Race Blog is Back!

Ok, time to bring this blog out of retirement now that the season is underway.

Much of this blog will seem like a repeat of 2008 because the schedule is pretty much the same...new category for me, same races...

Today was my first crit as a Cat 2, The Cherry Pie Criterium in Napa, CA. There was a lot of hype coming into this race because it is only 1 week before the Tour of California and many of the pro's are in town. The Garmin-Chipotle team was pre-registered and there were rumors of Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer to show up. Unfortunately, Garmin-Chipotle pulled a no-show and Lance and Levi turned out to just be rumors. We did have a good number of pro's show up and race though; Bissell Pro Cycling, BMC, OUCH & Kelly Benefit Strategies were in attendance.

The Course:

One mile closed loop in Napa Valley Corporate Park. One moderate hill at start/finish with 180 degree turn at top of hill, three 90 degree turns, one looping turn, and one right-left chicane.

The Weather:
The sky was threatening rain and it was in the 50's...and there was a strong headwind while coming up the hill...matter of fact, the entire course was windy.

Race Recap:
Jan and I made sure to get a good position in the start because there were over 120 riders in our race. I felt pretty good and was able to hold position near the top 20-30 for most of the race. The pace felt ok to me. There were times when we seemed to crawl up the climb and this is where I was able to move back up into position and then there were many times that we were strung out single file as the pace was pushed to the extreme. Let's just say that I was pretty happy when the announcer was yelling "4 to go!"

Jan and I were in a pretty good spot to give a decent showing in the field sprint, but mid-way through the final lap Jan was taken out in a pretty hard crash. He managed to get away with some road rash and luckily no broken bones. I just cruised in with the main pack, happy to finish the race without getting dropped.

I think that this season is going to be a good one for us...I'm feeling pretty good and Jan was flexing some muscle out there and would have pulled off a good finish in the field sprint if not for the crash.

In other categories, our 3's pulled off a 2nd place finish (Great job Carmi...soon to join Jan and I as a Cat 2). And our Cat 4's got 2 in the top 10 (more possible upgrades!)