Alisha finished on the podium for the second straight week with a 2nd place finish overall at the Tri-Peaks Cycling Challenge in Russellville, Arkansas. This time, however, she was the solo rider for Webcor-Platinum. It was tough for Alisha to race alone against other teams such as Victory Brewing, Cheerwine, Colavita-Cooking Light, and Kenda Tire who all had 4 or more riders each on their squads.
Tri-Peaks is a 3 day stage race in Nortwest Arkansas starting with a downtown criterium, followed by 2 tough road races and finishing at the top of a grueling, 18% climb up Mount Nebo. Without the help of a team, Alisha had to play it conservative, making every move count. During the criterium, Alisha positioned herself in a 6 woman break early in the race. Two riders, Rachel Heal from Victory Brewing and Kate Bates of Nurnberger, attacked the break and finished ahead of Alisha’s chase group by 1:30 (min:sec).
Stage 2 was a 92 mile road race, where Alisha again positioned herself in a lead break of about 15 women during the last 20 miles of the race. The break formed after the last climb of the race, as the heat and distance started to wear on all the riders’ legs. Leigh Hobson of Victory Brewing soloed off the front of the break to win the stage, and Rachel Heal took the second place time bonus.
The final day was an 84 mile road race ending on the top of Mount Nebo. The climb is steep and long enough that a good climber could potentially make up several minutes deficit with a strong finish.
The racing started on the first climb of the day when Charm Breon of Cheerwine established a gap. Victory Brewing chased after Charm to prevent her from overtaking Rachel in the general classification (GC). There were several attacks from various riders on different teams to attempt to bridge up to Charm. A small group of three riders managed to break free with about 15 miles left to race.
Coming into the base of Mount Nebo, Charm had a whopping 8:45 on the field and the chase group had around 4:00 or so. Victory Brewing had several riders set tempo into the base of the climb. Alisha took advantage of the fast tempo and picked up the pace just enough around the first switchback of Nebo to see what riders would be able to follow.
The climb took it’s toll on the field. Alisha caught and passed the riders in the chase group one by one. She crossed the line 50 seconds ahead of Rachel, effectively ‘climbing’ into second place on GC. Rachel secured her race lead with the time she gained on Alisha in the first stage criterium and time bonuses.
Charm remained out of sight and took a memorable win on the most difficult stage of the Tri-Peaks Cycling Challenge.
