Tiffany Cromwell finished in twelfth place in the Unbound 200 race today. The CANYON//SRAM Racing rider talks us through the longest race she’s ever done.

Tiffany Cromwell: “It was how I expected in terms of how long the day was. We were fortunate that the peanut butter mud section dried out, so we were in fast condition. I expected a 12-hour day, so I was happy when it was only 10.5 hours.

Racing in a women-only field always creates a different race dynamic. It was quite cruisy at the start, and I was trying to be efficient by taking it as easy as possible for as long as possible. I knew it would get hard and would need all the energy I could spare. In the first part of the race, it went in waves. There were some technical parts where it was more important to be in a position or when it would split versus times when you could cruise a bit.

I was not feeling great, but okay; there were parts of the race where my legs were painful, especially in the middle part. I was always in the front group until the halfway point, around the 160-km mark.

Our group started to go hard to chase De Crescenzo, who was ahead solo, and on one of the slightly longer climbs, I cracked. I lost it mentally, and at that point, I thought I wouldn’t finish the race. But I could regroup. I was alone for a bit, but then I could catch up with Danni Shrosbree and a few other riders. After that, it was okay as you’re riding at an endurance pace. We could see the group in front, but slowly, they drifted away, and we didn’t know what position we were on the road.

Eventually, three leaders from the 200 amateur event caught us, which meant we could turn the kilometres over together. The punchy climbs of the course were challenging, but as you got closer to the finish, it became flatter, and we had some favourable winds. It is a slow buildup of fatigue rather than a sudden hit.

I was surprised by how my legs were to the end and that I still had something left. On the last climb, with 1.5kim to go, I could punch up it and drop ride Danni, so I didn’t need to sprint her in the final.

It would have been fun to race with that group in the front that sprinted for the win. We need to be realistic, and I need to do the endurance required to win this race. If I had better prepared for the long endurance, I could have stayed with the leaders and been in contention for the win. I can be okay with up to 200km, but after that, it’s more challenging, especially against other riders training for these endurance distances.

I was counting down the kilometres from the halfway point of the race! I got it done, but I’m not jumping in to do it again. It is the biggest race in the gravel world, but I wouldn’t say I like riding my bike for that long in one day. It’s been good endurance for the upcoming races.”

Facebook

Twitter