Elite Track Nationals, Carson, CA

I have wanted to go to track nationals ever since 2006 but to me the track represents fear and intimidation.  Being an adrenaline junkie it also represents a pretty big rush, and the idea of overcoming the fear and accomplishing something so hard is a huge draw for me. Other drawbacks are that it's quite a lot of money to spend to go compete at something where I don't know what I'm doing, and falling at the end of September I'm usually tired from the year of racing on the road and the idea of staying sharp and fit until then is overwhelming.  

This year some things changed.  One is that I got a spot on the Garner Cyclery Track team, and was able to ride with and get invaluable advice from some very experienced track racers.  I sought out and received excellent advice on everything from training, equipment,  how to warm up, and all of the logistics involved. And one of the positives about crashing in the middle of the season and taking 4 weeks off, is that now I was feeling pretty fresh and good.  I'd had a really positive experience at Omnium nationals back in August, and felt like this was the year to head to Los Angeles!

I had attended nationals last year as a pilot on a tandem with my visually impaired partner, Kim Borowicz.  The original plan was to go and ride with Kim again this year, and also compete in the individual endurance events.  However, Kim got sick and was unable to train, and did not get better in time to make the trip.  It was such a bummer, and I debated whether or not to go. At the final hour, I just decided to go anyway.  Lucky for me my Garner teammates Jeff and Jason G let me tag along with them.  

Garner Cyclery teammates Jason Garner and Jeff Whiteman

I was going to compete in the Individual Pursuit, the Scratch race, and the Points race.  My events were going to be on Thursday morning, Thursday night, and Saturday night.  I was hoping to find a team pursuit team to jump in with on Friday, and I could have been convinced to jump in the Madison race on Sunday, had I been able to find a partner, but everyone there was pretty much set with teams.  While watching the team pursuit I was overcome with the very strong feeling that WE NEED MORE WOMEN FROM CHICAGO GOING TO THIS!!!!  Goal for next year: we need to field a women's team pursuit team and at least one or two madison teams!!  There is no reason we can't make this happen and be competitive!  

Because the training is so specific, most track racers specialize in either the sprint or the endurance events.  I am an endurance rider and Jeff and Jason G are sprinters, but Jeff also jumped in the scratch race, which is an endurance event.  

My first event was the pursuit.  The pursuit is a time trial event where you and one other rider are on the track at the same time.  You start on opposite sides of the track and "pursue" each other.  The start is a standing start, and then you go as hard as you can for 3 kilometers.  Everyone goes at least once, and then the top 4 riders go on to a final round, to determine first through fourth places.  If you get passed by your opponent in the qualifying round, you keep going so you can get a time.  If you get passed in the final round, they shoot the gun, the race stops, and you have a winner and a loser.    Most people have predetermined splits and they have a coach on the track with a stopwatch yelling out their times.  Since I have only done the pursuit one other time, we decided that I would just wing it and based on my time I would figure out splits for next time.   

Bike check

Before each event, you must get your bike checked to make sure that your position is legal.  If you've seen the movie The Flying Scotsman,  you know what I'm talking about.  Prior to coming to LA, I had actually sawed off the front of my saddle, because I was unable to get it into a legal position otherwise. 

Sidney helping Peter make my saddle UCI legal

Since I hadn't competed on my bike in it's current position, the first thing I did when we arrived Friday morning was have my bike checked to  make sure it was legal.  The officials will do this as a courtesy, but you still need to get it "officially" checked immediately before your event.  I was told I was good to go.  When it was time to go, Jason G took my bike over to the bike check and I went and sat in the waiting area.  I could see there was trouble, and I saw Jason G and Jeff getting tools and adjusting my seat.  I was so grateful for their help and I did not get nervous.  Had I been involved I would have been completely frazzled.  Apparently my seat was not horizontal, and the officials had changed their mind on whether or not I needed to have it fixed to compete.  

