Old Capitol Criterium, Iowa City, IA

Being on a team is a new experience for me and it’s hard to explain how happy I am with how we rode this weekend since we did not get the best results. But I am! Saturday’s road race was good aggressive racing and we battled it out as a team and we are proud of our efforts. We weren’t sure what was going to happen in Sunday’s crit since we were outnumbered again. This historic crit is not your typical boring four corner deal. It’s got a screaming descent into a sharp corner, a short but hurtful hill, and then a tricky twisty section that is hard to advance in. This is a course that requires some mad skillz! The sharp corner at the bottom of a treacherous descent proved to be the deciding factor for us. Madeleine and I both had a hard time with that corner and while Anne was fine (she has won this race several times in years past!) we really needed all of our team to be aggressive and “on”. Every lap I found myself at the back after the descent and making a huge chase effort to catch back on and then re-positioning myself on the hill. When 2 Kenda riders attacked early in the race taking another rider with them I was not in good position to go, and while Anne was up there to lead the chase she could not do it alone. When I finally got positioned, I was able to try to bridge with another rider for a couple laps, but we were unsuccessful and were reabsorbed. It’s hard to be fast when you are riding your brakes like a maniac. After we were caught we slowed things down and the break of 3 was able to lap us, and at 1 ½ laps to go a Kenda rider attacked at the top of the hill, taking Kristin Wentworth (one of the Kenda riders from the break) with her. Again I was not positioned because of the cursed descent. On the last lap I had time to get repositioned on the hill and after a quick check with Anne was able to attack in the tricky twisty section before the finish. I got a good gap on the field which secured fifth place, but I was hoping to catch the two Kenda riders for fourth place (Kristin W was from the break so she had the win locked up) but they held me off. Anne got third in the field sprint, but one rider ahead of her was Catherine from the break, so Anne took seventh. Not much to say except that this year we have lots of hilly racing planned so I am confident our descending will improve with practice.

-Kristen