Tampa Twilight Crit

I was really excited for the Tampa twilight Crit. We have not had a night race in a while so I was super stoked for this one.

I started off with the juniors race. The officials gave us an easy lap so we could see the course. It was flat and technical. With 6 corners, cobbles, and a zig-zag (the zig zag was on a one lane, brick road, in the shape of a loose Z.) it was a very intense course.

I got a good start position and settled into about 5th wheel. The race started fast but my legs felt great. The field was coming up on the second to last corner. We made it through the zig-zag and were entering the 90 degree turn.

The guy in front of me overshot the corner. The small straight away between the second to last and last corner was barricaded off to allow traffic to get through. He clipped one of the barricades and went down hard. His bike slid in front of me and before I knew it I was sliding on my back watching the field race by.

ALL CLEAR!! I jumped up and tested everything out. My bike was fine and I escaped with only a couple small scrapes. I rolled to the pits and jumped back in. I was very stiff after the crash and ended up moving from group to group off the back of the field. I was happy to finish and hoped for a better second race.

The women 1,2,3 raced with the masters 35+ men. I had bent my derailleur hanger in the crash but the mechanics in the pits helped me out and I was back in business. The field was HUGE. They took off really fast. I hung in for about 3 laps then blew. It ended up a repeat of my juniors race and I spent the remainder of my race with little splinter groups.

I finished 7th overall but was rather bummed with the outcome. It was definitely some good training though and I am now super motivated for my next race (Webster Roubaix). It is the hardest RR course in FL with a 3 mi. dirt section. The women will once again with the 35+ men and I can't wait.

Ride Safe!!

ciao