Regis' Journey from smoker to World Level Triathlete

This is one of my favorite PWP stories!  Regis, you are awesome!  You better believe everyone from PWP is going to be rooting for you at Worlds!!!


I sucked.  I barely owned a proper bike.  The closest I got to cycling was that I had a Belgian passport and I lived in Logan Square with the other hip kids with bikes.  Oh, and I smoked like a russian submarine officer.  Friends got me to join PWP...

After year one, it motivated me to take on triathlons.  Fuck it, why not.  Pentathlons were a stretch, and I hate horse-riding, but I thought swimming and running were within reach.  I used to run a lot, and I've never drowned.  Why not.  

I had fun, I was hooked and got myself a proper bike (and the looks every triathlete gets when mingling with road cyclists).  It's amazing the little things you a cyclist (at any level): cadence, position, and a really sour arse.  

After year two, I still smoked, I had now done a few triathlons, but I sucked a whole lot less.  My cycling was my strong suit despite years of track and field.  Go figure.  That year, I qualified for nationals. Wow, what?  This is good, and it's clearly thanks to some winter motivation with the PWP clan.  I thought it's pretty cool that a little peer pressure from a few good friends can bring you a lot more than just bike skills and a sour behind.  I had a new hobby and a newfound pride (still the looks form the road guys though).

Then I quit smoking (about time), reduced my intake to a single Boston Cream, and got a little competitive.  I punched through the 2012-2013 session, ran more, swam more, and scored the 4th best bike time at Chicago, transitioned faster than some of the pro's and didn't let one single mother-effer pass me at Nationals on the bike (hail to Kristen).  And holy-mother-of-Jesus, I earned a spot at ITU World's after what was an awesome day of racing.  PWP, it's been a long journey.  Now let's make that Belgian passport proud on Team USA in Edmonton!!!

TD Bank Boston Mayor's Cup Sept 21, 2013

The race course

I've wanted to do this race since it started 5 years ago.  It's got equal prize money for the men and women which is huge!  I'd never been to Boston, the course is smack dab in the middle of downtown, and it just sounded fun.   It's expensive for me to get there but the main thing  that always held me back was that it's so late in the season and to tell the truth I'm usually burnt out and ready to be done.  This year I was feeling pretty fresh and even though I haven't felt completely on top of my game all year, I decided to pull the trigger and go. Dana Kotler, a XXX rider from Chicago had just moved to Boston for her Sports Medicine Fellowship at Harvard,  offered a place to crash for the weekend.  I'd had a pretty poor showing at Gateway Cup over Labor Day weekend and didn't want to end my season with that.

The trip could not have been easier.  It was beautiful sunny weather, and everything went really well.  Dana was super awesome and even though originally I thought she would have to work, she ended up being able to hang out the whole time and even race in the 3/4 race on Saturday.

On the bridge going back to Cambridge

The race was the final race of the year in our National Criterium Calendar (NCC), and all the usual suspects were there.  Our current NCC Champion Erica Allar, Laura Van Gilder, the Schneider sisters, Amy Cutler, to name a few.  They all had at least one teammate there to help, and the Colovita Team had a full squad of riders.  When the race started I felt great!  It was such a relief.  They were calling tons of primes and I went early for a three place prime.  I led it out from the backside to get third to Erica and LVG.  In my head I went "cha-ching there's my airline bike fee". Of course I had a lot more costs to cover so I considered going for another one but I knew I really only had one more big effort left so I saved it for the end.  In the end I moved up as best I could but it wasn't early enough.  I stayed with the front group and was passing people until the line, but my effort was a bit late and I only managed 17th place.  It was still a nice chunk of money and while I wouldn't say I was "happy" with 17th, I felt it was respectable.  The podium, predictably, was Erica, LVG and Sam.

After the race we got some dinner and walked around Harvard Square.  The next day we went for brunch and met up with Dana's friend Erich, mechanic at the Hub bike shop, who had just returned from Interbike the day before.  He ended up giving us a full biking tour of the city, which was cool for Dana too since she'd only been living there since July.

I had a great time and was really glad I went.  Another season in the books!  Looking forward to some beautiful fall rides, and of course PWP!!!!

Dana & Erich

Following Erich down Boylston St. where the Boston Marathon Finishes

Lucinda helped me both pack and reassemble my bike.  She's getting to be a pretty good mechanic!

