got there really early this time.  got a good warm-up (50 minutes) which
is longer than usual, but definitely something i should do from now on.

course was not a "real" crit course--it was almost 2 miles long, with 4
wide corners.  not technical at all.                    

all the women were combined today, so the pack was huge, probably 40 women
at least.  again, had trouble moving around in the pack and was frequently
boxed in.  managed to get in a good position and won a prime (box of
jogmate bars!), but subsequently was in a bad position for several
laps.  with three to go i made a real effort to move up, but couldn't get
any closer than the middle of the pack.  the final straightaway was really
long though, and i swung out a bit to the left and tried to get
around.  it was difficult because the pack was across the road and people
were shoving each other, which i have NEVER seen before in a women's
race.  it was really quite scary.  however i found a spot on the outside
on the left, came around in front of the pack, and got on the back of the
NEBC train (2 women leading out, followed by one from terry, then the NEBC
cat 2 sprinter, brooke, who i went to block island with last year).  i
jumped early and came around all four of them and took the sprint.  so now
i'm the senior women mass state crit champion.              

next week: michele gets dropped in the 60-mile "tour of the hilltowns" and
gets dusted by the pro-1-2-3 field at the American Cup. stay tuned.