Licking County Fairgrounds

Goals established Pre-Race:
* Get through the first set of turns in the first couple of bikes. ACCOMPLISHED
* Finish without crashing ACCOMPLISHED
Goals established as race progressed:
* Try to escape in a break ACCOMPLISHED
* Make the break stick ACCOMPLISHED
* Lap the field --ACCOMPLISHED--

As I go through the first set of turns off the gun 1 rider went with me. He was haing trouble holding my pace through the first lap and figured it was too early and we'd both blow up so after he went through in the lead on the first lap he sat up. I put my head down and kept going in my rythm. The gap was increasing for the next 2 laps then stayed steady for the next 3. After that I started to pull away further. By 25 minutes in I could no longer see the field as I came through the tight section. By 38 minutes I was starting to see the field in front of me and figured "boy it'd be really cool to lap the field". At 46 minutes I was just about 50m shy of the field. I latched onto the field at the end of the 50 minute time period with 3 laps to go. The pain of my attack subsided. On the final lap I decided to go around the field, this time the rider who went with me on lap 1 went again and stuck on my wheel. Entering the final stretch the other riders kicked it up and I went to the side so as not to interfere.

The only bad thing was dragging that one guy with me at the end when I went around the field. Thanks for blocking guys. Thanks to Wendy and Shari for the cheering.

I like this little course, and I loved the weather. It was a tiny women's field. Wendy and I decided we'd take it easy, and go hard if someone else did. Wendy and I had a small gap opened in the first laps, but then Emily closed it. When she went around me, I grabbed her wheel, and pretty quickly it was her and me.

Emily pulled way too long, doing quite a respectable speed. I knew I'd have an advantage later, plus she was coasting through turns I knew I could pedal through. When I pulled, I made sure to keep the pressure up in the corners. The last lap, she was back in front of me, and I thought "no problem, she'll be out of gas fast."

She stepped up the pace, and though it hurt, I knew I was good for it. Last stretch, when I thought she was done accelerating, I came around her. Mistake. She was still accelerating, and it was a drag race (I had also chickened out and didn't charge her bike very well!). I gave it what I had, stood up, wished I had shifted up two more gears when I considered doing it before we hit the last straight, and almost got her. I tried throwing the bike--anyone watching probably had no clue what I was trying to do, because I sure didn't feel like I propelled the bike anywhere!

I cheered on the SHC crew in the next two races, and enjoyed the show Jim and team put on. Grimm and Gamm rode a hard 1-2-3 race with a small field, and it was cool cheering them on. Too bad I forgot sunblock!

Had fun today, felt really good, can't wait for Summer to come. Enjoyed racing with everyone, and meeting teammates I don't usually cross paths with, today. Enjoyed being able to block for a teammate and not be totally wasted as a result. And I got 3rd!! WOO HOO! : )

If I keep doing Crits, will I ever learn to like them? I keep asking this question. I think I can safely say I can tolerate Crits. This was interesting, at least I knew the course and had raced there before. Less intimidation for me. Things I need to learn, allergy meds only work when taken. Jim informed you could hear my breathing forever, after lap one. I will continue to work on cornering more aggressively, it's just after watching the guys crash on the corners, I get more worried.

Oh well, one crit down for the year....

Wonderful day for a bike race and only 7 or so riders in our race. Tyler made it a points race to make us suffer every five laps, that made it a race instead of a ride. Gamm and I were the only ones from the Team in the race.

All thanks to Gamm for busting his butt the first half of the race to keep me in check with the others. Almost forgot, I hit the pavement on the 2nd lap.

Jeff was racking up all the points for first place and Paul then brought back Jeff after he collected all the points, I also helped a little. I didn't want to work myself over because if Paul would have dropped me, I would have been brought back by Tris and Jack. So I hit it hard with 5 laps to go and then attacked Jeff with 2 laps left. The finish was to close to call, I think Paul got me though.

Thanks to Becky, Caylin, Mom and Dad for everything you do, I Love to see you all there at the races. Thanks also to Shari sticking around to Cheer Gamm and I on! Thanks for all the help Gammer good to see ya.

Had a great time with my family after the race thank you Jesus!

Great day for Jim Matson, fair day for SH, bad day for Joe B. SH had half the field of a 10-man race, so when Jim got off the front, it was pretty easy to shut down any chase attempts. After Jim was out of site, SH should have been throwing down an attack every lap, but we didn't. After the half-way point, I attempted a break and got a small gap with a Breakaway rider on my wheel. After the four-corner portion of the course, I hit a slick spot on the pavement and went down, with the Breakaway guy falling on top of me. The only damage was a nice strawberry on my hip and calf, and I was able to catch up to the "pack" after about a lap and a half of chasing. By the time we hit the final lap, Jim had caught us and jumped from the pack to take the sprint. Unfortunately, he dragged the Breakaway rider with him! I was too far back starting into the final turn and could only muster 5th. With 5 of 10 riders in the field, SH could only muster 1st, 3rd, and 5th. Not an impressive showing, except for Jim. Wasn't even a particularly good workout as the negative racing resulted in a pretty slow average. Next time, I'll attack until I either get away or blow up!

Points Race = I'm not really sure what happened but I tried to help Gimm as much as I could and I have to cut this short because my Cat is walking across teh keyboard