.

Pedaling With a Purpose info is HERE!

2011-11-07T19:19:00.000-08:00

I am excited to announce the details for the 2011-2012 PWP session!

The program starts the weekend of December 3/4 and meets every week until March 24/25, with no classes being held the weekend of Christmas and New Years. The Oakbrook program is returning to our usual location at Oakbrook Racquet and Fitness Club. We meet on Sunday mornings and Thursday evenings. The brochure can be found here.

The Chicago location has changed. I'm thrilled to be partnering with Mox Multisport at 738 W. Randolph. We are going to be using the back half of the store entirely for PWP. They do have a limited number of trainers for us to use; if you'd like to use one be sure to register fast as they will be allotted to the first people who sign up. They are also welcoming us to store our bikes and trainers and will be providing discounts on merchandise and labor for the duration of the class. Another exciting addition is the Engine Building 101 class with Newt Cole. An 8 week, 1 hour class immediately following Saturday's PWP ride designed to create strength and power while improving mobility and flexibility with body weight movements and resistance bands.

e-mail me for a copy of the brochure.

I am really excited about my training this winter and hope you are too. I look forward to riding with you while we work toward achieving our goals!

Para Track Nationals

2011-10-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

Kim and I doing our 3k Pursuit

A couple of years ago I'd heard that once you get past the fear of the velodrome you would become addicted. After the last couple training sessions at Blaine and CVC, I think I'm finally at that point and I think Kim feels the same way!!

We flew in on Thursday and went straight to the track, arriving exacty in time for a break in the racing where we were able to get onto the track, test it out, and get some openers in. We immediately loved it. The ADT Veledrome is really cool. The track is wood, 250 meters and has 45 degree banking. It is inside a huge stadium and on the ends of the infield are volleyball courts and weight lifting areas. Being so new, we had so much to learn, but it was great having Steve there to help us, along with the entire paralympic team and staff. One thing that's tough to figure out is exactly when you are going to go and timing your warmup. There's a morning session and an evening session and the events during the session are listed in order. Unless you are first you really have no idea of exactly when you are going to go. At the track, you see a lot of people warming up on their road bikes. In the interest of saving money we didn't bring our road bikes out to warm up on, so we rode the trainer together on the tandem for our warm up. On Friday our first Pursuit was in the morning session and the time for this one was going to be a qualifier for worlds, and a seeding for the finals in the evening.

Our timing for our warmup was a little off, we warmed up really early and then sat for a long time waiting to go. We were nervous. We were starting with an electronic holder for the first time and also that morning we'd had to cut the aero bars because they were too far forward to be UCI legal. So we went to the start with no practice in this new position, and no practice with an electronic holder. We'd practiced 3k efforts before but never done one in competition.

Our start out of the holder was just fine, but going into turn one the bike started wobbling and I had to come out of the aerobars. It was about a lap before I felt comfortable enough to go back into them. After we got our rhythm we felt ok and finished the race without further issue. Our time was 4:15 and we were a little disappointed with that.

The Pursuit is called the Pursuit because there are two competitors (or in our case two tandems) competing at the same time. They start on opposite sides of the track and when the gun goes off, they "pursue" each other. It's possible to catch your competitor, and if this happens in the finals they shoot the gun and you aren't given a final time. Since the evening session was the finals, and the time wasn't going to be a world's qualifier, if we got passed by our competitor the gun would be shot and the race would be over. We started the race so much better, relaxing into corner one, staying well within the lane, and gradually getting up to speed. Our following laps were substantially faster. We got caught about halfway through so we were disappointed not to be able to get a new (and better) time but we were thrilled with our improvement. We were chomping at the bit for our Kilo on Sunday, feeling more confident in our start and more confident all around.

It was a really great atmosphere there. This year Para Track Nationals was run simultaneously with Elite Track Nationals so there were lots of other Chicago folks there and our new friends that we met at Blaine when we were up there training a couple weeks ago, as well as people from all over that we knew just from the racing scene in general.

Joe Berenyi's gold medal Pursuit final

The most thrilling race to watch was Paralympian and fellow Chicagoan Joe Berenyi's Individual Pursuit final. After Joe's ride it was the general consensus of the entire stadium that it was the best pursuit win anyone had ever seen. It started out with Joe steadily losing ground to his competitor. It looked like Joe was going to be overtaken. But something changed and he started gaining ground. The crowd was going wild as he inched his way into the gold medal just before the finish. It brought down the house!

We had the next day off, and we headed over to the track during the break to get in some laps loosen up the legs and make sure our gear selection was right for Sunday's Kilo. After that we spent the rest of the day in Beverly Hills looking for movie stars.

On Sunday we felt like pros and warmed up much better. We had decided the day before to go with a different gear than originally planned and in hindsight we think we went to0 easy. The one Kilometer race started much better for us. We were relaxed and felt great. We gave it our all but were spinning like mad. In the end we got the silver medal by 3 milliseconds!!! That's a little closer than I care to come, but we were stoked. Unfortunately we could not wait for our podium picture as we had a flight to catch.

We were quite happy with our performance. It's exciting to be in that beginning phase where every time you go out you see a huge improvement. We still feel like we have a long way to go and are looking forward to continuing this journey.

Waging war on the Kilo

photo taken by Pat Benson

Video of part of our Pursuit

PWP's Don Hanke & Krystian Weglarz rock the fall fling!

2011-09-26T21:06:00.000-07:00

ABD's fall fling, a 4 race points race spanning two weekends started last weekend. In addition to regular prize money for each category, they are offering a new $2000 cash prize team prize to the team that has the most points. Really neat and fun way to rally a team effort! What a great way to reward late season fitness.

Here's a report from two PWP participants, Krystian Weglarz (Flatlandia) and Don Hanke (Tower Racing).

From Don: News flash, Mr. Krystian Weglarz killed it in a field sprint to win the first race in the Fall Fling!!!! 1st Place!!!

Congrats on Saturday, you looked great. Perfect position behind one of the strongest guys. Couldn't tell from my angle (turn 4) but I knew you were close.

You're the MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately in my race I got caught behind a crash which forced me to brake hard. Two years ago I would have tried to jump over him, but two years ago that sent me to the emergency room and into a shoulder sling. So I am glad to be safe and will be ready to kill it (in my category) next weekend.

From Krystian: Thanks. It was an epic race for me. Felt really good and rode smart. Sunday I rode the TT and got 3rd. I am still first overall.

Hoping for good things this coming weekend.

Way to go guys!! It was great to see you both and good luck with the rest of the series.

Para Track Nationals

2011-09-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

This summer I was approached at Northbrook by Coach Steve Thordarson and asked if I would like to pilot a tandem at Para Track Nationals. One of Steve's athletes, Kim Borowicz, was a visually impaired rider looking for a pilot. I was thrilled to be asked and immediately excited about it. I didn't really have any idea what this would be about but luckily I have some great resources with ABD in Mike Ebert and Mike Farrell. They encouraged me to do this and have been helping me train for it. I also put in a quick call to my teammate Stacy Appelwick who held the Masters National Pursuit title and she gave me an overview on what is involved in the Pursuit. When I first met Kim we hit it off and went a couple of times to train at Northbrook.

Since the velodrome in LA is a 250 meter track, we figured we'd better get up to Blaine, MN and ride the National Sports Center Velodrome to practice, since it's the only 250 meter track within driving distance. It's also my teammate Elena Dorr's home track and she's been a great resource about all things track. We did that last weekend it it was a great confidence builder. Riding at the new 166 meter Chicago Velo Campus track on the South Side has also been incredibly confidence building for me. Suddenly a 250 meter track doesn't seem so intimidating.

It's been really cool learning about all of this with Kim. This year Para Track Nationals will be combined with Elite Track Nationals so we will all be in LA this weekend. Kim and I will be competing in two time trials: The 3K Pursuit, and the 1K. Both standing starts. The Pursuit is on Friday and the Kilo is on Sunday.

We have only been working together for a short time, but we've come a long way and we are both really excited. I'm honored to participate in such a cool event and I'm really grateful to Kim for the opportunity.

Kim and I training at Blaine

PWP John Cline Rider of the Year at Kenosha!

2011-09-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to PWP Participant John Cline. John is one of PWP's most dedicated trackies.

Here are his results at the Kenosha Velodrome:

2011 Rider of the Year cat 4

2011 Rider of the Year cat 4/5 Masters

2011 Rider of the year Mini Main Event

Read more about his endeavors on his blog

Congrats on your fabulous year and your cat 3 upgrade!

Gateway Cup St. Louis, MO Sept 2-5

2011-09-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

7 year olds are cute with missing teeth.

Gateway Cup is a 4 criterium series in St. louis held over labor day every year. It's at the end of the year and there is usually a good vibe to the races down there. The courses are great and there is usually good competition. Sarah and Elena decided not to go, Jeannie has gone back to New Zealand, Jessi is in Texas at College and Stacy is out for the rest of the year so I ended up traveling with my friend Leah and staying with Marsha, a woman I'd gotten hooked up with through host housing a couple years ago and now consider a friend. Marsha opened up her home, and shuttled me to and from most of the races since Leah and her teammate Katie were racing the 3/4 series and there were several hours between our races every day.

We had close to 40 riders in our field, not a lot, but there was quite a lot of talent there. Colovita, Primal Map My ride, and Vanderkitten all had full squads as well as some very strong smaller teams and individuals represented. Tibco, Melllow Mushroom and Revolution to name a few.

I really didn't know how I would feel and I was pleasantly surprised to find myself feeling pretty good! Friday nights's race under lights is a fun course with an electric feel to it and I had so much fun! I finished in the money and was happy with that.

Saturday right before our race there was a huge rainstorm and while it stopped before our race, a lot of debris was blown onto the road. The slight elevation change in the course suited me and I was really feeling good in the race. Colovita threw down attack after attack, but in the end we were all together as a field and halfway through the last lap I remember thinking, "I am in awesome position and I feel great!" In the next split second out of nowhere "Wham!" my bike slid out hard and my face hit the concrete. It was a total surprise. I was in the middle of a corner, but I wasn't touching my brakes and I don't remember anyone running into me. I think I must have hit some wet leaves and slid out. I didn't cry like I normally do but I could feel my front tooth hanging out of my mouth. Not a good feeling. I stayed calm and waited for the medical help to come, and assessed the rest of the damage. Nothing major, just some nice road rash on seemingly all sides of my body. Luckily one of the local firemen working the race had a dentist who agreed to see me at 7pm on a Saturday night. Marsha drove me over to meet the super nice guy at his office and he was able to take care of the tooth, which was a fake tooth anyway. But he told me I should wait until I got home to take care of it, so I was left to walk around without a tooth for the rest of the weekend. I contemplated going home but Jason told me to "embrace the freak show" and just finish out the series. What else was I going to do after all?

40 year olds are not cute with missing teeth.

I finished out the series on a positive note, finishing well on Sunday at a race called "The Hill" in 15th. Monday's race was a new course for me. It was long but with lots of technical turns. I knew that positioning would be key and for the first half of the race did great riding right near the front. Then for second I took a slight breather at the back and got into the bad area where gaps open up. I spent a couple laps closing gaps and then finally lost contact. I rode by myself for awhile until I was caught by a chase group and we finished the race riding hard together. Slightly bummed for that lapse in concentration.

On the whole it was a really fun weekend. I had a great time hanging out with Marsha and her friends, and Leah and Katie. For the most part I felt like my riding had taken a step forward. Losing a tooth in a crash has always been one of my worst fears, and it turns out it wasn't that bad.

Grand Cycling Classic NRC August 20-21

2011-09-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

Monarch caterpillar that Jason and the kids found on a hike

Finally I got to head up to my teammate Sarah's neck of the woods for some racing. Sarah is from Michigan and always seems to have another 3 hours attached to any travel we do as she's always driving out of her way to come to Chicago so she can travel with us.

Jeannie, Sarah and I raced the NRC Grand Cycling Classic in Grand Rapids, MI on Sunday and the Gaslight criterium, a very nice, well attended local race on Sunday.

Sarah graciously invited me and Jason and the kids to stay with her boyfriend Robert Hughes, one of the sponsors of the Bissell Cycling Team, who just happens to have a lovely home within 15 minutes of both races. We arrived at the race venue during the men's race and it looked a bit dark. We parked in Robert's office garage and as we started to walk to registration, Sarah asked if I thought we should grab an umbrella. "Naw" I said......within 5 minutes it was sprinkling and we arrived on the course to see the first of the multiple crashes happening as the light sprinkling caused the oil to be lifted front he streets making a slippery mess and crash fest for the men. Soon the skies opened up and all hell broke loose! The wind came and knocked over the barricades and they had to stop the race with 6 laps to go. It went from being humid and hot to pretty darn cold. Sarah and I registered and then went back to Robert's office to stay dry and get warm clothing.

They restarted the men and gave them an additional 30 laps. Our race was scheduled directly after theirs and we ended up being delayed by only an hour. We were at the start finish in time to see the amazing sprint of Team Bissell's Eric Young come across the line for the win in the Pro Men's National Championship! At the start of our race it was not raining, but the streets were still damp, though not so slippery since it had rained hard enough to wash them clean, and there were a few puddles here and there.

Sarah, Jeannie and I went to the line. For me personally, I had no idea why to expect. I had gone off coffee the Tuesday before and had a terrible week training and a dismal night at the track the Thursday before. However once the race started I felt ok!! It was a small field and I had no trouble staying attached and moving around. At one point I found the front of the race and as we crossed the start finish they announced a prime so I turned it up a bit and was able to lead Jeannie out to snag $100. I didn't see Sarah for a bit and then there she was. I asked her if she was down a lap and she said no, that she'd had a mechanical. So exciting!! In the final lap I felt good but got nervous in a corner and allowed myself to get pinched and had to slam on the brakes and lose a ton of momentum. As a result I skated in at 20th place which stunk but actually I was quite happy with the race given the year I've had and especially the week. Jeannie finished in 9th and Sarah was right there in 23rd.

That night we headed back to Robert's house and got to help celebrate the Bissell team's win at a super fun party with the riders, staff, and friends of the Bissell Pro, Elite, and Amateur teams. What a fun experience!! Good times.

The next day we headed over to the lovely area of East Grand Rapids for the Gaslight crit located right on Reeds lake. There was a nice turnout for the women's race. Mainly due to a strong local presence plus a few of us leftover from the previous day's race. It was a fun race. Sarah and I raced for Jeannie, covering all the moves and throwing down some ourselves. I took a flyer for a lap and a half but was chased down. jeannie was 5th, I was 11th, and Sarah was 14th.

I really haven't spent much time in Michigan and it is such a lovely place. Props to Robert and Sarah fro putting up our entire family, and I can't wait to go back next year!!

