PEI Stage 3: Kensington to North Rustico (120 km)

Day one was about nerves, day two (the TT) was to be survived...but day three, that's when I thought we would begin to settle in and really race. And that may have actually been the case had an attack not been launched in the feedzone...by none other than our guest rider Leda! By the end of the day CycleLoft had certainly made a name for itself! Let's just say other teams were not too thrilled with her by dinner. She's lucky they didn't drag her out to the parking lot and throw a few punches!


In any case, the attack certainly caught people off guard - and all hell broke loose from there. Of course, the feedzone was conveniently located on a hill...so the field basically splintered from there. Depending upon where you were coming in...would determine where you would end up in the chase. For a while I had to surf through the caravan (kinda cool) and eventually caught up to a group which ended up with 10 riders. Fortunately Rebecca and Sally were also in this group.



I would have to say there wasn't much more one could do. Circumstances neutralized the "real racing" that I had anticipated. We worked as a group, keeping a decent pace...but I never really knew where we were in relation to the lead group or other chase groups. As we neared the finish an Ontario rider decided to sprint early, with a Cascade rider following (which was ridiculous considering how far back we were) - these efforts would fade and Rebecca, Sally and I would be the first three of our group of ten.

Although there is a generally acknowledged unwritten rule not to attack in the feedzone I guess the lesson is...in UCI races, all bets are off! You can never let your guard down. I didn't feel I was riding badly at all that day, but who knows what may have been different had I not gone for a bottle - had we all skipped trying to get a bottle??? Just another lesson in keeping your head up and making split second decisions that can make or break your race.