Today we rode to our 2nd consecutive Arizona State Team Time Trial Championship! (Sorry no pictures yet!) Specialized D4W was represented by myself, Judy Jenkins, Tracy Perez and Kim Truitt, and we did incredible.

Originally, we were to race a 40k out and back, but some recent severe weather washed out a good bit of the road, and the race was shortened to 30k.  I have to say the course was so much better then Picacho in regards to traffic and general road condition;  the wind however seems to be consistent no matter where the course is – a not so awesome head-wind on the way out and sick tailwind to push us home at speeds exceeding 30mph! Unfortunately we lost some horse-power early on when Kim suffered a mechanical, many people would have simply given up after such an early incident, so needless to say we were all impressed by her drive and dedication when we saw her not too far from the turn-around.

Thanks to Nippy and SW Hand for putting on the race! Great day ladies, it was awesome riding with all of you! Rock on!

- Heather

Most mornings I wake-up excited to get to spend another day in the saddle, and without fail, within a few hours the excitement is shattered when I land behind my desk. The endorphins that were once pumping through my body wane, and are hastily replaced by caffeine as focus is shifted to the matters at hand. I miss the taste of a solid ride, the salty crust baked onto my helmet straps after descending Lemmon, the sweet taste of my recovery Fluid and knowing I deserved every second of the nap that is about to consume my entire afternoon. I guess it’s no secret what I do on the weekend

This past week however, and increasingly in the past few months, I have been on the road for work – which has been AWESOME! Give me a laptop and an air-card and call me productivity! What sane cyclist wants to be in Phoenix in the summer anyways?

I returned today from Temecula, and while I don’t think its quite Napa, the riding was awesome and the weather was spectacular – 95 and sunny! The roads were rolling to downright mountainous, there was little traffic in the rural regions and best of all, there was SHADE!

I had never heard anything good about the Inland Empire but I am sold on the plethora of excellent riding!

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Dear Readers,

I’d like to bring your attention to a worthy cause here in Arizona.  A young cyclist by the name of Thomas Jondall, with whom I’d had to pleasure to ride, is seeking support to race his bike in Europe with the US Junior National Team.  Thomas is not only a very talented athlete, he’s a great kid with a lot of heart and potential.  He’s worked very hard to earn the opportunity to race in Europe, but he needs a little dough to make it happen.  I am personally going to contribute, and I’m sure he would appreciate any amount you can give, whether is $5 or $50.  To learn more about Thomas, read on or visit the Thomas Jondall Donation Page.  Thanks!

Hello,

My name is Thomas Jondall, I’m 18 years old and I race for Landis/Trek White Mountain Road Club. I’ve recently been selected to race in Europe with the US Junior National Team. The team will be racing some Kermesses in Belgium and then go to Italy for the Giro della Lunigiana UCI 2.1 and Giro di Basilicata UCI 2.1. It has been an exciting year for me and I’m looking forward to this new challenge. [Read more →]

I have to admit, when I first learned that XOOD was our team drink sponsor, I was a bit skeptical; I mean, I’d never even heard of the product. However, after trying  XOOD during my training, my skepticism quickly faded and I immediately felt confident using XOOD during racing. XOOD tastes great, is light in flavor, and provides my body with much needed nutrition when my heart rate is spiked. Best of all, it contains a bit of protein but does not turn “milky” and gross-tasting when it gets warm.

XOOD is a natural, healthy energy drink with no added sweeteners and no artificial colors or flavoring. It is composed of a blend of maltodextrin, whey protein, fructose, electrolytes, and vitamins meant to go easy on your digestive system.

XOOD is a product of HeartWise Fitness & Nutrition and was developed by two cardiologists who sought to provide endurance athletes with a nutrition product composed of only high quality, natural, heart-friendly ingredients. One of the founding docs, Sal Tirrito, is an Ironman athlete and an occasional writer for our Doctor’s Corner section of Women’s Bike Talk.  Lou Lancero, the other founding cardiologist of XOOD, is also an avid bike racer and triathlete.

XOOD is available in three varieties:

XOOD Green Tea · Lemon, with a natural source of caffeine from green tea extract, designed to energize your workouts. Personally, this is my favorite flavor of XOOD.

XOOD Pomegranate, which contains  polyphenols from natural pomegranate extract, designed to act as powerful antioxidants to cleanse the body of toxins built up during sustained exercise and reduce oxidative damage.

XOOD  Mangosteen, which contains mangosteen, a unique tropical fruit with anti-inflammatory properties thought to  revive tired muscles, as well as to decrease fatigue and gastro-intestinal issues.

