Team Get A Grip Girls: Seven starts equals seven top tens!
Emily "State Champ" Hutchins reports as the women's team uses tactics to humble the opposition (except one):
"Saturday's twilight criterium began on a lead-out from Devon and Lindsay, setting up Emily and Val for the first attack two hundred meters into the race. Emily and Val went off on their attack, which was strong but the rest of the pack ended up reeling them back in. Second in line for an attack was Lindsay and Devon, who did just that. After twenty minutes of attacking and doing their thing, the girls of TGAGC came down to the final two laps of the crit. Val stepped up to the front to lead the pack, while cresting over the hill Devon slipped out of the pack to jump onto the wheel of another rider. The final sprint came down to Devon and Kristen Meshburg of Team Flatlandia. Devon brought home second place with Emily in 6th, Lindsay in 7th and Val in 9th--Excellent team tactics paid off!
Sunday's National Criterium Championship would be much of the same. The girls once again showed how teamwork and having a plan can pay off, taking two podium spots with Devon taking the silver medal with Emily in 4th and Lindsay 7th. The women's team showed amazing strength in their first full squad race. TGAGC will be a threat for the remainder of the season with the amount of talent they showed at this weekend's races! Nice job ladies!
Best of luck to Val in the upcoming track races this weekend!!"
Male Riders Medal in National Championship with Skeleton Crew
Aspen Gorry tells the story of the category 3 team:
"The cat 3 portion of the team really started to gel over the weekend. Despite still being undermanned with four riders on Saturday and three on Sunday, we displayed good team tactics and finished with some good results.
On Saturday, Chip, Josh, Uwe, and I lined up for the twilight crit. Chip stole the show making every break, Josh and I were active blocking for most of the race, and Uwe made his season debut after being off the bike for a month after getting clobbered by some cars and finished strongly in the field in a difficult race. When the winning break went, it was my turn to go as Chip had just been brought back from his last attempt off of the front, but I found myself pinned in the pack and unable to make the move. I alerted Chip and he made the heroic bridge up to the break but was unable to hold on. (Sorry to put you in that situation, I will be in the right spot to make the move next time). With two laps to go, frustrated that I wasn’t in the main break I decided to try a solo effort for the line. I made it ¾ of the way up the hill on the last lap, but was then swarmed by a surging field. Josh was second wheel over the top and was able to hold on for 7th! Despite not having anyone end up in the top 5 we showed strength as a team that should pay off for some results soon!
On Sunday we only started three riders with Josh resting up for the big track events next weekend. With breaks not quite as likely on this course, we were more reserved for the first third of the race with the exception of Chip slipping off the front to steal the first prime. With Chip and I actively keeping an eye on the break attempts, Uwe made his presence felt in the middle of the race by flying up to the front of the race twice, once to bring back a threatening attack and a second time to launch one of his own. It is good to see the legs respond well to the first days of racing. No breaks were able to stay away, so the last time up the hill I drilled it to stay in the top 10 with Chip right on my wheel. Going over the top he slipped by me up to the front of the group and I stayed in the group of 8 of us that got a bit of a gap on the rest of the field. Down the final straight I held off my sprint for a moment too long and ended up 5th with Chip finishing inches from the win! Two riders in the top 5 is great, the elusive victory should come soon!"
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