Nature Valley is one of the toughest, but best organized race of the year. The first time I did Nature Valley was last year and that is when I first met Kristin Armstrong. Now it is her last year of racing and Nature Valley will be her last american race. It's surprising how fast time flies. Each stage at Nature Valley is filled over the top with intensity. This year, Proman Hit Squad had Shelley Olds, Rachel Lloyd, Rachel Neylan, Christen King, Nicole Brant, and myself on the front line ready for battle.
The first day was a double day. A 10km TT in the morning and the St. Paul criterium later in the evening. The TT was short and fast with a nice kicker at the end. I was satisfied with my run since it was better than last year, so improvement is always good. But it was really Shelley Olds who did great from Proman Hit Squad with an 11th place finish. Later in the evening Proman Hit Squad director sportif, Nicola Cranmer, came up with an awesome game plan for the whole team in the criterium. Rachel Lloyd led out Shelley for many of the Wheaties Sprint Points. And on the final sprint I swept Shelley's wheel and she couldnt get to the final corner first, so she ended up in 4th place, just one place off the podium.
The second day was the Cannon Falls Road Race, which didnt start until 5:30 in the afternoon!! It was different, but cool that we raced late, so I was able to sleep in real good. Only the end of the race, during the circuits and the dirt road really mattered. But about 5km before the dirt road, Rachel Lloyd and I got caught up in a massive crash that basically took out the Webcor team. We cyclocross-hopped back on our bikes and tried to chase back onto the pack. Then I noticed that there was blood dripping on me, and then I realized that it was coming from Rachel's elbow! She was hurting and she thought her elbow was 'hanging on by a thread' so I said we should just wait for the caravan and use it to work back up into the field. And that is exactly what i did, but Rachel couldnt hold on. Right when I caught on I moved up straight to the front and got myself ready for the dirt road to help protect Shelley. I exited the dirt road 3rd wheel, with Shelley right behind me. I just tried to hang on her wheel for the circuits, but it was a tough circuit for junior gears. Shelley ended up in 3rd place!
The third day was the Uptown Minneapolis Criterium. Today was all about getting sprint points forShelley to get in the lead and for Shelley to take the stage win. Shelley was in contention for all the sprint points, so she got into the Wheaties Sprinters Jersey. And she finished in 2nd and I finished up in 11th, the first amateur to finish and the 2nd U26 rider to finish. Rachel Lloyd did some major team work helping Shelley get to the line first for the sprint points.
The fourth day was the longest, the Mankato Road Race. All the women had to race 92 miles. Today was about protecting the Wheaties Sprinters Jersey. The team helped lead Shelley out for the intermediate sprints and followed wheels of those who were also competing for the jersey. The whole team demonstrated awesome team work, with Nicola always being on the radio for us telling us what was going on, with Tim making sure Christen's wheel change was smooth, Rachel Neylan swept up some leftover sprint points so that the other competitors wouldnt, Christen going back to the car for bottles, Rachel Lloyd also picked up some left over sprint points, I marked certain wheels that may have been in contetion for the sprinters jersey, and even my dad was in the feed zone for us after driving the big bus over to Mankato to keep the whole team comfortable before and after the race. Then after our race our host family had a bbq where we all got together and hung out by the bonfire with smores in hand!
And the fifth and final day was the infamous Stillwater 'Criterium'. If you've seen or have done Stillwater before you would understand why I put criterium in quotes. The race started at the bottom of a 22% climb. This race is always fast paced from beginning to end. And there is no possibility of riding that climb easy. Kristin won the stage and overall GC. Shelley got 2nd in the stage and moved up to 2nd GC after being in a break with Kristin and Andrea Dvorak. Rachel Lloyd finished in 11th on the stage. I finished as top amateur. And Rachel Lewis finished right with me.
My 2nd year at Nature valley grand Prix would have to be called a success. As a team, Proman Hit Squad successfully rode collectively to move Shelley up to 2nd in GC and the winner of the Wheaties Sprinters Jersey. Individually, each of us accomplished our own goals and we are very proud of what we have done together this past week. Racing in a professional field with world champions and olympic champions on junior gears is rediculously tough, but is definitely do-able, just put your head down and spin like crazy because it is a blessing in disguise and it will eventually pay it's dues.
