Nature Valley-- from The Lipton Camp Perspective

Just a quick race recap, as I assume most folks are following the race on cyclingnews.com, but anyway -- I think anyone would say that today`s criterium was a challenging one. The course was swift and technical, with a couple of slight uphill drags. As a team, we wanted to take charge of the race and set a good tone for the overall event. We were hot on the front all the time, and then Kristin made a nice little split in the field after the "Queen of the Hill" sprint mid-race. That sprint effort caused the break and Kristin was in it. We were very happy with the situation since we are shooting to have her defend her overall victory title from last year at this race. Anyway, the break worked incredibly well for us, Kristin gained some valuable time on some of the other GC (general classification) contenders. So as of now, the race seems to be working in our favor....we`ll just have to work to keep it that way!
For me personally...It was great to race with all the girls again. After having raced solo alot on the east coast while they were all up at Montreal, it was really nice to play the game of bike racing in a team setting again. I have to admit though... this was not the best day for my body on the bike. It was my first real effort since crashing, and with my back still not in check, I just wasn`t feeling all that super. Mentally, I`m really motivated, but physically... my energy was a little low. However, I found my legs here and there --think I might have still eeked out a top five in the field sprint ...and with a little more time I should be coming around even better. I`m glad to be here....