The Tracey Gaudry Diary 2000The Local East Coast Australian Time is
International Thüringen Rundfahrt for WomenGermany, July 25-30, 2000 The familiar boarding house of Zeulenroda, East Germany greeted us as we arrived at the race accommodation after what is now a customary drama-filled voyage to this race. In the midst of a ten hour drive, one of our race vehicles completely broke down on the autobahn leaving us stranded. Eventually we found a cable and towed the car with our other vehicle to the nearest roadside stop where we unloaded everything into the 'working' vehicle and continued on, leaving James and Dave to tend to the repairs. We arrived at 6pm last night, they arrived at 6pm tonite just as the prologue was commencing! Prologue - July 25: Zeulenroda, 5.8km Yesterday, I was in such a bad way with a worsening headcold that I figured there was no way I could ride, despite the advice to 'take it easy' for the first few days. This is a race where 'taking it easy' is not an option! I awoke this morning still with the headcold, but it hadn't travelled to my chest thankfully. I would at least be able to start. All except Hayley had standard road bikes with clip-on bars, but given the technical course we hoped this would not be too much of a disadvantage. I was under strict instructions to ride conservatively and wisely did so, getting through the course without any major effort. My legs felt strong, but my heartrate was flying, a sure sign that my body's defences were already working overtime. The course was fun, with a downhill start into a short straight, turning right onto a short power hill, right (over a street curb!) into a narrow marketplace strip. We then turned a sharp left onto another steep hill, cobbled this time. A short straight followed with a series of sharp corners, another up-and-down section, more cobbles, more corners and then the run up to the finish! No time to get bored! All the Aussies had great rides, with the six of us finishing in the Top 25. Anna won by four seconds from Hanka Kupfernagel, with her and most of the field riding slick time trial bikes. Even Hayley finished 21st after crashing on a sharp corner. I surprised myself finishing ninth with a conservative ride. A couple more days of 'soft pedalling' and I should be back on track.
Stage 1 - July 26: Zeulenroda - Schleiz, 110km In typical northern Germany fashion, the skies threatened to burst all morning, waiting until we started at 2pm to descend upon us in a steady downpour. The sketchy field was oh-so-nervous for the first 30km and I'm sure we all burnt more nervous energy than physical exertion! A solo break by a Danish rider, enabled us to cruise for a while, as the gap went out to over two minutes. Though we had the leader's jersey, we were not phased about chasing early on, as it was a pretty tough undulating stage, and figured that the weather and terrain would wear out this rider, despite her tenacity. She came back around half way through the race and then the race 'real' began. In this region of Germany, there is no such thing as 'piano'. It is either up, down, or around! In the intermittent rain it was important to keep your wits about you and ride good bunch position to be able to anticipate the changes in terrain, not to mention the many railroad tracks and sections of roadwork! We had it all today. A number of attacks were launched but nothing stuck for a while. Then during a lull in the race while several riders were feeding, and Hanka attacked fiercely up a short climb. Vera and a Norwegian rider went with her. Shit! Here we go. I got on the front and drove, wanting desperately to see the normally familiar sight of yellow and green jerseys up with me. They didn't know what was going on, and James hadn't received word of the break over the race radio, so the call hadn't been put out to the girls. It was probably only a kilometre until Lizzie came up but felt like ages. She, Margaret and I worked hard, then Anna launched from us and bridged across to the break. Phew! The foursome ahead were in two minds as to who would work, and meanwhile Mari started chasing furiously having missed the move. It all came back together, but we had used a lot of fuel. It was hard after that with unrelenting hills and tricky, wet descents. With less than 10km to go, Rasa attacked at the same time as Hanka stopped at the back of the bunch to change her bike for one with a bigger gear for the downhill finish. Not a wise move at this point in the race. A couple of riders tried to go across to Rasa, and I sat on their wheels, waiting for Anna to come up. She did so and bridged across and the two were away, with Hanka off the back. With only three km to go, Hanka rejoined the bunch and furiously attacked to try to get across. She wouldn't make it. I got to her with a few others, and a group rejoined us. Anna had dropped Rasa. Hanka was chasing. It was a screaming downhill finish. The sprint started from about 300m out. I went first, and was thankful for the 11-cog. Vera Holfeld just pipped me on the line. Anna won by five seconds from Rasa, and we were only two seconds behind her. A great opportunity came to fruition today, and the overall result was worth the effort.
