USA Crits Speedweek 2012

Speedweek is a 7 day criterium series spread over 9 days.  It starts in Athens, GA with the famed Athens Twilight Race that has over 30,000 rowdy spectators and ends in Atlanda, GA with other races in South Carolina.  The races are part of the USA Crit series and the National Criterium Calendar.  All the best crit riders are in attendance!

I like this series because the weather in Chicago is usually pretty crappy but it’s always 80 and sunny for these races.  It does make it tough to get ready for such hard competition riding on a trainer, but the series provides great motivation for the winter, plus when you come home you’re flying!  I went down there last year and did the whole series with less than stellar “race into shape” results.  I spent a lot of time on the trainer this winter thinking about going back and redeeming myself. 

I had some trouble finding anyone else who wanted to go with me.  Then one day my cousin Lynn who is a freelance writer in Minneapolis and an all around awesome person happened to be in Chicago a few weeks ago.  I asked her if she’d like to go on a road trip and to my surprise said yes!  Later that same day my newly upgraded Cat 3 teammate Sarah Rice agreed to go too!  This was awesome.  I would have a teammate in the races, someone to split the expenses with and a support person to help with the driving.  Perfect!

From the few races we did together I knew Sarah was strong and I was really excited to see what she would be able do in a national women’s field. The day before we were going to leave Sarah texted me telling me to check the weather in Atlanta.  80 degrees and sunny!  We were so excited.  Barely 2 hours later I got a call that Sarah had crashed riding her bike to work and was in the hospital with several fractures in her occipital bone, facial stitches, lots of bruising, and possible surgery needed!   I felt awful for her.  She was disappointed but honestly whether or not she was going to lose vision in her eye was more pressing than whether or not she was going to be going to Speedweek. (note: Sarah is going to be fine.  She’s healing well with no surgery needed and expects a full recovery with no scarring and vision in tact.)

So that left me and Lynn.  She arrived from Minneapolis via Greyhound bus Thursday night.  We left Friday morning after I dropped the kids off at school.  

 Lynn & I about to embark on 2600 miles together!

During the 12 hour drive to Atlanta, Lynn and I traded family secrets and played the excellent road trip game “multiple choice.”  You have a scenario from your life that is true, and then make up 3 other multiple choice answers that are false and the other person has to guess what really happened.  Super fun and helped get us through the entire 2600 mile trip. Our first stop was at my friend and ex-Chicagoan Brian Coll’s house in Marietta, GA.  His mother-in-law has a condo nearby where Brian had arranged for us to stay.  Brian is the president of the cycling club that puts on the Roswell race.  He’s a personal trainer and also one of the funniest and most likeable people I know!  

Saturday-Athens Twilight

The race wasn’t until 7:45 pm so I had time to go for a spin, stretch out the legs and get VERY nervous. I did not want a repeat of last year’s results. I definitely knew I was more fit, but was I fit enough?   Once I started warming up on my powertap, I knew my legs felt great!  This race has the best crowd of any race anywhere! It’s deliciously scary to be racing at night under lights with dark pockets and shadows lurking everywhere and 30,000 screaming fans!  It wasn’t until about halfway through the race that I started to realize I was feeling just fine.  I’d had a terrible start and had to pick my way around riders falling off the back of the pack, but I successfully fought my way up to the top third of the field.  I even saw the front of the race a couple times. I felt great!  I was right there at one to go when a huge pile up happened and I remember skidding for about 20 feet to avoid it (thanks Dave Pilatto for gluing my tubulars!). I got around unscathed.  A group of 10 had gone ahead of the crash, and one other person snuck through well before me but I was able to outsprint the other escapees and finish 12^th!  It wasn’t the top 10 I was hoping for but I was happy with the result and thrilled to have avoided the crash.

