SNELLING ROAD RACE - PODIUM!

Team mates: Emily, katy, Abby, Tracey, Jens Voight?

Conditions: Cloudy, windy

During our team conference call for snelling, Giana asked us each what our performance goals were for the race. these are not to be confused with result goals! my result goal was to win, but given the amount of factors out of our control at any given race, it is much more productive to focus on a performance goal, which will then hopefully lead to that result goal. so when it came to my turn i stated that i wanted to get in a break and have it succeed to the end. i could practically hear the collective sigh from the phone lines. no break had ever succeeded at this flat, wide open road race. i think the closest thing in the past was a couple solo efforts achieved when a girl snuck away from the field. needless to say, i knew it was a long shot, but i had a firmly entrenched drive to change the dynamics of this race. (and of course to avoid a field sprint with a bunch of sprinters!) giana laid out a plan for the four of us to attempt this goal, with the knowledge that it was risky and a definate plan B in place.
taking a chance and being brave became, over the next 24 hours, just as important to me as the win. well, on race day i was either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid, because i attacked solo on the first lap! tracey had executed her role perfectly - stringing out the field along the rough road leading into the finish. she floated back to me, about 10th wheel, and asked if i was going to go. this had been part of the plan, but i couldn't see my right hand, katy. shit, could i go without her? should i go wothout her? turns out she was behind me, but the field was starting to bunch up making maneuvering through the gravel and potholes tricky. i silently mouthed a string of profanities and nodded to tracey to let me out on the right side. i jumped, redlined, and looked back. huge gap. apparently, everyone thought i was a little more stupid than brave, and i have to say i was wondering if they were right. jane "never let anything get away" despas was on the front of the field, my legs were already burning, and we were 11 miles in. i put my head down. i was going to make them fight for this catch.
after going through the finish, courtney (valueAct) and katie (tibco) bridged up, and i was thankful for the company. we did a lap together, with the field always close behind keeping us in check. by this point i was in my jens mode - just pulling as hard as was reasonable given the distance left and trying to keep a gap. basically, just this side of sanity! the other two started to slow as the field came scary-close on the back stretch. goddamn it i yelled, no, no, no, come on, dig! i looked back and saw a lone touchstone bridging. please let it be jill "the freight train" i prayed...i told the other 2 to dig deep, we had another set of legs coming to help. sure enough, it was jill, who immediately started taking monster pulls in our little group. courtney seemed reinspired and started to ride so strongly! our gap grew again and soon the field was out of sight. jill and i never really let up, however, knowing that we would be spit out the back upon contact with the field. we heard 55 seconds, then 2-3 minutes, then "waaaaay back" from the passing men's field. only because of this did we ease up into the final stretch. i knew my only chance was to go early - risk 4th in an attempt for 1st. well, i risked it and was picked off at the line by jill. i must say, she had worked hard and was inspirational in the break, so i was happy for her. courtney got 4th after having nowhere to go when the 3 of us drag raced to the line, so i was glad that i had gone early and not been boxed in!
this was an awesome race and it was great to see our team plan pay off. abby finished an impressive 12th, after working hard to shut down the field while we were away. both tracey and katy had flats due to the friendly locals putting tacks across the road, but before that they both were awesome! i certainly couldn't have done it without them!!! and it was also great to race with courtney and jill. they were both so strong and motivated! and of course a HUGE, HUGE thank you to giana's tactical prowess and support!!!
here's to taking risks, being brave, and turning yourself inside-out. Emily

VALLEY OF THE SUN - TT

Emily, Nicola and I headed down to Arizona for the Valley of the Sun Stage Race. Three days of racing in sunny 70 degree weather which included a TT, road race and finished with a crit. As this was my first race of the year, and I just recently starting adding intensity to my training, my goals were to increase my fitness and help my team-mates as much as possible. I'm sure I accomplished goal one, but learned that I need to spend some more time racing with my new team-mates to accomplish goal two.
The TT was a relatively flat 22k out and back course. While we definitely got our sunny weather, we also got a gusty wind with it. I swear I felt a headwind in both directions. While TTs aren't my favorite type of race (read: least favorite), I actually enjoyed this one. The out section seemed to last forever, but we had a very slight downhill on way back and as I got closer to the finish line I seemed to feel stronger and was able to dig deeper. While I didn't come close to the winning time, I was pleased with my middle of the results finish - Tracey

VALLEY OF THE SUN - CRITERIUM

Phoenix, AZ. Downtown criterium
Niki, Emily, Tracey
65 riders, Combined field of cat 1 / 2 and cat 3 women
Course was a figure eight clockwise course, flat, wide streets a little rough pavement.
Warm but a long, windy finishing straight.