Stage 2 - July 27: Schleiz - Greiz, 134 km What a complete surprise - the clouds were light and fluffy at the start of today's stage, with no sign of rain on the horizon. Though the race bible didn't show as hard a stage as yesterday, the road was twisting and undulating the whole way, and we expected some heavy duty battering from Hanka's team after our assault on them yesterday. Anna had to look after herself, the girls needed to watch for dangerous or possibly fruitful breaks, and all I had to do was keep an eye on Hanka - no sweat! Well, Hanka took every opportunity to make us sweat, attacking into corners, out of corners, up hill, down dale and so on it went. Anna was pretty much under control, no other riders were making serious attacks and I had the legs to curb most of Hanka's moves, until she launched a scathing attack through a narrow winding village and straight up a steep climb. I got to within a few metres of her, and then left it up to Anna to do the rest. Under control again. The bunch kept shattering and drawing back togther, and if the overall classification was not so close between the first 20 or so riders, there could have been several decisive breaks. Things settled down after a while and we reached the feed zone at about 80km, when suddenly one of Hanka's teammates attacked through the zone - not a done thing at all, and I am giving her the benefit of the doubt, that she didn't know the etiquette. Still, it took a huge effort to catch her, from me and another rider as we were both on the front at the time. She received some harsh words from the peloton when it came back together. Juanita, Lizzie and Margie were finding their legs as the race progressed and Juanita was really helpful in keeping a steady tempo up the last climb so that nobody could attack. I was looking to make a move late in the stage and went with an attack which soon had myself, Kim Smith and a few others. The bunch was chasing hard. With only five km to go, Rasa (or was it Jolanta, I can never tell) went for another solo effort, which had Dede, myself and one other cover quickly. Dede wouldn't work with me, I assume because of the threat to Karen and Mari and it came back together again. The only way I was going to do it was solo, but I had used up far too much fuel and the head cold had infiltrated my chest, judging by the increasingly rasping coughs I was experiencing. It was a screaming downhill finish into twisting roughly cobbled village finish, with 50+ riders roughly jostling for position. No way to do this without a strong lead out and that wasn't happening for our team today. We all finished safely in the bunch. Vera Hohlfeld won the stage, gaining 10 valuable bonus seconds to move her in front of me in the overall standings. July 28, 2000 Well, the game is over for me today. I went to bed with my head feeling like it was going to burst coughing up nasty infected bacteria from my lungs. If I continued there was no way I could protect myself in this brutal race, especially with the humid, windy, rainy conditions. It is always hard to pull out of a race, especially when this is the last race I will do with the National Team before the Olympics and we were all doing so well. I had been having a ball looking after Anna's overall lead and was getting ready for a major upheaval by our riders to end the GC 'stalemate', but at this stage I have slightly bigger fish to fry in less than two months. I withdrew before the start and spent the final three days following the race, enjoying a couple of (very) low intensity recovery rides in order to be healthy enough to travel back to the US in three days time to start another 6-day stage in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, the Aussie team continued on their winning way, with Juanita riding away in a break on the fourth day with five other riders, to move into overall GC contention. Valentyna Karpenko from Hanka's team 'Kupfernagel' took a commanding lead in the GC. The morning of the fifth day was a super fast stage, with the Aussies maintaining their overall status. The time trial in the afternoon was an absolute doozy in very windy conditions on an out-and-back undulating course. Anna rode a standard road bike with clip-on bars and still finished second behind Hanka Kupfernagel. Juanita rode the AIS time trial bike and had the time trial ride of her life, finishing seventh to move up into 2nd overall on the GC. The final day proved to be the epic culmination that was building, with Hanka riding in defensive position on the front for the bulk of the race, covering absolutely every move for her teammate, Valentyna. Then, with about 20km to go, Hanka literally disposed of the whole peloton up the final KOM and rode away solo from the decimated field to win the final stage, but knowing that her teammate was safely tucked into the front bunch, which had Anna furiously chasing at the helm to protect Juanita's position on GC. It was a great week of racing for the Aussie team with all riders contributing significantly to the team's success, and all gaining valuable 'race training' for National Team's campaign at the Tour Feminin in a week's time, and the Olympic Team's preparation for the Olympic Road Race.
