Memorial Weekend of NRC races
The NEBC women headed south to the mid-atlantic region to compete in 3 national calendar level races (NRC). These are big name crits against the top (aka professional) women in the US.
On Saturday, the Kelly Cup/BikeJam Crit took place in Baltimore, MD. The course curves through Patterson Park on a slight hill with sharp corners through a couple of traffic circles. After almost everyone safely making it through a mid-race crash that took down a dozen women (including Natalie) and temporarily stopped the race, Sally grabbed a beauty gift certificate prime. Mary grabs a top 20 in 19 place and the rest of the girls hung tough for pack finishes.
On Sunday, the RFK Crit in RFK Stadium in Washington, DC took place under 90+ degree temperatures, which feels more like 100 degrees while racing through a parking lot. the girls were extremely active attacking and going with breaks. In the very fast race, on the 2nd to last lap, Sam and Tami were caught in a crash with no significant injuries. Rebecca sprinted in for 11th with Susanne right behind in 18th.
On Monday, the king of the crits was the Tour of Somerville in NJ. The pace was kept high with all the pro teams in full force. Rebecca snuck past the pro teams and grabbed a cash prime during the race and got some good air time from announcer Richard Fries. With another fast finish, all the girls finished safely in the pack.
After experiencing the 2nd year of racing the NRC crits, the NEBC women feel more comfortable with the speed and didn’t think those races were all so fast this year. :-) Let’s see them unlease their own speed locally this year.