America 2011, Fayetteville Stage Race.

On March 15th Kate and I left Auckland at 2.00pm toward Dallas, Texas. We had a 2 hour stop in LA and then hopped on another plane and arrived in Dallas at 2.00 pm on March 15th. The first thing we noticed were the big Dodge trucks, they were everywhere! We got picked up by the team rider/manager Rachel Byus (in a big ute) and drove back to her house in Bartonville.

Our house in Bartonville.

Once we had settled in we went for an hour spin to loosen up the legs a bit. The whole different side of the road thing was a bit of a shock at first, but I seemed to pick it up reasonably fast (now and then I have to remind myself to keep right, especially at the start of each ride).



Trying out the tt bike, good way to stretch your neck!

Me trying to ride and follow a map at the same time.

On the Friday morning we left for a 5 hour drive to our first race, the Fayetteville Stage Race. The team (including me, Kate, Rachel, Lauren and Sarah) drove to Fayetteville in the team bus. First stop was a place called Buc-ees which was a massive shop in the middle of no-where, and it sold pretty much anything imaginable. Including Lollies, Beef Jerky, hats, belts, fruit etc and it was completely packed with people! After that culture shock we carried on towards Fayetteville.

We were renting out a house called Granny’s retreat, which was a pretty old-school house. All of the rooms were named with ‘Granny’s room’ or ‘Emma’s attic’, I didn’t really understand it but it was perfect for what we needed.

Granny's retreat

The Fayetteville stage race consisted of 3 stages, two 80km road races and a 10km time trial. Stage one was the 80km road race. Within the first 2kms Lauren and Rachel attacked off the front, but both got chased down. Then I counter attacked and everybody sat up. So I kept time trialing it off the front by myself, 75kms later I finished, 10 minutes ahead. Would have probably been one of the longest individual time trials I have ever done! My team mates had slowed down the bunch so that I could get away; although they tried to get off the front and come help me no-one would let them go. At the finish Lauren and Rachel did a bit of a team lead out for Kate, who won the bunch sprint (so second in the stage) with Lauren and Rachel about mid-pack.

That afternoon was the time trial. I could not believe the gear that most of the riders had. Even though it was a small race out in the middle of no-where, basically everyone had nice time trial bikes and carbon wheels. I was lucky enough to be lent a Cannondale time trial bike from Rachel, which seemed to fit me perfectly, and was very light! The course for the time trial was a short 11km on rolling roads. I was basically stuffed by the first 500 meters, going out quit a bit too hard. But carried on, pushing it to the end. I finished the time trial in 1st place about 25 seconds in front of 2nd place. Lauren was very close behind in 3rd, with Kate 12th, Rachel 18th and Sarah 19th (Rachel had to do it on her road bike with no TT bars, so would have made it A LOT harder). Me getting taught how to put bikes on the roof, without actually stepping on the roof. Think im going to leave this job to the pros (ie, Rachel).

The next day was another 80km road race, the plan was to get Kate and Lauren off the front so they could finish 2nd and 3rd overall. Rachel attacked, got caught, and then Kate counter attacked at the end of the second lap and stayed away for just under half a lap, having to grind it into the head wind by herself. Then when the bunch was about to catch her (she would have been about 200m in front) Lauren told me to attack and try and get us two (Kate and myself) away, so I did and we ended up finishing about 2 minutes in front of the field. This put Kate up to 2nd place, with Lauren winning the bunch sprint. Overall I won by about 12 minutes, with Kate 2nd place and Lauren 3rd. Was a great weekend of team racing and some fantastic time trial training!

On the way home we stopped at a sandwich shop to get some lunch/dinner. When we stopped Lauren noticed a wheel was missing from the roof of the bus, we went out and checked and to my luck it was my racing front wheel (Reynold). It had flown off the back of the bus while we were driving, so we turned around and drove back but could not see it anywhere. Was a bit of a negative end to the awesome weekend but at the end of the day it is only a wheel.. Could have been a bike!

The team at the end of Sunday's race. From left; Sarah, Lauren, Kate, Rachel and me.

The first trip away was great fun. We learnt a lot about each other and are slowly learning the American language. Here are some word conversions if you are heading over this way any time soon;

Boot = Trunk

Toilet = Bathroom

Lollies = Candy

Foot path = Side Walk

Muesli Bars = Granola Bars

Chilly Bin = Cooler

Biscuits = Cookies

There are no major races until about mid to end of April so just getting in a lot of good training at the moment. Will keep you all posted =)

Courteney.