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Ann Crossland's BMB
Win in Her Words
Charlie
[Henderson],
Thank
you for the congratulations on my recent win of BMB.
Prior
to the event I got "cold feet" and was not going to do the event. If
it was not for an email from my friend, Chris Kostman, with Adventure Corps,
convincing me to do the event and go on to other goals, I would have done the
Quad Century Event, instead. So my attitude starting BMB was "to finish". I
needed the finish.
I
am thankful for this "new attitude" due to the influence of my friend
Stig Lungaard that rode with me, whom I met, who hosted, the Mallorca Brevet
Camp in April. He encourage the goal to finish. Anything beyond that would
be a bonus. He saw that once the event began, my competitive instincts kicked
in. I wanted to go out with a few of the lead riders, and he said "Ann slow
down". I followed his advice, and we soon had our own pack of 5 that
included, two Danish riders, and one American, and one German.
There
were "mini races" up the hill with me and other women, that I took the
challenge that was present, but with less than 100 miles into the ride, it was
just then 4 of us. Stig, our friend from
Germany
, and one other Danish rider. We rode our pace, and took out time at each
control. There was not any sense of urgency for any of us, because my goal then,
even more, with four people riding, our controls were taking almost up to an
hour sometimes. So, I just relaxed and enjoyed the ride.
Once
we got to Rouses Point around 2:30 AM , we took our first sleep break of 1 hour,
with about 2.5 hours off the bike, and that seemed to be enough to get up and
ride towards
Montreal
. We rode to
Montreal
, and then once I got to
Montreal
, I realized I was in second place. So, we still kept the attitude, that the
race begins on the way back from Rouses Point.
We
arrived to Rouses Point on the return, and took a really long time at the
control, and then headed towards
Middlebury
,
VT.
We were faced with heat and headwinds the entire way, that not only wore us
out, but most of the others. We stopped for a long time to regroup at a
convenience store, and then headed towards Middlebury. We had not planned to
sleep in Middlebury, but once we got there, the day had its toll. We arrived
around 10:00PM and we were planned to depart around 12:30 AM. For some reason, I
was unable to sleep, just for maybe 30 min. but thought the rest for my legs was
good. We headed out, then Stig and I, at 12:30 AM and really took out time for
the Middlebury gap climb because following this there was a big climb to
Ludlow
. At this point I was 30 min. behind.
Once
we arrive to
Ludlow
I was ahead. The other two women that I was concerned with started at 4 AM, and
I chose to start at 6 AM, so that worked as an advantage to us. So after
Ludlow
, all was good. I had one or two instances, where I really slowed down,
but with a few minutes off the bike, something to eat, I was able to work my way
through each of these moments. I felt great the entire way after
Ludlow
, with one down point, as I said, I worked through.
The
reward was to finish, and then to win, and enjoy the riding time with my friends
as much as I did. I think my attitude about just finishing, kept me to
ride my ride, and not ride someone else's ride. This paid off in the end, and I
now have a different perspective towards participation in the Brevets. It
is so individual, and we are all different and anything can happen, even in the
last 100 miles.
Thanks
to RMCC for the support you have given to me all along.
Ann
Crossland
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