Volunteer Park Crit

It was a good news bad news kind of day.

Bad news first - Annette crashed and dislocated her shoulder. I think someone hit the curb and four riders went down and it sounds like Annette might have gotten the worst of it. I hope she gets better fast.

Good news was that Jen took the field sprint. Hooray! She went strong up the hill and was in first by the corner and finished strong all the way to the line.

I rode aggressively in the first part of the race and ended up getting popped at 10 laps. The race was really fast right from the gun. The rider I was marking attacked on the third lap and I didn't react quickly enough and took half a lap to catch her. I brought the pack up but then I was wasted. I went to the back to recover and made it through another lap but then lost contact. Then I came around the corner and saw the four riders down. I checked to see that they were OK and then kept going. The refs didn't pull me and when the pack came around I jumped in the back. The rest of the race I hung out there. I heard lots of people cheering for me which was really nice! I had plenty of energy left at the finish but couldn't contest since I was lapped. I'll have to watch the reserves more closely next time and be alert to the screaming lungs before it's too late.

Karen did well and got in the Suz/Jaydeen (sp?) break. But she had the same problem I've had at other races. They were way to strong for her to work with. They ended up dropping her and she ended up back in the pack. Nice effort though. Those two just got back from Redlands and have great fittness.

After the race I saw the Garage team heading up the hill to the park and one guy was carrying a bike over his shoulder while he was riding. Bike racers are crazy!