Big thanks to the Cravens family for hosting Proman Hit Squad!
Big thanks to Mark, Chad, Derrick, Clay, and the rest of QBP for supporting us through all of our races and getting us on the fastest BMC bikes!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
TULSA TOUGH - SHELLEY OLDS
I think I am going to call this my breakthrough weekend in the sport of cycling. I am so excited about this win, it was a long time coming and all the waiting has really made it that much sweeter.
Tulsa Tough has been one of my favorite races of the year since we started coming in 2006. We missed the racing in 2007, but made certain we would be present from then on. This year I brought some teammates with me, Cari Higgins and Australian guest-rider Rachel Neylan. It’s a good thing I had them too, because this year would be the most challenging yet. Instead of 30-40 women in the field like the two previous times, there were 90-100 this year. Lots of good teams brought lots of solid riders and there was no lack of U.S. premiere sprinters. To name a few were Laura Van Gilder, Jen McCrae, Rebecca Larsen, and Jen Purcell. On top of sprinters, you had tt specialists and breakaway artists such as Alison Powers, Anne Samplonius, Christina Ruiter, Kat Carroll, and Meredith Miller. I knew we had our work cut out for us.
I went into the race expecting lots of crashes, but I was still surprised when they happened right in front of me on more than one occasion the first night of racing. The first crit has so many tight turns that with a field as big as 90 women, crashes are definitely going to happen. Luckily, I stayed upright, but came close to going down hard just before the final two turns of the race.
Cari and I were lined up perfectly for the sprint and she was about to light it up before the last turns, but I had to lock it up in the straight away on the descent and start from 0 to get back up to speed and back on her wheel. By the time we reached the final two turns, I was sitting in 6th wheel and just too far back to do anything in the finale. I tried squeezing through on the far right, but got pinched out and had to redirect my sprint back towards the middle. I ended up 5th and was really bummed I didn’t get a shot at the win. But, we learned a lot as a team and were determined to make up for it on Day 2.
DAY 2
The next day the crit was much more open and less technical, so I thought the crashes would be less frequent. However, I was involved in a massive pile-up just minutes into the race when a few riders went down at the front of the peloton and took nearly half of the field out behind them. The race was neutralized for 20 minutes while riders received medical attention and bikes were made functional again. My left shifter was broken and would be useless the rest of the day, so I was forced to stay in the big ring. Not a problem for this particular course, it was a big ring day anyways.
When the race started again, I got to the front and stayed there for 3 laps, just trying to keep it safe while people settled back into the race and got rid of some of the nerves associated with crashing. As the race came to an end, it was all together for a field sprint. Rob tells me on the radio that Van Gilder is second wheel and it’s 1 lap to go. So, I used half my matches to get up and on her wheel, from as far back as 30th wheel going up the last climb. Once I was there, I knew I would have a shot at the sprint this time around. Van Gilder sensed the rush coming before the turn and jumped the Type I train to head for the line. Jen McCrae and I both grabbed her wheel and I didn’t hesitate to leave her wheel and open up my own sprint to the line. My jump gave me some separation from the chasing field and I opened up a gap on Laura and Jen as I headed towards the line in disbelief. As I looked over both shoulders, I saw no one was there and turned to offer up my first NRC victory salute to the crowd.
Day 3 is always the hardest at Tulsa, not only because the course is so challenging, but it takes place in the middle of the day in the heat and you’ve got two days of racing under your belt. In preparation for the Giro only a month away, I knew that having a strong day today was important. I started the race at the front with a call-up for being 2nd overall in the omnium. Thankfully. The hill is shortly after the start and I knew there would be chaos the first time up it. Unfortunately, my only teammate was not so lucky to get a call-up and she got stuck behind an early crash which left her chasing for a couple of laps before pulling the plug.