Tour de 'ToonaAltoona, PA, USA, August 1-6 Prologue - August 1: Altoona, 4.8km Well, what a doozy of a course! I had arrived at our accommodation at 1am after 28 hours of buses, airports, planes, airports, planes, cars, ... in order to get from Eastern Germany to Altoona, Pennsylvania in the one day between the end of Thuringen and starting this tour. Of course I was feeling just fine and dandy (not!), and of course none of my luggage arrived! By late this next morning I had managed about two hours of sleep, been reunited with my belongings and set out to test out the course - until we got caught in a thunderstorm. I managed to find that the course was hugely technical, and looked like fun it you could practise it. I managed to sneak a lap in just before my start time at 7.50pm - they really wanted to exacerbate my jetlag didn't they? It was fun. When I started, Sarah Ulmer (Elita) posted the fastest time of the day, with a blinding ride of 5minutes 52seconds. She had also won this stage the year before. I set off having had a good warmup and quickly got into the rhythm. There were 18 corners in 4.8km, with only two straight undulating sections of about 1km in length. Needless to say I rode my road bike with only an aero front wheel. Things were going smoothly and I had settled into a good rhythm on the undulations. I could see the rider who started 30 seconds ahead of me. I glided into the main series of corners through the city streets and realised that I was 'cruising' too much! Time to hit the straps, the corners were easy to negotiate. I put my foot down, and threw the bike into the final half dozen twists and turns, knowing that I had finished well under 6 minutes, but not by how much. I ended up third, just behind Sarah and Lyne Bessette (Saturn). Tomorrow marks the first of five gruelling stages, which we're all looking forward to. There are 120 riders in the field, which is fantastic to see. The Timex roster is: Megan Elliot Stage 1 - August 2: Johnstown Circuit Race, 118km We arrived at the start of this stage in very hot, humid conditions prepared for anything, weatherwise and terrain. There was even a report of a 12-mile climb each lap! That would mean a 12-mile descent each lap too, so I quickly discarded that possibility. After chatting to the Pro Men's field, we learnt that the course was fast and undulating with only one significant climb. A good stage to ease into the tour. The first lap started off pretty smoothly at a fast but manageable pace. With less than 20 seconds separating the Top 20 riders, nobody was going to get away in a hurry. This made life easier for Sarah's team, Elita to defend the leader's jersey, but we and they new that later stages would be more decisive. Not much happened until the first QOM. I wasn't figuring to go for this jersey and sat in watching who was climbing well. Pam Schuster continued with her good form of the season taking the points. Things started to get more active, and all of our riders were riding great position factoring in all breaks and counters. At the finish line of the first two laps, there was also a sprint prime and Elita successfully set things up for Sarah each time. I felt great for the first half of the race, but wisely didn't try anything rash because the effects of the heat and humidity rapidly set in after a couple of hours. The second time up the major climb, I thought I would test the water and rode up alongside the front runners. With about 300m to go, Pam stepped out to go for the points and nearly took me out at the same time. I held ground and then sprinted myself with Lyne Bessette in hot pursuit, followed by Pam. We were away over the top and started to work, trying to extend the Elita team. A number of riders from other teams were panicking and assisted in the chase and it all came back together. Autotrader continued to be very active throughout the final lap, but nothing stuck. I launched a huge attack up a long drag and Sarah got across to me. Lyne was on the front of the strung out field, chasing hard. With less than 10km to go now, I was dehydrated and starting to cramp and decided to wait for the sprint. With a kilometre to go the bulk of the field was together so it was going to be a huge field sprint, I tacked onto Alison's wheel and she took me up to the front where I slotted in behind Sarah and her train. Anne Samplonius is riding for Saturn in this tour and was also looking for Sarah's wheel. With 250m to go I stepped out to sprint but realised it was too far so I slotted back in again just as Sarah lead out the sprint. I had lost a little momentum from my blunder and finished second in a very fast sprint from Sarah with Alison in third, taking the remaining time bonuses away