Santa Cruz Classic Crit

Race Report from Lauren
Race Report: Santa Cruz Classic Criterium
W1,2,3
Teammates: Ange McClure, Katheryn Mattis
Place: Lauren 8/44, Ange 23/44, Katheryn 13/44

This is such a great race. The course is so unlike anything else in the area. And, lucky for us local gals, a bunch of the professional gals were around to show us a good time. It was a beautiful day in Santa Cruz as 44 of us lined up to race 30 laps.

No one wasted any time getting things started. It helped that the first lap was a hot lap that had $20 on the line. Several attacks went off and, to be honest, I was suffering so greatly that they all became a blur. The tearing of legs for this race became indistinguishable from the tearing off of legs the day before at Sea Otter. Eventually Olivia Dillon and Amanda Miller got off the front and it looked promising, only after Mrs. Mattis’ painfully impressive prime attacks. In the next few laps Mary Maroon bridged the gap to the two off the front and they remained there for the duration. That didn’t stop the field from putting the hurt on; we dropped a whopping 15 riders.

Katheryn rolled back and asked me how I was feeling and, unfortunately, my response was less than reassuring. Ange put out a great effort in the last 8 laps or so to try and shorten the gap to the break. She brought it down by about 10 seconds but no one else was interested in bringing it in. On the last lap I tried to muster as much strength as I could, still feeling less than ideal. I came out of the last turn on the Tibco/Peanut Butter Co. train and did the best I could to get up that hill in the sprint. My position was not the greatest I just didn’t have it in me to pass many people. Great, hard racing!

--Lauren

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