Jason G finished the adjustments and had my bike ready within minutes of my start time!  In the starting gate I thought of everyone that helped me get there, and all the effort it took.  I was ready!  But when the gun went off even though I'd practiced a ton of standing starts, I still messed it up.  Bleh.  I ended up getting passed about 2K in and when she went around me I was able to kick it up a notch and match the pace she was keeping....obviously I was not going hard enough in the beginning.  I think she was also using me as a carrot and probably slowed a bit after she passed me.  But I was in a tough spot, as it's illegal to draft or repass someone after they pass you.  When my competitor's race ended on the opposite side of the track, I still had half a lap to go.  Instead of pulling up track and out of the way, she sat up and slowed down, blocking my path.  I was yelling at her to get out of the way (if I really was doing a pursuit effort where did I get the breath to yell???) and finally at a quarter lap she pulled up.  I was mad, but mainly I was mad that I'd gotten passed.  I should have been going harder from the beginning.  Even with those mishaps I still posted a 4:10 which was good enough for 11th place, and it was 8 seconds faster than my last pursuit.  

about to get passed in the pursuit
photo courtesy of Erika Fulk

Next up was my scratch race, the race that I felt most confident in.  I've raced a ton of scratch races in my life and it's also the race most like a criterium, which is what I consider my specialty.  However, it's also a mass start race which means there's tons of riders on the track, and the possibility for crashing.  Crashes happen all the time in bike racing, and I feel way more confident about how to avoid them on the road.  I'm getting better on the track, but I still have some very real fear.  I was feeling good until 20 minutes before the race, and then the panic set in.  Somehow I got to the line, and when the race started I was able to settle in and be ok.  The race was fast and I rode hard.  I did have some some good efforts where I tried to bridge up to two riders who were off the front, but I was unable to close the gap, and spent the second half of the race unable to move up and finished at the back of the pack.  I was disappointed since I had had high hopes for this race. 

Scratch Race: If only that was the finish line :)
photo courtesy of Erika Fulk

My final event of the week was the points race.  Jason G had gone over a plan for the race with me and I felt really good about it. Going into the race the fear was there and I couldn't shake it.  I followed the plan as best as my legs would allow, but my legs felt terrible.  About 30 laps into the 100 lap race, I felt the fight go out of me.  About a lap after that there was a crash and 3 or 4 riders went down.  In a mass start race, they allow 5 laps for crashed riders to jump back in, and after I rolled around a couple times watching them on the sidelines, not getting up right away, I just decided to quit.  They all ended up being fine and jumping back in the race, but I pulled myself from the race and ended my nationals experience disappointed but safe.

Jeff and Jason G rode well in all their events, but most exciting was their medal in the Team Sprint!  

Jason G and Jeff and their Oregon guest rider Dan Birman winning Bronze in the Team Sprint

Liam Donoghue, John Tomlinson, Tom Briney, and Dave Moyer from XXX did Chicago proud in the team pursuit, and Liam had fantastic rides in the Individual Pursuit and Points race, earning a silver and bronze respectively.  Chicago rider Danny Robertson from WDT won bronze in the Keirin, and silver in the team sprint. Great job Chicago!  Only thing missing was more Chicago women!

Hanging out with Jennie Reed

Another highlight of the weekend was getting to meet Jennie Reed, who most recently won a silver medal in the Team Pursuit in London this summer, and was a super good sport about getting her picture taken with me :) 

And I got to see my old friend Laurel who is from California and one of the people who got me into this whole bike racing thing in the first place.  She was there competing in the team pursuit. 

In the end I was pleased with my effort but disappointed with my scratch race results, surprisingly happy with my pursuit, and just plain bummed by my points race.  I learned a lot and gained a TON of confidence.  I am hooked, and I definitely want to train harder and come back next year! 

When I think about it how many people helped me get out there,  I get a little choked up.  Just know that I thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

And finally, if you have 3 hours, here's a Video of Saturday night's session

Gateway Cup, St. Louis MO

Sarah and I and our gracious hostess Marsha, who lets us crash at her house every year, and has been known to drive people to the dentist when necessary 

Gateway Cup is a 4 crit series in St. Louis, MO.  Not part of the NCC or USA Crits,  it's a very well attended long standing regional series coming at the end of the year, with equal payout for men and women. These races are super fun and a perfect way for us in the midwest to end our seasons.  Sarah and I were excited to be racing together and didn't even care that hurricane Isaac was predicted to cause huge rainstorms all weekend.  We drove down Friday afternoon through tornado warnings and intermittent storms and arrived at Lafayette Square for our nighttime crit in a torrential downpour.  I was nervous, and waiting around to start it was easy to see everyone felt the same.  I'd raced in the dark and the rain before, but never together.

