EBC Crit, Another Great Race

A good day for the team....

Karla- 4th

Mary- Ellen 5th

Lori- 10th

Erin- Most Aggressive Rider

Here's Karla's report:

The Women's 1/2/3 crit started at a perfect time - 1:40 in the afternoon, and we all had time to sleep in and warm up. There were 6 of us lined up at the start, and one of us on the sidelines cheering and coaching (thanks, JV) - so we were one of the biggest teams, along with Tibco. There were many other teams with a few girls, making a field of about 40. The first third of the race was pretty low-key, everyone was just settling in and really keeping their eyes on the marked riders. The bell rang for our first prime, so I got in position near the front of the race. On the backside, Lori came around me and led me out all the way to the line -- that started things off a little bit and opened our legs.

Lori pulling off after leading Karla out for the prime, nice job ladies! (photo courtesy of Ruth Winder http://www.flickr.com/photos/ruthwinder/archives/date-taken/2008/05/10/ )

The racing got a bit more aggressive then, with attacks and counter-attacks, and everyone was doing a great job covering moves. Then Erin launched off the front of the pack, solo. She got a huge gap and stayed off for several laps, even with some serious chasing going on.

Erin in one of her multiple off the front efforts, nice! (photo courtesy of Paul Doran http://www.flickr.com/photos/vicarioussojourn/sets/72157605032495206/ )

Eventually, Erin started getting pulled back, and as we went by the start/finish, JV was yelling, "get ready to counter, girls!" So I sat about 6th wheel or so, and as Erin came back to the pack, I attacked up the gutter on her inside. Meanwhile Angela attacked up the other side, drawing the pelaton with her before easing up and allowing me to create a big gap quickly. I was assuming I would get caught soon, but the group let me go for a while - each time I passed JV, she yelled out my time gap, and it was holding steady. I stayed out in front alone for 10 minutes, until finally I was caught after a prime lap.

Karla off the front in TT mode (photo courtesy of Paul Doran ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/vicarioussojourn/sets/72157605032495206/ )

Two laps later, Erin went off the front again, solo, forcing other teams to chase, and winning her the award for Most Aggressive Rider. When the group caught Erin the second time, we were at 2 laps to go. Mary Ellen, Lori and I were all working to position for the final lap. We didn't quite pull things together the way we would have hoped, but we didn't do too bad either -- Tibco led out the last half a lap, and Mary Ellen and I jumped on the train for 5th and 4th place finishes behind Brooke, Taitt, and Ali. We didn't take the win, but it was a great day for us to work with each other and race aggressively as a team.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone out on the course who was cheering for us!

Karla

Post Race Show.....

Karla's prize from the Wente Crit is healing nicely...ya know Beth wants to measure that action....and nice work on the pose Beth, channeling your inner Hatch I see!

Just the best crew to hang with.

Erin with her well deserved Most Aggressive Rider award.
Karla can kill it in a sprint and bring sexy back...girl has mad skills!