Webster Groves Criterium

Made the journey to St. Louis again this weekend for the Webster Groves Criterium. The course was just under a mile long with three gradual corners and two sharper corners. There were a few slight inclines and a gradual downhill. The rain held off the entire day, even though there was a 50% chance. I doubt I would have raced if it was raining. I didn't need another crash. My race was off at 2:15 for 35 minutes plus 6 laps. After getting a decent warm-up in, I headed for the start line. There were only about 9 of us total. It was Women's 1/2/3/4.

The first lap was slow, the Mercy started attacking (they had two women, as everyone else had no teammates). I think the 2nd or 3rd attack stuck. It was kind of dumb that it stuck, but the gals from Mercy played their cards right. There were only two of us in the pack wanting to do any chasing. The other two solo riders wouldn't do much. Not sure what that was all about. But we pretty much watched 1st place ride away. A few people attacked and the announcer through out some primes. I decided to go for one since 1st place was out of the question. It was for $50. Other than that, the race was pretty uneventful til the end.

The pace car came around us with one laps to go (for us) and the final lap for the leader. We were getting lapped. There was some confusion in the pack once we saw the pace car. "No we shouldn't get lapped." we were all thinking. That would mean this was it and we had to sprint. Unfortunately, the announcer thought the same (or so it was blamed on the announcer, but quite frankly...when does the announcer start running the race??) The first sprint lap, I came across the line 2nd. It was decided we should still go for the last lap since the rider never actually passed us. Everyone was looking out for people crossing the road. I was extremely confused and had really bad positioning. I didn't want to crash again, let alone run into people. So coming in to the last corner, I sucked. I came across the line 4th overall. Bummer. Too bad they couldn't have averaged out the sprint finishes...I would have got 3rd. Haha. I don't know, the race was fun and all, but the end took the fun all out of it. It was a bummer that the official had to screw things up. I guess it's our responsibility as racers to know the rules of the race. So things I learned today: If the pace car passes you, but not the rider, you still have one lap to go - according to this official. I wouldn't be surprised if this rule would be changed by another official. I completely understand the officials ruling of taking the 2nd sprint lap as the final lap. I just really wish the announcer wouldn't have said what he said. "Sprint, sprint, sprint, this is it!!" Anyway, it was fun racing and some stiff competition. The Missouri crew was very nice and apologetic. I think that's all for now. Next up - Proctor Cycling Classic (minus the TT on Friday night). Have a good week!
-A