When do you know when to go?

Well, I can't answer that question, except to say that you just DO. Short story is:

Final BMW Crit was Sunday. I raced the 25-minute W4 category. 35 racers in all, 6 of them women. Three of us ended up in the lead, trading places, making the new girl pull a lot. Sugar Cycles' Amy Taylor didn't feel like pulling very hard and we played leapfrog for a while. After it seemed like more than half the race must be over, we came around the turn where her teammate outsprinted me in the final lap last time. I was behind Amy, but in front of new-girl Melissa. I knew this was my chance. I jumped inside, and gave it everything I had. I pushed like hell and tried not to look back for about 10 pedal strokes, stomping those things down as hard as I could, pulling up with my entire body. The next chance I had, I glanced behind me, and they were waaay back there! I'd done it! I'd dropped em! But they were definitely trying to catch back up, and I sure didn't want to let them. Pushing harder and harder, I thought about my track racing the night before, and the week before that, and how my insides wanted to come out but I didn't let them and just kept on pushing. I wanted to stop, let my heart rate fall back down, let my stomach stop churning, but I reminded myself that I am stronger than that! And then I dropped them for good. It was amazing. Turned out we had about 7 or 8 laps to go when I jumped, and I kept my lead until the end. Awesome. The win felt so pure and wonderful. (: