After a little nap we headed to the evening crit venue in downtown Minneapolis. We had 25 laps to do on a course that's about .9mi long and completely flat with 6 turns in sort of an 'L' shape. There are a few slippery manhole covers, pavement striping and some potholes here and there, pretty typical stuff for this type of course. The stretch between turns 3 and 4 is extremely narrow so bikes usually have a tendency to pile up there if someone overcooks the turn or hits the brakes. Otherwise the course is pretty straightforward - and it begs to be ridden fast-fast-fast!! We had decent weather - upper 70s and some sun with a minor shower about 30min before start time. There was a stiff headwind on the long backstretch and a killer tailwind on the start/finish stretch.
Kristin, Lori, Jackie and I were representing and everyone else was still around to cheer us on. Thanks to Brooke for snagging me a pre-race doppio from the Buck - I needed it! I had a good warm up and was feeling most excellent. Unfortunately I didn't get great position on the start line and had to work my way through a lot traffic for the first few laps - that was tough but I finally got where I wanted to be and rolled through the attacks and sprints still feeling good. I don't actually recall that there were any wrecks but there were TONS of really close calls - twitchy riders picking bad lines through turns, bumping, crossing wheels, jumping out of the saddle rocking their bikes all over the place, etc.
As things picked up for the final sprint I had decent position and thought another top 20 finish was possible until the Cheerwine and TIBCO leadout trains sat up and spread out across the street - basically causing a lot of sitting up and easy rolling over the finish line, all at the same time. I crossed in 26th position. Kristin and Jackie also came in with the main group but unfortunately Lori got hung up in early traffic and couldn't make it to the end.
There were a lot of cameras on the course and Jackie and I made cyclingnews.com here. I eeked my way in behind Canadian national champ and Olympic team member Anne Samplonius on Velonews here. We headed out directly to get home and rest - Saturday's 91mi Mankato road race was going to be epic, and I needed to get some sleep.
Kristin, Lori, Jackie and I were representing and everyone else was still around to cheer us on. Thanks to Brooke for snagging me a pre-race doppio from the Buck - I needed it! I had a good warm up and was feeling most excellent. Unfortunately I didn't get great position on the start line and had to work my way through a lot traffic for the first few laps - that was tough but I finally got where I wanted to be and rolled through the attacks and sprints still feeling good. I don't actually recall that there were any wrecks but there were TONS of really close calls - twitchy riders picking bad lines through turns, bumping, crossing wheels, jumping out of the saddle rocking their bikes all over the place, etc.
As things picked up for the final sprint I had decent position and thought another top 20 finish was possible until the Cheerwine and TIBCO leadout trains sat up and spread out across the street - basically causing a lot of sitting up and easy rolling over the finish line, all at the same time. I crossed in 26th position. Kristin and Jackie also came in with the main group but unfortunately Lori got hung up in early traffic and couldn't make it to the end.
There were a lot of cameras on the course and Jackie and I made cyclingnews.com here. I eeked my way in behind Canadian national champ and Olympic team member Anne Samplonius on Velonews here. We headed out directly to get home and rest - Saturday's 91mi Mankato road race was going to be epic, and I needed to get some sleep.
