Eugene Stage Race Day 2: Holy crit!

I had a nice break before the crit to go back to the hotel and stretch and be lazy. I decided to roll out early and get in a good warmup but somehow I didn't end up warming up as much I wanted. The course had two real corners and two big sweepers and was more like a circuit race than a true crit.

16 women lined up for the start and the official told us that lapped riders weren't getting pulled, so we would have to keep going or we'd get a DNF. This is by far the fastest crit I've ever done. The first few laps I kept glancing at my computer and we were regularly pushing 30mph. About three laps in I was angry at myself for not warming up more as my legs were starting to crack. I was sad to see Monica pull off shortly after being dropped which meant she wouldn't be riding Monday. After a few more laps I got gapped off the back with two other riders and that was all she wrote.

After a few more laps I made sure to catch the back of the pack as they came around and not lose them again. By this time two 1/2/3 women had already lapped the field and caught back on shortly after I did. Crazy!

Surprisingly enough the crit was over pretty quickly. They usually seem to drag on but this one went by really fast. After the crit I was still sitting last in GC but since Monica dropped out I bumped up to 7th place about 13 minutes back.