MARTINEZ BAYFRONT CRITERIUM

The Shell Bay Front Crit had a very large prize list for the women and with many of the local heavy hitters away at Redlands, I thought it would be a perfect race to bring home a little bacon. My teammate Kristin had the same idea, so off we went to the cute town of Martinez to get in a good quick workout and hopefully get paid in the process. Our plan was simple - chill for the first half, and then create a break (hopefully with both of us in it) during the second half. In the meantime, go for all the primes that had money.

After a few laps, I started to get antsy already, and so did Kristin - and we started launching attacks to test the legs of the field. A few other women were pretty active as well, which served to pick up the pace a little. Kristin set me up perfectly for one $25 prime and then I decided to make a break for it.

I was off the front on my own for a little while, and they rang the bell for a prime. Another girl bridged so it was 2 - but she sat on my wheel as we headed into the prime. I picked up the pace a bit at the line, to make sure she didn't come around me, and got another $25 prime. After that, she decided to work with me, so she and i traded pulls for a while.

Gradually, we were reabsorbed by the field. As we were caught another attack was launched with Kirstin in it. That was reabsorbed as well. A lap or 2 later, I was at the front, probably just went for the third prime, and suddenly, me and 4 other women had a gap on the field - not intentional, but hey, might as well take advantage of it.

For the remainder of the race, we stayed off the front - some working well together, some not. But, my legs were feeling great and I was happy to get in a good hard effort at the front. Going into the final sprint, I had my eye on one girl who I know has a great jump, and seemed to be feeling good. At about 200 meters to go i jumped - i got nipped at the line for by different girl I would not have suspected. When I described it to my non-cycling friends, they declared that i had been "hustled!" I love the term. In retrospect, my legs were feeling so good I should have attacked our little break - rather than let anyone sit in. But, in the end, it was a fun race, a beautiful day, and great prize money - so I was
happy :)

Thanks for reading!
Virginia