The race was only 10 or so girls. I planned to race hard so I did not want to just sit in, but hoped to split up the race and attack until I could break away (ideally towards the end of the race). The course was decent for a break away. A short and steep 3 minute climb, a long steady descent and a short flat section before the climb. There were 7 laps of the 6 mile course. The race started off pretty steady at the top of the long downhill. I was unhappy with the descending speed and confidence of the girls in front so I moved up and descended off the front with a focus on aerodynamics and steady pedalling. I wasn't pedalling very hard but nobody wanted to go any faster than me. When the flat section came I pulled off and let somebody else pull. 5 or so of us rotated smoothly until the climb. On the climb I put in a decently hard effort hoping to split the group, knowing that I would immediately have a long descent to recover afterwards. My effort led to me having a decent gap at the top of the climb. I wasn't breathing too hard and knew I was still in great shape so I pushed steadily and tucked into the downhill. I must have recovered much faster than the girls chasing me because I was able to keep increasing my lead. I ended up riding solo at a hard tempo pace for the next 1.5 hours, saving just a bit for the climb to add a little interval into each lap. My gap was increasing each lap. My lead car even told me I don't have to keep pushing so hard and I had a big enough lead, but I responded to them saying "I want to keep pushing hard anyways!" I was surprised that my efforts led to me lapping half of the field before the end of the race. 

 

After the race I was quickly losing body temperature so tried to leave as soon as possible after chit-chatting a little bit. I ate the rest of the food I brought rode the last 27 miles back home. It was a great adventure of a day. - Emily