Team Group Health in Action

Racing started yesterday with a downtown St. Paul, MN crit. It ended up being a crit of attrition...and there was more of a hill in it than I had expected. The course was technical, 108 women started and positioning was key. With two call-ups per team plus a few more (this is when they introduce riders who are national champions or have some other notable accomplishments...then those riders go to the front of the pack prior to the start), there's no way to start at the front of the pack. The start was hairy with everyone shoving for position and with the number of corners and speed we were going, any sketchy cornering (and there was lots) really made it easy to lose positioning and make the effort necessary to stay in contact with the pack higher.

I survived the race for 20 minutes and it's the hardest 20 minutes of racing I've ever done. My hr was completely maxed out (higher than in Colorado because there is oxygen here) and my legs were blown when I got pulled. Unbelieveable! And I went into the race fully rested and feeling good. That makes it obvious that racing smart, keeping the right position and simply being extremely strong are keys to surviving this kind of pack, one that includes almost all of the best riders in the country.

That being said, most of the rest of the team did a fabulous job yesterday! We have tons of fire power and our two GC riders (the girls we're riding to support) are outstanding. Nicky is a fantastic racer, playing at the front of the race almost the whole time & finishing 12th and she gives us tons of useful advice from her experiences. Leah is 26 and insanely strong. She's got a great attitude and it's obvious that she will be someone to watch in the very near future. The rest of the team, Jadine, Lisa, Dana and Gina and Trisha, are very talented and are from Seattle. I'm having a great time getting to know them and hearing the fun stories of their racing in Seattle. It sounds like they, along with Suz (who I raced with at Redlands), consistently win every Seattle race. Most race for Team Group Health in Seattle, but there are two who race for their main rivals...but all of the girls get along great.

The highlight of my day yesterday was being a "moto" for the kids' race. Dana, Gina and I were the professional riders (as we were introduced) designated to escort the kids on their 1-lap race. My kids were 7-8 years old and they go fast! I rode in front of the kids, so they went the right direction and to clear the path in case anyone was on the course. The girl who was in front of the other kids and going really fast through corner #5. To put this in perspective, corner #5 is the one that we all had issues with during the race. It's a fast downhill, a slightly off-camber to the right. She ended up not being able to make the turn and popped up onto the sidewalk. There were lots of people there to catch her, so I'm assuming all was well. At the finish line, I got a kiddie medal with all of the kids who finished their race. Whew, my ego needed that pick-me-up. So, I finished one race yesterday and got a medal. I'll take what I can get out there!

Getting ready now for a 65-mile road race with lots of wind and there's a good chance it'll rain, too. Yesterday was a good opener so my legs shouldn't feel tired today. My main concern for the day is my throat--it was burned yesterday with the extreme intensity, breathing the hot, humid air really hard. It makes talking a little harder and last night my throat really hurt. It's feeling better today. There's no way today will be as intense as yesterday, though I'm expecting it to hurt at least as badly. Today my goal is to support my teammates and help the team GC ranking. Stay tuned!

Time for Nature Valley

I can't wait...absolutely can't wait for this race!!! Unable to withhold my enthusiasm, I'm turning to blogging so I don't start jumping up and down. It's almost time to go! Yippee.

Blog updates by me and my teammates (Team Group Health) will be found at http://team.bikehugger.com. Buy a t-shirt, help support the team.

Racing begins Wednesday (June 20th) with an early evening crit, around 130 women will be starting, from all of the best teams in the US. (A very similar line-up as was seen at Redlands due to this race being part of the Women's Prestige Series.)

http://www.minnbikefestival.com/

Weekend of No Racing

Not racing is almost as fun as racing, but it's still hard to watch racers do a perfectly flat crit course --yeah, if I hadn't had specific directions not to race, I would have been out there today. Pretty exciting racing happened this weekend, mainly involving DQs, strange crashing, and what sounds like an attack during a pee break. I'll withhold my opinions on these and other weekend events from this blog since I wasn't there to see what happened. My rides were awesome this weekend, especially since they were both concluded with a dip in the Platte River.
Watching the cat 4 women's race this morning took me back to my cat 4 days...the early morning race, the small pack, the unknown girls out there who have been doing something active their whole lives, but just turned to bike racing. It's a bit upsetting to see this perfectly good race go unused by so, so many women who could be out there. Why are women so terrified of crits? Women cat 4 crits are a completely different sport than cat 1-4 men's racing (and women 1-3 racing, too, generally). I am so impressed by the cat 4 women who embrace racing and say outloud that they want to race and go after their goals...this is very cool and you've got a lot to teach other women about just doing it.

Bike path bugs

Are little swarming bugs organic? One thing is for sure, they are free range, and, arguably, have a very nice, happy existence. I hope they qualify as healthy cuisine since my ride tonight involved eating quite a few of them. It has been such a moist spring that everything is alive and thriving.

Prepping for Nature Valley full time this weekend, so that means no racing. I'm oh so disappointed to not have to drive 2 1/2 hours to the middle of freaking-nowhere Colorado for a road race (it's a great race & it has been fun to go in the past). However, I'm not missing the long drive or very, very intense heat all that much. Twin Peaks has 11 women out there representing and quite a few men, very exciting! I'll live vicariously this weekend...and it'll be a serious challenge watching the crits on Sunday, but I can't wait to be a spectator for once in such a long, long time.

