Northbrook Velodrome Opening Night

Ali Engin was there and took some cool pics.

Racing at Northbrook is SO FUN.   Opening night was last week.  You can race for a separate team for each cycling discipline, and on the Track I race for the George Garner Cyclery Team.  This year I have two female teammates to race with, Stacy Mosora and Elena Dorr.  We have a really great team of guys too which are fun to watch (and even race with sometimes).  That's one of the cool things about track; everyone on the team gets to hang out and see each other race, not just the people in the same category.  Elena, Stacy, and I had a blast, and our men's team did well too.  We had so many Chicago women out racing that we actually two fields of women; a cat 4 field and a 1/2/3.  Cuttin Crew, XXX, HalfAcre, and PACT all had teams represented.  I raced with the women and the 1/2 men, as well as a master's race that is always offered.  Did I mention that this is SO FUN?!?!?!

    

                    Getting serious before the men's race :)

Fox River Omnium

Great racing close to home!  Saturday was a fun course in Elgin with a tight downhill/ uphill chicane that spit you out onto the finishing stretch.  It was a local race, but 4 Vanderkitten were there from out of town.  So it was all the usual locals, including our team of 2 Spidermonkeys against 4 Vanderkittens.  Sarah's instructions from her coach were to ride hard and get a workout, so she agreed to cover any attacks and bring it down to a field sprint for me.  There were a lot of attacks, mostly from Vanderkitten, but a few from some other locals including my old teammate (and current teammate on the track) Stacy Mosora.  Sarah covered them all.  I and a few others jumped in very sparingly.  The chicane was fun, but only if you were in front.  It became apparent that to win the race you had to be first into the downhill.  I felt pretty mediocre during the race but on the final lap I gave it my best and attacked hard, but it wasn't quite enough.  Two VK made it ahead of me and that's how we finished.  Happy we made the podium, but super bummed that I missed the podium picture!  We were the last race of the day and when I rolled in after a short cool down, they had already done it.  I was absolutely thrilled with our teamwork.  Teamwork only works if you have a strong teammate and I have a super strong one!!!!!  This race made me excited for races to come.....

Saturday's race:  Kittens and Monkeys

The next day was Fox River Grove, an awesome course with a huge hurtful hill right next to an actual ski jump.   The course was very long and the descent was awesome and fast and wound through neighborhoods.  Sarah and I lined up (she had placed third in the 30+ race earlier in the day--I would have liked to have made that race, but I wasn't able to allot the time that day) and I was able to hang for about 2 laps.  After the second time up the hill I blew up, and then just settled in to try to finish.  We only raced for 30 minutes which was pretty short, and after a while I started to pick people off from the shattered field.  I was getting great speed and having a lot of fun on the descent.  Midway through the race Sarah appeared and helped me pass a couple of riders.  We flew down that hill together but she was killing me on the uphill so I told her not to wait.  We finished 7th and 8th.  Fitness was gained!  After the race I rode out of there to meet Jason and the kids at a family BBQ celebrating cousin Vicki's graduation in Grayslake. It was an absolutely gorgeous ride through some beautiful country that I don't normally get to see.  

Fun courses.  Great Omnium.  So lucky we have this here in our neck of the woods, and totally worth traveling to!  Thanks to Team Psimet for putting on such a great event.

Sunday's hill.  This had to be a warm up lap.... 

Fox RIver Grove Omnium--Erica Gaddy

I love getting these updates from clients:  

Erica is a coaching client as well as a PWP Participant.  She won the overall women's cat 4 Fox River Grove Omnium.  She and her team went in with a a plan and executed it!

Great job Erica!

From Erica:  Mission Accomplished!  Thanks for being an awesome coach :)

SRAM Ad

If you haven't checked out the June issue of Bicycling Magazine, go to the grocery store and pick up a copy.  Inside front cover!

It's true, I do love SRAM :)

Speedweek 2013

I wasn't sure I was motivated to race speedweek this year but my Spidermonkey Teammate Sarah Rice very much wanted to go down to race--and it didn't take too much convincing until I agreed to go.

