Cherry Pie Criterium

Even though I was dropped from both races today, I still had a blast! My plan was to arrive at 8 AM in time to watch the juniors� races and pass out flyers for the USAC Development Camp in June. The cat3 men�s race was to start at 10, so I figured I�d race that and then go home.

If you want to see something impressive, watch the 15-16 and 17-18 junior races. And then stick around to see them race again with the men. Many of these kids are also cat 3s and 2s, so when they finish their age cat races, they often jump in to race with the men, and now they�re having to do this with junior gears to boot. These kids don�t mess about. It will be super cool to see where they end up in the sport.

So several of them raced the 10 o�clock cat 3 race, and they were schooling the adults, let me tell you. I lasted about 5 laps in that race, even with the help of a 16-year old named Edan Levaton, who literally pushed me back onto the pack when I was struggling. And he had already raced twice that morning, as well as the day before. So anyway, I was dropped from that race, but it was fun. Thanks Edan!

The weather held and I knew if I went home after that I�d be unfulfilled, so I hung out and watched some more racing before suiting up for the women�s race which wasn�t until 2 pm. It was scary to see a whole van-load of Colavita women show up, along with the usual hammer-heads from Proman. Another new women�s team with some familiar faces is Value Act Capital. So they were there, along with Cheerwine and Catherine Caroll (Aaron�s). I was pretty stoked just to line up with these women. It�s always that way. I am at a point in my racing where I�ve realized that all I will ever be is a mediocre cat 2 racer. I just really appreciate what these women are able to do, and get a kick out of hanging on for dear life for as long as possible. Today that was until 3 laps to go. Dang, dropped again. That darn hill took me down. I pulled out and watched the finish, which consisted of Brook Miller starting the sprint from what seemed like the very bottom of the hill�and she just held everyone off and powered like a mad woman to the finish for an oh-so-decisive victory. No contest, there.

-Claire

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