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.

Fixed Gear Classic

Fixed Gear Classic at the National Sports Center Velodrome in Blaine, MN was my first big track event of the year.   I was planning to compete in the women's endurance omnium, which is an overall prize for the following races:   the tempo, 2 points races, a miss-n-out, an endurance wheel race, and a scratch race.  Each has their own rules and strategy for winning.  I also entered the Keirin, which is part of the sprint events, just because. The event took place Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

I was excited.  I'm on a cool track team this year, George Garner Cyclery Track Team and I just got an awesome new track bike--after riding the same bike for 12 years!!

My brand new Tiemeyer Custom Signature Track Bike

 I'd ridden the bike once at Northbrook and immediately could tell that it fit me so much better!  I couldn't wait to see what it would feel like on a 250 meter track.  The competition would not be easy;  I would be competing against Cari Higgins, who made the long list for the 2012 Olympics and other competitors from all over the country.

The first race, the tempo, was a 12 lap race where only the first two riders across the line on every single lap get points.  If there's a tie, the finish is determined by the placing on the final lap.

I was nervous!  The race started and the pace felt fine, but when it came time to sprint, I somehow never found myself in good position.  After a couple laps of this I saw an opening and took it.  The picture below captures that moment!

Attacking in the Tempo Race

Photo by Lisa Lardy

I got a gap and took the points.  Jeff, Jason and Kevin were in between corner 1 and 2 and were yelling to keep going.  I did and took the next two laps!  So exciting.  When the field caught me, I was trashed but I had gotten enough points to keep second place!  I was thrilled.

The second race of the night was the first of two points races.  60 laps, with sprints for points every ten laps.  The winner being whoever ends up with the most points.  Again I found myself not very comfortable moving around in the pack.  I had changed my gear and felt pretty good with my spin and the pace, but still nervous when it came time to position for a sprint.  I was planning to wait it out and attack solo again in the second half of the race.   Unfortunately I never got the chance.  About 25 laps in we caught a woman who was briefly off the front.  She didn't realize how fast we were coming and swung up track and collided with another rider.  The two slid down track into my path.  I had nowhere to go but directly into them at about 26mph.  I haven't seen the footage but I heard it was a spectacular crash that involved flying through the air and a flip.  I was knocked out for a minute or two, had a little bit of road rash, but the main injury was a badly sprained ankle. I'd heard about the splinters you get when you crash on a wood track and thought I'd escaped until I got home and discovered them in the shower.    The poor woman I ran over was fine, but her bike was totaled.  She and the other woman had some road rash but were fine and able to continue the competition.  Except for my saddle and one small scratch, my bike came out of it unscathed.  My ankle proved to be the worst of it.  This accident could have been so much worse - I really am very lucky.  Crashing doesn't exactly make me less nervous, but from all accounts there was nothing I could have done to avoid it.  I was mostly disappointed to lose the experience of finishing the event, and given my excellent result in the first event I was optimistic for a good overall placing.  Double bummed.   Now I need to recover from this and figure out how to get through the rest of the season.  Lucky for me I know some good doctors at Hinsdale Orthopaedics and with their counsel I hope to salvage something.

It was cool to watch Garner teammates Jeff, Jason and Kevin compete, and really notable was watching Jeff and Jason work together in the Sprint Wheelrace to get Jeff the win!

Crashing sucks but the community on the track is the most loving there is.  If you have to do it, you will be taken care of.  So many thanks to all the people who helped me.  Emma Bast took my bike to her shop and had the mechanics assess it and put on a new seat, and even brought it back to the track for me.  Former teammate and current friend Elena Dorr was right there, and thanks to all the other competitors and friends who lent me a hand. And many thanks to my parents who without their help taking care of my children I could not do any of this ~and when push comes to shove and I need someone to take me to the hospital at 11 pm on a Thursday night, were there for me.  Thanks so much!

Lake Bluff and Glecoe Criteriums USA Crits & NCC

Friday night was the Lake Bluff Criterium which was on the USA Crits series and Saturday was the Glencoe Grand Prix which is part of the National Criterium Calendar.  This meant national level competition in my hometown!

The Promoters of these races pulled out all the stops and each event was completely first class!  In both cases the whole town was involved, there were street vendors and music festivals.  This was the first year for Lake Bluff, and the 6th year for Glencoe.  I've done Glencoe all 6 years and each year it has gotten bigger and better.  Really fun at Glencoe they made trading cards for the racers, passed them out to all the spectators so all the kids were running around asking for autographs.  I was given a welcoming hug by the promoter Jon Knouse at sign in, and interviewed over the loud speaker in front of the huge crowd by Kenny Labbe.

Ever since they announced this weekend I have been targeting these races and looking forward to them with much anticipation.  Unfortunately things were not going well leading into the weekend.  I'd been sick for 3 weeks with some kind of nasty lung thing and not riding in hopes of getting better.  This did not predict good things, especially after my miserable attempt at racing the weekend before, with much easier competition.  I was not optimistic, but I was determined to do the best I could.