Sunday-Roswell, GA

The next day at Roswell, a metro Atlanta race, I was much less nervous knowing that I would be fine with the pace.  The course is in a lovely historic town and except for the start finish stretch, on really narrow streets. It was an odd feeling for me to feel so comfortable riding around. I finished 16^th and was a little bummed.  I needed to get out of the hang on for dear life mentality and start actually racing. I knew I could do better.  Per Brian’s suggestion, after the race Lynn and I found a delicious BBQ place on the course and sat outside and watched the men’s race while we ate.  As Brian said, “People around here are into three things; Church, Football, and BBQ.  The order varies per household”  

At the Swallow at the Hollow BBQ

Monday-Day off

Lynn had some work to catch up on and Brian and I went for a ride. That night we invited Zak, an old family friend of mine over for dinner.  Lynn made Norwegian Salmon and homemade bread.  We had a lovely visit, and just one more thing that made the trip awesome! So great to see him!

           Zak, Lynn & I

Tuesday-Beaufort, SC

Beaufort, SC is about a 5 and a half hour drive from Atlanta. It is right by Hilton Head and is a gorgeous resort area on the ocean with palmetto trees and magical Spanish Moss hanging from the trees.  We didn’t know anyone in the area so we splurged on a room at the Beaufort Inn, a lovely southern B& B that was located within the crit course. 

I’d remembered the tight, narrow corner one of the short (.6 mile) course as being my demise from last year. This year I got a decent start and made the selection that shredded the back of the field.  Sam Schneider fresh off a win at one of the Joe Martin Stages, and several more Tibco teammates now joined us for this race.  Kristen Lasaso from Mellow Mushroom went off the front early and Sam bridged up and joined her.  They stayed away the whole race.  Back in the field, I felt comfortable moving around and at 10 laps to go I moved into excellent position, but on the final corner I went way too wide, not exactly sure why other than perhaps I was a little nervous of the crash happy field in that corner.  I stayed clear but lost all draft and some momentum.  I felt myself get passed and ended up 18^th.  Not a terrible result, but not satisfying either.  However, it was enough to put me in 9^th overall!  My goal for the series was to top 10 and I was optimistic!  After the race Lynn and I went back to the b&b got cleaned up, put on dresses and treated ourselves to a fancy dinner where we celebrated by eating some in season shrimp.  We thought it was cool that we put some Spanish moss in our hair until someone told us it contained mites  :)

Racing under the spanish moss

Wednesday-Walterboro, SC

The race was not until 6pm, but checkout was at noon.  Walterboro is only about 50 miles away so at noon Lynn (who by the way has toured her bike all over the world) got on her bike and rode over.  I hung out on the veranda and caught up on work and relaxed.  I could have hung out there for a week!

 I was starting to get a little too attached to the Veranda and got a little resentful when it was time to go race.  Perhaps it was having too much time to myself but I was officially homesick.  I started to have those creepy feelings of what was I doing away from my family? I missed my kids.  I missed Jason.  I was sick of crits.  I hadn’t gone for a spin that day and my legs felt like garbage.  Bleh.   I arrived in Walterboro a little less than enthusiastic.  I kept trying to remember all of the people who had helped me get here, and not wanting to let them down helped me focus. The course was a rectangle with two really long sides.  The short side before the start finish had two sharp corners and the whole back stretch leading into the sharp second to last corner was directly into the setting sun, blinding us, making it seem like a turn of faith and very scary.  I had another race where I rode around comfortably but didn’t make enough of an effort to move up at the end, and finished in 22 place.  Still in the money, but barely, and not what I had been hoping for.  Disappointed, I jumped off my bike and packed up the car just wanting to get out of town.  We were staying that night in Charlotte, NC at the home of our cousin Melanie, and her husband Orrin.

As we were barreling away from the race, my phone rang (Lynn does not own a cell phone, which somehow seems like a relevant part of the story) and it was a SC number.  We answered and it was someone telling us that Lynn had won a 42 inch TV!!!  Turns out she had bought a raffle ticket “to support the race” while I was racing and she had won!  We did a 180 and headed back to the race to pick up the tv.  It was hilarious and just the pick me up that we needed.  We were laughing so hard, especially when the guy asked Lynn if she would rather have the cash and she said no, she’d like the tv. Lynn isn’t really a tv person, and though she does have one at home it was a super old hand me down.  And how were we going to fit that thing in the car, let alone get it to all the other races we were headed to?  Also, did she remember she would be taking the Greyhound back to Minneapolis and already had a bike box to contend with?  Didn’t matter.  Lynn wanted that TV! 