ABR 4 Person Team Time Trial

Daphne, Lauren, me and Stacy on the top step

I love the ABR 4 person Team Time Trial.  I have a great memory of racing this race as a cat 4, on a team with a couple cat 1's.  To this day, it might be the hardest I've ever ridden!

The event is so great because you take turns pulling with a maximum of 4, but minimum of 3 riders, and covering the distance between point A and point B as fast as you can.  You have to finish with 3 riders, so if you start with 3, you must finish with 3, but if you start with 4, one rider can drop out if they are unable to keep up.  The first year I did it we only had 3, so everyone's time counted.  I rode so much harder because I didn't want to let down my teammates than if it had been just me by myself.

I had planned to race with my track teammate Stacy Mosora, and former PWP participant Daphne Karagianis.  Spidermonkey teammate Sarah was to be our 4th person, but she was sidelined with an injury.  At the track the Thursday before my Spidermonkey teammate (and PWP participant) Lauren Wissman offered to fill in.  She's had a fantastic year and had just gotten her cat 3 upgrade that day.

I'm hoping Lauren will write a few more details about her season, but wow has she come a long way from that person who showed up at PWP last winter with down tube shifters and no clipless pedals.  Daphne and Stacy and I were full of advice on what to do when/if you get dropped.....but holy cow Lauren took awesome hard pulls until the very end.  I had known about her cat 3 road upgrade, and I'd seen her race the men's 3/4 madison race at the track, but she forgot to mention that she'd raced and WON a 'cross race the day before!  Super talented, it's going to be cool to see how far she goes!

We had a great time and ended up winning the thing.  We all took strong even pulls and paced ourselves really well.  I really do love this event!

Gateway Cup, St. Louis, MO Labor Day Weekend

View from the St. Louis Arch

I love Gateway Cup! It's a series of 4 crits in St. Louis over labor day weekend which marks the end or very close to the end of our road racing season. It's not NCC, but there's good prize money and usually attracts a decent field. It's always great racing and tons of fun. I've been doing these races since 2001, and back then it was my first experience placing in a women's 1/2/3 field. I heard the announcer say today that the series has been going on for 22 years!

My teammate Sarah was out for the series, so I had planned to come down with my husband Jason and the kids, but didn't want to pull them out of school on Friday since they just started. So as per usual I was scrambling in the days before trying to get it worked out. After a last minute plea on Facebook, I ended up getting a ride down from XXX racer Erik Didriksen and his family. (thank you!!!)

Jason and kids planed to drive down on Saturday, and would go to the City Museum on Sunday, and after the race on Monday we planned on hitting the arch on the way out of town.

Thursday night was the Elaine Nekritz State Championship Scratch race at Northbrook Velodrome. This is the biggest race for women all year and if you win you get your name on a cool trophy, and it's a lot of fun. Normally I wouldn't race the track the night before heading to a four crit series, but I couldn't skip this one, and I'm glad I didn't!

Elaine Nekritz Scratch Race Podium

Friday: Tour de Lafayette

I arrived at my friend/host Marsha's house around 1 and got to rest up a bit before riding over to the race. It was an easy ride over and it helped loosen up my legs which were pretty tight from the night before. I was slightly nervous about how I would feel. The Friday race goes all day but our race started at 8:15 pm, so in the dark, with the pro men following at 9:15. They bring in big lights to illuminate portions of the course, but other parts are only lit by streetlights and quite dark. The shadows are pretty scary, and add quite an exciting dimension to the race. When the race started, I felt great! Get--a-Grip Cycles, had hooked me up with some Zipp race wheels, and they were awesome! They handled really well and added a degree of confidence. I was riding quite comfortably, but there seemed to be quite a lot of sketchiness in the field. Almost immediately there was a crash which I was caught behind. In the pit, I saw some blood on the other riders. I was fine, and wanted to keep it that way! After jumping back in, it was more of the same. The dark and the shadows made it very difficult to sense where other riders were and where they were going. At one to go I was in great position. I hit the back stretch in about 4th wheel, and then a rider ahead of me had a shifting issue. She kept it together and did not go down or take anyone out but it scared me just enough to pause and get swarmed when I should have just accelerated around it. That was the defining moment. I rode hard on the finishing stretch and finished 18th. Payout went to 25 so I was ok with that, though definitely a bit disappointed. I hadn't slept much this week so I was looking forward to getting some good rest and feeling better Saturday!

