Lost River Classic

There was much excitement at the prospect of converging together again at Lost River, West Virginia – the location of our initial training camp in April, this time to race the Lost River Classic – a road race through some majestic scenery and over several rather steep hills!!

The race was brilliantly run by NEBC and Jay Moglia and Audrey– who own the Lost River Barn – one of our sponsors (and our MINT accommodation for our training camp at the start of the season). We are happy to report that we came away with the race win – courtesy of Kate Veronneau who rode like a rockstar!

Our race was 30 miles long and we were racing with a team of six, as well as Lorena who was both helping out the race organizer and the team (while 7 months pregnant – she’s amazing I tell you!).

As well as having numbers, we had extra incentive to win because Altarum was the main sponsor of the event!! No pressure or anything! ;-)

Anyway, our plan went perfectly, with a couple of us dedicated to setting the early tempo, then others launching off the front forcing other riders to chase. Michele was the first to go, flying around the course and eventually getting caught on the hill up to the finishing straight on the 1st of three laps. Kristy then countered this, splintering the field and leaving Kate and Jenette with a select group of riders. Jenette’s attack on the next big climb forced the other riders to chase while Kate patiently sat in until Jenette was caught, then she deftly launched out of the bunch like a rocket, never to be seen again – taking the race win by over a minute!! Just like the Tour de France!!!

It was a truly fantastic win for the team and a brilliant sign that Kate’s build up to Road Nationals in Oregon this week has gone to plan and she is FLYING! Anna will be joining Kate out there on Tuesday and we wish them all the very best. These girls are hammers. We know this for sure because sometimes we can’t hold their wheel. Hee hee

Following the race and podium presentation we then had a Wedding Shower for Anna Kelso and a Baby Shower for Lorena, which was graciously and generously hosted by the ever wonderful Marijka (and it was her birthday too!) in this fantastic country house her and her awesome friends were renting for a week long holiday! We had all sorts of games and laughs and while we will be sad to see Lorena and Rob head to Sweden on Tuesday, where they will be living for 3 years, we are looking forward to their stories of their adventures.

Ok, that's all for now!
Ciao
DT