Elk Grove Village Aug 5-7

2011-09-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

Jessi starting the tt

Elk Grove Village has been a controversial race from the start with lost of disparity between the men and women's races, both in ranking and prize money. It's taken some time, but the promoter (the mayor of Elk Grove Village) seems to be interested in making some changes for the women. This year the women got 3 days of racing; a time trial on Friday, and crits on Saturday and Sunday combined as a timed stage race, and on with National Race Calendar points on the line. This meant that we'd have a top notch women's field right here in our back yard. With the disappearance of Downer's Grove, this is a big deal for the bike racing women of Chicago!

Going into the weekend I was cautiously optimistic feeling that I had gotten some fitness at Superweek. While the fields were small, we as a team had ridden hard. I thought Friday's time trial should be a good course for me being a short flat power course with a couple of tight turns. I gave it my all but still turned in a fairly poor time. Jessi was our best finisher, riding well and finishing in the money!

I had a great start in Saturday's crit. I was in awesome position for a few laps--good enough to get sworn at by Tibco--which I took as a compliment that I was right were I should be--but unfortunately I did not last very long. I was sad to see that with the exception of Jeannie, the rest of our team was not in the pack either. The general consensus was that we were tired.

The next day we rode almost the same course, the only difference being an extended stretch making the hairpin turn further out. Jeannie and I went to the line and the pace was much slower. I lasted longer, about half the race, but still ended up dnf. Jeannie finished well in 6th place.

As a side note, Stacy was saying over the weekend that she didn't feel well, and she did not start the race on Sunday. She was chalking it up to being tired and late season fatigue. We now know that she was suffering from some rather serious head injuries relating to previous crashes. She underwent treatment and is recovering well, but it was a serious scare, and the lesson learned is to take head injuries very seriously!

Chicago Velo Campus

2011-08-31T18:27:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went down and rode the brand new Chicago Velo Campus Velodrome. It was really exciting (i.e. scary) but I just got the feeling that something super cool is happening in Chicago. My teammate Elena also went down and her excellent report and pictures do a great job summing up the experience.

From Elena:

I had heard various rumors about the track, called the "Chicago Velo Campus". Among them I heard that the track would never get completed, it is too narrow and steep to race on, it was started by some guy from Italy, the coach is a famous Australian rider recovering from knee surgery with nothing else to do, the track was far too banked to ride at any reasonable speeds....the rumors were too good. I had to go check it out for myself.

After a few twitter messages with "Chicago Velo Campus" they suggested I email Peter to go to the intro class. Concerned that this intro class, (similar to intro classes at other tracks), would mean 8 weeks of classes before I could race or ride it by myself, I explained my track experience in my email to Peter--I am a Cat 1, hold national titles, have spent most of my time at the well banked NSC Velodrome in MN, have ridden the track in Aigle, Switzerland at UCI (a well banked 200m track), etc. He replied back explaining that I still needed to attend what he called a "certification class", however it would only be one day, for 2 hours. So I set up a Friday appointment and got excited.

As a side note, velodromes come in a variety of sizes, materials and banking. A standard track is either 250 or 333 meters, with banking around 40-47 degrees, usually wood or concrete. The Northbrook track is unique in that it is much larger than your average track and much less banked. This is great for timed events (fewer corners means a faster time), as well as teaching new people, as you can ride the track relatively slowly. Northbrook is a great track with great people and programs, however for those of us who love the thrill of sprinting, flying events, and big banking, it leaves a bit to be desired.

I arrived at the track, conveniently located on my way home from work on the south side, at 8615 South Burley Avenue, at the site of what used to be a steel mill. As I rolled into the parking lot I noted a set up that wasn't too bad--storage containers, changing area, a small infield area, and some portable bathrooms. Rumor #1 not true--track is now completed. Walking into the infield I have to admit, as someone who has ridden 8 different tracks, I was still taken aback by the banking and smallness of the track. 166 meters with a 55 degree banking, it is quite intimidating. I was greeted by Emanuele Bianchi, an award-winning Italian designer, manufacturer and retailer of boutique pet products who also happens to be the President of Chicago Velo Campus. Rumor that it was started by an Italian dog lover--true. I watched his daughter, 9, and a few other juniors spin around the track looking very comfortable! He informed me that Peter was caught in traffic and would be there shortly.

I was joined by a few others, some there to ride, some there for the certification. Peter soon arrived, his accent a bit undetectable inquiring about track experience, complementing me for my pink bike, while giving me a hard time for having kevlar Keirin gloves saying "you're up first, with those gloves you better know how to ride a track." I hid my intimidation, Jumped up on the track and went at it, with Peter shooing directions in his accented voice "black Line! blue line! Rail!!!!!", reminding me of my days as a juiour in Minnesota, getting shouted at encouragingly by my Auzzie coach with a booming voice and our track director Bob Williams, carefully pushing us to our limits. I drove my bike hard into the corners, fighting the g-forces, sticking on the lines. Rumor that it is too banked and small to ride well--challenging yes, not possible, no. Heading back to the infield and talking to Peter, it was clear that this guy knows his stuff, however, rumor #2, the Auzzie with a hurt knee has yet to be confirmed.

We took turns practicing on the track, ending with a few flying laps and 200s, followed by some pace-line practice, and a match sprint. And with that, I was "certified". Oddly enough, in my tiny 84" gear, I did a quick flying 200 in 12.6. Not too shabby.

The track is also built with the bottom half of the track untreated plywood, while the top has a grit to it to make it sticky. thus you can actually ride the top of the track slower than the bottom half--quite unique! Although the wood is different than the dense Afzalia wood I am used to up in Minnesota, it was surprisingly quite smooth. Rumor that it is too banked to ride slow--also not true. You can safely ride the top between 16 and 18 mph, the bottom at 18-20mph.

Although I am convinced that the wood 250m NSC Velodrome in Minnesota is the best track I have ever ridden (and the best track in the US), this track is incredibly fun, and jokingly reminds me of a 250m track on steroids, or a track designed a s a bet between a cyclist and an architect. Everything is a little more compact, a little steeper, the transitions a little quicker, keeping the bike straight a little more difficult, yet pure joy to ride, giving the sense of a huge accomplishment, playing with the laws of gravity.

All in all it was a great experience and I am looking forward to going back for some more training, fun and exhilaration. If you would like to learn how to ride track, or are just curious about the niche sport (track cycling) of the niche sport (cycling), I highly recommend checking it out!
note: Peter, the track manager, is a former British National Team Sprinter from Manchester England. He's currently sidelined with an injury so we get to have him here in Chicago. He's extremely knowledgable and personable and is extremely helpful making everyone feel comfortable on the track.

Hi there loyal blog readers!

2011-07-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

pic from my crash in St. Louis

What a delinquent blogger I've been! I had some traumatic computer problems this summer that left me in the lurch until recently. I'm hoping to start updating and I'll be posting previous race reports-- not in any particular order.

What a weird season I've been having. For a while there I felt like I was crashing left and right and I have been struggling with fitness. On the positive side my new (ABD) team has been nothing but supportive and as a team we've had a pretty good year. My season is not over, I'm heading down to Gateway Cup in St. Louis this weekend and I'll be racing at para track nationals in Los Angeles as a pilot on a tandem for Kim Borowicz, a visually impaired rider. (I'll post more on that later). I feel much better right now than I normally do this time of year and I'm looking forward to finishing this season well!

Spring Prairie RR

2011-06-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I went up to race the Spring Prairie RR with my teammates Elena and Stacy. The course is a 6.5 mile loop in gorgeous rolling Wisconsin country, with one short but major climb at the end of the lap right before the start/finish. The race is the WI state Road Race Championships so we knew it would be hotly contested by IS Corp and Kenda, the strong WI teams.

Sure enough on the first lap IS Corp attacked. We wanted to get Stacy in a break but not quite yet, and I didn't want her to waste any energy chasing that down. So I and Kenda and a couple other individual riders chased it down.

I knew it was likely that I would have a tough time when I hit the hill. I didn't think I would be dropped on the first lap, but that's exactly what happened! Super bummed. But I put my head down and chased. A couple laps later, I could see the field! Super excited. I was able to catch back on and ride with the group for the last 2 laps.

I quickly was told that there were 4 riders off the front, 2 IS Corp, 1 Kenda, and our Stacy. This was good. Elena looked completely comfortable going up the hill and while I still struggled, I was able to catch back on every time.

Even though the podium was up the road, I still wanted to maximize ABD's placing in the race. I knew I'd get crushed on the final hill to the finish, so I figured I'd better do what I could for Elena. IS Corp still had several seasoned and competitive riders in the field; I knew they were going to try something too. There were several attacks from other riders on the final lap and I was able to chase them down so Elena could conserve. I told her to grab my wheel and I would deliver her to the base of the final climb. Trying to get the jump on IS Corp, I went early, but it turned out to be a bit too early, and I think I went a little too hard defeating the plan of delivering her fresh to the bottom of the hill. She still managed to get 3rd in the field sprint for 7th overall.

We heard later about Stacy's ride in the break, dealing with 2 IS corp teammates and a Kenda; all WI riders. She rode an excellent race and ended up third. Kenda won and IS Corp were second and fourth.

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-05-31T09:44:00.000-07:00

ABD WINS!!!

I love Memorial day weekend. For the Midwest Bike Racer, Memorial Day means Snake Alley,Melon City and Quad Cities Criterium. The 3 races aren't a series, just 3 separate events. Though this year the results from all three were combined for a Nature Valley Pro Ride Qualifier. I qualified for last year's Nature Valley Pro Ride and it was an incredible experience. Another cool thing about this weekend was that they offered 3 races each day for the women. A cat 4, a 2/3 and a 1/2/3. So if you are a cat 2 or 3 woman, you have the option to race twice, and it's nice to have a chance to shine without all the cat 1's. Very unique and really neat opportunity.

The three races of the weekend are vastly different and there's something for everyone! For the women, the field consists of all the best regional riders, and there are usually a few national and international pros that show up. This year we had Amanda Miller from HTC, Coryn Rivera, Kaitlin Antonneau for Peanut Butter & CO 2012 and Sam Schneider from Tibco. And of course the ABD women's team! This was exciting because it was the first time all year that our entire team would be racing together!!

Unfortunately two Saturdays ago Jason decided to blow out his knee while "looking at squirrels" in the back yard. No I'm not making this up, it is the truth. Of course the 10 years of playing basketball might have contributed but it was the squirrels that did him in. Thank goodness we are so lucky to be friends with the folks at Hinsdale Orthopaedic. Not only are they cyclists themselves, but they are some of the best surgeons around and I felt completely comfortable entrusting Jason's care to them. They got him in quickly and knew right away that he would need surgery to repair the damage. He had it done the Friday before Memorial Day. I'm sure he would have been fine if I had taken off for the weekend, but he was in no shape to be taking care of kids, so I had to pull the plug on my plans. It was a bummer, but in the 5 years I've been racing since having kids I've never had to do this so I really can't complain.

Even though I really wanted to be out with the team, I felt very lucky to have a racing opportunity so close to home. The ABD master's series in Wooddale was great fun. I raced there on Saturday, took Sunday off, and planned to drive out to Quad Cities and join the team for the day on Monday.

So here's what I was able to piece together being stuck at home getting texts and emails of how the team was doing. Jessi was the only team member that had done Snake Alley before. For Sarah ,Stacy, Jeannie and Elena it was their first experience with it. I've done it a few times and though I know I probably won't ever win it, I just love how grueling it is. It is dubbed the hardest crit in the US!! It is a big deal just to finish that race. Elena broke her chain at the start but the rest of the team was able to race it and they did fantastic! Stacy ended up 11th, Jeannie 13th, Jessi 16th (after driving there straight from her High school graduation and having no warm up) . The podium was no surprise with Amanda Miller, Coryn Rivera and Kaitlin Antonneau finishing in that order.

Melon City was on Sunday and this is also a super hard race, that I have no fondness for :) It really hurts doing it the day after Snake Alley and it has a weird speed bump at the bottom of a down hill that really doesn't hurt anyone but still freaks me out. The finish is not a typical sprint but you go up a short hill, and then around a hairpin turn that makes you lose all momentum, and then you must find legs for the sprint. This race is for super strong riders. From what I heard awesome Kenda rider Ashley James escaped early and soloed for the win. The rest of the field was together at 4 laps to go when Stacy attacked. Only Amanda Miller and Coryn Rivera could go with her, and Amanda was able to take second, and Stacy held on for third. Sheer strength!!! Jessi almost took the field sprint but got nipped at the line by Sam Schneider. An extremely impressive finish in 6th. Jeannie raced in the 2/3 race earlier that day and took 4th.

On Monday I drove out for the race and received a very warm welcome from my loving team!! I was so bummed to have missed out on most of the weekend but their spirits were high even though they all told me how tired they were, they had raced all weekend and had even done the 2/3 race earlier that day (where Jeannie and Stacy got 9th and 11th). Quad Cities Criterium I think might be my favorite race of all time. Totally flat, wide corners, and fast! I won this race last year so I got to race in the #1. It was crazy windy and we hoped to get a break going with ABD in it. My teammates were committed to helping me out with whatever it took. Given my current fitness level, I was not so confident, but I was committed to giving it my all. From the gun Amanda Miller(worlds rider, just got 7th in the Tour of California women's time trial invitational) went ALL OUT. Coryn Rivera and I, along with Catherine Walberg from Kenda and maybe a few others were on it. I was maxed out immediately but we had a gap right away. I struggled for a few laps but just couldn't hang on. Kenda fell off and then I did. Unfortunately I was not able to recover in time and when the field came by strung out and chasing, I could not catch back on, hang out and recover. I rode until they pulled me, which stunk but on the bright side I got to see the incredible work of my teammates unfold. When the break I was in was caught, Jeannie was able to counter with two other riders. They got a sizable gap for some time and then when they were caught Stacy attacked solo and rode the last 15 laps by herself FOR THE WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jessi and Jeannie patrolled the front of the pack neutralizing any chase attempts. It was so cool.

In conclusion, I'm thankful for a lot of things; my nice husband and kids that need me to take care of them, good doctors who can fix us, the cool ABD club for putting on fun events close to home and supporting women's racing, and my AWESOME teammates that are so postive and fun.

Tour De Grove--St. Louis

2011-05-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

This was a tough weekend for the ABD Women's Team. We headed down to St. Louis for 3 crits. Only Saturday's was NRC (National Race Calendar) but most people stuck around for Friday and Sunday's races as well. Sarah starred in her own version of planes trains and automobiles. She hoped to save time by flying to St. Louis from Michigan but got stranded in Chicago all day on Friday missing the Friday night race. Elena and I drove down on Friday and Stacy was going to drive down on Saturday and meet us at the race. Friday was successful racing for Elena and I. It was cool, but dry. Elena got second in her race and I had my first field finish of the year!!