Saturday: Tour de Frances Park

Two years ago at this race on the final lap I crashed and lost a tooth. It was already a fake tooth to begin with so it wasn't quite as bad as it sounds. Today was HOT. So hot. It was hot last month during the Prairie State Series and I felt great! So I was actually looking forward to it. Although waking up today with what I could no longer deny was a migraine did not bode well for a good race. I'd had a headache since Friday but had been trying ignore it. I do get migraines and on a scale of 1 to 10 this was about a 2, but it was definitely a migraine. Going into the race, my legs felt great but my head was pretty bad, and the heat did not help things. The race was a long rectangle around a park. There was a slight uphill on the start finish side and a long slight downhill on the backside. The race was fairly animated with several attacks, and I did not really do any chasing or attacking. I just tried to maintain good position and get through it. When a two rider break got away, I sat in while the field let them dangle for a while and caught them at about 3 to go. A perfectly timed counter by the Primal team stuck and got a solo rider away. On the back stretch at 2 to go another rider attacked and seemed to get a gap. I'd planned to go early, so at 1 to go on the top of the hill I went to the front and led it out. I figured I'd be ok with being in the wind on the downhill. When we turned the second to last corner we had caught one of the riders and I was staying with the surges, and in good position. But after the final corner I quickly realized I'd used up too much energy and had nothing left for the sprint. Riders went whizzing by me and I finished in 20th place. I crossed the line and then collapsed in someone's front yard. The nice family who's yard it was poured ice water on me and I believe they may have saved my life!! I wasn't particularly happy with this race but I did the best I could and any race that I finish with all my teeth is a good race.

Sunday: Giro della Montagne

Day 3 of Gateway Cup, day 3 of migraine. It wasn't the worst migraine I'd ever had, but it was there. And I still wasn't sleeping more than a couple hours/night. Woke up this morning to the dull ache, and knew that it wasn't going to go away. I tried everything I could but really the only thing that helps is riding it out until it's done. I've raced with a low level migraine before, and know that it can be done, but it's not fun. The heat really made it worse. I thought I'd be ok today since it was just a tad cooler than yesterday. The Giro della Montagne or "the Hill" as the race is referred to, is called that because it is in the Italian neighborhood called the Hill. Very fun race, all the houses surrounding the course have parties and there is quite a crowd. There is a slight actual hill in the course, but it's not really much to make an impact. The course is another long rectangle with short sides, and the finish is on the slight downhill side. I've done well here in the past and love the fun rowdy crowd. The race started and I felt ok.... until I didn't. I wasn't actually dropped, but at about 7 laps to go, I just didn't want to be there any more so I pulled out. I think it was the right decision as I felt noticeably better ever since and I still had one more day to try for a result!

Monday: Benton Park Classic

The Benton Park Classic is one of my all time favorite courses. It's a very long course with one long straight uphill side. There's a bunch of short stretches with awesome twisty corners leading to a nice downhill section which brings you to the final two corners. When taken extremely fast you have a ton of momentum for the finish line which is midway on the uphill stretch.

I'm not really a fan of the uphill but I LOVE fast corners!!! I can get a lot of speed---even when I was in second position in the field I would find myself having to brake if I didn't want to go around.

Last year I ended up on the podium just by leading it out through the corners. Given how crappy I'd felt all weekend I wasn't sure how things were going to go, but I actually slept well the night before and woke up headache free! I still had the related neck ache feeling but it was definitely over and I knew I'd be 100% in a day or two. I went into the race committed to doing my best.

The race started and I felt fine. I loved leading through the corners and hated anytime I was not in front and couldn't fly through them. About mid race they called a $200 prime. I decided my chances were better at getting that than making it through to the podium so I went for it. I got to the front before the corner sections and took them just as fast as I could. After the first one I saw that I had a gap, and that it was growing with each corner. I pedaled hard on the downhill and flew through the final two corners. I heard later that I had a decent gap but I wanted to be sure so I still sprinted as hard as I could for the line. A bit too hard in retrospect as I had nothing left when the field went by. I had known that was a possibility but since I wasn't in contention for the overall and $200 would pay for a large chunk of my expenses for the weekend I think it was the right move for the day.

