Ah the off season...

You gotta love the fall and winter when you're a bike racer. It's about the only time I really get to spend hanging out and and playing "mom" to Lucy, my 9 month mutt pup.

Just in the past couple of months, she has become quite a handful. It's Thanksgiving today and I was looking forward to a quiet day of sleeping in late, getting a long ride in and eating some serious grub this evening. So much for that, Miss Lucy is an earlier riser and she likes to wake up everyone in the neighborhood. Now this is a very exciting time for her. It's deer season in this neck of the woods and our neighbors are big deer hunters. Every time Lucy gets to go outside she bolts and is gone for random amounts of time. This morning at 5:30am she wanted to come back in the house with this awful deer leg. It was disgusting and couldn't even fit through the door. So we hid it from her but that didn't last long. Here she is enjoying her Thanksgiving meal in our yard. She is a sweetie until you try to take anything way from her that she is chewing on and then she becomes serious pooch.


Besides all the excitement that Lucy brings, I have been seriously busy with coaching. I have taken on several new clients for 2008 that will provide me with a challenge. I have some females that I am coaching and look forward to seeing them succeed next year. I am also coaching several of the Black Sheep Racing guys. This is a new team out of Charlotte that will be on the racing scene next year. They have several U-23 riders, a couple of juniors and a few experienced riders. It will be interesting to see them come together in a team atmosphere. More to come on how all this unfolds.

The fall has been fun. One weekend the coaches of Per4mance Training and our significant others had a coaches retreat up at Tsali, one of the best mtn biking areas of the East Coast. We had a blast and rode a ton. Here is a pic of us at one of the lookouts.

The following weekend I attempted to give cyclocross racing a shot again. Here is a couple of pics of the one cross race I attempted so far in the off season. I raced the Lenoir Cross race which was about 20 minutes from where I live. For some reason I was so bad at the transition that I found it funny. See big smile as I got passed on most every barrier. You got have fun when you are racing cross, right?

In the end i still had to take it serious b/c it was a race. Lots of women showed up and made it interesting. I am looking forward to doing a couple in Jan in the NC Winter Cross Series. I am not a really good cross racer by any means. It's strictly for fun and giggles, not to mention is hurts pretty freaking bad. Here is one of Chris on the run up in the master's race in Lenoir.

Finally, I am super stoked about the team I will be riding for in 2008. It will test my ability and be a great learning experience. I believe there will some kind of press release shortly so I will hold off on making any news flashes on my blog but trust me, this will definitely be a year that is going to be BLOG WORTHY so stay tuned.

My training has already started and the miles are starting to build. Unfortunately, we had a 65 degree day yesterday at noon and now it's 31 degrees out there today. How does this happen? I am looking forward to my 10 days in CA over Christmas. Hopefully it will be warm there and plenty of opportunity to do some epic miles. If anyone wants to join me on some long days while out in the San Jose/Santa Cruz area, get in touch! For now it's out for some trail running, maybe a little mtn biking or cross and definitely some major painting this afternoon.

Lastly, I discovered yesterday there is a reason I should always go home for holiday meals. Our neighbors invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner since Chris and I were going to stay home paint and ride. I offered to bring a pumpkin pie for dessert since I became a PRO at it last fall. Went to the store got all my ingredients. It looked so good when it came out of the oven. We took it over and as we were just about the cut into the pie, I said, you know it looks like something is missing in this pie. I totally forgot about the pie crust. I picked up a pie pan with and without crust at the store and made a decision that i didn't need a pie pan with crust in it. I knew i needed crust at the store but it didn't occur to me at all yesterday while i was baking that i didn't have any crust. So needless to say, we ate pumpkin pudding instead of pumpkin pie. It was the Low Carb dessert for Thanksgiving dinner. I was very embarrassed but at the same time not at all surprised. It never said on the directions to get a pie crust. I am not responsible for this one but it is Libby's pumpkin pie mix that is at fault. No more cooking for me during this holiday season. I'll just ride my bike instead. It's safer for everyone, I hope!

VEMMA...it's the juice you want to be on.