Now I am isolated in the field which is dwindling from lap to lap. It’s gone from about 60 starters to 30 survivors. As the laps ticked off the counter, I tried to stay as close to the front as possible but always in the draft, in case I needed to go across to any dangerous moves. They came and went and nothing stuck. With 3 to go, Stacey Marple of Colavita attacks in an attempt to repeat her solo breakaway win from last year. But, this year instead of riding away from the complacent field, we were chasing and she was detonating. She came back to us with about 1 to go. Olivia Dillon of Touchstone then launches her final attack and bid for the line and I am on it straight away. She takes me as far as the top of the hill before we are reabsorbed by the remainder of the field. I was now at the front and refused to lose position before the final turn. Alison Powers took the front with Laura Van Gilder just beside her. They both attempt to hit the corner first, but as the door opened on the inside for just a second, I jumped and took the short line into the finishing straight out in front of the rest.
Unfortunately, my radio had shut off about 3 laps ago and I still thought Stacey was off the front. I never saw her get caught and so when I crossed the line well ahead of the rest of the field, I didn’t raise my arms to celebrate. I thought I had taken the field sprint for second. It was so anti-climatical. I was bummed when I found out I was the winner and had also taken the overall omnium win with that victory. I’ll have to make up for it next time. Thanks to my teammates for being on the radio and cheering for me the whole race from the sidelines. It was cool sharing that experience with them. Thanks to Rob too. He’s so good at directing. Next up, Philly.
Tulsa Tough has been one of my favorite races of the year since we started coming in 2006. We missed the racing in 2007, but made certain we would be present from then on. This year I brought some teammates with me, Cari Higgins and Australian guest-rider Rachel Neylan. It’s a good thing I had them too, because this year would be the most challenging yet. Instead of 30-40 women in the field like the two previous times, there were 90-100 this year. Lots of good teams brought lots of solid riders and there was no lack of U.S. premiere sprinters. To name a few were Laura Van Gilder, Jen McCrae, Rebecca Larsen, and Jen Purcell. On top of sprinters, you had tt specialists and breakaway artists such as Alison Powers, Anne Samplonius, Christina Ruiter, Kat Carroll, and Meredith Miller. I knew we had our work cut out for us.
I went into the race expecting lots of crashes, but I was still surprised when they happened right in front of me on more than one occasion the first night of racing. The first crit has so many tight turns that with a field as big as 90 women, crashes are definitely going to happen. Luckily, I stayed upright, but came close to going down hard just before the final two turns of the race.
Cari and I were lined up perfectly for the sprint and she was about to light it up before the last turns, but I had to lock it up in the straight away on the descent and start from 0 to get back up to speed and back on her wheel. By the time we reached the final two turns, I was sitting in 6th wheel and just too far back to do anything in the finale. I tried squeezing through on the far right, but got pinched out and had to redirect my sprint back towards the middle. I ended up 5th and was really bummed I didn’t get a shot at the win. But, we learned a lot as a team and were determined to make up for it on Day 2.
DAY 2
The next day the crit was much more open and less technical, so I thought the crashes would be less frequent. However, I was involved in a massive pile-up just minutes into the race when a few riders went down at the front of the peloton and took nearly half of the field out behind them. The race was neutralized for 20 minutes while riders received medical attention and bikes were made functional again. My left shifter was broken and would be useless the rest of the day, so I was forced to stay in the big ring. Not a problem for this particular course, it was a big ring day anyways.
When the race started again, I got to the front and stayed there for 3 laps, just trying to keep it safe while people settled back into the race and got rid of some of the nerves associated with crashing. As the race came to an end, it was all together for a field sprint. Rob tells me on the radio that Van Gilder is second wheel and it’s 1 lap to go. So, I used half my matches to get up and on her wheel, from as far back as 30th wheel going up the last climb. Once I was there, I knew I would have a shot at the sprint this time around. Van Gilder sensed the rush coming before the turn and jumped the Type I train to head for the line. Jen McCrae and I both grabbed her wheel and I didn’t hesitate to leave her wheel and open up my own sprint to the line. My jump gave me some separation from the chasing field and I opened up a gap on Laura and Jen as I headed towards the line in disbelief. As I looked over both shoulders, I saw no one was there and turned to offer up my first NRC victory salute to the crowd.
