Insurance should be free to all racers!

I try to keep my blog as updated as possible but sometimes there just isn't that much excitement to write about and sometimes there is just way too much going on to find the time to write. The past week has been a case of both but you really don't want to hear all about it. REALLY.

Last week was crit nats and I pulled a no-show. I was totally bummed b/c I felt like I was riding well and coming off a good crit at BOA and I should have been able to do it again at crit nats but unfortunately I had a laspse of insurance and it is forcing me to be sidelined from racing a few weeks. Maybe it's a good thing. I more than likely would have been on Tina Pic's wheel (Just Kidding - I am never that close to the sprint) and I would have ended up like her...Hope she is ok. Check this out.

Next weekend is Labor Day weekend and the annual US10K is in ATL. I have vowed to be insured by then so I can race it. Last year, I broke my wrist in the Gainesville Criterium, which happened to be my 28th birthday, and had to watch 10K from the sidelines. Worst freaking birthday so far...This is one race I don't want to miss. It lasts less than 20 minutes and it is a drag race from the gun. It can't get much better. So i am revving it up for that and then a couple of other races in Sept to finish off the season.

I am also looking forward to getting back to nashville for a few days next week before US10k. I have been spending a great deal of time over here in NC but I miss my friends and fam and of course the riding community.

Stay tuned for upcoming race updates and daily life news. Also if you are looking for a cycling coach, I have recently accepted a coaching position with Per4mance Training. You can look me up at www.per4mancetraining.com

If you are wanting to see Bob Roll up close and personal. TBRA (TN Bike Racing Association) has just announced Bob Roll will be the guest speaker for the annual banquet on Oct 29, 2006. Visit www.tbra.org for the news release. This promises to be a very entertaining evening! If you are interested in sponsoring the event in some fashion, then contact me and I can help you out with that.

Thanks for reading!

Bridge Training on the Fixed Gear

This weekend started out off on a sour note for riding. Saturday it rained all day up in the mountains and there was nothing left to do but clean the house, suffer from allergies and get into arguments about what is the proper way to clean. I made it through Saturday by taking a hike at Moses Cone Park in Blowing Rock and watching hours of old Tour de France tapes from "84-89" and watching Paris-Robioux "84" which happens to have the worst music from John Tesh. That guy is way before my time and the music almost made the cycling unbearable to watch. In fact the music was sooo it put me to sleep. The only problem is i was falling asleep before the most important moments so we would rewind to watch it again and again...

I hit the hay with hopes that Sunday would be nicer and that we would be able to go on our 75 mile ride. 75 miles is usually no big deal for me. I quite enjoy them especially when it includes the 10 mile 181 climb. It's about an hour of climbing but it's not so steep you're hating life and questioning why you are cyclist.

Today was the exception. About 20 miles into our group ride my gears started slipping and I pulled over to tweek some cables. Now i have absolutely NO mechanical skills, in fact it's my least favorite part about cycling. Luckily we had a mechanic on the ride so he stepped up and seemed to fix it. We started again and i shifted once and then my gears got stuck in my biggest gear. I could only get in my big-big and little-big and we were approaching 181. There was a steep roller leading up to the climb and I was keeping my mouth shut about the gears cause when you are the only girl on the ride and you have mechanical issues, all the guys think you are a whiner and that b/c you are a girl that doesn't know anything about bikes it's your fault we have to keep stopping. So i grunted up one more climb and got off the bike. The poor little mechanic hated me since it was his day off from the shop and he was having to fix my bike. My cable had snapped and he said he can give me 19 to ride in or maybe a 17 to finish off the ride. He rigged it up and i was stuck in that freaking gear for the rest of the day. Now i wasn't too happy about this. Nothing sux more than climbing in a huge freaking gear when you are spinner. I would prefer a 27 anyday in the mtns but today I had a 19. I started the climb in good spirits. That lasted 3 miles till it got steep and everyone had passed me leaving me by myself on this horrible climb. Now if those guys were "gentlemen" they would have all got in the same gear as me and grinded up that damn mountain! I had had enough. Got off my bike, took off my helmet and stuck out my thumb. Hah not 10 seconds later a caravan of downhillers that were going up the mtn to ride pulled over and gave me a lift. AH THE POWER OF BEING A CHICK IN LYCRA...I stuck my head out the window and heckeled all the guys that left me at the base of the climb and yelled, "See you at the top, SUCKERS." That was fun until the downh'ers broke it to me that they were only going up about 3 more miles...Hum that would leave me with about 4 more miles to climb. Well it was better than nothing. They dropped me off and I started pedaling again. More grunting and a few little tears later, i reached the store at the top of the climb and waited on the group. I still wander what the hell took them so long.

