US PRO Crit Nationals

I was super excited for this race, and I had high hopes for a good result. Every Pro racer dreams of putting on the stars and stripes jersey and have the honor to be called the national champion for the next year. This years nationals had a different vibe about it than previous years.

The most obvious change about this year was the race was in April and not August. USA Cycling said they wanted to make sure that all pro cyclist would have a chance to attend the race if they wanted to, without it conflicting with another race. This seemed to work, and got a couple of non crit teams to the race, but it still was not a full field. There were only 40 starters and everyone was saying what a joke it was that so few riders showed up. If you compare it to US PRO Road race, where there are over 100 starters, this was a small field This made for a very difficult race, as more then half of the guys in the race could of won on their day. But if you really look into it, I would say maybe 10 guys or so could win on this day. So having nationals where more then half of the guys could win, it was a super aggressive and hard race and did not many opportunities to sit in and rest.

Another difference this year, is that I am not focusing on crit racing for the first part of the year. I have been racing stage races with a crit thrown in, but it is different than a one day crit. Many people may not think there is a difference between a stand alone crit and a crit in a stage race, but there is. A crit in a stage race has the GC teams racing for their leader and no one wants to loose time, so there is usually no breakaways because one team is riding the front all race. On the other hand, a one day crit has a longer leash with breakaways that are brought back in the remaining laps.

Anyway, I still had high hopes for a good day. Leading into the race I had really good legs and was feeling really confident. The course was a good course for me with a punchy climb and I was excited for the race. I had a call up to the front line and things were looking good, and I was ready to race.

The race started and I was ready to rock. Unfortunately, it just went downhill form there. Everything was there including the power numbers and position, but my legs and my mind were not in the game. For some reason I was struggling hard to keep good position and just started going backwards. Don't get me wrong, it was a super fast race and I showed up on an "off day". I just was not running on all cylinders that day and I DNF'd. I can't remember myself not finishing a race, let alone a crit, in a very very long time. I was super disappointed in myself for letting my teammates and team down on a day that was very important. I just could not come up with an explanation on what happened, so that was a hard pill to swallow.

I know we all have bad days, but today was not the day to have one of those.

Now I am off to Joe Martin in a couple days, and then it is home for some rest and hard training.

Thanks for reading,

Ginger 1