from the other GC contenders. It was a great result for our team who all worked very well together today. Stage 2 - August 3: Hollidaysburg Circuit Race, 96km Boy oh boy, it's muggy! The air was that thick and the skies were so heavy that it was destined to pour on us sometime. We set off at 1pm to complete a three-lap race with one major climb per lap and a few short steep pinches. Today we were looking for a small break to go away to open up the race a bit, but again nobody wanted to miss out. One girl was able to stay away solo until the first KOM I sat in until after this, watching to see 'who was doing what'. I had a few digs, and Lyne was hot on my heels. If she wasn't Sarah was, so it was cat-and-mouse for a while. Then Lyne launched a very effective attack, and Elita was forced to chase to bring her back. The finish was slightly uphill which I was looking forward to, but it would still be good to have a break form with at least one of our riders. On the second climb I attacked over the top and a couple of riders came, nobody willing to do the hard yards. It would have to wait until later. The skies were getting blacker by the minute. Suddenly, CRACK! A bolt of lightning and then the thunder and the skies opened, dumping on us in a deluge. It was messy and time to stay up the front. About 15km from the finish there was a series of corners and then a very steep pinch. I waited until then and attacked hard. By the time I was over the top, Lyne, Sarah and a few others were still there and the field was split. Another six or so riders made it across, including my teammate Alison Sydor, and Anke Erlank and Julie Young (Autotrader) and that was the break. It took a while for everyone to roll through, everybody was worried about wasting energy for the last climb. Crikey, this was an ideal situation for everyone here. Sarah wouldn't work at all, being in the leader's jersey and wanting things to stay that way. Then the Autotrader riders sat up and wouldn't work smoothly. Crazy! Charles Schwab was chasing frantically and eventually caught our group at the bottom of the last KOM less than 5km from the finish. I attacked again up the climb to string out the field and then it was a case of 'who dares wins' in the pouring rain down the slick, screaming descent. Kind of reminded me of the recent 250cc motorbike race I watched the other week, when the skies opened and the guys on wetweather tires all of a sudden trounced the race. Tomorrow I will be swapping my 'slicks' for all-weather treads. Lyne did the 'trouncing' and outsprinted Sarah Ulmer by 4 seconds with the field coming in 7 seconds behind her. Stage 3 - August 4: Martinsburg Circuit Race, 128km Today was to be the lull before the storm. I was pretty shagged and was looking for a rest day, and so we resolved to have myself and Alison take things easy, while looking for opportunities for Odessa, Sanna and Megan to go away in a break. The race was actually quite boring for the first two laps. Nobody was willing to put it on the line, apparently waiting for the race to unfold tomorrow. Thankfully though as I felt great until half way through the third lap and then my legs decided that the fuel line from my energy system was blocked - nothing was getting through to them. After being so crook during Thuringen last week in Germany, it has been a huge challenge to race well, recover adequately AND keep the chest cold at bay. Things were certainly on tenter-hooks but I hadn't tipped over the edge yet and the team has been really supportive on and off the bike. All of a sudden things started happening and Autotrader became relentless in their attacking. In terms of numbers and strengths they are clearly one of the strongest teams here so we have been expected them to give the race a bit of clout. Our girls worked extremely well, covering everything and counter-attacking moves made by other teams. There were so many near-breaks it wasn't funny, but everyone wanted the upperhand with numbers in the break, so nothing stuck. Alison rode extremely smartly, looking after me. Elita was made to work extremely hard, and at times Sarah had to put in. Lyne had to cover everything that Sarah did, and I glued myself to Lyne's wheel much to the chagrin of a few other riders who decided that she would be a 'good sit' for them too! I was feeling like rubbish for the last 20km. The run into the finish was extremely technical with sharp corners alternating left and right, running into short pinches, fast descents and a short uphill pitch before the last corner which was only 200m from the line. Several riders came to grief when a tangle of bikes occured on the fourth last corner onto a steep pinch. I had just stepped off Alison's wheel to