Bank of America Wilmington Grand Prix

Written by Bridie O'Donnell

Monday, 18 May 2009 02:09

Caramel popcorn, hip hop music, even a tattooed man singing Michael Buble... Caramel popcorn, hip hop music, even a tattooed man singing Michael Buble... it was all happening in downtown 'historic' Wilmington for the 2009 Bank of America Wilmington Grand Prix, a National Road Series race with a 1.1 ranking. There was a prize purse of $7500

We got to the start one rider down, with Carlee Taylor still recovering from an illness that had her spending more time in the spacious aeroplane toilets than she would have liked. Our DS and AIS women's head coach, Martin Barras, was kind enough to listen to the instructions of the GPS (despite having the language set on Quebecois, probably to avoid objection from the more navigatorially gifted of us), and it was only a 70 mile drive from our serene lodgings in Lancaster County.

Having decided on our strategy and sized up the competition - plenty of strong sprinters from US domestic teams - we were hatching a plan to lead Belinda Goss out for the win. But after a random crash on probably the only non-technical section of the fast 1mile lap, both Davina and Belinda crashed. They got their lap out, Davina a new wheel with spokes intact, and Belinda very cunningly didn't notice the crack in her sweet new carbon Bianchi.

Lauren and I did our best to enact the plan, and Lauren was superb in covering moves and protecting Belinda. In the final uphill straight, Belinda couldn't quite come around the mighty 44 yo, Laura van Gilder, last year's winner and 5'2" pocket rocket so got 2nd in front of Kiwi track star, Catherine Cheatley. Lauren was 6th, and I grovelled in for 17th after getting dropped with 7 laps to go. We won money, but not the infamous winner's diamond necklace, worth an alleged US$3000 (photos of Belinda's face on the podium when she saw the bling are selling like hotcakes!!)

Belinda got the spare bike built up for her by our locum mechanic, Merlyn (complete with impressive goatee beard) and then she and Davina iced their bruised bones on the car trip home. This time Marv didn't concur so much with the GPS, and it took 30 minutes longer to get home. Apparently, buying maps or asking for directions is for sissies.