Gwinnett Arena Crit

Last night was the Gwinnett Arena crit that took place on a technical, half uphill and half downhill course in a parking lot at the Gwinnett Arena. As I arrived to the course lightning was illuminating the sky and rain was pouring like buckets. It appeared this race was going to be cancelled as the women's race was put on hold for the terrible weather, and the weather predicted thunderstorms all evening. Luckily after half an hour the storm subsided and the sun came out. Even though the sun came out I was predicting a slippery course because there should be oil in a parking lot. However, the blazing sun dried the course out by the time our race began. However, I still ran rain pressure in my tires. Our race was 60 minutes in duration. The race started with a flurry of attacks, and I decided to just stay near the front and make splits at first. After about 20 minutes there was a lull, and the bell rang for mid-race bonus points. I attacked at this point and got a big gap to take the maximum 5 points. I was solo for a few laps and thought I would be able to win this way. However, a few riders bridged up to me. Then after about 25 minutes my front tire flatted (probably due to the low pressure I was running). As I took my free lap it seemed the front group reshuffled, and there were about 10 riders. For the next 20 minutes I worked minimally in the break, and with 15 minutes to go I started attacking like crazy. There was a headwind on the hill, so if you couldn't get a gap the field would just follow you. I was never able to make separation, so in the last couple laps I stopped with my attacks and waited for the sprint. There were a lot of turns leading into the finish, so my goal was to be first into them. I misjudged the distance to the turns and thought the headwind was more of a factor than it was, so I came into the turns in 6th and finished 6th. I had fun doing an aggressive race but made an error on the last lap. Today we race the 65 mile Oxford Hills road race.