Seriously busy race weekend including: Hagerstown, Washington County, VA State TT, and Gretna Bikes Race

VA State Time Trial: Avanell was the lone rider representing our team at the Virginia State Time Trial this weekend, she raced her road bike with clip on aero-bars and finished under her goal time of one hour with 59:55!

photo by Drake Wilson

Hagerstown Twilight Crit: Strong fast field, lots of efforts to get away, one corner wreck, and a group sprint at the end. Erin was in good position on the last lap and finished 3rd. I lost my position for the sprint in the first corner on the last lap and tried to make up ground before the last corner, I finished in 9th place. Leslie had a strong race and finished close behind me at 13th place.


Gretna Bikes Race Avenue Criterium: Leslie took time off from painting her house to race at a nearby crit that happened to be a fantastic, well paved, classic four corner criterium, and the same course as the historic Race Avenue Criterium which has hosted the U.S. National Criterium Championship. Leslie placed 2nd in the field sprint for 3rd place overall! 


Tour of Washington County Stage Race: This was the first timed stage race I have done, and it was really well organized and a good time overall (thanks to the promoters who worked hard all weekend). 


Saturday's racing consisted of a short prologue time trial and a road race. Erin placed 1st in the prologue and I placed 15th. In the road race I went all out, trying to get some time back and also help Erin out, and attacked hard in the start of the 3rd lap. Alaina Gurski (CAWES) bridged up to me and we worked really well together to try and make the 20 second gap bigger. At one point we had over 40 seconds, and the group seemed disorganized, but eventually did get caught part of the way through the last lap with several miles of racing to go before the uphill finish. Not sure of my exact place in the road race, maybe 10th, Erin jumped first and sprinted for 2nd place. After day one Erin led the GC (overall race standings), and I was in 14th. 


Sunday's races included a longer time trial (10 miles) and a criterium. I worked really hard the night before to get Erin's aero bars on my bike, when I got to the race I realized I could not shift because they were clipped over my cables... so I rode without aero bars, still looking fast in my skin suit and tt helmet. The course was nice, I was not feeling super fast though and had just an ok time that did not change my position in the overall standings. The criterium was the final race of the day, and it was a really fun course. I worked hard (a little too hard) to stay in the front and with a good position, and tried to get time bonuses on the prime laps. After one prime lap an ABRT rider and a CAWES rider kept their momentum from the sprint and rolled off the front. I didn't realize how tired the rest of the field was and was surprised when it was only Monika (XO) and I who were trying to close the gap. After I tired myself out chasing two more riders bridged up and then I gave up. In the sprint for 5th I got held up on the last corner and missed out on that too. Ironically, as badly as I seemed to race that day (missed moves, bad decisions, etc) I really had a lot of fun... which is good. Overall, I finished 13th in the GC.

Good luck to Erin and Patty who will be racing next at Nationals !