Specialized/Sierra Nevada Crit

By Tracey Ford
Date: June 17, 2006
Category: Women 1/2/3
Filed Size: About 20
Teammates: Jenni
Place: 1st

The course was great: wide open roads with nice pavement. Unfortunately, the weather was hot and the field size was small. I only recognized a handful of the racers, including Nicola and Lori from Proman, Sabine from Velo Bella, Alto Velo (Webcor) and one racer from Newman's Own. I didn't expect the race to be very fast since it was 96 degrees and there was a pretty strong wind on two sections of the course. We started and Lori jumped to the front and set a nice pace. After she pulled off, things slowed down. There were a decent number of attacks from Proman and Newman's Own and jumps for primes during the race, but everyone immediately reacted and pulled them back in. Jenni put in a really good attack midway through the race. With her power and consistency, I expected her to get away. But the group pulled hard and she got absorbed after about a half a lap. She did, however, manage to win a prime (and got a cool prize). With 4 laps to go Sabine jumped to the front and pulled the group around for next couple of laps. I was third wheel and hoping the pace would stay high so I wouldn't get swarmed. Unfortunately, on the last lap everyone picked up the pace, swarmed the front and swallowed me up. With 1/3 of a lap to go, I was getting frustrated with the sketchy riding and asked Jenni, who was in front of me, to pick it up. She pulled out of the pack with me on her wheel and started hammering. I looked back and we had 6 bike lengths on the pack within seconds. By the time I turned back around, Jenni had gapped me by a bike length. I yelled for her to slow down because I was redlined. We came around the last corner and I jumped around Jenni and sprinted for the win. Even after Jenni stopped pedaling, she managed to coast in for 6th place (Alto Velo 2nd, Nicola 3rd). Jenni was incredible teammate and I could not have won without her awesome leadout.