NC.com Crit #3: Team Belladium Sweep!

Anna (4th), Kailin (2nd), Cali (1st), Valerie (for Catherine, 3rd), AJ (5th)

Team Belladium rode awesome tonight, and I had so much fun in this race that I abandoned my initial plan and rode much harder than I was planning to. My plan had been to ride easy (top 5) in the women's race and then ride hard in the men's race. Instead, I rode off the front nearly the entire women's race and lasted only 1 lap in the men's race.

In our race, Amanda attacked early, with Cali and Jess going with her. When we caught them, I attacked and Anna bridged up to me. I want to say this was around lap 3 of 18 or so. Anna stayed with me for quite some time but eventually dropped off, and I was by myself until Cali caught me. Periodically, I'd look back (or up or across, as crit courses allow for high visibility) and see what was going on behind me. I knew pretty much where everyone was except Cali -- I never saw her until she was on my wheel. Then I second-guessed myself and wondered if I'd missed anyone else in my checking. She said she was the only one, so we rode on. I think this was with maybe 4 or 3 to go.

I was in a groove, so I said to her that if she could take the win, she should go ahead. She did, and she won it! I wasn't in danger of getting caught by anyone and finished second. Anna had stayed away from the field, and Catherine had bridged up to and passed her, so they were 3rd and 4th. Amanda was in the field the entire time because a few of the riders (especially Jess) were stuck to her like glue and not letting her get away. So she won the field sprint to take 5th. Woot!

Race #3: 28:48, 10.73 miles, 22.3 mph, 189 bpm, 2/18 and 1/3 Cat 2s
Race #2: 30:39, 11.31 miles, 22.1 mph, 2/18 and 2/4 Cat 2s
Race #1: 35:36, 12.88 miles, 21.7 mph, 4/14 and 2/3 Cat 2s (incorrect time and mileage)

Post-race smoothie to cool me down!

Racing at 6:30, starting the men's race at 7:10 (in which I lasted 1 lap this week thanks to the hard effort in the women's race), running errands, charging my car and riding home while it charged, and having to do laundry made for a late night and made it hard to get to sleep. That just might be typical for Wednesday race nights. Hopefully I can make up the sleep over the weekend!