HP LaserJet Women's Challenge -- Opening Stages
June 10, 2000

For the last few days we haven't had phones and hence, no email.

The first day of racing was 70 miles from Boise to Idaho City with one mountain sprint and one hot spot. The wind blew hard, determining the race. At around the ten-mile mark around a slippery corner a crash happened and a break of ten got off. Leigh had been in the break but was also in the crash. I was behind the crash and ended up spending way too much time trying to catch back on and helping Leigh do the same.

Leigh made it and I dropped off by being ill-placed in the echelon after taking a pull at a crucial point. The break of ten stayed off with Anna Wilson taking the win. Leigh's group, the main bunch, was 3 minutes back. My group ended up 15 minutes back from the leaders.

The following day was Lowman to Stanley. The start is in a State park. We start climbing from there until the mountain sprint at mile 32. the climb starts gradually and rolls for a while. It's at mile 20 that the real climbing starts. Nicole and I went for the hot spot sprint at mile 11 - me leading her out. Elita had a train going for Karen Dunne, who won the sprint jersey last year, so we worked off that. Karen won that sprint. Nicole took third and I squeaked in for 2 points at 6th.

Once the climbing started all the climbers came to the front and I lost the great positioning I had had all day prior to that. This came at a bad time - when the attacks started - and I was separated from the bulk of the group. Working really hard I thought I might catch them on a more gradual incline. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Marie and I climbed together catching some people going up. Leigh and Catherine remained in the lead group that chased Longo and a few others over the top. On the descent our group caught Katrina.

Leigh ended up on the podium in the super fast tailwind sprint. Longo won just ahead of that lead group. The group I was in ended up 9 minutes back.

Clearly, I'm not feeling that great. Still no explanation. Ah well. Yesterday was better than the first day which was disappointing, since I like riding in the wind. Leigh is doing great is looking really strong. Catherine is climbing great too.

It's been cold and a bit wet but nothing extreme. At this moment we're in Elkhorn Village, a ski resort.

Oh, and after yesterday's race Katrina, Leigh and I found a hot springs tub along the river in Stanley and jumped back and forth between the cold river and hot tub. It's not all suffering here.