It's Friday night at UCI Worlds in Richmond and I can't believe we've been here a week. The plan is to blog every evening about our adventures. I'm also tweeting, so follow me @GiroJenny for real-time updates.
If you don't have time to read, here's a quick recap of Day 7.
Food: Starbucks Oatmeal, House Party, Tio Pablo
Bike: Commuter ride from hotel and back to racing in Church Hill neighborhood
Races: Junior Women and U23 Men Road Race
Picks for Tomorrow: Megan Guarnier (USA) Elite Women and Brandon McNulty (USA) Junior Men
Best Moment: 23rd Street Cobbles - all day long! 4 laps for the women, 10 for the men.
Not the Best Moment: The rain threatened all day and made an impact at the end of the U23 race.
Strangest Moment: Having someone throw a pumpkin muffin at me from up on the hill and it bounced onto the cobbles and rolled down until someone jumped the barrier and popped it in his mouth. The 2nd muffin, I caught and we ate.
Best Cycling Encounter: Talking women's race strategy and tactics over dinner with one of the best in the business.
After six days of blogging late and non-stop activities, tonight's is going to be short. The best way to see how we spent the day at Worlds is to replay my tweets.
We left the hotel at 9:30a on our bikes and returned at 6:30p, although we only rode a few miles. After a very quick shower, we went out for dinner and got back around 10p. We spent the entire day on the course. First for the Junior Women, then the U23 Men. We rotated between spots, but primarily set up camp on the 23rd Street climb. For the women, we watched the sign-in and start, then 2 laps on 23rd and 2 on Libby.
Between the Women and Men's races, we went to Karen and Geoff's (we met them at Anthony's Pizza a few nights ago) and continued to go back and forth all day. I can't say enough about how gracious they've been to include them in their activities this weekend. Hopefully we can repay them someday when they visit Park City.
Other than a couple laps, we stayed in one spot on 23rd Street for the U23 Men's Race. The atmosphere and connections made between laps was as fun as the excitement when the caravan cruised through. In comparing Worlds to a North American Stage Race, I really love the international element and staying in one place rather than moving to a new city each day. You get a feel for the community, get to know the locals, and become very familiar with the course and city. Today, we ran into someone from the Worlds Social event last night and our waitress from Lucy's. Not to mention all the new friends we met during the day at Karen and Geoff's house.
After the men finished their 10th lap up 23rd street, we made our way back to the house to get our bikes and backpacks. Geoff was signed up for the citizen's Conquer the Cobbles ride, so we rode with him back toward the hotel. It rained all evening, so I hope he enjoyed the course and stayed upright. We'll have to check in with him tomorrow. We had a nice dinner, tonight alongside visitors from Norway as last night was Italy. I really love Worlds!
If you don't have time to read, here's a quick recap of Day 7.
Food: Starbucks Oatmeal, House Party, Tio Pablo
Bike: Commuter ride from hotel and back to racing in Church Hill neighborhood
Races: Junior Women and U23 Men Road Race
Picks for Tomorrow: Megan Guarnier (USA) Elite Women and Brandon McNulty (USA) Junior Men
Best Moment: 23rd Street Cobbles - all day long! 4 laps for the women, 10 for the men.
Not the Best Moment: The rain threatened all day and made an impact at the end of the U23 race.
Strangest Moment: Having someone throw a pumpkin muffin at me from up on the hill and it bounced onto the cobbles and rolled down until someone jumped the barrier and popped it in his mouth. The 2nd muffin, I caught and we ate.
Best Cycling Encounter: Talking women's race strategy and tactics over dinner with one of the best in the business.
After six days of blogging late and non-stop activities, tonight's is going to be short. The best way to see how we spent the day at Worlds is to replay my tweets.
We left the hotel at 9:30a on our bikes and returned at 6:30p, although we only rode a few miles. After a very quick shower, we went out for dinner and got back around 10p. We spent the entire day on the course. First for the Junior Women, then the U23 Men. We rotated between spots, but primarily set up camp on the 23rd Street climb. For the women, we watched the sign-in and start, then 2 laps on 23rd and 2 on Libby.
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| Chloe, Emma, Skylar, and Ashlyn rolling to start |
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| Chloe Dygert heading up Libby on last lap and on her way to 2nd World Championship! USA teammate Emma White finished 2nd for her 2nd Silver of the week. |
Between the Women and Men's races, we went to Karen and Geoff's (we met them at Anthony's Pizza a few nights ago) and continued to go back and forth all day. I can't say enough about how gracious they've been to include them in their activities this weekend. Hopefully we can repay them someday when they visit Park City.
 |
| Geoff has a Pedersen Bicycle for commuting - how unique! |
Other than a couple laps, we stayed in one spot on 23rd Street for the U23 Men's Race. The atmosphere and connections made between laps was as fun as the excitement when the caravan cruised through. In comparing Worlds to a North American Stage Race, I really love the international element and staying in one place rather than moving to a new city each day. You get a feel for the community, get to know the locals, and become very familiar with the course and city. Today, we ran into someone from the Worlds Social event last night and our waitress from Lucy's. Not to mention all the new friends we met during the day at Karen and Geoff's house.
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| U23 Men's peloton charging up Libby Hill |
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| Israel and Eritrea working together off the back as they climb 23rd |
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| Wet Cobbles for the last lap |
After the men finished their 10th lap up 23rd street, we made our way back to the house to get our bikes and backpacks. Geoff was signed up for the citizen's Conquer the Cobbles ride, so we rode with him back toward the hotel. It rained all evening, so I hope he enjoyed the course and stayed upright. We'll have to check in with him tomorrow. We had a nice dinner, tonight alongside visitors from Norway as last night was Italy. I really love Worlds!
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