5 Jun O’Fallon Grand Prix Criterium

Thank goodness for morning clouds. Temperatures on Sunday dropped to almost tolerable and the breeze even gave an ever so slight coolness to the air. The crit was a fun albeit bumpy hour glass-shaped course, on-mile in length with ten corners, including an exciting chicane corner heading into the finishing straight. The turnout for the women’s Pro/1/2/3 was disappointing at only six riders. But quality isn’t necessarily related to quantity. The race was brutal. When Chris Roettger and Carrie Cash Wooten (Revolution Racing) lined up on the start line, I knew it was going to be a tough race.
I went out hard from the gun, hoping to split up the two teammates straightaway, but with both women experienced strong riders, my plan came to no avail. After a couple of laps on the front I began to question the intelligence of my tactic. My enthusiasm faded, soon to be replaced by a slight feeling of dizziness and perhaps a touch of nausea. We shelled two riders straight away so it was a race of four. Carrie came around and she and I shared the load for a few laps as I regained a bit of equilibrium. Then the attacks, as expected, began in earnest. Chris flew by to my right. No sooner had I grabbed her wheel did Carrie put in an explosion of speed. I chased her down and Chris countered with another effort. And so it went.
At 15 minutes the prime bell rang and, being the optimistic and often nonsensical rider that I am, I put in a big effort, only to be rolled on the line by a very speedy Carrie “I’ll take the Cash” Wooten. We had a big gap after the sprint, so I pushed the pace hard for a few laps, taking advantage of the opportunity to get away from the constant one-two attacks. But with a good 25 minutes to go in the race and Carrie catching a free ride on my wheel with no incentive to work, I was conscious that too much effort on my part would give away the race.
A couple of laps and we were again four—and back to one-two attacks. Thankfully, Chris was now a bit tired from her chase effort, mediating her attacks, the fourth rider, Natalie Carroll (Dogfish Racing) hanging on for dear life, teeth firmly wrapped around her handle bars. Final lap, I had the advantage going into the final chicane, but in a deja vu of the earlier prime, the speedy Carrie came around at the line to take the win. I took second with Chris crossing the line in third. Definitely a good race to work the molasses out of my sprint. A weekend of good hard training accomplished. Thanks to Metro East Cycling for putting on a great weekend of racing.