RR: Davis Crit

I've been neglect in updating, but have been busy with work and training. Yesterday was a crit up in Davis which was a lot of fun.

Women's 3/4
40 minutes
Mice: Me, Marissa and Rebecca
Field was probably 50 riders--largest field I've been in.
Downtown crit in Davis, CA on the 4th of July. Temps were in the mid-70s to start and up in the 80s by the end. Sunny and a bit of a breeze.

I haven't done a crit since Dash for Cash in late May, but I've raced a number of times on the track and have been working on sitting in the pack and getting more comfortable with that. Which I have, but on the track, you have the same people pretty much every week so you know how they ride. The Davis crit, especially towards the back of the pack, had quite a few gals who couldn't take a turn without diving into the corners or hold a line (lots of jerking left and right). With 6 turns ("L" shaped course), this could be a problem.

Started in about the third row and the first lap on every turn there were lots of shouts of "hold your line", "pedal!" and other choice terms. Lots of dive bombing into the corners and since this was a training effort for Sunday's track races, I was in no mood for some dumb chick to take me out and after about 10 minutes, the back of the field got gapped. I was with three other gals, including Julia from Dolce Vita whom I worked with at Dash for Cash, and we tried to get something going with the other two gals, but they were pretty clueless. Once the front of the field came around again, we got in and then lost them again and towards the end of the race, Julia and I worked together and tried to pick up some other stragglers, but that didn't work out.

So, finished rubber side down, about 6th from last and got a lot of sprinting out of the saddle out of the corners practice. Looking forward to Sunday at the track.