Friday, warming up for Lake Bluff on the power tap confirmed that I was feeling MUCH better!!  Did I dare get my hopes up?  The course was very narrow with several very tight corners.  The only wide part of the course was the start/finish stretch.  I knew the start was crucial.

photo credit Ali Engin

At the start of Lake Bluff.  Next to me is my buddy Leah from Psimet, and next to her is Cari Higgins from Exergy, who made the long list for the 2012 Olympic Track team. 

I was nervous!

When the gun went off I was thrilled to get a great start!  When I hit the first twisty section in great position I knew things were going to be ok!  I so happy I yelled "F Yeah!"  Sometimes I crack myself up in races.  I settled in and rode the best I could.  I saw the break go but could not respond.  It was taking all I had just to ride around. I didn't go into the last lap in great position and I got pinched into the barricades and had to come to a complete stop.  That  really messed up my momentum, costing me some spots.   Had I been able to be in better position that would have been avoided.  I finished 19th, in the money, and while this was not the result I was hoping for this weekend I knew I did the best I could and was thrilled!

Lake Bluff really threw a great race with a street party and bands playing!  After the race my George Garner Cyclery Track team was all there and we met up for a nice dinner.  It was great to be social!

The next day at Glencoe, I was a little tired from Friday's effort.  Not having ridden that long or that hard in a while took it out of me.  My lungs hurt, but I was determined.  The entire Spidermonkey team was out in full force, at the 312 tent as well as various locations all over the course.  So many other friends  were out there cheering as well--I heard you every lap- thank you!  This course is a long course with a couple of technical down hill corners and a longish slight uphill section.  In addition to being a National Criterium Calendar race, it was also our Illinois State Criterium Championships.  Since I was the 2011 winner I got a call up.  A call up is such a wonderful thing.   I got an awesome start and was in perfect position going into the downhill corner section and it set the tone for the whole race for me.  No break got away today and I was able to stay with the front group.  I found out afterwards that half of the field we started with was dropped!

photo credit Ali Engin

the race was pretty much just fast

By the second half of the race I was getting tired.  I rolled in at 18th place and again while this was definitely NOT the result I was going for at Glencoe, in light of how I'd been feeling lately it was definitely the best I could have done that day.  I am optimistic that I'm on my way out of illness and look forward to some better results for the rest of the summer.  Staying healthy is part of bike racing, and unfortunately sickness does happen.

me & Sidney hanging out after the race.  Sidney was injured and unable to walk :)

I knew I wasn't the top Illinois finisher, but they decided to award a State Championship jersey to each category.  Since I was the first Illinois Cat 1 finisher, I ended up with the Jersey and I was tickled to win it!

Memorial Day Weekend

For the last two weeks I've been really sick.  Terrible sore throat, deep cough, and pain in the lungs.  In hindsight I realize that it probably started in St. Louis, as I was feeling a little off that weekend and it quickly got worse from there.  I went to the doc, but it didn't help.  I skipped the next weekend of races and tried to intensely rest, thinking there was no way that it wouldn't clear up before memorial day.  Going into Memorial Day weekend, I still was not better.  I did an open up ride on Friday and felt ok during the ride, but after the ride it felt like I had a house on my chest.  The races in Iowa;  Snake Alley, Melon City, and Quad Cities Criterium are some of the most unique races ever and I look forward to them all year.  I had thought about Snake Alley all winter on the trainer, and was super excited to give it a go thinking this year would be my year!!   Given how sick I felt, I was bitterly disappointed.  Probably should have stayed home, but I had offered my teammate Sarah and her husband Eric a ride, and plans were made so Jason and I packed it up and went.

This was Sarah's first time at these races, so I gave her the low down on the race, how you start the race on the flat, turn the first corner onto an uphill, and then enter the "snake" which is a narrow cobble stone climb with switchbacks and a 17% grade.  They say the race is won on the decent, because you have to fly fearlessly through the 3 fast corners on the way down if you are going to win it.  I went to the line at Snake Alley ready to give it my all.  I had a terrible start because my bike did not immediately shift into the small ring at the beginning of the snake.  I entered the snake super far back.  I climbed it all right, and then I bombed that decent.  I've never gone down that well before!  I passed a whole bunch of people and climbed it again.  That's when I started to feel bad, and knew I wasn't getting enough oxygen.  I climbed it one more time and then pulled out.  I got to watch Sarah fight it out and finish with a very decent placing of one out of the money.

The next day was Melon City, another technical race that has several factors that make it interesting, a downhill section leading into a speed bump, a hairpin turn right before the finish, and an uphill that doesn't look hard but is.  I sat out this race.  I knew that there would be no point.  I tried to stay positive, but it's not very fun to be a bike racer at a bike race and not actually race, so it was difficult.

We were staying with Eric's family in Muscatine and after the race they invited a whole bunch of bike racers back to the house for a BBQ.  It was really fun and added a pleasant dose of positivity to the weekend.

