My first....

WIN!!!!

I finally did it! At the Lehigh Valley Winery Crit on Sunday, I posted my first Cat 4 win of the season! It was great...I felt just like the pros...coming across the line and raising my arms in the air...yippee!!!

Here's the whole scoop...

15.6 mile race
13 women in the field
Sturdy Girl Cyclists in attendance: Me, Jody, and Doreen

George tells me, as I am waiting to get to the starting line, "You can win this, Sarah!" Nothing like a little voice in your ear making you NERVOUS!! I calmed down quickly though and came to the line ready to RACE!

The course was pretty tough for a crit. From the start line, we headed to a nice descent (by nice, I mean hitting speeds of over 43 mph!), then a major uphill climb. After that, there was another small descent leading to another climb that was shorter, but tougher, than the first. After that was the flat sprint to the finish line.

For the first couple of laps, we were all together, and I was up at the front. On the 4th or 5th lap, we realized that 7 of us had managed to drop the rest of the field. After another lap or so, we dropped another rider, leaving 6 of us to finish the race together. Though the pace stayed relatively steady, it was tough with the hills and we couldn't really work together. On the 2nd to last lap, I kept an eye on who had legs left on them...a few riders looked like they were still feeling strong.

On the final lap, going up the big hill, one rider from Guy's took off. I decided to chase her and picked up the pace on the hill. As she came down the small descent into the final hill, she looked back over her shoulder. To me, this was a sign...she was worried that she didn't have enough to finish it. So, I started to charge. At the top of the climb, I had caught her. I dug deep and started downshifting to harder and faster gears. Next thing I knew, I was over the line. I had one my first race! It was very exciting and George was really thrilled!