For Memorial Day weekend the folks in charge of the National Calendar had put together several crits in Raleigh, NC, Baltimore, MD and Somerville, NJ. Candice and Catherine flew into Raleigh several hours prior to the race while Jeremy and Shannon drove up from Atlanta with Shannon trying to recover from a nagging cold that had her sick the whole week prior.

@##=#<1,L>@##=#The races started with a bang and Catherine, Candice and Shannon worked well together as they kept the race fast in the closing laps. Coming down the final stretch Catherine jumped with Shannon on her wheel. Shannon took the inside line going through the final corner but Lipton’s Sarah Caravella was able to nip Shannon by a wheel at the line with Kelly Benjamin of Cheerwine rounding out the Podium.

After a quick cool down and debrief of the race Jeremy loaded the Hank Aaron Jaguar back up and they hit the road towards Baltimore.

Saturday’s Baltimore BikeJam greeted the Aaron’s Team with a strong wind and a large field that again stayed together throughout the race. With Shannon feeling sicker than the night before, the team opted for Catherine as the finishing sprinter with Shannon doing lead out duties. As the race entered the final lap Catherine found Shannon’s wheel and the two were positioned well. Candice went to the front to keep the pace high and as Shannon and Catherine set themselves up on the back stretch, a near crash cost Shannon and Catherine their momentum. Catherine recovered from their near miss but the front of the race was too far ahead to catch and Catherine ended up eighth on the day.

@##=#<2,R>@##=#Sunday was a short break from the action, as the Aaron’s team went for a ride in the morning and then headed up to Somerville for the next day’s race. Somerville is somewhat of a Mid-Atlantic institution for bike racing as it is the longest running bike race in the US. Once again the fields were large and full and the race was kept very active with race primes being announced lap after lap. Candice held her position at the front of the field patrolling the race for the first half of the race until a crash took her out just at the mid race sprint. Catherine came to the front to take over the reins while Candice brushed off her scrapes and got back in the race. On the final lap Catherine attacked early keeping the race fast and Shannon kept herself in a good position but was isolated and found herself in the wind outside of the field. Going into the final turn with a long stretch ahead Shannon was till in the wind and as the race jumped from the front Shannon followed and managed to get a sixth place.

Next race will be CSC in Arlington, VA June 3rd.