Women's Crit Race

This was the last race in the series and although both me and Ali were tired we both wanted to make it. I met her there as I had been working in Manchester. This meant in the morning I was trying to get my mudguards off the bike and not be late for work!

There were 13 of us in total and some of the girls looked fast and serious. I ended up lining up on the back row with Ali and Jenn but that was fine as I expected to be dropped pretty quickly since I only lasted till the first tight corner on the last race. This was almost the case again, coming out of the corner and I was on the back and a group (well actually most of the race) started to pull away. I chased and chased and got back on after a lap. But this was to be repeated a few more times. I just didn't seem able to hold a wheel, I tried to move forwards in the group but always ended up on the back. As they started to count down the laps I was back with the group, this time it had gone down to about 9 of us, with two laps to go I decided to try and pull Ali up. There had been a bit of a splinter with two girls off the front, closely followed by another couple, then we were spreading out. I pushed on and Ali, although suprised to see me, caught my wheel. We caught the girl in front and I started to die, Ali came round me closely followed by Jenn. We were all trying to sprint for the line and I finished a couple of bike lengths behind them with Jenn just getting Ali on the line to take 5th and get into the prizes.

It was great fun and if they are repeated next year I will definetly be there.

This time I was faster, average 22.5mph, average heart rate 181bpm. Garmin data is here.