CSC Invitational

Sadly I don't have pictures from this race. But it was awesome! It's a really cool technical course in Arlington VA, 1K long with lots of corners, questionable pavement, wind... no time to get bored! We started with 60 girls, including the usual heavy-hitters from Colavita, Cheerwine, Lipton, and Victory Brewing since it was an NRC race. My mom was there cheering (and once again there is no way I would have known she was there because she is a very quiet cheerleader but Devon was with her vociferously!) and she said that almost immediately there were girls who got "left behind" and "told to stop racing" (i.e. dropped and pulled). I felt like I had a great race, I moved around the pack and even saw the front of the race and was in good position to go for a prime, but I opted to save my matches for the finish. I finished 21st, which was good considering the distance and the pace, and I have more confidence now that I can break out of this 20-something-ish place streak!
The men's race was totally nuts. Guys were dropping off constantly, a few guys every lap. They did 100 laps (for reference, we did 50). Hilton Clarke and Brad Huff were off the front for almost the entire race, maintaining a 30 second lead, and the rest of the field was single file to maintain that gap. Then with 13 to go everything changed - the two breakaways were suddenly reabsorbed (and the back half of the 50 remaining racers got completely shelled), a new break went off, then a lap later Richard England hit a curb and flipped over the bike landing on his face, at the front of the race, and then 7 more guys were flying through the air, hitting street signs, metal barricades, etc. 24 of the 150 starters finished. For some reason they had no hay bales or padding at this race, but we have protection all over the place in most of our California local races...
Anyway here is Devon's post-race recovery snack:

mmmm... cake and pie and ice cream!