crit advise?

[Pink Kona]

You are not going to believe this.

On Thursday night, I raced all around Seattle looking for Aerobars compatible with my carbon handlebars. I found them, slapped them on and rode for about 20 minutes on a very busy inner-urban trail. Saturday at 12:09:30 I started my first 5 mile, point to point time trial and placed 5th! I couldn't believe it. Suddenly my contention for overall GC was a reality. Unfortunately 1st place was 54 seconds ahead of me - so I was planning on placing myself in front of her for the 36 mile road race.

Well as luck would have it, Walla Walla was engulfed by a HUGE thunderstorm, with lightening, rain, and severe wind. The other fields that were racing - Pro 1-2 men and 1-3 Women, Cat 4-5 men, etc were cancelled mid race and had to fend for themselves back to town. A friend in the men's field said they had such a fierce tailwind that their cruising speed on the flats was 45 mph! The officials had Cat 4 women and the Cat 3 men stand around for an hour and a half before cancelling it. Our team was bummed because we have a pretty good chance with the road race of advancing our positions.

The next morning our crit started at 8 am. I visualized chasing down the leaders and out-sprinting them at the finish line. There were two time bonuses for the premes... my coach and I discussed the possibility of getting those and making sure my breaks were without any of the leaders. I managed to get two premes - $10 and 2 seconds knocked off but unfortunately I broke with #3. Even with the premes, it was not enough to place myself 1st overall, but I could potentially podium.

When #1, her teammate, and #3 had a break on the final 2 laps, I hopped right on - knowing that it was now or never. We flew around the 6 corners - but for some reason #1 decided to do all the pulling, which tired her just enough. Her teammate, a strong racer as well was going for the win.... #3 and I were neck and neck. And when we pulled around the final bend with 300 m to go - I pulled right and managed to out-sprint them all to win the crit!!!!!!!!! What a sweet victory.

It's hard to imagine this was my 4th crit - I started out disliking them in the beginning because they were so challenging, but was able to figure out the strategy of who to watch, who's stronger, etc. I pumped my arms right after passing the finish line.... my team was going nuts - I can't believe I won. That win bumped me up a spot to #4 overall in GC. A pretty good showing for someone who just started racing in March.

Thank you for the encouragement - I still have a lot to learn. I'm catching on pretty quickly and my sprint is nothing to be desired.... but my heart and soul is in this sport completely. It is amazing to win something you have been training for - and so has everyone else. Those girls didn't go down without a fight though! I have always believed that you are only as good as your best competition. I'll see if I can locate some photos....