Headed over to my favourite road circuit yesterday for some crit racing - a shout-out to @trash_rt for putting on a great race with over 40 women on the start line!⁠ ⁠ I did my classic move of hanging out at the back, but one of my goals was to work on moving around in the bunch and get comfortable being around other people. It was hard work to move up and even harder work to try and stay there, but I gave it a go and I'm feeling a lot better about my bike handling. ⁠ The race was fast but I felt strong.⁠ ⁠ Which is why the end was really frustrating. I made a split second decision to avoid causing a crash when the bunch slowed, and spent some time riding on the bumpy grass alongside the circuit, wondering when I was going to eventually come off my bike. Thankfully I didn't (all that gravel riding has come in handy), but then spent the entire last lap having to chase back onto the bunch, with nothing left at the end to sprint. ⁠ ⁠ I needed some time to myself after the race - I was angry and needed to process that alone instead of inflicting that on other people. Today I'm feeling a lot better about it, and even though I didn't manage my outcome goal, I was able to check off a few process goals which has given me some confidence going into the next crit race.⁠ Sidenote: it was honestly so great to have people cheering for me and I really appreciated hearing my name as I went round, so thank you! ⁠ 📸 ⁠@andykagain ⁠ ⁠ #representationmatters #diversityincycling #SRAMbassador #SpecializedAmbassador #tarmacsl7 #critracing #womensracing