2012 Cascade Cycling Classic - 7/17/2012 Prologue

17 July 2012 - Written by Guest rider Melina Bernecker Cascade Cycling Classic – Prologue Having ridden the course several times in the morning I felt comfortable with the corners and route. We (the team) decided to go early and get a good spot to set up our trainers near the starters chute and allow plenty of time to get ready and warm up. The race start was at 6pm and located as the top of the little hill on Meeks Trail Road and the 2.8 mile / 4.5km TT route took us around a gold course… not that we had any time to enjoy the scenery! The first half third was downhill, the second third flat and the last third slightly uphill. Just for a change I managed to get in a decent warm-up and felt ready to go. Jenny Rios was off first at 6.12, Holly Brecht was next followed by Bea Rodriquez, Lisa Campbell, myself and last was Amber Gaffney. We were approximately 6 minutes apart in start time. As we lined up at the starting chute each of our bikes was checked in the jug for UCI fit ruling, luckily none of us had any issues and we were all set to go. Conditions were favorable with only a little breeze and warm air temperature. Feeling a little nervous at the start chute I took several deep breaths as the started counted down 5,4,3,2,1… a deep breath and I was off, pedaling my little heart out. The first km of the race went down a fairly steep hill with several gentle turns, (the road surface at the bottom was not great but I have seen a lot worse). There was a sharp Left hand turn right before the 2km mark and then a flat section with another slight downhill before hitting the roundabout which made another left turn up the first little hill (I say little but at this point my legs were starting to feel the lactic acid)… getting out of the saddle I powered over the hill and settled into the false flat that took me to the last and final climb (at his point my legs were feeling totally trashed and I fought them with every inch of my conscious mind trying to convince them to turn faster, harder, stronger!). As I made the last turn and the finish line came into view I managed to muster up the last bit of energy and strength to propel myself over the line. Kristen Armstrong (Exergy 21) won the prologue in a thundering time of 5.24, second was Alison Powers (Now Novartis), with Jacquelyn Crowe (Exergy 21). The SC Velo Team feared well in the high standard of completion with Amber Gaffney finishing 27th in a time of 6.03, Myself finishing 47th in a time of 6.17, Lisa Campbell was 50th with 6.19, Holly Brecht, 75th in 6.36, Bea Rodriguez 83rd in 6.41 and Jenny Rios 95th in 7.3. Our team finished 9th in the team standing out of 13. Big thanks goes out to our wonderful support team in Dennis, Charlie, James and Sharon, you guys made life so much easier for us.