Whitney Wins Federal Center Crit In Denver

Saturday was the Federal Center Crit in Denver. The day started out nice, cool, and sunny for the morning races but by the time my race came around at 4:45pm, the windy had picked up, the weather dropped 20 degrees, the sun disappeared, and, on the start line it started really raining. Yowzas. The field was small with only 6 riders in the Women's Pro 1, 2. No matter, I was there to race no matter the size. This "crit" was really more of a circuit at 4 miles but with 14 turns a lap. Yeah, combine all those turns with some fresh rain and you have one slippery race. After getting a lap in so I could familiarize myself with the course, I launched my first hard attack on a straightaway. The field brought it back. I waited for the counter and none happened, so I launched another and another...after 12 attacks I finally got away with a lap and a half to go. One lady, Julie,  bridged this time instead of pulling me back and we put a huge gap on the field. Unfortunately, she took a corner too hot and crashed (she later ended up 3rd). The last lap and a half I drove the straightaways and opted for easier corners with ridiculous counter-steering to avoid the same fate. I crossed the rainy finish line with 35 seconds on the field. It was a good day on the bike!