mem' day crit - san jose

better late than never - i'll keep it short - like our race.

mem day crit - day after mt. hammy (where i didnt really climb mt.
hammy :) ). didn't want to race again but virg and sassy were adamant
that back-to-back racing makes you much stronger...plus, colleen was
doing it and she has come out and worked hard for me in so many races
this year and all of our boyz were going to be there. so, i decided
not to drink modelos and go to the race the next day.

the race was for a 3/4 field and ended up being about 30 riders large.
the time to race: 30 minutes. i noticed some strong stanford riders
in the field that ashley had warned us about, as well as several
strong 3s.

right away (2nd lap in) a very strong aggressive stanford rider flew
into the first corner too fast and took out another rider. the two
who crashed did not get back in but, fortunately, the damage was
limited to two.

after the crash, the field was a little jittery and slowed somewhat.
we did a few laps with very few attacks. then came a prim' lap...i
had planned to sit in for the entire race and see what i could do in
the end so i was back probably 10th and i look up and see colleen
blowing off the front, gunning for the lap win. i had to blink and
look again to confirm but there she was, third across the line for the
prim'...it was awesome.

from there, colleen just road aggressively and intelligently. the
speed would pick up and suddenly slow. i'd look up and there was
colleen in pos. #2 blocking for me. it was awesome. on the second to
last lap, she even tried to tell me not to launch off the front - to
save it (i, of course, thought it was the last lap). i have, however,
proven myself beyond help (my brain seems to fall out of my right ear
when i race) in my past few races.

so, 2nd to last lap, fi did launch...and boy did i launch. i won that
second to last lap by 300 meters. i fortunately did not raise my arms
in celebration...and took some small solace in the fact that it took
the pack a 1/2 lap to catch me.

for the final lap, it is needless to say, my legs were lacking the
spritliness they'd had several minutes earlier but i decided to go for
it again. unfortunately, i got boxed in a bit and had to scoot way
outside to come around other riders. as jimmy screamed "give it your
all ali!" from the sideline, i realized i still had plenty of juice
and i passed a three riders and almost caught the winner...just need a
bit more runway.