Holly Borowski Competes in Cascade Classic
16 July 2006

Here's a slightly edited version of Holly's race report from the Cascade Cycling Classic, Bend Oregon, 13-16 July. Holly rode for the McGuire Cycling Team in this event.

Stage 1: Road Race, 85 miles
Stage 1 started on a downhill...and continued downhill for a LONG time. A breakaway went early with some very strong riders and all the big teams were represented but it didn't stick. When we hit the base of the climb, the attacks started...and I went with them, riding at my limit to stay in the front group as long as possible. I should have known that with such a long climb ahead I needed to pace myself and ride my own race. I blew really hard from all those accelerations early in the climb, so had a lot of trouble just making it to the top. I ended up 49th of 75 starters.

Stage 2: Road Race, 75 miles
Stage 2 started on a 6-mile climb ending in a QOM and the girls went hard! I hung in there and stayed with the field over the top. It didn't matter much that the climb whittled the field down to a smaller group, because everything came back together on the fast descent afterwards. The rest of the race was very aggressive and fast. I got in a break of 10 with all the teams represented...was hoping it might be my first successful NRC breakaway, but it wasn't meant to be. We were rotating very well together and putting time on the field, but then got word that the field was chasing and a couple strong teams didn't want us to stay away, even though they had riders in the break. There were more attacks and the field came together at the base of the final climb. I kept a steady, sustainable pace with my teammate Martina. We rotated together and caught a few riders as we went. I finished 38th on the day and moved up to 43rd in General Classification.

Stage 3: Time Trial, 7 miles
I did feel like I paced it better than usual, although I felt like I didn't go quite hard enough. I finished 45th of 60 women.

Stage 4: Criterium
This evening crit was a lot of fun! It started FAST, I think we averaged 29mph for the first few laps. My McGuire teammate Martina set the tone early by taking a $100 prime on the first lap. The field was strung out for another 10 minutes, and the attacks started as soon as the field showed slight signs of slowing. I bridged across to an early breakaway attempt, but again it wasn't the right one! We were brought back and I had to rest for a bit in the field. The next breakaway attempt seemed like the right combination, including Laura Van Guilder and representation from all the other big teams, so my teammate Martina bridged to this one. The represented teams took turns blocking and I was happy to help get my teammate farther up the road. Martina finished 4th in the sprint of 8 women in the breakaway. As for my sprint from the field...I got in good position early at 10 to go and held it. The strong wind caused the field to balloon significantly before the final corner, shaking things up a bit, so I slipped back a little. From the final corner, I sprinted to finish 22nd overall out of 60 women. (Photo: Holly sprinting with the main field in the background)

Stage 5: Circuit Race:
My teammate Martina and I made it our goal to put one of us in today's breakaway. Just after the first QOM, Katheryn Curi of Webcor went off the front and I went with her, hoping this was the right one. Nope...it wasn't, we stayed away just long enough for me to get tired and then they brought us back! On the second lap just before the climb leading into the feed zone another breakaway went off, with my teammate Martina. They were caught just before the hill, causing a split in the field. Webcor took the opportunity to send a rider away and the field let her go. Half a lap later, the field came back together and Kele Murdin of Velo Bella attacked to bridge to Amber from Webcor. Even though Martina had been in the chase group and struggled on the hill from the timing of her last break, she decided to join Kele in the chase up to Amber. This turned out to be a very smart move--Lipton shut the race down from there in the field and we rode a relaxed pace until half a lap to go. At that point, Victory Brewing decided to chase, but it was way too late. On the last climb, I didn't quite make the front group. When we got to the flats, only a couple girls in my chase group were willing to work to catch the front group--if we had rotated efficiently we could have easily caught them because we were very close. Since nobody was rotating quickly, I didn't do any extra work and finished in the middle of that group for 37th. The exciting part of the day was Martina's successful breakaway--she finished 2nd!! We worked well together as a team, covering all the threatening breakaways.

My GC placing: 38th of 75 starters, 57 finishers.