How the 2012 Exergy Tour Ended

The final stage of the Exergy Tour in Boise, ID was only 75km long but the hills were relentless!  For the first time during the Tour, the sun was out full force, perfect for racing.  There were oodles of spectators all over the course.  I even spotted our new friend Grace Alexander, an up and coming cyclist who Optum rode with two days before the beginning of the Exergy Tour.  There were plenty of costumes too.  I was fortunate enough to get a picture with the scantily clad devil painted in red bodypaint at the end of the day.

veloimages (steephill.tv)

 A freak accident took out two of my teammates, Janel Holcomb and Courteney Lowe only 50m after the start line.  Exergy Team set a very high tempo from the start, and although the game plan wasn't necessarily to launch any, we had to work hard to cover attacks from the gun. 

Carmen Small ended up in fourth place for the day, just barely missing the podium.  Häusler from GreenEdge took the stage win, and Neben from Specialized-LuluLemon won the overall GC.

I was pooched after the race, and crashed down on my hotel bed, fully kitted up.  I even had my Mavic shoes and Lazer helmet on still.  My nap lasted at least 45 minutes. 

Exergy Tour put on a rodeo for all of the riders to celebrate the end of the tour.  Adrian lent me his rubber boots (I pretended they were cowgirl boots, and still wonder to this day if I fooled any of the real cowboys with them).  I rode a horse, a mechanical bull, ate the most tender steak of my life, and watched my first ever real-live-rodeo.  Exergy gave every rider a genuine cowgirl belt buckle.  Special edition.

Thank you Optum, thank you Optum staff, thank you Exergy, thank you to all of the sponsors that support myself, Optum, and women's cycling.  The Exergy Tour was awesome.