With about an hour left in the ride, I decided it was time to get home. These guys wanted to dawdle on the bike. Not me, I went to front and decided to get this moving. So i attacked and pulled away for about 10 minutes with only one bridging up to me on the parkway. We started the 221 decent which is tons of fun and has some great switchback turns. I used to hate decending until about a month ago. I finally came to grips with it. If you gonna ride in the mtns and not get dropped on the decents you gotta suck it up, tuck and turn. It so much fun now. We got back to the car and I was BLOWN from those 72 miles but in some ways it was nice to have a change of workout. Mashing the big gears can help you. My power was decent and I felt like i was riding strong.

Today I am shaking off a little wine hangover Last night we had to say goodbye to Little DANE HARLAN aka the Hussie from Hickory, his parents gave him that name I swear! He is a DeFeet (www.defeet.com) employee and friend who is moving to Seattle to work for Macy's. We wish him the best and ask that he stay far away from all washing machines. He has a unique way of breaking them...He will have to tell you all about it. Here is a pic of Little Dane...

Off to the best bike shop in NC, Luna Cycles of Lenoir. The guys have informed me that I have a single-speed not a fixed gear. So I am going to let them do their magic on my bike and bring back the nice little 25 cassette. Check them out www.lunacycles.blogspot.com

Now it's time to train and get ready for some upcoming races. I have had a small break after BOA and Toona and now i am ready for some crits and shorter RR's like the US10k in Altanta, GA the first weekend in Sept. Keep checking in for more race updates and exciting news about my upcoming job!

Thanks for reading!

BOA BABY...

Here is a quick little recap of the NRC Bank of America Crit in Charlotte this past Saturday. First off, I was going into this race much more confident than last year's BOA. Last year there were 96 girls on the start line and I was probably one of the least experienced. This year there was about 60 women but I was coming off a strong tour de toona and much more crit experience. Now just b/c there was fewer women didn't mean it was going to be easier. The difference in last year and this year was about 30 of the girls who were average at crit riding decided it would be safer to watch from the sidelines or better yet just read about it on cyclingnews.com. Last year this race started out with 3 crashes in the first 3 laps. I spent most of my race deciding which pit was closer.

This year's race coudldn't have started out any better. I had my first NRC call up and it was an unexpected one at that. I looked at the race bible after registration and almost peed my shorts when i saw that i was going to be called up 9th. For all you crit racers out there, you know what getting a call up means. NO fighting for the start line. I was on top of the world. With that alone I had no doubt this race was going to be good for me. That feeling lasted about 3 minutes until we started and I had trouble clipping in and got yelled at by about 5 girls. I looked up and i was going into the first corner about 30th. How in the hell does that happen? So I found myself in my normal crit mode, riding mid to back of the pack dying to hang on. I went back and forth from the front to the back for a few laps. Dodged one crash and then found myself with a flat down the long straight away. I saw the pit and decided to pull off to the side and cut the course to make it to the pit quick. I freaked out at the Crane Creek boys but got a quick wheel change and was back on the bike with about 4 minutes to spare. I was quite nervous about not being able to rejoin the group so i asked the pit guy every so sweetly to give me a nice long push as I didn't want to blow myself up on this effort. The pack came around and the next thing i knew i was at the front. SWEET. I kind of like getting a little break in the middle of the race and hanging at the pit as long as I didn't have to eat concrete in order to get it.

