The Race: USA Cycling Professional Criterium National Championships
The Course: 90-minutes on a 1.2 mile, 8-corner course
The Field: Pro women
The Finish: Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh

After Cascade ended on a Sunday, I went home on Monday and rested for two days, then jumped into a group ride to do an “easy” spin, did openers the day before the race, and headed to High Point, NC for Crit Nationals that Saturday. I felt a bit rough during my openers and race day morning spin, but kept thinking my legs would come around soon. After 90 minutes of racing, I was still waiting for that moment.

crit nats

It was ugly. From the gun, I knew I was in a bad way. When Alison Powers (NOW) and Amanda Miller (Tibco) attacked 10 minutes in and put a gap on the field, I was too far back to do anything more than repeatedly fight to get back to the front. I don’t think I’ve ever sprinted so much in a single crit (which was really more like a circuit race considering the course and the time format). As the race progressed and various teams/riders tried to shut down the gap to the breakaway, I was either sprinting to stay with the front or sprinting to get back to the front. My legs were complete shit the whole time; it felt like I had nothing to give and I was counting down the seconds until the end. The best I was able to muster was a few pulls on the front when my team was making efforts to chase, but those were weak at best. It was so bad that I even chucked one of the two bottles off my bike just to drop the unnecessary weight.

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The tilt of my head makes sure everybody knows that I’m suffering. [Photo by Jonathan Devich]
By the end of the race, the gap to the break was down to less than 10 seconds, but the field was spent from too much chasing without enough organization. I used my final match to shoot to the front to help with the leadout for our sprinter and was able to pull down the back stretches before getting out of the way. I rolled across the line nearly in tears from fatigue and frustration. As a team, we’d made some mistakes in the race and each felt disappointed by the outcome. As an individual, I knew I needed to take my recovery more seriously going forward. With Tour of Elk Grove up the following weekend, though, we had ample opportunity coming to make improvements.