Land Park Crit

March 17, 2007
Sacramento, CA

by Denise

It was an awesome, sunny morning in Sacramento for this race. It was more like a circuit course, than a crit, in my opinion. I liked the turns/corners and wished for more.

Soni, Angela, Marian, Katie and I were the team with numbers. This was my first NorCal race, so I did not recognize the other teams or faces.....I wasn't sure who was going to do what. This was Marian's first criterium and she did so terrriifc....nothing like my first crit experience! :-)

Bellas stayed in front and we covered every move and picked up the pace a few times. There were 7 preems. Marian took an awesome pull with 5 laps left, getting us into a great position. Soni launched a hard-ass attack on the last lap and Bellas were in tow. She peeled off, then Angela pulled hard and then I pulled through the last turns towards the finish, with Katie on my wheel. SWOOP! Katie blows by me, like I had cement in my tires.

I did not stick around to see who placed where (I had a 3 hour drive home), but we did a terrific team work, had fun and we rode safe.

There was 1 accident that we know of, involving 2 girls, but we have no idea what happened to them. The turns went pretty well, atleast from where we were at.

Hey......I didn't get glittered! No wonder I petered out the last few feet.

Marian's Take:

I got to the course a little late (go fig), registered, changed into my superhero suit, and rolled off to do a quick warm-up and refill bottles. Didn't get much of a warm-up.

Rolled back to the start line. Found the rest of the Bellas, and it should be noted that all of them were already pinned, ready, and waiting. "Oh, hey! You guys are on my team. Can I get one of you to pin me?"

We pre-ride the course together, which is quite curvy-swervy and I get more nervous as I think about doing it in a group. I've gotten alot better at railing my bike through turns (all those trips down Wildcat certainly helps), but turns are another story when they are done as part of a group.

I can't say much about the race because it was all such a blur. As predicted though, the turns were much different as part of a group. I would try to get myself up towards the front for the turns so I could make my own fast line, but I would get swarmed and then be forced to take less than ideal lines.

On the last lap, Soni and another woman went off on a little flyer. I looked for a way out of my little box in the group so that I could help at the front if needed, but I was unable to carve out a line for myself in the group. By the time I had worked my way outside, Soni and Annon had been caught.

Towards the last turns, women started swarming. I was able to work my way back up on some women and I think I ended up in 10th. Katie placed 8th. I don't know how the rest of the women on the team did.