Ok maybe it is, maybe it isn't but every since I have been drinking 2-4 ounces of VEMMA everyday and a little more after hard rides, I have been feeling like a rock star! I was introduced to it through a guy who wanted to buy some custom socks for DeFeet. Chris started yapping about this stuff and I was like ok whatever, bring some home and I'll try it. Of course, I already take handful of LEGAL supplements like most racers hoping to stay healthy while giving that extra kick so I said what the heck. I raced in Bermuda on it and felt great, forgot it while in Vegas (very bad call - it's the one place you need it to most) and got back on it while visiting the headquarters which were in Scottsdale, AZ which just so happened to be where I was visiting my little sisters for some R & R after Interbike. It was like it was meant to be. I believe in that kind of crap. Things happen for a reason and it's all about being at the right place at the right time. Honestly, if I hadn't visited Vemma headquarters and saw that it was legitimate business and all the super motivated employees, I more than likely wouldn't have believed in it myself.

Now I am not a doctor and I don't pretend to play one on tv but I can tell when I am feeling good and energetic. Normally, I wake up and it takes 2.5 cups of very strong coffee to make me want to get my day going. Not these days, I tell ya I have almost passed up on my coffee just b/c I don't need it. I hate saying that. Coffee is like a drug you are supposed to need it. Can't I have just one addiction in my life besides riding my bike? Well I guess now it is VEMMA and cycling.

Really I will wrap my soap box up now. Go to my site and check it out. All the nutritional info is there and it's pretty simple concept. It's good for you! Now who doesn't need that? If you want some email off my site and I will respond. Then pass it on to the people you care about and want to see healthy and happy.

So my racing season has finally almost ended. This weekend I am headed to Greenville for the fall festival races. My motivation to race is definitely not at an all time high but making some cashola is high on the priority list. Since the Vegas race I have been busy coaching, selling my soul to teams that will let me prolong the racing lifestyle and trying to figure out what to do in the event that doesn't occur. Tonight I decided that mountain biking is so much harder than I remembered. Rule 1: when courting new clients to coach, don't let them take you out and kick your butt on anything that has to do with cycling. You have to show them you are the knowledgeable one and that you can help them. Instead they were waiting on me to pick myself up out of the bushes and off the rocks as they waited for me at the top of technical sections. I thought climbing was hard, forgot it was even harder when there are big roots and rocks trying to block your line. Rule 2 - Drink Lots of VEMMA the minute you walk in the door. It will make you feel better. That's all the rules I have at this time. Usually, I am one to think rules are meant to be broken. It's the wild child in me.

I will leave you for now of some pictures of me at the World Championship Crits in Vegas. I did crash on the first lap and I can attest it wasn't my fault. I was indeed chopped in the corner and went flying like SuperWoman in to the pit. I had already endured a not-so-pleasant experience in Vegas thus far. My man suffered a seizure in the first 24 hours of me being there so he was on Valium the entire time and doesn't even remember being there. A spoke on my back wheel broke on the ride over to the race and I cut my face with a tire lever while changing a tire for the Mavic guy who was telling maybe it wasn't my day to race my bike prior to the start of the crit. When i came running in after the first lap he actually starting laughing at me b/c he thought i was insane for pressing my luck again by going back out that crit. Crazy, I am sometimes...this one is of my wounds after the race.

Notice how nice the pavement accentuates your abs when it circles around you belly...it hurt worse then it looked, especially when my friend who is a real DR. threw a Heineken Beer on it and it burned like a SOB!

Finally here is one of me once I got back in the race and went off the front for a few minutes to pick up a very much needed prime. It is Vegas ya know all all my money was going to taxi cab drivers and black jack dealers.

Don't forget on Saturday, Oct 20th. The NC Stroke Foundation is sponsoring the Bike Tour, Cycle for Life 2007 . This is a great ride that starts and finishes up at the Hanover Park Vinyard. After the several ride options there is always plenty of food and wine for everyone. Come out and support a great philanthropy!

My blogging inadequacies...

I have been a very naughty blogger. No updates since Philly. My motivation to finish one of these things has been rather low lately. I have been racing, I promise. In fact i have been racing a lot and the next couple of weeks are full road trips and race weekends. I have tried to write some blogs but every time i start one i get distracted and forget to finish. It's a severe case of ADHD and I am pretty sure I need to be on the drugs for it but not sure that is the route i want to take so I will go on being easily distracted and any readers will have to forgive me for my lack of follow through on these oh SO very important racing/life updates that i know you can't live without.

