A superbly organized event and great weather made for a fantastic weekend of racing. The start list inclued Renee Schroeder, Beth Skau, Maia Orabi and Mary Ward. Kelly Paterson had to sit this one out under doctor's orders, so she pretended to be Graham Watson (no disrespect intended Mr. Watson.)
The new yellow kits are super visible. Even Mr. American Cycle and Fitness himself loves them! Michael Reuter showed up to support his team even more than he already has.
The 2.7 mile TT was a good wake up call for the group.
The time trial was a critical factor in the overall standings in the 1/2/3 race. Renee finished 5th in both the criterium and road race, but with her 10th place in the TT, she finished 9th in the overall. Beth finished 9th in the TT, 7th in the crit and 9th in the road race and finished 10th overall.
Click the video to see the finish of the Stage 2 criterium.
There was a crash in the Women's Cat 4 Road Race on Sunday and Mary and Maia both went down. Mary got a ton of road rash and a cracked helmet. That seems to be popular with this team! She DNFed and drove herself to the hospital under paramedics orders. CT scan was fine and she went home after spending $50 in bandages at the drug store.
Maia finished 4th in the TT, 5th in the crit, and 7th in the road race. Mary finished 3rd in the TT, 6th in the crit and did not finish the road race. Unfortunately, Mary took Maia down with her. Maia showed her tough attitude by finishing stage 3, chasing the pack the rest of the race.
Maia had a small abrasion on her hand, but her race wheel was trashed. :-( Is there a scholarship fund for bike parts? She's so tough, she shook off after the crash and finished the race solo.
Beth gained confidence and learned a bit more about bike racing.
The 1/2/3 field was full of strong women including Verducci/Breakaway's Kacey Manderfield (3rd overall), Jessie McLean (4th overall) and former Wolverine Theresa Cliff-Ryan (2nd overall) wearing her stars and stripes national champion jersey.
