Cal Aggie Criterium

I decided that I was going to race the Cal Aggie Criterium two nights before the event. I signed up, decided that eh... just another race. Went to bed just fine.

The morning of (January 29), I was freaking. It was wet (super foggy), and uh.. it's a race! This would be my second crit and I still have no fucking idea what I'm doing. Got up way too early (about an hour before my alarm), ate, freaked, got my kit on, brushed my teeth and did all of that girly shit, freaked, got my bike and gear ready, and freaked some more.

I got lost in the park because I'm awesome like that. I eventually found the crit because derp, road closures. Signed in and freaked some more. Texted Heather who gave me some good tips. Bumped into Reese, a Team Revs teammate who was racing the Master's 4/5, also bumped into some CSUS teammates. Then I bumped into my ladies TR teammates. It was Karen's birthday, Andrea was debating the race, Andie signed up. Eventually, Andrea and Karen caved into peer pressure and signed up.

Goal: Don't crash on the wet asphalt.

At the line up, I was nervous. Really nervous. It was wet and I've never raced on wet asphalt before. It started and off we went. There were a LOT of sketchy riders. Hey, whatever. I eventually decided to yell at Andrea to get on my wheel because we were going to the front. I pulled for a few laps, in which I was dying in because WTF dude I've never ridden up front in a crit or that aggressively. At that point, I didn't care if I blew myself up too much, I just wanted to get out of the sketchy field and if one of my teammates could take advantage of that, then awesome! The group did its natural rotation, and then I attacked again. I wanted to be up front because some of these chicks didn't know how to handle their bikes worth shit. Corners? Forget about it. Whatever. A couple of UC Davis girls were all over the place. At several points, one of them was close to hitting my front wheel, to where I told her to watch out. In all honesty, I wanted to say, "Hey, bitch. If you hit my front wheel and take me down, you're coming down with me!" I went with "I'm on your right..." I kept calling my lines on the corners. Hell, I was talking a lot because I didn't want to crash. The point of me calling my line was so that they didn't bump into me. The point of me calling my lines was not so that these chicks would take them!!!! Hey, it happens.

We kept on going and on the last lap, I made a stupid move and got boxed in. Shit. I couldn't find a way out. I decided that on the last corner I'd attack any opening, and I did. Problem? A UC Davis chick cut me off before the sprint. Damn. At that point, I knew it was over, but decided to take a bit of a sprint to at least move up in placings. It's racing. If you don't have your tactics down, you'll get no where. Brute force will only take you so far! I learned my lesson in this one. Pay attention, dip shit!

At least I learned what to look for and what to expect. It's only my second crit so I'm still not sure of what to do and, most importantly, when to make a move. My cornering and bike-handling skills are better than I thought on wet asphalt. This was a good first crit of the year. I feel like I have the strength, though I can get stronger. Now I need my tactics!

Results? Out of a field of 30 women
Andrea: 14th! Chica was on fire!
Me: 18th
Karen: 22nd
Andie: Unfortunately flatted.

Lessons:
- Keep talking and communicating. No matter how annoying it is, it'll save your ass.
- Don't attack so soon.
- Keep track of where the other chicks are so you don't get boxed in.
- Be confident on those corners. They're never as bad as they seem.
- Sprint. Fucking. Harder.
- I love me new wheels.

I think that if the TR ladies can get some tactics together, we'll have an amazing team. For being so new, we're already showing a lot of potential. Thanks to Reese, Mike, and everyone who calmed us down and helped us out, and more thanks to Reese for letting me use his trainer to warm up a bit. And thanks to Heather for all of her help! She's amazing!

Next race is a collegiate race. The UC Davis collegiate race. Hey, Aggie chicks, watch the fuck out.