Edgar Soto Crits

[SouthernBelle]

I have always wanted to see some real racing so I spent the day yesterday at Day 2 of the Edgar Soto Memorial Criterium. It was held in downtown Nashville with the course starting on 2nd Ave and covering 3rd and 1st as well. I saw pretty much all of every race with short breaks for food and the bathroom.

I saw some impressive juniors, and several pro teams were in evidence. I'll blog about it later as I want to get some names right and results aren't posted yet.

A couple of quick highlights:

Masters 30s race included a World TT Masters champion, Michael ?. At one point he lapped the field. Then he backed off to save himself for the pro race.

Pro/Cat1-2 race: Early 4 man breakaway created a good 30 second lead. With about 20 minutes left in a 90 minute race, the field, lead by the aforementioned Michael, started to reel them in. Lap by lap the lead decreased until with about 3 to go they disappeared into the peloton. But then poor Michael got cooked as he had no teammates with him and a train of what may have been Jittery Joes (Hard to read jerseys when they are moving that fast, plus it was dark) blew through.

Funny aside: I parked several miles away and rode in. Even though I was wearing capris it was often assumed that I was racing, had raced, could answer detailed questions.

Black Beauty received lots of attention. Even from some racers.

In Juniors 10-14 there was one girl. She was small and didn't place, but got lots of attention. I think she wore her kit and number for the rest of the day.

It's Michael Olheiser

[SouthernBelle]

I've blogged it and uploaded some pics to the accompanying Flickr account.

[Andrea]

I was there racing! Did you happen to catch the women's P1/2/3 race? I think it turned out well for me

I've got race reports for the weekend, some photos (and a link to Mr. Andrea's gallery with a lot more photos), and a long rant about the backwards racing that happened on Sunday.

[SouthernBelle]

I was there racing! Did you happen to catch the women's P1/2/3 race? I think it turned out well for me

I've got race reports for the weekend, some photos (and a link to Mr. Andrea's gallery with a lot more photos), and a long rant about the backwards racing that happened on Sunday.

Oh heck. I probably did see you. I may even have a pic of you. Most of the time I sat at the corner of 2nd & Commerce on the far side and had on my pink FatCyclist jersey.

Are you in this Picture or This one? At that point I was rationing out card space on my camera as I didn't bring an extra. Then I later remembered internal memory, duh.

We all need to tell each other where we are GOING to be!

[Andrea]

Nope- This is me:

[SouthernBelle]

I definitely saw you! I really remember your green kit.

Any more races in Middle Tennessee?

[Andrea]

It'll be a while, but I'll be at the Allanti race in August.

[SouthernBelle]

It'll be a while, but I'll be at the Allanti race in August.

Good! Bike Pedlar (the name of all their shops now) is my usual LBS so that's easy for me to keep up with.