Thursday-Day Off

We made it to Melanie and Orrin’s house about midnight on Wednesday night, and we got to hang out all day Thursday.  Melanie is working on her postgraduate Pharmacy degree and her husband Orrin is a professional football player. Orrin has always been away training when we’ve been there before.  He’s played for the Miami Dolphins, the Green Bay Packers, and the New York Giants.  Now he’s playing for the Edmonton Eskimos on the Canadian Football League and doesn’t leave for training camp until the end of May.  Melanie treated us to gourmet breakfasts and we had a lovely time hanging out and seeing a bit of Charlotte.

Cousins!  Lynn, me, Melanie and Orrin

Friday-Spartanburg, SC

I knew the course in Spartanburg was a very straightforward course, but I needed to get out of the racing doldrums and made up my mind before the race that I was going to do something.  Erica Allar backed by her ride clean team, and Laura Van Gilder and her Mellow Mushroom Rose bandits squad were dominating the overall, duking it out for first and second.  Tibco was there with a full squad, but had come late in the game since they had done Joe Martin and missed the first few races.  They were there to win races, pick up primes and make things hard.  I thought maybe just maybe I would be allowed to get away since I wasn’t in contention for the overall, and I wanted to try.  The race started and again I felt comfortable.  I knew 18 laps was too early but when they called a prime I just went for it,  got the prime and kept on going!  The announcer started going nuts and I heard that my lead was growing!  Lynn was running through the middle of the course to give me time splits on both sides of the course.  At one point she yelled, “that’s my cousin!!” and almost knocked over a family in lawn chairs.  All I can say was it was glorious.  While I was off the front they called another $100 prime and I got that too!  It was sad but not totally unexpected when I was caught at 12 to go.  Apparently Tibco chased me down.  I reabsorbed and tried to recover for the finish.  At the end of the race I didn’t have much left for the swarm and finished out of the money.  I knew I had kind of screwed my overall placing at this point but it was worth it.  I’d taken a risk and failed, but I’ve never been off the front in a National Race before and I loved it!  I even got a mention and picture in Cycling News!

Saturday-Anderson, SC

Woke up Saturday morning to find one of Orrin and Melanie’s friends had crashed on the couch.  Over breakfast, he was asking about the racing, and he said crit racing sounded like NASCAR.  I agreed but it wasn’t until ten minutes later that it came out he was a real pit crew mechanic for a NASCAR driver.  Apparently most of NASCAR is headquartered in Charlotte, NC, and they fly everyone via private jet to the different tracks. To be a pit crew mechanic you need to be extremely strong and coordinated. They have to wear helmet cameras and watch footage to see if they can make themselves faster.  It was really neat to hear about, plus like Orrin and Melanie, he was a super nice person too. We were sad to pack up the car (tv included) and leave Orrin and Melanie’s.  But really excited to almost be home! 

NASCAR mechanic Mike, Lynn, Melanie and Orrin

Anderson was a new venue for this year and it turned out to be a blazing hot open concrete path around a field with no trees.  We raced at 2pm and the car thermometer said 89 degrees.  The course was an oval with one tricky off camber downhill corner. I was determined to race for a good result today!  I suffered through the heat and rode in good position for most of the race until at 4 laps to go I noticed my front tire was low and I was hitting the rim on the sharp down hill corner.  Very scary, but since freelaps had expired so I had no choice but to finish.  The rest of the course was pretty open so I could catch up and ride at the back of the pack after the corner but I was terrified of taking somebody else out should I try to move up.  So I just rode along at the back of the pack-out of the money- to the finish.  So disappointing. I was happy to have stayed safe, but it seemed this was the nail in the coffin of my hopes for a top ten in the overall.  Sometimes you just have bad luck.

