They call that a crit?




Stage 2 of Mt. Hood is listed a criterium in the race bible. I think everyone will agree that it was really a circuit race as it was a 1.4 mile affair that was uphill for half of it and downhill for the rest. Since we had been expecting a regular type of crit with maybe a bit of a hill in it we were a little shocked when we did the first run-through in warmup of the course. Then we were thinking: ruh-roh, maybe this could end up in a selection, we had best be very attentive near the front.

It worked out really well for our team though. The first 3 laps Tina, Dotsie and I (Iona) were berating ourselves individually for being too far back and making things harder on themselves. Riding like newbies is what we were doing. Fortunately, Andrea, Tiff and Kristen were riding up front and not getting themselves into a kerfuffle with people pushing and riding a bit frantically. So, after we got ourselves together and started riding as we should, all 6 of us girls were always represented and taking turns monitoring affairs at the front of the race.

The race came down to a field after unsuccessful attempts at breakaways, and Tina pulled off a win again which now puts her tied with Joanne Kiesanowski (Tibco) on time for the lead of the race. Tina actually gets to wear the yellow jersey tomorrow though as the more recent stage winner. She also has the lead in the sprint and Mountains competition as winner pretty much took all on the line for bonuses.

She says she doesn't know how her climbing legs will be for tomorrow's stage, but geez.....one day at a time...who cares - today was FUN, and we will deal with tomorrow.....well.....tomorrow.

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