Radical on fire-Central Park Points Race 8/9/08-The view from Ashley's saddle

CRCA POINTS race 8/9
Race Format: Met points race with points 3-deep every lap- 5 laps.
We had a great Radical turnout for the points’ race and we had a plan which we all had a role for the race. Maggie, Cecelia and Evie were our sprinters, Jenny and Erica were the protectors for the sprinters making sure they were out of the wind and not working too much- Maria, Elena and I were to chase down attacks and also attack (either before the sprint or after the sprint- or both).
Before the race we saw that we had Sarah and Jaime Nicholson- no Ann Marie or Carol Gale. Upon seeing that Jaime, Maggie assignees Elena to Jaime’s wheel- we were sure that she would try and break after the sprint- Jaime was quickly annoyed that Elena was on her wheel and by the end of the first lap in Horse Sh*t alley, Jaime swung off the front with Elena going with her like glue- the look of annoyance on Jamie’s face was priceless. We got through the first sprint- and I am not sure of out placing in all of the sprints-but we did well, getting second several times, some firsts’ and a few thirds’. After the first sprint on the turn after the Met and before EG Jaime slows down and pulls off into the joggers lane- I hung back and checked out her bike in passing- she did not appear to have a flat- hmmmm... so I went to the very back of the pack looking for her thinking maybe she was going to slip onto the back of the group and try something funny- but she was not there. So I went back to the front we had to change our race plan. We planned to be more aggressive to tire out CC. All of a sudden Jaime blows past the field with speed- I was shocked along with everyone else. But we chased her down instantly- I think it was Cecelia that jumped on her wheel. Jaime gave a flick of the elbow telling Cecelia to pull through. This made Cecilia chuckle. She didn’t pull through. Jaime got so frustrated after Harlem Hill that she again went into the joggers lane and pulled out of the race- I was still waiting for her to blow by again but I think we ran her out of the race- I am still shocked by what happened.
We are only halfway into lap 2 but it was such a good story... so Elena, Maria and I traded attacks before and after the sprints for the rest of the race- getting some good gaps and being marked by a CC rider every time- so they were having to work :)
When we did not have a break going into the final lap I knew Maria, Elena and I should put in 3 good attacks down The West Side. Going up Harlem Hill I decided to put in the first attack halfway up the hill. I jumped and just went as hard as I could not looking back- I figured I was going to be caught and then Elena or Maria could hit them. I figured wrong- I had taken Alexandra and Becky and we had a big gap- we started to work the break- it was good- no Sarah- Alexandra really went hard in that break- we had a really good lead I thought- but I was still expecting the field to get us on that last lap-going up Horse Sh*t alley Becky let a gap open in the pace line- with Alexandra was leaving us- I had to make a pretty good effort to catch her again. We had lost Becky-Alexandra won I got second- Maggie did great in the sprints landing her in second place over all-was in 4th place overall- CC got third- and so we did well in bring home the points for Radical-
It was fun and I am very happy to know a break can go off in central
park :) I ill try that again for sure!