The dark rainy crit Friday night
When the race started the rain subsided to a light drizzle and everyone behaved themselves and rode very well.  Early in the race I attacked and got a gap.  I was solo for a couple laps until Kenda bridged up.  We were soon caught and a couple other teams threw down some attacks.  It was so awesome riding around in the field seeing Sarah confidently taking those slippery corners.  Mid race I attacked again, and Sarah countered!  It was awesome.  She and another rider had a gap but it was chased down.  Things were going great until three laps to go when I hit a bump and got a flat.  I had lowered my tire pressure so much because of the rain that I got a pinch flat.  So much for tubulars!  Bitterly disappointed but glad to be safe and sound, I got to watch the finish and see Sarah ride a stellar finish in the money, avoiding a major final lap crash that took out half the field.  I honestly had no idea when it was happening, but apparently when I was off the front I got a prime!  It was a great surprise and almost made up for getting a flat.

I had a little bit of history with the next day's race and didn't really want to race it in the pouring rain.  But that is what we did.  It rained so hard during our race that I couldn't see at times, and there were puddles that grew into actual inches of accumulated water.  I know that in these conditions you've got to be aggressive and attack and get off the front, but I was very timid and rode with extreme caution.  The absolute highlight of the race was at 2 laps to go Sarah took a flyer.  It was a beautiful move.  Unfortunately Kristin Lasasso was there to chase her down, but it was one of those gutsy risks that can payoff big when they work.  Sarah was caught at about 1 to go, but still was able to collect herself and finish in the money.  So impressive!  I finished in the money too, and while I wasn't super thrilled with my result I was thrilled to finish with all of my teeth.

Keeping my teeth!

Sarah and I at the start of the Giro Della Montangna race on the Hill

"The Hill" is an old italian neighborhood in St. Louis, that has been hosting this bike race for 26 years.  It was one of my first cat 1/2 races when I started racing and I think of it fondly.  The neighborhood people are awesome and the crowds are great.  There's long straightaways with one long slight uphill and tight corners.  After 2 days of racing with no breakaways, we were ready to try again.  The field was together until the last third of the race.  I knew we had a $200 prime coming up and my plan was to attack and be away when they called the prime.  Unfortunately they called the prime exactly when I attacked.  I got a gap, but was a little bit uncertain of how to proceed.  Hindsight being 20/20 I should have just gone for it.  What's the worst that could happen?  I wouldn't get the prime and I'd get dropped.  As it was I slowed down and tried to conserve a little.  Kristin Lassaso chased me down, came around me and sat up.  I passed her, but again I hesitated to go all out--the final straightaway was long.    Kristin started to sprint and it wasn't until then that I went all out.  I neared the line thinking I had it, only to get nipped at the line by my Colombian nemesis Diana Martinez!  To make matters worse for me Gwen Inglis from Kenda and Laura Van Gilder countered the prime and got away.  I could not hang on and was dropped.   But on the positive side, I got to see the finish where once again Sarah held her own and finished in the money!

Sarah and I were racing well, and I was proud of our efforts, but we were hungry for some better results. We had a plan going into the final day and we executed it!  Monday's course is awesome.  It's really long, with a long grueling though slight up hill, and lots of twisty corners that you could absolutely fly through.

I was taking the corners super fast and loving it!

We communicated really well during the race and at one point Sarah was going to lead me out for a prime.  Unfortunately Diana was on my wheel so we shut it down.  Sarah continued her aggressive riding and tried some attacks.  At 5 to go Kristin Lassaso attacked and she and I had a gap.  We traded pulls, and then she attacked me.  I caught on, until several others including LVG caught up.  There were multiple attacks and the pace stayed high.  I maintained my position and felt great.  At one to go, Kristin took over and started her lead out for Laura.  I was on Kristin's wheel and she took me to the final corner. I went from the corner and got passed by LVG and Skylar Schneider and ended up in third.  Finally a podium!  Sarah and I were very happy.

 Awesome capture of Sarah's aggressive riding during the weekend stolen from Steve Tilford's blog

Even though we would have liked to have done better overall I thought we rode very well and am pleased with our efforts.

 Benton Park Podium:  1st.  LVG, 2nd Skylar Schnieder, 3rd Spidermonkey!!

