Holly at Crit Nationals

Warmup race (8/18): My goal in this race was to save energy for Nationals and stay safe in the rain. I started in the back, but made my way to the front within 5 laps. I stayed there for most of the race which helped me avoid using too much energy chasing attacks--I surfed the field and never accelerated too hard. A breakaway of four escaped midway as the rain poured harder. In the final three laps I moved into the top 10 to set up for the sprint. Although it was a slightly slower line, I stayed inside through the corners to avoid potential sliding action of crashes. The breakaway stuck and finished with at least 30 seconds on the field--Brooke Miller won. At the second to the last corner, a rider took out almost the entire Aaron's leadout train. Only six riders escaped without losing momentum. I wasn't one of them, but I sprinted as hard as possible from there to finish directly behind that group in 11th place.

Nationals (8/19): This race started dry, hot, and fast, but the weather turned at the halfway point--another downpour. I was again able to position myself well, luckily missing the many crashes (although there were a few close calls). At 1.5 laps to go, I was behind Brooke Miller when she and a few others went down on the hill--I had to brake hard to maneuver my way around the couple of people who went down. The crash opened a gap in the field and I used a very hard effort to catch back on. Bad timing for a chase, leaving me very little chance to regroup before the final sprint! The best I could do was hang on to the back of the charging field. I passed a few girls in the sprint, but wanted to be better positioned. I finished 15th. I was incredibly excited about the result but was still left thinking about how I could've done better. It's nice to feel like my form has come around for the last few big races of the season, and I also know there is a lot (tactically) I can still improve upon.Holly