Race Re-Cap Sterling Road Race

Despite driving through golf ball seized hail in Wochester Massechusetts on our way to the race, the skies held clear for everyone at the 17th Annual Sterling Classic Road Race held in Sterling MA. Only five minutes of showers cooled us off around 1:30pm and the rest of the race was perfect weather. For the women representing NorEast it was myself (Jena Greaser), Amy Miner, and Kerry Litka. The women's race was 48 miles long. We did 6 loops (each 8 miles long). There is only one challenging part to Sterling and that is a very very challenging, steep climb to the finish line. However, when you do it 7 times, it gets pretty tiring! The rest of the course is just 7 miles of flat roads and rolling hills. On the first lap Kerry rode off the front and no one decided to attack her. Amy and I moved to the front to block, but before the final 2 miles of the first loop, two Kenda riders moved around us on a turn and pulled Kerry in. After going up the climb for a second time, the pack had dropped the majority of the category 3 riders and a few 2's. However, on every lap they would catch back on because after the climb, everyone would just settle in to an easy tempo ride. A Sunapee rider blew off the front and since no one was doing anything, and I knew that this was a strong rider, I got out of the saddle, on the front, and sprinted her down. After that, there were no more attempts of breaking away because I think everyone realized the course was not designed for it and there were too many strong riders in the field. I orchestrated a team meeting on the start of the 3rd lap. We decided that we should do something on the last lap for Amy to get a lead out and hopefully the win. I was just using the race as training for the end of my build weeks and Amy had just come off a rest week, she let us know she was really fresh and ready to give it a go. In the final 2 miles of the last lap, I pulled into position on the front with Kerry to the inside of me and Amy behind us. As we rounded the corner to climb the hill to the finish, Amy took off behind our wheels and sprinted her legs off to a 3rd place finish, almost beating Pro rider, Mary Zider!!! My legs blew up as we started the final climb and I just let everyone else charge up the hill as I soft pedaled it to the finish line at the end of the pack. I had done what I needed to do and was satisfied enough with that. Kerry had passed me and placed a few riders further up, but what we were most proud of was our team work together in the race to help Amy to her amazing 3rd place finish!