AT&T Austin Crits!!

Saturday was such a fun day! Woke up early, went to the airport, and hopped on a plane to Austin. Luckily everything went really smoothly, so I was able to get to the airport, get my rental car and head out to 290 Cafe where I was greeted by some of the TNT riders and a plate of migas!! I had definitely been craving migas, and it never fails to disappoint. I then hung out with Jenay, who has finally come out of hiding. She went MIA for a while, but she's back now, and everyone is happy about that! I'm also really jealous of her hot new single speed. :)

We then headed downtown to watch the races! There was a quick detour to Starbucks and BettySport in order to avoid the short rain storm (don't worry it ended quickly and it's hot in Austin so the roads dried out for the races). Jenay and I were there early so we got to watch the Master's race, the men's 4/5 and some of the men's 1/2/3 before anyone else showed up. Finally all of the fun people who had been tied up in the LLS board retreat made it down though. A bunch of us had a great time standing right on one of the inside corners, if you've never done this at a crit, then you don't understand. It is one of the most exciting and scary experiences ever, to see them come so close, and feel the wind that the pack creates. It's amazing, and one of my favorite ways to experience bike racing! The main events (the pro races) proved to be very exciting races. The women hammered it the entire time, they are all so strong and they amaze me. Watching them crash, slide across the road, and then hop back on the bike missing large patches of skin, is incredible. I would be sitting on the side of the road crying.... I don't think I'm hard core enough for crits, they scare the crap out of me.

I of course didn't have my camera, but thanks to Velonews.com I can provide you with a look into the men's race. Lots of big teams with big names were out there. Everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of Rock Racing who made their presence felt by parking their giant buses and Escalades all over downtown. I was expecting to see the familiar black and lime green kits, instead we got this:
Ok first off, yes that is Tyler Hamilton and yes he was there. But seriously, white kits? That's not what any of us were expecting. Apparently they had these made specifically for the Austin race because they put Texas states on the shoulders and around the arms and legs it says "Austin Rocks" (Insert serious groan here....) They (mainly the announcers) used that phrase way too much throughout the day. Yes I understand that we were in Austin, and yes the race was sponsored by Rock Racing, but reducing yourselves to "Austin Rocks"??? That's just ridiculous.

Ok, back to the racing. The men's pro race is completely different than all of the other races because of the ridiculously high speeds. All of the other crits there would be a large pack and occasionally 1 or a few riders off the front. In the pro race they string out on the course, instead of watching a pack of riders pass you, you watch a long line of riders fly by you. Pretty exciting! The most amazing was the 1 Slipstream-Chipotle (Garmin-Chipotle) rider there by himself. He would be seen hanging out at the back and then he would work his way to the front for a few laps and then be seen at the back again a few laps later. Must be horrible that he could move around in rankings so easily. None of the attacks stuck throughout the race, so we all knew it was going to be an exciting finish. With 2 laps to go the front of the group looked like this:
Notice the 5 Toyota-United Riders controlling the pace?? We all thought that they had the race in the bag when we saw the same thing come around for the last lap. But then when they came in for the finish, this happened:
Whoa! Where did a Colavita rider come from?? I'm sure that's what all the Toyota boys were thinking as well! Someone definitely didn't do a good job of blocking. Oops! But it made for a very exciting finish for all of us spectators.

All in all, it was a great Austin day! (Of course) One minor letdown was that a certain someone apparently decided to not meet up with me, but oh well. He missed out, because I was looking good in my new SkirtSports blue Gym Girl! :)

Sunday wasn't quite as much fun since I started it out at 4:30am to get to the airport and catch a plane back to Chicago so I could make it into work at the bike shop. But it was worth it! Hooray for bike racing in Austin! So who's coming out July 27th to watch the crits here in Chicago with me??