(continuing from previous installment)
The crew for our first four-hour night shift included me, Amanda, Sylvia, Renee, and later joined by Momo. The allotment was made based on polling results from every member of the team. The way I see it, there is no point in asking a night owl to try to sleep at 11pm and vice versa. Although my regular bedtime does not happen until my shift was scheduled to complete, I must admit the fatigue was difficult to handle. Like the rest of my team, my lap time steadily increased until my full-on effort could only afford me a lap in the low-9min range. The cold temperature was also affecting team members more accustom to warmer climates as well.
Skating at night was a liberating experience, especially since the brutal wind finally eased up. With the lack of visual feedback, it felt fast. Feelgood laps for sure but deceiving nonetheless. I was thankful to have the speed alert making sure that I wasn't too far off my target speed.
During this shift, our lead on the Poulettes steadily dropped from a comfortable 1 lap +5:15 to 1 lap -2:07. I could only worry and hoped that our stronger roster of the second night shift would turn this trend around. Jessica took over control of the team (Sarah, Margo, Chelsea, Shannon) and I went to bed knowing that the team was in good hands. One thing that I cannot emphasize enough is the importance of rest during this race. Yes, the environment is not ideal for a restful night of sleep. However, those who managed to catch some zzz's (properly replenishing themselves with electrolytes and food too of course) were the same people who continued to deliver strong performances during the second half of the race. I am lucky to be blessed with the ability to sleep anywhere. It took me less than 30min to clean up, ate a quick snack, and set up my camping cot. Off to dreamland I went.
Sarah woke me up Sunday morning at 6am. The sun was bright and the air was cold & crisp. The night shift team was on their 6th rotation and the girls were getting tired. We needed fresh legs on the course. Now. Between 3am to 6:30am, the girls skated some very strong laps and we regained our lead on the Poulettes to 1 lap +5:20. I was thoroughly impressed by the hardwork everyone put in. Even with a few hours of sleep, my muscles remained tired so on-skate warm up was not the first thing on my mind. I opted for a quick jog up and down the paddock area and some stretching, just to get my heart rate up. I delivered my first lap of the day in 8:29. It was tremendously motivating to see that I got out of the 9s at last and came back to my mid-8s performance. Along with Amanda, Sylvia, and Renee, we increased our lead to 1 lap +6:20 by the time our shift ended at 8:30am.
I originally planned to continue with our race plan of small groups in short shifts with alternates on standby. However, a plan is just a plan and we had to adapt it as needed. Everyone was tired but more importantly, we all needed longer recovery time between efforts. Skaters were scheduled if they felt good and could still deliver the lap times needed. The only remaining constant was that in the last hour of the race, we would send out Sarah, Momo, and Jessica again for a strong finish. Thus it was important to save their legs between now and noon.
An important moment came just before 9am. For the first time during this race, we were ahead of the Poulettes by 2 laps! Jessica claimed this honour but of course it was a team effort that everyone of us helped to make happen. We didn't hold on to this 2 lap lead for long but regained it once more within the next 30 minutes. Such is the excitement of having a rabbit to chase. When I saw that a Poulette was just ahead of me, how could I not chase with all I had left in me? This brought up an interesting discussion among my team actually. It would first appear that catching up and sitting in the draft would be a logical thing to do. The truth is, that never happened. We all made a point to pick up our pace and blew past them so there was no chance for them to sit in our draft either. In fact, the Poulettes did the same to us too. Since the two teams were so directly pitted against each other, none of us wanted to give the other team the advantage of our draft. In a way, it was an attack on the other team's morale too. Girl fight anyone? :)
I was feeling good and my lap times confirmed. Body recovered between efforts surprisingly quickly so I just signed up for more laps. While I was out on the course, I heard coach SZ's words loud and clear. "You would be surprise how much more you can give even when you don't think you have anymore to give." Those grueling hours of training paid off.
Noon came around and it was time for our big finish. We led the Poulettes by 1 lap +6:16 so as long as we played our cards right, we should have the win. Of course, anything can happen at a race so we had no intention to leave anything to chance. We sent out Momo, Sarah, and Jessica for rotations but in order to increase their rest time, Margo and I each skated a lap to make it a four-skater shift. Adrenaline was pumping and I could feel the excitement in the air. Renee worked out the numbers such that Momo would have to beat the clock and finish the race for the team with a 2 lap effort. At 12:30, We briefly regained our 2 lap lead but couldn't hold on to it.
As if the drama was not enough, all the stars aligned and the Poulettes and Team WOW were together in the relay just as we were about to send out our last skater. It was a battle of pink versus pink with Momo and Julie Robert, team captain of the Poulettes. Momo beat the clock as expected so we could bring our final lap count to 165. We all thought she could take the next lap easy but not so fast! Sarah and I saw that Martine was suiting up for one last exchange for the Poulettes. There's no way those two would not race it out! Momo and Martine left the relay zone together and we anxiously waited for their return. When they crossed the finishing line hand in hand, it was truly a memorable moment to cap off a good race.
I feel very proud to be part of Team Women On Wheels. Every single of us gave all we had to make our team a success and this kind of team effort is not something we get to experience often in inline racing. I am already thinking of next year...perhaps now is a good time to persuade the organizers to add a women's category. :)
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