Merco Credit Union Criterium- Karla Kingsley 7th, Liza Rachetto 8th

Saturday morning we all gathered in the lovely town of Merced. There's something wonderful about the early season central valley racing, and I had started to feel like the Vagabond Inn of Merced was my second home. The front desk attendant even recognized me from the previous weekend when I came down to do Snelling. There is nothing like the charm of a small town. But we were there to race. The Merco Credit Union Grand Prix is a great crit on the streets of Merced, and it always attracts great racers. This year, Team Columbia, Tibco, Colavita, Kahala LaGrange, Proman, Vanderkitten, and several others were all represented, and there were 6 of us from Team SugarCRM.
The race started with a bang, and a slow first lap as everyone recon-ed the chicane and corners. The next three laps were all prime laps, so the speed increased to high and stayed there. It was great aggressive racing, and everyone on the team played a role in covering attacks and launching some of our own. My legs weren't feeling outstanding, so it was my job to try to conserve energy where I could and only go with the most threatening moves if I was in position. Starla managed to grab a $60 prime out of a break she was in for a couple laps before it got reeled in. The counter-attack launched a group of 4-5 women off the front, and we were caught out of it. I heard the announcer saying that that was the race, up the road, those women would stick, but Liza proved him wrong with a huge effort on the front to bring them back. Ultimately, it came down to a field sprint. I positioned myself near the front of the pack while Lindsay, Starla, and JV launched some attacks to keep the pace high in the last 5 laps. With a couple laps to go, Tibco started organizing their lead-out train, and then really ramped up the speed in the last lap. I saw Brooke on the train, with Ina Yoko Toutenberg on her wheel, and I knew that Ina's wheel was where I wanted to be. In the last half lap, I had to make a couple big efforts to stick on Ina's wheel, but I was there coming around the final corner. I had a moment's hesitation out of the corner when the others started sprinting, and I lost a little bit of ground, allowing 3 other girls to pass me before the line, putting me in 7th place, with Liza right behind me in 8th.
All in all, it was a great team effort, and I was so proud of the way that the team worked together during this race!
-Report by Karla Kingsley