INFINEON CRITERIUM - WIN!

Did I ever say I love surprises? Well we got a doozie when the race officials informed us that not only was our scheduled race start changed to begin an hour later, but that we were going to race with the pro men. Since only about 9 women showed up for the crit, I was in my own world thinking that the race was going to be a snoozing snailfest, so I didn’t take much heart in warming up. Thinking that we were going to start a few minutes after the men, I lined up in the back. Mistake! Turns out they decided at the last minute to have us actually race WITH the men! Cool!!!!! Men race so very differently than women: they are constantly accelerating, and there is always some bozo off the front taking a flier, which keeps the race fast. Since the race began in the late afternoon, the winds had picked up and provided some fierce headwinds, which made sticking to wheels very important, not to mention difficult. Nevertheless, it was a very fun challenge and very much like an NRC race. The race started off fast, and my abbreviated pre-race warm-up caught up to me and I struggled to not let myself drift too far back and let a women slip off with a group of men. With Brenda Lyons present, plus a strong Stacy Marple (PAB) and of course Shelley, Nicola, and Jana in the house, the race was very active. Shelley showed her strong sprinting skills and took the win from Brenda, with Stacy getting 3rd and me 4th. A webcor club rider ended up 5th, and Niki and Jana finished strongly with several of the guys. - Kristin