Evie's Valley of the Sun report

Evelyn Stevens moved up a new field, P/1/2, and raced in a new state, Arizona's prestigious "Valley of the Sun" stage race, but the result was the same old. She spent the race at the front or off the front, inflicting maximum pain and came away with a very convincing win. She graciously sent us a report:

TT: Well the TT did not go quite as planned, I was almost to the half way point when I heard the unfortunate poof of my front tire going flat. So I just had to wait for the van to pick me up, they gave me last place time plus 30 seconds. That was a total bummer.

Road Race: There were about 80 plus women at the start line, a few Pro teams with race radios and me in dead last place.  After a bit I got myself to the front of the pack just to see the dynamics of the race, chase a few attacks and do a bit of pulling. At the QOM there was a crash that I was behind, I fortunately got around it and back to the front group.  The race continued for a while with a couple of the teams throwing attacks but with nothing really sticking.  We were about half way through the last lap, when a Metro girl attacked, once we brought her back in, a girl from Veloforma attacked and I hopped on her wheel.  We quickly gained a good gap on the field and she said she was cooked, but she wouldnt sprint me at the line if I pulled. So I kept pushing hard and then noticed after a while that I had dropped her.  I finally made the turn and was just hoping I could get the climb before I was swallowed back in by the field. I was able to hold them off, hit the climb and crossed the finish line with just a few seconds to spare.

Crit: Well I guess they weren't expecting me to win the RR, because I was not posted in the results. After squaring it away with the officials and getting the results updated it was time for the Crit. I somehow managed to shimmy my way to the front of the start. This being my third crit, I was definitely nervous. At the beginning of the second lap, I picked up my speed to get to the front of the pack and gained a gap on the field.  About the fifth lap a Metro girl bridged to me and we kept a half or so lap advantage for the rest of the race. At the last corner she came around me at the finish and took the win.

After a bummer of a start on Friday the weekend turned out pretty well, Overall I think I went from last place to about 28th...

There was a good CRCA showing as well with Brubaker and Kyle doing well in the 3s (kyle got 10th overall), Chaput in the 2's and then the empire and mengoni guys in the Pros.