The race continued on getting harder as more and more riders fell off. With 3 laps to go we were coming up the long straight away up to the finish and I had just moved up near the front when I heard a huge crash happen not far behind me. Apparently about 10 girls went down all across the road. I was very lucky. Usually I find myself dodging these instead of being in front of them. After the crash, there was only about 23 girls left. The last 2 laps were brutal. I was holding on strong to the Colavita rider, Sue Palmer's, wheel but I was on the edge. I look back and think I should have just taken the flyer on the last lap but instead I stayed in a safe place and moved up a couple of spots at the end to claim 14th for the day. All in all it was a good day for me with a 14th place finish and a little check that will come in the mail eventually.

For now i am trying to recover from Toona and BOA. Next race will be in 2 weeks. I have taken a few days off and tried to kick a little cold. Today I am about to get back on the bike for a slow 3 hour ride.

Big thanks to Chris, my DS for the evening and for bringing the team car out to the race AND trying to set up that finicky little trainer AND the minor wounds you suffered while trying to get the number plate on my bike. What a trooper!

By the way, keep checking the site. There will be some new updates coming up in the next week or so. Also, check out the updates on the gallery and tell me what you think.

tour de toona and the importance of buttering your chamois

My first ever Tour de Toona has come and gone. I sit here almost missing the rolling terrain and terrential downpours of PA...just kidding. All year long I had heard stories of the tour de toona but never imagined what it could be like until we finished the first 95 mile day which was on Wed. Let me go back a little bit and give you a quick recap of each stage and the events leading up. First here is a pic of me preparing for the first of 2 90+ mile races. Note the importance of giving your chamois a thorough smothering before attempting to ride such a long race.

I arrived the sunday before the start of the race with teammate, Chamblee, and another girl Chris from Athens. We made the long trek from somewhere in NC. We arrived in Altoona to find nobody else from the team there yet. We were told we were staying in some sorority house. One would think, ah sorority girls. This place is going to be a nice joint with pink walls and lots of frilly carpet. Hah, nothing close. This place was a dump. It looked haunted and there were cigarette holes all over the carpets and the furniture that looked like it had been sitting on the side of the road somewhere. Nonetheless, this is what we would call home for the next week. We made the best and since Chamblee and i were there first, we picked out the "nicest" room we could find and settled in.

The TT or prolouge came quick Monday evening. I was prepared and ready to get on the course. It was less than 3 miles long and basically was a crit course so i was loving it that i didn't have to use any TT equipment. I went to the start line to line up and i saw the start list. Out of all 80 something riders entered my 30 second girl happened to be the newly crowned TT and RR National Champion, Kristin Armstrong. Talk about nerves well mine went through the roof. She was all decked out in her stars and stripes and full TT bike, helmet, shoe covers...good grief can you be any more aero. I took the starting block. The official was counting down from 5, 4, 3, when i was rolling my cleat and my foot came unclipped. There I was being let go from the holder starting to fall over while rolling down the ramp with my foot still unclipped. 6-8 seconds went by and I looked by and saw Kristin about to start chasing me. Like a woman possesed i clipped in and starting sprinting as hard as i could away from the start. I felt fast up until the last stretch when I heard the roar of a disc wheel coming on my left. Sure enough there she was passing by me so fast that I couldn't even catch her draft, believe me I tried. After a few minutes of feeling demoralized by the fact that i got passed in a less than 3 mile TT, i decided to shake it off and do better the next day.

Tues wasn't so bad. It was the shortest day only being 63 miles. That sure was nice of them to ease us in to the week. This race was not very excting. It was a fast circuit that ended up in a pack finish. I was safe for another day finishing in the pack. Here is a pic of me that was on cyclingnews.com from that day. BOY I look MEAN!

