oh how i love the interstate.

the rules are quite clear.  people rarely pass on the left and in general
are predictable.  a nice break from driving near boston and on route
2.  although that saturday on i-95, going to maine, we (me and karina) did
have some issues with an unweidly caravan of people with spanish signs on
their cars.

so after our lovely 2 hour drive, we got a bit lost in falmouth (i swear
we followed the directions, but they were incorrect).  after getting help
from some friendly locals, we proceeded to the race.  got a nice warm-up
riding around.  by the time we got back, the race was huge: 27 women, cats
2,3, and 4.  i was pretty intimidated.                   

we lined up for the race, which was supposed to go off at 12:17.  we
finally got rolling over 1/2 an hour later--so much for my warm-up.

the attacks started early.  we were doing 10 laps on a 4-mile loop, so i
expected things to be more settled.  but there was a girl from killington
who kept on putting out these really pathetic attacks--she would stand and
breathe really hard but wouldn't really be going fast enough to get away
from us.  at one point one of the cat 2s said, "why doesn't she just sit
her ass down already?"

then there was leah toffolon.  i didn't know who she was until
later.  (she's a cat 2 who races for elita, a pro team, at least as pro as
women's teams get.)  she had a bike painted for the now-defunct celestial
seasonings team, and her name was on it.  she was wearing a necsa uniform
though (local juniors team--maybe she was trying to be low-key).  anyway
she was at the front most of the time, even tried to launch a few attacks
but was always brought back in.  she never looked like she was trying very     
hard.  she pedaled slowly, slightly pidgeon-toed, with little effort, as
if she were out for a sunday ride on the bike path.

at one point, on lap 7 or 8, one of the local maine riders managed to get
a fairly substantial lead.  however the pack managed to get pretty close
to her, and then we just let her dangle out there, just within
reach.  eventually we caught her.  i was feeling fairly tired, having done
what i felt was my fair share of work at the front, chasing down attacks
and pulling.  it was also a big advantage to be at front because of a few
tight corners, and generally sketchy handling in the peloton (for me to
say that is a big deal).  luckily no one crashed.

our race got cut short by one lap because of an incoming thunderstorm.  i
figured out where to make my move on the hill (a big-ringer) to set myself
up for the sprint.  but as we came around the last time, i found myself
hopelessly out of position.  sure, i'd been trying to move up, but
everyone else was trying to move up too.  i was probably in the last third   
of the pack.  i looked to my left and who did i see but karina, my tufts
teammate, who'd come up with me to the race.  i asked her to let me out
and she slowed down.  so i came out on the left and started sprinting.  i
passed almost everyone and ended up getting 2nd by an inch or two.

brooke o'connor, who finished 3rd, said she hadn't wanted to give me a
lead-out.  i didn't want to tell her that not only was i nowhere near her
during the sprint until the last 5 meters or so (and was going a lot
faster than she was), i'd also gotten into position because her teammate
helped me out (oops).  but i just had to try to capitalize on that uphill
sprint, you know?

turns out if i'd won i would have gotten a festina watch.  it was ugly and
yellow, but still.  oh well.  and tom vinson said that this would
definitely count for points, even though i didn't ask him.  the only cat 2
who placed was brooke.  leah toffolon and alicia genest didn't get into
the top 5.  i don't know who else was a cat 2, but i think the field was   
mostly 3s.

afterwards i bought karina an ice cream cone.  it was the least i could
do.