Cargas Crit

Sunday was the Cargas Crit. It was a scorcher out in Lancaster. By the time we hit the course at 3 pm, it was over 90 degrees with full afternoon sun. The course was fantastic! Broad sweeping curves to the road and essentially one real corner. Even the real corner was wide and sweeping, but it led into the uphill stretch to the start/finish line. Essentially, this meant that this corner was always taken at a decent speed in order for everyone to push it up the hill. There were 5 primes (pronounced preems - essentially means a lap in which the first person to cross the line gets a prize - a little "sprint" lap) in our 25 lap race, and I nearly got one of them! I was up near the top of the hill and saw someone on my wheel. I thought to myself, I can either bust my butt up to the top of this sucker for a box of chamois cream (which I don't use), or I can save my legs for the remaining 12 laps of this race. Decided on #2 and let the woman coming up along me take the lap.

It was an open race with a field of 18, and there was at least one Cat 2 rider in the field. It was a great paced race, but too hot for anyone to make a real threatening move...everyone was pretty happy to settle in for a group sprint at the finish. As we came up to the final 2 laps, a Breakaway rider jumped off the front and happily pulled along the rest of us! She picked up the pace and eventually a small break happened, in which my teammate Sally situated herself perfectly. I got stuck behind some people coming up the hill to the final lap...by the time I got around them, the break was off and I was not! :) Anyway...I held my own, and hopped on Jody's wheel when she came by me. She pulled me up to the finish corner/hill, and I took off. I ended up eeking out a 10th place finish. Sally took 2nd, Jody 12th, and Doreen took 15th. All in all, a great day for Sturdy Girl! Sally brought home $65 for the doughnut pot, and we all had a nice day in Lancaster. I'm glad I decided to do that one and am already looking forward to racing it again next year...I just hope it's not to hot!

One good thing...I was working on drinking a lot so that I didn't cramp up! I did a good job...finishing one bottle during the race (and drinking a LOT before hand and after). However, to give you a sense of just how Africa-hot it was...my water bottles got so warm that I felt like I was drinking electrolytes that had been prepared in a HOT TUB! EWWWWW!! It really was a miracle that I managed to drink as much as I did. Good on me!