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I'm glad we did that windy ride last Sunday, because the wind at the crit today was even worse! I wasn't feeling very fast today, so I tried to sit in as much as possible. Since I didn't properly warm up, when I turned into the wind on the first lap I thought there was no way I'd be able to finish. On the second lap I started to feel a little better, so I decided to go for some sprint points. My timing was a little late, so I only managed third in the sprint even though I flew by the first two riders just a couple meters past the line. Too late!

After that Nishizono-san went up the road with two riders from Chuo and one from Juntendo, so I decided to sit in and let the other teams do the work for a few laps. Around lap 5 or 6, Takagi-san got into another move that went up the road, so I kept sitting in, although I did take a few pulls at the front. Eventually, though, we caught that group again and I started thinking about trying to pick up the remaining points in the final sprint.

On the last lap there were almost no attacks - everyone was trying to position themselves for the last sprint. I saw the Juntendo guys moving together, so I tried to get on their wheel. The group nearly stopped when we turned into the headwind, since no one wanted to take the first attack. As we neared the finish line, the Juntendo train started going full speed, and I managed to follow. There was some mix-up with lapped riders, but I managed to pull out a third in our group in the final sprint, and seventh in the points, which was good enough for seventh overall.

While I managed a decent result, there's a lot I need to work on. I kept losing the wheel in front of me out of the corners, so I had to work to catch up. Also, I can maintain speed in a group but I'm slow on the attack. Well, racing is good for learning where you're weak.

Good work to everyone who showed up today. Let's hope for less wind next time!