Nature Valley

Day 1: Rainy crit, that got nullified...a million crashes...~50 women dug super deep to hang on to a very fast pace, fighting the natural urge to exit such a dangerous course....only to find out it was to NO avail! And, of course the the men didn't have to race (softies!!)

Day 2: Cannon Falls road race that was pretty mild, until the last 5 finishing circuits of ~2mi each. Of note our teammate Andrea Luebby got 2nd on a QOM!! The circuits was basically a crit, w/ sprints, and speed! About 75ppl came into the circuits, just after a dirt section followed by the worst pavement on a wet decent ever...Tina Pic took the win, closely followed by Joanne Kiesanowski, and Laura Van Gilder...followed by my ex-teammate Shelly Olds!

Day 3: TT in the AM. Mostly perfect TT course, w/ a 1K climb to finish it off. Kat Carroll smoked a 2nd place, behind Kristin Armstong. Shelly had a great TT in 6th! Chrissy w/o any TT stuff pulled of 14th!
Crit in PM: Downtown Minneapolis. This year it was dry!! It was a fun course, stayed together pretty much. There was a lot of wind on the course making it hard for any solo riders. A good real crit! Brooke Miller surprised us w/ a strong win!

Day 4: 91mi Mankato RR. Lots of wind and teams trying to attack Kristin Armstrong made it a very active race. Then came the killer finishing circuits w/ this steep climb on it we had to do 4 times...and it all shattered. And, guess who won?? Kristin Armstrong, that's who!

Day 5: Stillwater cirt. The word crit is a misnomer...it's a 12 time climb, then power course. This course has a like 45sec 18-21% climb on each lap, and the laps was 1.3mi course. A fun course, minus the hill. And Kristin was on fire again, she won by over a minute! Chrissy attached up the last climb and was perched for 2nd, then got passed close to the top..damn, I was so excited for her...nice try! Kat was in that group too!