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A fun one

1st place at GFNY York! (Race report below) I got to practice my champagne celebration…still don’t quite have the hang of it 😆

Huge thank you to GFNY and all the staff who make the races such a fun event. I was so happy to see and race with so many friends. Congratulations to all for their hard work and great results! 

My goal for today was to get in the race mindset because I have been lacking that this past year (hence me not racing, lol!). And I was able to do it. When it hurt, I pushed harder. I felt strong. I made strategic choices at the right moments to set me up in good positions.  And I enjoyed it. All of that is my “win” for the day, because I was not sure I would successfully be able to do any of those things. 

The course did not have many attack points, so the peloton stayed together for about 1/3 of the race - but then we got to a section with a punchy climb followed by rollers and then a long, fast straightaway. I knew it was crucial I stay toward the front of the group on the rollers so I could grab some good wheels on the straightaway. I was able to do that, and luckily I did because that was where the group started to fracture into smaller pods. 

I saw the breakaway of 6 guys go but I knew they were all incredibly strong riders and I’d burn myself out trying to keep their wheels, so I was happy to watch them ride away and stay in the chasing group. And by that time I was the only woman in that group. I knew several more were in the groups chasing my group, and I hoped they wouldn’t catch up, so every so often I’d move all the way to the back of my group to look at every person, and also the road behind me, to see if a woman had reattached. After 20 or so miles with nobody reattaching (and some people dropping) I became more and more confident that I could probably ride that “train” to the finish and take the win. However, I tried to save as much energy as possible just in case a competitor reattached and I would have to attack again. As I had hoped, I was able to stay in my chasing group, and I moved to the back at the somewhat technical sprint finish and let them battle it out (I have another important race next week, and it wasn’t worth trying to sprint when I already had the win!)

A great day, and just what I needed to fire me up and give me confidence for next week.

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Jill Patterson - cycling coach

GFNY York 1st place

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TrainingPeaks Virtual - Workout: TrainingPeaks Virtual - Workout: Scheduled TrainingPeaks Workout

TrainingPeaks Virtual - Workout: TrainingPeaks Virtual - Workout: Scheduled TrainingPeaks Workout

A fun one

TrainingPeaks Virtual - Workout: TrainingPeaks Virtual - Workout: Scheduled TrainingPeaks Workout

TrainingPeaks Virtual - Workout: TrainingPeaks Virtual - Workout: Scheduled TrainingPeaks Workout

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