7-29-08: salida weekend pics:

rainy TT

RR neutral rollout:

Our 4-woman breakaway from left: Susannah, Terri, Amy and me

Sunday morning trip to the pass:

Chasing Longo's wheel (it feels like motor pacing):

The criterium podium from left: Melissa (2nd), Jeannie (1st) and Terri (3rd)

The RR podium (missing Amy D who won):

The omnium podium (missing Amy D again):

7-28-08: Salida part III: we woke yesterday morning to sunny skies and ventured from our hotel in Monarch up to the top of the pass for some breathtaking views (photos coming).  Then we made our way down to town and watched Kelsey race in the SM4 crit (he did great!).  We did some warming up, then watched the SW4 gals (Cory and Cyndi) race (they also did great, I was so proud of them!).  Then it was time for Rob's race at 2:45 so I warmed up and watched his race - with about 10 minutes to go the skies opened up and dumped, just like it had on Friday night.  I'm talking, within minutes there are streams flowing down the streets.  I began to rethink my plans to race, as racing a crit in the rain is just silly dangerous.  Nevertheless, with a short rain delay to give the lightening time to pass (but not enough time for the standing water in all of the corners to dry), there we were lined up at the start/finish line.  Gabriela was also on the line as they combined the SW3 and SW1/2 crit.  This was her first crit!!  She was winning the omnium in the SW3 coming into the crit so there she was, ready to roll and if she was nervous it didn't show at all! 

The decision was made to shorten our race to 35 minutes, which I felt made for a much faster event.  Jeannie Longo was present, having already raced with the men 35+ earlier in the day.  As for me, Amy D and Susannah, we all knew this race would decide the omnium so it was game-on from the start. 

Long story short, with a few laps to go, I looked back and realized Amy and Susannah had fallen off our lead pack but were chasing like crazy to catch us.  Jeannie was up the road doing a solo effort.  I was on the front of our 4-pack which I knew was not where I should be, but I had to think about the omnium, not just the crit outcome.  I essentially towed all 3 of them to the line and predictably, they came around at the sprint so I ended up 5th, but ahead of S and A which gave me the omnium win, with Susannah in 2nd and Amy in 3rd overall.  There was no question that I made a couple tactical errors during the crit that resulted in a lower-than-desired placing but that's the cool thing about crit racing -there are always tactical lessons to be learned.

Despite the weather, it was a great weekend of fun and challenging racing at an event VERY well-organized.  The promoters did a fantastic job, as did all of the volunteers and officials.  I highly recommend this event to everyone!

(lots of photos coming).

7-26-08: Salida update: Friday nite TT was delayed due to rain and lightening.  We all raced in the pouring (cold) rain and strong winds, it was miserable.  It was a race to see who could warm up, then get completely cold, then stand and freeze and shiver for 10 minutes, then go all out for 7-8 miles.  It was tough and I played things pretty conservatively because the wind was whipping me all over the road.  Somehow I pulled out the win. 

Today was the hardest RR I've ever done in CO - we did laps around this 12 mile circuit that was punishing from start to finish.  On the very first lap up the first climb a group of 4 of us made our way off the front: Amy D, Susannah G, Terri C and me.  We worked well together and made our way around a couple laps and then Terri decided she'd had enough so then there were 3 of us.  On the 2nd-to-last time up the climb, A and S dropped me as my quads and calves started to cramp.   I was able to catch back on but knew the last time up the climb would be very hard for me.  I tried to push the fluids - no matter.  I was having the same troubles I had at Cascade despite being hydrated and taking in enough calories.  Could it be the shoes?  Anyways, as I suspected, when we came to the steep stuff for the last time A and S rode away from me.  While I was able to keep them in sight, I couldn't close the gap.  I watched Amy outsprint Susannah for the win = Colorado State RR champion (nice job Amy!).  It was fun racing with those gals today, tho that course really was a tough one.  If my math is correct, my 1st TT and 3rd RR puts me in first in the omnium, but JUST BARELY, with Amy and Susannah both very close.  Crit is tomorrow afternoon, hopefully not in the rain.  Congrats to DFT racers Gabriela and Cory for their successful finishes of today's RR! 

