HIGH GEAR TEAM NITE, November 20, 2005. Got to see my AWESOME sponsor, Kent McNeill at the shop...this guy rocks!
The following weekend, Rob and I participated in a cancer fundraiser called Sunflowers to Roses (a spin off of the Ride to Roses in TX, one of Lance Armstong's biggest fundraising events). While we rode in pouring rain the entire time, we had a blast and enjoyed sharing the experience with a friend of ours who is a cancer survivor.
After Gateway, I compiled a team for the MS 150, from Lee's Summit to Sedalia (and back, on day #2)! My gang was GREAT! We had jerseys made and our team name was Slyvester-Powell Community Center (located in Mission), since most of the team participates in my spin classes there. While most of us did not stick around for day #2, we still had a great time and ended up raising over $2200 for MS!
Shown here: Team Slyvester-Powell Community Center!
GATEWAY CUP, St louis MO, Sept 2-4, 2005
Why not start with the results first! 5th overall for the weekend in the women 1/2/3. 12th place at Kirkwood, 7th place at the Giro della Montagna, and FIRST PLACE at University City!
Field sizes were solid this weekend, with 30-35 women in each 1/2/3 race. A lesson learned on Saturday's course enabled me to pull off the win yesterday at U-city. On Saturday, with about a lap and 1/2 to go, I shot off the pack and bridged up to a 2-woman break. They'd been out there awhile and weren't moving very fast when I got to them. But I had it in my head that 3 were better than one, so I stayed with them--too long. The pack caught up right before the final sprint and my legs blew--for a disappointing 12th place. Sunday, I took a 4-5 lap flyer off the front, recovered, and then bridged up to the 5-6 women off the front and rode on the back to the sprint, taking 7th. Having narrowly avoided a crash in the last lap, I was pleased with this. Monday-not a good course for me. Downhill finish, no hills. Had no plans other than to try and place top 5 to boost my overall weekend rankings. I shot off the front for a $50 prime and won it by a long shot. Sat up, rejoined the pack. Next prime--$20-same thing-shot off the front, won it out front all alone. sat up, rejoined the pack. With a little more than 2 laps to go, they threw out a $25 crowd prime. Two women were off the front-one from MERCY, one from KENDA (the two largest teams in our group). I looked over at Rob on the sidelines and mouthed "should I go?" HE nodded YES--GO!!! I took off from the very back of the pack, up the left side and shot off the front. It took me about 1/2 lap to bridge to those two women, and then I worked with them briefly...they were moving too slow and I didn't want a repeat of Saturday. So I left them and went for it-I did the entire last lap all alone and finished with my arm in the air, coasting through the finish line--it was AWESOME!! The crowd lined the entire finishing stretch and they were cheering so LOUD! My win boosted me from 12th overall to 5th overall for the weekend. Plus, I was 3 primes richer! It was a great day!
Sedalia, MO and Warrensburg, MO, August 27-28, 2005
Both of these events were first-time events and I have to say, the promoters did a VERY nice job! It's not easy rounding up $ and help and everything else! Because Rob was also officiating this weekend, we got to help with quite a bit of the set-up and tear down--I have a whole new appreciation for the work that officials and promoters do-it is EXHAUSTING!! That said, the race under the lights on Sat nite in downtown Sedalia was a riot! Molly, Kelly and I got a breakaway established after each of had taken a flyer or two off the front. Apparently, our early-race efforts paid off, as the other women were unable to chase us down. When it came time for the sprint, Kelly and Molly pulled away from me as though I had been standing still-yikes! So-a 3rd place finish. Sunday, right before my race, husband Rob went down in a bad crash in his race. He was part of a 3 man break and on the 2nd to last lap, he cornered and caught his rim, taking him down forcefully. As he said, he pulled a "Beloki." I didn't even want to race after seeing him. It was a tricky course with 8 corners, several of which were in quick succession, so it made for a fast and hairy descent. Again, Kelly and I got a break established with about 10 minutes and 3 laps to go. Heather from team Mercy caught up and the 3 of us worked together to the end. When it came time for the sprint, I tried to hop on Kelly's wheel and was able to close in a bit more than Saturday night. I ended up in 2nd place, which made me happy. There's no shame, in my mind, in losing a sprint to Kelly Benjamin--she's so good!! And so much fun to race with!
