Grandview

Waiting out the rain with Nick and Stefano from Kenda - thanks guys!

Short update from the IPod touch! Raced in Grandview, an awesome community within Columbus Ohio. We stayed with absolutely amazing hosts the Camerons. It was great to see Ron, Karen, Alex, and Abby again. Thanks for all the great hospitality! Let's just say we ate very well the entire weekend!

Saturday's race was a 4 corner flat crit. After an hour rain delay we finally race. A solid field of 50 riders showed up for the $2000 prize purse. After being involved in a short lived break of riders a counter attack of three riders went off the front. My teammates and I did some chasing but other teams didn't help out for a few laps and by then it was too late and we were racing for 4th place. Late in the race a $100 prime was called and my teammate Kat attacked and had a good gap - she was reeled in and then I used the lull to go for it and snagged the cash. On the last lap I made sure to be sitting in the top ten and was in front of the crash on the second to the last corner. I was on Team Revolutions leadout train and was able to take 4th in the field sprint - 7th overall. A little frustrated we weren't in the break but 4 of us finished in the top 20.

Sunday is a more interesting course with a longish gradual climb up to the finish. Also three times as much money up for grabs with $6000 on the line. Rain at the start and all the bike cleaning that morning was wasted! The first prime was $100 and I decided I was going to give it a go. I jumped a bit early but went hard and held on for some more $ - I don't often go for primes but I must say it was pretty thrilling! So much fun that a few laps later when they called another prime I jumped early on the climb and solo'd across the line with a big gap. I put the hammer down for a lap figuring I should try to make the most of my situation. Three laps later I was caught but the selection of 11 riders had been made. I was happy to have Kat in there. We caught several lapped groups and finally caught the remenants of the main field with maybe 7 laps to go. The race was 30 miles and most of us were getting tired and the hill was taking a toll. With two to go my teammate Jess strung the field out and I was on the wheels of the riders I needed to watch. As we rounded the final corner I fought to stay on wheels and ended up 4th behind Sam from Mesa, Bri from Team Rev, and Christy from Priority. Kat took a solid 8th and all the rest of my teammates were in the top15. A great weekend for Team Kenda Tire and we all went home with some hard earned cash.

Thanks so much to Jay Baumeister for putting on these great races and the community for all the support. Such a fun weekend!

Jeni's Ice Cream - soooooo good!

I'm now in Syracuse with Kat and Ashley from ISCorp. We're traveling to Fitchburg tomorrow for the NRC stage race but are in NY visiting Becky. Quite the adventure! I'll try to update throughout the week!