I'm kind of proud of this picture I took of Elena's finish from my phone. Not bad!

For the rest of the weekend it alternated between drizzling and pouring, was pretty cold and in general unpleasant. Saturday Elena slid out on a corner and thought she rolled her tubular but didn't so she did not get a free lap--ending her race just like that. In the 1/2 race, a fairly technical crit that looked sort of fun had it been dry, Stacy, Sarah and I felt alright. Immediately from the start Sarah's brake was rubbing, so that ended her race. I flatted early and the pit wheel I got was inflated to what felt like 200 psi. I immediately crashed out on the first corner. I cried like a baby but turned out to be just fine. I got back in and finished avoiding both the carnage on the final corner and the money to end up 22nd. Stacy rode like a rock star--it was exciting to see her off the front for a bit while I was in the pit getting my wheel changed--and she got the last money spot for 20th.

Sunday racing in the cold rain in yet another technical crit with downhill corners was appealing to none of us but we sucked it up, found some motivation and went to the line. Poor Elena crashed out of the winning 3 person break in the slick rainy downhill corner and dnf'd. She is fine, though road rashed. Stacy, Sarah and I stayed upright. Stacy finished with the field in 20th. Sarah and I finished otb in 40th and 23rd. To quote Sarah, "it was kind of like fun, but different." After the race we dropped Sarah off at the airport and Stacy gave me a ride back to Chicago. Elena had gotten done several hours before us so she had already headed home. Turns out Sarah's flight was delayed in St. Louis so she missed her connection in Chicago once again stranding her at O'Hare. Last I heard she'd gotten a ride home from some strangers and hopefully made her way back to Michigan.

Even in all that nastiness we still managed to have a lot of fun. If we can stay positive under these conditions, I think we can handle just about anything that comes our way. I saw a lot of improvement in my racing and we had a great time staying with my dear old friends Tim and Danielle and their two adorable boys. We even enjoyed a fun game of "Chipmunk comes alive in the house after being brought in 'dead' by the cat."

Speedweek!

2011-05-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

Speedweek is a 7 day crit series spread over 9 days. It starts in Athens, GA with the famous Athens Twilight Crit that has over 30,000 spectators, and ends in Atlanta, GA with stops in South Carolina and North Carolina. I have done some of these races in the past and have always wanted to go back. For a crit rider, it doesn't get much better than this. All the best sprinters in the nation were here with full squads backing them up, as well as the individuals. Rouse, Tibco, Colovita, Primal Map My Ride, to name a few. The Southland is in it's full glory this time of year; sunny and 80 with no humidity every single day. Coming from the horrible 40 degree rain we'd been having around here, it was heavenly.

When I decided to do these races last year I was hoping to be fit and ready to race! Unfortunately given that I was off the bike all of February and much of March, Speedweek became a "race into shape" experience. Also, what better way to get to know your almost complete stranger teammate than going on a 10 day intimate road trip with them? Sarah and I were both a little nervous and figured we'd either be best friends at the end, or it would be very quiet on the way home.
Luckily for us we became best buds!! We both were kind of in the same boat in our results; Sarah who had been in good form, had suffered a pretty bad crash that put her off the bike for a while, so she was trying to get some form back too. Every day was much of the same. Fighting hard, lasting a little longer, and struggling to stay positive. We were so thankful to have the full support of the amazing ABD team behind us so we kept pushing forward and we saw improvement with every race. We both felt very lucky to have the opportunity to be there.

One of my favorite things about bike racing is calling up random friends and asking them for huge favors. My old friend Brian Coll who is a Chicago Cycling Legend, moved down to Atlanta with his lovely wife Diane a few years ago. He is a racer, cycling coach and personal trainer. He did everything from providing us with a lovely condo to stay in, chauffeuring us, making us breakfast, taking us on rides in the gorgeous countryside, as well as cheering for us and giving us motivational pep talks. Thanks so much Brian!! As always it was great to see you.

I'm kicking myself for not taking more pictures, but other fun stuff I got to do was stay with my cool cousin Melanie who lives in Charlotte, NC and have dinner with my old friend Susan who I have not seen in over 10 years since she moved to Columbia, SC. Sarah got to hear a lot of stories about "the old days" and catch up on who was doing what. :) But it was wonderful to see them and I was thankful for bike racing bringing me into their neck of the woods.

It was really neat to see Theresa Cliff-Ryan with full backing of her Colovita team dominate things. However, when Theresa left mid series to go compete in the Pan-Am games, Laura Van Gilder took over the series lead and won it racing as an individual. She is so cool!! Also of note, Tibco sprinter Sam Schneider was hit by a car and knocked unconscious in Athens before the first race of the series! She came out of it just fine and still managed to finish fourth overall. Simply amazing.

All in all not our best results, but we're hoping that it will pay off later in the season. So look out!

PWP Kara and Kathy do Vino Fondo

2011-05-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

Kara and Kathy at Vino Fondo

Here's an update from Kara Chmielewski a fellow mom of two who holds down a full time job:

Hi Kristen,

Just wanted to say thanks for another great year of training! I rode in the Vino Fondo in Missouri this past weekend. I almost quit and was on the verge of tears several times, but I finished!!!! It was so hilly...so hilly...actually hills with names. I don't do hills with names. I do now. I did the Midi version - 84 miles. I need to be a better climber, guess I'll have to figure it out before next year. Although advertised as a "ride" not a "race" we had chips. That is my first experience in an actual timed ride. I was so nervous I wanted to puke until I crossed the finish line and then I just wanted a beer. How intimidated was I at the start?? VERY!!!!!! These are all serious rectreational riders and a few race teams. The route was a Tour of Missouri route - totally out of my league. I rode with Kathy Austin from PWP who now rides with me at CES and 3 guys I know from grad school. This was by far the most serious ride I've ever done and it just makes me want to do better next year. Overall, a very cool experience, only 20 women out of 140 or so riders.

-Kara

Great job Kara and Kathy!!! What a postivie experience! Sounds epic and hard.

Miami

2011-04-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

I haven't really wanted to blog much about my poor winter of training. How many entries of "not feeling good" can a reader take? Also I didn't want to let the competition know my fitness is not up to par!! :) After my results at Hillsboro, the cat is out of the bag:( Not really sure what the cause was but this winter I seemed to catch every little sickness that was going around and I spent all of February and even much of March not training. It was very frustrating. However other than a nagging back issue I'm feeling great and now have had 3 solid weeks of good training. +========================================================= For spring break Jason and I took the kids out to Pennsylvania to my parents house and even though it wasn't the greatest weather, (40 and overcast) I was able to accomplish some great training in the mountains. ==========================================================Then because my husband Jason kicks ass at work, they rewarded him and 149 other employees with a trip to Miami Beach to stay at a fancy resort. He got to bring me as a guest! This is a big deal for us as normally "vacation" in our house involves some kind of bike racing or a trip to grandma's house. My wonderful parents (the reason I'm able to do any mid-week bike racing involving travel) took care of our kids while Jason and I were able to jet off to Miami. ===============================++++++++++++++++++++======= Originally I had planned to take the time off the bike and just enjoy a vacation. But things changed given where I'm at in my training and I really wanted to continue to build on my fitness. Since they flew us United, it was going to be super expensive to fly my bike, so I decided to try renting one. I was a little nervous how that would work out, never having done that before. It went great!! Thanks to a great tip from Elena I brought my power tap on the plane for no charge and was able to rent a nice road bike from a local shop. I got in three glorious days of riding on Key Biscayne and while I had a very nice aluminum bike, it was much heavier than my carbon fiber Trek Madone. It's nice to ride something a little less nice every once in a while just to make you appreciate how great you really have it! It was beautiful, sunny and warm every day and I even ran into a fellow bike racer I had met at superweek last year!! =+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The last two days I was there I had to return the bike so I did a private yoga class out on the lawn and just hung out and "luxuriated".

Getting into the hang of Miami Beach resort life!

Now I'm back home and back to reality, but the break was great and I'm looking forward to racing at Leland this weekend, and doing the clinic with Greg Meeker on Sunday.

Hillsboro

2011-04-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

Jessi and Stacy take home bricks and cold hard cash for their 2nd and 3rd overall placings!

Hillsboro is the first big regional race of the year for us Chicagoans. This year it served as a debut for my new team; Athlete's by Design (ABD). It was the first time we'd be together as an almost whole team--we are still missing Jeannie, who lives in New Zealand for much of the year and will be joining us shortly. But then we will be losing Jessi, as she would be leaving us the following Tuesday after the race for several weeks of racing in Europe, then home for a couple days, and then off to a tour in China.

We were all very excited to get to race together and we planned to stay overnight at a local farm b&b and get some riding in the next day. Our race was 58 miles consisting of two laps over a beautiful country road course with a couple of rollers thrown in, and one sort of kicker climb at the end of the lap heading into a cobblestone final circuit. After my non-existant winter of training I knew my fitness was not really there yet, but we knew Stacy and Jessi were feeling good after having spent a good part of the winter in Tuscon, AZ. Sarah and Elena were just going to test the legs, and I agreed sitting in and hanging on should be my plan.

This went out the window about 5 minutes into the race when Jessi threw out the first attack. It was countered by the heavily represented IS Corp team. Two of their riders got away, and although I'm sure it would have been fine if they had, I didn't want Jessi or Stacy to have to cover it. So I tried to bridge. Sarah had the same thought and we attacked simultaneously up the opposite sides of the road. We didn't successfully bridge but we did succeed in pulling the field back together. Unfortunately for me that effort did me in and I went off the back.

Since I'm in full on training mode right now I just rode the course as hard as I could and picked people off. I finished off the main field by quite a ways but around the middle of the results. It was terribly exciting to see Jessi and a Mercy Specialized rider off the front with a considerable gap on the field starting their second lap when I was finishing my first lap!! I didn't see anything else, but what I heard happened was that Jessi and the Mercy rider got away very shortly after I was dropped. They rode almost the whole course together. Stacy was then able to initiate a second break from the field, and she and two others rode together until the final hill when she was able to gap her breakmates to finish with a considerable lead for third. Elena finished in the field and Sarah and I finished a little ways back.

It was a bit of a bummer to get dropped but honestly it wasn't a surprise and having teammates who kick butt when I'm not up to it is great! Hopefully I'll be back on track before long.

Jessi and I hanging with Abe Lincoln the night before

We then spent a second night at the farmhouse, a cosy little house that had one bedroom, two couches, a "summer kitchen" that served as another bedroom, and a barn that had a converted hayloft set up as a bedroom. Jason and I took the barn. Since he is always trying to get me to camp I figured this was the closest I cared to get to that. It turned out to be quite pleasant, except that we were visited in the night by a stray beagle.

Jason and I's housemate

The next day we told the b&b owners and they took the dog in and we heard later they had found it a home.Team bonding around the campfire. From left: Sarah, Jessi ,Stacy, Kristen, Elena

With their race winnings, Jessi bought the makings for s'mores and Stacy bought some wine (for the over 21 crowd of course) and we celebrated around the campfire that night.

The next day we headed out to get in some miles and were treated to an even more beautiful day! The only problem I had was I started the day with arm warmers and did not apply sunscreen under them first. When the temperature soared to over 80, I ditched the armwarmers and fried my arms. Small price to pay for a gorgeous day of riding in the country. What a great start to what is sure to be a terrific season with a wonderful team!

John

2011-03-30T15:23:00.001-07:00

Chicago PWP Participant John Cline is Mr. August in this year's TyK Caledar

The Thought You Knew Calendar features real Chicago cyclists and supports the Chicago Women's Health Center. TyK now features an 80's themed "gents" calendar of which John is Mr. August.

Here's an excerpt from the TyK website: "John crashed his first bike in an attempt to Evel Knieval off a jump and over a garbage can. That stunt may have landed him a trip to the hospital, but he was back on the bike for another attempt the next day. Now, as well as being a year round commuter and track racer, John throws himself just as hard into volunteering. He heads up Half Acre Cyclng's track team, works with Yojimbo's Track Cats and sits on the Northbrook Velodrome Track Committee. Somehow he also finds time to play in a couple of bands."

John has worked out with PWP for two winters now and has this to say about the program, "I have two podiums already and feel pretty good about my condition and it's only March. I can really seethis being kind of an institution for racers in Chicago."

Congrats John! I look forward to watching your results for the rest of the year!

Katie!

2011-03-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

Chicago PWP participant Katie Tomarelli is Miss November in this year's TyK calendar. Buy one and support the Chicago Women's Health Center.

This photo of Katie is featured in Bike Fancy Blog!

A note from Mike

2011-03-12T11:25:00.001-08:00

It's notes like this that keep me running this program every year:

Hi Kristen,

Today the weather was nice enough to get out and ride so I went for a ride on one of my regular local loops. This loop has a couple of climbs and one short but steep climb that always gets my attention. Though not a really hard climb, I always use this steep section as a milestone in my ride because it takes more effort than most to get up.

I'm riding along and I begin to get myself mentally ready for this effort when I realized I had passed over the climb a few minutes back! Thinking back, I flew up that climb without a thought and hardly noticed the others! That may say something about my mental health, but it definitely is a marked improvement in my riding ability. It is a small thing, but it is well known to me and it was such a dramatic difference that it made a real impression on me. I know this improvement is a direct result of attending PWP. Can't wait to compare my performances to some of the more challenging rides.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I'm very happy and just wanted to let you know.

Looking for other milestones,

Mike

Fixed Gear Classic Promo Video

2011-03-05T12:55:00.000-08:00

Look for the PWP socks at 1:53

Congratulations Aaron!

2011-03-05T12:45:00.000-08:00

Current framebuilder and Former PWP participant Aaron Dykstra wins again at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show last weekend in Austin, TX.

Last year Aaron won "Rookie of the year" and this year he won "best track bike". To learn more about Aaron and his 611 bikes, check out his website: sixelevenbicycleco.com

Women's Road Racing Clinic Sunday April 17

2011-02-15T15:34:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to be doing another Women's Racing Clinic with Greg Meeker for Half Acre Cycling! Registration is open now.

The clinic will be held in two parts. The first part will be a question and answer session about women's bike racing at Johnny Sprockets on Thursday, April 14. This will be a chance to sit down and ask all those questions that you've been wanting to know, a way to get to know other like minded women, and a really fun evening. This will be geared for beginners but everyone is welcome.

Beginners are also welcome at the second part of the clinic, on Sunday, April 17, but this will be also highly benenficial to ALL levels of cyclists. Greg Meeker is a cornering guru and was the first person who taught me how to corner years ago. He was a member of the US National Cycling team in 1974, 1975, and 1976. He has been coaching clubs and individual riders for over 30 years including seven ridiers who went on to become National Team Members. Greg went on to found Capital Velo Club, and all-women's team in Madison, WI. After a few years the team became free standing, but since then Greg has maintained a connection. He has provided his conerning clinic in Chicago several times over the years and I'm really excited to be working with him again, I can always use a brush up on my cornering! His technical experience combined with his down to earth communicating make for an awesome clinic.

