Team Tibco Dr. Vie Superfoods sent five riders to the Ladies Tour of Qatar. Megan Guarnier, Kendall Ryan and Carmen Small represented Team USA. Carlee Taylor and Emma Mackie rode for the
Australian National Team.
Carleet Taylor gives us a recount: ”
The Tour of Qatar is the first UCI race of the season, and it definitely sets the standards high. Staying in a five-star accommodation that was continuously restocked with cookies (thanks to our good mates, Mohammed and Ahmed…aka the house keepers!), the world’s best buffet, three spas, and an outdoor pool that is as big as my house may have something to do with it! Yes, the accommodations are pretty amazing, but then there are the 40kmph cross winds, the endless echelon action, and of course…crashes!!
The first day of the Tour started at the camel racetrack. This was probably the most exciting part of the day, considering the only undulations in the road were potholes or speed humps, and the wind wasn’t a factor either. Conditions played into the sprinters’ hands as it caused the bunch to stay together.
However, day one was more like the ‘calm before the storm,’ as I awoke the next day to the howling wind on the hotel windows! During the early stages of the race, this wind slowed the bunch to 15-20 kph, and I never thought the day would come where I would be riding in my 39×23 on flat terrain!
Then there was a slight turn in the road. The cross wind came, and so did the echelons. The race had really begun! The peloton got absolutely obliterated, with no group being larger than 15 riders. Only those who were rolling through could survive. I was in the third group on the road, along with three other Australian teammates, including fellow TIBCO teammate, Emma Mackie. As we only had one member up the road (in the second group), we were under instruction to chase, and that’s exactly what we did for 50km. As much as it hurt, we did catch them, and rolling through at 68kmph on the flat was pretty cool! Even though there was ‘a little bit’ of a tailwind!”
Just in case stage two wasn’t ‘memorable’ enough, the final day saw the peloton take a wrong turn, and have to be escorted back onto the course by the race director. This was quite unfortunate, especially for fellow Team TIBCO member, Megan Guarnier, who was off the front solo at the time. Despite her efforts, and those of others who tried to get off the front, it came down to another sprint at the finish. Although, we (Australian National Team) may not have gotten the result we wanted in the race, I definitely learnt a lot from my time spent in Qatar, and am looking forward to the upcoming season with Team TIBCO.”
Memorable trip, we look forward to more memories as the 2011 Team Tibco Dr Vie Superfoods kicks off to an interesting start.
Where is Qatar?
For you info buffs….
Qatar also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is an Arab country known officially as an emirate in the Middle East occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south; otherwise, the Persian Gulf surrounds the state. A strait of the Persian Gulf separates Qatar from the nearby island nation of Bahrain. Qatar is an oil- and gas-rich nation, with the third largest gas reserves and the highest GDP capita in the world. An absolute monarchy Qatar has been ruled by the al-Thani family since the mid-19th century and has since transformed itself from a British protectorate noted mainly for pearling into an independent state with significant oil and natural gas revenues.
Recent discoveries on the edge of an island in western Qatar indicate early human presence in pre-historic Qatar. Discovery of a 6th millennium BC site at Shagra, in southeastern Qatar revealed the key role the sea (Persian Gulf) played in the lives of Shagra’s inhabitants. Excavations at Al-Khore in northeastern Qatar, Bir Zekrit and Ras Abaruk, and the discovery there of pottery, flint, flint-scraper tools, and painted ceramic vessels there indicates Qatar’s connection with the Al-Ubaid civilization which flourished in the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates which is present Iraq during the period of 5th –4th millennium BC. There had also been a barter-based trading system between the settlements at Qatar and the Ubaid Mesopotamia, in which the exchanged commodities were mainly pottery and dried fish.
Until later my friends….
Dr. Vie, Scientist, Dr. Vie Superfoods
http://www.DrVie.com
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