Day 3 is always the hardest at Tulsa, not only because the course is so challenging, but it takes place in the middle of the day in the heat and you’ve got two days of racing under your belt. In preparation for the Giro only a month away, I knew that having a strong day today was important. I started the race at the front with a call-up for being 2nd overall in the omnium. Thankfully. The hill is shortly after the start and I knew there would be chaos the first time up it. Unfortunately, my only teammate was not so lucky to get a call-up and she got stuck behind an early crash which left her chasing for a couple of laps before pulling the plug.
Now I am isolated in the field which is dwindling from lap to lap. It’s gone from about 60 starters to 30 survivors. As the laps ticked off the counter, I tried to stay as close to the front as possible but always in the draft, in case I needed to go across to any dangerous moves. They came and went and nothing stuck. With 3 to go, Stacey Marple of Colavita attacks in an attempt to repeat her solo breakaway win from last year. But, this year instead of riding away from the complacent field, we were chasing and she was detonating. She came back to us with about 1 to go. Olivia Dillon of Touchstone then launches her final attack and bid for the line and I am on it straight away. She takes me as far as the top of the hill before we are reabsorbed by the remainder of the field. I was now at the front and refused to lose position before the final turn. Alison Powers took the front with Laura Van Gilder just beside her. They both attempt to hit the corner first, but as the door opened on the inside for just a second, I jumped and took the short line into the finishing straight out in front of the rest.
Unfortunately, my radio had shut off about 3 laps ago and I still thought Stacey was off the front. I never saw her get caught and so when I crossed the line well ahead of the rest of the field, I didn’t raise my arms to celebrate. I thought I had taken the field sprint for second. It was so anti-climatical. I was bummed when I found out I was the winner and had also taken the overall omnium win with that victory. I’ll have to make up for it next time. Thanks to my teammates for being on the radio and cheering for me the whole race from the sidelines. It was cool sharing that experience with them. Thanks to Rob too. He’s so good at directing. Next up, Philly.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
WORLDS WEEK - Day 1 and 2
While preparing for my trip to Poland, several thoughts were going through my mind, One being that I was embarrassed to say I knew very little about Poland other than Polka, sausages and vodka.
Many friends have asked, What is there to do in Poland? To be honest I had no answers. Having lived in the US for many years now where one seems to hear very little world news, I had no idea what to expect. So I began my research. We are flying into Warsaw -The largest city and the capital of Poland, and Central European centre of culture and business. My excitement for Shelley and her Olympic quest very quickly seemed slightly insignificant in the shadow of the history we were about to be absorbed in…….
The velodrome is located in Pruszkow . Pruszkow is the largest and most industrialized district in Warsaw. The city is inhabited by approximately 55,000 citizens, while the Prushzkow poviat has a population of 135,000. The city is located within the Aowicz - Blonie Plain on the river Utrata.
The first written records referring to to the village of Pruszkowo date back to 1415. Zbików one of the districts of the city is known since the 13th century.
The Prushzkow region is also the site of concentration camp Dulag 121.
From 6th September to 10th November almost 650 thousand civilians had been imprisoned in the Dulag 121 camp, from which they were transported to the Soviet Union, Germany and concentration camps in Auschwitz, Mathausen and Stutthof. This is history most of us have read in books or seen in movies. Its going to be quite something to stand where so much pain and suffering transpired.
Well the trip started off with a flight out of San Francisco. Shelley and I met and were joined by Daniel. The flight was full. We were all seated together for the trip to London Heathrow. Better to be squashed next to people you know.
The flight was uneventful, watched movies and read, we didn’t sleep much.
Arrived at LHR with about 3.5 hrs to kill. Had breakfast and then hung out in the recliner chairs.
Next leg to Warsaw… food on the plane was a massive dense brick like bread roll with a piece of thin of cheese inside and some sort of ketchup. A belly bomb that I couldn’t touch. A bumpy 2.5 hr flight of which I slept about 1.5 hrs.
Arrived in Warsaw, it had been snowing that morning. Very cold. Jim picked us up. Fun drive to hotel, burned some rubber. The weather was grey and so were the sites on the 20 minute trip to our accommodations.
Arrived at hotel, the Ideal. I went to check in fortunately they had my reservation in order, well almost, missing a night but we will figure it out.
