Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Speaking of race reports...
I'd like to see one from Monday's PSU Crit. Apparently I did quite well in the W3/4 race. Funny thing is I don't remember leaving my sofa that day.
Race report - Does it count?
Does it count if I write a race report and post it on another site? Janet O tasked me with writing a race report for the W3 race at RFK and I gotta do what the Captain says.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Race reports?
I’ve decided I’m not going to write race reports anymore. No, I not afraid of being So Faux’ed. I just have to wonder sometimes when I read other people’s race reports… “Were we at the same race?”
What I will say about the races this past weekend is this: I need to work on my head. I let some lady push me off my line at Union Grove coming out of the final turn before the sprint. She took the wheel I wanted and won. I should have fought for that wheel, instead I gave it to her without so much as a whimper. Kudos to her, she deserved it as she was one of the women animating the race all day. I wound up getting shuffled towards the back of the pack but pulled out a pretty good sprint for 8th.
As for Sunday’s crit in Southern Maryland, I was out of that race before it even began. I don’t mind riding in the rain. I do it on an almost weekly basis on my commute to work, but for some reason, I was scared to death of the two downhill corners and would hit the brakes every time, living up to my nickname (Chicken). My accordion is most likely responsible for 2 of my teammates getting dropped because they were on my wheel for a few laps, then nothing, just the motorcycle behind me. With 9 laps to go I sat up for a moment, but enough to let the pack get 10 seconds up the road. I kept that gap for 5 laps, then someone attacked hard and I never saw the pack again. I rolled in for 13th but I did take something away… practice.
Wow, for stating that I’m never going to write another race report, that sure does sound like a race report!
What I will say about the races this past weekend is this: I need to work on my head. I let some lady push me off my line at Union Grove coming out of the final turn before the sprint. She took the wheel I wanted and won. I should have fought for that wheel, instead I gave it to her without so much as a whimper. Kudos to her, she deserved it as she was one of the women animating the race all day. I wound up getting shuffled towards the back of the pack but pulled out a pretty good sprint for 8th.
As for Sunday’s crit in Southern Maryland, I was out of that race before it even began. I don’t mind riding in the rain. I do it on an almost weekly basis on my commute to work, but for some reason, I was scared to death of the two downhill corners and would hit the brakes every time, living up to my nickname (Chicken). My accordion is most likely responsible for 2 of my teammates getting dropped because they were on my wheel for a few laps, then nothing, just the motorcycle behind me. With 9 laps to go I sat up for a moment, but enough to let the pack get 10 seconds up the road. I kept that gap for 5 laps, then someone attacked hard and I never saw the pack again. I rolled in for 13th but I did take something away… practice.
Wow, for stating that I’m never going to write another race report, that sure does sound like a race report!
Friday, May 16, 2008
A New Bike Shop!!!
Chris and Chris are opening Arrow Bicycle this weekend.Don't miss their grand opening. This is destined to be one of the finest shops around.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Triple Crown announce women's teams
The following article was stolen from cyclingnews.com.
Organisers of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling have announced the 20 professional women's teams that will contest a three-race battle in southeastern Pennsylvania in early June. At stake is a $34,000 prize purse that includes $5000 for the overall series winner.
Battling for the big payday will be a talented field of six-rider squads that includes three of Europe's top teams, plus the cream of the crop from the American racing scene. As usual the marquee event of the series will be June 8's Liberty Classic, which is celebrating its 15th running on the historic streets of downtown Philadelphia.
The overwhelming favourite to capture Liberty gold will be defending champion and two-time winner Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Team High Road). The German sprinting sensation is on fine form once again, already taking an impressive third at the season opening World Cup in Geelong, Australia. Teutenberg will be backed by the powerful Team High Road squad, sister outfit to the dominant men's team and No. 1 in the most recent World Cup rankings.
"Ina will definitely be our plan A," confirmed Kristy Scrymgeour, High Road's communications manager. "Our main concern is making sure no one gets away on the last trip up Lemon Hill. If we can keep the race together Ina will be hard to beat in a sprint."
