The SLO crit was anything but slow today. I figured there would be about six local riders because of competing races in both NorCal and SoCal. But, as I cruised around the start area to ease the nerves, I was surprised to see some competition at my little hometown race. Bicycle John’s had three girls in attendance, an unknown McGuire women had shown up, and the big competition: Webcor’s Felicia Gomez, who just competed in the Montreal World Cup.
The race started at a good pace and I settled in at the front. John’s put in a few attacks from the start, but all the ladies had fresh legs and were able to stay with them. Now, I should step back and set the stage. Basically, the course was a large, half-mile long rectangle with the nastiest wind along the backstretch. The kind of wind where the tumbleweeds dance down the road and hats are lost to the wind. My plan was to hang in and go for some primes and wait for the sprint. Although I am not a sprinter, I just assumed no breaks would stick and that was my only chance. So, there we are, 10 minutes in and more attacks from John’s. I jumped to follow a two-woman attack from John’s and turned to see only Webcor on my wheel. She pulled through and said “you want to work?” I immediately replied YES, of course. This is my kind of race. It was risky to go so early in the race, I could blow up and on this windy course; with a strong field, it might not be worth it. But, this was the ideal little break, probably the strongest rider and two John’s girls. For 35 minutes we worked together off the front. Not sure what was going on, but we lost one John’s girl who couldn’t hang on. The three of us just drilled it listening as the spectators yelled our split times. We got a 40 second gap and I knew we had it. Towards the last 10 minutes, we realized we were going to lap the field. We could see them in the distance, and Felicia and I decided not to work as hard so the John’s girl was not pulled up to her teammates, who would have led her out in the sprint. It was a long race off the front, and I tried so hard at the end to muster up a sprint. But, I had poor positioning coming into the end and the ladies jumped a little harder than I did and got by me. A photo finish for them, and third for me. I ended up with a nice all-cash prize.
And other fun news: I only heard great things about the PROMAN/paradigm racing last weekend. So many cyclists came up to me and told me how strong and organized we looked last weekend at all the NorCal crits, and the girl with the braids is on fire! Good job ladies, you are making a great impression. At the SLO Fast crit, I had lots of fun riding with the kids in the 2 to 10 year old races. I think a few of them took me at the line, but again, I just wasn’t ready for the jump! The best part of the day was when it was all over, I was able to hop and my bike and pedal two miles home instead of the typical three to four-hour drive. SLO Nexus will try to bring back the crit at its old downtown location next year. PROMAN/paradigm ladies, you will have to join me.
~Kristina
The race started at a good pace and I settled in at the front. John’s put in a few attacks from the start, but all the ladies had fresh legs and were able to stay with them. Now, I should step back and set the stage. Basically, the course was a large, half-mile long rectangle with the nastiest wind along the backstretch. The kind of wind where the tumbleweeds dance down the road and hats are lost to the wind. My plan was to hang in and go for some primes and wait for the sprint. Although I am not a sprinter, I just assumed no breaks would stick and that was my only chance. So, there we are, 10 minutes in and more attacks from John’s. I jumped to follow a two-woman attack from John’s and turned to see only Webcor on my wheel. She pulled through and said “you want to work?” I immediately replied YES, of course. This is my kind of race. It was risky to go so early in the race, I could blow up and on this windy course; with a strong field, it might not be worth it. But, this was the ideal little break, probably the strongest rider and two John’s girls. For 35 minutes we worked together off the front. Not sure what was going on, but we lost one John’s girl who couldn’t hang on. The three of us just drilled it listening as the spectators yelled our split times. We got a 40 second gap and I knew we had it. Towards the last 10 minutes, we realized we were going to lap the field. We could see them in the distance, and Felicia and I decided not to work as hard so the John’s girl was not pulled up to her teammates, who would have led her out in the sprint. It was a long race off the front, and I tried so hard at the end to muster up a sprint. But, I had poor positioning coming into the end and the ladies jumped a little harder than I did and got by me. A photo finish for them, and third for me. I ended up with a nice all-cash prize.
And other fun news: I only heard great things about the PROMAN/paradigm racing last weekend. So many cyclists came up to me and told me how strong and organized we looked last weekend at all the NorCal crits, and the girl with the braids is on fire! Good job ladies, you are making a great impression. At the SLO Fast crit, I had lots of fun riding with the kids in the 2 to 10 year old races. I think a few of them took me at the line, but again, I just wasn’t ready for the jump! The best part of the day was when it was all over, I was able to hop and my bike and pedal two miles home instead of the typical three to four-hour drive. SLO Nexus will try to bring back the crit at its old downtown location next year. PROMAN/paradigm ladies, you will have to join me.
~Kristina
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