Sunday-Sandy Springs, GA

We stayed Saturday night back at the Atlanta condo.  This course is my favorite course of the series, with an uphill on the long start finish stretch that was long enough to hurt and a couple of really fast downhill corners that are nice and wide so you can really fly.  Super fun.  Again we raced in the heat of the day and I felt tired from the hard week of racing but I’m sure everyone else felt the same.  The demons in my head told me to just drop out, but I fought them and stayed attached to the front group.  I had enough left to go with the surges at the end and on the final corner a bunch of people went wide and slammed into the barricades.  Nobody went down but it opened up a window for me get a clear shot to the finish on the inside line.  I ended up 13^th on the day and 13^th overall!  I did a quick change, went and sat in line for prize money and then Lynn and I jumped in the car and drove home.  We made it through some pretty severe storms to arrive at my house around 3:15 am.  At 7 am Lynn, her bike, and tv got a cab to the greyhound station, and I got to see my kids off to school.  Until the next race, it’s back to real life.

Jason helping Lynn load up her pride and joy into the cab

Overall it was a fantastic trip.  I hadn’t shared with too many people that my goal was a top ten overall, because it seemed so outrageous compared to my results from last year.  I’m pretty happy with my fitness right now, and 13^th is not bad!  I’m optimistic about the rest of the year.  There are so many people to thank.  It was so fun checking in on FB and getting so many words of encouragement from the folks back home.  I could really feel everyone rooting for me!  Special thanks to Spidermonkey Cycling, John Whalen at Kerley Ink, Brian and Diane Coll, and Melanie and Orrin Thompson. Many thanks to Jason and my awesome kids for being ok without me for a week and of course the funny witty and fountain of positivity Lynn --I can’t wait to go to your house and watch tv when I’m up in MN in June for the Fixed Gear Classic! 

Leland Kermesse and Lincoln Park Criterium

Leland Kermesse

The Leland Kermesse is a race that is loved and hated by many.  My husband's team puts this on, so I get a first hand view of how much work goes into it and how many people are needed to make it run smoothly.  Thanks Flatlandia!

I have to admit I was irritated that they combined the women's field with the men's cat 4 field.  As a rule I don't like this situation.  Other than the obvious safety concerns,  I don't think it makes for a  fair race for the women.  However, I totally understand why the folks at Flatlandia made this decision.  With such a small team, they needed to combine fields to shorten the day, and make it more manageable for them.  And as a bonus, I got to ride with some PWP folks--Max Riordon and Mike Morell from Cuttin Crew, Mark Misicko from Tower, and another Spidermonkey teammate, Dave Cushman.  

The race is a 25K Loop consisting of windy flat barren roads with 3 gravel sections making up  40% of the loop.  This year, the women and cat 4 men were doing 4 laps for 100K.  The gravel's consistancy can vary  wildly depending on what the weather's been recently.  It can be deep and loose, or tightly packed, and if it's wet and sticky it gets all over you and your bike, and if it's dry it is incredibly dusty and gets in your lungs.  Your positioning when you hit the gravel ends up making the race.  Depending on the condition of the gravel, passing can be difficult or impossible, so if you can to the front on the gravel riders opening up gaps behind you can cause a split. When you hit the pavement, a fluid breakaway can be impossible to catch due to the wind.  

Because of the gravel, the race gets a lot of attention from folks who normally race cyclocross.   I am not one of those people and am terrified of the gravel.  I just try to survive as best I can.  Of the two times I've done this race, this year the gravel seemed more tightly packed and fairly easy to negotiate, and the dust that can generate in drier years seemed to be minimal.   

We began the race and I have to admit it was really fun having a fast group to ride with, rather than braving the wind with the typical small field of women.  I was in decent position when we hit the gravel, and when we exited the first gravel section I didn't see any other women with our group.  I knew if I could just stay with the front group of guys I could get a free ride to the finish!  It was so nice to have a friendly Spidermonkey Dave to chat with, and fun to see him easily maneuver around in the field.  On the second lap shortly before the hitting the first gravel section again, Sarah appeared!  I was thrilled.  This was too good to be true. We hit the gravel when out of nowhere there was a big pile up ahead of us.  I saw a line where there was just enough room to sneak around but another rider was heading for that line at the same moment so I had no choice but to jam my bike sideways and head into the freshly plowed field.  I didn't crash but had to dismount in order to get out of the field.  Sarah had gotten caught up in it too, but we jumped on and chased back on to another chase group.  After the gravel, I was with a small group of about 4-5 of us including PWP'er Max from Cuttin Crew that started trading pulls and working hard, motivated to catch the front group.  We were gaining ground and after an entire lap, right before we hit the gravel we caught the main pack!   But being at the back on the gravel, I was not in good position and not able to close the inevitable gaps.   I spent the next lap riding all out, picking off riders, and got within sight of the field.  At this point I was riding with only one other rider and just not able to close the final gap.  Right before we hit the gravel on the last lap, there was Sarah again!  So exciting.  We knew if we stayed upright we were guaranteed a 1-2 finish.  Before we hit the finish, Sarah and I chatted and she graciously let me have the win.  We came across the line together about 10 minutes ahead of the next woman finisher!  Not only did we get a great finish, but we got a really hard ride in.  Also worth noting was our Spidermonkey teammate Dave finished second in the men's race!  Really fun hanging out after wards and hearing the stories of the other riders.  Props to our Spidermonkey teammate Kristi Hansen for getting third in the women's cat 4 race!  All in all a great day.