Summer's Here

I'm just now finally downloading pictures from a couple of weeks ago...this was taken from my office window, early afternoon a week or two ago. The road below was a swampy mess of hail floating on an inch or two of rain. It's so much fun to get to watch this kind of weather (and it didn't do any major damage except for take out some pretty flowers).

Twin Peaks Group Shots

The men all got into the spray tan stuff just before this pic was taken...

Look at these women, to be seen in future pictures as simply a blur of blue as we fly past...

Ft. Collins Vacation

Here's a short & sweet version of the weekend:

Brutal road race Saturday, but beautiful and very nice all-in-all. I enjoyed all of the descending and the happy power hills and the scenery...

The rest of Saturday was spend recovering. Eating, sleeping, drinking... it was oh so relaxing and since I didn't have my computer with me, I actually did these things.

Sunday was the downtown Ft. Collins crit--wow, was it exciting! There were attacks constantly throughout the race...finally, I have the jump I've been in search of all season (yes, after the brutal road race)...I attacked a few times and tried to jump on all of the attacks I was near. I spent half a lap on the front trying for one prime that I missed by an inch, but at least it didn't mean getting spat out as has happened before.

The finish left me in 10th & with $20 (the field was close to 40-large), but after having such an exciting race, it left me feeling pretty good. I headed back to my host family's house for a quick shower & then got back home to hang out with Rebecca who had come up from Durango for the weekend...finally getting to enjoy Denver and some quality off-the-bike time.

Picture of the weekend to come if I can collect enough energy to unpack my car and find the camera (yeah, I took one picture...hope it turned out!)

Now for this weekend

This weekend involved some seriously fun time on the bike. 95 miles yesterday, maybe 9,000 feet of climbing, oh yeah, with LT intervals thrown in for good measure. It was a fabulous ride. Basically, it involved riding to Estes Park from Boulder, so much of the ride was at fairly high altitude. Then this morning, I did a TT (on my own), in order to prep for Nature Valley...coming soon! Afterwards, a power nap was necessary as well as a shower and fresh clothes, so as to be able to race City Park tonight.

What's wrong with me? -I really like going into races tired. I think it helps me deal with the pressure to do well (so I'm the only one putting that pressure on, but it's real, no matter its source). Also, all of this training will hopefully make Nature Valley a fuller experience. I'd like to dedicate yesterday's ride to my Bike Hugger (aka Wines of Washington) teammates who had to race that distance and feet of climbing at Mt. Hood. I'm really impressed with what they've done this week (http://team.bikehugger.com).

Speaking of teammates, it's great to be back on Twin Peaks locally. They have the team tent set up at the races and they never tire of cheering. Hopefully one of these days my race is earlier in the day so I can hang out and cheer afterwards.

Blogging is for winners

Hi again, sorry for the lack of posts in the past couple of weeks. I watch quite a few blogs (RSS feeders make this possible w/o spending too much time snooping around trying to see what's changed on which blogs)...and it occurred to me that a large majority of bloggers are winners. Almost every blog is someone announcing another win at a race or successful book publishing or some other great accomplishment. And, of course, these people blog regularly (usually) and seem to always be winning something. Guess people who blog have the confidence to share their lives, which they expect to be successful, with the rest of the world.

So, therefore, since I have a blog, I am successful and expect to bring you some really awesome racing news before the season is over. Thank goodness it's a long season and there are lots of races. Of course, racing doesn't define success, but it's the coolest thing to talk about in a blog. And since racing well takes many of the same qualities to do almost anything in life well, I'll let it define how successful I am...at least to you, dear blog reader.

Last weekend (Memorial Day weekend) was an amazing weekend spent in Durango with Eric and some of his friends there & then some of mine in Denver. It felt like vacation and, being coupled with a bike race (Iron Horse road race and crit), I got the riding and intensity in that was necessary. The Iron Horse race is very mentally challenging with all of the climbing involved, but since they close the road to all traffic, it's worth doing it. Yep, even for a non-climber such as myself.
It was a unique experience to watch cattle being moved. Look how close they are! It took many men, on horses and ATVs, to keep these really loudly moooooing cattle going the right way. I thought that they would put cattle in a truck and take them to where they want them. Guess it's cheaper or easier to do it this way.

Lots and lots to share about Durango...not going to blog it because sleep is important to me. It's a great town & I can understand why everyone from Durango can climb like a mountain goat on the bike.

Back in Blue

For all of you wondering about my cryptic post a little over a week ago, finally, it's announceable-- I'll be racing for Twin Peaks for the remainder of the '07 season.

I learned a lot about trying to be my own team (there were 3 other women on Einstein's, but with all of us doing different races, we couldn't act as a team). Basically, I straightened out my priorities and know that what I want first and foremost is to enjoy racing with people who make it a full experience. It's important to me to always enjoy being on the bike and racing takes it's toll when there isn't a huge support structure. Believe it or not, to become a really great racer, it takes a lot of support by many, many people, not just one or two. Blogs and articles about great athletes show this to be true a lot. And no, I'm not a great racer yet, but I know my chances of being great are so much better when I'm surrounded by good people...getting free stuff isn't going to be what does it.

On that note, it's time to train...inside due to some seriously uncool weather...