7-24-08: Kansas City area-Divas please consider attending this awesome event of our awesome sponsor EPIC BIKE AND SPORT:

"Amy Shreve, the Specialized Bicycle Components Midwest Demo Coordinator, will be in town on August 7^th to host a Diva Night at Epic Bike and Sport.  Amy will be conducting a women’s specific bike demo event from 12:00 – 6:00 on August 7^th at our store.  The demo event will be followed by a Diva Night program from 6:00 – 8:00pm that will include the following:

• Back in the saddle - getting started in cycling
• Finding the right bike for you
• How are properly designed women’s cycling products different from men’s products
• Overview of Designs for Women products
• Basic bicycle maintenance

 Refreshments and snacks will be served during the Diva Night program."

7-23-08: aforementioned HART/DFT crit flyer.  Please come and race or watch or volunteer, it'll be a blast! 

Coming up this weekend: the Salida Omnium.  Rob and I are looking forward to a fun weekend outside of Denver.  Even more fun stuff coming up after that --the season is far from over and I find I'm gaining momentum instead of losing steam.  I think that's how I know I really love this sport.  Well, it's one of the indicators anyway. 

7-21-08: everyone please mark your calendar for the HART/DFT crit on August 23rd.  It was originally scheduled for Sept 6th but due to other race cancellations, it's been moved up.  It's here in Denver and like Niwot, Cheryl Moffett and I are upping the ante on the payout for the women's race (thanks to HART for their contribution too!) so it'll be $1000/10 deep.  We are also providing the prizes and payout in the women's CAT 4 race (and they are good prizes) so ladies especially, please try to come out and race this event!  I'll post the flyer here as soon as it's finalized. 

Also, the doofus that bid on, and won, my trek needed "5-7 days to get the money together" after the auction ended.  AARGH!  So my Trek is back on EBAY as are a few saddles I don't use anymore.  Bid away and make me a happy seller ;) 

7-19-08: Mt Evans hillclimb today. 

= Approx 28 miles with approx 7000 feet of elevation gain, topping out around 14,000 feet.  Weather was gorgeous but a bit windy.  On the start line, none other than Jeannie Longo who recently qualified for the French olympic team (I digress, but she's the 3rd olympian I've raced against in the past 2 weeks - Kristin Armstrong and Christine Thorburn were out at Cascade.  Talk about stiff competition!).  Also present were 2 strong climbers from Colavita's pro team,  plus a batch of us local "mortals."  Things started off hard thanks to Longo on the front and I knew my time in the pack would be short-lived.  While my legs were ready for it, mentally, I was not ready to go back into the pain cave with the torture of Cascade still fresh in my mind.  So Gabriela and I made sure she was tucked in behind the lead girls and away they went as I started sliding backwards around mile 7.  Things really split up then, I did some riding alone and eventually was blessed with a riding partner for the final (brutal) 10 miles to the top. 

Long story short, I pretty much got my butt handed to me by everyone today (including the CAT 4 women that passed me on the way up -- smoking fast!) but that's ok.  I think I knew going into this ride today that I just wanted to finish/redeem last year's disaster.  I finished in a more respectable time this year, around 2:35, which is 25 minutes faster than last year but still quite a few minutes off Longo's winning time today of 2:10.  Mental recovery, I have decided, is quite possibly more important than the physical recovery after a hard stage race.  But will someone please catch me next July and remind me of these words: "I am not doing the Mt Evans HC again."  Ok?  Hold me to it please.  Seriously. 

I was really proud of the gang -- We had several DFT members racing Mt Evans today - Gabriela (who rocked it to the top with the big guns aforementioned), John, Greg (who podium-ed in the citizens race, awesome!), Amy, Randy, and I think a few more? 