Lincoln Park Criterium

On Sunday we had the XXX team's Lincoln Park Criterium.  It was at Montrose harbor, and it was a sunny but incredibly windy day.  The race was on the lakefront and the wind off the lake was so brutal it felt nasty cold.  Nonetheless all the Spidermonkies that had been hanging out and racing earlier in the day, stuck around to cheer and support Sarah and I.  

Sarah and I discussed our race plan, and I was hoping to soften up the field by attacking, and hopefully the two of us would get away together.  We both felt tired from our efforts the day before, and the headwind on the long start finish stretch was brutal.  There was a nice sized field and a couple of teams represented.  

Sarah and I got call ups!

The LPV team threw down the first attack and then the second.  Then somehow we had a break of 4, consisting of two Spidermonkies and two LPV riders.  This seemed to be the break, when all of a sudden Psimet was there making 5.  We started trading pulls, but it didn't seem like the group was  super motivated to work well together.  They called a prime, I went for it, got a gap and stayed away and held it for the win.  Not sure how long, but I think it was about 10-15 minutes into the 50 minute race.  I had hoped Sarah and I could have gotten away together, but as it was, she got to have a nice easy ride sitting in while the other three riders chased.  She was able to have enough left to give an amazing attack on the back stretch of the course, and hold it for an entire half a lap to the finish.  We were able to pull off another 1-2 finish!!!  We had planned on jumping in the men's race directly afterwards but we quickly scrapped that and decided to just be happy with our results of the weekend.

Lincoln Park Criterium Podium:  Sarah and I and Katie Iserman from Psimet who's result was notable because it was her first race back since being sidelined with an injury.  Nice Job Katie!

An incredible fun day to ride in front of the entire Spidermonkey team who were all out in full cheering force!  So cool to hear about the women's cat 4 race where Spidermonkies Kristi and Stephanie executed excellent team strategy to get Stephanie onto the podium for second place.  

PWP Participant WIns Cat 4 Gaper's Block Series!

Women's Omnium Podium: Kristina Young (TATI) - 2nd, Eleanor Blick (Johnny Sprockets) - 1st, Robin Hoecker (Half Acre Cycling) - 3rd, and Sue Wellinghoff (xXx) - 4th (Photo by Amy Dykema)

Chicago Participant Eleanor Blick was the overall winner of the Cat 4 Gaper's Block Series.

Way to go Ellie!!!

Hi Kristen! Thought you might be interested in the Gapers Block report I wrote. If you want to share it on the PWP blog, feel free! I can't thank you enough--PWP has definitely taught me a ton. The amount of energy I had to push the pace, follow attacks and recovery quickly to make another move was totally new, and it felt awesome.

Read her report here:

Illinois Season Opener Burnham Super Crit

The Illinois Cup season opener was yesterday and this year my new team Spidermonkey Cycling co-hosted the event along with the Burnham Racing team. That meant a loooong day in whatever weather northern Illinois in March decided to give us. We ended up with overcast skies and a thermometer that started at 37 degrees and topped out at about 45 during the day. Could have been much much worse but it still made for a cold day in the elements. Racing your own race is always hard for the promoting team but most of us did it, and some of us raced twice.

