There were about 40 Pro women entered, including a strong Colavita, Tibco and Specialised team. The first race was a 4km up hill TT. I have only done a couple of these, in my club champs back at home so did not have a clue how to pace myself. I decided going out at about 80% and hitting the 100% mark with a km to go was the best option. It seemed to work and I crossed the line completely spent. Getting 6th place, 24 seconds off first. Lauren finished in 15th , with Kate 18th and Megan 34th . A week before the race I had got myself some Zipp 303 wheels (to replace my Reynold that fell off the roof). They felt so fast, although I am a little scared to use them. Coming back down the hill I felt a little wobbly, thinking it was just because they were new wheels and I wasn’t used to them I carried on. When I got to the bottom my wheel started screeching and the hub was burning up. I went to the SRAM guys and they found out the manufacturers had put the wrong piece in the hub. After a bit of stress I got the new piece in and they are now running amazingly.
The next day was a 100km road race out in the country of Fayetteville. It had some good rollers but no major climbs. There were a lot of attacks but everything got chased, nothing was getting away. 20 kms out from the finish a girl came down a few in front, I had some one on my left and right so had to go straight into her. Luckily I had slowed down enough to falll on her without too much speed. I then jammed my front wheel out of her pedal and timetrialed it by myself for just over 5 kms back to the bunch. Coming up to the finish I tried to get up as far as possible, there was a tight right hand corner and then a 300 (or so) metre little climb to the finish. I started from too far back, not being able to wind my gear up enough, getting 4th place. With Kate in 5th, Lauren 24th and Megan 28th.
Finish of the first road stage, me on the far left (in the red & white)The third day was a 100km lolliepop race, where we headed out, did 2 laps of a circuit and then came back on the same course. There was again A LOT of attacks, some being quit dangerous with good riders getting some distance. Kate and I spent most of the race chasing them down (if we missed the break). But again all the breaks eventually got caught. With 15kms to go I had a go, getting a pretty good gap. I stayed away for about 4-5 kms, then looked behind and noticed Tibco on the front chasing me down.. that was the end of that. The finish included a winding downhill, that went to a slight false downhill.. So it was going to be fast! Not being my ideal finish, I stayed safe coming down the hill sitting mid-bunch, then crossed the line in 15th.. So a pretty average finish but was happy to get over the line safely! Kate had an awesome finish just being piped at the line by Joe Kaisanowski (Tibco) for 3rd. So Kate was 4th, Lauren 13th and Megan 16th. 
Me second wheel, behind Colavita.
The final day was an 8 corner, up and down criterium. I went into the stage sitting in 7th place. I positioned myself right up front for the entire crit, chasing quit a few attacks. Coming around the last corner I got on Kates wheel, we started from too far back but she gave me a great lead out, I left the sprint too late and finished 4th (again). Kate finished 8th, Lauren 26th, and Megan 33rd. Overall I finished in 6th place, and 1st in the young riders category. It was a pretty hard few days of racing as Kate and myself had to do a lot of work as well as trying to finish strongly. I learnt even more and had a great time so a pretty successful few days.
On the podium getting the young riders leader jersey.
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