GMSR Road Race by Emma

Stage 2 – the Mountain Stage was 64.4 miles of several long climbs, rough terrain, and we actually rode up a 2 mile wall (well, it felt like a wall) to the Appalachian Gap which was the finish. When I say rough terrain, I mean 2 miles of dirt road sprinkled with water bottles that had bounced out of cages. There was a Mavic support tent at the end of the road in case of incidents. We also rode up a hill smothered in dirt and rocks from run-off.

It’s all a bit of a blur now, but I remember catching up to the leaders after the KOM, and riding for over 30 miles in a rotating paceline (I’m not kidding) with 14 other riders. I was comforted by the presence of a fellow New Yorker, Angela Johnson of CRCA/Axis. (Angela was 12 points from the podium in the final GC, finishing 4th overall). The 15 of us stayed together until the final climb, where I accelerated with the leaders in front of 4 riders. I passed 2 more in the last 1k to finish 9th, 2 minutes behind the leader—Ann Thompson who finished 5, 11, 19 seconds ahead of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place.

Liz adds:
It was exciting to hear about the women's 123 race, which was won by Ann Marie Miller of CRCA (riding for Verizon Wireless) in a solo break. Very cool.