Race Report: Chicago Grit - Women’s 2/3
Race Report: Chicago Grit - Women’s 2/3
Date: July 18th-24th, 2025
AVRT racers: Maeve Roach
Top Result: 3/11, 6/16, 1/13, 3/12, 2/13, 1/11, 1/17
Strava:
Day 1: https://www.strava.com/activities/15158524566
Day 2: https://www.strava.com/activities/15169602319
Day 3: https://www.strava.com/activities/15181186545
Day 4: https://www.strava.com/activities/15190669363
Day 5: https://www.strava.com/activities/15202261478
Day 6: https://www.strava.com/activities/15214506299
Day 7: https://www.strava.com/activities/15225013362
Race Recaps:
Day 1: This was a pretty fun and dynamic race! The pace felt consistent from the start and over time the group whittled down to 4 of us, two girls from the same team did a good job of continuously making attacks so I feel like I unintentionally made the break just by chasing every move. There was a hill right before the finish, so I was grateful for that since I feel like my sprint still has a lot of work to be done and am much more comfortable with an uphill effort. One of the two teammates made a final attack with one lap to go and I sent it to chase after her. Her teammate jumped on my wheel and I was making ground until the down hill. I was still pedaling hard but wasn’t able to close the gap before the final turn. Right after that turn into the climb her teammate came around me and I tried to counter but ended in 3rd, which I am still happy with but probably could have got 2nd if I hadn't chased so hard and just saved my energy for the kicker at the end.
Day 2: This was a pretty technical course, and 1.5mi so a bit longer too. It was rainy and wet so that made me a bit more nervous. The race started and girls were already almost sliding out over paint and around corners and cutting each other off. I hung tight the whole race but felt like I had to work after the u-turn every lap to catch back up to the group. With two laps to go, me and this girl from team wisconsin were working together to push the pace and I felt like we were doing a really good job and I was in a good position but then right before the last u-turn the field swarmed us and I got pretty nervous because the turn was sketch, it was rainy, and seemed like a terrible time to go 4 wide into a u-turn. I worked to catch the field again before the last turn but was in 6th position and just wasn’t able to make up ground. Looking back, I had thought of going around the girl leading before the u-turn to make some ground and wish I had done a longer effort to the finish but it's a long stage race so I'm just happy to have stayed upright during that whole thing.
Day 3: The course was a 4 corner crit with a little hill on the back half of the course before the second turn. The race started and girls were kind of making attacks but then when they got to the front they didn't want to work so everything would slow down again. I was getting pretty tired of the yo-yo and people dive bomb-ing the corners so after the first prime I sent an attack (maybe like 15mins into the race) and nobody came with me so I did a solo TT effort for the rest of the race. I ended up putting 1 min 20 seconds on the field and looking back definitely should have asked someone for a time check and conserved some energy but the triathlete in me just had to send a TT effort I guess.
Day 4: This was a three turn course with a very slight hill after the first turn. I stayed in the pack and some people attempted to make moves but nothing serious until the prime laps, two girls went from the first prime and after we caught up to them I made an attack. Two girls were on my wheel but wouldn't take pulls (one girl tried but didn't have the legs and then dropped back). So I let the field catch back up because I was not about to pull the whole time. With about 7 laps to go I made another attack and there was a group of 4 of us but again only one person would also pull but didn’t have the legs and pulled off after a couple seconds. So I was stuck at the front pretty much from then on. I slowed down a good amount to let my legs recover and then the last lap picked it up and after the last turn sent a long sprint. Two girls on my wheel were able to just get around me at the finish but I was still able to pull off 3rd after a lot of work that race, so still happy with the result and effort.
Day 5: This course was super fun, it had a sharp right hand turn into an uphill, and a sweeping turn into a long slightly downhill straight to the finish (that part had a bit of a headwind). At the start this one girl made a solo break away attempt, the field sat tight and this one girl and I slowly brought her back in. I made some attack attempts at the hill, but the field pretty much stayed together. Going into the last lap I took the u-turn a little too wide and ended up pretty far back after the climb, so I used that straight before the last turn to work my way up. I ended up going into that last turn in first, which was definitely not the best position to be going into a slightly down hill headwind finish, but then my shoe unclipped so I had to slow and get that together and like 5 people passed me, so I surged after turning and getting my shoe clipped in and got into third position. I started my sprint the same time as the girl ahead of me and we both passed the lead out person, but I didn't have the real estate to sneak into first before the line, but still super happy with 2nd in a field sprint!
Day 6: Another course with a sharp turn, but (sadly) no hills today. I started the race making efforts after turns to see if I could make a break early on but nothing stuck, so I chilled for a couple laps and let other girls make and chase attacks. With 2 laps to go I was getting tired of people soft pedaling at the front so I sent a 60sec effort before the sharp turn to ride people off my wheel, and then made another effort after the turn to stick a solo break the last two laps. It stuck so I was able to snag the win! I think the biggest lesson from this race for me is that analyzing your strengths and the tactics that go along with how to execute them and then having the confidence to commit to them in a race is really helpful.
Day 7: At the start of this one I went out kind of hard to set the pace, some other girls also took turns pulling but for a lot of the first half it was still that yo-yo kind of effect. Maybe that is just crit racing and I need to get used to it but every time the field slows down I get the urge to make an attack. So, I tried to make another attack about half way through which didn’t stick, so I sat in for a bit until we hit the 7 laps to go, then I decided to make another attempt at a break down the straight away and then took the u-turn quick to make a gap. Then it was 6 laps in another solo break for the win, I was definitely feeling the fatigue from the last week of racing but focused on pushing it after turns and holding a consistent power effort down the straights.