Awesome racing today at the Leonardtown crit. A lot of strong girls showed up. I was ready for pain. 20mi of racing ahead. It started fast right from the gun. The teams attacked and counterattacked and attacked and counterattacked and…. . You get the message. It was fast.

There was never a time I thought I would be pulling away from the field since covering all the attacks was hard enough. So I was surprised halfway through the race when I got a small gap behind me on that uphill turn. I sprinted a little bit and saw that the gap got bigger so I used it and went all out. When I passed the finish line, the bell rang for a preme. I looked back and concluded that the distance to the field would be big enough to get the preme.

I soloed the next lap and was pretty cooked going into the final turn. A look back and the field was definitely closing but not threatening….so I thought. I sprinted anyway or at least of all the energy I had left and got caught by an inch! That was definitely a huge bummer. Three girls passed me with high speed and I had to dig deep to catch on one of their wheels.

Six laps to go and the field was pretty strung out. However, the race got suddenly stopped. The fire department was based on the course and fire trucks had to enter the race course. My loss for the preme was still in my head while waiting for the restart.

After about five minutes, we restarted the race with five laps to go. Everything came down to the last two corners. I happened to be at the right spot when we took the final turns. I sprinted all out and passed another two riders and finished second.

I am very happy about the two Second places this weekend. Wilmington GP next weekend….I am excited!