Trofeu caixa Girona #3 -- Tossa de Mar -- April 17, 2005
Martina and I finished 1-2 in Sunday's third stop of the Trofeu Caixa Girona series in Tossa de Mar, Spain.
It was sunny, but the 10.5-kilometre course was a little wet (in some places, giant puddles spanned the entire dirt road) from Saturay's thunder storm, which made for good traction in otherwise dry, loose and sandy terrain.
Beth Serrano (Coluer-Manaval) gunned it at the start and had Martina (Fact Canada) and me (AdventureBound.ca) on the chase. Martina and I had pre-ridden on Saturay and didn't want to start the first (1.5 km) climb too hard because it was quickly followed by another, longer ascent (3.5 km). Martina passed Serrano on the long climb, but I kept a more conservative pace and waited.
The descent after the long climb was a fast, rutted singletrack (that Martina and I know well). I caught sight of Martina again, as she was held up by slower men who refused to let her pass. I had managed to 'sneak' past a bunch of them, possibly because of my mad Spanish skills. This is me, yelling constantly as I'm barrelling down the trail and trying to pass someone: "Passar! Passar! Isquierda! Rapido! Estoy montando! Hola! Cuidado! Por favor!" It's probably pretty scary for them. If the Spanish doesn't move them, I sometimes get angry and start yelling in English... which doesn't help very much either.
After the descent, which leads back to the first climb, I lost sight of Martina again. I was right behind Serrano though, and kept myself glued to her wheel. She was climbing strongly, so I was trying to figure out where I should attack. I tried once on the big climb, but she countered right away and took the lead again. I nixxed the idea of attacking on the downhill, because she was fast there too. Finally there was only one opportunity left -- the last kicker climb before a short, fast bit of singletrack and the finishing straight. I attacked out of the saddle on the last climb, using my momentum from the descent. There was no chance for her to get on my wheel as I hammered over the top and into the singletrack.
Thanks to Juerg (#1 Race Support), Andri (Paparazzi -- ditch the artsy photos though), Flurin (Paparazzi 2 -- "Smile!"), Therese (cheerleader), Jogi (cheering squad), Ursula (cheering squad), Selina (Happy Birthday!), Simon (guapo cheerleader) and all the rest of the people who showed up to watch!
Martina and I had a great time warming up and cooling down in the Bike Holiday booth and throwing out Bike Holiday prizes from the podium.
In the fashion show that evening, Martina and I came out at the end, carrying our giant trophies (I want to eat Cheerios out of mine -- that, or drink beer out of it...)! Kevin of Club Hotel Giverola presented each of us with a bottle of champagne. Martina and I were very tempted to shake up those bottles and spray everyone with bubbly, but we figured they would be too happy about that... so we drank it instead! (We shared, of course.)
Results
Elite Women, 21 km
1. Martina Feldmann (CAN, Fact Canada)
2. Sandra Walter (CAN, AdventureBound.ca)
3. Beth Serrano (ESP, Coluer-Manaval)