Exergy Tour Stage 1

I woke up early to get a coffee and breakfast.  I had been looking forward to it all night.  It was raining outside.  I pretended it wasn't, which worked, until I actually had to venture out into it to get to the race.

I started the race with several layers on, including a rain jacket.  I had Shammy Butt'r Hot Embro, or hot warming balm in other words, on my feet.  For anybody who uses warming balm, you know that the ''hot'' stuff is SERIOUS business.  I used the mild version on my legs (even on the glutes, on Adrian's advice, he is our wise mechanic) and slathered a layer of oil on top before putting my Champion Systems leg warmers on.  It's not ''Euro'' to race with leg warmers apparently, but that doesn't change anything for me, I'm North American.  I didn't regret wearing them.

Several km after the start a huge crowd of school children cheered all of the riders on.  There were tons of fans on the hill of the main climb in today's stage.  Others were scattered throughout the course with their cowbells in hand.  We might not acknowledge them when we race by, but we hear the cheers, and we know they're there, and we LOVE the support.

Briefly, how it played out:
There were a few breaks in the race, and Optum was present in all of them.  Leah went in the first break, which stayed away from the main field for quite some time.  Then Jade, Carmen and Janel caught up to her group.  This was good for Optum.  Near the end of the race, with just over 10km to go, the main field was all back together in one pack.  Carmen, Jade and Janel worked the front for a bit.  There were several attacks that had to be covered, so I went with them, but none stayed away.  When there was a slight lull in the peloton's pace, I took a flyer, and was reeled back by Specialized-Lulu Lemon after a couple of kilometers, and Jade counter-attacked right away.  She too got brought back, and Carmen, Joëlle and Leah worked hard up at the front to make the sprint finish. 

There was a huge crash with under 1km to go.  No Optum Orange spilled on the road.  Good.  Thanks to some excellent teamwork, Leah still managed to get a 4th place finish.   Jade also scored enough points in the QOM sprints (Queen of the Mountain) to stand in second place for the competition.

Theresa Cliff-Ryan won the stage.

You can watch the Exergy Tour live, and check out all of the race stats on Tour Tracker here: http://exergytour.thetourtracker.com/

A screenshot of my flyer at the Exergy Tour on Tour Tracker, courtesy of Michael Foley

 
Unfortuantely in the crash, World Champion Georgia Bronzini went down.  We hope she is okay.  Especially after Kristen Armstrong who broke her collarbone yesterday at Exergy, and cycling superstar Marianne Vos breaking her shoulder in Europe as well.  Enough bad luck, it's got to be over now, right?  Right.

Exergy Prologue

 Foolproof.  No thinking, just pedaling.  With a clear schedule taped to the Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies team van, we didn't have to question our schedule, warm-up plan, or remember when our start times were for the Exergy Tour prologue.  I like that.

 The prologue was short, and our warm-up on the Kinetic Road Machine trainers was imperative.  As we pedaled, some fans stopped by to take pictures or get their rider cards autographed.  We had a selection out for them on the hood of the Acura TSX sportwagon.  

There was a plethora of fans out to cheer on the international group of racers as they raced around the 3.1km prologue course.  I'm a big fan of cheering, and I love it when the crowds come out for us.

To get a good placing in this event, top notch equipment is essential.  Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefits strategies rode Orbea time trial bikes and HED disc wheels, and either HED deep-dish front wheels or HED tri-spokes.  The other thing that was obligatory was taking risks on the tight turns.  One was a tight over-ninety -degrees turn out of a speedy little descent, and another was a 180 U-turn shortly after.  A couple of riders who were gutsy enough to take them at big speeds and short lines went down.  Everyone from Optum is alright. 

Unfortunately, the hometown star (Boise ID) and Olympic champion Kristen Armstrong crashed and broke her collarbone.  We're not on the same team, but it is never, ever cool when any rider goes down for any reason, and I wish her a full and speedy recovery. 

Optum has 4 riders in the top 20 (of a 100+ rider field) after the prologue. 

Stage one is a 123.5km road race that starts and finishes in Nampa ID.  Follow us live on Tour Tracker.