Wed was the first of the 95 mile stage. The pace was fast and the long climb broke up the field. Once you got to the top, it was moderately downhill till the finish which was 30 miles away. I climbed decent that day and made it over the climb with group that was interested in getting to the finish. I finished 27the that day and brought my gc standing up to 33.

The next 2 days of racing were both circuits. It just so happended both these days we would experience severe rain. Thursday's circuit was a little messy. About 20 minutes in the rainstorms the first big crash occurrred. Lots of girls went down including me, luckily i just slid into a few people popped back up and caught the main pack after chasing for a few minutes. My teammate, Kathleen, wasn't that luckliy. Her wheel tacoed and it took forever to get her a wheel change. That incident ended her race. Throughout that race there were a few other crashes but I avoided all of them and finished in the main pack losing only a few seconds in the very last stretch to the finish.

Friday was races a little more conservative. The pace wasn't slower but the peloton was riding more careful. Today was a hard day for me. I wasted A LOT of energy being cautious and hanging slightly off the back. Not a smart move. I worked way too hard closing gaps when i should have just stuck in the pack where it is easier. I was just too timid about going down. I finished one again in the main pack. There was a small break but it only gained about 20 secs on us. Tomorrow would be the deciding day.

Sat was our last 92 mile day. The race started out hard. The first 20 miles we went through constant rollers and the pace was being pushed. The suffering for me started the minute i clipped in. My breathing was erratic and I felt like poop on all the climbs. I knew this was going to be a miserable day on the bike. I had to figure out a way to hang on without dropping too much in gc. When we hit the first major climb i started to try to move up but my legs felt like lead but worse my lungs felt like there were going to pop out of my chest. I watched the girls i needed to stick with climb right away from me. Stuck between 2 groups, I looked over and had one teammate with me, Kristen. Without her i would have slipped even more. We sufferred bad on the climb but eventually made it through after getting off my bike briefly. I was hurting so bad i didn't think i could finish but I gave myself a swift kick in the arse and got back on. The next 40 miles we would face 2 more QOMs. It was unbearable and the dirt road climb pissed me off so bad. At one point one girl was crying and eventhough i felt like crying, that was not an option..."there's no crying in cycling", come on!
We finally made it to the finish. All i wanted was my bed. Later that evening i found out I dropped to 40th on gc which made me very unhappy. All i could do was hope that tomorrow i could redeem myself in the crit. Lucky for me i would rather race a crit anyday than a 90 mile RR.

Sunday turned out surprisingly better for me. The crit started fast and pace was pushed by Lipton the whole day. Girls were falling off left and right. My legs felt so heavy but everyone else was hurting too that day so i took every advantage to move up. Kathleen was on the radio with me telling me exactly what was going on so i knew when it was getting harder or when the group was letting up. With 5 laps to go I knew i was going to make it with the main pack. I finished 29th which i was happy about considering that half the field was pulled.

At the end of the day, I had moved up a few spots to 38th on the gc. It's nowhere near the top 25 I had wanted but for my first 7day stage race, I felt it was an accomplishment. Now i know i can race for 7 days straight and with a little work during the off season maybe i won't have that one severely crappy day. It's definitely not a race for everyone but I have more respect for any racer that attempt s toona and even more for those who survive the week.

Big thanks to Jeff & Shawn @ LUNA CYCLES in Lenoir City, NC for getting my bike race ready and finding the gallon of water in my bottom bracket prior to race week. That would have been a bitch to carry up all those climbs.

Thanks to the KENDA girls for being so supportive all week and thanks to Paul for single handedly working his tail off to help us during race week. Most teams had multiple people and he worked the race all alone.

Off to the Bank of America Crit tomorrow night in Charlotte, NC. Let's hope all the girls ride a little safer this year than last. I don't want to visit the pit 3 times in the first 3 lap like last year. Stay tuned for a race recap on Sunday.