take a sweeper around the outside of the group and had to balk to just avoid the carnage. It turned out that Alison got a clean run and jumped with Sarah and her lead out rider. I chased madly but couldn't get back around everyone. Sarah won the stage, continuing her stellar sprinting form, with Alison coming a close second and Tina Mayolo (Autotrader) third. I was sixth. Stage 4 - August 5: Altoona Road Race, 153km Ugggh, what's this? A harsh siren invading my fuzzy subconsciousness, rudely wakening me from a deep sleep at 5.40am. After four afternoon stages, today's 8am start was not welcomed, especially when we had the toughest and longest stage of the tour ahead of us. I gulped down a double-sized breakfast, stocking up for the day as by now our energy reserves are all pretty depleted. A little indigestion on the ride to the start thankfully didn't last too long. As has been the order of the tour, no breaks got anywhere in the early stages of the race, despite some very active and calculated efforts from our girls. The first KOM was not until 70km into the race, so aside from a few short climbs stringing out the field things stayed intact for most part - except for a nasty pileup in the lead up to the second intermediate sprint. Nobody really knows what happened. The road was straight and wide, there was plenty of room, the lead-out hadn't even started and then came that spine shivering grating noise of metal against metal, and bodies and bikes crashing onto the road. Several girls came down, including Lyne Bessette. The peleton rode 'piano' and even called an uncustomary 'pitstop' to aid the damaged riders in getting back to the field and to make themselves more 'comfortable. On we went, the field content to ride at the pace set by Elita on the flats and by Lyne and myself on the climbs leading up to the first real challenge of the day, a 6km long, hard climb. Lyne constantly attacked. I constantly followed her wheel. Sarah and the climbers from Autotrader and Schwab followed mine. It was like an elastic band that kept stretching to nearly breaking point. My hamstrings were the opposite! They were so tight I couldn't stay seated at all, getting no drive from my glutes. After 3 or 4 efforts Lyne settled. I felt ok. The others came back. Then she went again. I thought I was ok, the rest of the field was gone, and then BOOM! I blew without warning. Lyne was powering away and I had nothing at that time to go with her. Very soon, Alison came up with a small group and passed by me. Then came Sarah Ulmer, Pam and another group of girls and passed me. I was sinking fast, not used to the intensity but that's what I am here for! I was willing the front group to get to Lyne but she was on a mission. At one kilometre from the KOM I was way off the back and went over the top already beginning a hard chase. Lyne already had a minute on the front group. I descended like a madwoman with a Jane's rider and we regained contact with the front group before the bottom. Nobody was working, except for Sarah's teammate Annie Garepy. Alison was waiting for me and couldn't do anything but nothing was coming from the strong team presence of Schwab and Autotrader. They were both concerned about the team's classification, but surely everyone has something to gain here? We tried to coax some work from the 20-strong group but with two more major climbs coming up, nobody wanted to use up their reserves to early. Meanwhile, Lyne was driving solidly, easily putting time into the lacklustre field. I was quickly recovering, trying to down as much fuel as possible in order to do something soon to try to minimise the damage. The second climb was nasty with a 1km gravel section up the steepest part to the top. Unable to stay seated with my hamstrings still twanging, I rode out of the saddle trying to keep the back wheel from skipping. Alison went over the top with Lee Hobson from Schwab and Anke Erlank. This could be good. The other two would not work. Sarah was back with me. The group reformed again, with nearly a full squad from Autotrader and Schwab and pairs of riders from other teams. Lyne was at more than three minutes now. A few more riders got back to us, including Sanna who had put in a very gutsy effort. One climb to go. Autotrader at last started to roll through at the front, being the only team with the numbers and overall strength. Then the attacks went, Autotrader, Schwab. People were in trouble. I countered and gave it everything. Pam Shuster and Lee Hobson went with me, but wouldn't or couldn't come through. I kept driving relentlessly and eventually offloaded them, one by one. I was still 2km from the top. Crikey, this was going to hurt but I was fired up now. I went over the top with a 45 second gap to them and a minute on the bunch. 