(Toona report is from July) I started this in July - Just got back from the Tour de Toona on Monday. Toona is notorious for being the toughest women's stage race in America. It is 7 days long and has quite a bit of climbing. I rode for a composite team called Bike Hugger and at the end of the week, this team turned out to be very competitive with the top teams in America taking 6th in team GC.

This year's Toona was very unique. The race started with a TTT, which was a unknown beast to many. None of the teams except maybe one got to really practice this event before hand. It was exciting and fun but also made me quite nervous. Here is a pic of our team starting out. We had a solid TTT performance. As for the rest of Toona, well go to cyclingnews.com and get the info.
I had good finishes. One day got in a 70 mile break and somehow finished with the lead group. That was fun. The crit was a blast too. Nothing like finishing a tough 7 day stage race with a screaming fast leg burning crit. My favorites.
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Since Toona, I have raced the Charlotte Criterium, Hanes Park Crit, Elk Grove, a local TTT with the Harris Teeter Girls (in which we set the Women's TTT record), Mengoni Grand Prix anc Chris Thater. The most exciting of them being Mengoni in Central Park.

I won Mengoni in a solo break with 3 miles to go. What a fantastic race! Yarden, my teammate from Israel, Hiroko and I decided we had plenty of time if we left CT at 4:20 am and make it to the race that started at 6:00am. We got there with about 15 minutes till the start and it was still dark out when we started. It was the most fun I have had in a long time in a race. Here is a pic of me crossing the line in Central Park. You gotta take advantage of these pics when you get them or at least I do, since they are rare!


Since that weekend, my season for Targetraining has come to a close. I have been at home doing some local races. It's totally different racing than NRC's. In fact, sometimes it's painful. The pack is happy to cruise and rarely launches attacks at all. Typically I like to be aggressive in these races. I want to make it hard from the beginning and make girls' legs hurt. This is racing not some Sunday afternoon tea party...Sometimes it pays off but often times I try so hard for a break, i wear my self out. Yesterday I tried a different tactic. Some would call it patience. I tried so hard it hurt worse than going hard. I sat and sat and sat in the pack till we hit this little roller and I had to attack just to see if there was anyone to respond. I had a gap and then sat up. Just wanted to play some little games but unfortunately I was too patient and waited for it to come down to a field sprint, which is the last thing I want. Someday I am going to learn that to be a sprinter one must get up out of the saddle and bumps a few elbows if I want to win a sprint. Maybe next time.

The season is not over yet. There are a couple of races that I am looking forward to very much. Bermuda Grand Prix is next week. I am guest riding on Cheerwine which will be very exciting. My good friend Beth Frye will be with me drinking fruity drinks, trying to get LVG and Kelly B. to the finish line and trying to even out the cycling skinsuit tan. I am almost positive when we come to town for this race, the locals get so scared of the bad tans lying around, they probably just stay inside. I am also intrigued by the moped stories I have heard about. I want one so bad that I just may have to bring it home with me or ride it to VEGAS.

After Bermuda, it's time for Vegas, BABY!!!! This year is going to be much better than last. All the racers will be in town for the big crit on thurs night. Most will be ending their season after this so I am sure Vegas will be rockin after the race. Good times 4-sho! This is what we have been waiting all season for...Like last year, most of the photos from Vegas will not make the blog. It will give you incentive to come out and play next year.

Lots of other exciting things have gone on like Miss Lucy being repossessed (only for a couple of hours) but in order for you to be in the know i have to be a more competent blogger. Miss Lozano, former teammate turned business school professional, wrote some rules for blogging just the other day. Keep your children far away from this blog!!! I do have to agree she makes some valid points here...enjoy but only just a little.

More in a more timely fashion, I promise...

Triple crown and an unwanted guest

I am finally back from a week and half of traveling all over the Northeast racing my bike and "acting" like a pro bike racer. There were actual moments that I was riding like one too and those i will get into a little later on. It's good to be home but I ship off again on Tues of this coming week to go to the Nature Valley Stage Race in Minneapolis, MN.

