Jeni's race report of the Tom Binnie Crit

What do you do when a sponsored elite triathlete shows up at a bike race? You try to hang on her wheel until you hit that zone just before you’re done, then you let her go so you can have your own race and wonder if she’ll lap you…

Thus was the beginning of the Tom Binnie Women’s Cat 4 Criterium. With only 4 riders total it became a tactical race when the triathlete rode off into the sunset after creating ten minutes of soul breaking hell for the rest of us. Crawling out of hell and into a bike race you then do you’re share of pulls, take your rests, and spend the entire race sizing each other up.

Going into the group prime I ended up in front on the backside of the course. Still, despite having to attack off the front, my strong sprint won the prime by half a wheel. However, I didn’t see our dEVo delight Camille coming up hard on my right and only a last second shove of the bike scored the prize of trail running socks!
And then it was back to tactics. A few attacks by our Glockman-Simpson competition was an attempt to find weaknesses, but without burning matches our dEVo/dEVa double team easily chased her down each time.

With two laps to go I was on the front again. Riding well into the corners I looked back and the other two were somehow 10 meters off my wheel. They did not catch back on as we crossed the line going into the final lap so of course the only tactical thing to do was attack then and there! A move that led to a solo finish to take overall second and positioned dEVo Camille perfectly for the final sprint to grab third.