Our race was 4 laps of a 17 mile circuit. The first half had a climb up Jamboree and the second half and a section of head wind and a gradual climb. Right from the first lap Kelli was up front and JennX and I stayed protected up in the front. In the second lap Kelli was up front coming down the big hill and just rolled off the front of the field! The peleton didn't respond and Kelli's 8 second lead soon became over a minute! The field stayed on her but Kelli's power into the headwind and the field's conservative effort gave her one of the two breaks from the field.
The OTHER break from the field was JennX's attack into the climb on the last lap. It was a decisive move that X made from the corner as she sprinted into the right had turn and never looked back. Once again, SBW was off the front and the Shimano car sped past the field to support Jenn. Meanwhile Christen moved to the front of the field and stayed in perfect postion. Coming into the flat section the teams seemed to get more anxious about X's lead. Finally, the field was forced to chase. Once X was reached by the field the attacks for the finish started. One after another into the climb where the field was strung out. I stayed with the front group to the turn around. We still had about 6 miles to the finish but the field stayed strung out. The finish was 1K with a climb from the final right had turn. When we made the right turn I rode in with the front group as the last attacks were launched but the hill was too much for an attack to stick. Cresting the hill I realized I was still in a good position and just stayed on it into the finish.
I'm so proud of Kelli, Christen and JennX who made such an impression on this race. Great day guys!