More importantly, Little Lucy, my new pup, isn't so little anymore. I swear that she has gained 10 pounds since i left and has an attitude problem. A couple of nights ago while sitting on the couch with 8 of her bones and toys, I went to move her over and she growled so loud at me. I was scared. Now i have had dogs before that are a little possessive but Lucy has brought it to a whole new level. I took all of her toys away except for one and hid them. She then proceeded to go and find each toy and bring them back to the couch and hover over them again like someone was trying to steal them from her. These new actions on her part have caused me to stay up late watching episodes of the The Dog Whisper with Ceasar. He seems to know what he is talking about most of the time but whenever I do that sound that he makes, like your shooshing something, Lucy just looks at me like I am an idiot and goes back to biting the back of my legs and ass while walking. I think that guy Ceasar just likes walking around shooshing everyone...enough of that. here is new pic of Lucy Loo. Doesn't she look sweet???? I wander if there is a local Dog Whisperer who can help with Lucy...Here is a little Lucy Link for those of you that care.


So back to the racing adventures. Last week was busy. It started out 2 Saturdays ago in Arlington, VA at the CSC race. There was a decent field there with some pretty good sprinters. The race started aggressively with a couple of attacks. I was feeling good in the mix with just about everything. A dangerous break went up the road with LVG, an Aaron's rider and a couple of others. I wasn't worried b/c my teammate Leigh Valletti was on it. I sat in the pack thinking this was quite nice and that we were finally racing as a team. Well that break started to explode with some attacks within. I saw Leigh coming back with a few others but LVG and an Aaron's rider was still gaining time. For some idiotic reason nobody wanted to bring these two back. It was totally frustrating. I tried several times to get a chase working but nothing. Not even Colavita wanted to work. So the break stayed and it ended in a field sprint. I was 15th that day. Lots of hard work and not a lot to show for in that race.
Lancaster was the next day in PA. It was the 1st of race of 3 in the triple crown series. I felt really good this day and was looking hard to get in a break. For now, that is the only way i can get a top finish. There were some really good sprinters in this series and I felt this race was destined for a break. Sure enough, with about 20 laps to go a very powerful break formed including Ina Tutenburg, LVG, Theresa Cliff-Ryan, Catherine Powers, one other and me. I had been covering every move all day so finally when the break went on the power climb on the backside i was stoked and wanted this to stick. This was a powerful group and Ina kept attacking the break but I was still hanging on. This was a great feeling to be in the company of these riders. I felt all my hard work had payed off with this break but unfortunately the cycling gods weren't in my favor. With 5 laps to go i was sitting comfortably in the break going around a corner and my back tire flatted. I didn't quite know it until Ina was screaming at me in broken English that i had a puncture. I was so pissed. Headed straight to the pit but they had cut free laps off with 8 to go. They gave me a spare bike Mavic bike that was way too big for me and had toe clips. It was embarrassing and i felt like i was in the circus and all I wanted to do was throw that damn bike down on the ground. Oh well that's racing and it was good while it lasted.
The Reading crit on thurs wasn't much more exciting. With Ina and Laura there it was bound to come down to a field sprint. I raced aggressively and was off the front for a couple of laps but it was going to be a showdown of the sprinters again. I am trying to find my sprinting legs but more importantly i am trying to find the guts to be in the sprint.
In between races I spent time up in Westport, CT. It was great to be able to spend time at Targetraining and hang out at the shop. I even got to go on some training rides with the TT clients. Big thanks to all the support that our women's team has been receiving from all the Targetraining staff. They were super the whole week and not to mentioned tons of fun on the van rides to and from the races.

The Liberty Classic is always an exciting race. It has been a sprinter's race the past 3 years i have done it so i suspected it would end up in a field sprint. I was hoping for a break again but the shattered pack sat up after the last time up Lemon Hill which allowed all the sprinters to catch back on and make things chaotic for the finish. There was a crash in the last kilometer that caused me to swing way wide and lose my position. I ended up 33rd for the day. I felt great up the wall and never felt like i was stressed. Typically there are lots of crashes in this race but once again I finished the race without going down. Here is a pic of me on the wall. Oh well it's more of a pic of a cheerwine rider but you take what you can get.


