Colorado College Criterium

After we had cleaned up the Oval from the races, a few of us made the 2 hour journey south to Colorado Springs. We stayed at one of the girls on the teams house. More criterium action was to take place on Sunday. The Women's Pro/1/2 race wasn't until 4:00pm, so I sat around all day watching bike races. Luckily it was fairly nice out. CSU had a decent showing. We didn't have the numbers we did at the Oval on Saturday though. The Men's A dominated and had an awesome leadout for the win. The Women's Pro/1/2 race was a bit disappointing. The prize money was decent at $500 5 places deep. However, only 7 women showed up. What's up with that? It was a strong field though. Allison Powers was in the mix, along with the usual strong Colorado suspects. The course was pretty tiring. There was a slog of a hill before the finishing stretch. I attacked from the line and dangled off the front for the first lap. The lap that I got caught was a prime lap. Allison attacked on the hill and I tried to latch on to her wheel. That girl has some major power! Fortunately she sat up and waited a bit. Once I had caught her, off we went. Megan Hottman was in our break for a couple laps. Eventually she popped after Allison pushed it on the hill again. The break happened 10minutes in to the 45 minute race. I spent the rest of the race in a break with Allison. Towards the end of the race, the field was within sight. With two laps to go, Allison attacked me coming out of the corner at the top of the hill. And that was that. My legs were toast and I couldn't react. I watched her shadow attack me and did nothing about it. I spent the last two laps riding at a decent pace just trying to finish. AP caught the field and pulled them around the last two laps. It was pretty amazing to watch. I've never really raced with her until now (that I can recall anyway). It's no wonder she's the current National Time Trial Champion. Super strong! It was a fun race and I was able to learn some lessons. Ok here's some pictures.

Not the greatest picture of the field because it's so small. But this is an awesome shot. Pikes Peak in the background. This is the crest of the hill, probably on the 2nd lap.

Following Allison Powers through a corner.



Heading up the hill.

And now the count down begins. I leave for France in exactly one week. Am I ready? No. I have lots of stuff to get in line this week. Ah!! It's going to be a crazy week! Oh well though. The weather here in Fort Collins is going to be absolutely amazing though. 66 today, 70 tomorrow, and nothing below 60 until this weekend (which is still going to be 55+). It's a easy week for me though, but I am looking forward to it! Thanks for reading!
-A