Sick. In a good way.

Next time Molly tells you she's coming down with something, maybe you ought to get cozy and catch some of what she's got. Maybe it was the 18 hours of sleep on Sunday? Not touching a bike for four long days? Whatever it was, it wasn't in sight when the women's field came around the final turn at Kevin's penultimate crit.

A few familiar faces, some fresh off the podium this week, toed the line for the women's start. Ten racers lined up, with Jamie and Molly representing the crew. The quiet wind kept most of the field together, but coming into the final turn, Jamie pushed the pace, and while the women were figuring out how to get around her, Molly wound it up and never looked back. She cleaned it and even had time for a glorious post-up. Jamie finished hard and pulled in at 8th.

The men lined up with our deepest squad of the week, and a little surprise: the ink is barely dry on this year's kits, and if you didn't catch them, well, they'll be bouncing around here soon enough.

Mike, aka the Man of Steel, hit the line for the fourth consecutive night, and it didn't stop him from pushing an honest pace up front. He was joined by Jeff and Avi, back from a rest day. Brean lined up again, while Max and Andrew kicked off their season.

Early attacks, chases, cat-and-mouse, and just plain waiting it out was the game tonight. The mild winds kept the pack largely unconcerned with most flyers and breaks. The hairpin made it tricky to launch a proper leadout train, and it came down to a full bunch sprint again. Ernie added five more to his sack of Half Acre points, and while the crew didn't hit the podium tonight, Brean and Mike landed 8th and 10th, with the rest of the crew coming in somewhere in the teens?

We'll never quite know, but we don't care. No finish line camera, no primes, few prizes, just racing, and that's a hell of a way to break in the season. Once again, thanks Half Acre.