NC.Com Crits #17, 18: Final Night

Feeling better post-race than during-race!
It was a hard night full of fast racing.

Tonight might be the first time I thought I was going to die in a race. Well, it wasn't that bad, but it was crazy hard and hurt! It was the final NashvilleCyclist.com crit of the 2012 series, and the first was one of the hardest races I can remember.

Men's Cat IV--brutal!

On the positive side (I guess), it didn't hurt for just me. The guys rode fast from the whistle, and I talked to Don (who took the photos) and he said it was a very hard race and hurt for him too. He finished in the top 10 of the overall omnium, so he is strong and not a back-of-the-pack rider. On the negative side, I did not finish the race. See that picture above? The kid in front of me is a kid (maybe 14), and the pack is long gone. Plus my head is down, never a good sign. I think at this moment I wanted to throw up. Instead, I got off, recovered, and got back on for the women's race that was soon to follow.

We started out fast and pretty much kept that pace up. This race was different than last week's in that we had fewer women (17 today) and different women, but it was super fun. Everyone was pretty aggressive, and the pace was high. Eventually, Katie got away and neither Catherine nor I was able to go with her. Then Jes attacked, and Marsha and Catherine went with her. I really wanted too--I did not want both Katie and Jes up the road from me. But I could not get to that little group without taking Leah and Kathy with me, and I did not like those odds (4 SVMIC vs. 2 Belladium).

Instead, I sat back with Valerie, Jess, Leah, and Kathy until we could see Cali (we were lapping her). Then I bridged up and separated me, Leah, and Kathy from Val and Jess. When we were down to 4 laps to go Leah pulled the entire rest of the race; that is, the rest until half a lap to go when I attacked again and stayed away to take 5th place. Catherine's group never caught Katie, but Cath outsprinted the other girls and finished 2nd. Val outsprinted Jess and was 8th; Cali outsprinted Kristi and was 10th; Anna didn't have anyone to outsprint and was 12th. So even though we didn't win the race, we all won from the groups we were in. Success!

Catherine, Leah, and Valerie post-race,
overall Women 4 omnium

We had a post-race celebration that included Whitt's barbecue and cupcakes and involved podium presentations. Catherine was 2nd and Valerie was 3rd overall for the 4s races.

Katie, AJ, and me post-race,
overall Women 1/2/3 omnium

I finished 3rd overall for the 1/2/3 races. If I had beaten Katie tonight, I'd have finished 2nd (only 1 point separated us coming into this race), and AJ pretty much dominated and couldn't be caught, despite missing the final two races.

Crit Stats (since I started racing the men's races first)

7-21-12 Crit 1M stats: 16.85 miles, 38:41, 26.1 mph, 183 bpm (Sat)
7-21-12 Crit 2W stats: 14.24 miles, 37:58, 22.5 mph, 178 bpm (Sat)
7-25-12 Crit 1M stats: 7.94 miles, 20:11, 23.2 mph, 181 bpm (Wed)
7-25-12 Crit 2W stats: 10.72 miles, 28:09, 22.9 mph, 187 bpm (Wed)
7-28-12 Crit 1M stats: 16.18 miles, 39:11, 24.8 mph, 180 bpm (Sat)
7-28-12 Crit 2W stats: 14.21 miles, 39:16, 21.6 mph, 174 bpm (Sat)
8-08-12 Crit 1M stats: 10.34 miles, 24:22, 25.5 mph, 183 bpm (Wed)
8-08-12 Crit 2W stats: 9.73 miles, 24:29, 23.8 mph, 184 bpm (Wed)
8-15-12 Crit 1M stats: 10.42 miles, 24:37, 25.4 mph, 185 bpm (Wed)
8-15-12 Crit 2W stats: 9.70 miles, 25:07, 23.2 mph, 187 bpm (Wed)
8-22-12 Crit 1M stats: don't have any, broken Garmin, lasted 6 laps (Wed)
8-22-12 Crit 2W stats: don't have any, Kathy said we averaged 22.5 mph

Women's Crit Stats

8-22-12 Stats: don't have them; ~22.5 mph, 5th of 17
8-15-12 Stats: 25:07, 9.70 miles, 23.2 mph, 187 bpm, 3rd of 14
8-08-12 Stats: 24:29, 9.73 miles, 23.8 mph, 184 bpm, 3rd of 22
7-28-12 Stats: 39:16, 14.21 miles, 21.6 mph, 174 bpm, 8th of 11
7-25-12 Stats: 28:09, 10.72 miles, 22.9 mph, 187 bpm, 2nd of 11
7-21-12 Stats: 37:58, 14.24 miles, 22.5 mph, 178 bpm, 3rd of 11
7-18-12 Stats: 30:04, 11.29 miles, 22.5 mph, 179 bpm; 5th of 15
6-20-12 Stats: 30:06, 11.21 miles, 22.3 mph, 185 bpm; 6th of 16 (no post)
6-16-12 Stats: 40:18, 15.36 miles, 22.9 mph, 186 bpm; 1st of 14
6-13-12 Stats: 29:40, 11.37 miles, 23.0 mph, 187 bpm; 4th of 23
5-30-12 Stats: don't have them; 3rd of 21
5-23-12 Stats:  31:08, 11.63 miles, 22.4 mph (31.1 max); 3rd of 12