Don't Stop..Get It, Get It.

We parked next to a cute little bed and breakfast at the corner of Canton and Newstead in Beaufort, SC. As we are getting our bikes unloaded and gear on, a lady leans over the railing and comments on our saddles and then the conversation of the race begins.
We love it when we get the chance to educate the community about the sport we love so much.

The little town was being transformed into a fast and furious little crit course


in the matter of a half hour. The Swagger crew does their job and they do it well. Thanks to all the hands and to Ashley for making for such a great venue.

I climb aboard my trusty CAT, okay so this one, to go retrieve my number from registration and a new Rudy helmet that Colovita would be kind enough to give me to protect my noggin. Thank you Iona and girls. The fact that you cared not only to notice, but to also offer a solution. Indeed my Bell Sweep was looking a little weather beaten in the back, from the hours of bag travel.

The Race...yes, yes...It was a crap shoot to the first turn, sprint and stay hooked. Small, bottle necked, left turn into a alley sized street, 2 blocks long. Out of the saddle and strung out from the very first turn, I beared down for a what would be a very active and brisk race. The race averaged 24.3 for 1:11 minutes and 28.92 miles. My max was only 31.8, which would explain my placing or the fact that I lost the mid race prime to Laura Van Gilder.
I have to hand it to Laura, alone and on the defensive at all times, she definitely sticks her neck out there to keep it real.

Early attack attempts by Laura Bowles(Vanderkitten), Melissa Sanborn(Vanderkitten) Jennifer Rassmussen(LifeSport) and Nicki Waansgard(Colovita) eventually would come back. I only thought to myself once about going with Jen and Nicki, but felt sitting sheltered and motoring was a better plan for these legs today.

As we neared the final 3 laps I jocked for my last position to hold. 2 laps to go...a quick brush between Melissa Sandborn(Vanderkitten) and Rebecca Larson(Jittery Joes), I held spot. One lap to go and I buried my sites on noone passing for the 3/4 of the lap left until the 200 meter finish. The line, the line!!! I jumped off of the few ahead of me and found to my right a very tall, Altarum racer that was closing the hole that I was headed toward. I regrouped and made my last jump. I made up a couple of spots and thrilled to poke myself into the top ten.

The dynamics that were shown by Vanderkitten and TT1 were amazing, however, I have to say, it is a pleasure to see the strategy and execution of "game" demonstrated by Colovita/Sutter Home for the win.

Our hosts, The Flemings, were the fantastic Team Supporters for the fast race. Thank you for cheering and the wonderful shrimp and chicken pesto pasta for dinner. We enjoyed sharing a piece of our world and hearing about yours.

We hope to have more photos to post, but the photographers were hiding I think.
In the car and on to Walterboro...