Time to build bikes. Daniels bike did not arrive yet. Fortunately his race bike is already here somewhere. I helped Shelley build her bikes. USAC mechanic arrives later. Then off to the track for the 4pm training session.
The velodrome is less than a year old, fairly basic facility, very fast track. Everyone was spinning out their travel legs. Shelley was pretty excited when Kluge joined her paceline!
Polish / Italian restaurant for dinner. The food was quite good and was nicely presented…a bit overdone actually, the soup bowl was sitting on 2 plates with napkins folded between the layers…quite a production! Back to the hotel to catch up on blogging. Slept like a log…apparently I sounded like I was sawing logs the first few minutes of my sleep! Oops, sorry!
Breakfast with Polish techno consisted of Polish sausages (yes, hot dogs), pressed meat, cheese, mushrooms, cereal and fruit.
Back to the track for 2pm session.
Daniels race bike showed up. But not the bike we had traveled with. Taylor sported the new USA pursuit skinsuit with built in nitrous booster. And later that day reckoned his pork loin smelled like Poland.
Monday, February 16, 2009
COPENHAGEN WORLD CUP , PONTS 3rd!
A moment to remember…
The thought of standing on the podium at an international UCI event, was one that made me shiver with excitement. My anticipation for the day was becoming more real every time I took the track to race, and I knew it was only a matter of time. One of the most valuable assets an athlete can have is belief in themselves, and although it has taken some time and lots of hard work, I am finally starting to believe.
My goal for the Copenhagen World Cup was to challenge myself more than previous world cups and make progress from my last race. There are of course, many ways to make improvements, but the most obvious one would be a better result. Always in the back of my mind, was the prospect of making the 2009 Worlds Team in either the Points or the Scratch Race by scoring a top five result in a World Cup. I had been close in Manchester with a 6th in the Scratch and again in Beijing with a 6th in the Points. But now it was crunch time and I wasn’t about to leave my dreams and everything I have put into this season to chance.
The Scratch Race was fast and near the end of the 40 lap race, I found myself in 4th wheel with 2 laps to go and 2 riders off the front of the pack. I tried to make an early move with 1.5 laps to go but got pinned high in the turns. I pretty much held position to the finish with one rider squeezing underneath me to push me back into 7th. I came off the track pretty bummed, because I felt I hesitated at a crucial moment in the finish and that indecision cost me the top five. Well, it actually just fueled the fire for the next race and my priority for the next 4-8 years, the Points Race.
Jim Miller, Head Coach of the US National Team, sat me down before the race and we discussed tactics. We had a game plan. It was different than what I previously intended to do, but I trusted his judgement and in the end, it paid off. . He was right on with his prediction. He called the winner, Ellen van Dijk of the Netherlands. My job was to wait for the move that she would undoubtedly initiate and make sure I was in it. I was also to watch Lizzy Armistead and Jarmila Machacova who were both in contention for the overall UCI if they could just dethrown the Italian, Georgia Bronzini. My plan was to play off that inner-race between those girls and use their distractions with each other to my advantage.
So, a couple of sprints go by and Van Dijk’s teammate, Vera Koodoeder launches some vicious attacks to get the field chasing and I am sitting patiently in the field, always monitoring van Dijk and her whereabouts. After two sprints, a move is instigated and I am not in it. It’s dangerous and it’s gaining distance on the field rapidly. Looking up the road, I can see that it is in fact van Dijk, along with a very strong Canadian, Tara Whitten, an Italian and a Great Britain rider. Three of the four riders have teammates in the field and I determine immediately that I need to be in that move.
I got a good run off the rail and dropped into the pole to start the chase. They’ve got a little over ¼ lap and they’re moving, but some eye contact with Jim says “you gotta get there!” and that’s what I did. I put my head down and buried myself to cross the gap, all the while chanting in my head, “you can rest when you get there, just get there.” As soon as I made contact, van Dijk had just taken a pull on the front and was getting ready to drop back in. So, like any 5’2 rider would do in those circumstances, I moved up track and let her back in so that I could benefit from her AMAZING 6’2 draft.
