 Aug 3rd, 09. Kiwi Josie Giddens shares her superb Superweek with RoadCycling.co.nz. Giddens won her first US race and followed it up with a 2nd the very next day.
Giddens heading to her 1st US podium back in June (c) Matthew Koschara
Giddens sent through this race report to RoadCycling.co.nz so we can share her great success.
Josie Gidden's Superweek report
Super week started off pretty intensely and I had a few ups and downs during the two weeks of racing.
My role in the team [Hub Racing] was just to work for my teammates with lead outs for sprint points and for the final sprints, but if I felt there were opportunities for me to get away after my job was done, then I had the green light to attack the field and break away.
It was all about the timing because if you go too soon the bunch can bring you back just before the final sprint and if you leave it too late then you will never get away, so it was really trial and error for me as I didn't really know how far I could push my body on consecutive hard days.
All I could do was try to push myself, and if I failed then there was always tomorrow. It just so happened that the Evanston Crit [officially the The North Shore University Health System Grand Prix] was my success and I timed it all perfectly.
Inspired by Roulston's performance
The day before, I had watched Roly in a breakaway in the Tour de France and finish 3rd. I was all inspired to pull off a podium on the same day but my body wasn't letting me that day. I could barely turn the pedals and to make things worse the sky opened up and this massive storm came through. That was my cue to call it a day and try again tomorrow.
During the Evanston crit my teammates and I had been attacking the field most of the race but all our attempts had been brought back. With about 6 or 7 laps to go my teammate Sally had attacked hard and strung the field out which was pretty mint and by the time we all got back in to a bunch there was about 3 laps to go.
My team leader Sheba was telling me, "Jose start thinking about the sprint and moving to the front"..... as the bunch started to ease with 2 and half laps to go I thought here is an opportunity and launched my attack on the field.
It hurt like hell, those 2 laps felt like forever but when you hear 25,000 people yelling and cheering, something extra comes out of the bag! I kept my break and won my first Crit in the States! I turned around to thank my teammates and found they all had their arms in the air screaming at me, I was just happy to pull something off and contribute to my team!
Superweek continued
The next day we had a 50km Road race in Wheel & Sprocket Whitnall Park Road Race. I was pretty smashed from the day before so I just cruised for a while until I found a good rhythm and it didn't help that attacks were going early. I was definitely in the hurt box!
But just when you're about to give up, something makes you try just one more time to stick it out and this time I decided to just attack and then my team mates could counter me if I came back. Luckily one other girl came with me and we worked pretty well together in the break. With one lap to go she attacked me on the climb and got a good gap and I just didn't have the legs to bring her back which gutted me a bit, but I just had to take 2nd.
The rest of Super week I got myself into a bit of strife with getting caught up in 3 crashes breaking my bike, helmet and shoes (I was not happy at all!! I loved my Cannondale super six!!) But as I kept getting told it's just gear and I was lucky that I was still in one piece ..... .skin heals and gear can be replaced!
Overall on the General Classification I finished up 8th, and 8th in sprint classification.
Related articles
|
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Google+
