Rebecca, Cari, Anna, and Kate were all supporting Betsy and I. They stood with my bike in line for the start when I used the bathroom. The race started 30 minutes late. We had a neutral 1 mile start out of Raymond. Then we made the turn onto the course and the racing started. The climb started a little bit later. Colavita had Sarah Tillotson driving the pace up the climb. Betsy popped off on the climb. I hung in and so did a lot of others. The pace just wasn’t high enough. The first lap was pretty much just tempo.

Then a TIBCO girl got off and they let her go. I was going to bridge up to her when several women told me my front skewer was open. I looked down and they were right. We were going slowly so I pulled over and tightened it and caught back up to the pack. Then I decided to get a bottle from the car in the caravan. Rebecca pulled up and the commissar yelled that they had to approach me from the other side. I went to the driver side and got a bottle from Rebecca. Then I caught back up to the pack. I was frustrated that the TIBCO girl was still out there and had almost a minute.

I attacked and got off, but the pack chased me down and then sat up. I looked down and my skewer was open again. I stopped and tightened it. The Shimano guy came to see what was wrong. I told him my skewer kept coming open. He checked it and said it was tight. I had to chase to get back onto the pack. I sat in for the climb. I didn’t fight for position, so I was midway in the pack. Colavita started driving the pace again. Then Dotsie attacked and opened a gap. That started gaps opening in the field. I got separated. I dug deep and kept working up the climb.

There was a group of us working. We were still in the caravan, but we couldn’t see the front group. I kept working it so we could catch the pack. Luckily we turned a corner and there they were. We worked and caught and everyone was together. A break got off and I missed it. As the pack slowed down I jumped to catch the group. They let me go and then chased me down; we eventually caught that break. Then another break went that I missed. Three of us tried to jump up to the break. They let us go. We turned a corner and Nicole Evans, TEAm Lipton, was crashed off the side of the road.

We worked but didn’t catch the break. Then the pack caught the three of us. It looked like the break would stick. Then Colavita’s rider dropped out of the break. Webcor seemed to be driving the pace. I saw Kelly Benjamin head up to the front and I started to follow. I was just too chicken to throw elbows for the right position. There was another crash with 500 meters to go. They wound it up for the sprint. I was boxed in again. Tina Pic, Colavita, won the sprint, Brooke Miller, TIBCO, 2nd, and Kelly Benjamin, Cheerwine, 3rd. I finished 19th. Betsy came across the line 40 minutes later; she rode by herself after getting dropped.