I will have more news about this week's Nature Valley Stage Race. For now i will show you what i found when heading out for my ride yesterday. The guy in the pic is my neighbor (he's hot huh) who had to rescue me. James swears it was a friendly snake but I had to disagree. James is our local former stock car driver who loves to tell stories of moonshine. Ah you gotta love mountain living and I get to look at his big belly most every weekend from my porch!

Sucker that I am for Miss Lucy

This is what happens when you go to Lowe's on Saturday mornings. Instead of coming back with home improvement supplies, I come home with Lucy. Now she is a sweet as could be but I am wandering what I am going to do with her with all the racing and travel i have coming up in the next few months. Some things in life are hard to resist. She needed to be rescued and I got suckered but who can seriously resist a face like this...Any suggestions?

The only way i would part with her is if I knew she was going to a good family who had time to spend with her. She is very mild-mannered and a great cuddler. She likes to lie on the couch, watch tv and she likes long walks in the forest. AND she is a sprinter!

Here is another pic of miss lucy doing what she does best.

My teammate's lovely nostrils...

Joe Martin has come and gone. It was not a great race for me but the hospitality of Arkansas is one of the best. I stayed with two different host familes during the weekend a both treated the team and me super well. Big thanks to Steve Friedman and his wife Deb and 3 kids for making sure I arrived safely to Walmartville and that i had a group ride to stretch my legs out with when i got there. The Lisle's took us in during the race and kept us constantly entertained and fed. Steve and Chris have two great kids Jack and Lucy Kate which made me stickers and drawings to cover my jersey and refridgerator when i got home.



The race was less exciting than our host housing. I got caught in a crash 2 miles before the base of a 9 mile climb on the first day. The peloton went through a rain storm and i made sure i was either on the front and near the front during that time. No reason to waste all the effort to go down in a crash in the rain. A few minutes after the rain, I went to middle of the pack to rest up and grab a bite when all the sudden i rounded a corner and found myself running over another rider. She had gone down right in front of me and i had no where to go but over her. I jumped up and went for my bike. No major damage. Chain had come off and some minor scratches and scrapes. I jumped back on and tried to play catch.



When a crash like this occurs, your chances of saving a GC spot is slim. I time trialed 10 minutes to the base and still didn't catch the group. The 9 mile climb was miserable. I kept catching riders but these riders weren't going to make it back to the main field for the finish. My finish was a disapointing 65th for the day. The rest of the race I would work for my teammates and try to salvage the weekend by gaining some fitness for the upcoming races.

Joe Martin is a hard stage race. 4 stages in 48 hours is always physically and mentally tough. This was the first race that my full team has raced together. We are still learning each other's racing style and communication skills. It was fun but at the same time it shows we have a long way to go if we want to get on the top of the podium. Saturday's circuit race was an impressive day for our team. Although we did not get on the podium, we freaking lit that race up like a fire cracker. Our director, Greg Wolf, had us attacking the race non-stop. We had Leigh Valletti in a solo break for a long time. Every rider played an important part. Cheerwine and Aarons were working their butts off to bring back attack after attack. It was fun and it was the way women's cycling should be. Too many times we race negative and wait for other teams to make it exciting. Not that day. Now we just need to do this everyday in a stage race. Our time will come. The season believe it or not is still new. So much more racing to go.

I am happy to be home for two weeks and really looking forward to visiting my family in Nashville on Memorial Day weekend. The 2nd Annual Edgar Soto Memorial Day Stage Race is taking place and it is a great weekend for all racers. Check it out and come take your chances on this race. I doubt you will be disappointed. Last year this was a classy amateur stage race and the prizes were worth it so I am sure they will try to outdo themselves again this year.

Stay tuned for more race recaps and adventures. Thanks for reading. At the top, you see a pic from the tough crit at Joe Martin and here is a team pic at Joe Martin with our Host family.

Stay tuned for the introduction of the Targetraining Women's Pro Cycling podcast that will soon be available for your listening pleasure. These are some of the lovely personalities that you will get a chance to hear. So if you don't recognize the nostrils, that's Mandy Lozano and you have to say it like the announcer Dave Towle in a loud voice while she is on the front of a crit, and the ever so popular and very fast Leigh Valletti.