Here are all the details--See you there!!!

Women’s Beginner & Intermediate Road Racing Clinic
Sunday, April 17th - 10 am - 2pm

Experienced racer Kristen Meshberg & coach Greg Meeker
will instruct in the classroom and on-the-bike!

10:00 am – 12:00pm: classroom instruction at Roosevelt University
430 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60605

12:00 pm – 2:00 pm: on-the-bike instruction at Northerly Island.
Turn your classroom knowledge into experience!

Bring your bicycle & helmet, clothing to ride in, water & snacks if needed.

But that's not all!!

Join us Thursday, April 14th from 7 to 9 pm
for a pre-clinic Beginner Q & A Session
with experienced racer Kristen Meshberg
at Johnny Sprockets
3001 N. Broadway, Chicago, IL 60657
This session is strongly recommended for newer and unlicensed riders

Register HERE

PWP ON tonight!

2011-02-02T12:40:00.000-08:00

If you can safely get there, PWP is on tonight.

ABD Indoor Time Trial Season

2011-01-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've written much. Winter is the time where I hunker down at PWP and get some awesome training in. Lately I've been feeling fantastic. Turning 40 last year kind of made me realize "I can do whatever I want!" and I have a new air of confidence about me. My training has been going great--I've been getting some awesome rides in and have upped my core workouts so now I'm able to do things I've never been able to do in my life! For one, I can now do the entire 3 minute plank excersise we do at PWP. (I've been trying to do this for 6 years!)

Yesterday was the first of ABD indoor tt series which includes 3 indoor and 1 outdoor time trial. Every year I've always enjoyed (and I use that term loosely) doing this series. You have to go in with the right attitude--it's the middle of winter, we're all training, who cares that everyone can see your time your watts and your weight, no your results at these don't necessarily translate into how you do on the road--but if you can put all of that into perspective, it's honestly just a really fun way to spice up your winter training. I'm not going to push myself that hard on my own, and it's fun to have a little motivation boost every so often. Yesterday I was talking to a couple of people who were new to the indoor tt and were asking me about how to do it. "It's kind of like torture" I told them, "if you feel like you're going to throw up and die, you're probably doing it about right. But you feel great when you're done."

Since I'm now part of the ABD family, I got to see some of the back stage planning and a first hand view of the well-oiled machine that is the ABD volunteers making this event run smoothly. Very impressive.

I didn't exactly have my best ride ever (I was sick with a cold-which was a bummer because I really have been feeling great lately!) but I did have fun watching some friends get new PR's. While I was there Mike Ebert got a text from Jessi and Stacy who had done well in a training crit that morning in Arizona where they are out training right now. Very Exciting!!!

NEW TEAM!!!

2010-12-14T12:29:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to announce I will be riding for Athletes By Design for 2011.

ABD has a rich history of supporting women, and I'm proud to be part of it. There's possibility of a few more, but so far here's our team:

Jessica Prinner
Stacy Appelwick
Sarah Demerly
Kristen Meshberg

Looking forward to another great year of racing!

New Chicago PWP Tuesday Open Ride Time

2010-12-14T12:26:00.000-08:00

Tuesdays from 4-6 pm until the end of March, the PWP studio will be open for unstructured riding. Bring your ipod and ride for as little or as much of the 2 hours as you would like.

Cost for this is a $5 drop in fee

OR

FREE for 46 session pass holders.

Yoga/CORE class following at 6:30

Winter Core For Cyclists Class

2010-11-18T14:43:00.000-08:00

Sandra Samman, a PWP participant and racer for XXX racing, is also a yoga/Pilate's instructor. She has come up with an awesome winter "core for cyclists" class to be held on Tuesday evenings in the Chicago PWP space. See below for details and email Sandra to register or for questions:

Hello Fellow Cyclists,

We are approaching the off season, if you are not already there. What a great time to focus on stretching your body and strengthening your core. For those of you that don't know, I am a yoga/Pilate's instructor. I have also developed my own class, called Core In Motion. It combines those 2 different disciplines.

I will be starting a class, specifically tailored for cyclists. The focus will be on stretching and strengthening the body parts we use in cycling. Lots of focus will be on legs, so you can learn how to effectively stretch them out, using your breath. Also, building up your core, this will help you gain explosive power for your sprints next season. We will also work on building some upper body strength, so you can pull up on those bars while climbing and sprinting. With those 3 as the focus, we will also learn stretches for the entire body.

Classes will be held on Tuesday, from 6:30-7:30pm. If there is a lot of interest, I will then add a Thursday evening class. Classes will be held in the Pedaling With a Purpose space, which is at 1821 W. Hubbard. Classes will run from Dec 7-March 22.

Fee
$12 drop in rate
Or you may purchase a 12 Pack at a $10 rate

Please let me know asap if this is something you are interested in. I would like to get a feel for how many, and if I would need to add a second night.

Free parking is available, as well as indoor bike parking. Yoga mats will be provided.

Thank you,
Sandra Samman
www.coreinmotion.com
sandra@coreinmotion.com

Pedaling With a Purpose Chicago info......... IT's HERE!

2010-10-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

PWP will be held in the same building as last year, 1821 W. Hubbard, but in a new bigger and more awesome space on the first floor.

New and exciting for this year we are adding a Sunday Endurance With Molly ride from 9:00-11:00am, for a total of 3 classes per week. Paying for the sessions is still done in the same punch card format. You can attend any of the sessions you like until you run out of punches.

Dates:
Workouts start Saturday, December 4 and we'll meet every Saturday and Wednesday until March 27. No PWP on Christmas or New Years which fall on Saturdays.
Sunday workouts begin on Sunday, December 12 and meet every Sunday until March 20**
**Sundays start a week late and end a week early

Times:
Saturday 8-10:30am 2 hours on the bike, 30 min of core work and stretching afterward
Wednesday 7-8:30pm an hour and a half on the bike
Sunday 9-11am 2 hour endurance ride with Molly

Check out the brochure for all the details. Email Kristen for registration information.

PWP Featured on the Chainlink

2010-10-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

Click here to read an interview about PWP

Pedaling With a Purpose Chicago Info

2010-10-21T17:43:00.001-07:00

A new bigger and better space at 1821 W Hubbard has been secured for 2010-2011 PWP.

stay tuned.....details coming soon.......

Pedaling With a Purpose Oak Brook Info

2010-10-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

To Register, call OakBrook Racquet and Fitness (630)654-2442

Click here for a printable version of the brochure

I'm Done!

2010-09-13T15:43:00.000-07:00

I went into this year not sure what I wanted to do, or if I even felt like racing. I ended up racing more than I ever have and had the best year ever! Some highlights of the year were experiencing Arizona in February racing Valley of the Sun stage race, getting to be a part of the Nature Valley Pro Ride, racing 16 days in a row ending up second overall at Superweek, and winning a crit solo off the front.

It's been a great season and although I was hoping to hang on for a few more events this year I've decided that I'm done. As I enter the off season I am ready to relax, reflect about this year, and plan for next year.

See you all at Pedaling With a Purpose!

Gateway Cup Report: Mia Moore

2010-09-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to go down to St. Louis to race Gateway Cup, a four day race series over labor day weekend, but I decided to pull the plug on my season. I was super bummed not to go because I love these races, but it was incredibly exciting to get reports of PWP participant Mia Moore's experience there. Mia is the manager/mechanic at Ciclo Urbano bike shop in Humboldt Park in Chicago. She's had a wonderful year racing as a cat 4 for Chicago's XXX racing team and had hoped to upgrade by the end of the year. Gateway Cup offers a 3/4 category for women that is always competitive..... Read on to hear about her fantastic experience!
.

Kim Gialdini (Flatlandia) and I drove down to St. Louis for the 19th annual Labor Day weekend Gateway Cup, four days of racing all over St. Louis. We were so lucky to stay with an amazing hostess, Marsha, and her cat Ivy. We were treated well and had a great time. This weekend was the end of my road season, and I'm so glad I went.

Gateway Cup Friday "The Tour de Lafayette"

Kim and I roll up to the course fresh off a five hour drive to St. Louis. It's breezy and warm, but NOT HUMID, which is great. Our race, scheduled to go off 15 seconds after the cat 4/5 men's race, is the first wave of races all weekend, so we have the very nice opportunity to warm up on course every day. I take advantage of this, trying to ease the car ride out of my legs and assuage my nerves. The course is a wide open square with a significant amount of headwind on the backside which is also ever so slightly uphill. I do my warm-up, feel ok and roll around to the start finish. It's a bit nerve wracking to be in a group of 30 and only recognize four or five. The men start, we start. I stay fourth wheel for the first lap, then decide to attack and see who bites. everyone. rotate through two riders. I attack again, get a little gap, the field is brought to me. wait wait, around and around, Prime lap. I jump before corner four and carry it through to win the $25. I keep going, but get caught. I slow down. I decide for the rest of the race I will just try to keep the pace high when I'm in front, and see who in this group will do any work and who I can maybe work with later in the weekend. In the final lap, the woman who shows herself to be the strongest sprinter, and who wins the overall for the 3/4 women, jumps out of corner two and in an amazing show of power, sprints through the course to win the race. I am impressed. I do not consider myself to be a sprinter, and I am aware it's something I need to really work on. I know that I will have to try harder to break up the field if I want to beat her and the other top sprinters tomorrow. I come in tenth. I feel good, and my legs feel good.

Gateway Cup Saturday "St. Louis Hills"

Kim and I get to the "Tour Des Hills" race to warm up on course. This time, it's a longer rectangle with an incline for about a block right after the start finish. It's not a hill, but it's an incline. The top of the rectangle is flat, then the backside is downhill-ish, and into turn three, another slight incline, then downhill-ish in a headwind to corner four and the straight to the start/finish. I want to attack today and try to break up the field. I feel like it's my best shot to place well. I warmed up well, and the weather is absolutely perfect. It's about 75 and breezy. The men 4/5 go, we go. I am immediately in front. I lead the first lap, up the incline, I push the pace, then someone else pulls through. We go through turn 2, down the longer backside and turn three. I attack and pull through the start finish, on girl is with me but it's obvious the pack is coming. I slow a bit and let her pull me up the last part of the hill. I recover quickly and for some reason, decide to just jump immediately after the pace starts to settle. I guess if no one else is going to counter, I will counter my own attack??? I dunno. It works though, and when I get back in the saddle and look behind me, the field is just a group of people in a clump behind me. I am shocked. I keep going. No one is coming???? I push really hard for the next 3/4 lap. I hear my name yellowed out by the announcer "and Amelia Moore, number 222 is off the front". I push it up the incline. I keep pushing ooooh crap am I really going to try and tt this whole race? Can I actually do this? am I really committing to this right now? YES! I can do this. This is just like the so called "fitness check time trials" I do with my team, right? I know how it feels to push myself for those 30 minutes, whats another 20? I can't stop now anyway, the moto ref just told me I have a 15 second gap....oh man I keep going. I have to say, it is amazingly encouraging to have your name and number yelled out over the loud speaker every 3 minutes and to have people all along the course cheer you on, dogs barking and cow bells clanking. "This young lady from Chicago has a great pair of legs on her today". Gah, I hope I can do this. Once the clock gets to 27 minutes to go (plus 5 laps) I imagine that I am on the lake front path, following the Fitness Check Time Trial route, passing things I know to mark the time. 23 minutes, oh, the ducks, 20 minutes, that low tree branch that I almost hit my head on. I stand up every time I hit the incline for optimum cheering from the crowd. The moto ref tells me I am holding 45 seconds. wow. and I am like almost to the long open curve out to the lake in my mind's TT. I keep going. 10 minutes (plus 5 laps) to go. "number 222, I'm looking at her shoulders and it looks like she just started, doesn't look tired at all" YEAH RIGHT! Ten plus five, I can do this, it's just like turning around at the bridge. All I have to do is make it back to Randy, those last five laps are nothing. The moto ref tells me I am too far ahead to get splits any more. Thumbs up ! I keep going. 5 laps to go. 4 laps to go. 3, 2, 1 lap to go. The moto ref comes up to my side and says, "it's been a pleasure working for you" we bump fists, and I finish the race well over a minute ahead of the pack. I cannot believe that I did this. What a way to win my first race, only one in the picture :)

Gateway Cup Sunday " Giro dell Montagna"

This course is much narrower than the past two wide wide open courses. There is a hill which is not steep but covers about three or four blocks, a short flat top to the rectangle , a downhill to the start finish and a fast tight corner one. My legs feel pretty good after a nice warmup in the hilly neighborhood surrounding the course and a bunch of laps of the actual course. The setting is an old Italian neighborhood. The community loves the race so much that they have pooled together extra prize money for the pro fields. There is a Bocce Club on the downhill which will be serving a free pasta and meatball dinner to all the racers. At 10 am, people are already setting up chairs and BBQ's all around the course. Today is the 25th anniversary of the race. The officials have decided to shorten and separate the men's 4/5 field and the women's 3/4 field today. I am happy about that. I watch my teammates race really well in the 4/5 race. We line up and are off. I am in front for the first lap. I push it a little up the hill to see if anyone drags. Doesn't look like it. Someone else pulls through. I try to attack a couple times up the hill, but it's not really steep enough to be a climbers hill, and the course is short enough and with enough downhill that separation is going to be tough, and take a lot of energy. I try to spin easily up the hill and keep pushing the pace right after the up hill corner two and through the start finish. I figure this will tire people out and maybe I can attack on the final climb and outlast the girl in the leader jersey. Last lap. I take my position behind the two strongest sprinters. Perfect. In corner one, I get passed on my inside (I am already on the inside line) and she can't hold herself up after the corner and slides out right at my wheel. I have nowhere to go but over her. Luckily, my dive and roll instinct from childhood tumbling classes seems to be still intact! I jump up, shake appropriate bones to make sure they're ok, assess minimal skin loss, and bike scratching and get cleaned up. I am bummed that I couldn't finish. Now I HAVE to do well tomorrow.