Elite Omnium Nationals, Rock Hill, SC

Track Nationals are always in Los Angeles the first weekend in October.  This year, USA Cycling decided to do a separate event for the Omnium.  What is the Omnium?  It's an olympic event that Sarah Hammer from the US just won a silver medal at in London! The Omnium is like the overall event in gymnastics.  It consists of 6 individual events, and the winner of each event gets 1 point, second gets 2 and so forth.  The winner of the omnium is the person with the lowest amount of points at the end of the 6 events.  It's not based on cumulative time so there is no benefit to winning by a lot, only winning.  The events that make up the omnium are as follows and in this order:

The flying lap

Points Race

Elimination race

3K pursuit (4k for men)

Scratch race

500 meter time trial (1k for men)

Each event has it's own specific gearing, equipment, strategy and rules.  Since each of these events are also individual events, USA Cycling decided this year to separate the omnium and hold nationals for it separately, making it a little easier on both the competitors and the organizers.  

The event was hosted at the brand new Giordana Velodrome in Rock Hill, SC.  It's a 250 meter outdoor concrete track opened in March of 2012.  It's about a 30 minute drive from Charlotte, NC and the swanky professionally staffed velodrome fits in well with the completely sports mad town.  The Carolinas are serious about their sports venues!

Going to this race was one of those things that just fell into place. Somehow Thursday at 5am my two children, local Chicago racers Liam Donoghue and Tom Briney (who before this weekend had been a complete stranger) 3 bikes, 2 sets of rollers and 2 disk wheels ended up in my toyota matrix for a 13 hour drive.  

At best I have a very healthy respect for the track.  At worst, I'm absolutely terrified of it.  The only serious crashes I've had in bike racing have been on the track.  Most recently I crashed on the velodrome in Blaine, MN in June.  It was an unpleasant experience and it took me out for four weeks.   I approached this competition with much trepidation.

the tunnel leading into the track

We arrived in town late Thursday night and got to the track in time to get about 30 minutes in before racing.  Riding around in warm up, I heard the unmistakable gunshot sound of my tire popping!  I've never experienced this in twelve years of racing track.  Sheer terror.  I kept my cool and was able to exit without going down, but it scared me.  I started sobbing uncontrollably.  Liam and Tom to their credit were kind, and gently gave me some space, understandably distancing themselves from the freak show.  A super nice guy competing in the master's race loaned me his wheel for rest of the competition.  Next thing I knew it was time to do my flying lap, and again I was seriously freaked out and crying when I got off the track. 

photo credit: Erika Fulk

Flying lap: aero helmet, shoe covers, drop bars, no gloves, long sleeve skin suit & BIG gear

I did not finished last, and was pleased with that. During the afternoon it poured rain, but the track dried quickly and it only delayed the evening's start by about an hour.  The points race went well for me!  It was a 60 lap race where you sprint for points every 10 laps.  I got in an early break with Erin Glover of Portland (who incidentally was the woman I had run over in the crash in Minnesota totaling her bike and wheels)  and we scooped up two sets of points.  Erin rode me off her wheel which was a bummer.  Had I been able to work with her I think we would have had a shot at lapping the field which gives you an automatic 20 extra points.  In hindsight I think my gear choice was wrong.  I got some more points in the final sprint and ended up in 5th place, which I was quite pleased with.  I came off the track smiling and not in tears!  In the elimination, the last rider of every lap is pulled.  I messed up the start of the race, got pulled first so was placed last.  A bummer, but I didn't dwell on it.  

Off the front in the points race!

The next day we did the pursuit in the morning session.  This is a time trial where there are two riders on the track at the same time, starting at opposite sides of the track.  It's a standing start, and you are held by an electronic device that automatically lets go of your bike after a countdown.  When I was about to start the timer malfunctioned and the holder let go of my bike 5 seconds prematurely.  A little unnerving but no tears were shed and I was unfazed.  They could not get the timer working again so all of the women did our pursuits individually; not super cool but at least it was the same for all of us. My start was terrible, I actually turned sideways and went up track before I went forward.  I did not finish last, so it was about as good as I could have hoped for.

