Gastown Criterium – 21 July 2004

The Gastown criterium was held in down town Vancouver with over 20,000 spectators lining the circuit.  The tight corners, cobble stoned sections and gradual climb to the finish line made this a challenging course.  Typically I do well in these criteriums, however tonight my legs felt like heavy bricks and I had no energy at all.  My sprint was lethargic and I suffered through the entire 30 laps of racing.  There was never a moment that I felt good and I wondered if I was either sick or just needed a day off.

There were 8 intermediate sprints throughout the criterium, each worth $200 but I didn’t have the legs to win any of these.  Willy my team mate worked hard to chase down break away attempts.  With 3 laps to go, Manon Jutras (Quark) launched solo off the front and we didn’t react fast enough to shut it down.  Once her gap extended to 200m the peloton started to think about racing for 2^nd place and no-one wanted to waste energy chasing.

On the final corner, I didn’t fight hard enough to maintain my position, was pushed wide and came into the final straight in 15^th wheel, eliminating any chance of a podium result.  With self-annoyance, I sprinted anyway and finished 7^th.  Afterwards, as I spun the legs a bit on the trainer I decided I needed a few easy days to revitalise the batteries and tune up for the Tour de White Rock.