Collegiate Regionals Back in Wisconsin

What a long long weekend it sure was. It was the "pre"-finale to the collegiate road season this spring. I can't believe it already is coming to an end! I am almost done with my first year of college too...this is crazy!We left late on Thursday evening to get to Kip's house in Watertown, Wisconsin. The regionals would be held in Greenbush for the road race, and at Madison around the capital for the crit. We left at about 6pm putting us into Wisconsin at about 3am. A rough trip for sure, but it was well worth it to have Friday to get our legs back.
We got to Greenbush with some fantastic weather and high hopes. We were on the border line of qualifying for nationals out in Colorado as a team, and if we didn't do that, we would then need to qualify as individuals. Therefore, we all needed good results if we were Cat A's racers. My race had a decent sized field of very fast women. The intimidate me a whole lot when I get on that start line. Usually I feel pretty good, but they can make me feel pretty small by how good they are. Our race was a 50 mile hilly race, while the boys had 80 miles. A great day for a great workout!The finish/lap point was on the top of a the second of a set of hills. A nice grade meant for a grind fest. About 3 laps (10 miles each) into the race, the pack finally split. The o so fast Devon Haskell (who tore it up at Redlands on a composite team! Congrats to her!) I imagine initiated this through the hilly backside of the course. I did what I could to hold on and I found myself with the main pack. All I had to do was to stay with them. That has been my goal this season, stay with the main pack.

Good rotations and work made us very effecient. Lap after lap went by and I found myself in what was once a group of 20, now a group of 8. We kept dropping and dropping until there was just us. It was fairly uneventful as I just kept trying to hold on as I slammed my yummy espresso Hammer Gels. Once we hit the final stretch of the race my heartrate jumped 10 heartbeats. I was so anxious and nervous about the finish. The pack easily broke and I found myself in the middle of them up the sprint climb. I ground and ground my gears and wanted to cry as I felt little cramps sneaking up on me, and I finished in 16th, right behind my fast teammate. This made me happy. I found I am much better at endurance than power. Hence why I suck at crits. The day was over and the TTT and crit were to follow on Sunday. Time to chillax and put the feet up...


On Sunday morning we woke up bright and early for our TTT. It was a 10 mile out and back course that was said to be FLAT. They LIED!! I was spent from the day before and told my teammate that since it was flat I could hang on pretty easily. Unfortunately, there were only the 2 of us, and it was hilly as can be.

I hung on for dear life. We took 6th out of about 10 teams. I am happy!


The crit was a similar story. We had some down time for about 6 hours until I had to race. It was pothole central around the square and I was hoping for a flat on one of them. My quads were killing and my body was saying no. Riding to the bathrooms even hurt!
The weather was beautiful and coach Kip was helping me out as much as possible. At this point, we were knocked out of qualifying contention and needed to do well in the crit today.

Needless to say, I didn't flat in this 60 minute crit. But, I did last 20 minutes before getting rocked like a hurricane. The group I was with was told we had one lap left before getting pulled, we hung out, and then sprinted for the finish. I had a lot of down time to go mingle with the crowd while my race continued to go on without me...very sad...Yet, this is the story of my crit racing career.

Elicia and I were able to hang out and "shoot the shit" during the race...

(L-W-C)

I was even able to hang out with the guys before their race, which would have been impossible had I lasted. See all the good things that happened as a result!

Kip's race was very important to guarantee his nationals qualifier. The crit was insanely fast for them. Attack after attack, but nothing would stick. Then, as I stood on the corner before the lap point, I hear a loud "POP!" Someone's tire blew out. I joked with the people I stood with and said here comes the crash...

The crash came and there Kip was in the fetal position in the middle of the turn on the ground. Not a good place to be!! My heart raced but he got up and wheeled on over to the wheel pit.
After a free lap, Kip made it back into the pack, banged up quite a bit.

The race went on, and Kip succeeded. The finish was a field sprint where Kip finished in the mid front of the pack. Good enough to get him to nationals!

The stress of that was gone, but now it was taking care of his body for 3 weeks from now.
Our team had a blast in Wisconsin. Now, I wait for the official word on whether I make it to nationals. Chances are I will, but it is more on whether or not I get to race both the crit and road race, or just the road race. It's a complicated process if you don't know much about the qualifying, but I am okay with whatever happens! If anything, I will just be the water girl.
Next on the agenda...

Nationals is coming up in Colorado. Then after that, it is full speed ahead going into WORS. I will make my first race at Treadfest and am hoping for a good result. I have been working hard, but sometimes you don't always get what you want. I am getting back on the mountain bike to get used to the fit and the technical skills.

Can't wait to see everyone soon!

Purdue and Marian

It is a big weekend for me going into my weekend races at Marian College and Purdue University. I finally upgraded to cat 3 and women's A collegiate. I feel prepared in what I have learned from the groups I have raced with and now it is important for me to do what I can to earn points for our team to qualify for nationals.

Now, I definitely prefer flatting on the way TO the race, rather than flatting during the race. On the way to Indiana, one of our vans got a flat in Louisville. After some dinkin' around, we finally got the flat fixed and we were on our way to a long weekend.