Next was the scratch race.  A 40 lap race where the winner is whoever crosses the line first at the end.  My favorite race!  With only two events to go the standings were established.  The riders in first and second were watching each other as well as the third and fourth placed riders.  Early in the race the third placed rider took off.  First and second let her go, and the rider who was in fourth was most motivated to chase.  I was motivated too so I worked with her for a bit, but with the two strongest riders sitting in, I knew it was foolish to exert myself any more so I backed off.  We slowed as a group and the solo rider extended her lead.  At about 12 laps to go, I looked over my shoulder and noticed that I had a small gap.  I started ramping it up and they let me go!  The first placed rider lapped the field and at 2 laps to go I saw the back of the field!  This meant I had a shot at catching the field and sprinting for the win, but alas, I never quite latched on.  I finished in second place and was thrilled!  

Our final event of the night was the 500 meter time trial.  After my second place finish in the Scratch race I needed to finish ahead of the riders in 5th and 6th place and I would get 5th place overall!  Instead my 500 meter went horribly.  My standing start was ok, but in the first corner I found myself sort of out of control and actually popped a wheelie !?!  Not exactly efficient.  I finished dead last (by a lot) and ended up in 7th place overall.  The amazing Cari Higgins won the event making this her 12th national championship.

Women's podium L-R Mandy Marquart, Beth Newell, Cari Higgins, Kim Geist, Erin Glover

Men's PodiumL-R Daniel Holt, Al Urbanski, Zach Kovalcik, Stefan Rothe, Liam Donoghue

Liam rode in style and won the points race by lapping the field twice and winning the pursuit and setting a new track record in the process.  He ended up fourth!

What a fun learning experience this was!  I made some big gains in the fear/confidence department and honestly had a bit of fun.  The South Carolina track is first class, and everyone there is amazing.  Being part of the George Garner Cyclery Team and riding my new Tiemeyer bike  has been very inspiring for me!  Shout out to my cousin Melanie for housing us and my parents who helped with the kids yet again.  Liam, Tom, kids and I got along famously and on the whole it was a successful trip.  Can't wait to go back next year.  

Cherry-Roubaix, Traverse City, MI

Kind of on a last minute whim, teammate Sarah and I decided to head up to northern Michigan to race a crit and a road race called Cherry-Roubaix.  Usually I avoid races with Roubaix in their name, but the thought of getting out of town and riding in some beautiful country was very appealing.  It was a six hour drive but the crit was at 5pm Sat night and the road race was at 9:30am on Sunday.  Very doable!

I started the crit fast from the gun and lead out the first lap.  There was an Einstein team of 4 that was super tight.  They attacked, and I covered it.  As soon as we were caught, another one countered. Then a prime was called, I went for it and got it.  Another Einstien countered, and again I covered. It was the fourth attack when I couldn't respond.   I needed a minute to regroup, and no one in the field chased it down.  By the time I felt good enough to chase, the rider was off solo.  I tried to bridge but was covered, so I took long hard pulls.  When I would pull off the front, no one would come through.  Frustrating, but I soon resigned to race for second.  While all of this was happening, a spilt had occurred in the field, and unfortunately Sarah was on the wrong end of that split.  As we came into the final lap we could see the group of 15 dropped riders ahead of us.  We had about 15 in our group too.  We were speeding up anticipating our finish, and there was confusion in the group about to be lapped,  thinking that they were going to be finished a lap or two early.  Unfortunately the officials did not do that.  So as we hit the second to last corner, another rider in our group attacked through the lapped group.  I was ready and on it, but she went outside through the corner--dangerous!  I was planning on taking the inside line, so I stuck with that plan instead of staying on her wheel.  I got very nervous and slowed as all the riders swung to the inside to give the other rider room.  I got through the final corner unscathed but she had a gap on me and it was a short final stretch.  I made up ground but ran out of room and ended up in third by inches!  The officials apologized about letting that situation happen, and under the circumstances I felt like I had done the best I could and was thrilled to have not crashed.

The next day was a 70 mile road race over very hilly terrain.  It was pretty much small chain ring the whole race except for the descents.  I knew I wouldn't be feeling comfortable in the race, since I haven't been doing tons of mileage.  However I had a terrible race and I am blaming my bike.  Yes.  It's the bike's fault.  I've had shifting issues with this bike since day 1 and today every time I tried to use the top half of my cog set it would jump around and I would jerk forward almost falling off my bike.  SO FRUSTRATING!!  I'm pretty sure I would not have made the front group but I got dropped on the first major climb, and I definitely had more in me at that point.  It's not like me to blame anything but myself for a poor result but I had over 50 miles to stew on it.  I rode pretty slow.  I stopped to pee.  I got passed by the cat 3 women.  I got passed by the cat 4 women.  I rolled in after the corner marshals had all gone home. On the positive side I was still in the money and I was excited to hear that Sarah had a great race!  Up in the front there had been a split in the group.  She saw it go and tried to close it.  She fought by herself for a while and then sat up until the other riders caught her.  They rode together until the end and then she won her field sprint for 7th place!  Awesome!

