LEVIS COMMONS CYCLING GRAND PRIX

The race organizers messed up our results, so who knows what I really got or anyone else. The field was made up of 31 women according to the starter. A decent number of the women participating were new and probably should have chosen a different crit to try their skills out on... It was fun listening to the complaints during the race between the different levels of riders. I guess that I'm glad that no one got hurt in our race, even though there were several close calls. It was great to have teammates out there with me. Way to go Savage ladies!
As a side comment, I think that one of our teammates got seriously injured in the Men's Cat 1/2 race. I didn't reconize his face, but all of us should keep him in our prayers. His face was bloody and he was carried out on a stretcher. They even had to restart the race!

This was a great race. For those who have never been, Levis Commons is a shopping center that looks like Easton, only a lot smaller. The course was fast, on smooth pavement, and you could pedal through all the corners.
Everything was well run and organized. Gotta remember to double up and race the masters next year too. They gave away two $100.00 primes, and one $50.00.

Good job and thanks to Shell/Saturn cycling and Maumee.

Great crit lots of women, good primes, no crash's (in our feild, and nice pay out. Happy with 8th but i could have sworn I got 7th oh well it was there first year with this crit and it turned out to be very nice. Our team did well and looked good doing it so it was a good day!

Great race. Fast, organized, and a cool announcer dude. Can tell I am entering a rest week, the legs didn't really feel like they had that extra pop today. A few laps in I took a pull and it turned out to be a solo flyer for about three laps until I was chased down. I felt like Hekman*, when the cool announcer dude was saying my name and savage a few times. I need some more interval training and less tuesday/thursday tempo. I had good positioning all race until the last lap, and had to bridge a few gaps to the lead pack after a prime that I didn't go for. This was only my second crit, so I learned alot. I really like the fast pace and action of these short races, so looking forward to the crit fest coming up.

*Minus the pros and that George guy.

Nice turnout, around 30 women, probably because of that sweet purse! I didn't have the loftiest goals today, since I had some nasty back flareups this week. Thursday saw me skip the first 3 hours of my workday so I could try to see my chiropractor--I rarely miss work. I had to visit him again Friday to continue unlocking the quadratus laborum (muscle low and deep in your back) and the sacrailiac (sp) joint. I was walking 1/4 my usual speed, and had the balance of Gamm after one of his all-night pub outings in Luxembourg.

So, what were my goals? Stay with the field for half the race, and be near the front. I managed to stay with the field the whole race; but I often suffered in my positioning. I unsuccessfully tried to stay near Katherine, who seemed to know right where to be. A couple of times I'd have to bridge gaps because I was too slow to react, but I stayed in the field.

Occasionally I'd be in a good position, like the straightaway before the last two turns of the last lap. Then, I got swarmed on either side. Riders started sprinting, and I was playing catch-up. Suddenly, there was slower traffic in front of me with less than 200 M to go. I swung wide, all the way to the right side of the course to find a hole, and that killed my chances of picking off more than a few riders. I managed to forget I had two more gears I could have been using, grabbed them for the last 25M, and was still accelerating as I crossed the line.

You guys have to see how Brooke is handling herself in these races. When she posts, you'll see she finished ahead of me! She was one of those riders smart enough to swarm going into those last turns. If she hadn't been on junior gearing, those legs of hers would have been good for a few places higher. Katherine, too, finished high, best of all of us SHC women, despite also having been stuck behind the slower riders. I'm glad I did this race. It was a confidence booster, despite my finishing position.

I felt decent during this race, but at my limit 99% of the time. Pretty fast race today and the wind today was no help in efforts to get to the front particularly for the final sprint. Pretty frustrating day, but I am happy to have ridden reasonably well and finished a race that was pretty fast. Even if I was nothing more than pack fodder today.

If I keep telling myself that I like Crits, one of these days, just mabe it will be true. Mostly nice course. Some very large, somewhat rough speedbumps on the backstretch. It was nice wide corners, and a nice strong wind. I couldn't get clipped into my peddle, so I was off the back before the race even started. I spent the rest of the race by myself, catching some other straglers as I went. I finally got lapped on the finish line while the lead pack was sprinting. Due to an error in judgement, this placed me second. Shari and Brooke went a ratted me out though. So, no free lunch for them. No more crits for a while.

Pre-registration online did nothing but save you $10. It actually cost you more time then registering day of. Being a first year race I'll forgive them on that one.

For such an open course the smaller fields were able to pedal straight through the turns, for some reason though the turns in our race were extremely slow. I attacked right after first prime with 2 others guys. A lap later we were joined by 2 others but for some unexplained reason at the point we crossed the start/finish line the next lap the other 4 sat up. I wasn't going to take a beating myself so I slid back in and recovered.

So on the last lap I move up a little ways, taking off for the sprint passing about 20 guys in the final stretch and end up somewhere around 20-25ish. overall not a good day for multiple reasons.

It was a great race
The course was fast
The field was big
I don't know what happened but I know the end result is: 9 stiches in my upper lip and 8 in my chin. My lips are so swollen I look like the elepant man. Anyways it looked like SavageHill had a great showing at the race this weekend, congrats to everyone who had good results. Later.
-Tim