I went out to South Beloit yesterday for Spring Super Criterium. The Vitaminwater boys really put on a great race -- extremely well organized, good course, lots of primes and swag. It was a fun day.

Only downer was how few women showed up to race. We had five in the Womens cat 4 race and when only two people came out to race the cat 1-2-3 women's open, they opened it up to the cat 4 women as well. So we had nine racers in the Open.

I did OK. I'm a bit dissatisfied with my performance. In the cat 4 race, it became apparent that it was between me and one other woman. We dropped two racers right away and let a third tow us around the course for a couple laps, tiring her out. The other racer -- a Flatlandia girl that I remember passing on the second hill at Hillsboro after I dropped my chain -- and I duked out for a prime or two, and it was good sprinting practice for me. Not good enough, though as I went too soon at the end and couldn't finish strongly enough to beat her. Second got me two points towards upgrading to Cat 3 and eight (!) boxes of Clif bars.

I regret not attacking earlier in the race and trying to get off the front. I really need to be more aggressive that way -- I don't know why I talk myself out of it. It was very windy and I wasn't sure I was strong enough to hold them off. But I'll never know now. Arg.

The women's open was a longer race. My former teammate Val, a cat 3, was there and she told me she was going to attack and wanted me to come with her -- which sounded great to me. Francine, a cat 2 was the other elite racer in the group, and we had three Cutting Crew girls, all new to racing, and three other women from the cat 4 race, including my Flatlandia girl.

We settled in and let the Cutting Crew girls sit at the front. I didn't contest for any primes, I just sat in and saved my energy for the attack -- which came into the headwind with two and a half laps to go. Francine jumped and Val was right on her. And I missed it. I rode super hard to catch, but not getting on right away meant I had to bridge and I just didn't have the power for that. One of the Cutting Crew girls made the jump. But I didn't.

However, in my effort to get with the break, I managed to drop everyone else. Now, I don't know if that means I could have dropped them in the first race when they were fresher. But I know I wish I'd tried.

I spent two laps on my own, battling hard into the wind. I could see the three ahead of me, but they were too far for me to catch. I couldn't see anyone behind me. So I rode in alone for fourth. Which, frankly, is probably what I would have gotten if I HAD made the break, but that's not the point. I need to have the strength and explosive power to not let it ride off without me.

So I really need to work on my tactics. If I'd been sitting behind Francine and Val, I would've seen the move sooner and that might've made a difference. And I need to stop being so timid and stop second-guessing myself. Now is the time to experiment! This was a perfect race to try all sorts of things, and I just played it too safe. Which is the same thing I was thinking after Hillsboro -- at some point it has to sink in.

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Unfortunately Gigi, who was planning on this race, crashed on our Saturday team ride and took Sunday off. She needed stitches and scraped up her face pretty dramatically, but overall--thankfully--she's OK. I really missed her yesterday. I hope she's back to 100% soon.