Speedweek is a series of crits that are part of USA Crits and some are part of our National Criterium Calendar.  The series starts in Athens, GA with the most widely spectated crit in the US.  There are over 30,000 people there to watch the race!  Mostly drunk college kids from University of GA, it's a crazy experience and very fun to race.  The series goes over SC, and NC and ends up back in Atlanta.  It's a challenge for people coming from colder climates to get the training needed beforehand this early in the year.  I've done the series a bunch of times and I like going down there because it provides motivation to train over the winter, and in the past, the weather is usually always 80 and sunny, a welcome change from our cold and rainy spring up here in Chicago.  The main reason I like doing these races in early spring is it lays the foundation for awesome results later in the summer.

I had done really well at Speedweek last year and vaguely thought that I was about where I was last year fitness wise, so I had high expectations.  Sarah had a great attitude and wanted to do well, but this was the first time she'd ever raced an NCC Crit, let alone an entire series.

Other than the weather and the great training, some other things that make this trip so great are:  My cousin Lynn comes along for the whole trip and acts as our professional Soigneur.  I get to hang out with my friend Brian and his wife Diane and stay at his awesome host housing.  I get to see and catch up with my Atlanta friend Zak.  And I also get to hang out and stay with my cousin Melanie and her husband Orrin.  This year, our other cousin Molly, would fly down and meet us at Melanie's house in order to help with the drive home.

It had all the makings for a great trip, except that this year the weather was nicer at home--while we were down there it was raining and cold!  And after the first race (Athens)  it was apparent my legs were garbage and I had no speed.  I realized I needed to readjust my expectations.  The next days race was in a torrential downpour.  I did not feel comfortable in this race and dropped out early.  Sarah on the other hand felt great and held on for a money finish! I changed my goal of the series from placing well to racing my way into shape.  Finally at the Walterboro race, I finally felt decent.  I saw the front of the race and even felt good enough to go for a prime.  Sarah continued to finish in the money.  Spartanburg, a great course for me, also went really well.  I felt confident even though it had rained and the course was slick causing multiple crashes throughout the race.  Sarah was feeling good too.  At 3 to go someone ran into Sarah and while she didn't go down, she had to take a minute to stabilize which ruined her finish.  At 2 to go I was in awesome position when two riders crashed directly in front of me and I had to slam on my brakes and ran into a hay bale. The officials gave me a finishing placing, but would not let me finish the race.  Of course I was happy to not be hurt and have my bike be ok but it was SO irritating.

This year there was a new race for the series in Belmont, NC.  It was a fantastic course with a very long uphill section and I would really like to come back and race it when I am more fit.  It looked fun!

Sarah and I and our SC Spidermonkey teammate Grace, who came out to cheer us on at the Belmont race

The final day was Sandy Springs.  It's a really fun course similar to the Belmont course with a long uphill section and a fast wide descent.  I finished the race  (just outside of the money) and was happy with that.  While I had originally hoped for some better results for the series, I definitely gained some fitness and got stronger.

Uncharacteristically we had to pull out our leg warmers and jackets ?!?! for the series,  but the other non bike racing events were awesome and it was another great year!

Cousins!  L-R Pro Soigner Lynn, Me, Molly & Melanie

UCI Para-Cycling Open, Greenville, SC April 20-21

When Kim asked if I wanted to do some road racing with her this year, I was thinking that our first event would be Nationals, in Madison, WI in July, so we'd have plenty of time to practice.  But when she asked if I'd like to do this event, which was a UCI selection for World Cup races, and would be the same course as the 2014 World Championships, of course I was game!  It just meant we wouldn't have a lot of practice beforehand, and the race itself would be the practice.

In Para events, visually impaired people compete on a tandem, with a sighted pilot.  We are a separate category, competing at the same events as other individuals with disabilities.

Traveling as a tandem team is no small amount of coordination, but the race venue could not have been easier to deal with.  The hotel was basically on the start of the course.  There was a Whole Foods across the street plus lots of restaurants.  It made everything so easy.

We did a Time Trial on Saturday, and a Road Race on Sunday.  The course for the RR was an extended version of the TT course.  It was technical, and while we struggled with it, we felt like we made significant improvements every lap we did.