Downer's Grove National Criterium Championships, Downers Grove IL, August 20-21, 2005
Tour of KC, Kansas City August 13-14, 2005
Yeah, ok so I got married last weekend!! I'm gonna blame my lack-luster racing on all the wedding hype and excitement because it sure has been a series of SIXTHS! This weekend I took 6th at Cliff Drive and 6th at the Overland Park GP. How disappointing. Magen Long and Kelly Benjamin of "the Bicycle Store" obviously took 1st and 2nd both days--having them here made it so much fun! Lots of Mercy women in blue again, a great race turnout, despite a somewhat-low payout. (The men 5 made more than the women 1/2/3). Not much to say about the races, other than the GOOSENECK on SATURDAY SUCKED!! Legs felt great for the crit on Sunday--I'm feeling very good about Downers Grove next weekend!
MO State Champ Criterium, Jefferson City, MO August 7, 2005
Ah yes, the battle of the teams. I think we had 5 or 6 Mercy women, 2 Mesa Cycle women, 2 Veloforce women, and then several of us that ride w/out teammates. It made for a very good race--the field was full of some of the strongest regional CAT IIs around. Mercy especially has been stocking their shelves w/ some talent, rounding up Pam Hinton and upgrading Melissa Cox to a II. I knew it'd be a tough race. The route was great--wide sweeping turns around the capital building. A couple of small hill and a long downhill, perfect for resting! Of course it was scorching hot, in the high 90s as it has been. I tried to stay cool by spraying most of my water bottle contents on myself! Because of the team factor, I tried not to do much work and spent time figuring out who the marked women were on the teams. I sprinted for, and won, the first prime (new tires-woohoo!), sat in, chased down a couple quasi-breaks and then sat in again until last lap-I knew I'd have to go too early, but I didn't want to risk another Soulard where I got pinched into the corner...so I broke off w/ a hill and a left-hander into the finishing straightaway. I was passed by 5 women--managed to get behind one and drafted for a second. I had every intention of coming out and around her, but my legs had other plans. They blew with about 50 feet to go and I actually came across the line seated because I didn't have the legs to sprint. Molly Vetter won the MO state champ jersey, her teammate Carrie Cash taking second--but only one of the 5 or 6 Mercy women beat me...a good race, especially since it wasn't really on our schedule and we went for the workout. The biggest goal of the day--NO crashing before the wedding!!
QUARTERMAX TRIATHLON, Innsbrook MO, July 31, 2005
Man, had I forgotten how much work triathlons can be! In addition to all the crap I normally lug along for a bike race, I also had to pack all my swimming gear and running gear, plus transition area essentials. It is exhausting just getting ready for these races! I went with a client of mine and we had the HARDEST time trying to drive the bike and run course the day before-which made me nervous. While I'd competed in this race in 2003, the course had changed somewhat and I am a big believer in being over-prepared for triathlons. No such luck here. I felt on Saturday night like I was totally "winging" this race.
The other thing I hate about triathlons??? EARLY WAKEUP! We got up at 4:50am and got to the race site nice and early, setting up our transition area and getting our bodies marked with our race numbers. Everything was all set. It was cool going through all of this with two of my clients! The race got started and immediately I knew I was in trouble on the swim. We started at the front of our swim heat (not on purpose, everyone just lined up behind us!) and got TOTALLY TRAMPLED. I was choking on water, totally stressed and couldn't get myself to calm down. Needless to say, it was a long swim and I added more than 4 disappointing minutes to my already-pathetic 2003 time. By the time I reached my bike I was simply pissed and determined to overcome my rough start. I set my odometer on AVG SPEED and was determined not to see that average go any lower than 22mph over the course of the 26-mile bike course. I absolutely flew up and down the hills on the first 8-9 miles, then settled in on the long flat stuff (into a headwind and I didn't use aerobars!). I ended up averaging almost 24mph and came in with the best women's bike time overall. I got my running shoes on and hit the hilly gravel run course for the 6.5miles. I developed a HUGE blister on mile one, but it just prompted me to run faster so I could get my shoes off. I was hoping to avg 8.5 minute miles, but slipped to 9.5 minute miles, as the steepness of both the ascents and descents really slowed down. I ended up finishing in 2:37:35, placing 114/434 competitors and 4th in my W25-29 age group, and also managed to qualify for the 1/2MAX championships in september. The jury's still out on that one, as there's a pretty big bike race the same weekend. All in all, it was good to be back on the tri scene after taking a year hiatus.
