Driveway Crit

This week was an off week for the Dirt Remedy so I went for a run on Tuesday. It's been over a month and my legs were killing me today! But I digress...

This week the women's 3/4 had less starters than usual - only 7, whereas we usually start with about 15. Kelly and Gabby were there and it's nice when you see familiar faces, but I really wish my Aggie teammates were out there more. I loved seeing Kim last week.

From the get go, the pace was a little slower than usual. There weren't a lot of "teams," so to speak, so no one had a reason to work hard. I could tell that Kelly (Team Brain and Spine), who typically pulls a lot, had made it a goal not to pull at all. 2 of the junior boys kept the pace up for much of the race, switching off with Suzy (Colavita) who tried to drop us after every hill. At the first prime, I was in good positioning at 2nd in the peloton and sprinted a little bit to win it. After that I decided my goal for the race would be to get both the primes. I was fairly sure I could sprint twice and still make a pack finish. Plus, I could tell Suzy would be a little tired from all the pulling and Kelly was saving it for the end. At the next prime a few other girls tried to sprint with me, but ramped up my pace and got it again! Time keeps passing by faster every time I do a driveway crit. Before I knew it we were on our last lap. Before the last turn, I tried to get on the inside corner but a 10-14 (fast!) junior who had been lapped had just caught back on, was a bit wobbly, and I got scared and was edged out. I ended up with bad positioning going in to the last straightaway. Kelly was a good 5 or 6 bike lengths ahead and Suzy was about 1, and both of them were pumping it. I was in the wind for the rest of the sprint. I gave it my all, but didn't have much fire left in my legs, and didn't gain enough on Suzy to pass her. I finished in 3rd - but won both primes! Check out the loot:

Podium water bottle, MJ's gift cert, Driveway pint glass and Thunderbird Energetica noms

Sprint finish

I'm still in third overall with Kelly one point behind for the mini-series. It would be possible to win it if the 2 girls ahead of me don't show up for the last race in the series (next week). I doubt that will happen, but one can dream. I just REALLY like that orange jersey.