I was determined to get a good start and stay close to the front for the entire race. I got a good fast start and was in 3rd position for the first turn. Lap 1 was a hot lap so things got aggressive right away. I was in a great position to sprint for the prime but knowing I wanted a good finish, I decided not to burn all my matches as I wasn’t certain what my legs had left in them after the previous days road race. There were many primes which made it difficult to settle into a rhythm. 15 minutes into the race, there was a crash near the front which resulted in me getting side swiped and crashing into a rider, which then resulted in the rider behind me, landing on top of me. I managed to get up pretty fast to realize my lovely carbon Zipp wheel was tacoed! I ran to the pit and got a wheel change and free lap, I wasn’t the only one. At the point of the crash, Emily made her way to the front to control the pace,as right after the crash, girls were viciously attacking, Emily kept the pace reasonable so we could comfortably reenter the race. I had hurt my arm and calf and hip but the adrenaline kept me fired up. I enjoyed the rest of the race, Emily sat comfortably out of trouble to protect her 9th place GC (she needed more than the time bonuses offered to move up, so we just wanted a safe finish for her) there were plenty of attacks which were all manageable. Tracey raced safely in the back for most of the race and with 5 to go she appeared, I was glad for the company, I sat on her wheel for a couple of laps but soon the Expresscopy and Lipton gals were advancing and I didn’t want to loose my position. I moved past Tracey hoping she would get on my wheel, but the pace had increased with Expresscopy, Lipton and Southbay Wheelman driving the pace she was unable to move up. Track racer Anna lang jumped before the final turn, I sensed that was the lead out I needed, but hesitated for a split second. I came around the final turn in about 7th far from ideal. Sprinted into the vicious headwind, for 6th place. I was happy I got back on the horse and finished the race and had a decent finish, the race reminded me of how not to race the final lap of a crit, I needed to be in at least 3rd place, not 7th or 8th through the final turn. Tracey came in a strong 9th. The weekend was a confidence builder, I am pleased with my level of fitness and can’t wait for the next race.

My performance goals for the weekend:
Finish about midway in the GC - achieved
Be active in the road race and assist Emily and finish well - achieved
Be active in the criterium stay in the top 10 throughout the race and finish well - achieved
Get a least 1 upgrade point - achieved

thanks for reading! - Niki

Got to love ZIPP for their crash warranty, new rim on the way

VALLEY OF THE SUN - ROAD RACE

Combined field of cat 1/2 and cat 3 approx 65 women

Conditions: hot, dry windy desert

This day turned out to be quite an adventure, to say the least. Niki and I abandoned our usual “let’s arrive 2-3 hours early” anal-retentiveness and arranged our time to get to the start about an hour early. Our legs were nice and warmed up from the TT, and all the details were taken care of at home (numbers pinned, bottles mixed, etc.) well, wouldn’t you know the one day we decide to take it relatively easy, we hit stopped traffic for 10 miles on the freeway. AAHHHGGG!!!! We started changing in the car, much to the pleasure of the truckers surrounding my little civic, and pulled into the race about 10 minutes before our start time!!! I was literally coming out of the port-a-potty to face the already assembled field of women on the start line, then running through them back to the car to grab my bike, which Tracey was graciously hooking my number on! One calming factor was the handful of other women pulling in late as well. Needless to say, there was no warm-up to be had. No problem, right? It’s a flat course and a large field. Plenty of sit-in time to be had. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. This was to be a bloodbath. A battlefield. A race of attrition. For the first half of the race we were hit with the most brutal, dry, hot crosswind. And I mean brutal as in no where to hide, no chance to take your hands off the bars, pedaling as hard as you could and maybe hitting 12 mph! After that stretch, which we had to ride 4 times, the course turned and now we had a blissful tailwind. However, this was not enjoyed for long, as it led right into the climb, which wasn’t brutal, but given a tailwind, all the pure climbers floored it to the QOM, which was on lap 2, approaching the QOM, i had been gapped off along the windy stretch. a colavita rider and i leap-frogged our way back to the front group, which niki was in. (niki was determined to stay in the front group for the QOM as she knew it would be a fast ascent) she saw me coming and powerfully dragged me up to a top 10 position, which i could not have done on my own - i was fried from the wind!Then, after hanging on to the front pack to the top, we hit the long, mellow decent. Giana and I had planned a counter attack here, after the KOM, but with the tailwind and long, straight rode, it was almost impossible to get away solo or even in a small group. About 20 of us made that first selection, and then that group in turn split with the GC contenders flooring it up the road. I ended up with 6 women, and we worked well together for about a lap, when we split again, with 3 of us drilling it up the hill and shedding the weaker three. We stayed together for the last lap, picking up one more Expresscopy rider who had crashed and was braving the windy stretch alone.
Oh! Did I mention the miscommunication about neutral feed. Yeah, there was supposed to be some, but there wasn’t. It was so dry I went through my 3 bottles and actually ran out with ½ lap to go. If any of you are riding with Amanda Shaw from Expresscopy and she is thirsty, give her a drink for me…she saved me! Anyway, the four of us came into the finish together, with Amanda taking the “sprint” and me second. It was only then that she turned to me and said that her coach had let her know we were still in the top 10 due to several girls succumbing to the elements. Well, I’ll be! Hadn’t figured on that at all! Awesome news to hear after such a torture-fest!
As Shelley likes to constantly remind me, I am a big girl. Well, given the way the smaller girls were getting blown around like paper dolls, seems my size was a great advantage at this race, and hopefully others in the future. How ya like me now pee-wee?!? ;) * BTW there was a neutral feed at the end of the feed zone – good idea to re-check to see if available. - Emily