7-15-08: I ended up 23rd overall for the week.  Not what I went for and I think the writing was on the wall on day #2 when I lost so much time on the climb due to cramping . . . But I did what I could do as a solo rider with no team support and I can safely say I gave it my all.  By my estimate, we raced approx 338 miles in 5 days and we drove over 2600 miles there and back.  During the times I wasn't racing, my mom and our friends Ellen, Kris, Linda and Chic were having a lot of fun and a lot of laughs.  Here's a photo recap of the good times we had last week (thanks to everyone that sent me pics!) 

Here's my attempt to capture Levi on film:

Next to Morgan of SBW on the final day:

trees and mountains everywhere you look

my fantastic fans from left: Kris, Mom and Linda:

and back at our beautiful host home:

the "I can't believe I finished that race" discussion with new friends Ellen and host, "Chic"

Rob just sent me this link so it's a nice bit of good (unexpected) media!

7-13-08: well I survived Cascade.  Today was a terribly-hard circuit loop that we did 4 times for a total of about 65 miles.  Oh man - HOT.  We didn't start till 1pm and the entire route was on brand new blacktop.  My feet felt on fire.  The climbing was fierce, it really was about all I could do to finish.  Apparently I had just enough left over at the end because I was able to pull out a sprint just behind the lead group - I think I was top 25 today, not sure tho.  Hard to say whether it was enough to move me into top 20 GC overall, as that was my goal - guess I'll have to wait for official results tonight as it's time to hit the road!  My initial inclinations towards this race were RIGHT ON.  Well organized, Tons of volunteers, lots of neutral feed help, awesome directions, etc.  Everything was spot-on in my opinion and I'm definitely coming back to this event in 09!

7-12-08: I awoke this morning, checked results and learned last night's crit effort had moved me up 10 spots in GC, putting me in 25th, just 5 spots out of the money.  So I resolved to spend my matches wisely today by not getting complacent/sitting on the back and chasing needlessly; I worked all day on being towards the front or at least in the middle of the pack and if I found myself sliding backwards, up to the front I went.  The 70 mile road race finished atop Mt Bachelor so I knew the final climb would be important. 

We started off immediately with a long climb, then did a lot of descending and it was all pretty uneventful until the base of the final climb.  Things really split up and I found myself just off the back of the lead group with the yellow jersey in it.  I couldn't close the gap and waited for the next group of riders to catch me so I didn't have to battle the wind alone.  I tried to sit in and be patient and conserve but the pace was just a bit slower than I wanted to be going, as I knew every second today could mean the difference for me in terms of GC.  So I went to the front (more than I should've) but just rode my own pace to the top.  I was struggling with a new muscle cramp today in my left leg, right near my sitz bone (the part where your hamstring and butt cheek feel like they meet) so I was doing a lot of pedaling with just my right leg.  After the 2-stage day yesterday, it was obvious the week is beginning to take its toll on all of us!  (I keep thinking about the guys racing the TDF and I really do NOT know how they do it!).  I was able to get a couple photos of Levi as he rode back to town but don't have the cable so I'll post them later.  He looks a lot taller on TV!

7-11-08: stage 4: 60 minute downtown crit.  Goal was just to sit in and conserve and survive.  Riders had to make it 20 minutes before being pulled to move on to the next stage and it was clear some riders ONLY wanted to go the 20 minutes.  I just kept trying to move up, stick around riders I trusted and make it to the finish.  One crash went down but I wasn't near it, thankfully.  I stuck it out and finished strong, despite the fact that my dearly beloved husband decided to put a 10-speed cassette on a 8/9-speed hub on my Ksyrium and so I found myself with only 2 gears to work with and a bike that was making so much noise no one wanted to ride near me.  I panicked initially thinking my bottom bracket was going to implode until I realized what was going on.  So if you want to make sure riders will give you clearance in a crit, use an incompatible hub/cassette combo ;)  My cheering squad was so loud for me on the course -- thank you so much to mom, Kris, Ellen and Linda for making so much noise for me!!

