2013 Speedweek Day 6: Belmont Crit

Whew! We're almost there! After a late morning start at Elizabeth and Steve's house, a quick spin, and a quick Veloforma wipe down with goodies from Outback Bikes and Gnar Lube, Kat and I started our quick hour plus drive to Belmont, North Carolina for our second to last race at Speedweek. After replenishing our race candy supplies and acquiring ample chocolate espresso beans, we were feeling jazzed to race.

Kat & Elizabeth on our morning spin

Whitney & Elizabeth on our morning spin

Leftover birthday cupcake pre-race fueling

A few hot laps to warm up showed the course would be an excellent break away course with six corners over a quick .66 mile course...oh and a big finishing hill and a speedy downhill turn. Unfortunately Kat and I have been starting pretty far back, as you'd literally have to stand and stage for 30 minutes before if you want a second row start...however I did enjoy a nice conversation with a couple who were out there watching their first bike race ever...they were pretty excited about our cycling page on CheckMark's website where you can win an iPod :)

Starting in the back definitely makes for a pretty tough beginning and on this course massive gaps were opening up left and right all over the course. Kat unfortunately got caught up by one of these...I secretly believe it's because tomorrow is her day with an excellent uphill madwoman's sprint to the finish at Sandy Springs. Pretty quickly, the winning break formed and the field started to sit up as the strongest teams were represented. Insert panic-mode. I turbo-ed to the front in the slick Pactimo speed jersey and when the break was about 15 seconds up the rode, I dug deep. Ouch! Legs are sore. Nevertheless a break was formed with Sara Clafferty and Lindsey Bayer from Colavita.

Sara and I largely drove the break throughout the duration of the break desperately trying to catch on to the 6 ladies ahead. That break split in two groups of three but both were able to lap the field. Beth Newell from NOW joined up with us with about a dozen laps to go. Both Beth and Lindsey tried to get away a time or two but it wasn't going to happen today. We barely missed being caught on the last lap. Sara and I jumped Beth and Lindsey for 7th and 8th for me. Yippee! It was definitely sufferfest of a race, largely fueled by a deep determination to not get caught.

Kat is sitting 29th and I'm sitting 14th for overall. Keep your fingers crossed for fair weather tomorrow for our last day at Sandy Springs. It's a pretty technical course!

Cat's out of the bag- we're looking to go out with a bang tomorrow!