Gateway Cup Monday "Benton Park Classic Criterium"

This course is really nice. It's a two mile circuit course shaped like a figure 8 with 10 turns. the route goes through an up hill start finish, across the freeway, past two breweries, back across the freeway, through a nice little neighborhood, an s bend, a downhill, two more corners and a long straight slightly uphill finish. I know I want to stay in the top three positions for this race. No more malarkey in the corners. I warm up on the course and assess the best places to attack. I know that I am marked and no one is going to let me get away, but I hope that I can a least break up the field. The race starts, again, I lead the first lap. This is fine. A couple other girls and I attack and counter attack and we are left with a small group of 8 or 10 including a 12 year old Tibco girl, who races really well the entire race. I jump a couple times right before the 's; bends and try to separate the group further, but no one is having it. I look up 2 laps to go. I am pulling through corner 2 and I hear Newt yell, "NO MORE FAVORS". He's right. I have to pick a plan for the last lap. I fall back and position myself behind tow strong sprinters and a group of two Momentum women which I know will turn into a leadout. I lap to go. The woman leading the series gets stuck in front after corner five. The little group slows down after the s curves and into corner 8. As they all try to jockey for good position into the final corners, I feel like it's my chance. I pull to the left side of the course and attack as hard as I can. I fly around the downhill corner and no one is on my wheel. I keep going. downshift, down around corner 10 no one is on my wheel, I stand up for the final 300 meters to the finish line. I DID IT! I won. I CAN sprint! wtf?

aaaaaand those are my upgrade points! I am so glad I came to do this series. It was very well put together and all the courses were awesome and fun. The people in St. Louis are a friendly bunch, my host housing was amazing, and we ate the best deep dish pizza ever. It was fun to race in a field of 30 women and get to know a new set of strong racers. I will be back!

Congratulations Mia!!

end-of-the-year-itis

2010-08-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

It's nearing the end of the year and a lot of folks have already ended their road seasons and are gearing up for cyclocross. I still have a couple more events to my year:
'
*Tonight I'm heading up to Northbrook Track for the Elaine Nekritz Race
*St. Louis for Gateway Cup over labor day
*4 person Team Time Trial on Sept 12
*My last race of the year will be the TD Bank Mayor's Cup Criterium in Boston.

I'm really struggling with a bad case of end-of-the-year-itis. Trying to stay fresh and enthusiastic is difficult. I'm also having some lingering pain from my crash at Elk Grove. It's really not bad, but it's grating. Rest is key, and I'll be laying low and just trying to finish the year on a positive note.

Since I don't really have any recent race pics of my own I will leave you with some photo's from Peg, Sue and Diane's excellent adventures to New York this Summer. Three awesome PWP'ers who do some serious touring!

Glencoe GP/US Pro Crit Press Conference

2010-08-19T23:13:00.000-07:00

From left to right: Ben Kersten, Fly V Australia 2009 Pro Crit Winner; Alison Powers, Team Vera Bradley 2009 NRC Points Champion; Rahsaan Bahati, Bahati Foundation 2008 Pro Crit Winner; Me :); Karl Menzies, United Health Care; Devon Haskell, Team Tibo 2009 Glencoe Grand Prix Winner; Ivan Dominquez, Jamis Sutter Home

We fielded questions from the internet and a live audience consisting of media, sponsors, and the public. I was incredibly nervous, but by all reports it went well and was a ton of fun!!

Photos courtesy of Jay Marisol

Here's a video excerpt from Lyn @ www.podiuminsight.com

Glencoe Grand Prix

2010-08-17T03:29:00.000-07:00

For as long as I've been around bike racing Downer's Grove, Illinois has been the home of our National Criterium Championships for the Men' s Elite and Pro categories as well as the Women's Elite. Being someone who considers myself a crit rider, I've always had Downer's Grove as the highlight of my year and my career goal to win that race. I live within riding distance of it and the tradition of having everybody out to watch the big names of both men's and women's cycling is huge! In the last couple years I've actually been able to ride and hang in the race and each year I've crept closer to being competitive. The news that Downers Grove would no longer be hosting the championships, or even having a race hit me hard. From my understanding the town just got tired of it and decided not to host the race this year. All of the Championships except the pro men were held in June in Bend, Oregon. I was pretty bummed about this and since I could not afford a plane ticket out to Bend I was not able to compete.

Glencoe Grand Prix Race is a local race that is now in it's fourth year, and having a reputation of being incredibly well run, was able to host the Pro Men Championships! Even though it wasn't our national championships, or even on the National Race Calendar for the women, we had a large prize purse and rode the same course--a new longer version-- as the pro men. Vera Bradley, Tibco, and Colovita were well represented as well as some other strong individuals including Laura Van Gilder. Not sure exactly how many started but though strong, the field was fairly small. It was a long course, and there were lots of corners but 3 that were narrow and downhill and proved especially challenging. Even though I knew that positioning was everything I found myself struggling to stay in front. I don't take a lot of risks in races and tend to ride where I feel safe and while I think it's one of the reasons I don't really crash that often ( I know I know --Jinx!!) I often find myself wasting a lot of energy closing gaps. This was the case for the whole first half of the race. We had some good breaks go and get caught and I only watched. At four to go, I found myself gapped and was not able to close it. I really thought I was dropped and almost threw in the towel. It was so disappointing, but the screaming crowd which consisted of tons of friends, was highly motivating so I decided to make the effort to catch back on. I was able to go so much faster by myself through those corners that I did catch back on. At this point the break was in sight and when we hit the start finish at 2 laps to go I went to the front and made one final effort to bridge. I knew if I failed I was kind of blowing the field sprint, but with those tricky corners I didn't want to risk getting gapped again. It was covered immediately and although leading it out that early was not a great position I was happy to be in front through the tricky corners. Unfortunately I led for the whole lap until 1 to go when there was a huge surge and my effort had left me without resources for a sprint. I finished at the back of the pack, but was elated to find that I got the last money spot!

I had mixed emotions about the race. It would have been so much better to be in a break!! I felt pretty good and was mad that I had spent so much time in bad positioning and missed the breaks. It was exciting to catch back on and still be able to make a positive effort at two to go and just wish it had panned out.

Friday night before the race I was invited to participate in a press conference since I'm a "local". It was a lot of fun and I hope to be posting some pictures of it soon.

Elk Grove Village

2010-08-02T03:46:00.000-07:00

I love Elk Grove Village. Nice Payout. 30 min from the house. Everybody's there. Fun race.

My cousin Lynn from Minneapolis was hired by the production company to write the copy for the hour long Comcast special on the race so she was there all weekend documenting everything. It was awesome to get to see her and hang out a bit. Also super cool was she asked if they could hook up a camera to my bike to film the race. It turned out great. They promised to send me dvd and as soon as I get it I'll try to post at least some parts of it.

We had two races, Sat & Sun on the same course. I have never cared much for the hairpin turn in corner 1, and mid race on Saturday I crashed in it. In ten years of racing this is the second time I've crashed in a race....I know I know, I'm totally jinxing myself. I was going pretty slow, smacked mainly my elbow and only got run over by one person. I got minimal road rash, a little soreness, and a headache. I'm fine, but it was unpleasant and I hope I don't do it again soon. When I got back in after my freelap I was nervous in the corner so I was finding myself struggling to stay connected after it. At 2 to go I moved up with the intention to hit the corner first so I could maintain a good position. After the hairpin I looked back and had a pretty big gap. "Oh $#(^!! " I thought. Now I have to go. So I went for it, as hard as I could. I held the gap until the final 1/4 of a lap. When the leadout train came by I had the right instincts to jump in but was not strong enough to maintain it and got knocked out. I fell to the back of the pack and that's where I finished. I got a gambler's prime at 1 to go, and it was a glorious feeling to be off the front so late in the game. Thanks to everyone who was cheering! It was really fun and I only wish I could have pulled it off. Jen Purcell won, Laura Van Gilder was second and Lauren Tamayo was third.

Sunday other than being a little sore I felt alright. The race was fairly fast, and we quickly whittled our field down to about 20 or so riders. At 1 to go I was in second position (perfect!) into the hairpin turn and felt good about things until the final stretch when things got slow and we all bunched up. I got boxed in and had no where to sprint. When I checked the results I was twelfth and felt lucky to get that. Carrie Cash won, Laura Van Gilder was second and Sam Schneider was third.

Superweek!

2010-07-28T20:38:00.001-07:00

Final Podium, 1st Nicky Wangsgard, 2nd Kristen Meshberg, 3rd Sam Schneider

Jason and I started a major home improvement project the week before superweek. I figured I'd race a couple of the races that were close to home, and then "play it by ear" and be around the house the rest of the time to get things in order. Last couple years I've found myself a bit burnt out this time of year and haven't done that well at superweek. This year, I talked it over with my coach, and we decided a little break after Nature Valley would be in order. Turns out it was just the ticket! Mentally I was fresh and ready to go. Physically, I had pulled a muscle in my back at Nature Valley- I was sore and knew I wasn't at full power. The rest break really helped my back but I think I could have used about 3 more weeks to be totally healed up. I really didn't know what to expect heading into these races. My teammate Kim Gialdini, who has a four year old boy, was racing the women's 3/4 series and she had a similar attitude: We'd just see how it goes and if it works out for us to do any of the midweek races, we'd watch each other's kids.

The first day, in Geneva, IL I got second place!! A woman had gotten off the front and I won the field sprint! I was pretty excited. My back was very achy, and even though I was thrilled I still wasn't thinking about the series....

Over the weekend Nicole Freedman , former national road and crit champion, and Olympian in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, showed up to race. She's someone I'd always thought was super cool but never had the pleasure of meeting. We got to hang out a bit and it was really fun to race with her. In Monday's race at Richton Park I was particularly happy with how things went. I was very active and after two riders got off the front, a group of about 5 of us got off the front of the field and went hard enough to almost catch the two. We didn't and I got second to Nicole for fourth on the day. After that race I found myself in the yellow jersey!!!

Yellow Jersey after Richton Park! Lucinda on the podium with me. Second Karlee Gendron, Third Nicky Wangsgard

Getting the yellow jersey was a big deal for me. It went straight to my head and I got the superweek fever. The next day was Willow Springs, a beautiful course so close to my house but with a longish hill in it that because of my aching back I wasn't planning on doing. But getting the yellow jersey changed all that. This race was crazy slow. At the time I wasn't sure why, but I appreciated it--until I screwed up the sprint for the finish. I was in decent position but just didn't make the right split second decision and ended up 6th. Nicky Wangsgard won, and there went the yellow jersey, never to be worn again by me.

After making it through that race I started to entertain the idea of fighting for the overall. Turns out Nicole was heading back to Boston after that race and since she was taking off I asked her for some advice. I wasn't sure what to make of the tactics that were going on. She told me, "I think they want to win the overall" when I asked her why things were shaping up the way they were. I asked Nicole for some tips on "how to win this thing" She was awesome and told me it could be a bit of boring racing here and there, but to really try and race each race and just go for it.

Racing a points series is kind of like a stage race, but it's totally not a stage race. In a points series, you can pick and choose which races you want to do, and only your placings count. Lapping or gaining time on the field has no advantage. Placing consistently day after day is what matters. Superweek was 16 days for the women this year. This is more than double the number of consecutive races I'd ever done. My back was aching, but I bought a huge bottle of ibuprofen and started to make plans. Usually I plan my racing well in advance and have outside child care (usually my mom). Since I was winging it, things could have gone up or down. Turns out Kim was doing really well in her series and was deciding the same thing. Every day we planned out how we could work out child care, where the races were and who would drive and when. It worked out so well. There is NO WAY I would have been able to do this without Kim and she said the same thing for me. It was pretty cool and we felt like bad a$$ bike racing moms. The kids had a good time playing together too.

Here they are playing in Lake Geneva at Kim's friend's lake house. This day I raced first so Kim took the kids up to the lake house, and I met them there after my race so she could take off and do her race.
When the races moved up to Wisconsin, logistics got a little tougher and I had to call on the help of Auntie Reenie and Uncle Danny who graciously housed our entire family for a couple of days. My friend Ellen and her husband Dave who live in Racine, WI were also especially cool housing both Kim and I and all of our kids for multiple days.

By the middle of the series I was getting pretty tired, but I was hanging in there. I started marking people and would only care if someone in contention for the overall was off the front, and I could tell the other women were doing it too. None of us had teams so it made for a little negative racing at times. Finally during the second week my body just got used to racing every day. I felt fine in the races and was able to still be consistent and place mostly in the top ten. We saw new, fresh legs daily which included the New Zealand National Team, Erica Allar who was guest riding for Dolce Vita, Sam Schneider from Tibco, another New Zealander, Laura McCaughey, and a lot of other really good riders. Nicky Wangsgard rode very consistently and built up quite a lead. I learned a lot from watching her throughout the series. It became apparent I was racing for second, and while there were several riders that came close I was able to hang onto it. The second to last day in Humboldt Park, WI I sealed the deal and went into the last race with a 22 point lead so I could have skipped the final race had I felt like it.

pain face pretty much sums up a lot of the races. We got lucky with no rain, but it was HOT every single day!!

photo courtesy of Douglas Fox

Of course I didn't. The last race, Whitefish Bay was really fun. I decided to help out my buddy Jeannie Kuhajek who was in contention for the sprint points--not that she needed it-- but since I had nothing to lose I thought it would be fun to lead her out for the sprint laps. It was fun and I think I did a pretty good job! She ended up third in the sprints, and won the series top amateur jersey. I was tired from the lead outs, but still felt good on the last lap. When it came down to the final two corners, I was in decent position but when I got pinched I chickened out and sat up. After 15 days of fighting for position, I had nothing to lose and just sort of gave up. It's the one thing I regret (only a little) about Superweek this year.

I gotta say I've never had so much fun racing!! Racing day after day in the hot hot humid heat sometimes can make people very crabby. Not so! We raced well, were respectful, and just had a blast. I love racing my bike, and couldn't have a nicer bike than my BH Cristal. I've now been home for 4 days and my house, though still not totally in order is a lot better than it was. Thanks to Bob Marshall from ABD for doing such a terrific painting job. Thanks to the superweek folks for running a nice series. Last but not least, Congrats to Kim who ended up winning FIRST PLACE in the cat 3/4 series!!!! Her positive spirit really motivated me, and she totally earned her win. Way to go.

Hi from Katie

2010-07-08T05:53:00.000-07:00

Katie Tomarelli is a Chicago PWP'r with a swimming background who prior to this year did some sprint distance triathlons. This year she joined Half Acre Cycling and has been doing some great bike racing this summer both on the road and track, and did her first Olympic distance Tri. Until being recently sidelined with a fall (not bike related) she's been having a great year! Here's her report from the triathlon:

"'Lady do you want to be sprayed?' the kids yell as I am running up towards them on the last mile. My face barnyard red, (they must have learned in school what heat stroke victims looked liked), I nod yes as I approach the kids who were taking turns cooling down racers at Johan's triathlon. On Saturday, June 17th in a small town called Hopkins, Michigan, I participated in my first Olympic distance triathlon. I was pleased with the results, 4th in my age group (25-29) and 24th out of 75 women, but even more excited about my average splits which were equivalent or even faster (cycling) than my previous speeds from sprint triathlons.

Thank you for letting me share! And thank you Kristen for your encouragement in cycling (and for even writing this post, cheese)!"