Not the greatest weekend of racing that I've ever had but even with a migraine I had a fantastic time in St. Louis.  I've raced in St. Louis lots of times, but this was the first time I came down without a car, and rode to the races. What an easy, lovely city to get around in!

I guess I'll just have to come back to the Gateway Cup!!

Riding to the races

PWP's Cathy Frampton; ABR State Road Race Champion

Sunday, Aug 4^th, I drove south towards Kankakee and proceeded to get lost along following a beautiful river looking for the ABR Two Rivers race course. My luck for the day turned when Project 5's Marilyn Powell pulled alongside me and re-directed me to course.

I heard last year there was only 1 woman at the race, but this year, there was an ok turn-out. Some 4 or so for the 40/50's and another 4 for the open. We would be racing together, however, the open was doing 3 laps of an 18 mi course while the 40/50's were doing 2. I had signed up for the 40/50 race not realizing the difference. My attempts to convince the 40/50 to do 3 laps were unsuccessful, so I changed to the open. 

Within a couple miles from the start, we quickly formed a pace line with everyone taking turns pulling through. The pace wasn't fast, but the atmosphere was friendly and supportive for the newer racers.

Liz So was in the open race. Her cyclocross fast twitch muscles were twitching. She was not satisfied with the pace. She tried desperately to get one of us in the open race to jump with her early in a break. I wasn’t ready to go anywhere yet, still trying to warmup. Noone else seemed inclined to take up her offer so early in the race. 

Well, not even ½ lap into the 3 lap race, Liz jumped - attacking on her own and getting a gap. Our group continued the paceline, keeping Liz within reach. As we went on, the 40/50’s racers were less inclined to pull through, so the three of us in the open race, myself, teammate Katie Isermann, and XXX’s Sue Wellinghoff, traded turns. Nearing the end of lap 2, the 40/50’s asked that we keep out of the way of their finish. Ok. They lunged ahead. It was fun to watch their lead-outs and sprint efforts. Congratulations to Imelda March on her 40+ win with Shannon Pookie-Keaton and Ginger Stephens right on her wheel and to Marilyn Powell for the 50+ win.

Continuing into the final lap of the open race, we weren’t sure if Liz was tiring or not. She was doing a significant amount of work staying just off the front. We got our answer when she reintegrated with the group with ½ lap to go – she was still strong. Looking at the 4 of us, I decided it was not in my best interest to wait for a sprint finish. My teammate, Katie, on the other hand would do well in that situation. So, I started attacking. Each time, Liz was attached to me like glue. I did get a slight gap after one attack, but with a cry from Liz that I might have unfairly crossed the centerline to gain the advantage, I sat up. As the four of us lulled into a pace that made it difficult to keep our bikes upright, I attacked again – but this time I held it out there for a good bit, got a gap, and put my head down to time trial to the finish.

Along the way, I kept looking over my shoulder for the ever-charging Liz So to be on my heels. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. Katie did win the field sprint finishing 2^nd and taking home the Cat 3 IL State Championship jersey.

PWPers Annette Isom and Ann Corvino checking in from Colorado

Greetings!  Just wanted you to know that Ann & I and our team finished the Copper Triangle Road Ride in Copper Mountain, Colorado last Saturday, August 3rd.  The ride was 78 mi and 3 peaks......lots of long up and long down.  Reminded me of one of the Tour de France mountain stages.....could have been my imagination when I was losing it going up and up!  I enclosed a picture.....Ann & Paula from Hinsdale, Margie from Oak Park and me (Glen Ellyn).  

Looking forward to PWP this year!  

Annette Isom

 They said it was 8000 feet!  Chilly!  Awesome Job ladies! 

Master's Track Nationals July 30-Aug 4 Indianapolis, IN

After competing at Elite Nationals last year, I decided I wanted to take track seriously and really train for it and learn how to do it right.  Yes there's cross-over between road and track and doing the weekly racing at your local velodrome is awesome crit training, but competing nationally is completely different.   Everything  from the "scene" to the training to the specific technicalities of each event, including the equipment needed was so foreign to a roadie like me.  This year I've been working with a track specific coach and have been putting in some serious effort.  I picked master's nationals as my one focus for the year because it was in Indianapolis, IN, and would not require a plane ticket.

The kids went to my parents for the week.  Their week involved hanging out on my brother's farm, showing Jersey dairy cows at the 4-H fair with their cousins, feeding calves,  playing with kittens and catching minnows and crawfish in the creek.