We had a great time and it was fantastic to actually have a teammate to travel with.  I think we both rode great and did the best we could considering our circumstances.

Sarah even loved driving my awesome stick shift car!

Elk Grove Village NRC

I'll keep it short because it was a forgettable weekend with no heroics or results.

The Elk Grove Village race was a stage race on the National Race Calendar for women this year. (NRC = National stage races NCC= National criteriums)Being a stage race means you must complete each day within the time limit in order to continue to the next day.  There is a daily prize list as well as an overall.   The race consisted of  3 completely flat stages with lots of technical corners.  There was a time trial, a criterium, and a circuit race which was really like 3 crit courses stuck together.  I have "gotten through" stage races in the past, but to do well at a normal NRC stage race you really need to be on a pro team.  I am a regional crit rider, but given these flat technical courses,  a person like me could potentially do well.  To win overall, you have to be able to time trial and since I can't really do that either my goal for Elk Grove Village was to get through the time trial and to place well on the day in the crit and the circuit race. 

The big women's teams were all there Optum and Now Novartis who dominated, as well as Tibco, Primal Map My RIde, the Colombian National Team, Kenda & IS Corp.  I got through the time trial just fine but I wasn't feeling well. The criterium was the next day. I felt even worse and struggled to hang on from the gun.  I made the time cut but got pulled at 4 to go.  The next day I felt a little better but still not great.  I was able to ride around the circuit with the field just fine.  There were 3 separate crashes that took out multiple people, the worst one was a huge pile up on the last third of the last lap. I got around it but the remaining women on Optum and Now wanted to wait for their teammates who went down so they slowed things down.   I put in a big dig on the second to last stretch only to completely screw up the final corner.  I rolled in at 25th, just outside the money.  

It was a tough weekend for me, and not a lot of fun. 

Bike racing is hard.  

Best part of the weekend:  Eating some great Korean food and hanging out with my cousin Lynn who was there covering the race for Dobson Entertainment.

         There are lots of really great  restaurants in Elk Grove Village!

Grand Rapids Cycling Classic NCC

Grand Rapids, Michigan was home to the National Criterium Calendar Race this weekend.  It was the National Criterium Championships for the pro men, the women had had ours last month.  My race was to end at 3:00pm and the Meshberg Family had a wedding to attend in Southwest Michigan, an hour and a half away from the venue at 4:30pm.

This was my first NCC race after my crash and I felt pretty good in the race!  While I did see the front of the race for a bit I was not in good position when a break of 3 got away, including our current National Criterium Champion Theresa Cliff-Ryan from Team Exergy 2012, Jenn Purcell from Tibco, and Jade Wilcoxen from Optum.  I was bummed to miss this break, as I'm sure everyone else was too.  Tibco and Optum did a great job of disrupting any chase efforts (Theresa was there solo).   In the last third of the race I felt good enough to go for a field prime and got it.  I went a little too hard, and ended up with a huge gap.  Not realizing how big the gap was, I now regret shutting down that effort instead of trying to catch the break.    After I got reabsorbed I rode around with the field for a bit but having a bit of cash in my pocket made me feel complacent.  I wasn't sure how much I would have left or the finish given how much I had expended for the prime so I decided to just throw in the towel, put the bike on the car and do miracles with baby wipes and make up.  

Not bad for not taking a shower!!

Theresa won the race and we made it to a lovely wedding in time to see two really great people get married.  

Superweek 2012: Cracking the Colombian Cartel

 Since my accident at Fixed Gear Classic I've been fighting my way out of a sprained ankle and a nice depression.  Thanks to the help of a great support network, I've been progressing.  Namely, Doc Louis at Hinsdale Orthopedic,  Newt Cole at Morningbird Studio, my coach, and of course Jason and all the good friends, family and teammates who stuck by me.  The ankle, road rash and head injury healed, but I felt very tired, and I lost a ton of fitness.  I eased into racing again with a couple Thursdays at Northbrook.  I found that I was getting beat in sprints, but could hold my own with the endurance. I jumped in the second to last day of the Tour of America's Dairyland, and while what I did wasn't exactly racing, I was able to ride around and finish the race at the back of the field.   I was on the brink of quitting forever (I'm dramatic like that) but my coach said to keep working,  do Superweek and if I had a good attitude I'd go in at 80% and come out closer to 100%.

