Today was the inaugural Chicago Criterium which was held in Grant Park with the start/finish right by Buckingham Fountain. The course was essentially flat, starting on Columbus, heading north to Jackson, turning west to Michigan, south on Michigan, up over Congress Plaza and back to Michigan, east on Van Buren and then north on Columbus to the start/finish. There were three small 'humps' over the train tracks and up to Congress Plaza that were pretty much insignificant and a few small areas of bumpy pavement with some manhole covers but nothing terrible. The wind, however, was ubiquitous as only we would have it in Chicago.
It would have been nice to do this race without having been wrecked/Jones'd a few days ago - I am quite sore and have a lot of significant bruising, swelling and burned skin from Thursday evening's track mishap (see previous post for details). Fortunately I've moved beyond my ear problems and can now hear again. I'd had a good warm up riding over to the course and was feeling pretty decent when things got started. Representing for Kenda were Kristin, Catherine, Jessi, Krystal and myself. Paul was there to support us - thanks Paul! TIBCO (probably one of the very best US women's teams) was present with a full squad which made for a fair number of attacks early on.
Kristin was able to get away in two small breaks and actually snagged two primes before being brought in. After a few laps I bridged to a small break with a TIBCO rider and Julie from Revolution. They rang the bell as we came through the start/finish and we had a decent gap so I figured we'd probably still be away when we hit the start/finish so I decided to go for the prime - and got it! A nice $200, thank you very much. We still had a decent gap after the sprint but we were all pretty gassed and got sucked up on the back side of the course.
Things stayed more or less together until about 35min into the 50min +2 race when Amber Rais (from TIBCO) attacked and no one responded right away. She built a sizable lead over the next few laps until she had about 20-30sec at which time a little action at the front to bring her in started. Like any good team should, TIBCO pretty much neutralized anything that tried to bridge to Amber which made it clear that we were at that point racing for 2nd place.
Kristin, Catherine and I all had good position near the front going into the last turn on the inside when for some reason things got a little tight and we all got pinched. Everyone who took the turn on the outside moved up - sort of screwing us in the process. In the end we scored 18th, 20th and 22nd with Jessi and Krystal a little farther back.
Our team's finishing positions aren't all that impressive but we all did a fair amount of work bringing in small breaks, spending time in breaks off the front and keeping things together. It sort of burns my butt that riders who don't do a lick of work during the entire race end up finishing better just because of some little snafu - but it's all part of the beast that is criterium racing. You might have the best legs out there and do everything you can to have good position when you need it BUT, it can go away in a split second - and all your hard work lands you as an also-ran.
I was amazed by the number of people who came out to cheer and watch the races today - I heard my name yelled every lap! Thanks so much for being there - it means a lot to hear my name when I'm out there on the limit and trying to make something happen. As always, thanks for reading - I have to go ice my ass cheek and recover from the post-race charred Polish and fries....
It would have been nice to do this race without having been wrecked/Jones'd a few days ago - I am quite sore and have a lot of significant bruising, swelling and burned skin from Thursday evening's track mishap (see previous post for details). Fortunately I've moved beyond my ear problems and can now hear again. I'd had a good warm up riding over to the course and was feeling pretty decent when things got started. Representing for Kenda were Kristin, Catherine, Jessi, Krystal and myself. Paul was there to support us - thanks Paul! TIBCO (probably one of the very best US women's teams) was present with a full squad which made for a fair number of attacks early on.
Kristin was able to get away in two small breaks and actually snagged two primes before being brought in. After a few laps I bridged to a small break with a TIBCO rider and Julie from Revolution. They rang the bell as we came through the start/finish and we had a decent gap so I figured we'd probably still be away when we hit the start/finish so I decided to go for the prime - and got it! A nice $200, thank you very much. We still had a decent gap after the sprint but we were all pretty gassed and got sucked up on the back side of the course.
Things stayed more or less together until about 35min into the 50min +2 race when Amber Rais (from TIBCO) attacked and no one responded right away. She built a sizable lead over the next few laps until she had about 20-30sec at which time a little action at the front to bring her in started. Like any good team should, TIBCO pretty much neutralized anything that tried to bridge to Amber which made it clear that we were at that point racing for 2nd place.
Kristin, Catherine and I all had good position near the front going into the last turn on the inside when for some reason things got a little tight and we all got pinched. Everyone who took the turn on the outside moved up - sort of screwing us in the process. In the end we scored 18th, 20th and 22nd with Jessi and Krystal a little farther back.
Our team's finishing positions aren't all that impressive but we all did a fair amount of work bringing in small breaks, spending time in breaks off the front and keeping things together. It sort of burns my butt that riders who don't do a lick of work during the entire race end up finishing better just because of some little snafu - but it's all part of the beast that is criterium racing. You might have the best legs out there and do everything you can to have good position when you need it BUT, it can go away in a split second - and all your hard work lands you as an also-ran.
I was amazed by the number of people who came out to cheer and watch the races today - I heard my name yelled every lap! Thanks so much for being there - it means a lot to hear my name when I'm out there on the limit and trying to make something happen. As always, thanks for reading - I have to go ice my ass cheek and recover from the post-race charred Polish and fries....