Tailwind Cyclists Criterium, Pittsburg, KS-July 24, 2005
Women 1/2/3 were combined w/ the men 3/4 race--Learned a tough lesson this weekend: ALWAYS ALWAYS pre-ride the race course. Unfortunately, the race organizers would not allow us to take a lap following the prior event, so many of us lined up, not knowing a thing about the course. I went to the front so I could see for myself what the course looked like on the first lap. The only problem is--when you're going hard w/ the pack right behind you, you're forced to take blind corners and turns at speed, whether you want to or not! Needless to say--I crashed on the first lap in what looked like a wide-sweeping left-hand turn. It was--but there was a pavement change that caused a serious problem...(see photo below). I went to the wheel pit for a free lap, and just as the official was about to push me back into the group as they came around, my chain fell off. He pushed me anyways, and the chain grabbed, but by the time I got going, the pack was already past me. So I held on to the back for a lap. Shortly thereafter, I was spit out the back. I time-trialed for about 20 minutes and then was re-joined by the pack as they lapped me. Back in the group, a breakaway got off the front--and ROB WAS IN IT! So then my main goal became blocking back in the pack. I'd shoot up to the front and sit there, attempting to slow the chase down. It worked--Rob's group stayed away and Rob took 2nd in the sprint! I quit the race with 4 laps to go so I could douse Rob w/ water as he came around--I could tell he was hot!! So--a bad race for me=a big fat DNF for the weekend, but it was good training!
shown here--and yes, that's Rob riding by me!
Cougar Criterium/Tour de Soulard, St louis --July 9-10, 2005
HOT HOT HOT. Holy moly, I think I had heat stroke on Sunday! Saturday's race went well--flat crit with 6 corners. It came down to a sprint between Molly Vetter and myself; she won. Sunday had 10 corners and one hill--and we had a few more women show up--I worked a lot early on to try and establish a break away. Seemed no one wanted to work. At one point I attemted to bridge up to Carla, who had gone off the front and stayed away. Molly and I were off the front of the pack, but she couldn't help work to catch Carla. So--I decided to sit in the pack and quit working myself to death. Race came down to a sprint, I got boxed into a corner so I was braking when everyone else was accelerating. Came in for 7th (?) place. To be honest-I felt so lousy in the heat, I just wanted the race over. Great training weekend--which is why we went!
Shown here in Sunday's race, trying to lift the pace on the front:
Megan's NATURE VALLEY 2005 RECAP:
Let me preface this tale by saying that, if it weren't for my fiance' Rob Helton, I would not've made it. He helped me so much during this race, I unquestionably owe my win to him. He was the best coach/team manager a racer could ask for.
FRIDAY NIGHT:
Thus far, I am pleased with the stages. (Wed) My TT time put me in second place among the CAT IIIs, but in the 70s in the overall classification. Not bad, considering I almost rode off the start ramp and then was unable to get my TT bike into the big ring for over 1/2 of the course. Grr.
During the 84+ mile RR yesterday (thurs), I had to chase back onto the pack not once, twice, but three separate times!! So when we entered the Makato circuit (which contained a BEAST of a hill), those 4 laps were the worst ever. When people tell me they've seen demons at the top of Mt Evans, I now know what they mean. I can't believe I didn't just tip over, the bike was moving so slowly. I had to resort to criss-crossing across the road just to keep going. I kept thinking--if this is bad, how am I going to handle another 8-10% in Stillwater!?!? I have had such an upset stomach (from nerves?) that I was underfed and under-hydrated going into this day. I just could not eat, and I think I only had 3 bottles of water the entire day. Once we hit the circuit, I really doubted being able to continue; I started cramping in my calves and could tell I had done a lot of muscle damage. I ended up losing 3 minutes to the girl wearing the CAT III jersey, which made it an even harder day to stomach. Did I mention we did 90 miles in only 4 hours???