7-11-08: stage 3: 14 mile time trial.  Up going out, down coming back.  We started in reverse GC order so it was the girls behind me I was most concerned with.  Luckily I was not passed by anyone and was able to pass 5 women.  Felt pretty good, I think I turned out a 36:20 or something close (not sure what that means since I haven't seen any results).  Rumor was that Armstrong was expected to turn out a 31 so if they enforce the 120% time cut rule, there might be a few riders that learn their race is over, I'm just hoping I'm not one of them.  Next up is a 60 minute crit tonight in just a few hours.  Pretty sick they are doubling up on 2 races today after 160 miles of road racing in the legs already and more to come.

7-10-08: stage 2: Three creeks road race (79.7 miles).  Early on, a sizeable group got off the front with lots of potential.  I debated whether to try to bridge but then saw that K. Armstrong was not there and thought for sure it would not stay away, so I sat in the pack.  Wrong assumption - the group gained over 5 minutes on the rest of us.  I waited and waited for the final climb thinking I could really make up some time, but it was not to be as the arches of my feet and calves started cramping around 15 miles from the finish (despite proper hydration, I'm not sure what's with the cramping here).  My HR was low and my breathing easy up the climb and it was so frustrating not to push it because with every pedal stroke I was just sure my legs were going to totally seize up.  Then my neck and traps started to cramp up too.  It was a rough finish to a hard day in the saddle.  I need to get my hydration and nutrition figured out soon or it will be a long week.  I never have muscle cramp problems so this has been a real eye opener.  Tomorrow morning is the TT and tomorrow night is the crit.  I'm not sure what kind of time I can make up on the TT but I'm definitely going to try. 

On a more positive note, I finally got to meet our 2 DFT Oregon members, Kris and Rick.  They are great and it was so fun to have teammates out cheering for me!  I've also had the chance to meet Cyndi who is here supporting her husband -- I've really appreciated her cheers from the side of the road! 

Click here for video feed.  And now I'm listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd who is playing right across the river at the Bend ampitheater.  Cool (as long as it's done by bedtime).

7-9-08: Cascade Cycling Classic stage 1: Prineville Road Race (83.2 miles).  I hate to pass judgment on this race at this early stage but I think I can safely say this race is the most organized NRC event I've ever done, in the nicest, most welcoming town I've experienced.  This is the longest-running NRC stage race in the US so I suppose they've got the kinks worked out, but wow - from the race bible to directions all being right to all the neutral feed to all the locals out cheering, I really am impressed and highly recommend this event.

HOT was the word of the day, oh man it is hot here.  The race didn't start till 10am and with temps in the 90s in this "high desert" things really got warm, plus the majority of the race was on black asphalt which makes your face feel like it's on fire.  Yowzers.  For the first 40 miles or so it was like a Sunday stroll, I was beginning to think the heat was working as a sedative on the group.  Then we hit the first major climb of the day and things TOTALLY broke apart.  I was pleased with my climbing legs and made it to the 2nd or 3rd small group, excited about the time we were already putting into those riders behind us.  Much to my dismay, when we got to the top, the race was stopped and riders were reporting their #s to the officials who were frantically trying to keep track of who was in what group and the time splits between groups.  Great.  Going from MAX HR to a dead stop and then standing there in the blistering sun was tough and we were there for awhile.  Apparently there had been a VERY bad crash in the men's race ahead of us and there were emergency crews all over the road as well as a heli to take the guy to the hospital.  So I'd say we were probably standing around up there for at least 20 minutes.  The nice part about that was it gave us a chance to do some extra hydrating. 