Jason had to work so he took the megabus down on Thursday night which happened to be the best stroke of luck.  My new Zipp wheels showed up on Wednesday (I left on Tuesday) and Jason was able to glue them up and bring them down on the megabus.  Thank you so much to SRAM/Zipp for making this happen!!  They are super awesome, and definitely the nicest wheels I've ever ridden.

These wheels are worth more than my car  

My #1 goal was to come home with a national championship jersey and I was going to try for it in 6 events.   While I did not reach this goal, I did a lot better than I would have last year at this time, and came home with 4 second places, 1 third, and 1 fourth.  The 333 meter concrete track in Indy is awesome!  I felt really comfortable there and would love to come back for more racing there.

Tuesday:  Points Race

I am most experienced in mass start events as that's the kind of thing I've been racing at Northbrook for 14 years.  They are also the only kind of races where I've had any serious cycling injuries.  The points race was the first race of the week for me and I'd be lying if I didn't admit I was pretty nervous.  There was no time to get on the track before my event so the first time I put wheels down on the track was at the start of the race.  I took the first sprint and managed to get points in every one.  I did a good job at keeping track of the math and knew the race hinged on the final sprint between me and a rider from Georgia.  She and another rider started to lead it out and when I tried to get in position I got freaked out by another rider and completely backed off.  It really wasn't anything sketchy and had I been aggressive it would have (maybe) been fine.  I was mad at myself for lacking confidence but I finished the race upright and able to compete the rest of the week. And I got a second place at a Masters's nationals.

       Points race podium

Wednesday: Scratch Race

The scratch race is my favorite race which made it all the more sad when I screwed it up.  Because of the points race the day before me and the other rider who got most of the points were watching each other and we let a rider from Texas go.   Turned out  she was an awesome time trialist and we never saw her again. We finally chased but it was too late.  I ended up third and was very bummed with this result.  

Thursday:  Day off  

Jason took the bus down after work and got to hang out with me for the rest of the weekend!  We had a really good time and it was cool for me to have full support.

Friday:  Individual Pursuit

Time trialing does not come naturally to me and I have worked very hard on this event.  Before today, every other time in my life where I've done a standing start I've completely botched it.  Today I nailed it!  And I was faster than we had anticipated.  I was thrilled!!  I definitely gave my best effort.   The Texas rider that got away in the scratch race was faster, but I took second.  

All  ready to TT

Saturday:  Time Trial (500 meters)

This is a sprint event, and to be good at sprint events you really need to specialize.  I am an endurance rider, but decided to jump in and do it since I was there.  I loved it!  It was fitting that Dee Dee Scadron who is a former master's world champion in this event and now a USA Cycling official was my official at the start line.  I gave this my best effort, nailed the start again (!) but know exactly what I need to work on if I want to be a sprinter.  It was super fun going that fast, but only good enough for fourth place.  

Sunday:  Team Pursuit and Team Sprint

Ever since watching Sarah Hammer, Dotsie Bausch, and Jennie Reed do the team pursuit at Elite Nationals in Los Angeles, I've wanted to do this event. They went on to earn a Silver medal in the 2012 olympics.   My teammate Stacy and I had planned on doing it with another Chicago rider (and PWP'er) Dena Eaton, but Dena ended up having to unexpectedly move across the country for work literally weeks before  the event.  Luckily Stacy's teammate on the road, Jane Vanni-Noone who lives in Indianapolis was able to do it with us.  Our practice for the event consisted of 30 minutes during open track time the morning of our event.  Given our lack of knowledge about each other, we did really great.  We ended up second.

Dena and I had also planned to do the team sprint as well, so Jane graciously offered to fill in again.  Neither of us being sprinters, we actually nailed it, did the best we could and finished second!  We were happy with this result.  

In conclusion, it was super cool to see in person all the other Chicago/Midwest riders that I've known for years but never actually seen competing at their specialized events.  There were bitter disappointments and thrilling victories.  Lovely to meet Jane and all the awesome people in Indianapolis.  I felt a world of difference in my preparedness and gave it my best effort.  Luckily I love training and working hard........ !

I'll end with one of the best victories of the weekend:  The men's 35+ team sprint with Robbie Higgins riding with my Garner Teammates Jason Garner and Jeff Whiteman: