I started the day in 1st place with a 21 second gap ahead of Lauren Edwards (Probike). This meant that she could win the hot spot time bonus as well as the race and I’d still be ahead. So, since I grabbed her wheel for the sprint win yesterday, I agreed to help her clinch 2nd by leading her out for the mid-race time bonus sprint.

Once the race started, we dropped the hammer early in an attempt to weed out anyone who wasn’t confident with railing the turns on the sketchy pavement. After several laps, the officials rang the bell for a prime. As we rounded the final turn for the finish, Lauren sprinted off the front then sat up as we caught back on to her.

A lap of two later, the bell was rung again for the time bonus. I pulled up to the front , made sure that Lauren was on my wheel, then accelerated down the long back stretch and into turns 3 and 4. I continued to pull hard towards the finish line, not looking back to see what was going on behind me until I heard the announcer saying that there was a rider off the front… I looked back to see the pack barely rounding the final turn!

For a second, I wasn’t sure what to do, but I figured I’d just settle into a steady grind and see what would happen. According to Ryan and Lauren, a few people in the pack attempted to chase, but gave up since they figured I’d win whether or not they caught me. LADIES!!! COME ON!!!! What if I’d had a mechanical or wreck? What if you caught me, countered, and managed to drop me?!? You guys hung on for dear life in the thunderstorm yesterday, don’t ever give up!

Oh well… Anyway…
I finished almost a lap ahead of the pack. I found out later that Lauren had mistaken the first prime for the hotspot and thought that the hotspot was just a merchandise prime. She still ended up winning the pack sprint and holding on to her 2nd place spot.

I’m hoping I feel as good next weekend as I did today. It’s time to defend the Memphis turf!

Ryan took photos of the race: Tour de LA Women’s photos

Here are a few of my favorites (click to the link above for higher-res, unscaled images):

He also finished with the pack today, landing him 13th overall in the P 1/2/3 field. I took some photos of that race, as well as some other random non-race photos including kids playing catch, moto officials having a romantic garden moment, cowboy boots, a team meeting, and a cute little lizard. The gallery is HERE