Just landed... napped and am sitting down to waste time on my computer.  I have been away from my blog as I have been suffering from writers block of late.  And of course- traveling and what not.  Excuses, excuses... I have just not been around the computer much.  But now- I am back in California and want to write. 

There has been a lot going on.  The team just got back from Chicago where we raced the Chicago crit around Millenium park.  We opted out of Toona this year since it was a one day race and SRAM is located in Chicago- which gives us a good chance to hang out with a few of the people who have made all of our dreams possible!  It was also exciting since the race was a good one and it was well supported- with a $10,000 purse!  So... it was also a chance to get us a good payday!

The race was a heck of a lot of fun and our team came out firing on all cylinders from the gun- I attacked at about 200m into the race and our team never let up the race. 

With about 15 minutes left to race- Amber countered an attack by Rachel and jumped clear of the field with a great gap.  Meredith Miller was the lone Aarons rider and her attempts to bridge up to Amber were quickly squashed by the team and she was soon gone.  With her strong time trialing- Amber is not a rider you can let ride away as she is going for the line.  The team raced great and jumped on every rider that tried to bridge up and squashed every move right away.  In the end- Amber had over 40 seconds on the field!

With two laps to go- my radio cracked: “$500 prime on this lap.... $500 prime on this lap!”... “Repeat?”... “THIS lap... $500”... when we had gone by the start/finish, we did not hear them announce the prime.  Thankfully we had radios!  I never go for primes- even when I am in a break- I usually defer the prime to my breakmates... but $500?  Sorry guys... I am sprinting for this one!  I gave it all I had from the final corner and took the prime.  I sat up as we regrouped for the finish.  With Amber off- we set up the leadout train with Rachel, Helen and Rush.  I was going to sweep and hopefully get Rush to take the second spot on the podium- but things got a bit shuffled in the finish and Rush got pushed into the wind too early.  I jumped too late and in the end- got beat on the line with a great sprint by a kiddo!  17 year old Sam Schneider most certainly made me pay for my bad finish focus!  She had a great sprint and I did not have enough time to grab her on the line.  Hat’s off to her for a great finish!   So... yes... I got punked on the line by a junior!  But hey... I did race my brains out and sprint for a late prime.  So I have got that excuse in my playbook...

After a fun day in Chicago- I grabbed an early flight back to California where I am super excited to get in some focused training before heading out to Charlotte and then Nationals.  I really want to have a good race for Nats and need to get some hills and intensity in my legs.  So- back in California boot camp!