We worked really well together and stayed out there long enough to get some points. Jim was on me right away about scoring. I scored a 2nd in the sprint and took the 3 points, which moved me into 2nd where I would stay nearly the entire race. We took a few more laps to make contact and it was my pull that brought us back to the field. Wow, what an awesome feeling. We had lapped the field and gained 20 points.
After making contact, there was a lull that lasted about 5 laps, which was just what I needed to recover and get myself ready for the next 50 laps of racing. I knew I had to stay near the front, mark dangerous moves, and ideally score as many easy points as possible. Well, I did the first two well, but failed to score any more points throughout the rest of the race. The attacks were firing constantly and they didn’t let up the whole race. There was a battle for points going on between all the girls in the field who hadn’t lapped, like Armistead, Bronzini, Machacova, and the Spanish rider, so that made getting points no easy task. Still, I should have been more aggressive and less complacent with my 23 points. I kept looking up at the scoreboard and seeing my name in second place. It was only at the 7th sprint that I moved into third.
For the final sprint, I was lined up perfectly to go for points with about 3 to go, but the Italian rider came over the top of me and chopped me real good, making me react and hesitate while the rush came flying over the top. I managed to get myself out and into the final paceline effort to the line, but it was too little too late to score points. Had I scored only one point, I would have moved myself into 2nd and taken home the silver medal. Oh well, you live and learn. I will fight that battle the next time I take the track. For now, I am content with my bronze medal.
That moment of glory standing on the podium at a World Cup was one that I never want to forget. I was so proud to stand there as my country’s flag was raised for everyone to see. I believe I have earned my ticket to the 2009 World Championships in Proskow, Poland and I will proudly be representing the United States of America in the Women’s Points Race if i am selected. This is truly a dream come true, but only one of many I have for myself in this sport.
Huge thanks to Jim Miller for giving me this opportunity and believing in me. Thanks to Andrew Hawkes for doing a solid job wrenching and Andy Sparks for lots of good tips. Also, to my teammates, Daniel Holloway, Kacey Manderfield, Kim Geist, Taylor Phinney, and Colby Pearce for all the support, encouragement, and words of advice. This trip has been inspirational for me and I am optimistic about the future of American track racing. So far, we have 4 medals with 2 Golds by Taylor Phinney (Individual Pursuit and Kilo), Daniel Holloway (Scratch Race Bronze), and myself with the Points Race Bronze. Madison and Team Pursuit are tomorrow. Watch out World, Team U.S.A is starting to build speed.
Thanks for reading ~ Shelley
The thought of standing on the podium at an international UCI event, was one that made me shiver with excitement. My anticipation for the day was becoming more real every time I took the track to race, and I knew it was only a matter of time. One of the most valuable assets an athlete can have is belief in themselves, and although it has taken some time and lots of hard work, I am finally starting to believe.
My goal for the Copenhagen World Cup was to challenge myself more than previous world cups and make progress from my last race. There are of course, many ways to make improvements, but the most obvious one would be a better result. Always in the back of my mind, was the prospect of making the 2009 Worlds Team in either the Points or the Scratch Race by scoring a top five result in a World Cup. I had been close in Manchester with a 6th in the Scratch and again in Beijing with a 6th in the Points. But now it was crunch time and I wasn’t about to leave my dreams and everything I have put into this season to chance.
The Scratch Race was fast and near the end of the 40 lap race, I found myself in 4th wheel with 2 laps to go and 2 riders off the front of the pack. I tried to make an early move with 1.5 laps to go but got pinned high in the turns. I pretty much held position to the finish with one rider squeezing underneath me to push me back into 7th. I came off the track pretty bummed, because I felt I hesitated at a crucial moment in the finish and that indecision cost me the top five. Well, it actually just fueled the fire for the next race and my priority for the next 4-8 years, the Points Race.
Jim Miller, Head Coach of the US National Team, sat me down before the race and we discussed tactics. We had a game plan. It was different than what I previously intended to do, but I trusted his judgement and in the end, it paid off. . He was right on with his prediction. He called the winner, Ellen van Dijk of the Netherlands. My job was to wait for the move that she would undoubtedly initiate and make sure I was in it. I was also to watch Lizzy Armistead and Jarmila Machacova who were both in contention for the overall UCI if they could just dethrown the Italian, Georgia Bronzini. My plan was to play off that inner-race between those girls and use their distractions with each other to my advantage.