My new teammate Sarah Rice and I were going to race together for the first time and we signed up for the women's open and the men's 30+; it was the first mens race that we were eligible for and we wanted to get it out of the way so we could get into "volunteer" mode for the rest of the day. Never having raced or even ridden with Sarah, we didn't really know what to expect.

The women's race was small, but had some strong riders in it. Sarah and I tried to mix it up but no one seemed willing to let anything get away. Having no opportunities to sprint this year I decided to go for the primes to test it out. I got both of them and ended up with a huge gap on the first one that I decided to try to stay away. I held it for almost a lap, but Sarah reported that Village Verdigris and IS Corp chased it down. At the finish, I was feeling confident in the sprint, and was in good position when Verdigris lead it out early. Sarah went up the right side and I went up the left and we held it for 1-2!! Especially fun that my old BH teammate Anne was on the podium with us for third.

(Awesome prime that I sprinted my heart out for. I will wear it with pride given my known love of cyclocross. The other was a potbelly sandwich! Thanks Potbelly :) )

We then changed and hung out in the cold doing some race volunteering until it was time to race our 30+ race. Getting back into the spandex was very unpleasant--it felt impossible to get warm. I tried to keep reminding myself that it could be so much worse! When the race started I actually had trouble clipping in and got a terrible start! I kind of pride myself in my good starts, so it was a little humbling. But I was able to recover and settle in quickly. My goal was to get a good hard training ride in and practice maintaining position--and hopefully make the break! The field was a little sketchy. The wide sweeping turns made it hard to see a good line through the corners, so more than once I found myself being shoved onto the grass, and seemed like I was constantly having to go around riders after they cut me off to take the wheel I was on. Sarah and I did some good work and at one point shut down a break together. But when the winning move got away, I wasn't in good position and missed it. Instead of trying to bridge or work to close it I spent the rest of the race just hanging out. It felt a little anti climactic and when the race was over I was kicking myself for not making more of an effort durning the second part of the race. However, mainly I was happy to be safely done and to change into warm clothes.

It was really cool to get to meet all the spidermonkies I hadn't yet met. What a fun and hardworking group! I was super impressed with Sarah--she's a newly upgraded cat 3 who held her own in the men's race, and worked really well with me in the women's. With a 1-2 podium on our first race, I'm excited to see what the rest of the year will bring!

Learn how to go on a group ride

Do you want to go on a group ride but aren't sure how to do it? Long time PWP participant Jen Welch is teaching the basics on group riding in April:

Years ago, I was slogging through a uncomfortably hot century ride with one friend when a 5 or 6 person pace line breezed by us. They made riding look effortless. My friend explained that a group of riders taking turns at the front of the line used less energy than we did, riding side by side.

Now I ride on Monday nights with the Chicago Cycling Club. These guys started the Monday night ride to recover from weekend races. For some folks it's a recovery ride, and for other folks its a training ride. They're very friendly to newbies and eager to teach the basics of group riding.

But even though I was a strong rider, it took me a while to work up my courage to just show up for Monday night rides. So I've decided to spend a few weeks in April teaching the basics before Monday night rides start this year. I've recruited a few of my usual riding pals to make sure we've got plenty of folks to help. We'll practice single and double line riding. We'll help you build up your confidence to ride close enough to benefit from the group, and ride smoothly and consistently to be safe. We'll keep a nice steady pace, probably around 15 miles per hour. Road bikes are strongly encouraged and helmets are required.

I'm always eager to get more women into riding, so I'm especially encouraging women to join us. It's also a great idea for that boyfriend or girlfriend who already rides and wants to learn what the heck a group ride is all about.

The first ride is scheduled for Saturday, March 31 at 1:00 pm. Let's hope this lovely spring weather holds! We're meeting in the parking lot at Northerly Island, so you can ride or drive to our ride. We intend to practice a bit on the island then head south on some bike lanes and ride around Washington Park. The whole ride should take about two hours. I hope you'll join us.

Jen Welch

My Life Story....

I got to be Spidermonkey of the week this week and was asked to write up my cycling life story.

In case you missed it.....

Podium from the 2007 cat 3/4 Superweek. Side note: Amanda Miller (on the right) is long listed for the 2012 Olympics.

