Photo: Luke SeemannI can't possibly express how much I dislike traffic and we got a sizable dose of it today on the way out to Winfield. What should have taken 45-60min tops took more like 90min - creeping along on the interstate as our warm-up time disappeared. I was co-pilot for MetLifeGuy who was kind enough to chauffeur me and my bike to the race venue (thanks Mike!). When we arrived it was hurry up and register, get dressed and somehow manage to wake up your legs before start time. In the end it turned out okay - we had about 30min to get in a couple hard efforts before lining up.
The Winfield course is maybe a mile long with a gradual rise on the backside and a descent with a few turns before the start/finish - nice smooth pavement and lots of neighborhood peeps hanging out partying. The 50+ men and Open Women's categories were run at the same time, separated by maybe 20sec at the start. I was doing my first crit with the women this season and was actually a little nervous - Kristen, Christy and Jessi are all strong riders so I knew it was not going to be easy. The field was pretty small - like maybe 10 - and things became separated on an early prime up the backside rise. I sort of sat on the first prime - to see who was feeling spunky - and then when the second one was called I decided to take a chance and got it.
The break group of 4 did a nice job of working together, taking pulls up the hill and keeping things smooth - thanks for that, ladies! Jessi executed a couple of nice attacks and I pushed on the hill a little bit a few times (nothing serious) just to see what would happen. It was clear that things would stay together so I had to turn my attention to the sprint. My legs weren't feeling very good until about 5min to go but I was able to get good position on the last lap and sort of waited for the right time to take off, just before the final turn on the downhill section. I accelerated hard, got a gap, held good speed through the turn and then just kept hitting it all the way to the line. Kristin is a very talented sprinter - I kept looking under my arm, just waiting for her wheel to come by but in the end I was able to cross the line first.
Mike takes the 50+ win Photo: Luke Seemann
It turned out to be a great team showing for PACT/Dishnetwork - Mike broke away solo about three laps in and took the 50+ masters race. It was almost funny - at one point I heard the pace car behind us beep the horn and I said, 'that's Mike.' Sure enough, he came through alone and held it to the end - nice job!!If I happen to see any pictures from today, I'll be sure to post them or post a link. Thanks for reading!