Shown here-the start of the Mankato RR:
Tonight (Fri) was the toughest crit I've ever done--completely FLAT and SOOO technical. I went down in a crash early in the race, (re-opened a couple scars from last June, but the bike was ok!), took a free lap and got back into the race. About 3 laps later, the entire field went down right in front of me. Myself and two others at the back of the field stayed upright--we picked up our bikes, ran through the bodies and got going. So for the next 3-4 laps, we were the WINNERS!! Eventually, the majority of the pack got their bikes fixed and rejoined us on the course. It ended in a field sprint, at which point I was able to pass about 20 girls before the line.
Friday's crit viewed from above:
Tomorrow (Sat) is the 90+ RR, followed by a TOUGH crit on sunday. I was sitting 77th going into today, but I think the crash and my success during the remainder of the race may've boosted my standings. One can only hope ;)
It's been one lesson learned after another. this is by far the hardest thing i've ever done. However--sitting at Borders this morning, reading about these women in Velonews and then joining them at the start line later in the day...what an honor. I am truly overwhelmed with respect for my fellow female athletes.
That "warm happy feeling" from last night's race is SO GONE--I woke up Saturday morning expecting my GC standings to be GREAT after Friday's crit, and what do I find? The officials didn't realize that we were the LEAD group, not the CHASE group. They let the girls (that had crashed) back out on the course, not knowing we were out there already. So they tacked on THREE MINUTES to our time, because they assumed we were 2 laps DOWN, not two laps AHEAD. I protested to the head official; it was denied. I was devastated. It made it VERY hard to get my head on straight for another 90 mile RR. Why work your butt off for something if your fate will be determined by something OTHER than performance??...
Saturday's RR in Red Wing...oh my. Even longer than the first RR and ended on a circuit with another GHASTLY hill. Without a team radio, I can't say for sure what was going on at the front of the pack but we NEVER slowed down. I knew the pace was high when STRONG riders were in the back with me, struggling to hold on. It was like that for over 60 miles...then the skies opened up and we got soaked in pouring rain; lightening/thunder was right overhead-at one point, the lightening struck so close that my lips buzzed. Scary. The officials decided to stop the race and put us in a barn. Except, it wasn't open. So we all stood there, shivering, for about 30 minutes. The only cool thing about this was that I actually had a chance to talk to some of these girls and observe them with their teammates. So many have foreign accents! The two that really stand out in my mind as being class-acts and women I'd like to emulate, are Tina Pic and Lynn Gaggioli. They tend to be so positive and upbeat, and they conduct themselves in such a way, that they just make you want to be around them. I made a note to myself--if I ever "make it big," I wanna be like those two!
And then...the race resumed...yeah, tell that to my muscles after shivering and standing still for 1/2 hour!! So-we raced into Red Wing, onto another circuit for 4 laps, with another HILL in it (there's no escaping them in MN!)!! This time, I had more fuel left in the legs and I made back all but 20 seconds on the CAT III in the lead. I knew it'd come down to Stillwater.
The hill on the Redwing RR finishing circuit:
And...it did.
Stillwater's "chilkoot hill" is a lot like Snake Alley, only straight up. It's the "lean over the bars and pull up on the pedals" kind of climb. When you climb up it, it feels as though you can climb into the clouds. The picture below does NOT do it justice. Wow.
Rounding the corner at the top:
All of these spectators lined both sides of the hill and cheered us on as we climbed--it helped SO much!
The pack shattered on the very first lap. We all had such tired legs, I can't believe we even made it up! I was feeling great and on the second lap, I blew by the girl leading the amateurs and never saw her again. I started to put time into her on each lap and around the 8th or 9th ??? time up the hill, the officials pulled my group and everyone behind us because the lead group was over a minute ahead of us. Fine by me--I had over 60 seconds on my rival at that point (and only needed 20 to take the jersey)...so, we were done. I was deemed the best amateur/CAT III rider and received the winner's jersey. In GC, I finished 61st out of 114 women that started. 
Results and photos are at www.minnbikefest.com and www.cyclingnews.com