Finally catching a break

Last week was the SE Crit Series. It was a whole lotta crits in one week. Overall it was a great experience and so much fun. There is something about racing a one hour + race every night for a week straight that gets me pretty pumped. Besides getting to race every night in a different city with a different crowd, I discovered that racing your bike can also lead to the most effective way to waste time.

The past week was spent driving, eating, sleeping, doing laundry and checking emails in between races. Sounds like the life huh? Racing in 7 different cities over 8 days requires some serious logistical mapping. That is one thing i try not to do. In fact, i decided that the easiest thing was to just get in my car and start driving. That was all fine and good until after the last night in Decatur, AL when i found myself finally arriving back home at 3:30am. As if the races didn't provide enough suffering, I thought I would torture myself a little more and keep driving until I couldn't see straight. Made it home safe but that is the last time I pull that trick again. All i had was Veronica, my Garmin GPS system, to talk to me after dropping Christina off in Greenville, SC. Veronica only talks to me when i have taken the wrong turn or wants to take me on some alterantive route. She comes in handy most of the time but man when she is wrong, SHE is SOOO wrong.

So back to the races, since that is why you read this. Athens went over ok. I had a little crash Thursday night before the race so I was sore and a little timid. The trick about coaching is that you should always let your athlete either ride in front of you or behind you until you learn their riding style. I was out on a training ride with one of my athletes and we turned into each other. My fault i am sure since I did not no where i was going. I went down and he stayed upright. Minor road rash all over my arse and the new Aegis bike was acting silly. I had a small breakdown, gained composure and found the neosporine. I thought until this past weekend that it cures all, well maybe not. I put too much of that crap all over my road rash and had a huge allergic reaction. Friday night driving to the race my feet and hands started swelling and I had hives all over me. My feet were SO fat i couldn't even walk on them that night or the next morning. I woke up the day of Athens and thought that i wasn't going to be able to start since I couldn't put my fat feet into my cycling shoes. After popping several Benadryl and taking a nap, I was some how back to normal. I raced Athens but wasn't happy with my ride. I was suffering bad. Made it to the front once and decided to just ride it out. Lots of crits left this week. No need to blow myself on this one fantastic race. Athens is one of the most exciting races EVER and i will have revenge on it next year.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful until Sunday. Everyday was a field sprint finding Tina and Laura battling it out at the end. I would try to get in breaks over and over but the field did not want to let anything loose. Finally on Sunday, the break I was waiting for formed and stuck. It made my week. I knew if i could just get in a break that it would be to my advantage. My sprinting is coming along but my timing is still off. There were 6 of us in the break with 2 Cheerwine riders stirring things up. There were several attacks in the break. I tried to conserve but it wasn't happening. With a lap to go i was 6th. I moved up to 4th in the last 2 corners. The sprint went from the last corner and I didn't jump soon enough. I finished 4th in the break which was a HUGE bummer. I wanted a podium spot bad but apparently not bad enough. Another lesson learned. Experienced riders will try to take advantage of riders like me in a break. I did not work too much but they were giving me hell about pulling more. They were trying to wear me out. Good work on their part. Next time I won't be as timid in a break like that.

Speaking of next time, I fly out for Joe Martin tomorrow morning. This came as a surprise. I thought I had a weekend to decompress and train in the mtns for the upcoming stage races but instead my team needs me in Arkansas. After this weekend, I am planning on visiting Nashville on Memorial Day weekend, which i miss dearly. The 2nd Annual Edgar Soto Memorial Day Stage Race is taking place and it is a great weekend for all racers. Check it out and come take your chances on this race. I can promise you, you will not be disappointed. This is a classy amateur stage race and the prizes are worth it.

Stay tuned for more race recaps and adventures. Thanks for reading. Here is a pic of my break from Sunday afternoon in Decatur, AL.

new diary and next weekend down south

I have been asked to write a diary on www.nashvillecyclist.com so I needed to go back and refresh people's memory of what I have been doing over the past couple of months.

Here is a portion of that diary. After ATHENS I hope to have some interesting stories for you.
For those of you who aren't up to speed with what I have been doing over the winter and spring, here is a quick update.

