All Photos below are shown courtesy of Kate Burgess: www.kateburgess.com. Thanks Kate! :)

By: Anny Henry - Category: Elite 1/2/3 - Field size: 60 - Teammates: Claire, Rita & Lindsay

Late start today with Claire, Lindsay and Rita, we all had fun warming up and getting ready to race. We decided to make it fun and not put too much strategy into the race as we were all were a little fatigued from the road race the day before. I wanted to try and race closer to the front and get some work on positioning in.

It was another beautiful day today though it was pretty hot as the afternoon got rolling. We were slated to start at 12:50 but got off about 1:20. Our field was around 50 to 60 I’d guess with big teams that had brought their 3s in addition to their 1/2s. Los Gatos had 8 or 9 and Tibco had 5 or 6 with Dolce Vita, Proman, Webcor all represented with 2 or more. The course was a little more than your normal industrial park crit with a chicane on the back side, wide, wide roads with good pavement.

We started fast enough and I spent the first 2 laps just getting into the race. I then moved up to the middle of the pack and got to watch how terrifically Claire rides crits, safe aware and smooth. I was having some luck anticipating the surges and setting up my turns from the outside of the pack so I didn’t feel like I was working too much. I made it up to the front after a prime lap and stayed near the front for the next three laps. Near the end of the race with maybe 5 or so laps left going into the first turn I see girls to my front and left start to go down. Lucky for me I found an inside lane clear and made it by almost but had to stop hard and I went down on my left side as my speed approached zero. No harm and I was right back up but there were some girls hurt and at least 6 or 7 down with Lindsay caught behind. We rejoined the race and started to chase when they neutralized the race and stopped everyone for the ambulance. The race was restarted about 20 minutes later with 3 laps left. Some complained but we were ready to finish and get something cold to drink. I drifted back a little and heading into the last turn on the final lap and I’m thinking “good we’re done.” There was another crash seconds later but all our NorCal girls made it through ok.

I felt like I had a few good laps and got to watch Claire, Rita and Lindsay give solid performances with 2 top 10s…I think. Nice work.
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Sunday was the Wente Crit. We started at 1pm. It was Rita, Claire, Annie, and myself racing together. I did a few openers before the race and felt okay from yesterdays efforts. It's a flat course, swooping turns, and a bit of head wind through the start/finish. We had a large field of 1,2,3's of about 50 girls. The pace started pretty fast, but do-able. There were bot dots all over, grates in the gutters and aggressive riders.

I had a funky feeling about the crit from the beginning. I went for a prime, didn't get it, but had fun trying :) i recovered and settled back in the pack. i kept taking a bad line and getting guttered and pushed around a bit through the final turn. Just as the lap cards are about to go up, crash! i was able to slow down in time to not get involved, and i apparently was in the way back so no one ran into me either, thank god! Annie was involved in the crash but manages to take the fall with her bum so she was good. I pulled bikes off of women who were caught up in it and then hopped back on my own bike and Annie and I went around and heard they were neutralizing the field. Our race stopped for about 20 minutes to help the injured riders. They started our race with 3 laps to go. Our field dwindled down from the first crash. In the last lap, sprinting began for the straightway to the finish... CRASH! Again. I manage to yet again be safe, and this time I kept going to finish the race and took 7th out of the 3's. I was happy to be safe and finish this race. I won another bottle of wine so that was cool :) K well thats the news for this weekend, Cat's hill here I come, gulp!

-Lindsay 

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I have to admit, I walked away from this race disappointed. Partly because I wanted a do-over of the sprint, one where I turned the pedals over a little faster. Mainly, though, I was disappointed by the crashes. This is not right. These crashes should not be happening. I can't be sure, but I think its down to girls lacking some truly fundamental skills. Like when another rider is moving toward you,  protect your bike by leaning into them. If you lean your body and shoulder in, your bike naturally leans away. The last thing you want is for bike parts to touch, and that's EXACTLY what I heard happening before each crash. People are steering with their handlebars instead of their bodies. This makes for erratic movements and dangerous situations.

 Enough about that. I really hope everyone is okay. I thankfully got up to the front with one lap to go and had a pretty good position so all of that was happening behind me. Here is a killer shot of the sprint by Kate (check Rita out! Go!):

-Claire

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Definitely mixed feelings about today’s race.  Like the road race the day before, this is my 6th time doing this criterium.  What is it about this crit that brings me back every year?  It’s not boring, it tends to be fast, and I am always challenged by this course.  But the 2008 edition of the Wente Criterium turned out to have both ups and downs.
 
First the good:  Another hot day, and the Women’s Cat 1/2/3 race had a strong showing with Claire and Anny, and Lindsay and me (the 3s were picked separately).  We started with a field of around 50 girls — about 70% were Cat 1s and 2s, and the remaining 30% or so were 3s.  The race was pretty fast, and in my never-ending quest to be more assertive and work on positioning, I tried to be active in the race and near to the front as often as possible.  I was thus ahead of the TWO crashes (including one as we were approaching the finishing straight) and so was able to avoid the melee both times.  In the end, I took 2nd in the 3s ­— boy was I surprised!  And I finished 8th overall… I may even be more psyched about that! 
 
The bad news is, of course, the crashes.  Luckily, all four of us were able to walk away unharmed.  I hope those who were involved have quick recoveries.  Get well soon!
 
All in all, I have to say that the Wente weekend went all right.  It was great to see, and race with, all the NorCal Velo girls who came out to race.  And I think the 3s were represented well by Lindsay and me, with two top-10 finishes both days.  Yee-ha!
 

(Yet again, thanks to Anny’s husband, Russ, who was so kind to inspect our cleats pre-race.  He found a bolt missing in one of mine and was able to replace it before the race.  Lifesaver!)
 
-rita