Thank you Katie! Hope you heal fast and we see you back out there before the end of the year.

Catching up with Cathy

2010-07-01T07:33:00.001-07:00

2 PWP'rs make the podium at the IL State Cat 3 Criterium Championships! Cathy Frampton (Project 5) in first and Mia Moore (XXX) in third WELL DONE!

Cathy Frampton is a PWP'r who has been having a fantastic year. After racing the entire Tour of America's Dairyland, she took a gamble on her third place overall there and skipped the last day of the series to swing down to Peoria last Sunday and pick up the Women's Cat 3 Illinois State Criterium Championship jersey. Here's a note from her on how things are going:

"It was last year March, as my 2nd PWP 'season' was coming to a close when Kristen told us about the inaugural Half Acre week-long criterium series for beginners as she softly encouraged us to, 'Just give it a try.' What simple words that have unleashed so much unexpected fun!

I joined Project 5 Racing at the middle of last season. The premise of the team is to take beginning racers-cat5-and help them develop into stronger racers so they can move up in a race category. At the end of last season, I had moved from a cat 4 to a cat 3 racer. Part of the development is also learning to function as a team. So much of cycling is the team strategy and effort - something that I crave from having played a variety of team sports.

With more teams on the line this year, strategy has become more important. With some effective teamwork early in the season, my teammate Ginger consistently finished well in the Half Acre series and was able to cat up to a 3. She then helped me win the Urbana Criterium. A few weeks ago, I helped her win Sherman Park. What a great feeling for the team to win - regardless of whether or not it is you on the top podium. Without the team component, I don't think I would enjoy racing as much.

Last week, my teammates and I spent the week racing in the Tour of America's Dairyland (ToAD). In its 2nd year, this exceptionally well run series of 11 races was held in a different Wisconsin location each day. With approximately 30 women on the line for each race, some races getting up to 45, the competition was deep. Chicago PWP'r Jannette Rho was phenomenal as she has been since we both lined up for our first race ever at the Half Acre series last year. I have been chasing her ever since! Unfortunately Jannette and I were both chasing Whitney Gaggioli who won the coveted "cow jersey" for all but two of the races. Although I had not locked up third place, I knew that the cow jersey was most likely unattainable so I left ToAD to travel to Peoria to make an attempt for a different jersey, the IL State Criterium Champion.

Ginger agreed to join me in Peoria. We devised a strategy that we hoped would result in a win for Project 5. Nearing the mid-point of the race, it looked as if Ginger would be in a successful break. But as happens in racing the circumstances changed. With that it was my attempt to establish a successful breakaway. Remember the 30 on/30 off drills in the final moth of PWP? Well that is the pattern I followed along with my 3 break mates. Nearing the end of the race, I decided to go for the finish earlier than my competitors - what does Kristen say? You can do anything for a minute. So I pushed it as hard as I could towards the line and WON! Not only did Ginger help me win the IL State Championship Jersey, but with that win, I also secured 1st place for the IL Cup Series. Oh -and I then learned that I secured 3rd place for the ToAD series - the gamble totally paid off!!!!

So what's coming up for the rest of the year? There is Superweek, another weeklong series of races that spans both IL and WI in the middle of July. Then there are the premium races in the Midwest: Elk Grove Village and Glencoe's National Criterium Championships. After a hiatus from racing from late August through September, the fall bicycling part starts--Cyclocross! What a blast! If you haven't seen or tried 'cross, put it in your calendar to check it out-and be prepared to laugh and have a good time-otherwise stay home ('cause you will laugh and have a good time! It's unavoidable.) And the PWP starts in December as we prepare for the next round of fun in 2011.

So do you think you want to 'Just give it a try'? "

Thanks Cathy!! Congratulations on your fantastic season. Best of luck for the rest of the year.

Peg and Diane's (and Sue's) Excellent Adventures

2010-06-28T05:43:00.000-07:00

Here's what PWP Particpants Peg and Diane (and Sue B.) are up to this summer. This is from Peg Gramas:

"Diane and I went trekking in Peru on the Inca trail, which terminates at Machu Picchu. We were part of a group of 18 hikers that completed the hike. I am not sure of the distances, but we hiked for 4 days and crossed over several passes in the Andes mountains, including a mountain pass at 14,000 feelt! It was pretty cool. amazing scenery. Ancient ruins. Beautiful people. Here is a photo link.

Sue Butler and Diane and I will be bicycle touring in New York State from July 25-31. The ride is in the fingerlakes region and called the Bon Ton Roulet. It should be a challenge with the hills and keeping Diane and I out of the wineries.

I am training to run the Chicago Marathon. Earlier this year I created a mental "bucket list". Two things populate my list. #1 complete a marathon. #2 ride my bike from coast to coast. This year it will be the marathon because that is actually the bigger challenge for me and won't be easier for me as I age. It is now or never for that goal."

Have fun in New York (not that you guys are ever in danger of not having any!) and I'm sure that the marathon will be great. Keep us posted and thanks for checking in!

One more Nature Valley Pro Ride Post....

2010-06-25T18:02:00.000-07:00

My Pro Ride Teammate Emily wrote this up on her post race wrap up and I love it!

"...my biggest accomplishment at Nature Valley was that I allowed myself to really enjoy the entire experience. While nervously awaiting the gunshot that would initiate the race, I would force myself to take a deep breath, pause and truly appreciate the moment. I was possibly the most fit I have ever been, I was racing against some of the best women in the world, and cheering crowds of people were lining the streets to watch ME race my bike!"

Nature Valley Pro Ride

2010-06-22T18:25:00.000-07:00

Our team from left: Sue Butler, Portland, OR; Mary Maroon, Oakland, CA; Michael Engleman, director, Dolores, CO; Emily Kachorek, Sacramento, CA; Kristen Meshberg, Chicago, IL (not pictured: Nancy Jones, GA and Anna Barensfeld, Boston MA)

Director: Michael Engleman
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I wasn't really sure what to expect from my Nature Valley Pro Ride experience. How is a fully supported team run? How would we function as a team since it was safe to assume there would be a variety of abilities among us? What exactly does a team director do? I was really looking forward to getting to know some new people and finding out the answers to these questions.

As someone who ran my own team last year (as well as tried to ride) I can tell you it's a LOT more fun to be on the supported side of things! We had a team manager that coordinated all the logistics. We had a team director that handled all the race specific details, provided tactical advice and in general made sure we knew what to do. We had mechanics that made sure our bikes were running, provided spare equipment and did all the loading and unloading everyday. We also had drivers who coordinated when and where we needed to be and just told us what time they'd be picking us up. Not to mention all of the people who opened up their homes for us to stay, all the folks in marketing at Nature Valley who want to support such an event, and all of the local Nature Valley racing team that came out in full support.

I really got to know and like my teammates. What a cool bunch of gals. We are used to hanging out as individuals in our respective regions so it was interesting and refreshing to exchange ideas with them. In one conversation where we all pretty much agreed that we wished we had done better, the topic of intrinsic motivation came up and how important it is to keep the focus on your own goals, acknowledge how far you've come , and not focus on where you are compared to other people. That struck home with me when I was thinking about my own racing.

When you think about everything that goes into it, the actual racing seems like an afterthought, but here's how it went for me: I rode 3 seconds faster than last year in the tt using no aero equipment. I avoided multiple crashes and survived the St. Paul crit. I felt good in the Minneapolis crit and finished according to plan with no additional time on the field. In the Menominee road race I rode as hard as I could and finished within the time cut. I overcame some physical issues and wasn't really full strength the next day for Stillwater but I made it through that brutal course for a GC finish. I had an absolute blast being taken care of by everyone and Michael Engleman called me tough. I was proud of how everyone on the team rode and handled themselves. I made some friends for life and just want to say THANK YOU to everyone involved with this unique and cool program.
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Here's some fun video teammate Sue Butler made:

The view from the top of the hill at the Stillwater Criterium the final day of the Nature Valley Grand Prix:

The upclose and personal view of the hill at the Stillwater Criterium:

Thanks to my cousin LeAnne for the pics!

I also would be remiss if I did not mention and give a huge shout out to my entire family who were the reason I was able to do this. My mom who flew in to Minnesota to take care of my kids. My sister in law Andrea who provided bikes and helmets for all the kids so they could race in the St. Paul crit. My cousin Molly and family who hosted us first, and my Aunt Sue and Uncle Tim who hosted us later in the week. And thanks to all my other cousins, aunts & uncles who entertained, hosted and in general made sure my kids had fun while I was out racing my bike!

Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic

2010-06-16T09:06:00.000-07:00

The Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic was the weekend before Nature Valley, and is sponsored and promoted by the same folks. Since I was going to be up there anyway I figured I'd go up a little early and give it a shot. I've never raced anything but local track racing before and it is something that I've been wanting to do for a while. The Nature Valley people were awesome and I got to wear the Nature Valley Pro Ride kit! They brought over boxes of granola bars and I was treated with Rock Star Status!

I was very intimidated having only raced a 250 meter track, or anywhere other than northbrook , once. 2 years ago I went up to Blaine in Minnesota and tried it out. I remember being absolutely terrified. The best way I can describe it is that it feels like a roller coaster. You have to keep your speed up so the centrifical force can keep you on the track. If you go too slow, you fall over and slide down--which I learned the hard way. Blaine is a wooden track made of special African wood and if you crash you end up with splinters.

The event was to take place on Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday. On Friday during the day, they offered a clinic with Colby Pearce, a national champion and olympian. The morning was supposed to be a Madison clinic on the track. The Madison is a points race done with a partner. Only one partner is racing at a time, and while one partner is racing, the other is riding as slow as possible (remember you have to go fast enough to not fall over) around the top of the track. When it's time to switch, the resting rider slams down the track and the rider who is going out grabs their hand and slings them forward on their way out. Since it was pouring rain Friday morning, we ended up having the clinic inside.
Here's Colby demonstrating a Madison exchange with chairs. Not exactly the same as on the bike but for a beginner like me I think it was almost better to have some classroom time first.

The afternoon part of the clinic was on training for endurance events. Colby is the former National Track Endurance Coach, and I learned so much! There is talk of him coming to Chicago for a clinic and I'm really hoping that happens. There was just a lot of really basic stuff I didn't know and he patiently explained everything and didn't make me feel dumb for asking questions.

Regarding the actual event, I honestly did not know what to expect. I was told that there was a sprint omnium and an endurance omnium and I could race as many or as few races as I liked.

Since I didn't know what the events were I just signed up for everything. I think had I not been racing the Nature Valley Stage Race later in the week I probably would have raced everything just to try it out, but in the end I decided to race all the endurance events as well as the Kierin, the race where you start out following a motorcycle, which is a sprint event. Carrie Higgins, one of our country's best track racers raced all the events and won both the Sprint and the Endurance Omniums!

Here's the start of the women's Keirin final. You draw a number for a starting position and then you are started with a holder. You are started with a gun when the motorcycle comes around and you can ride anywhere you like as long as you don't pass the moto. They gradually go faster and faster until they pull off at two and a half laps to go and then it's an all out sprint to the finish.

It was fun hanging out with some other Chicago folks. Al Urbanski, Jason Garner, Jeff Whiteman and Franco all came up. Here's Jason and Jeff about to do an exchange in the "Madison Kilo" which is a time trial with exchanges.

They did awesome and missed winning first place by tenths of a second!

Jason ended up winning second in the Sprint Omnium!!

I did all right but for the most part I was trying to learn and figure things out. I knew I was a little nervous and didn't quite have the technical skills so I would have to get away if I wanted any points. It worked in the first points race and I ended up in fourth place and getting some press!

It was a grueling event and by the time we did our final 60 lap points race on Sunday I was exhausted. I tried to motivate myself by realizing that we were all in the same boat--everyone had been there all weekend and was tired.

All in all it was a fantastic experience. I met some great women from across the US. I learned so much , got some confidence and feel like I would definitely like to do more and get better at this!

Nature Valley Video

2010-06-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

The staff at Nature Valley Pro Ride team sent us video cameras and asked us to make a video about our lives and how cycling fits in. Here's mine: Nature Valley Video

You can also view it on the Nature Valley Pro Ride Website

From PWP

2010-06-02T18:51:00.000-07:00

I love getting emails like this from PWP Participants. This is from Paul-Brian McInerney:

Hey Kristen,

"It's Paul-Brian from PWaP. I just wanted to give you a brief update on my early race season. So far, so good. Just last weekend I rode/raced the HAC/NCC Gravel Metric Century--65 grueling miles of gravel farm roads through and around DeKalb. I'm embarrassed to say that 65 miles is the longest I've ever ridden a bike. I'm not embarrassed to say that I came in 10th out of 50 riders, finishing the ride in 3:40. In terms of my proper discipline, mountain biking, I haven't had too many opportunities to race. A couple of weeks ago I rode a race in Winona, IN. It's one I've done a couple of times before. Last year I came in 7th in my age group (which translated to 53rd overall in cat 2). This year, I came in 3rd in my age group (a bigger, more competitive age group at that, which translated to 17th Cat 2 overall). I'm racing again this coming weekend--a race I did terribly in last year. Lots of climbing. I'm looking forward to the race this year. I'll let you know how I do.Thanks again for your help and encouragement this winter.-PB"

Way to go PB Keep up the great work!

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day weekend is a big regional weekend for us in the Midwest. The three criteriums in Iowa are all very different and offer some of the best most unique crit racing in the United States!

This weekend was awesome fun. Jason decided to stay home with the kids and let me be a bike racer this weekend. I missed them terribly but had a blast with the folks I was traveling with. We had a group of 7 of us travelling together and stayed at Molly's parent's mansion on the hill overlooking the river in Davenport, IA. Our group consisted of teammates Molly, Kim and Leah, Jannette from Cuttin Crew, Mia from Triple X and Molly's husband Josh who gets mad props for travelling cheerfully with 6 ladies :). We were a great mix of people. Kim's gifts in the kitchen, Leah's mechanical skills and Molly and Josh's awesome hospitality made for a great time.

Snake Alley

I am aware that I am not physically built to do snake alley, but there's something appealing about doing something so challenging. I did surprisingly well there last year and have been training as many hills as is possible where I live, and I admit to having high hopes for the snake this year. When we raced, it was very hot-95 degrees, and I felt very affected by it. I got a great start and got the "hole shot" hitting the hill first but was immediately passed by, well, everyone. I did finish but got slower and slower every lap. I was very disappointed. Local star Amanda Miller who now rides for Tibco came back from international racing to reclaim the title. Lisa Vetterlein, the fellow mom who I had raced with at the Iowa City races earlier in the year was a dominating second, and Ashley James from Kenda rounded out the podium.

