State Crit Weekend

This past weekend we traveled down to Lakeland for the State Crit weekend.We started off with a pre race on Saturday.

The course was flat with 4 corners in the heart of downtown. It was only .5 mi and the corners were all smooth so it made for a fast race.

I started off with the junior 15-18 race. I hung in until 5 laps to go and then dropped and started prepping for the womens race that followed immediately after.

I was pretty pumped up at the start of my womens race. It was an all cat. race and we had a fairly large field. It was really hot out and I was ready to get out and race.

It started off with some cat and mouse games to see who would go first. Finally the pace started to pick up. The field was pretty stacked so nothing was getting away. I put in a couple attacks and got some gaps. I was off the front once with two other 3's. We had a good sized gap but with some bad luck through a corner we ended up integrating back into the field.

When we came to 5 laps to go I could feel my legs start to tighten when I stood up. I tried to slide up in the field. I could feel my legs get tighter and tighter. I ended up finishing in the field. I had a good race but hoped for better luck the next day.

State Championships...

I was a little nervous at the start. I planned on racing aggressive and going for it. There were plenty of women but some of the big name power houses didn't show up.

The course was the same at Saturday's only we were racing it backwards.

From the gun I was first clipped in..."lets do this" I took off sprinting. I glanced back and the only rider on my wheel was Michelle Blake (Team Colavita-13-14 junior). I drilled it and continued to hammer. We rotated for 4 laps and then I found myself on my own. I was off for a couple more laps before I was finally caught.I hopped back into the field and tried to recover.

I stayed in the field for a while and then tried a couple more attacks. I got some gaps but didn't hold them or get other riders to go with me. On my last attack I was countered and found myself off the back...

After a while I was caught by the 3 leaders and hopped onto their wheel. Soon we were down to 8 laps to go. I sat on the back of the group for the next 6 laps. One of the riders (Tina Elliot-Florida Velo) took off and soloed to victory. I led out Elizabeth Morse-Hill to a 2nd place.

I was happy with the substance of my races but still hope to finally nail the finish. I've taken alot away from the weekend and deffinately have a possative outlook towards my next race.

Next week I travel to GA for a race on Monday and a week in the mountains.

ciao