8/13/2023 0 Comments American racing epic center cap![]() ![]() She’ll picture herself repeatedly accelerating past the discomfort to close imaginary gaps. Over the next month of training in preparation for the Garmin Unbound Gravel race in early June, Sofia will run through scenarios in her head, visualizing anything that could happen come race time-and how she will respond to each challenge. “I want to race and know that I gave it 110 percent, and quit when my legs are truly messed up, not when my mind is willing to give up.” citizenship admits that self-doubt is her toughest competitor. The 29-year-old with dual Argentine and U.S. The recording would eventually appear in “ Call of a Life Time,” the docuseries that followed a select group of riders, including Sofia, taking part in the Grand Prix. “That’s the last time I am giving up like that to a competitor,” Sofia says later to a rolling video camera, clothes changed and Specialized baseball cap on, lit in a dramatic confessional fashion. Call of a Life Time Season 2: What to Expectīut this time she’s on her own, and she finishes 20 seconds behind Wilson.The pair had won the general classification in the seven-day, 430-mile mountain bike stage race, putting 12 minutes between themselves and the second-place team-and more notably, a gap of 47 minutes to multi world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and her teammate Robyn de Groot, riding then for BMC. Just two weeks earlier, Sofia had returned from South Africa atop a wave of confidence after a dominating performance at the Absa Cape Epic alongside her Specialized Factory Racing teammate, Haley Batten. Already driving a hard pace, Sofia’s legs go silent to her demands. And as the sun grows hotter, the rolling ribbon of dirt between Sofia Gomez Villafañe and Moriah Wilson in front of her gets longer. The drone shot shows Alexis Skarda struggling to stay attached. It’s now the riders’ last time over Lookout Ridge, its crest illuminated by an early April sun that reveals the trio slowing down as the grade kicks up again. ![]() Join Bicycling for unlimited access to best-in-class storytelling, exhaustive gear reviews, and expert training advice that will make you a better cyclist. ![]() The top women in this race ride it in 15 minutes or less. There are only two sections where riders can attack: Hurl Hill, a steep half-mile stretch of singletrack and Lookout Ridge, which is less steep, but at two and a half miles long, it can take up to 20 minutes (if you are in race shape) to complete before the last five-mile push to the finish line. It’s not a technical course-no drops, jumps, or rock gardens-but it is fast. The Fuego course, which gains 5,700 feet of elevation with its short punchy climbs, is traditionally flowy, with a few blind turns, grassy mounds, and sand dunes that spill onto the tracks. The race is the first in the inaugural Life Time Grand Prix series, six off-road courses-mountain bike and gravel-where 60 professional racers will battle it out for a $250,000 prize purse. The group stretches and recoils as the riders dive into descents and negotiate the corners, dried-up ruts, loose rocks, and sand that could take them out of contention.įans edge the start-finish stretch of the 2022 Fuego 80K XC race at the Sea Otter Classic cycling festival in Laguna Seca Raceway, where the pro racers are soon to arrive after two laps of an old-school cross-country course. The three leading women pedal the undulating hills of Fort Ord National Monument on California’s Monterey Bay, answering one another’s accelerations as they streamline in and out of chaparral clusters and oak woodlands.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |