Race Report: Green Mountain Stage Race - Women’s P123
Race: 2026 Green Mountain Stage Race - Women’s P123
Date: September 4-7, 2026
AVRT racers: Louise Thomas, Rachel Hwang, Steph Hart, Katheryn Curi (DS)
Top results: Louise 25/54, Rachel 27/54
Stage 1 - Warren Time Trial
Top result: Louise 19/57
Course: 5.7 mile TT, net elevation gain of 645 ft (basically light climb for the first 2.5 miles followed by flat and downhill
Strava: No strava because no garmin (and you have no idea how much it killed me to race for almost 19 minutes without a power meter)
Recap (written by Steph): Louise crushed this TT (first top 20 result in a national tier field!), so she in theory should be writing this race report about pedaling exactly 264W for 17 minutes and 6 seconds… but that wouldn’t make for a very interesting race report. My TT story started at 7:02 AM on Thursday morning (TT was Friday…) when Delta left my tarmac quite literally on the tarmac at SFO. Upon arriving in Boston Thursday afternoon, realizing the bike wouldn’t arrive until midnight, and staring down a 3 hour drive to the race before Friday’s TT, I made the executive decision to race the TT on a neutral support bike. So Friday morning, wearing Rachel’s helmet and my sneakers, I rocked up to neutral support and asked to borrow a bike. Big shout out to Competitive Edge for providing a size 47 bike for munchkins like myself, although tragically the bike only had SPD pedals which made for some somewhat precarious riding in my zero drop merrels. After taking some snickers from the crowd at the race start, I began the TT with the goal of making it to the half way point before getting passed by my 30 second woman- that all went according to plan, but Louise did blow by me about 7 minutes in despite starting 60 seconds behind me. Despite my lack of power data I felt like I paced the effort pretty well, and rolled in 18:59- shocked to not be in last place, for a final result of 51st of 57 riders.
As a brief follow up, Delta sent my bike from SFO to Boston, to New York City, to Atlanta, and then finally to Burlington, VT where it arrived at 12:20 AM Saturday morning. After a 60 mile drive through rural Vermont, I had the bike back to our airbnb by 2AM and had the bike built up and ready for the circuit race by 8:30 Saturday morning. Lessons learned: don’t put bike shoes in your checked bag and airtag your bike…
Stage 2 - Randolph Circuit Race
Top result: Rachel 23/56
Course: two laps of a 39-mile circuit, for a total of 74 miles with 4000 ft of climbing. Mostly rollers. The only extended climb was 4.6 miles long at 2.2%, reaching about 7% for the final 0.5 miles, with the QoM at the top. Some bad pavement on the descent, but apart from that, the roads were great, and the scenery was very green and pretty.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/20052391994
Nutrition: 90g of carbs in each bottle and one or two gummy worms
Recap (written by Louise):
It wasn't exactly ideal prep for the team. The night before, Steph had to make a midnight run to the airport to collect her bike, which had been touring the country without her, and Rachel's knee had been giving her trouble.
But the whole point of coming was racing in a big field. The P123 women's fields at NorCal road races tend to range between zero and ten riders, and today there would be 56 of us. The plan for the day was to work on pack skills, keep an eye on each other, eat and drink enough, and save something for the next two days.
The race started slow. Low physical load, but mentally exhausting. Early on, I was hesitant about squeezing into gaps, but the problem with hesitating is that someone else will always take it, and you find yourself spat out the back with everyone else who's itching to move up. Some of the other women seemed to swim effortlessly through the pack. I'm not sure whether it was skill or just fearlessness.
At times it felt like being a fish in a school. A rider on the edge would swerve to avoid something in the road, and the whole group would shift with her, moving as one, handlebars almost touching.
There were one or two attacks on the first lap, but nothing stayed away for long. The pace picked up on the run-in to the QOM and the group splintered a little, but everyone took the descent cautiously, and by the end of the descent we were all back together.
On the second lap I don't think there was a single attack before the hill. That made it a good chance to practice moving through the pack, and by now I was much more comfortable squeezing into smaller gaps, with the occasional bit of contact. I even managed to drink regularly.
The QOM splintered the group again, but nothing a good descent couldn't fix. On parts of it I hit over 50 mph.
With about five miles to go, Ellexi from SpeedBlock-Terun attacked… and no one followed. I guess everyone decided it was too far out to be dangerous. Eventually CCB organized a chase and the pace went up. We caught Ellexi a mile or so from the finish, and Rachel and I decided it was time to move up. Rachel found a gap on the right and I followed, aiming for near the front, but not the front front.
I overshot. With 200m to go, I found myself leading the pack, which was cool for a few seconds, and then much less cool when 20 people came around me for the actual sprint.
Still, I was pretty happy with the day. I went in to practice pack skills, and the course delivered plenty of chances to learn.
Stage 3 - Verge Sport Mad River Road Race
Top result: Louise 24/55
Course: 64.5 miles with 6000 ft of climbing. Mostly flat/rollers, with 2.5 climbs: Middlebury Gap (3 miles @ 6%) at mile 27, Baby Gap (4 miles @ 4%) at mile 55, and App Gap (2.6 miles @ 8.3%, reaching up to 20% in the final 500m).
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/20064936736
Nutrition: 90g of Formula 369 in each bottle
Recap:
[Louise]
The race started in the parking lot of a ski resort, where the only place to warm up had a gradient of over 10%, so we didn't get much of a warm-up. Not to worry, though. There would be a neutral rollout, and based on how yesterday went, I assumed no one would attack right from the start.
The first seven miles made a decent warm-up. At mile 8, an attack went, and Rachel, with great positioning and a good read of the race, made it into the break. No one in the peloton was motivated to chase, and the break was soon out of sight. CCB still had their GC rider and yesterday's QOM winner in the pack, so I assumed they'd eventually organize a chase. But they also had a couple of riders in the break, so I wasn't sure what their strategy was. All part of the mind games of bike racing.
[Rachel]
I’m not in the best shape. I spent 3 weeks off the bike followed by a couple weeks of very low Z2 rides to not agitate an injury I just had. That’s important for this race.
I like hugging the line to the middle of the lane in races because I feel safer with riders only on one side of me. Suddenly I see someone attack, and suddenly people on my left along the centerline chase. I was right there, next to the travel path of people chasing, and I jumped in. We had a group of 10 but no organized attack before someone spoke up and got enough of us to work together taking pulls. Two girls on the team of the GC rider were not helping out, understandably, and I, having nothing to lose from this race, did as much as I could. I also knew that whatever time we were to pull ahead could be easily brought back given this was a hilly road race, but still gave it my best go.
By the time we reached the first climb, our group was 4 minutes ahead. While the group didn’t attack or surge on the climb, they were going hard enough where I could not sustain my power for the length of the climb, 3.14 miles. I was able to stay at the back of the pack, until 1km to go and I started getting dropped slowly. While I wasn’t far back behind, I knew that if I was dropped, there was a low chance of catching up later, given next was a descent and long flat/rollers in a headwind.
As I crested the top of the hill, I went as hard as I could to try to catch them, and could slowly see myself reeling them in. Unfortunately, I was slowed down by a guy racing going just a bit too slow on the descent, followed by two cars, so I couldn’t get around. By the time I was able to pass them, the group was a little farther ahead again. I kept my hopes up though and kept believeing I had a chance, until about mile 45, about 10 miles of solo TT. I let the group swallow me up, and the riders in the front had the audacity to ask me how many riders there were in the front and how far up they were, then tell me to get off the front. It was nice to see Louise again though. Steph was dropped.
[Louise]
The feed zone was just before Middlebury Gap. Before the race, Katheryn Curi, had told us to spread out in the pack so that she could hand off a bottle to each of us. Steph and I didn't quite manage that. We ended up right next to each other in the middle of the road, with another rider between us and Katheryn, but she still delivered. Definitely something to practice for next time.