Even though I was not sure what to think about my performance, it was great being seeing some PWP folks doing great out there--Cathy Frampton from Project 5 on her first Snake Alley ride, and Jannette in her first Snake Alley ride in the women open both finished well. Mia and Kim, who were doing snake alley for the first time in the cat 4's had fantastic finishes.

This guy gets an A+ for his amazing attitude. Molly's husband Josh is a cat 4 who loves hills and was really looking forward to riding snake alley for the first time. At the line, his tire went flat, and could not get a new wheel in time to start the race. So devastating. All of us were impressed with how he handled the situation we were all pretty sure that we would not have been as good spirited in that situation.

Also worth a mention is Avi, from Cuttin Crew. Here he is at the start line on his first of THREE snake alley races on the day. A glutton for pain, he is a living legend :)

Melon City

The next day was the Melon City Crit. A unique crit on a path around park, with a sweeping descent finishing on a speed bump, heading to a slight uphill that doesn't seem like enough to hurt, but somehow does. At the top of the hill is a hairpin chicane that leads to the finish. I do not have good feelings towards this race and just did not have my head in the game today. It was another scorcher of a day and I ended up pulling out of the race 4 laps in. Mia and Kim raced hard in the cat 4 race, immediately in 6 person break. Jannette finished great in the main pack of the women open and was second in the women cat 3's! Leah lasted a couple laps longer than me, but pulled out as well. The race was won in style by Lisa Vetterlein who went solo fairly early and had a commanding lead, lapping everyone but the main pack.

Quad Cities

After Melon City I was having some nagging thoughts about what I was doing away from my family on memorial day weekend. I was having a good time with the folks I was with, and can't even tell you how appreciative I was about that, but I was still feeling a bit sorry for myself. I called my awesome husband and he told me to call my coach. I love my coach but I wasn't really sure what she could say that would make me all of a sudden start riding better... She called me that night and said exactly the right things to me. It was the most amazing pep talk. I was laughing and really pumped up after I got off the phone.

I got to the venue early because Molly, Jannette, and Leah were racing the women's 2/3 race early in the day. It rained just before their race turning their race into a crash fest. Molly was feeling fantastic and looking amazing at the front of the race but crashed!! She wasn't hurt but when she got back in and tried to ride, her derailleur was too bent :( Even though she's bruised and probably sore today, she was really happy with how she felt. I know she would have finished great had she been able to! Leah and Jannette thankfully stayed upright but got caught behind crash after crash. Leah really wanted a second chance to race but she is also a mom, and needed to get home right after her race. Kim raced next in her last race as a cat 4. Our little mountain goat on a flat course rode with an aggressive fierceness that was awesome to see!! She did fantastic and ended up 6th.

After sitting around for 6 hours, I was plenty nervous when our race started but Coach Christine told me if I was gonna stick around I should go for it. I went into that race ready for battle. At registration I basically hijacked the #1, since I knew Meredith Miller, last year's winner wasn't going to be there. :) Kenda had quite a few riders in the race and I was really hoping to get in a break with a couple of them. I was aggressive from the get go and attacked and bridged up to some promising situations. Nothing stuck and I tried a final solo attack at 4 to go but was caught. At 2 to go Kristin Wentworth from Kenda started the leadout. I was happy to be on her wheel but I was nervous because I didn't see any other Kenda around and knew she couldn't hold it for the entire two laps. Sure enough at 1 to go there was a swarm and I found myself boxed in at about 6th or 8th position. I pretty much bullied my way out (sorry Emily) but I went up the outside not really sure what I was going to do next. Right when I hit the front, in front of the Holiday Inn, Trish Black attacked hard. She got a gap and it took me until the 2nd to last corner to catch her wheel. Thankfully she went wide and I passed her on the inside line. I went as hard as I could and didn't look back. I really expected to be passed at the line but I was able to hold off the chasers! I can't even tell you how happy I was!!!! I have always wanted to win this race and it felt great! Thanks to everyone for their kind words and support. I really appreciate it.

Article in the QC Times

Track Season!

2010-05-17T11:43:00.001-07:00

photo credit Ed White

Northbrook Track Season opened last Thursday. I'm really excited about racing as much track as I can this year. I LOVE the track! It's deliciously scary, hard and always FUN!
It's a great place to practice race tactics. Every category gets three races per night, and women are allowed to race in the corresponding men's category (or one lower) so there's the opportunity for 6 races/night.

On Thursday, it was great to see some PWP women trying the track for the first time this year.

Women are welcome to just show up on Thursday nights. All you need is a track bike which you can borrow for free at Turin or Albertos. Men need to earn their cat 4 upgrade on Friday nights before racing on Thursdays. If you want to practice beforehand, there are clinics every Monday and Tuesday. Friday night is practice racing where you can ride a track bike and/or your road bike. That starts on June 4th.

If Thursdays don't work out there's lots of weekend stuff too. Check out the website for more info, and don't be afraid to just show up! It's a super friendly place and people love helping you get started.

Monsters of the Midway and Fox River Grove

2010-05-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

Jessi, Stacy and I on the podim at FRG
Leah and Molly hanging out at FRG

On our way out to FRG we encountered some water on a trail so we had to get off and portage!

What an excellent and fun weekend of local racing! The women's scene here in Chicago is really getting big! Sat was the famous Monster's of the Midway race at University of Chicago. Long flat course but really hard (for me anyways) to gage the sprint correctly. We had yet another fun active race, and this time I had a teammate! After several breakaway attempts, Leah strung things out on the final laps and I ended up in second.

Sunday was Fox River Grove. I've never done this race, and didn't know it was in it's fifth year, I think it's been moved around a little on the calendar, but this weekend was perfect for this race. What a COOL race. It was a long course with a huge hill in it--perfect training for Snake Alley and Nature Valley. The course resembled the finishing circuits at the Road Races for Nature Valley so I decided to make it a full on training day. JRW, Molly and I rode the 50 miles to the venue, (thank you John for the gorgeous route!) and got there just in time for the race. They raced us with the 50 + men. Jessi Prinner fresh off some European racing, was immediately in a break off the front. I was doing allright the first three times up the hill, but then after that was struggling. The amazingly strong Stacy Applewick, in her second race of the day, caught me and I hung onto her wheel for dear life to the finish. She really made me ride a lot harder than I wanted to! In true suffer fest fashion I think everyone finished in groups of 1 or 2. Leah and Kim (also in her second race of the day) finished well. We were happy with our effort, but that was definitely the kind of race you are happy to be done with! What great training!

It was fantastic that both of these races were within riding distance of my house. If you're from out of town, this would be a great weekend to visit Chicago for some racing. Mark your calendars for next year!

Inspiration

2010-05-12T07:20:00.000-07:00

This is inspirational for anyone who does a sport.

A great read written by Kristin Armstrong--(as in used to be married to Lance, not the cyclist Kristin Armstrong)

Joe Martin

2010-05-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here's me with some fellow lawbreakers, prisoners who get out of jail to help set up the race

I wasn't really planning on doing any stage racing this year but I won that pro ride spot at Nature Valley and I'm terribly excited about it! I'll finally get to see what it's like to be totally supported at a race! Wanting to be fit for that, I figured I should do something hard before hand. I had hoped to do Speedweek, but that didn't work out.

The weekend before I got a little sick. Maybe I should have just cancelled the trip; but by then my parents were already on their way to help with my kids. I didn't mention it to my coach that I wasn't feeling great because I know what she would have said.

Without going into too much detail, on the way down, about an hour from Fayetteville just on the Missouri side of the border, I ended up in a police station in handcuffs getting my mug shot taken and fingerprinted. I got to sit on a bench next to a guy being arrested for drugs who told me , "rehab is for quitters." Needless to say it's important not to ignore letters from the state regarding your drivers license. I had to pay to get my car towed off the highway, but they were all very nice and they let me go saying that what I did after I left was my business but I better not get pulled over again and maybe it was best if I just didn't come back to their county.

I pulled in to the hotel just as the manager's meeting was starting. As daunting as it is to show up entirely by yourself at an NRC stage race with no team or support, the organizers and everyone involved with the race really try to make you feel welcome. Even so, after the meeting I went up to my room, unloaded my stuff and took some time to decompress from the exciting events of the day. I was daunted by the logistics of the weekend. How was I going to get to all the starts of the races? The time trial was a 45 minute drive each way? One false move and I'd be back in the slammer.

The next day everything was brighter and once I got to the tt location safely I felt much more settled. I happened to run into a super nice guy who was hosting another individual rider from Canada and it was after he generously offered his house for me to stay he mentioned that the XXX Chicago folks were going to stay there too!! Kevin and his wife Pam, the Canadian rider, and all the XXX folks were terrific! We had a fabulous time together and I could not believe my good fortune running into them.

I wasn't feeling great, I never had a fever, but I was manufacturing an amazing amount of snot and coughing a nice deep productive cough. I'm not exactly a good stage racer to begin with, and in top form I'm hoping for field finishes, so my expectations were not high. Even though I gave it my best, my time trial was a full minute slower than the year before.

In Friday's 65 mile road race I lasted about halfway through and then found a nice group to ride in with, hoping to make the time cut. There's a lot of funny stuff that goes on off the back in a stage race, and today there were various degrees of cheating going on. Two riders drafting off a car passed the group I was with and we all jumped on. After going 30mph for a couple miles and shredding all of our group except me and the original two riders and getting no response when I asked a couple times, "isn't this cheating?" I dropped off. I rode by myself until other cars came by bringing two Bicycles of Tulsa riders up so we had a group of three who rolled in just barely making the time cut. When I checked the results I noticed that the two original drafters were given field finishes. I didn't really know what to make of that but I wasn't exactly innocent so I kept my mouth shut.

Saturday was another 70 mile road race. I was dropped on the second significant climb and resigned myself to finishing the race. I found a nice group of 5 to ride with. An Australian national rider, a Canadian rider, and the two Bicycles of Tulsa riders I had ridden with the day before. The Australian, Canadian and I were sharing the work evenly and the Tulsa riders were struggling, skipping pulls and falling off on the climbs. We waited for them so we could stay together and after a bit I asked if it would be ok if I stopped and took a "nature call", and the Australian and Canadian said they were going to drop out of the race so they would just keep going. The Tulsa riders said that was fine and would wait for me. But when I pulled over only one stopped with me. A little confusing, but I figured the other woman was just going to drop out of the race and didn't really care. While I was stopped on the side of the road we saw the Sram car come by towing a rider who had gotten a flat. The remaining Tulsa rider and I continued together but when we hit the turn around point, she told me she was going to turn in. I still had about 35 miles to go but was determined to finish and was in a seriously positive mood considering the circumstances. I had driven all that way, was in gorgeous rolling Arkansas country and was going to finish that race. I did finish, alone, and when I crossed the line I ran into the girl who I had waited for but didn't wait for me. She told me that the Sram car had pulled the girl that had flatted up to her and the two of them finished the race together. Turns out the two of them had made the time cut and I didn't. This derailed my "ray of sunshine" attitude and I had a few dark moments. Luckily I was able to come around. In reality, who really cares, I shouldn't have been off the back in the first place. I had been arrested in scary hillbilly country and survived, I did get to meet some super cool people, and ride my bike through some beautiful country. No I didn't get to race the crit but I was super happy to be able to get home (safely, without arrest) on Sunday in time to see the family on Mother's day. Gotta say I've never been so glad to get home safe and sound!

Circuit of Sauk Road Race & Vernon Hills Crit

2010-05-03T10:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend Kim and I drove up three and a half hours to race the Circuit of Sauk Road Race in Baraboo, WI. I did this race last year and knew that there was going to be two 15 mile laps which included a pretty sweet climb on each lap. Last year I got dropped on the climb so I was eager to give it another go. I knew Kim would be fine on the climb so we got there ready to give it our best. We had a decent field of about 19 to start. At the top of the first climb there was 7 of us left. Two Kenda, two Planet Bike, two Flatlandia, and one IS Corp. At the top of the climb we hit some crazy cross/headwinds. Kenda took turns attacking us and Planet Bike turned up the speed. In between trying to chase down Kenda I looked back and noticed L'il Kim was literally blown off the back of the break! This crazy wind is really the one time in cycling that I appreciate having a little weight! So then we were 6. With the pace so high and the Kenda attacks, I was worried about conserving for the second climb. Turns out I was fine! Such a fantastic feeling, and not one I'm used to! Made it to the top of the climb and dropped another one of our break, so now we had 5. Near the end of the race, just when I let myself relax, and think "wow I made it" IS Corp did a beautiful attack. It was so impressive I took notes on "how to attack at the end of a race." Kenda went with her and Planet bike let a small gap open up and then they chased hard. Unfortunately I was in slow motion and couldn't catch on and rolled in fifth. After the race I was sort of taken aback. This was not my usual style of racing. Kind of weird, but I just tried to focus on the fact that I could hang with the climbers!! Yay!

Kim ended up riding in for 10th. Nice job! After the race we rode around for 30 or so more miles with Tamara Fraser. Such a lovely area to ride.

Next day was the local Illinois Cup Vernon Hills Criterium. We had a small field, but it was a great race! Very active, lots of attacking and good times! Normally I would rather stick a sharp stick in my eye than go solo, but I'm trying to work on my weaknesses and figure if I want to get better I've got to try! I was hoping to get away with another rider or two and I tried couple times with various riders, but nothing stuck. Finally late in the race they called a prime. A Project Five rider went for it and got a nice gap. Mack got nervous and chased her down bringing me along. We blew by and when I took a hard pull, I looked back and had a gap, so I just kept going and that was the race.

The other thing that made the race interesting was that early on in the race, for no reason, I got a bloody nose. Blood was spewing everywhere and I couldn't get it to stop. It was very embarrassing but I really did not want to let it to ruin my race. All I had in my bottles was heed, but I still tried to pour it all over myself which only resulted in a big sticky mess. Thank goodness Ed White was there to capture it all on film:) I'm convinced that the reason I ended up getting away was the other girls were just grossed out and didn't want to ride with me.

Earlier in the day I got to watch Jason, Ted and Jeff race the master's 30+. Nice job guys! There was a break of two off the front and Jeff ended up third in the sprint. Well done.

Iowa City Road Race and Crit

2010-04-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

Here's our "podium" from the crit. First and Third place (second was missing) but I love this picture becuase both Lisa and I have kids and they were all running around on the stage. during the awards presentation.

I so badly wanted to race the Southeast Crit Series this year. But it just didn't work out so I was looking for some racing this weekend and decided to go to Iowa City for a 50 mile Road Race on Saturday and a Criterium on Sunday. I've done these races in the past and they've been well attended good regional racing. We packed up the family and told the kids we were going on vacation to Iowa.