Last fall I signed with Target Training Women's Pro Team. We are team based of mainly northeastern riders, a couple of southern girls and even and one west coast rider.
Target Training is a full service coaching & persona training business that incorporates a tri and bike shop located in scenic Westport, CT. Rick Spear, owner of Target Training, invested in a women's team for 2007 that has great potential on the National/International level in Women's Cycling.

Our racing schedule got rolling in March and shows no signs of slowing anytime soon.
We have already competed in an International race in El Salvador, Redlands Bicycle Classic in CA, US Open Cycling in Richmond, VA and we took our first NRC podium in Jacksonville, FL this past weekend. Next week the team will travel to Athens to participate in the ever so popular Athens Twilight and Roswell Criteriums. This will kick off an eight day racing stint of the SE Crit Series, where Target Training will be competing against the other big guns in the women's peloton. We will travel all over GA, SC and AL to race 7 days of crits.
TT will be looking to bring home a large purse as well as make a name for ourselves in the Women's Pro peloton.

As for my racing, this year already has been a breakthrough year for me. I am totally different rider than in years past. My training over the winter has really prepared me to race at the highest level. I have just come off a very productive weekend for Target Training in Jacksonville, FL and Macon, GA. There were 3 of us racing this weekend at Jacksonville and we took the 2nd on the podium in the twilight crit. In the next month I will be focusing more on some of the big crits and one day races rather than stage races. It seems that my racing strengths are coming on strong and I am hoping to have some good results in the SE Crit Series but it all depends on the team and our goals.

For more info on my racing and where I will be racing over the next couple of months, visit www.robinfarina.com

Redlands recap and upcoming races

The past couple of months have been challenging, exciting and very busy. I just got home from Redlands, CA where the Redlands Bicycle Classic is held every year. It wasn't my first race of the year but it certainly was the hardest so far. Up until last weekend, I have been racing regionally which means that the competition is nowhere near the level that Redlands presented. Sure locally there are some strong riders but there hasn't been any team presence. At Redlands you had all the big teams flexing their muscles. T-Mobile, Lipton, Cheerwine, Tibco and Colavita to name a few. The riders from these teams have already been racing quite a bit, so i figured it was a good way to test the legs and get some good training in for the weekend. Not too mention some fantastic weather...Here is a pic of me in the prologue which was a 5k uphill TT. It was not pleasant. Definitely my hardest effort of the year and I even puked twice once i crossed to the finish line to prove it, although my results didn't seem to say that.

The next day offered up a 80 mile race that ended with 3 climbs in the last 30 miles that would shatter the field. I maintained my position in the front group until the last 6 miles of the race where we hit the Oak Glen climb. This was a tough 6 mile grunt to the summit. I found myself in a small group of 7. I wasn't too depressed when i looked over and saw Ina Tutenberg of T-Mobile next to me. I thought if I can just keep up with her till the top then i will be ok. Here is a small pic of us just dying to get up the hill.







The 3rd and 4th stages were pretty uneventful. In the crit i finished in the pack, 39th I think. Should have tried to mix it up more but wanted to play it safe for the day so i would have some legs for the circuit race on the last day. The sunset loop is crazy hard. At the beginning of the race, the pack was neutralized but we were blazing up to the circuit. As soon as we hit, the pack busted open. There were a couple of crashes. The circuit was tight and twisty. Many corners that were sharp. When the pack hit the climb we split up. I found myself in a group of 8 for most of the race. We completed 8 laps and then pulled us from the circuit which was a little upsetting since we were so close to finishing.

Finally i returned back home from redlands late on Tuesday. Now it's time to get ready for Richmond. This race shows no signs of being any easier. From now on out it's on. All races will be hard the best riders will be showing up every weekend. Stay tuned for more race reports.

Target Training Women's Pro Team will be fully represented at Richmond. At redlands we had a full composite team. I was the only rider from TT. We picked up 2 riders from NC, Christina DeKray and Kat Clark. They were lots of fun and we appreciate them coming all the way from NC to race in sunny CA for the weekend.

I promise to keep the blog updated on a regular basis or I will be forced to pull the plug on this. Also our new bikes should be arriving any day now. Stay tuned for the first glimpse of what we will be riding all season long!