The feed zone chaos also left us at the back of the pack right before the climb, which wasn’t ideal. I put out my second-best-ever 10-minute power on the climb, but was still trailing off the back over the crest and had to make up time on the descent to catch a small group in front.
We worked together, picked up a few more riders along the way, and after about 15 miles of chasing, the peloton was back together. The break was still up the road, though.
Not long after, we found Rachel, who had been riding solo into a brutal headwind since Middlebury Gap. SpeedBlock-Terun was organizing a chase to bring back the break, so we were both happy to sit in and be passenger princesses.
We caught the break at the start of Baby Gap, which marked the beginning of the long climb to the finish. As they came into sight, the pace went up at the same time as the gradient, and the combination was too much for me. I dangled off the back for a while with the group tantalizingly close, and when the pace went up again, I was dropped for real.
From there, I just tried to ride a steady pace up App Gap, and even managed to pass one of the other women. The climb kept getting steeper, apparently hitting 20% near the top, but it was fun, with lots of spectators and chalk on the road. Katheryn had written our names and was waiting at the top with chocolate milk.
Looking back, I probably spent too much on Middlebury and the chase that followed, and had nothing left for the final climbs. But it was a really fun course. The 15% climb back up to the parking lot after the race was sadistic, though.
Stage 4 - Burlington Criterium
Top result: Rachel 33/54
Course: 30 Laps - 1st lap neutral. 6 corner crit (5 left, 1 right), either all up or down hill some pinch points through corners into tighter streets like a little European countryside town.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/20078744092
Nutrition: Welch’s gummies before the start, water in my bottle
Recap (written by Rachel):
So… Steph, Louise and I did extensive analysis of the course by looking at the riders guide and Strava. Both were misleading to say the least. The profile of the loop looked flat, the 3D view looked flat, and Strava said 32 ft per lap. Upon arriving at the scene, we watched Mens Cat 3 take off. One neutral lap, then race. From the first lap, the field was completely strung out. Strung out so much so they covered corner to corner on the long street. It never let up. There was a group of 6 in a break that also managed to lap the field. The juniors field was also strung out from the beginning. As we walked around the course, the pinch points were pinchier than expected, the pavement was awful through some of the corners, and the hills were much more prominent than the said 32ft elevation gain on Strava. Within minutes, our demeanour went from “our goal is to finish the race” to “our goal is to stay in for longer than 5 minutes.”
My thing with bigger field crits has always been being so uncomfortable in the pack that I get pushed to the back every single time, and use up all my matches chasing, moving up, riding in the wind. Luckily, after the circuit a couple days ago, I was feeling better than usual. That day, I was not only feeling comfortable with people next to, but also comfortable enough to move up through some spaces I saw in front or around me. I had to take that aggression into today.
So we line up extremely early for staging to get good positioning. We take a neutral lap, and immediately after, the field blows up. Unlike all the other crits I’ve done in the past, I was able to move up within the pack, instead of getting pushed to the back. It felt so good and I was feeling so confident. Unlike all the other crits I’ve done in the past, I didn’t have the strength I typically had from the last few weeks off. So unfortunately, while I was able to make up spots occasionally, the more the field surged, the farther back I dropped, purely from not having the legs. And there was no letting off, even on the descents, it was pedal pedal pedal to stay on, followed by uphill sprints and pinch point sprints, of about 30-40 second lap after lap efforts. That was some of the strongest burning sensation I felt in my legs, but given it was the last day, I made myself give it everything. Every lap, I could hear Kathyrn Curi yell at me to keep it up, and that honestly really helped. Quickly, a noticeable gap formed and we became a separate group. After a few laps, we were solidly a chase group, and it had calmed down a bit.
With still 19 laps flashing to go, the race guys said “LAST LAP” to our field. I was honestly pretty shocked given how big of a field we were. We ended up being a 21 person field pulled, with 20 in the main group ahead of us.
I’m extremely proud of my pack skills today, but unfortunately the legs just weren’t there. The rest of the race went as expected. GC rider team controlled the race, led out their sprinter for the win.