The weather was awesome; for contrast, here's a pic of Kim and I riding in shorts and jerseys:

And here's what Jason and the kids were doing while I was away:

Kim and I gained a ton of valuable experience, which was our goal for the weekend.  Here's us hanging out with some other tandem teams and individual para athletes, some of which are olympians.  It was also cool to see our Chicago friends Joe Berenyi and Greta Neimanas compete after their London Olympics experience.  

L-R  Me, Kim, Greta Neimanas (Chicagoan/Olympian) Clark Rachfal (Olympian) Kara Vatthauer,  Mackenzie Woodring(Kara's Pilot), Mackenzie's partner, Dave Swanson (Clark's Pilot), Alison Jones (multiple Olympian in both Downhill Skiing and Cycling) and a friend.  

Jefferson Cup, Lincoln Park Criterium, and John Fraser Time Trial

So I've done a couple races and haven't blogged about them!  Here they are:

Jefferson Cup

I went out to PA and Washington, DC for my kids spring break.  The kids had an insanely long break and Jason was able to work a bit from the road so he didn't have to take the entire time off, and we had a great time.  I always get some great riding in when we head out that way, and just for kicks I decided to see if there were any races near DC, since we'd be there on the weekend.  Sure enough, in Charlottesville, VA there was a road race.  I'd heard that it was mountainous there so I wasn't sure what business I had as a crit rider from Chicago entering the race but I decided to give it a go.  We were supposed to do 5 laps of a 10 mile circuit.  I rode well and hung in just fine on the hills.  I covered any attacks and even threw down a few of my own.  They ended up shortening our race, which was a bummer.  I was pleased to finish with the front group, but really messed up the sprint.  So I chalked the day up to a nice training ride.  I missed sight seeing at Mt.Vernon, and I was pondering my choice as I sat in horrible traffic for 3.5 hours on the way home.

Lincoln Park Crit

I was excited to race a crit, as Sarah and I are heading to Speedweek and I haven't done any fast races yet! I love races that I can ride to!  Hometown races are the best, though I always feel pressure when people are there watching, and the entire Spidermonkey team was there to cheer us on.  I jumped in the men's 1/2 race, because the pace of that race would more simulate the pace of the races at Speedweek.  This course has hairpin turn in it and it's right on the lakefront, so it's always windy.  This year the wind was coming out of the west so you came out of the hairpin directly into the headwind.  I think of myself as a pretty good cornerer but I got dropped on the hairpin every time!  I rode with a chase group for a while, but still the hairpin would get me!  After about 45 minutes I just decided I'd had enough and dropped out.  Sarah had also raced a men's race earlier in the day met me to watch our Spidermonkey cat 4 teammates race.  We had 9!! It was awesome and they did great.  PWP's Lauren Wissmen and Kelly Clarke among them.  It was a very animated cat 4 race and looked super tough-really impressive.  Then it was time for us to race.  Sarah and I were psyched to be racing together!  We took turns attacking but nothing got away.  It was frustrating but in retrospect I should have just tried harder (isn't that always the case?).  In the end I really screwed up the finish (this is starting to be a pattern this year--did I forget how to race over the winter?) and waited too long to start my lead out.  Skylar Schneider took me by surprise by jumping early and  I wasn't able to get on her wheel.  The finish line got there before I could catch her.  Sarah and I finished 2/3. 

JFTT

The next day I met my tandem partner Kim in Maple Park, IL for the John Fraser TT.  It was very nasty weather, very windy and 40 degrees with intermittent rain. Good times!  Kim and I have ridden together on the track, but never on the road.  When Kim originally asked me if I would like to do some road stuff with her, I was thinking that our first event would be in July so we'd have plenty of time to practice.  However, next weekend we are going to SC for a UCI paralympic race, and we had not ridden together once!  We are super excited, but I was nervous since we would be doing a TT and a Road Race, and I don't know how a tandem would handle.  Everyone I spoke with said it would be fine, that the track tandem is harder and if we could do that and if I knew how to race a regular road bike we'd have no problem.  Still the JFTT was going to be our only chance to practice.  It was quite a relief to get on the bike and find that we were pretty comfortable!  The only thing we encountered was on the turn arounds (there were two) we had to come to a complete stop, unclip, turn the bike and then get up to speed again.  Next weekend, the turn arounds will be wider and we should be able to take them with out stopping.  On the whole I felt great on the bike and much more comfortable going into next weekend.