High Road also boasts American stars Mara Abbott and Kim Anderson. A year ago, the 22-year-old Abbott was the revelation of pro peloton, winning a stage of the Redlands Classic, the national road race championship, and scoring a silver at the Montreal World Cup. All that happened while she was still devoting time to swimming and college. This year, the young American is fully focused on cycling, with her eyes trained on the Summer Olympics in Beijing.
The biggest threat to High Road will be Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung, and its own fast finisher, Deutschland native Regina Schleicher. Schleicher was world champion on the road in 2005 and won the Liberty Classic a year later. Nürnberger was second in the most recent World Cup standings.
Swiss-based Cervelo-Lifeforce are the newcomers to the Liberty Classic, but that doesn't mean they're coming only for the experience. Led by 2006 world time trial champion Kristin Armstrong, Cervelo-Lifeforce has the best chance of derailing another German blitzkrieg.
Since 1996, only two non-Germans have won this prestigious women's event, the last coming in 2003 when Canadian Lyne Bessette snuck away during the final climb of Lemon Hill and held her advantage all the way to the finish. Armstrong, a non-sprinter who was second in this year's Tour of Flanders, will need a similar scenario to unfold if she's to become the first American to win the Liberty Classic.
Webcor Builders could also make some noise during the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling. The California-based team started 2008 with a bang when team rider Katheryn Mattis scored a breakthrough win at the Geelong World Cup in late February. That victory celebration was muted a week later when Mattis broke her collarbone after crashing at the Tour of New Zealand. Nonetheless, Webcor's international aspirations remain. The 2007 National Racing Calendar team champion spent much of its spring campaign in Europe, helping team leader – and rheumatology doctor – Christine Thorburn pursue a spot on the U.S. Olympic Games team.
Women's teams for Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling: Team High Road - Women (GER), Cervelo Lifeforce Pro Cycling Team (SUI), Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung (GER), Webcor Builders Cycling Team (USA), Aaron's Women's Professional Cycling Team (USA), BMW-Bianchi (USA), C3-Sollay.com (USA), Cheerwine Cycling (USA), Colavita/Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light (USA), HPC Powered by Altarum (USA), Hub Racing (USA), Jazz Apple Cycling Team (NZL), Juice Plus+ Women's Cycling Team (USA), PROMAN Racing (USA), Team Advil/Chapstick (USA), Team Kenda Tire (USA), Team Tibco (USA), ValueAct Capital Cycling Team (USA) and Vanderkitten Racing (USA).
Organisers of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling have announced the 20 professional women's teams that will contest a three-race battle in southeastern Pennsylvania in early June. At stake is a $34,000 prize purse that includes $5000 for the overall series winner.
Battling for the big payday will be a talented field of six-rider squads that includes three of Europe's top teams, plus the cream of the crop from the American racing scene. As usual the marquee event of the series will be June 8's Liberty Classic, which is celebrating its 15th running on the historic streets of downtown Philadelphia.
The overwhelming favourite to capture Liberty gold will be defending champion and two-time winner Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Team High Road). The German sprinting sensation is on fine form once again, already taking an impressive third at the season opening World Cup in Geelong, Australia. Teutenberg will be backed by the powerful Team High Road squad, sister outfit to the dominant men's team and No. 1 in the most recent World Cup rankings.
"Ina will definitely be our plan A," confirmed Kristy Scrymgeour, High Road's communications manager. "Our main concern is making sure no one gets away on the last trip up Lemon Hill. If we can keep the race together Ina will be hard to beat in a sprint."
High Road also boasts American stars Mara Abbott and Kim Anderson. A year ago, the 22-year-old Abbott was the revelation of pro peloton, winning a stage of the Redlands Classic, the national road race championship, and scoring a silver at the Montreal World Cup. All that happened while she was still devoting time to swimming and college. This year, the young American is fully focused on cycling, with her eyes trained on the Summer Olympics in Beijing.
