2Wheel Sport Criterium

Rita Rules!

Rita earned a wad of cash for her efforts in the breakaway. She rode an impressive race, placing 3rd after Jane Despas and Amanda Eaken. Thanks Frank Ammarita and 2WheelSport Racing!

Today was completely awesome. Its always a bonus to race close to home; close enough to ride to the race! Local racing also means that people yell and scream and cheer you on. This was definitely the case today. This race was promoted by Frank Ammarita's team, 2Wheel Racing. What a well-organized race! Great job 2Wheel!

We had 3 players in the category 1/2/3 field - Rita Szeto, Tracy Barhyt, and myself. I felt pretty damn good during my warm-up ride, so since it was going to be a short race (45 minutes) I decided - what the heck - and I attacked right off the start line. I wanted to stay off the front just to liven things up and get some good exposure, since 2Wheel Sport is one of our sponsors. That lasted for about 2 laps, and then the primes started and the racing got pretty agressive. It was windy too, so after several hard-fought primes and attacks, a lot of gals were getting tired. That's the right time to attack again, and sure enough, it was Jane Despas (Klein), with Amanda Eaken (Metromint) going after her. And then...in a flash of orange and blue...Rita jumps across! Now its Jane, Amanda, and Rita - a break of three. Metromint and Dolce Vita were the only other team with more than 2 women in the race, so we let the gap grow. And grow.

Rita in the break (photo credit - Veronika Lenzi):

I'll let Rita tell the story of what happened in the break.  With a few laps to go, a Dolce rider and Hanan Alves-Hyde attacked the field - I tried to chase Hanan, but that girl is fast. They stayed away, so the field was now sprinting for 6th place and I took 8th overall.

This was a great race because Rita was in the right place at the right time, she rode agressively, and it paid off. It was a perfect opportunity for her to show what a strong rider she is. Congratulations, Rita!

-Claire
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How great is it to have teammates in a race with you!  Although we did not specifically have a set plan for the race, being aware of such experienced riders as Claire and Tracy racing with me and watching what they were doing, that certainly helped me when it came down to making the split-second decision to respond to the attack... which turned out to be a critical move in the race for us.  Claire lit up the race at the start, and then Tracy spent some time up front.  So when yet another attack was initiated by Jane and followed closely by Amanda, I felt like it was my turn to try and do something, my duty to the team really.  And I was thrilled to make that attempt, and amazed that I was actually able to get across and connect with them.
 
But now I was in this breakaway, and it had real potential.  It was a fierce pace.  I could hardly believe it, that I was in this break with two cat 1 racers.  Then the prime bell rang, and Jane went for it.  She took it handily, but rather than coming back to us, Jane just kept on going.  And then there were two.  The wind made it tough to ride a 2-person break.  Especially at first, when I believe Amanda thought maybe we might be able to catch Jane.  She hammered, and the next few laps were pretty dicey for me.  There were times when I let nearly a bike-length gap form between us; I was in real danger of possibly getting dropped.
 
All of a sudden, I hear a loud, "Go Rita!" a bit behind me.  Bless Claire, she had seen my suffering and sprinted to within earshot of us ahead to scream out some much-needed encouragement.  And it worked!  Truly, all the support and cheering from the sidelines was so great.  Eventually, I begin to settle into the rhythm more and feel like I am contributing a little more with taking turns with the pulls.  Of course by the end, I have no sprint to speak of so there's no question about who would take 2nd and who would take 3rd.  (I couldn't outsprint Amanda anyways, even If I had a full tank.)  But I'm so happy to have ridden an aggressive race.
 
-rita

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Race Reports coming soon for the women's category 3/4 race:

The NorCal Velo Prime Posse:

***
Weather:  a little warm and pretty windy
Teammates: Claire and Rita
Legs: well, I was trying to ignore the fact they were a bit tired!
 
I thought that a mellow mountain bike ride early in the morning would help spin out the legs.  Had a good warm-up - rode from Cotati to the race. Then Claire, Rita and I did some more warm-up.  Feeling a bit dehydrated for some strange reason, even after drinking lots of water. I just had no power and my legs were sore. Rita was off the front with Amanda from Metromint and Jane Despas. Claire and I were blocking with some of the other Metromint gals. Then I pulled off.  I was done. But Rita and Claire looked awesome.  I'll let them tell you how it ended. Very cool! Great job gals.
 
-Tracy

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