Pretty excited

Overall podium!!!!!!

What an exciting weekend and such a great adventure! It seems that things finally came together for me during this race. I was now given the opportunity to apply everything I've learned from my teammates throughout the year and it seems I paid attention;)

I was picked up at the airport by Jessi(Team VBF PR chica) along with Emily Kachorek(Vanderkitten). She is a cool chick, so the weekend started off good, with some good laughs in the car(we took a couple of detours)!

Friday's race was at 8:30pm, I loved this night race last year and this year was the same, I loved the shadows, the darkness and the speed. It only took a couple of laps for Carrie and I to get in sync with each other and know where we both like to be in a pack. I nabbed 3 out of the 4 primes because making back the plane ticket in the first night is always fun;) And then for the sprint, I felt like a million bucks but I wasn't in a great spot for sprinting for the win~10th place, but apparently I did ok with 3rd:) I could tell it was going to be a good weekend as soon as that race was over. I also knew I needed to be in better position for the rest of the weekend to make it happen.

Saturday's race was another 4 corner, wide open road. Sanders did a good job at getting away and staying away, so I knew I would have to conserve and take the field sprint. It was a good battle between Modesta, LVG and myself. It was a close sprint but I came away with it!

Sunday was a smaller road, tighter corners. I messed up and missed a break, that I didn't think was going to stick but hey, it did, oh well-learning lesson. So again, I was thinking field sprint and again it was a great battle with the Colavita gals but also...again, I took the field sprint-I was creeping my way up the podium steps but making progress none the less.....

Monday's race, I wanted to win outright. Carrie and I played different scenarios about points and all that but I said, let's keep it simple-let's win. Whatever happens with the overall jersey, happens, I just wanted to win. This race was completely different from the others because it had 11 turns, left and right-NICE! Unfortunately it also had a bunch of orange spray paint, a.k.a., pot holes! Off we went, about 1/3 into the race I had a rear flat-thank you SRAM for being so awesome! I got right back in the mix, never missed a beat, did my best to stay near the front and make sure no break got away and man did they try-ouch!

The last lap, I was in great position on the last turn-3rd wheel-and I knew this sprint was going to be a long one, uphill, headwind, so I kept thinking, patient, patient, then BAM! to my right LVG went with a Colavita(couldn't see who it was b/c she was coming up from behind me). So here we go-early-I jumped, I was going to get on their wheel b/c I knew we had a ways to go and about the time I start heading over right-LVG drops her chain on one of the pot holes and force me and Colavita far left. I was safe and kept sprinting and got 3rd. And with that, I won the overall jersey-go for the win, you never know what will happen in the finish and you can't control anything but yourself and that is what I did:)

It was a great weekend, I had a blast hanging out with Carrie and Jessi, battling with the field and being successful. So next up is the Mayor's Cup in Boston with more teammates, I look forward to seeing everyone ONE more time together before new contracts pull us in different directions.......

PS...thank you Jose and SRAM for my Podium hat:) It's a keeper
This was after Saturday's race, waitin on podium
I like the feeling standing here....
Friday night's podium:)