So, a couple of sprints go by and Van Dijk’s teammate, Vera Koodoeder launches some vicious attacks to get the field chasing and I am sitting patiently in the field, always monitoring van Dijk and her whereabouts. After two sprints, a move is instigated and I am not in it. It’s dangerous and it’s gaining distance on the field rapidly. Looking up the road, I can see that it is in fact van Dijk, along with a very strong Canadian, Tara Whitten, an Italian and a Great Britain rider. Three of the four riders have teammates in the field and I determine immediately that I need to be in that move.
I got a good run off the rail and dropped into the pole to start the chase. They’ve got a little over ¼ lap and they’re moving, but some eye contact with Jim says “you gotta get there!” and that’s what I did. I put my head down and buried myself to cross the gap, all the while chanting in my head, “you can rest when you get there, just get there.” As soon as I made contact, van Dijk had just taken a pull on the front and was getting ready to drop back in. So, like any 5’2 rider would do in those circumstances, I moved up track and let her back in so that I could benefit from her AMAZING 6’2 draft.
We worked really well together and stayed out there long enough to get some points. Jim was on me right away about scoring. I scored a 2nd in the sprint and took the 3 points, which moved me into 2nd where I would stay nearly the entire race. We took a few more laps to make contact and it was my pull that brought us back to the field. Wow, what an awesome feeling. We had lapped the field and gained 20 points.
After making contact, there was a lull that lasted about 5 laps, which was just what I needed to recover and get myself ready for the next 50 laps of racing. I knew I had to stay near the front, mark dangerous moves, and ideally score as many easy points as possible. Well, I did the first two well, but failed to score any more points throughout the rest of the race. The attacks were firing constantly and they didn’t let up the whole race. There was a battle for points going on between all the girls in the field who hadn’t lapped, like Armistead, Bronzini, Machacova, and the Spanish rider, so that made getting points no easy task. Still, I should have been more aggressive and less complacent with my 23 points. I kept looking up at the scoreboard and seeing my name in second place. It was only at the 7th sprint that I moved into third.
For the final sprint, I was lined up perfectly to go for points with about 3 to go, but the Italian rider came over the top of me and chopped me real good, making me react and hesitate while the rush came flying over the top. I managed to get myself out and into the final paceline effort to the line, but it was too little too late to score points. Had I scored only one point, I would have moved myself into 2nd and taken home the silver medal. Oh well, you live and learn. I will fight that battle the next time I take the track. For now, I am content with my bronze medal.
That moment of glory standing on the podium at a World Cup was one that I never want to forget. I was so proud to stand there as my country’s flag was raised for everyone to see. I believe I have earned my ticket to the 2009 World Championships in Proskow, Poland and I will proudly be representing the United States of America in the Women’s Points Race if i am selected. This is truly a dream come true, but only one of many I have for myself in this sport.
Huge thanks to Jim Miller for giving me this opportunity and believing in me. Thanks to Andrew Hawkes for doing a solid job wrenching and Andy Sparks for lots of good tips. Also, to my teammates, Daniel Holloway, Kacey Manderfield, Kim Geist, Taylor Phinney, and Colby Pearce for all the support, encouragement, and words of advice. This trip has been inspirational for me and I am optimistic about the future of American track racing. So far, we have 4 medals with 2 Golds by Taylor Phinney (Individual Pursuit and Kilo), Daniel Holloway (Scratch Race Bronze), and myself with the Points Race Bronze. Madison and Team Pursuit are tomorrow. Watch out World, Team U.S.A is starting to build speed.
Thanks for reading ~ Shelley
Monday, February 09, 2009
CHERRY PIE WINS GALORE!
Photo Kurt Harvey
During our warm-up Niki said very seriously, "Just so you all know, Cherry Pie is my favorite kind of pie."
Going into the race, I felt a bit over my head: I was hoping for a sprint finish and Cari and Rachel were going to help deliver me to the line. To this end, I was asking multi-time track national champion, Cari Higgins, and multi-time downhill and XC champion as well as cyclo-cross goddess, Rachel Lloyd to work for me. Two incredibly gifted athletes with the highest accolades to put it all on the line for me. It was an honor that they had faith in me, but a little scary at the same time.
Within the first lap or so, a break rolled off the front; I don't think it was a purposeful attack, it was more like the first corner after the downhill allowed gaps to open up easily. Rachel quickly responded and for the first few laps there was a 3 woman break. I just stayed calm and patrolled the front. Making sure nothing went up the road without me. I had a strong teammate in the break and it was still really early in the race. At 7 minutes, the break was caught, and a Sugar CRM countered. I followed. I know it was 7 minutes into the race because I was focusing on the last 30 minutes of the race - I didn't want to burn all my matches in the first portion.
We quickly had a gap, and I was happy to look back to see that there were four of us. Actually, someone kept saying, "There are four of us. Let's go. There are four of us." It was my teammate Rachel, up in the break with me (again). I knew I was safe. The break consisted of: Me, Sugar CRM, Touchstone, and Rachel.
Rachel worked the break like a champ, and attacked to get things rolling when we needed to pick up the pace. I knew it was early in the race for a break to go away, and more importantly stay away - but this was really the perfect scenario. Each of the bigger teams had representation in the break, except Tibco, who did a solo bridge at about 10 minutes to go. Rachel was great - she worked hard so I didn't have to; telling me to "Save it."
Cari was in the field single-handedly keeping things under control, which is a pretty amazing feat. She discouraged any attempts to drag the group back to us. Cari worked her butt off at the front of the field. A couple times after the hairpin I would see the field getting antsy and pushing the pace, and somehow Cari was able to mellow things back down for us, so we could carry on with the break.
With about 4 laps to go, we lost the Sugar CRM rider. Rachel decided she was going to attack yet again, and make the girls work for it. I had to just follow wheels. Rachel was strong enough to hold us off if "we" didn't chase, so I followed wheels. I also knew that if we weren't going fast enough, we would be swallowed up by the field as the final attempts were made to reel us back in. I was playing a bit of Russian Roulette, but that's bike racing. I also felt that if we were caught by the field, I would still have the legs for a good finish - so I did not panic.
Rachel's final attack was killer(although it got caught), it got our break moving again, and then it was me, Tibco and Touchstone for the final 2 laps. On 2 laps to go, the first corner after the downhill, Tibco was leading and swung a bit wide, and I got my front wheel caught on her quick release. That was a bit scary, but I stayed up right, which was key.
With one lap to go, Touchstone attacked on the finishing straight/hill, but I quickly responded. After the hairpin, we were all just looking at each other, "Who's going to go? If someone doesn't go, we might get caught." It wasn't going to be me. My thoughts, "Match Sprint Baby!!" (Not that I can do those, but I have been hanging out with a enough track sprinters that the thought actually went through my mind.)
The finishing lap, Tibco led it out, and the advice was coming through the earpiece "Watch Touchstone. She has a good jump." I knew she had a good jump and I knew she was really fresh as she hadn't working in the break; her odds weren't great with 2 Proman in the break. So I was trying to keep my eye on her. I was second, Touchstone was behind me.
Final Sprint: I wanted to sprint up the right side, but I got my wheel overlapped with Tibco on the left and she kept pushing me left. I hesitated a lot, trying to get my wheel underneath her and around so I could go right, but then Touchstone jumped and had a big gap immediately. Too late - GO! (All while thinking, "I can't believe I just let her do that! I did NOT just lose this race because of that!") I reacted. Full steam ahead - closed the gap and found myself in front. I was a bit over-geared, but I WON!! WOOT WOOT!
Rachel was yelling from the bottom of the hill, as she could see the finish (she came in forth) and then Cari won the bunch sprint after securing our break the entire race.
Oh man.....such a good feeling to have everyone out there, and to be able to deliver to such a great crowd.
Thank you so much to all the people who were pulling for Cari, Rachel and myself, and made today special for ProMan: Niki, Tim, Hutch, Tracey, Rylee, Lorraine, Jim, Beth, Gio, Pete, Larry, the Holloways, Kelly, the Winders, the Hellyer crowd and all of our ProMan fans.
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