Superweek has gotten a bad rap over the last few years and attendance was lower than ever this year.  I am a bike racer.  I live near Chicago.  I've traveled all over the country to do bike races.  When there are races near my house, I'm going to race them.  I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Superweek as when I started racing it was THE premier crit series in the country!  Our women's series started on Saturday and went 9 straight days through until the following Sunday.  Conflicting with the first day was the final race in the Illinois Cup Race Series, in Morton, IL a little town near Peoria.  I decided to double up and do both.  Probably not the smartest move, to put myself at a disadvantage to the other Superweek competitors, but since I wasn't confident that there would even be a superweek series, I decided to head down and race the Morton crit first, and then head over to the Superweek opener which was close to home in Wooddale.

Illinois Cup Race, Morton, IL
The Morton Crit turned out to be a gem of a race!  Nice prize money for the poorly attended women's race and lots of fun stuff for the kids to do in a super cute teeny tiny downtown area.  At race time temps were well over 100 degrees.  Only one other cat 1/2 woman, and a handful of cat 4's in the field.   I got second in the final sprint of the race,  but managed to pull out a sprint to win the mid race $100 prime.  By racing this race, my teammate Sarah and I secured the the top two overall spots on the  Illinois Cup for Spidermonkey!

Superweek

Wooddale, IL
After the race we jumped in the car and drove to Wooddale.  I was very excited to see that the Colombian National team was there and fielding a team of 6 riders, and the Costa Rican National Team  was there fielding a team of 3.  That was it for big teams, but the race was on.  We had a field of about 15, the rest of us being locals and individuals.  Even though the temperatures had dropped about 10 degrees, it was still hot.  Racing in the extreme heat earlier that day had taken a lot out of me and I did not feel great in the race.  The Colombians controlled the race, until the final sprint, when no one seemed to want to lead out, so I did and came in very tired at 5th which I was happy with.

Geneva, IL
Photo Credit Elizabeth Rangel

Sunday we raced in Geneva,  a fancy little town on a great course with two sharp technical downhill corners.  I love this kind of course!  We quickly had a break of 5, two Colombians, me, and two other individual riders.  Not cohesive, it was amazing we stayed away from the field, and another Colombian easily bridged up making it a break of 6.  I ended up 5th in the sprint.  Disappointing, but not surprising given my sprinting form.

Richton Park
I really like this south side neighborhood and they seem to really like having the race.  Cool for this race was my former teammate Stacy Mosora coming out to test out her crit legs!  Also new for this race was the added dimension of a Canadian women's team racing with us.  At the line the promoters told us that due to poor attendance they would only be paying out 4 places.  When promoters do this I am not happy about it.  I always feel like they are punishing the people who show up, but honestly I do understand. 16 is not a money making field size.  The race started fairly tame, but the Canadians attacked and then Stacy threw down a couple of attacks which the Colombians countered.  I was able to bridge up and get off the front with one of them, joined shortly by a group of 3, 1 Costa Rican and 2 other Colombians.  I got very frustrated in this group.  Only one of the Colombians would work with me.  I wanted the break to stick so I took every other pull, with the group coming to an absolute standstill if neither I nor the one other Colombian rider were pulling.  On the last lap, my fellow worker attacked, I covered it, but the others were on me and everyone came around me except the one who had led it out so I came in at 4th-last spot in the money and a result I could live with.

Willow Springs, IL RR #1
The Willow Springs Road Race is a nice course with a significant hill in it and the finish at the top of the hill.  It is also very close to my house and I train on these roads often.  Today we did a 3.8 mile loop, going up the hill 6 times.  Going into it I knew the Colombians would dictate the race, and the Costa Ricans had made it clear they were not going to work with me. I knew I had to make the break today.  With such a short race, I thought there would be early attacks, but there were none.  I attacked a couple laps in, but the Colombians didn't want it to stick.  On the second to last lap, I attacked again up the hill.  Three Colombians countered and with them went the Costa Ricans.  I tried to go too but blew up so hard I completely popped off the back of the chase group!!  I regrouped, chased back on, and went to the front and drilled it.  I couldn't do it alone, and the others in the group were unwilling or unable to help chase.  The remaining Colombians were on me when I tried to bridge, and it was very frustrating.  I ended up 9th on the day.

