Tour of P.E.I…. finally!!
Hey!
Think I better apologize for not keeping you all posted bout the P.E.I tour and what I’ve been up to, but hey better late then never!
5 Days round Prince Edward Island which was a long 14hr bus trip! The organisation that run the Montreal world cup and the 4 day Montreal Tour also run this new event. They booked 3 coaches and a big kick ass truck for the bikes and packed all the teams and officials on the busses and off we went!!
Its a small island just off the mainland, its connected by a brand new 14.5km Bridge, the Federation Bridge its called from what I can remember! Unlike the Montreal weather, we were lucky no rain, but alot of wind! All the races were either flat-ish or rolling no major climbs, so basically we knew it would be gutter action most of the time! Booo!! The people on the island thought it was amazing! they loved us, and welcomed us big time! Every day we had Brekkie lunch and dinner supplied, and unlike the French style, this was wicked food!! HUUUGE selection of veges, rice, potatoes, salads, fruits desserts!! yuummmm!! Most of the European racing food is either pasta, bread, grated carrot and maybe some fish or dried chicken, so the old tomato sauce is always a must!!
Day 1 = 10Laps of 10km circuit, Race plan was to be aggressive and try create moves! We had a few good breaks but none seemed to stick, apart from 1 Russian chick that managed to go solo and stay away (even with the whole Italian Pasta Safi team chasing and she continued gaining time) ….basically she finished with a slight gap and the rest of us in bunch finish. again I spent the last 4 laps getting dropped , then catching back up the story of my rasing so far this season!!!!!!
Day2 = 28km ITT there and back along this new bridge! So the locals were stuck on the island while we raced. It was a massive tail wind all the way out with riders going bout 65+km/hr in the biggest gear, and on the way back I was in my small ring 21 trying not to stall!! anyway the biggest surprise I got 4th… hell I was just hoping to make top 20 for once! I was pretty stoked with that but also found it rather funny!! Now I knew tomorrow i had to suck it up and ride in good position and not let the team down…..
Day 3 = 121km Rolling RR, basically I was to ride well in stay sheltered, which was fine with me, and what do ya know I didnt get dropped once, all of a sudden I had this bit of confidence in the bunch and just held my position easier then any of my other races this season! yay!! Nothing too dramatic happened ….
Day4 = 99km Rolling RR, Again it was windy and that was the biggest factor, the field split a few times and although I never got dropped today either, I deffinitly thought I was toast on a few occasions, but had wicked teammates that looked after me and we managed to keep it together! we lost 1 spot today ……… bloody Russians going nuts again..
Day5 = 50km crit, Pretty mush a square circuit 1km long with a slight uphill on the back side of course! I really wanted to do well today and have good go at it, but felt like complete ass…. so just rode in the bunch and tried to stay upright! Nothing exciting hapened. I was pretty dissapointed with myself after….
Anyway, I finished 5th overall!! so its a good result for the team! We collected some UCI points which is the name of the game! So now for me it was time for my 2 week holiday in my beautiful homeland Croatia!!! (thats why i kinda dissapeared off the face of the earth and never updated this thing)
Ok thats is for now! tomorrow I shall tell you all about my trip!!
See you!
Marina