Hi I'm Kristen Meshberg and here’s my life story…. just kidding….ok not really. I was not really athletic growing up and didn’t get into cycling until after graduating from college where I drank and smoked a lot. I got a job, moved to Chicago and got around the city on old bike someone gave me in exchange for babysitting. It was such a liberating experience to be newly independent and be able to get anywhere by bike! From my window at the American Bar Association I had a great view of all the bike messengers riding around and it looked way better than sitting at my desk all day so I quit to become a messenger. I lasted for about a year and a half. I still drank and smoked a lot but it was definitely the most fun job I ever had. I also got run over by cars a lot.

One day after picking me up from the hospital the guy I was dating told me he loved me and asked me to quit. I ended up marrying him. I went back to college and got a Master's degree in Elementary Education. I kept commuting by bike and started doing centuries and triathlons. I never really knew what I was doing, never had any proper gear, but I had a lot of fun. While I was teaching I got a side job at Performance Bike on Halsted. I loved working there, and was soon recruited by Higher Gear Bike Shop, who at the time had a shop on Fullerton Ave in Chicago. That's where I met a whole bunch of bike racers, including the one and only Dean Okun. I was introduced to proper road bike etiquette and among other things I learned not to go on group rides with a messenger bag, what a team "kit" was, and I purchased my first jersey. My husband Jason got really into racing at this time and eventually persuaded me to try a crit. It wasn't until everyone passed me at the end that I realized there might be some strategy involved. That's what hooked me. I couldn't wait until the next week to give it another shot. I started racing all the time and loving it. Shortly after I was introduced to the Northbrook Velodrome. Same as road racing, I was hooked immediately. I ended up getting a used Schwinn Paramount track bike for $550 that I've now ridden for 11 years. (It’s still going strong but I’m finally investing in a new track bike this year!!!!)

Though still working full time I went “all in” on the world of racing. I catted up to 2 and raced for the Trek Volkswagen Elite Team. I did a few bigger stage races but struggled in the Cat 1/2 fields. My idea of training was going as hard as you can all the time—I had no clue! After some time of not seeing any improvement I thought I would just hang it up, put that chapter behind me, and start having babies.

I never really thought I would race after having kids, but a couple things happened with the birth of my two children who are 19 months apart; we moved to the suburbs where I didn’t have a car and didn’t know anyone, I gained 90 pounds, and became a stay at home mom. I was very unhappy and desperately needed an outlet. So I started working out and here’s what ensued:

2006

When my youngest was less than a year old I stuffed myself into the spandex and jumped in a few races. Even though I had catted down to 3 I got dropped and lapped every time. I would lug the kids up to the velodrome and get my butt kicked every single week. Without winning a race all year, I ended up winning the last race on the final night of the season and it was as if a switch was flipped inside me after that. By then some other life changing things had already fallen in place: I had recruited my old friend and former Trek VW teammate to help me with my training and another friend had convinced me to start an indoor winter workout program called Pedaling With a Purpose (PWP). I got some solid training advice and PWP provided the platform for me to seriously train. I began to learn how crucial a solid training program is to having a successful season.

2007

I won 7 out of the 8 cat 3/4 races I entered and earned my Cat 2 upgrade, as well as Northbrook Velodrome Female Rider of the Year.

2008

I raced Tour of California Women's Crit, Redlands stage race, Nature Valley stage race, Speedweek (series of crits in GA, SC, NC) Superweek and many more. I actually won (!) Cat 1/2 races a few of which were Elk Grove Village, Illinois State Road Race, Wisconsin State Road race; enough to get a Cat 1 upgrade.

2009

At the end of 2008 I was approached by some sponsors to start a women's team for 2009. I had no idea how to manage a team and everyone I consulted advised me not to do it if I wanted to be a rider as well. But it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. On paper we did really well, but it took a lot of fun out of it for me, almost enough to make me quit racing altogether, but from it I learned a lot and would maybe like to give managing a team another shot someday when I am done racing.