Willow Springs, IL RR #2
The next day we did an extended version of the same course, and it ended up being an extended version of the same frustration for me.  Same hill with the same finish, but the loop was 10 miles, and we did it 5 times.  The Colombians attacked and counter attacked two at a time on the hill and easily got away.  The chase was futile and frustrating.  Rather than ride at 5 mph I lead out the whole last lap and rolled in near the back of the field.  After getting played two days in a row I decided I was tired of getting beat and took the next two days off to regroup.  Also for those days  the race moved into Milwaukee and I didn't really have any travel plans lined up so it just worked out better for me to stay home.  I decided to go back up for the weekend races.

Downer Avenue, Milwaukee, WI
Since Saturday and Sunday were in Milwaukee, Jason and I brought the kids up, got a hotel with a pool, and made a "vacation" of it.  Having just raced this course 2 weeks ago as part of the Tour of America's Dairlyand with 60 women in the field, it was interesting to race it with 18.  There was one tricky hairpin corner.  They shortened our race to 30 minutes, which is very short for a superweek race.  There were a couple of attacks, but nothing got away.  At 3 to go an individual rider made a solo attempt and held it.  On the last lap, I got pinched and nearly taken out on the hairpin!  Scary, but it made me mad enough to jump the field on the back stretch.  In the final corner I caught the rider off the front and then just a moment too late I realized that I had a small gap!  I got passed by two Colombian riders to end up third.  I was super happy for a podium finish finally!!

New Berlin, WI
This industrial park crit had wide sweeping corners and one short side that had a slight uphill.  Going into the last race of a series when you are not in contention for the overall and the yellow jersey is secure can make for some fun racing.  From the line I went hard and the Columbian rider that had worked hard with me in the previous races went hard too.  We immediately had a gap with one other Colombian and a Canadian rider.  The other Colombian would not work, and tried to get in the way of our efforts.  The Canadian rider fell off the back.  All week I'd been regretting my inability to speak Spanish but never more than now.  I couldn't figure out if they wanted the break to stick or not but I sure did!  The only people giving splits were the Colombian team managers, so I didn't even know if we were gaining on the field.  But we were.  Eventually I got some English splits and heard we were making great time.  The two of us drilled it until we lapped the field less than half way into the race.  I unsuccessfully tried to drive our break past the field, and we were reabsorbed.  The rest of the race was very slow broken up only by sprints for points.  I was marking my break mates and had a fairly decent sprint at the end and almost won :(  but came in second.  It was close and if I had to lose to someone I was glad that it was the woman who had worked with me all week.  What a fun way to end the series!

The elusive stage win
photo credit Douglas Fox

New Berlin Podium from Left:  Otto Wenz, founder of Superweek,  my daughter Lucinda and me in Second,  Colombian National Team in First and Third and Michael Garrison, current promoter

photo credit Scott Siebers

Sidney enjoying his summer vacation at an industrial park crit in wisconsin 

My poor results in the road races and skipping two days of racing caused me to end up 8th overall.  I feel pretty good and while I don't know if I'm actually at 100% (isn't that why we are all hooked on this sport?  Because if we work just a little harder we can get a little better??) I definitely feel much stronger now than at the beginning of the series.  Progress was made!

There are lots of problems with Superweek and I don't begin to know what they all are. I was glad to have a series to race and even though I got my butt thoroughly kicked I was glad that the Colombian Team and the Costa Rican Team showed up and I was able to have some successful racing in my backyard!  Thanks and good luck to everyone.

Now to pull up the soap box.  I was sad that more people weren't there but what really struck me were all the complaints of the men who were racing.  Things like:
"They cut our prize money"
"They only paid out x places and a break of x was up the road.  There was no point in racing"
"The field was so small there was no place to hide"
"They combined us with pros"
"The race was not what they advertised"

I can't tell you how many times my prize money has been cut at the line, or my race shortened or field combined.  It happens to women all the time.  So to the men who were making these comments, perhaps now that you have experienced the suckiness of this you will give a nod to the women when you are promoting your races.  And women, the only way we are going to get a better deal is to have more women in races.