This weekend was not only the Wells Fargo Twilight Criterium but also the Idaho State Championship Criterium. This was the first year that we had a separate Category 2 field and it was held on a new north–south course. Despite my taper this week, my legs weren’t feeling great and even with the smallish field it was harder than it should have been. The only move I made was a get in a two-person break with a red guy, but we only lasted a few laps. Then when it came down to the last five laps, I found myself at the back and didn’t have neither the legs or the aggressiveness to move up. I still tried to sprint at the end and got 19th, but I really was shooting for a much higher placing.

On Sunday I did the state criterium championship which was a Pro 1–2 race. We had a small field of just over 30 guys. The course was the old criterium course used a few years ago in “downtown” Hidden Springs. It’s a really fun course with perfectly smooth pavement and lots of nice turns with a chicane leading into the start/finish stretch. It was warmer today and it was a longer race, both things that usually help my results. I raced aggressively but missed the three-person break that stayed away. So the rest of us were racing for 4th place. I started to cramp with 10-laps to go so I had to stand a lot and keep my left leg down as much as I could (not good with a left-hand turn crit course!). With two laps to go I rolled off the front and put it in TT mode. I thought maybe I had it but then I got caught with less than half a lap to the finish. Bummer! Someday that move will work! I ended up 14th.

The consolation was that Heather decided to do both races as a whim…without any hard training in the past three months (okay, she did 1 set of intervals on Monday). She ended up getting dropped in the Twilight, but made up for it in the state crit by getting 3rd, but the 1st Idahoan so she got the State Championship jersey for the second year in a row!