Hey Y'all!

First of all, whenever I come back to the south, I start talking with a draw again. I lose it as soon as I get on the plane to go back to Colorado. I guess all those years of growing up in Atlanta left me with something... a gift of the southern girl thang.

Wow, so much to tell and I don't even know where to start! I just finished my 3rd crit in this series tonight.

The first was Athens Twilight on Saturday night. I must tell you that this was the most incredible experience I have had racing my bike. They said there were 30,000 people there and I might believe it. It was a crazy, nighttime, drinking thing. It was dark and loud... and I got crushed! Ok, I said it. It didn't go well. My legs were not all there. Welcome to the big league Cari! The course was short and technical... and the girls kept it super fast. Girls were flying off the back from the start. I got dropped about 1/2 way into the race and tried to work it with about 5-6 other girls to catch back on. Unfortunately, I felt like I wasn't getting much help and I just got frustrated. Then, the inevitable (does this thing spell check), crash. Well, the good news is that it was not me. But, the bad news is that the crash was my kiss of death. It was in the main pack and my group came into it right after it happened so bikes and people were everywhere still. Luckily, I was in front pulling the group (again...and again...) so I was able to react and miss it. But, the girls behind me went down after tapping my wheel. So, now it was time to reorganize. But, the slow down hurt us too much and eventually the leaders lapped us and we were pulled. The course was too short to let anyone stay on it once lapped. The good news is that I wasn't the only one in the hurt box- 1/3-1/2 of the field was pulled. But, I learned many good leasons (the hard way) and was determined to not let it get to me the next day.

Roswell Crit was on Sunday. It was a late afternoon race on a perdect afternoon. Well, I thought it was perfect until I started warming up and I realized how darn hot and humid it really was... UGH! I don't sweat like this in Colorado. To me, this course was not as technical and tight. It was 1 mile in comparison to 1 kilometer. And, it only had 1 corner to really watch... the others were somewhat mild. Although I really was suckin' (imagine my pretend southern accent here) wind, I was actually in a good place mentally. I would spend the backside of the course gaining positions and then find myself towards the back again. But, I was confident that I would not get dropped today! Lots of primes and therefore the pace was kept high. But, today, no breaks got away for long. With about 4 laps to go and 2/3 the field present, I started to move up. I felt pretty good about positioning until about 1.5 laps to go. That is where I slowiy got pushed back. Should I have been more aggresive? Ya. But, when Cheerwine and Colivita and everyone started really making themselves known in the pack, I became a little submissive. This is when I would have loved to have you (Rebecca, Betsy, anybody) to really help me maintain the good positioning. I ended in the pack somewhere. But, I needed that for confidence... since Athens did not help!

You know the interesting part... some of the girls who I stalk via their blogs said that Sunday was much faster the Saturday. WHAT? My big butt got lapped on Saturday and I was right there on Sunday... and you are going to tell me that Sunday was faster! Hmm... maybe my legs were just bad news on Saturday?

I will post more about tonights race tomorrow... I am still pondering this one.


Good night,
Cari