So then the race was restarted with each group starting as we'd been stopped - I enjoyed working with my group in a nice efficient paceline for awhile, that really made the miles tick by quickly.  Ultimately, it all came back together and then the crashes began.  I narrowly missed two of them, one with a girl doing an endo RIGHT in front of me and bumping my back wheel, I couldn't believe I didn't go down -- apparently luck was on my side today.  I knew it was a pretty steep uphill finish so I didn't really worry much about position and in fact coming to the bottom of the climb I was way towards the back.  It didn't matter b/c the climb was the great equalizer and we could all only race at our own pace at that point.  I pushed it to the top worried that my legs might cramp at any moment, but made it without much trouble.  No surprise, K. Armstrong won the stage.  There are several other Colorado-ans here who looked to be having good days on the bike today.  Results should be at www.cascade-classic.org  Kudos to my mom for surviving her first ever feed zone experience, she did great and I know how stressful it is to navigate and do handups so I was really proud of her. 

Here is a photo from our backyard of the river where everyone brings their tubes and rafts and just lazily floats downstream, it really looks fun!

7-8-08: Bend, OR is a REALLY cool town.  Here's my mom in front of the house we're staying in this week - she is going to get her first taste of stage racing this week which will include her first feed zone handups. 

7-6-08: today was a great day.  It started off with an awesome climbing ride with the Wheels of Justice group this morning and concluded with the Niwot crit later in the day.  With 4 laps to go I took a flyer off the front and was able to stick it for the win.  It was exactly the boost I needed going into Cascade this week.  I want to congratulate the DFT cat 4 gals that raced and finished at Niwot today, AWESOME job!  I also want to thank the GS Boulder folks that put the Niwot crit on - their efforts resulted in a nice large women's field and they ended up matching the men's pro1/2 payout in our race which meant $1000 paid 15 places deep.  That is ONE HECK of a way to make women feel awesome about racing locally and I am so grateful to Alan the promoter for stepping up and matching our DFT-Mob Cyclery contributions.  It resulted in a really great race with a high caliber field of women.

7-5-08:  Yes, the Tour started today!  I have decided I will not be offering any substantive opinions about the race developments this year after Vino made me eat crow last year when I insisted he was innocent.  Instead, I've decided to use phonetics to guide me.  I'm going for the name that's most fun to say - nevermind power output or past results, I'm going for syllables.  So far "Schein-da-volda" has my vote.  I've also decided since I couldn't make it to France, I'll collect some signatures from riders competing on US soil, who weren't invited to the TDF (aka Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner).  Should be a good week.

July 4th: we had our first clinic today for the newly-formed DFT Cat 4 women's team.  I think it went well, it is fun to see more women getting into the sport!  Watch for them at Niwot, I expect big things ;)

7-3-08: today I had an absolute blast.  It just so happens that DFT rider Kent is a fire fighter for West Metro FD and he arranged for me to join their station on its calls today.  I knew Kent was a cool guy but as it turns out, he is "the man" when it comes to fire fighting.  Here he is riding shot-gun in the rig: 

That's the seat the shot-caller sits in, which means Kent has a lot of responsibilities when they respond to a call.  In addition to being an awesome group of guys, they are true professionals and very good at their jobs.  I better not write about the call we responded to for confidentiality sake but I'll just say that I think everyone in the district should feel very safe and secure with these guys on the other end of the 911 calls. 

Thanks to the gang for answering all of my questions and sharing your day with me!  It was a great day full of laughter which reminded me that "life is good!"          

7-2-08: my cup runneth over . . . with pain and disappointment. 

My lower back has recently been giving me serious fits, in large part because I've been favoring my left side b/c of the rib issue.  I've been to the chiro for it and have tried all the stretches, icing, etc.  Today things got even better when, after returning home from the vet and carrying the 40# pup to/from the car, my upper back went into muscle spasms (still going).  This, from a girl that just several years ago, was strong enough to carry her 140# friend through the streets of Cannes, France. 

Cycling makes you weak and imbalanced for everything except pedaling a bike and I learned the hard way today, just how weak certain muscles can get.  I just can't believe this.  It sealed the deal for going to Cascade next week, which was the plan until this morning. July 1st: I hope you can open this . . . be ready to laugh and laugh.

6-30-08: pup jumped into the truck after a long exhausting hike this weekend and she now finds herself alongside her mom on the injured list.

Pics from the hike, pre-injury: