Sorry for such a short choppy report. Brain cracked.
The first stage was 128k with a couple big rollers, a hard climb, and 5 5k finishing circuits. One of the Russians slipped away and built up a big gap. To encourage the group to chase we took turns attacking until Jackie Crowell got away in a group and stuck it to the line. She finished third, putting her third in GC and Coryn took the points sprints for time bonuses and got the young rider jersey as well. Awesome race.
The next stage was a short time trial- 16k. The course looked like three year old’s scribble
The roads were narrow, the corners off camber and, of course, graveled. I tried to think of the course as a cross race- focusing on gear choice out of the corners, exit speed, and using the whole road. Here's a picture of me pretending to time trial. But to be honest, I just put it here because it's a long sleeve skin suit, which, if you haven't worn one, make you feel pretty awesome. 
Felt a bit sluggish but my time put me into 17th for the stage.
Because any Lil Wayne lyric is really just a life motto, we went into the third stage ready to shoot first, not back. We wanted the Russians on the defensive, to chase us for a change, and hopefully gain some seconds for Jackie. We raced aggressively for the first 50k, launching attack after attack. It was a fun way to race, and we spit out a couple riders, but going into the second half of the race all the main players were still there. Then it started pouring sideways rain. The crooked, wet streets were slick. We froze. We hit the finishing circuits on the front
(photo evidence, I don’t acutally make this shit up).
Our GC leader, Jackie flatted about 7k from the finish. There was alot of confusion about what to do and we kinda effed it up. Chalk it up to a lack of experience, but I feel like in this confusion we lost her the podium. She ended up getting a wheel from the caravan, which was obviously not the best way to handle the situation. Bad day.
Going into the last day Jackie was in 4th by 4 seconds because of time lost due to the flat. Time bonuses and sprint points along the course offered a chance to move Jackie up onto the podium. The race began with the usual flurry of Russian attacks. I went with a small move that came back quickly. Liontek countered off that and Coryn went with. They were off the front for most of the race, I think around 80k. Yikes. When the time gap ballooned to 1’40”, the Russians felt the pressure and rotated on the front through some horrible winds. By the time the gap came down, they had blown through riders and we were looking okay for the circuits.
The circuits were very difficult- a steep long climb, a technical descent, then another switch backed climb before a descent into the finish. The Canadians drilled the first lap. Cross eyed as we were, we saw one of the top three GC get dropped. Jackie, told me to get to the front and drill it to keep the split, which I tried (as seen in this photo evidence!)
But despite all the effort I could put out, it wasn't strong enough and the group came back together. The rest of the circuits were fast and hard. I tried my best to help Jackie out. We were all cracked at this point. Two girls slipped away and but Jackie still took third in the field split. She finished 4th GC, a heartbreaking one second off of the podium.
The race had it’s high’s and lows for sure, but towards the end of the race we gelled well and worked as a team. It was a lot of fun to race this way.
The finishes happened to put me in 15th overall and third in young rider.
Fun, hard races. We gained alot of experience. As always, thank you USA cycling for this opportunity, Attitude Sports for all your help, and everyone back home for all the support.
:)
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