Race Report: Chicago Grit W2/3 Day 8-10
Race: Chicago Grit - Women’s 2/3
Date: July 25-27, 2025
Day 8 - Elgin
AVRT racers: Louise Thomas, Maeve Roach, and Rachel Hwang
Top result: Rachel 1/20
Course: 0.8-mile loop with 6 corners and a “hill” (~0.1 miles @ 5%)
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/15235961406
Recap: (Louise’s perspective) Our goal going in was to get Rachel the win. Maeve had just wrapped up seven days of solo racing and had the omnium locked up, so she was happy to work for one of us, and it was Rachel’s only Cat 2/3 race of the weekend before fighting for survival with the P12s, so we wanted to set her up.
The plan was for Maeve and I to throw some early attacks to tire out the field, and for Rachel to go for the sprint at the end. After a couple solo wins earlier in the week, we figured people would at least chase Maeve.
The course was fun - chicane into a downhill, then straight into an uphill corner. Some of the riders were a bit sketchy though, so it was definitely one to stay near the front.
Maeve attacked first, but the pack shut it down fast. A couple of laps later, I attacked on the hill and no one followed. I went off the front solo for a couple of laps, but couldn’t maintain it and eventually got reabsorbed into the pack.
Then a Team Wisconsin rider attacked and Rachel went with her, which turned out to be the move. The field never saw them again. A few riders tried to chase, but with no coordination, they never really had a chance.
(Rachel’s perspective): We chatted about Maeve and Louise throwing attacks, seeing if they could get in a break, and if so, I potentially moving up to join them. For the first 17 minutes they attacked, and I sat in the field. My intuition said none of these would stick. Then a girl in red attacked and my intuition said to jump on her wheel, so I did. I said, “Do you want to work together?” “Yeah” so we switched pulling. I was feeling pretty good to be honest so didn’t mind pulling a bit more than her, but we ended up pulling evenly, always trading in the same spots, and I would always pull up the hill. Well I thought I was going smoothly but she told me that I didn’t have to accelerate up the hill so I slowed down. For a while the field chased and each lap a man or two would tell us how far ahead we were. Finally last few laps I knew I could relax. Last lap I pulled for a decent amount of it and knew I was more fit than her but still wanted to be first into and out of the downhill corner. So I pulled and went through the corner and attacked and dropped her very quickly. I tried to post up as it’s likely my last ever race not racing with cat 1 but could tell I was unstable so ended up raising one arm up.
Day 9 - Lake Bluff
AVRT racers: Louise Thomas and Maeve Roach
Top result: Louise 4/23
Course: 0.8-mile loop. Basically flat but with lots of corners
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/15246494863
Recap: (Written by Louise) With Maeve and Rachel already scoring wins, it was my turn to be the protected rider. The course seemed reasonably technical and I don’t have much confidence in my sprint, so it seemed like a breakaway would be the way to go. My plan was to sit in for the first half, then try to get something to stick.
The early pace was spicy, with Maeve and others launching solid attacks. Positioning was tricky with the corners and only two real spots to move up.
Just before halfway, the Team Wisconsin rider (from yesterday’s break with Rachel) attacked. Maeve shouted for me to go, so I bridged. We got a small gap, but the field closed it. In hindsight, I should’ve gone straight to the front to lift the pace instead of sitting on her wheel.
A few laps later, I attacked solo but got caught within a lap. I tucked in to second wheel. Since the field seemed motivated to chase, and I was now sitting in a good position, I reevaluated the plan and decided to play for the sprint. For the next 6 laps, the rider on front seemed content to pull the entire group at a reasonably high pace, even though she didn’t have any teammates. I later found out she is a triathlete - checks out.
With 2 to go, she upped the pace, possibly trying to ride us off but really just giving everyone a leadout. With 1 to go, everyone started jockeying for position, and I lost my spot, dropping back to 5th wheel. During the sprint, I was overtaken by one or two riders, passed one or two others, and ended up in 4th. Looking back, being 2nd or 3rd wheel out of the corner would have been better because I did get boxed in a bit.
Day 10 - Fulton Market
AVRT racers: Louise Thomas and Maeve Roach
Top result: Louise 3/23
Course: Flat, 4-corner crit. One of the long stretches was under an elevated train track. That didn’t impact the race, but it made for some cool photos.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/15256347312
Recap: (Written by Louise) Since the field was motivated to chase yesterday and the course didn’t offer many good attack points, I decided to play for the sprint again. I don’t usually love sitting in, but luckily other riders kept things lively with attacks.
About half way through the race they announced a $50 prime, then on the next lap a $100 prime. Turns out in crit racing, if you want to make things spicy, you can just throw money at the problem. It worked: the pace surged, and riders were shelled. Maeve got caught behind but managed to bridge back.
A few more attacks went, some dangerous enough for me to chase them down, but nothing stuck and in the end, as predicted, it came down to a field sprint. I didn’t learn my lesson from yesterday and came out of the final corner 5th wheel again.
This is where things got super sketchy. The lead rider drifted into another's line, causing a crash - collarbone broken, bike flying into the middle of the road. I dodged it but nearly got pushed into the barriers by another rider in the chaos.
I crossed the line 4th, but the winner was DQ’d for not holding their line, bumping me up to 3rd. Apparently, the official winner had been lapped, so maybe I should’ve gotten 2nd, but honestly, I’m just relieved I stayed upright.
