Salisbury Crit!

Lisa and I got up early this morning to get ready for a big day for the both of us. After the obligatory AM espresso, we were out the door and on the way to Jomeokee Park for the United States Marine Corps Mud Run 5k. I was tagging along to act as the photographer for her first race. The idea was brought up by one of her classmates in PT school, so about seven of them signed up. It looked like a ridiculous amount of fun, so, obviously next year I must participate...I have already set a lofty goal for myself. She had a blast, and I was definitely proud to see her working hard and having fun!


After her race, I ran back home to get my things and head to Salisbury for the NC state crit championships. My teammate Alex was there, we got warmed up and toed the line.

My positioning at the start was less than ideal, but usually I am able to work my way up pretty quickly. Everyone at this race looked pretty fit and strong, so it was a little bit intimidating....


The course was a six turn downtown crit, so the places to pass were few and far between. Everyone towards the back of the pack was having to hit the brakes then stand to sprint to catch the lead riders, I quickly grew tired of not carrying my speed through the corners and forced myself up beyond mid pack. Once there, I was able to maintain speed better through the corners and found myself suffering less. Only slightly less, as the temperature was upwards of 92 degrees.

Alex was working hard at the front chasing down breaks and trying to protect me when we were near each other. He's always so willing to help me out in these crits. Speaking of helping out, his girl, Morgan was there to man the cameras and be a general encouragement. Thanks!

About six laps to go, and a bomb dropped on the field. We had dwindled from around 30 riders to 21, the rest had gotten pulled. Things split up further and there were about 18 left on the final lap.

I had good positioning going into turns three and four. Through turn five, someone attacked, and myself and one other lost off the jump and allowed a small gap to open up. To turn six and we were still about 15 yards off the back, I sprinted to try to close it, and catch back into the crew for the final sprint, but no dice. 8th place, slightly disappointed, was hoping for top five, but still pretty decent for my first city crit.