Shelby Criterium: Shelby, North Carolina

Images by Scott Schaffrick from the race can be found at: dailypeloton.com/

• Pack taking the climb
• Ready for the turn
• Still looking to get round...

Petra and I drove from New Jersey to North Carolina (about 650 miles) to ride in the Shelby criterium, followed next week by the Xcelerate Twilight criterium. We are staying with a host family, Rebecca and Tim Plonk, along with their twin girls, Nikki and Alex, in Kings Mountain, about 15 miles from Shelby. Shelby is located to the west of Charlotte, just north of the South Carolina border.

On the morning of the Shelby criterium, Petra and I followed our host Tim into Shelby, arriving at 9.30am, 2hrs prior to our start. We registered and after scanning the start list of 35 riders, predicted that Diet Rite and Atlanta Velo/Litespeed would be the main teams to watch.

The course was an anti-clockwise figure 8 loop with a gentle down hill followed by an uphill about midway through. The start/finish straight was also slightly uphill with a gentle cross headwind. The streets were wide and pothole free which made it a fast and crash free criterium, although there were a few close calls.

Helen (far left) taking the corner

The peloton was aggressive right from the start with Diet Rite and Atlanta Velo/Litespeed launching numerous attacks. Without our full team, Petra and I decided not to waste our energy chasing down every attack and decided to only bridge across to attacks that contained a Diet Rite rider. We knew that if Diet Rite were not in the break, they would bring back the break.

Our goal was to try and get one of us away. I got across into several attempts but nothing succeeded. Petra chased a solo Diet Rite rider about midway through and found herself stranded between the peloton and the Diet Rite rider. However, the next sprint prime brought everything back together again.

There were sprint primes every 6 or 7 laps which stopped any breaks getting away as the pace of the peloton kept bringing things back together. I decided not to contest the sprint primes but rode about 5th position to be there if a break went, straight after a prime.

In hindsight, I should have instigated some attacks right after these primes. I felt really strong, but rode too defensively, notwithstanding the lack of team mates to help out in the race.

With only 8 laps to go, it looked like it was going to be a sprint finish and I knew I had to mark Diet Rite sprinters, Mayola-Pic and Kiesasaronski as well as Tania Duff-Miller. Both Diet Rite and Atlanta Veleo/Litespeed had most of their team lined up to lead out there sprinters. I was jostled in amongst them but wasn't close enough to the front to be in with a chance. It was a very close finish, with 10th the best I could do today.

Results: