Fitchburg Stage Race Criterium Race Report:

So you'd think I'd be a little happier about getting an official call up to the start line today. I guess this is what folks call my game face. No wonder people think I'm scary.

Before the race Lisa Matlock gives me some instructions on how to "get big" in the pack so I can better maintain position.

Here I am tailgunning on the back side of the course. Man, today was tough, or maybe I was just tired from racing yesterday. I had all these plans to ride aggressively but mostly I just stayed in the back out of trouble, mostly.

I did however do a typical ill-advised attack with 5 to go. Here I am bridging up to then counter attacking Meredith Miller. I realized it was a bad idea to go it alone about 300m past this point. My attack didn't last long, but in the end it was fine because I finished in the pack. So not only did I maintain my place, but I actually moved up 2 spots to 8th on GC. Unfortunately for some there was a lot of confusion on the last 2 laps as Sarah Superman Ulmer was lapping the field on our 2 to go, she was on 1 to go. So half the field sprinted on the next lap. What happened was she sat up right as she caught us, so we still had two to go. So in all the confusion and several people sprinted a lap early. That wasn't as bad as the guy in the Cat 2 race who actually raised his arms at the finish line on his bell lap (oops!).

So I had a very good race this weekend. The hard work paid off. All those times up Lookout and Gold Camp. All those dang VO2 intervals. All that beer I didn't drink in May and June. It all paid off with a nice top ten at a legit national race. Now that phase one is complete I've still got 2 more weeks of solid racing to tackle. Let's hope this form holds a little longer.
Pictures today courtesy of my sister Donna who refuses to sign a release for photos to be published on the blog, so here's one of her feet. After coming to the race today she decided she would also like to become an athlete because we all have such nice butts. When I told her that being an athlete might invovle exercise she declined.