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The course was a 50-mile ride through the farmlands of Minnesota and then it finished on a 2-mile circuit through a residential area that we did four times. People sat in lawn chairs with beers to cheer us on and we zipped through corners and down and up small hills.

There was nothing inherently selective about the course -- there were only small rolling hills that had Queen of the Mountain sprints, but nothing to shake the field -- but it was brutally windy. And there was a two-mile selection of "dirt" (really nasty gravel) road 13 miles into the race.

At the start of the race we had our pre-race meeting and we worked through our goals. For the most part, our goals were for our riders to hang on to the pack and finish the race, staying up in the front as much as possible and to live to race another day. For me, I had a clear goal of not letting riders get away from me and to try and stay up there for the final sprint. I wanted to win the stage, or rather to race it as if I COULD win it.

After the prologue the day before, Kristin Armstrong from Lipton was sitting numero uno in the GC over Christine Thornburn by 6 seconds. At this stage race, there are no major selective elements and the race can easily come down to seconds. So, Lipton was working to try and make sure that Christine was kept at bay. And Webcor was working to get Christine the win and to move Erinne Willock up in the GC.

The race was hot from the gun because Laura Van Gilder from Lipton was working to wear down Christine and set up Kristin. After a few miles, we hit the crosswinds and she sat up there and guttered the whole field in a redlined effort. I had moved up and was in good position and working hard to hold on to where I was.

At the early part of the race, I was super happy to see Amy, Flavia and Stacy all up in the front of the pack and moving around well. I was really impressed with how well they were earning their position in that tough field.

10 miles in, however, the race broke up. Stacy took a hard bump when a rider was blown into her, got ridden off the road and crashed hard. She bounces, being a former gymnast, so she jumped clear as half the 130-member peloton crashed directly into her bike. That caused a gap that the rest of the group could never close. I was in the front group.

After that initial break, we still kept the pace blistering hot as we headed into the dirt/gravel section. I had moved up, knowing that it would be likely to split the field. I had no idea of what had happened behind me, so I just focused on what was ahead of me. It was a good thing that I was up in the front because Laura Van Gilder hit it hard again in the gravel. As I said, the gravel was tough: it was lose and your wheels would get sucked in and we would come close to crashing. I moved away from the draft and found a little hard pack to hang on. On my left, Lauren Franges (one of Victory Brewing's top sprinters) went down after fighting too hard for a wheel and losing control. We lost Eryn to a flat at this point in the race, and with the strong crosswinds, she was unable to chase back on.

Coming out of the gravel, I was shocked to realize that we were now well in front of the rest of the pack that I could not see behind us and had whittled down the field to less than 30 riders.

Behind us, Victoria was getting dropped from the main chase pack and Julie and Amy busted their butts to drag her back up to the field. They succeeded and Victoria caught on. Amy and Julie got popped from their efforts, but finished and made the time cut. Flavia hung on to the main chase group as well.

Once we got our break established, it was solid. We had Kristin and Christine, as well as two Liptons (Laura and Kori) and two Webcors to support Christine (Erinne and Felicia) so those teams were expected to do the lion's share of the work. There were also a couple Biovails as well as Jazz Apples with New Zealand superstar track rider (Olympic metalist and world champion) Sarah Ulmer. We ended up having 17 riders in our break for the rest of the race.

Laura and Kori from Lipton got up to the front and pushed the pace. We again hit the hard crosswinds and we had over a minute on the field. Once the break was clearly established, riders started working together in a paceline to keep the race going. I was trying to be smart and at first, I did not want to pull through and work too hard. I quickly realized, however, that it was actually less work to pull through because then I got the shelter from the echelon and would have more rest.

Pretty soon, I realized that I was in a very good position. The top sprinter there had been busting her butt all race and a lot of the women in the pack with me were not sprinters, or at least I did not think that they were. I had to play this race smart, and then I might get some big rewards. We came upon the first sprint points, and I had been under the impression that there were time bonuses tied to them. My prologue the day before did not go so great because I realized when I rolled out of the start gate that I had a flat tire- I did the time trial on a VERY soft front tire and my time was 1'25" down in the GC--so I wanted any time bonuses I could get. So I went for the first sprint--not hard, but it was enough to take second.

We ticked off miles until we came to the finishing circuit which we did 4 times. The circuit turned the race into a crit with a lot of corners, bad pavement and strong winds--just how I like it. And the finish line was on top of a small hill. The first time past the start finish was the other sprint points, so I went for it. Roger and Linda were yelling at me to be smart, so I just led the group and watched to see if anyone jumped around me. I did not work hard and won the "sprint".

Going into two laps to go, someone (not sure who, but it was not Lipton or Webcor) attacked hard. I got on her wheel and then looked for the counter. Sure enough, there was a strong counter by Felicia of Webcor. We got onto that and then the attacks were quashed- it was going to come down to a 17-woman bunch sprint- no riders were going to get away.

My legs were feeling good, but I had slipped in my position in the fast pace, driven once again by Laura Van Gilder. On one section on the back, I went into the wind in a hard sprint just to move up to a better spot. Laura was driving the pace and I was sitting around 7th as we came to the finish. Someone on my right jumped and so I had to go. I was over geared by about 2-3 gears and mashing it hard. I had to pass a lot of riders, but was moving up. I saw the line and a rider on my left and one on my right ahead of me. I wanted it REALLY REALLY badly. I dug deeper in my overgeared sprint and threw my weight hard over my front wheel in what was likely the worst sprinting form on the face of the planet but I just was willing my wheel to move up and to move up. As we came to the line, I had gassed it enough to win by a half a wheel. I screamed--I could hardly believe it!

After the finish, I was mind boggled. I was so excited I almost cried. I was shaking. Linda came up to me and she was perhaps more excited than I was. I was jumping up and down and hugging her. It was an incredible moment. Then I saw the rest of the team! They had not been allowed to enter the circuit so they were there at the finish. I then found out that there were no time bonuses on the sprint points, so my "sprints" did not help me in the GC, but I landed the green sprinter's jersey. I felt sort of silly wearing it because the only sprint I actually sprinted for was the final one--but I was also thrilled!

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