I had a craptacular weekend of racing. I've really been derailed on training lately by injuring my left rotator cuff (plus working more and crappy weather, but that's really me being lazy).

I did a really early morning crit on Saturday. Pretty flat course, kinda windy. I got trapped on the inside a bit too much and wasn't in the best position. My legs didn't feel so great either. With 3 laps to, I made a move (on the outside, finally!) and fought my way to the front. I hung on in the top 3 on the next lap. Starting the final lap, I got pushed into the gutter by the curb (and nearly caused someone else to hit the curb) by someone who made a move and cut me off too early. I had to hit the brakes and got swarmed by the pack. I made up ground in the sprint, but was too far back starting it to get a decent result. The person who cut me off was 2nd.

On Sunday, I was in an Open (scored 1-2/3/4) race. It was difficult. I felt better than the day before, but I am not used to the pack being so tight, coming from just 3/4 fields and collegiate races. I allowed people to steal wheels from me early on. With 2 to go, I made a move to the front. I grabbed the wheel of the person taking a pull after me, but she just stopped. We got swarmed going into the final turn. I tried to fight back into position, and on the hill by the S/F, I just blew up. I wound up doing the last lap solo. I really hoped to finish with the pack on that one. At least I wasn't DFL--some others were shelled early on.

So much for last year when I felt like I could drive the pace in a lot of crits. I guess these were averaging something like 4+mph faster than my races last year. There go my hopes of a 3 upgrade. Maybe I should've tried to take it in February. The Open race was so challenging, but it was so much less scary than racing with a huge group of 4s, even though there were a few close calls.