World Cup Finals
Les Gets, France
September 2 - 7

Hi everyone,

Finally some good news to report. The weekend was a huge success and I'm the new World Cup Champion! Yeehah!

We just raced in Les Gets, France. It's a small ski town near Chamonix. The course wasn't nearly as technical as last week's world championship course. I was thankful. I needed to have a race where I wasn't freaked out from start to finish. We had a good week of training. It rained off and on during the late afternoon/evening, but nothing significant. The course was squishy and soft, but not really that muddy. A lot of soft grass. Felt like riding on a sponge.

All of that was to change. The night before the race the most amazing electrical storm rolled through the valley. Lightning was hitting the hillsides just above town. And then it poured. And this went on all night long. Needless to say, the course changed dramatically.

Race day was gorgeous. Sunny and clear. The course, however, was a muddy mess. Going into this race I had the leader's jersey so I got called up first. We started up a grassy climb that led into a steep hike a bike. The rest of the lap was a mix of mud bogs, unrideable descents, cyclocross manuvers to get up greasy hills, and slippery off camber grass traverses. It was crazy. I rode well on the uphills and not so well on the downhills. I made a poor tire selection and that caused me problems.

The point spread between myself and Sabine Spitz, who was in second, was such that if she finished 2nd or 3rd, then I had to get top five. Sure enough, she rode most of the race in 3rd position. I was suffering and duking it out with four or five different riders, fighting for that fifth position. With two laps to go I had a 15 second lead over a Swiss rider. I was in 5th, but just barely hanging on. By the 4th lap I opened the gap to 30 seconds. No where near enough time to feel comfortable. All it would take would be a flat tire, a crash on a descent and my race would be over. Talk about stressful!

I thought the last climb would never end and when I made it down the final descent I had the biggest grin on my face. You couldn't see my face because it had a layer of mud covering it. You couldn't see my jersey, or any skin on my legs either. Everything was just plastered in muck.

I crossed the finish line with my arm in the air in triumph! I had survived a miserable day and ended up with just enough points to grab the overall victory.

It's the first time an American has won the World Cup title since Julie Furtado did it in 1995. Pretty cool! What a relief. Probably one of the most stressful races I've ever had to endure.

The podium was a lot of fun. Big thing of flowers and a huge crystal trophy. And of course lots of pictures. And the blue leader's jersey is mine for keeps!

The season is finished. We're headed home tomorrow. Back to my husband in Colorado Springs. I'm super excited to be finished. No more race reports till next year. Enjoy your winter and I'll see you in 2003!

Cheers!
Alison