The biggest threat to High Road will be Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung, and its own fast finisher, Deutschland native Regina Schleicher. Schleicher was world champion on the road in 2005 and won the Liberty Classic a year later. Nürnberger was second in the most recent World Cup standings.
Swiss-based Cervelo-Lifeforce are the newcomers to the Liberty Classic, but that doesn't mean they're coming only for the experience. Led by 2006 world time trial champion Kristin Armstrong, Cervelo-Lifeforce has the best chance of derailing another German blitzkrieg.
Since 1996, only two non-Germans have won this prestigious women's event, the last coming in 2003 when Canadian Lyne Bessette snuck away during the final climb of Lemon Hill and held her advantage all the way to the finish. Armstrong, a non-sprinter who was second in this year's Tour of Flanders, will need a similar scenario to unfold if she's to become the first American to win the Liberty Classic.
Webcor Builders could also make some noise during the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling. The California-based team started 2008 with a bang when team rider Katheryn Mattis scored a breakthrough win at the Geelong World Cup in late February. That victory celebration was muted a week later when Mattis broke her collarbone after crashing at the Tour of New Zealand. Nonetheless, Webcor's international aspirations remain. The 2007 National Racing Calendar team champion spent much of its spring campaign in Europe, helping team leader – and rheumatology doctor – Christine Thorburn pursue a spot on the U.S. Olympic Games team.
Women's teams for Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling: Team High Road - Women (GER), Cervelo Lifeforce Pro Cycling Team (SUI), Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung (GER), Webcor Builders Cycling Team (USA), Aaron's Women's Professional Cycling Team (USA), BMW-Bianchi (USA), C3-Sollay.com (USA), Cheerwine Cycling (USA), Colavita/Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light (USA), HPC Powered by Altarum (USA), Hub Racing (USA), Jazz Apple Cycling Team (NZL), Juice Plus+ Women's Cycling Team (USA), PROMAN Racing (USA), Team Advil/Chapstick (USA), Team Kenda Tire (USA), Team Tibco (USA), ValueAct Capital Cycling Team (USA) and Vanderkitten Racing (USA).
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
It's not my pooh-baby and other mid-week ramblings
The internets have been down at the "hen house" lately hence the lack of blogging. Thankfully, I spent my weekend with the Major and the other Chicks in Black so I can just point you here and here to see how the weekend races and rides went down.
Saturday night, though, deserves a special mention. The Goat (update your blog!) and I decided to head over to Sonoma for dinner to celebrate a good day at the races. We also want to give back to Eli Hengst, one of the greatest guys around, by patronizing his business as much as possible. I cannot say enough about his restaurant. The service was fantastic, the food "mucho rico", and made even better by the fact that I ran into my buddy Tom from the Juice Joint. He was on a "first date" and apparently trying to impress the lady by bringing her to such a fine establishment. Imagine my surprise when the waiter brought over the bottle of wine we had ordered and told us it was on the Juice Joint! Thanks Tom. And thanks again Eli for all you do. I expect Sonja and I will be fixtures at Sonoma from now on because that burger and risi e bisi was the best and your cheese selection is out of this world.
And on a sad note (at least for me, not for them), Monday was Poops' and Bud's last day at Capitol Hill Bikes. They are packing up and heading out west to Colorado. We had a little get-together last night to say our goodbyes and share stories and laugh about (or should I say with?) the Pooh-Baby Daddy. I wish you guys the best of everything and miss you already.
Saturday night, though, deserves a special mention. The Goat (update your blog!) and I decided to head over to Sonoma for dinner to celebrate a good day at the races. We also want to give back to Eli Hengst, one of the greatest guys around, by patronizing his business as much as possible. I cannot say enough about his restaurant. The service was fantastic, the food "mucho rico", and made even better by the fact that I ran into my buddy Tom from the Juice Joint. He was on a "first date" and apparently trying to impress the lady by bringing her to such a fine establishment. Imagine my surprise when the waiter brought over the bottle of wine we had ordered and told us it was on the Juice Joint! Thanks Tom. And thanks again Eli for all you do. I expect Sonja and I will be fixtures at Sonoma from now on because that burger and risi e bisi was the best and your cheese selection is out of this world.