2010

This year I decided to cool off a bit, race on Jason’s team, go into the year without a plan and only race if I felt like it. I ended up racing more than ever and won a spot on the Nature Valley pro ride team--even though I had sworn off stage racing. I won the Quad Cities Criterium in May, a race that I love but had never managed to win. I thought I would just do the first part of Superweek since the races are so close to my house but I ended up contesting the overall, which meant that I had to race the entire 16 day series, the most consecutive days I have ever raced. I finished second overall.

2011

This winter was rough for me and I experienced my first cycling setbacks since having kids. I was sick a lot didn't get my training figured out until it was too late. My whole year fell apart. I was able to pull out a few results, including Illinois Criterium Champion, and help my teammates a bit, but overall it was a very tough year and every race was both mentally and physically challenging. At the end of the year I found myself looking for a team. I was looking for a place where I could have fun with the sport and possibly inspire some other women to start racing. Spidermonkey welcomed me with open arms! I really like the philanthropic mission of Spidermonkey. It puts a bit of perspective on things to think about a cause and take the focus off of yourself for a just a second.

2012

I had a great winter of training this year and am cautiously optimistic about the 2012 season. Cycling has become a huge part of my identity. My kids don’t know their mom as anything but a bike racer. Pedaling with a Purpose is what I do all winter long, and I’ve started coaching individuals, both of which help keep me inspired. Through this sport I’ve met so many cool people! I do know some of you on Spidermonkey already but I’m really looking forward to meeting and riding with you all!

Racing Season is HERE!!

I have had a great winter of training! PWP was (and is for two more weeks) awesome. Newt Cole's Engine Building class added a new and very positive dimension to things. We had great groups in both locations, and I was very healthy until recently but I realized it's just allergy season starting early. My training this winter was opposite of last winter when everything went wrong.

I decided the Kenosha Spring training race would be the first time for me to rock my new team Spidermonkey kit! I knew I was feeling good, but the first race of the year is always nervous. How was everyone else's winter? Where would I stack up compared to them?

My husband Jason decided to race it with me. It's been a while since Jason had done a crit (2008 maybe?) so I was surprised. But he's been training a bit this winter and I was really happy! On the way up we joked about being in a break together.

It was a gorgeous day, a bit windy, but absolutely beautiful weather. While I was waiting for the race to start I rolled up to the final corner to chat with PWP'er Erica Gaddy who had raced the women's race earlier and was watching (another PWP participant) John Cline race the men's cat 4 race. John was in great position coming around the final corner, and then bam! Not sure what happened but he and his bike were somersaulting through the field and someone else crashed into him and ran him over. John is fine, though he suffered a broken rib, a broken collar bone and a possible broken finger. Not exactly how you want to start your season.

This did nothing to settle my pre race jitters. They delayed our race to take care of John so when we finally went to the line they decided to combine the 3s race with the men 1/2's. I just wanted to get the first race of the year over without incident!

There were around 20 guys at the start and at the gun it was a fairly moderate pace. I stayed near the front staying out of the wind when all of a sudden a red blur attacked and it was Jason! I jumped to the front of the field and enjoyed saying a couple times, "sorry that's my husband--I can't chase". We caught him after about 6 laps or so and as we did I tried to encourage him and tell him to just sit in and recover. Imagine my surprise when a couple laps later the same red blur went again! Not sure how long he was gone but after several individuals put in some hard chase efforts, it took two IS Corp teammates to actually chase him down. After that 2 other guys and I were able to just roll off the front. I was feeling good, trading pulls, until I took a nice pull into the headwind section. My breakmates accelerated and dropped me. Luckily another rider was bridging up and we rode together for a while until 3 more guys followed, including my former ABD teammate Konrad Witt. Konrad and another guy were motivated to catch the break so we rode hard and were closing the gap. Right before we got there, one of the guys in the break exploded leaving the leader dangling in front of us. Konrad waited to close it until the final corner and then he and another guy sprinted ahead, and Konrad took the win! I sprinted too, but wasn't exactly going at the same speed. They passed the leader just before the finish and I held on for fourth in our group but one of the riders who finished ahead of me was a lapped rider, so I ended up third overall. Jason reported that he had tried several bridge attempts after he made sure our break was secure, and ended up in another chase group out of which he won the field sprint for 5th or 6th place! We were both thrilled after the race, and I was relieved to have a positive race experience!