Superweek - Ray Basso Memorial Crit 1

I'm still walking on clouds the morning after my first Superweek race of 2008. I first raced Superweek in 2006 as a recently upgraded cat 3. I had a great time, and a couple placings in the money, and since then I've always tried to come back. This year, I'm doing four of the women's P/1/2 races - squeezed into a vacation where I'm also visiting home. I did the Downieville classic on Saturday (also amazing, and a pretty grueling MTB race) so I wasn't sure if my legs would feel recovered enough by Tuesday, but I decided to race anyway, since I'm only here for four days.

The race started with probably 50-60 women lined up, with several large teams - Hub racing, Team Revolution, Verducci Breakaway (team of Teresa Clif-Ryan - 2006 Crit Nats Champ and World Cup bronze medalist), America's Dairyland, and HPC. Joining me from Norcal were Minty Ali and Starla from Dolce Vita. We lined up together and they gave me the low down on the peloton. We were to do 50 laps of the 0.8 mile course, with sprint points on laps 30, 20, and 10. (I didn't really consider going for the sprints, since I'm only going to be here for 4 or the 7 races in the series). We took off at the gun, and I heard a crash in the first 200 meters. That was enough to motivate me to get to the front and stay there. I hung out in the top 8 riders, mostly just surfing wheels and following surges. I felt strong and was tempted to attack several times, but I reminded myself that I was a solo rider against a bunch of teams - not to mention that it was a long race (40 miles), and it was HOT - so hot that we were allowed to take feeds on the backside of the course. At one point, I found myself in a break of about 10-12 girls that had separated off the front of the field. There were four girls from one team, but somehow people didn't quite coordinate and we got pulled back.

About 25 laps in, I had decided that it wasn't likely a break would go. People had been trying all race, and nothing was sticking. They rang the bell for the sprint points at 20 to go, and some girls contested it pretty aggressively. As soon as we reeled them in, a Team Revolution rider (Katie) counter attacked. I was in good position, so I went with her. I had heard someone comment on one of her earlier moves "that could stick..." so I knew she must be a strong rider. We quickly opened up a gap, thanks to the fact that two of her teammates were on the front of the pack when she attacked, and soon I heard one of my friends on the sidelines telling us that it was 20 seconds. We worked really well together trading pulls evenly and kept putting time on the field. Soon our gap had increased to 40 seconds. At 11 laps, they rang the bell for the sprint points, and I told Katie she could take them, since I wasn't able to contest the sprint jersey. Soon after that, coming around one of the technical corners on the course, I was on Katie's wheel when she took the corner a little too hot, and slid out. I screamed like a little girl and rode over her rear wheel, but managed to keep myself upright and continued on the course alone. Yikes - 9 laps to go, and I was out there alone - Could I hold it? On the next lap around, I saw that she had gotten up and was headed towards the pit, and she yelled encouragement as I passed. I put my head down and kept at it, just going at my threshold. When I came around with 8 laps to go, I came by the wheel pit, and Katie was being pushed back in! Amazing - she crashed out hard, and still got up and got back into the race. I was grateful to have my break companion back with me, and we got down to business working together again. At that point Katie told me she wasn't going to contest the final sprint either, so I started thinking that there was a chance for a win. (I never have these thoughts, because they are a sure way to lose. Like when I flatted out of a winning break with 6 to go - no free laps - in a crit last year)

With about 6 to go, we came around the course and could see the field up ahead on the straight stretch - we were close to lapping! Kristin was yelling at me from the sidelines not to lap the field, and I agreed that it wouldn't be such a great plan, so Katie and I throttled back ever so slightly, and rode out the 5 laps in a nice smooth rotation. With half a lap to go, I came around her and actually won the frickin race. I still can't believe it. It's not my first win as a cat 2, but it's definitely the biggest one so far.

I was like a little girl after the race too - cycling news came to interview me and I was almost struck dumb, but managed to stutter something intelligible I think. And then they gave me a white stage-winners' jersey! That also had me pretty excited, and made me realize that I am such an amateur. Pros actually don't blink an eye at any of this stuff, but I was loving it.

Hopefully I'll get some photos up here soon.

I can't wait for the races today!