So disappointing to show up with only 11 women on the line! Even with the low turnout we had some really strong riders there. Sydney Brown, the winner of a spot on last year's Nature Valley Pro Ride Team was there. Sydney is not at full strength right now, recovering from an injury, but she really got me excited about Nature Valley telling me about her experience last year and how much fun I'm going to have. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, Lisa Vetterlein, a name I remember from years past as being a crazy strong rider, but had never met, was just returning to competition after a four year break. There were also some other really strong women in the field so there was some good competition even if we didn't have big numbers.

The road race was 4 laps and a little over 50 miles. I accidentally got off the front and rode by myself for about 12 miles early on. They caught me and then a break of two go away with about one lap to go. I chased hard with another rider, but we never closed the gap and I ended up second in the field sprint for fourth.

The crit the next day is a pretty good test of skills and fitness. A scary fast downhill corner and a short hard climb with a twisty top half of the course. I was thrilled to feel great on that downhill corner this year! When the break went (the same two as the day before) I killed myself bridging up and it took almost a lap but I got on. I tried to recover but only lasted a couple of laps until I got dropped on the uphill. I rode as hard as I could for the rest of the race and was pleasantly surprised to finish in third place with a large gap behind me. That's a big deal for me and almost made up for the disappointment of getting dropped from the break. In all it was a great workout and I do like those races--only wish we had a bigger field.

The kids had a blast at the hotel pool and loved staying up late watching a movie (Ratatouille) in the hotel room. The organizer gave the kids water bottles for showing up and they thought that was terrific. Having a fun family time was great. Even though I was super bummed not to be in Georgia, it would have been a trade off not to have the family there and I did end up getting some good racing in!

Leland Kermesse

2010-04-18T20:49:00.001-07:00

Photo Credit John Firak

It was with much trepidation that I started the Leland race. I am not a fan of gravel. While it was definitely a road race, it was an unusual road race because it boasted 3 serious gravel sections. By serious I mean there was one line of semi rideable gravel and the rest was sloshy and thick. I was told "if you ride too far into that it will be 200 watts harder" !?! I didn't race it last year because it conflicted with another race on my team's schedule and I was given a lot of crap for that so I felt like I had no choice, sucked it up and went to the line.

First of all let me say that I did not do much of anything to help with the race. But I know how much work my husband and the other guys put into it and was so pleased that it went off without a hitch. As a competitor I tried to be extra critical of everything and what I saw was the Flatlandia team and friends running a fantastic event and all the competitors having a great time. Super tough conditions made for super hard racing.

This was the first race of the year that all 4 of the Flatlandia women were racing together! Since only about 10 1/2/3 women showed up, they combined all the women's fields, which meant that we could all work together. So exciting for us. We knew the wind was going to be a huge factor and also the gravel. Since it was so difficult to pass on the long gravel sections if you got behind the wrong person (s) that could be the end of your race. I was so proud of our teamwork. We made a plan and we executed it! From the start we controlled the race and they got me to the gravel section in second position behind Jessica Hill, the '09 Chicago Cyclocross Series winner. It was a safe bet that she was going to kill it on the gravel and sure enough she took off on the first thick gravel section and I was terrified but forced myself to stay on her wheel. At the end of the gravel, there were 4 of us. Jessica, Tamara from XXX and Jannette from Cuttin Crew. We immediately started working together perfectly. The wind was brutal. With my teammates behind us blocking, our break's cohesiveness could not be matched and quickly established a huge gap. I was terrified every single time on the gravel but being with only three other riders made it so much less complicated. We also knew we needed each other to work through the wind. Jessica did the lion's share of the work in the gravel and still took strong pulls on the concrete. She showed no signs of fading until at the end of the 3rd lap she just disappeared. I still thought she might catch us in the gravel but I guess I underestimated the wind because she was out of sight fast. Tamara, Jannette and I were so thankful to be in a break! It was one of the best race experiences ever. We hit the turn for the finish and rode three up down the long finishing stretch. I came across first, with Jannette in second and Tamara in third. Just as soon as we could safely pull over we all hit the brakes and gave each other a big hug.

Leah got third in the field sprint, and Kim was second in the fours race! Molly flatted but luckily after she had done some good teamwork.

At first I was so glad it didn't rain, but after the race I rethought that because in the dry conditions I really inhaled quite a bit of dust!

Great job everyone and thank you for putting on such a great race.

Photo credit Steve Hansen

Hillsboro Roubaix

2010-04-12T20:46:00.000-07:00

Hillsboro Roubaix is really our first big regional race of the season. It's still pretty close to the end of the Pedaling with a Purpose season so one of my favourite things about this race is to see everybody who's been working out with me all winter get out there and race. A filled women's cat 4 field and 47 women in the open. So Cool!! Kim was racing in one of her last cat 4 races before she upgrades, and Leah was riding with me in the open.

For the last two years this race has been a qualifier for the Nature Valley proride composite team. The top finishing cat 1 Man and 1/2Woman each earn a spot on an all expenses paid composite team for the Nature Valley Grand Prix Stage Race coming up in June in Minnesota. What a cool opportunity. Since I'm not currently on a supported team this year, I was really hoping to win this.

The race itself didn't go that well for any of us. Leah cramped in the second lap and was on the wrong end of a split. Although Kim had a great finish she was hoping to go out of the cat 4's with a win, and instead ended up 7th (out of 50!). I was feeling great and riding strong, but when a break of four went up the road, I didn't think it would stick. Instead of bridging my butt up there I tried to rally the troops to chase and had no takers. I ended up fourth in the field sprint for an eighth place finish overall. I was disappointed, but the weather was gorgeous and really, what a great day for a ride.

Turns out the 7 ahead of me for whatever reason took a pass on the pro ride, so I'm going to Nature Valley this year!!! Pretty excited to be on a fully supported team and get to just race.

Another cool thing about hillsboro this year is that since we were coming straight from PA we stayed at The Pheasant Valley bed and breakfast which was really an entire farm all to ourselves. The kids really enjoyed hiking and playing on the land, and John and Vicki White were the most gracious hosts.

PA Vacation

2010-04-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

A lot of my family lives in Pennsylvania which just happens to be one of the best places in the country to ride. We took a week and spent it visiting our family and getting in some great rides. The weather, which is usually about what we have in Chicago this time of year was spectacular! We had close to 80 and sunny every single day!! Here's Jason getting ready to help with the milking on my brother's dairy farm.

The pink bike at the top of a climb--the pics really don't do it justice! Even though I have the exact same bike as last year, I got dialed in with a new postion at the Bike Shop that was noticeably better for climbing and descending.

Beautiful road quality!

We just happened to be riding by Cannondale so we asked a passer by take our picture.

We do love coffee!

I did get to spend some quality family time too. Here's a fancy girls tea party we had with hats and the good china.

My new bike is here!

2010-03-29T18:22:00.000-07:00

Super excited about the new pink bike! Today Molly and I and the kids went over to Leah's to put it together (I'm supposedly helping--Yes I did put on those water bottle cages!!) and I was just struck by the coolness of the moment that I needed to document it with a photo. My daughter is hanging out watching and learning from female mechanics! What a cool thing.

Local Racing here we go

2010-03-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

Our local season has officially begun. Let the cold and windy racing begin!

Last week was the Gaper's Block Crits put on by the Half Acre team. These are a week long series of Criteriums for beginning racers here in Chicago. They are USA Cycling sanctioned, and designed for folks to get racing experience and upgrade points. Last year was their first year, and as I recall the women's fields averaged about 6 riders per day. This year there were over 20!! The men got two races per night and they were all nice sized fields. I was keeping tabs on how the people from Pedaling With a Purpose were doing, and here's what we ended up with:

Men: one 8th, one 7th, two 6ths, one 3rd, and one WIN!!
Women: one 14th, one 12th, two 10th, one 9th, 8th, 7th, 6th, three 4ths, four 3rds, two 2nds, and FOUR WINS!!

The best was hearing from people who did their first crit ever and how now everything we'd talked about now made sense. Keep up the good work people!

This weekend we had two local crits around car race tracks. I couldn't make the Saturday one but my teammate Leah raced and easily won her race! Jason did his first crit in quite some time and did fantastic! He's got some good teammates this year and it sounds like they had a fun race. Jason was even able to help lead Ted out for a fifth place finish!

Sunday's race was at a car race track in Joliet. I headed down there to meet up with Leah and Kim for our first race with the three of us together. Got there in time to see the Flatlandia guys finish up their race. Nice job guys! Unfortunately the women had a fairly small field, I think we had 10 girls on the line, but we gave it our best. Kim attacked and Leah countered launching the winning breakaway. I let it go thinking I could just bridge up..... NOT :) It was too windy (Crazy windy!) and the other girls with us did a great job covering our every attack as Kim and I took turns trying to get up to the break. Leah won the sprint out of the break for her second win of the weekend and I took the field sprint for third. Lovely course and proud of our teamwork. Just would have been more fun to have a bit bigger of a field.

Bike Messenger Career Day?

2010-03-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

My Daughter Lucinda is in Kindergarten. She came home from school the other day and asked if I had ever been a bike messenger. I said yes, and why was she wondering? She said they were studying bike messengers in school and reading stories about them and singing songs about them. ????????????????????????? The next day at pick up Lucinda's awesome teacher Miss Conte asked me if I would come to class and talk about my days as a bike messenger.

Turns out they were studying alternative methods of transportation and learning about getting around by bike; which is cool. But glamorizing being a bike messenger? Not to be hypocritical, but something about that didn't quite sit well with me.

But since I'm not sure how much longer Lucinda is going to think it's super cool for mom to come to school, I dug out some Swobo knickers and just had fun with it. The kids were really into it. I brought a bike, an inner tube, a u-lock, a clipboard and a radio. Like real messengers, they loved the radio the best. (I knew those race radios would come in handy this year!) You can see in the picture how the kids put pencils in their crayon boxes and made pretend radios.

I tried to emphasize how fun it was to ride around on bikes and that being a bike messenger is a dangerous job, but fun, and a good way to "earn money for college" :)
Bike messenger song:

Bike messenger story:

Congratulations to PWP Illinois Cycling Cup Winners

2010-03-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

Last night Jason and I attended the Illinois Cycling Cup Banquet celebrating the 2009 season.

There were 4 winners from Pedaling with a Purpose!!

Congratulations to:

Scott Pearson for winning the Men's 1/2 division.

Jeff Perkins for winning the Men's Cat 4 division.

Cathy Frampton and her team, Project Five, winning the women's team competition.

And I won the women's 1/2/3 division.

Nice Job!

Congratulations Aaron!

2010-03-01T16:58:00.000-08:00

Aaron Dykstra, a PWP participant before he and his wife Michelle moved back home to Virginia, won Best New Builder at the Shimano North American Handmade Bike Show this weekend.

Quoting from the NAHBS website: "His Six-Eleven Bicycles are named after a famous steam engine built in Roanoke, VA, the base of this company. 'This bicycle is inspired by the aesthetic of the six-eleven steam engine, which is the pride of Roanoke. It seemed fitting that I should make it a track bike, and I've added a small grille to the top of the head tube, and the serial number plate is derived from the train too,' said Dykstra"

So cool.

For more information on Aaron's bikes, check out his website: http://sixelevenbicycleco.com/

Women's Beginner Racing Clinic March 20

2010-02-28T16:31:00.000-08:00

Leah and I along with Half Acre Cycling are presenting a Women's road racing clinic at UIC. If you are thinking about racing or just want to learn more about it, come on out!

BH USA

2010-02-22T19:32:00.001-08:00

While we were in AZ Tim Louis brought Leah and I to the BH USA World Headquarters for a tour. We got to meet everyone and see secret engineering rooms. It was very cool to get a behind the scenes look at what goes on at BH USA. Thanks for the tour! It was great to meet you guys after riding these incredible bikes for the last 2 years. Looking forward to the third.

Valley of the Sun Stage Race

2010-02-22T14:17:00.001-08:00

The Ladies of Flatlandia,minus Molly:(
Leah, Kim and I just returned from a successful race and training camp in AZ. We raced the Valley of the Sun Stage race, which was a time trial, a road race, and a crit, and then stayed on a couple extra days to get some miles in. We were hosted by the wonderful Hulburd family and had a fabulous time. The weather was gorgeous every single day and even the locals were remarking how nice it was.

For VOS, I raced the 1/2's, Leah raced the 3's and Kim raced the 4's. I was really happy with my race with the exception of the time trial. The time trial was 14 miles and flat. I gave it my best and rode as hard as I could but finished 28th out of 38 starters, a couple minutes down. Not exactly a surprise, but I was still hoping for a more competitive time.

The Road Race was 58 miles and included 4 times up a 12 minute gradual climb. I felt great! The climb felt like no big deal and I was able to go with all the attacks. Colovita had some numbers there as well as a couple of AZ and CA teams. Nothing stuck because it seemed except for the climb, the rest of the race was downhill. The finish was at the top of the climb and I was in great position....until 200 meters to go, and then had no sprint. I was very happy with this result. Kim also had a great day here and finished third in her race!

The next day was the crit. A lovely downtown figure 8 course lined with palm trees. I felt just fine and was able to move around and go for some primes (only to get nipped at the line!) and I finished in the field. I'm not currently training my top end speed right now, so I was very pleased with how that went. I also felt a night and day difference with my confidence in the corners. Probably something to do with ending my season last year on a positive note, unlike the year before, when I ended my season with a serious crash. I moved up a couple spots in the GC, but the goal of the race was training, and great training I got!
The best thing about the crit was watching my cat 3 teammate Leah (they combined our fields) ride around looking completely at ease. She ended up on the podium today!

We then stuck around for a couple of days and got some fabulous riding in.

We had a blast and enjoyed every sunny moment.

This picture pretty much sums up the trip for me :)

As good as it is to get away, it is always great to get home and see the family. Here's Sidney helping me put my bike back together.Every year it's such a relief to get the first race of the year out of the way successfully. I am always appreciative to the people at PWP for helping me get through all those hours on the trainer that makes having good fitness this time of year possible. Thanks!

New Year New Team

2010-02-22T13:44:00.001-08:00

For 2010 I will be riding with my old friends at Flatlandia. In addition to the great group of guys on the team (one of the original founders of the team being my husband Jason :) I'm super excited about the women we have this year. I hope to be able to help them come up through the ranks and I look forward to traveling to races with them and helping them in whatever way I can.
Leah Sanda, who's ridden with Flatlandia for a couple years now is a cat 3 on the road, and plans to race lots of road stuff this year in addition to her main focus which is cyclocross.
Molly Godlewski, also a cat 3, is a fierce sprinter hoping to do lots of road and track.
Kim Gialdini, a climber who wants to stage race, raced her first season last year and hopes to get her cat 3 upgrade by Memorial Day.

I hope to do as many races as I can and focus on NRC crits. I also plan to do some Track this year. In addition to racing locally at Northbrook track, I'm hoping to race some of this new series.