This race is hands down the best race of the year. It's a 5 star race with 1 star attendance. Everyone really missed out on this weekend. There was a TT on Fri. (which we did not do), a 100k Delores River RR on Sat. and a 142k race up Unaweep Canyon on Sunday.
Lisa Renee, Susan and I arrived on Friday afternoon to a place of absolute beauty. This canyon is beautiful and the resort is the equivalent to something found at Disney World. It was the only place to stay if you wanted to be where all the action was, so it housed a large number of racers.
Our first race was on Sat. moring. They decided to combine the women's categories because of such small fields. There were about 20 of us combined and we set out for one of the most breathtaking rides of the season. It went 100k up the Delores River Valley and back. It was basically a flat ride with only 800 ft. of climbing. We all started out together and with a headwind to deal with, I decided we all needed to work together for a while. Everyone did a great job of forming an eschelon and we rotated nicely up the valley. I think the cat 4 and 3 ladies really appreciated being a part of the race and doing equal work for the feild. Before the turnaround there was enough of a gradient change, that it split up the feild and the 1-2's basically ended up together. We worked together until the last 3 miles, when there was enough of a hill that I decided to attack and finish the race alone. Lisa Renee stayed back and did her best to block the feild. It worked, as I finished about 40 seconds ahead of the peloton.
After the race there was a man (he actually seemed like and angel at the time!) that was standing at the finish line with cold, citrus smelling white towels that he handed out to all as they crossed the finish line. It was hot and windy, so this was an amazing treat.
After a great lunch at the gourmet restaurant, and a quick shower-we all decided to get a massage and then hit the pool and hot tub! (This was only after Lisa Renee spent 20 min. in an ice bath, I don't know how she does that!!) That evening we went to a benefit dinner and Scott Mercier gave a talk on his experience at the Barcelona Olympics. It was fun to hear his story.
On Sunday we were joined by Carla and at 8:00 we set out on our 142k RR up Unaweep Canyon. We knew that at mile 11 they had a Queen of the Mountain award, so Lisa Renee and I slowly picked the pace of the climb up and dropped the field about 8 miles in. Lisa Renee won the Queen of the Mountain!! We spent the rest of the race in horrid head winds (both directions) helping each other make it through this beautiful canyon. We were never so glad to have hit the turnaround, however it was followed by a 5 mile climb back to the top of the canyon. At the turnaround we realized that we were about 7 min. ahead of Carla, Sue Stokes and Sandra Hyra. We kept a pretty decent pace, I think because we wanted the ride to end! At mile 15 to go, we were pretty much sick of the head winds and ready for some good food. I ended up winning the race and the State Championship. After the race, Lisa Renee tried to get me into one of her famous ice baths, but within 1 min. I was out of there. I could not stand the cold. I still don't know how she does it!
Luke and his wife Erin who promote this race were so cool. They would help you in any way possible and did such a nice job helping do everything. Every day after the race they would have an awards ceremony and have nice loot to give away in a daily drawing. The prize money for the pro fields was amazing, the best of any race I have been to all year.
This was a great weekend and I would suggest more of us trying to get over there next year to support it. It is worth the time effort getting there with some of the best courses in the country, not to mention the place itself is fabulous. The website for this resort is
www.gatewayresorts.com . Check it out!
