Capitol Crit - WA State Crit Championship
And drumroll please..... I WON!
I have my team to thank for sure. We went in with a plan and it came off really well. Two of us were are up pretty high in the BARR (Best All Around Rider) points coming into this race this morning so the plan was that we should try to place highest in this race. We decided that the best plan of action would be to attack after a prime - we had a bit of a scare though that they might not be doing primes! The state championship races don't have prizes - only medals so we weren't sure that they would be able to do primes either, but turns out there were so the plan went forward.
We definitely had a majority at the race. Its kind of sad it can get a little hard to get women out to the races as the season goes on so our field was not so big. Some move up of course, but a lot burn out too or have other plans for the summer (triathlons take a lot of people away from road racing). So, in any case my team was doing a great job managing the pack. There were 4 primes and we took all of those too. My teammate with the BARR points and myself probably spent a bit more time on the front than we should have, but the back side of this course was down a twisty road - it went around a round about, right then left s turn then a hard right - all with some pretty bad pavement, so we didn't feel real comfortable letting the pack go down ahead of us and also we wanted to keep it strung out so we were going throught the bad part more or less single file - plus you had to have a good position on the back to be able to sprint for primes - the finish was slightly uphill as was the whole front of the course turning into the wind for the short flat at the top.
I should have been paying better attention, but a double prime was announced and finally someone from another team decided to sprint for it and contest it - the other two had been taken by my team without a fight. One of my teammates sprinted the other gal out for it and I made sure to be on her wheel. When I saw the other woman ease up I knew it was then or never. I didn't know how long I had left to race, though I suspected we were fairly far into it, so I put the pedal down and went for it. I almost couldn't believe it when I had a gap. I came around the first lap and hadn't been caught so the second prime was mine. I seem to remember thinking good, if I get caught at least it was for something... (and my teammate should have been poised and ready to launch her own attack should I have been caught.) This lap around I had the presence of mind to take a look at the board... it said 4 laps to go (the crit was 35 min + 8 laps) Someone said I was off the front longer, but I don't think so - my husband says that from the times on the photos he took I was off the front for about 11 min, and about 5 laps - which tallies with what I remember. I tried to be good and not look back. Being by myself was actually an advantage through the downhill turns - I could always take the lines I wanted and I could take more risks and I sure did. I think I widened the gap on the down hill. It helped too that there were enough turns on the short course (.7 mile) that I was out of sight a lot. I heard afterwards that I was almost caught once, but she couldn't get me and after that no one else wanted to step up - they started racing for second place. I actually talked to the one who put on the good chase after the race and she said that if she'd put out enough to catch me she would have been done, so she pulled off and hoped one of the other people would take up the chase. That really makes me feel good since last year this person beat me pretty consistantly! When I was still off at two to go I was pretty confident that I had it, but I didn't let up. I tried to make my last lap my hardest yet and I won! I have to say I am absolutely tickled. I can even get a state champion jersey.
