys started going "allez allez" and pointed to the big giant fast moving pack rounding the corner up the hill

and then i topped this little initial hill and connected to the end hill (the 500meters of steep hill to the finish)

and the front of the pack was looking strong...

and i hit the 400m sign

and they were probably at the 500m sign.

and they were coming fast

and i tried to turn and turn my legs

but it was so steep and the legs wanted to stop...

and there were people all lining the hill...

and speakers all up the hill

and i could hear them say my name

and everyone was cheering me on

and then it was 200 to go...

and it gets a little flatter which made me so happy...

but i could barely turn the pedals and they were getting closer

and people were clapping for me

and finally i saw the line and i crawled over it... and came to a pretty fast slow...

and then the front 5 people blew by me...

and then there was the blow up arch in front of me...

and for a second i thought -- oh no --- is that the finish?

but it wasn't

the line was!

so i made it!

i got 4th... not quite the break... but the next best that i could do.

According to the results I ended up only 4 seconds ahead of the pack (i think that might have been generous timing too)

Click here for the live feed from the day (in french, sorry)