Downtown Criterium - A Rider's View

I didn't really realize how nervous I was about the crit until I was on the start line. My mouth was dry, my stomach weak, my legs shaky. The course was really technical, and pre-riding it was really kind of fun, 9 turns, three of which were greater than 90 degrees made it feel more like skiing that cycling.

It was all good riding it alone, but in a pack of 90 women? I was just hoping to get through it without crashing... at least until the official announced that if riders were out of contention with 30 minutes remaining, they would be considered outside the time cut and eliminated from the race. GULP. It was hang or die.

Staging for this crit was almost as aggressive as the race itself. Volunteers held a rope in front of the pack to hold us back while the announcer called up the top 15 and the leaders of the sprint competition. When they got to number 14, women started pushing their way under the rope and there was nothing the volunteers could do. They were really shocked. They said usually only the men do that. This was serious business.

Bang. The pace was fast from the gun, and there was minimal braking for the turns, thank god. I was concerned that it would be a repeat of Pomona, slam on brakes, sprint out of turn, repeat. Instead, the pack flowed through the course like a flock of starlings. I was able to move my way up to the first third of the pack by taking the inside line, and I started to feel optimistic. I could do this! I was going to make it! Totally do-able. I looked at the clock as we came through the line, 8 minutes down. I will survive.

Then they called a prime. Then the pace picked up. I struggled to hold a wheel through the long straightaway, and was about halfway back when we hit the first turn and a rider crashed in front of me. I was able to brake and avoid hitting her, but the gap had opened just before the headwind section and that was all she wrote. Our group of 15 or so worked like hell to chase, but there was no catching the pack. I watched the clock, and when it hit 30 minutes and we were still in the race, I breathed a big sigh of relief. I was going to make it to the final stage. I didn't care where I was on the GC, I didn't care how I finished. I just wanted to survive to finish this race.

Until next time...

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