Back in Action at the Wilmington Grand Prix

Travel to Wilmington left a bit to be desired: 7hrs to cover 200 miles in an all-time NYC traffic epic. Found my way to the host house, eventually joined by our tuxedoed host and sprinters traveling by air who arrived at 3am. The team was here in force! Jen, Brenda, Heather, Reem, me (maybe in force...). Here is the race story: controlled the race, looking to set Jen up for the finish on a windy rectangular course. At one point had the ideal numbers-up of me off the front then Jen covering Laura van Gilder bridging up, but the move got squelched. Jen took charge and went off the front. I missed LVG's inevitable bridge, chased hard but just set up a bridge by unknown Juice Plus rider Laura McCaughey. She sat on LVG and Jen for the extent of the break, but we were pretty happy with the odds and kept things together. Heather paced Brenda back up after they got caught behind a crash. McCaughey, who turns out to be an Australian national track champion, outfoxed Jen and LVG and took the win. Jen got second - she is fast. I led out the sprint but did not hook up with Brenda so she ended up 8th, me 11th. I gave Erica Allar a really nice lead-out. 20-20 hindsight says be more aggressive, get me out there then have Jen sit on LVG's bridge... Photos: happy team, greenhouse of orchids, a tour of a microbrewery and Delaware history lesson, and one rider's broken fork that luckily held through the extent of the race. To clarify: this chunk was not actually missing as pictured during the race as a result of the crash, but was effectively missing since it easily pulled out after. Scary.