Dominguez Hills Crit Race Report

I think this is technically what they call living out of your car. Today I left Santa Barbara and stopped in LA to do a local crit on my way over to Pasadena.

Today's race went much better than last week... of course there weren't a hundred pro women in the field either so it was a much easier pace. Today I was feeling much more sparky like than last week, but I had to promise myself I wasn't going to sprint from the gun, and I didn't. I did really well with that, I didn't attack on lap 1, and I didn't attack on lap two. I told myself I had to wait at least 10 minutes in to the race before I could launch an attack. I felt like I was being so patient, but the first time I attacked I looked down at my clock, and it was only 4.5 minutes in to the race. Damn! I'm so impatient. So I kept on with my antics most of the day but never got anywhere. In the end one girl slipped off the front with 5 to go. I refused to chase since I had chased down every other break, so she stayed off. I ended up 3rd, 2nd in the field sprint. I thought I had great position, I was second out of the last corner, but this girl who lead it out was real fast. I just couldn't come around.

You know if you've seen one office park crit, you've seen them all. The guy standing there watching is Eddy B. You know, the Eddie B, as in Bicycle Road Racing, the cyclist's Bible.

I also did the men's cat 3 race and did pretty darn well if I do say so myself. I'll admit it wasn't the fastest 3's race I've been in, but I hung in there just fine. Most of the time I just tail gun those men's fields and try to hold on just for the speed work, but today I was sparking it up. I actually rode in the front for quite a bit of the race and got in a short lived break. That's the first time I've ever gotten in a break in a men's 3 race, and I even bridged up to it. The let us dangle out there for a while, I think becuase the "girlie" was in it so they figured it wasn't going anywhere. By the way, once I came back to the group one guy did say "good job girlie" to me. I didn't place in the men's race but I did try a flyer with 2 to go. It was a weak attempt at best.
The best part of today was I saw my friend Brad Huff. I guess he and Mike Creed have gotten pretty close since joining CREF this year.
Here's Brad in about his milltionth break. He was off the front so many times I lost count. In the end I don't know who won, I couldn't stay to watch the finish. It was a 100k crit... in an office park! I had to get up to Pasadena before dinner, so sorry Brad. I hope you did well, good luck in Europe!