15km to go, with an undulating section, a fast descent and another undulating section. The bunch swallowed the other two. Darn, now they would all chase, with the climbs over for the day! Sarah did the job for a while, and then Autotrader came through, strong and hard to bring me back to gain points and time for Tina. I desperately needed an 11-cog on the fast stretches. I was spun out and couldn't go any faster, while the steamtrain was powering on behind me. I maintained the gap until the bottom but there was still 7km to go. I needed the time desperately. Lyne was still up the road despite pulling back more than a minute already. The best rider on the day was going to deservedly win the stage and capture a virtually unassailable hold on the overall lead. At 1km to go, I was 20 seconds ahead of the field. I was nearly blown. At the finish I had about 10 seconds from the furiously chasing bunch. I was blown, but had finished the stage well and was able to dig deep for that something extra, as had our team. Stage 5 - August 6: Altoona Criterium, 30 laps (50km) After the first sunny day of the tour yesterday, one might think that the weather would hold out for the final day, but oh no, the severe storm warnings were warranted as we watched lightning bolts and listened to the thunder clap and rain pouring down on our rooves. There were six separate categories of men and women races to be held today, and gradually the schedule was extended as each race was held off during the more severe weather circumstances. We eventually lined up at 4.30 in the afternoon, after hearing about and watching numerous crashes in every other race that had been staged that day. I snuck in a few laps on my own in between races to check out the course and determine the best line to take through the 8-corner circuit. Miraculously, as we rode out to the start/finish line, the rain drizzled to a stop. Nevertheless the roads were still wet and very slick. We exercised our plan and I attacked from the gun, with Alison coming across to me. Within a lap the field was dessimated and Lyne had just got across. Alison, then Lyne did a turn and I nearly got dropped from them. The chase from behind was frantic. I wondered where Sarah was as I figured she would have been ready for something like this. Alison then counter-attacked as the chase got to us. She couldn't quite get a large enough break. I was gasping to recover, and then Sarah countered that attack with Lyne on her wheel. Neither of us could get across in a single hit, and unfortunately our teammates were damaged from the early onslaught. While Elita tried to block our chase, we tried fruitlessly to bridge the gap while the other teams chased us down, yet wouldn't help the chase to the two breakaways. First and second on GC were down the road by only 11 seconds and we didn't have the ammunition to shoot them down. There was so little time separating the Top 15 or so after Lyne on GC that all teams were committed to keeping the race together. The time bonuses in the sprint primes held during this stage carried a lot of weight. After 10 laps we knew that our continued efforts would potentially jeopardise our overall result and so I took a bonus second for the next sprint prime and we concentrated on finishing the race in control of our place on GC. By halfway through the race, the rest of the decimated field was recovering and Saturn and Autotrader were getting back into the action on the sprint primes, with Anne Samplonius (Saturn) first taking points to move 1 second ahead of Alison overall, and then Tina Mayolo (Autotrader) gaining seconds later on. I had no need to sprint in order to maintain my placing so we concentrated on the stage finish. Lyne and Sarah moved to 50 seconds ahead of the field before starting to relax in the latter stages of the race. With half a dozen laps to go, a large bunch of riders had chased back on turning the finish into a large field sprint. Hence the sprint was full-on from the last lap. Alison and I both held good position, but not together and when the print started we couldn't take each other. I finished 6th in the sprint. Overall, the Top 3 placings on GC belonged to the same three riders who had finished on the podium in the prologue on the very first day so while we were disappointed that the final stage didn't go according to plan, I was happy to have raced consistently and to have achieved several podium results during the week alongside Alison and with the help from Sanna, Odessa and Megan. My health is constantly improving and successful block of intensity will reap rewards shortly down the track.
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