Despite not finishing last Sunday's road race in the Wachovia Liberty Classic, Lynn Patchett returned to Bermuda upbeat and happy with her exploits in Philadelphia.

Gearing up for next month's Island Games, she clinched the 8.4 mile time trial on Saturday before holding her own among some of cycling's best in the 57-mile road race's early going.

Sadly for her, a huge crash and subsequent pile-up thwarted her chances of finishing the event as she and more than 90 others either aborted their quest or were pulled for lagging too far behind the lead pack.

In Patchett's case it was the latter as she valiantly regained her composure, in spite of severe road rash on her left side, mounted her bike again and sought to make up time and ground.

"I picked my bike up and put the chain back on and carried on though my handlebars were a bit bent. I had problems with my gears going over the big hill but I managed on the downhill to get them rolling again and I worked very hard to catch the group ahead of me," recounted the 38-year-old.

Finally, reaching that pack, she worked with them to try and rein in the leaders who were, by that time, very far in front.

"But we got pulled out after the halfway point. What happened was that the men ? the US Pro Men's race ? were approaching and it would have got very dangerous because there were 200 of them coming at us very fast."

Regarding the crash, Patchett said it was triggered by one rider losing control and hitting another.

"She went into another person's back wheel and took out a slew of us with her. It's just a domino effect when that happens in such a big pack. There was a carnage of bicycle parts all over the road and people gathering themselves together."

Patchett was understandably disappointed given her progress in the race up to that point.

"I had come off a really good time trial and I was within the first 20 to 30 riders when the crash happened. I feel that given the right opportunity, if I had managed to stay away from the crash, I probably could have done as I anticipated.

"I think I was capable of achieving my goal of finishing in the top 40 riders but that's bike riding ? some days it's crashes, other days are good," she said, disclosing that 95 out of 180 cyclists failed to finish the road race.

Though only about 25 riders competed in the time trial Patchett expressed delight with her victory on the undulating 8.4 mile course.

"I had a good ride but I was surprised to win because I didn't know who was out there or what to expect. I didn't have a clue about the competition," she said.

Patchett's final tune-up for her Shetlands assignment will be the 75-mile national road race in two weeks' time and a stage race in Montreal thereafter.