Montreal World Cup, 2007

I woke up with bad stomach cramps and cursed my luck for not feeling great. However, although I didn't feel great, I was surprised that I still felt strong and was able to cover many attacks in the first half of the race.

My job was to cover the early attacks and make sure Webcor was represented. This would keep Christine and Mara fresh for later in the 11 lap race. With the finish line relocated to the bottom of the 2km climb, we predicted a break would go and we wanted to make sure we were part of it.

On lap 9, Mara attacked and Luperini (Italy) and Pittel (France) went with her. Pittel was dropped on the following lap, which left Mara and Luperini about 1min ahead of the chasing peloton. The peloton had dwindled down to 20 odd riders with all others falling victim to the tough terrain, including myself.

Mara did the lion's share of the work and was rewarded with a 2nd place in her first ever world cup race. After losing contact with the front group on lap 9, I was told to save my legs for the Montreal tour which starts Monday. I saw Sara Carrigan and Kate Bates who were also planning to pull out, so we rolled another lap as a cool down and made it back to the finish in time to see the finish.

That night our Webcor team headed out to eat pizza and drink red wine - a fitting way to celebrate Mara's podium result.