SCE women race at the Oval on Tuesday, August 4
Tuesday Night Crit at the Oval
August 4, 2009
By Barb Grabowski
The Tuesday night crits at the oval have been so rewarding this season – the team has come together so well, with our respective strengths becoming clear and everyone committed to the team and racing as well as possible for the team. Whether it is Patty and Rachel soaking up the MAR points, Anne Marie and Kate accelerating for the finish, Rachel’s prowess in snatching the chocolate premes and attacking whenever there is a lull in the field, or refining the last lap lead outs: I am just so proud and happy to be part of it. I have also been itching to get in a break and Tuesday it finally materialized ! After a couple of attacks and solo efforts were brought back, the field sat up and that little voice in my head said “now” and I gave it a go on the back side, accelerating hard on the right, I sat up about 3/4 of the way around, figuring the field was on my wheel or nearly so, but *no* — only ‘red jersey.’ a junior (who frankly looked about 14 or 15) and Michelle Johnson were there. YIPPEEE!! I think we had about 10 laps to go at that point and we set to rotating. To ‘red jerseys’ credit, it only took a couple of laps for him to get in the groove and keep it steady. Lap after lap we went, with about a 1/2 lap on the field. Whomever crossed the line got the MAR point or preme, we just kept motoring. With about 4 laps to go I realized it would stick and I started thinking about how I wanted to play the finish. I could tell Michelle was tiring and the field had gained a little bit of time on us. I did not want to get caught in the last lap or on the line, but I didn’t think I could hold a 2 lap solo effort either. So it came down to the last 2 laps, I stayed on ‘red jerseys’ wheel until we came out of turn four then just kept going and slowly picking up speed, figuring I could shed Michelle and hoping I had shed ‘red jersey.’ To his credit, he stuck to my wheel and had more punch coming out of the last turn and he got the win while I comfortably had 2nd. Sweet!
Great race, Barb! It’s be great to find out who “Red Jersey” was and give him proper credit…it wasn’t Nick Popovic was it? And great job by Michelle too, she’s a FAST one!!