The next day was Quad Cities Criterium.  My favorite crit of all time.  A pancake flat figure 8 course, I've won it before and usually do well there.  Sarah got to race two races, the 2/3 race in the morning and our 1/2/3 in the afternoon.  It rained during her race in the morning.  Quad cities is a notorious crash fest when dry, but in the rain, it's treacherous!!  Sarah did great!!  She rode incredibly well, avoided the multitude of crashes and finished 5th!  An excellent result!  PWP'er Cathy Frampton rode an extremely impressive race too-- exactly how you should race in the rain, at the front and out of trouble.  She lead it out and finished 6th, right behind Sarah.  

By the time we raced in the afternoon, the rain had stopped and the road was dry.  I warmed up on my power tap which confirmed just how crappy I was feeling.  I felt extremely out of breath putting out numbers that should have been tempo.  I was in a quandary about whether or not to even go to the line.  I'll admit I shed some tears.  I was SO FRUSTRATED.  Until two weeks ago I'd been in the best shape of my life, and here I was about to ride a race that was designed for my style of riding that I know like the back of my hand, and I couldn't even get my heart rate up without feeling like my chest was going to explode.

Sarah and I getting ready to start

With much support and encouragement I went to the line.  Debbie Milne, who'd been dominating the previous two days of racing, plus Jessi Prinner, my former ABD teammate who is an incredibly strong and smart racer were the two women to watch and would have to be in a move if it was going to stick.  The race started and there were were a couple of attacks, but not with Jessi or Debbie so I waited.  Then Debbie went and I was on it!  She got us a nice gap, and then moved over for me to take my pull.  I was gasping for breath at this point and not able to pull through so she shut it down.  After this I was blown and I had to fight so hard just to stay with the field.  There were several more attacks, including a solo move by Psimet's Kelly Richter, but nothing stuck.  I was dropped several times, but just when I thought I was done, the field would slow drastically and I could catch back on.  I could see Sarah riding a great race near the front,  chasing down moves.  We had a huge cheering section and heard "Go Sarah, Go Kristen, Go Spidermonkey" at multiple locations on the course every single lap!!  Not sure exactly how many laps it was to go when Debbie and Jessi got off the front together.  That was an unstoppable duo and everyone knew it.  Sarah was on it, and she gave it her all but dangled in no man's land for a while and just wasn't able to close the gap.  At some point an IS Corp rider slipped off the front so now we were racing for fourth place.  At one to go I moved into position.  Bri Kovac was there as well as another rider.  Bri attacked on the back stretch and I was able to get her wheel.  We hit the final two corners at top speed and I was able to sneak on the inside on the final corner and take the field sprint for fourth.  Sarah came in at 18th--in the money! On the one hand I was thrilled to have pulled a decent result out of nowhere but on the other hand I was bitterly disappointed--I had really wanted the win.  That race should have been easy and it so wasn't.  When I heard that Jessi got the win I was thrilled!  If our team couldn't take it, there was no one else that I'd rather have the win!

After the race, Eric told us he had bought beers for a whole group of Iowa locals if they promised to cheer for us!  Cathy and Bill Frampton, Jeff and Jill Whiteman and Jason had also been cheering for us every single lap!

I'll have to wait another year to try again at Snake Alley, Melon City and Quad Cities, and now I have to figure out what's wrong with me and get over it once and for all.

Tour de Grove NCC

This weekend was the Tour de Grove race weekend in St. Louis, MO.  I had planned on going to this, but while I was away at Speedweek I had decided to stay home because I was homesick for the family.  Then a couple days out, my friend Tim emailed saying I'd be welcome to come down, bring Jason and the kids, and stay with his family for the weekend. It's a relatively easy drive, and I was able to talk Jason into it fairly easily so we were set to go!

The weekend consisted of the main event, the Tour de Grove with $7200 prize money for the women on Saturday, a night race on Friday and a Sunday afternoon race, both with nice prize lists of around $1200.  All three races would have big strong fields and great racing.  

I ended up pulling myself out of the Friday night race.  I just didn't like the bumpy back side of the course.   Sometimes you've got to listen to those feelings....as long as it's not too often.

On Saturday I had a hard time getting my head in the game, and almost didn't go to the line.  But I'm sure glad I did because once I got in the race I felt amazing!  The course was really long with nice wide corners until the final turn is a hairpin.  Not a super sharp hairpin, but a hairpin nonetheless.   Vanderkitten was throwing down consistent attacks, and a few other individuals as well, but nothing stuck.  At 3 to go I moved up into perfect position!  I was really excited.  I was surfing the front really well and eyeing the other sprinters;  Sam Shneider, LVG, Erica Allar, Sarah Fader.  I was right there!!  At the second to last corner I was in third position, on Laura Van Gilder's wheel who was on the Vanderkitten lead out.  This was it!  Then somehow in the long straightaway leading up to the hairpin I chickened out completely and lost about 25 spots ending up in 25th place.  On one hand I was very disappointed.  But on the other hand I was happy to have raced a good race and put myself in the right position.  I was super mad at myself for choking, but it happens.  

I decided to call it a weekend and we spend Sunday being tourists and hanging out at the St. Louis arch.  The weekend was kind of a bust for bike racing, but we had a great time with our friends and hanging out as a family.

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!