And on a sad note (at least for me, not for them), Monday was Poops' and Bud's last day at Capitol Hill Bikes. They are packing up and heading out west to Colorado. We had a little get-together last night to say our goodbyes and share stories and laugh about (or should I say with?) the Pooh-Baby Daddy. I wish you guys the best of everything and miss you already.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Greenbelt B Race 5/07
Some of you may have noticed a subtle change in my blog. It’s very slight… instead of green on black it’s now blue on black. Why? Because I’m on a new team!!! Not that my blog colors matched my kit colors before but I thought it would be kinda cool.
I’m very excited about my new team, C3-Sollay.com, and made my debut in the black and blue last night at the Greenbelt race. (A special thanks to Beth for bringing me a jersey.) I’ve stepped-up to the B race so I was not sure how long I could hold on, especially considering my legs were already burning on the ride up to Greenbelt trying to keep up with Sonja. Her easy pace seems to be my tempo these days. Thankfully, she would be racing the A’s tonight.
The first couple of laps were fast and a couple of the other women fell victim to the pace leaving Sara Z and Wendy, both from Cyclelife, and me to mix it up with the boys. I actually never saw Wendy during the race as she was pushing the pace at the front while Sara and I were mid-pack and working on our pack-riding skills :-). At one point I noticed we were riding 20-22 mph up “the hill” and I thought to myself, “I just want to hang on for 2 more laps.” Unfortunately, on the next lap on the long sweeping and very fast downhill, some dude hit a pothole and went down taking Sara with him. I know... never look back, but it was Sara, someone I consider a friend so I glanced over my shoulder to see if she was ok at which point I lost contact with the pack. It didn’t matter anyway, my head was out of the game after that but I had met my goal of hanging on for over half the race. Yipee! And Sara is fine… just a couple of scrapes and bruises. She didn’t even tear a hole in her kit.
So once again, a race ended prematurely for me because of a pothole! Oh, I guess I never wrote a Poolesville race report but if I had it would have been titled “Done in by a Pothole” and that’s pretty much Poolesville in a nutshell for me.
I’m very excited about my new team, C3-Sollay.com, and made my debut in the black and blue last night at the Greenbelt race. (A special thanks to Beth for bringing me a jersey.) I’ve stepped-up to the B race so I was not sure how long I could hold on, especially considering my legs were already burning on the ride up to Greenbelt trying to keep up with Sonja. Her easy pace seems to be my tempo these days. Thankfully, she would be racing the A’s tonight.
The first couple of laps were fast and a couple of the other women fell victim to the pace leaving Sara Z and Wendy, both from Cyclelife, and me to mix it up with the boys. I actually never saw Wendy during the race as she was pushing the pace at the front while Sara and I were mid-pack and working on our pack-riding skills :-). At one point I noticed we were riding 20-22 mph up “the hill” and I thought to myself, “I just want to hang on for 2 more laps.” Unfortunately, on the next lap on the long sweeping and very fast downhill, some dude hit a pothole and went down taking Sara with him. I know... never look back, but it was Sara, someone I consider a friend so I glanced over my shoulder to see if she was ok at which point I lost contact with the pack. It didn’t matter anyway, my head was out of the game after that but I had met my goal of hanging on for over half the race. Yipee! And Sara is fine… just a couple of scrapes and bruises. She didn’t even tear a hole in her kit.
So once again, a race ended prematurely for me because of a pothole! Oh, I guess I never wrote a Poolesville race report but if I had it would have been titled “Done in by a Pothole” and that’s pretty much Poolesville in a nutshell for me.
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