Although XOOD is not as well known as, say, Gatorade, it’s definitely worth giving a shot. In my opinion, it does not disappoint.

As I look at this podium picture, I can’t help but chuckle. Am I really THAT short or are these chicas just tall? What I apparently lack in height I made up for this race performance. This photo is taken at the Xterra Mountain Championship where I won my age group, placed second overall for amateur females, and qualified for the Xterra World Championship. As you can see, I was so stoked about winning a German stein that I forgot to look up for the picture… Whoops.

Xterra Mountain Championship is not a race for the faint of heart. With 3,600 feet of climbing on the 15.5 mile mountain bike and 1,300 feet of uphill on the 5.75 mile run, this course is a duesy. Not to mention the altitude… Only the one-mile open water swim in Lake Nottingham is of “normal” caliber. Needless to say, I had a great race and used my small stature to ascend the climbs like a billy goat on both the bike and run. Thanks to Specialized and all of our wonderful sponsors for helping to make my race a positive experience.

For some of my other recent race results, check out the Crankworx cross country race from July 31st and Xterra Indian Peaks from today, August 8th.

Ok, I know the famous “Bicycle” song by Queen is a little bit cheesy, but you have to admit, the bicycle flash mob in a train station in Brussels (in the video below) is pretty cool!  I couldn’t help but share…  Enjoy!

Via Cyclelicio.us

A couple of months ago I made a visit to Don Williams (the husband of our team director – Maggie Williams) at Bicycle Haus in Scottsdale, AZ.  Don runs Missing Link Coaching and Training Systems, which is one of the great sponsors of the Specialized Designs for Women presented by Bicycle Haus team.  In addition to being a coach, Don is also a professional bike fitter, who has been trained by the famous Andy Pruitt himself!

As I have a tendency to fall off my bike on occasion, I have dealt with my fair share of injuries over the years as a cyclist.  Various injuries, surgery, etc. tend to alter how you sit on the bike, and given the repetitive nature of cycling, it’s important to ensure that you are positioned correctly on the bike.  At the beginning of this season, I was coming back from a long rest to try to recover from some crookedness in my hips.  Naturally, I wanted Don to check out my bike fit to make sure I was in the correct position.  Bike fitting can help prevent injury and also help you increase power on the bike, so I highly recommend it! [Read more →]

Bend, Oregon – one of the most beautiful places on Earth (if you ask me, that is).  Every year, hundreds of cyclists flock to Bend for the grueling Cascade Cycling Classic.  Cascade is the last big women’s stage race on the NRC calendar and the last race in the Women’s Prestige Series, so naturally, our team was pumped and ready to race in beautiful Bend!

Bend, as beautiful as it is, apparently happens to be troublesome and mischievous.  Every year that I have gone to Bend (3 years running now), something (or things) out of the ordinary has happened.  Year 1 – I got some strange rash that was diagnosed as shingles and didn’t finish.  Year 2 – On the drive to Bend from Tucson, our bike rack broke on the interstate, the car broke down, and I developed a weird breathing problem.  This year, which is year 3 at Cascade for me, the mischievous nature of Bend seemed to culminate in lots of weird events, which made racing difficult and/or impossible for some of us.

But for starters, Bend brought some good luck.  Two of our riders were contacted to ride for their national teams in Europe and were unable to race Cascade.  Chloe Forsman can currently be found racing for the US National MTB Team in at two European World Cups, and Cara Gillis is racing for the Canadian National Team in a variety of stage races and one-day road events around Europe, as well.  So in that regard, Bend was very good to our team.  Congrats, ladies!

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We get stopped every time we are out with Owen on his bike.  People are amazed that a kid so young can ride without training wheels and have a lot of questions.  I decided a post on the web could help some of you out there who want to get your kids into riding and are looking for ways to get started.  Here’s what worked for us…

We started Owen on the Specialized Kid’s Hotwalk.

He got his balance bike when he was 2 1/2.  It took about a week to convince him to get on it, but once he did it only took a couple of days for him to get the hang of it.  He was cruising around the neighborhood with his feet high in the air, jumping curbs, and going off road in no time!

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I just discovered this post-race interview (below) with Chloe Forsman after the final stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix.  Chloe was the green jersey competition winner as the best amateur (Category 2 rider).  We were definitely very excited to come back from Minnesota with a jersey!  Check her out on the podium.  Sweet!

Photo credit: Cycling News / Matthew E. Moses

The team rode really well at Nature Valley in defense of the green jersey, as well as overall.  We were once again the top-placed amateur team in 7th place out 14 teams, placing just behind the top pro teams overall.

Chloe has a great NVGP report with some photos, as well.  Enjoy!