Smashfest Tech Park Crit - Women's B Grade

I was feeling good on the warmup on the way to the race, but then sat around for two hours before my race started. I was quite nervous about moving up to B Grade and I realised when I got onto the start line that I had too much nervous energy and I really should've done a quick pre-race warmup to settle the nerves. Not a great start to the race, I missed cleating-in and then the pack (of five other riders) got away from me off the start line. Once I got my cleats sorted out it didn't take me too long to catchup with them though.

It was a very surgey race, lots of little sprints off the front and having to sprint to catch up, but then lots of times no-one wanted to work on the front so the pace dropped back down. Having a group of only six people racing there were not a lot of places to hide. Moving up from C grade, I found that my cornering was not as good as it needed to be (more practice required!). Also I had to work hard to chase down the little sprints - I did not have the instant power response that I needed.

However, that didn't hurt me too much in the sprint finish. I started the sprint at the back of the pack, but quickly passed two riders, then one more rider, and I was catching up to the second place rider as we crossed the finish line. Very happy with third place in B grade. The sprint training with Brad Hall on our Wednesday group session this week definitely paid off. Next time I will be more confident and I will continue to work on my cornering and sprinting to do even better.

Thanks to Hall Cycle Training and Vic Hotel for sponsoring the women's race series. Great to see another great turnout of women riders, and special mention to some of the up-and-coming Hall ladies - Conchita with a convincing win in C Grade and Roberta fourth place in C Grade. Kicking ass!