Winston-Salem podiumL to R: Kori Seehafer, Kat Carroll, Tina Pic, Laura Van Guilder, Gina Grain
This past weekend the "A-Team" flew back to the east coast to duke it out with some the of the best sprinters in North America at the Charlotte Presbyterian Health Care Criterium and the Hanes Park Criterium in Winston-Salem. Report to follow by Kat.
Saturday night the "A-team" lined up on the downtown streets of Charlotte to try their hand at winning one of the biggest prize purses in women's cycling. I was joined by Shannon, Rebecca, Catherine Powers, Sarah and Kristin. After a couple warm-up laps around the course it was time for staging and call-ups. When they called my name, I thanked my lucky stars for the chance at good positioning and waved to my mom, granny and brother who had made the trip from TN to see me race. The race started and things were quickly strung out. Coming through the start/finish for the first time we heard the bell for a $250 prime the next time through. I jumped for it with Kori Seehafer from Lipton, and we raced all the way through the line for the cash. When we crossed I looked back and saw we had a group of six that had separated from the field. Not everyone was committed to working and after a little time off the front, we were back in the field. That was a bit of a preview for the entire night. A prime would draw a group out, but without organization or motivation, it was all back together going into the final lap. Cheerwine and Colavita were working to set up their sprinters, while I tried to insert myself as far up as I could. Coming out of the last turn a small gap opened up that I had to come around to reattach to the top four riders. Once I made contact, they had started their sprint and there was no chance to move up any further. I rolled across in 5th, with Rebecca 11th and Kristin and Catherine keeping themselves in the money on the day. We definitely were looking forward to another opportunity to race like we knew we could.
A highlight of Saturday evening was having a large Aaron's Corporate Furnishings cheering section. They were super active in their cow bell ringing during the race. We got the chance to meet several different staff members in the Charlotte/NC Area who came out to support us. I really feel like it would be hard to match or beat the type of support that we get from our sponsor, from the President of the company all the way down to individual store employees. They keep up with our results and cheer us on at races whenever we are close to their town, even when it is close to 100 degrees outside! Thanks Aaron's!!
Sunday was another day...another race and another chance to improve upon our results from the night before. We drove to Winston-Salem for our 12:30 start time. The start list was virtually the same from the night before. The race started out pretty fast, but the A-team was ready to make its presence known my attacking and covering every move. While some breaks looked promising, nothing really seemed like it would stick and the field readied itself for a bunch sprint. Coming out of the last turn, I used my momentum on the outside to move up past the women who were getting pinched on the inside. I jumped immediately coming out of the corner, but was not able to get around super speedy and consistent Tina Pic and Laura Van Gilder. Nevertheless, finishing on the podium with company like that was a nice reward. Shannon sprinted in for 8th and Rebecca and Kristin once again finished in the money to make it a pretty successful day of racing for the "A-team".
Next up...Sarah and I head to Elk Grove as a warm-up for the following weekend's Crit Nationals in Downers Grove, IL.
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