The morning of the crit was at Marian College. It was foggy and a little chilly. I knew that if we just waited the weather was sure to warm up and I would soon be walking around in shorts and a jersey.
The weather was great, and I was preparing to go FAST!
The race did start off fast, and I was not with the main pack. I was in the chase groups that followed. With good work I was able to move up and slowly catch numerous racers in front of me. I would also drop a few racers from my group as I caught new ones. I was lucky to catch Jessie Duppler on UW-Madison who was willing to work with me very well. After a long race of pulling a lot, I was able to get a break as Jessie told me going into our last lap that she would set me up. It was me, IU, and Jessie. Jessie and I decided to let IU pull the last lap...Jessie would then pull me going into the last stretch so I could jump around her for the sprint finish.
Getting antsy in the last stretch I hung on Jessie as long as I could as the IU girl began her sprint. I pulled out from Jessie and stood up and rocked as hard as I could. I didn't know how close or how far either of them were but me and Jessie both put in as much as we could to bump the IU racer back. (IU and Madison are battling for points). I found my chest killing as I crossed the line and our plan working. Awesome job to Jessie and a huge thanks!
Kip's race followed and it was amazing. He got in a break with Bennett and Freshie Steve Scholzen. It was a good breakaway with a steady 22-24 second gap. In the end, Steve won follow by Bennett and then Kip. What a great race for Kipper!
But I guess not everyone got so lucky...The next day was Purude Team Time Trials and their Road Race. We began the morning of our Team Time Trial. It was me, Jean Schneider, and Erin Collins. I wish I had a photo of our TTT but I don't. We passed the Marian team out on the course and cruised in for a 3rd place finish against powerhouse teams such as Wisconsin, IU, and others. There were about 7 or 9 teams?

The road race was a good starter. It was about a 5 mile loop with a killer short climb of about 12-15%. Somewhere in there. It burned...
Going into the climb, I knew it was there as the course was the same for our TTT. I tried to "sag climb" it so I made sure I was out front. This technique worked well for me because if I made one wrong move and fell off the back of the pack on this hill, I would be caught alone in a windy road.It was a painful hill, but I held great positioning. There was a breakaway on about the 3rd lap that formed from the climb. I maintained my position in the main group and was able to help out my teammate get in another breakaway.
Lap after lap went by, and I came into the climb each time hoping to keep a good spot. The lap point was on the climb so the finish was on top of the climb. The last lap came and I just had to hold on for dear life.

We came rolling into the base of the climb and I was sitting about 3rd wheel on a 2 person wide pace line. The pullers split (UW Madison again!) and I was able to pull ahead. I was about 5th finishing from our main group for a final placing of 18th and still in the points for the team. I was very happy with my weekend's results!

Kip continues his job of amazing me and finished his race in a sprint on the climb again Steve Scholzen. The race was down to this. Kip came out from behind Freshie and missed his win by about 2-3 inches. It was so awesome though! A 3rd and a 2nd place finish this weekend, along with Steve's double win. It was a great weekend!
Yesterday was a nice recovery ride in the 75 degree sunny weather. It was awesome.

It was basically just a ride of shenanigans and fun.

Afterwards, the guys tried to ride their bike all the way to their room...which meant riding into the elevator, positioning so they all fit, and then exiting the elevator.

I would call it a success.

On an academically related note, me and Kip had an "honours" dinner for being on the Dean's and Presiden'ts list with our GPAs. They served us some yummy food and we got recognized for being smart. How exciting!

(Race photos provided and taken beautifully by Jon 'Geo' Camp. He rocks!

Hillsboro-Roubaix

Hillsboro-Roubaix was this past weekend on Saturday. Going into the weekend I was given the option by USA Cycling to upgrade and race the 1/2/3 race or race the cat 4s...I decided cat 4 would be a perfect race for this weekend.

So me and Kip drove down to Hillsboro to meet up with IS Corp and stayed at a pretty shadey hotel. Since we were sharing we found an air mattress in the back of the jeep, but was unable to blow it up properly, so we had to use a bike pump. It took a good 30-45 minutes to get an airmattress to have a "comfortable" night of sleep...

The next day was bright and early for breakfast at the local restaraunt and headed out to the race course. It warmed up during the race, but was about high 40s to low 50s. There were some crosswinds out on the course but also sunshine.
My race started off pretty large. I think they said there were about 50 starters. Wow! What a field size! It was a lot of fun and we had a 2 line group going. Not long into the race the first crash happened from losing control on a gravelly straight. Luckily I was moving out of the way when people were getting sketchy and I missed the crash. This helped split the field.
The race continued and there was soon our main group with a few stragglers...I soon would be a straggler. There were no breakaways, a couple of attempts but very unsuccessful. I did not have the power that day to even attempt a breakaway, especially since the main group was dominated by teams that had planned on pulling back any breakaways. I was content with the main field.

There was fun gravel, rock, pot holes, red brick for a finish!

The race continued on the 22 mile loop. We hit about mile 19 and there were two large hills coming our way. Hill one, made it up with the pack. Hill two, definitely fell off the back and we were all strung into a staggered line. We hit the cobblestone and I knew the finish was very very close. I pushed whatever I had left to pass 3 women at my finish, for a 9th place. Wasn't too terrible. I thought there were more women in front of me which was a bummer, but it was decent. I was hoping for a top 3 but it was a strong race.

Kip's race was crazy, and I doubt had as many crashes as ours, especially on those corners! He finished 25th in a very strong field that Steve Tilford won.


On the painful drive back to school, which was about 6 hours, we hit flood land. There is a poor farm that now has to canoe to get to.

Overall: A fun fun weekend and I am currently waiting to get my upgrade request fullfilled. Also, Sebastian, my beautiful SWorks, is still being rebuilt, but should be done shortly so I will be able to test my strength out on some trails in a couple of weeks!