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Greta Neimanas on Jul 21, 2009

Race name: Whitnall Park Crit Race date: Tuesday, Jul 21, 2009

I’ve always thought that bike racing makes you dumb (Except for Dr. Kirby) and my stupidity was made clear when I signed up for 11 Superweek races. Honestly, I got off to a pretty dismal start. The first week was all p/1/2/3 races and I just tried to hold on. Who would’ve thought that finding crit legs would be so hard after 6 months of pursuit training? Well, it finally came together for me today in the crit at Whitnall Park. I raced the “road race” yesterday- just a longer version of the crit course- and was disappointed with a gamble I took with two to go. I started today a little irritated, and ready to go. It was exciting for me too because I got to line up with my sister for the first time.

Anyway, the race was shortened to just 16 laps. I just sat in for the first half and enjoyed the goat show that women’s 3-4 racing can be. “Who just touched me?! Hold your line! B*tch you almost crashed me!” Oh, it was fantastic. I like to play games, like passing people really closely to see what they do, or riding ON someone wheel. With 8 laps to go, people started attacking a little bit, and the pack would swarm up to them, and settle down again. After a few laps of that I moved to the front and was no further than fifth wheel for the rest of the race. I covered a few attempted breaks, but nothing stuck. We got the bell for the last lap and the pack was all together. It got strung out going up the first hill, and I just waited, and waited, and waited. I moved up the outside before the last corner and like Jens Voigt rolled off the front. I just put my head down and went into pursuit mode, took a quick glance back and saw that I’d gotten a gap on the field. I almost screwed the pooch when I thought I saw the line and sat up, but realized that I had about 5 meters to go. Luckily I didn’t screw up too bad, and was able to hold on for the win. I’m still looking for a photo of that post up (I was later told it’s illegal to take your hands off the bars, even for a post up.)

I cashed my check and got 50 one dollar bills to “make it rain” and have a grip of cash. Now, I have more ones than I know what to do with, and finally some luck on my side.

See you at the races tomorrow!