Category — Bicycle Racing/Training

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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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.

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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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!

With the end of June quickly approaching, I figure it’s time to update the team and our sponsors on my racing during the past month.  My 2010 Xterra season began on June 5th when I traveled across Colorado to Farmington, New Mexico to race Xterra Four Corners. Farmington is a tiny little town close to Durango, complete with dusty desert single track typical to that of the Southwest region of the U.S. This race was slightly different than most Xterra triathons, with the run preceding the bike instead of the typical “swim, bike, run” fashion. Apparently this suited me well as I took the lead in transition after the swim and never looked back. My award for “Fastest Overall Female” was a beautiful hand-painted platter which is currently perched on my mantel.

Today I competed in the Epic Single Track Winter Park Super Loop mountain bike race. The weather was perfect, my bike was fast, and the dirt was phenomenal. Even with tired legs and a heart rate that seemed stagnant, I had a blast.  This race was only my second pure mountain bike race in my racing history so I was thrilled to win my age group and place third overall for Expert women.

Next up, Xterra West Mountain Championship in Beaver Creek, Colorado on July 17th. Thanks for checking in.

Before I get started with a blog update, I’d like to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures.  You see, I’m technologically in the dark ages and haven’t replaced my broken four year old digital camera, and my phone just isn’t fancy enough to handle pictures.  But I have thought ahead to e-mail people who did take pictures, and I’ll try to get them posted as they come in.

First, we have many people to thank for helping Specialized D4W/Bicycle Haus have such a successful Nature Valley (Best Amateurs all around!).  Our two hosts, Lindsey Hamilton and the O’Day family couldn’t have been more accommodating and helpful.  Then we have Ralf to thank for keeping our Specialized bikes looking great (and working flawlessly).  And of course, thanks Maggie for being the most fabulous team director!

Prologue – St. Paul Riverfront TT (6.0 miles)

As a new rule, no TT gear was allowed during the prologue.  This meant no funny helmets, clip-on bars, or no TT bikes.  So we pedaled as hard as we possibly could (in our drop-bars) down the riverfront, through the turnaround, past the start, and up a steep power-climb to the finish.  For the day, the team finished in 11th place overall with the following resutls:  Chloe – 34th, Melanie – 51st, Cara – 62nd, Jenna – 64th, Ari – 70th.  Amazingly, I snagged the green Best Amateur jersey.  This means, I had the fastest time of all the Category 2 racers. [Read more →]

Here’s what’s been happening from Cara’s So-Cal perspective

Kern County
2nd GC: 3rd TT, 1st CT, 3rd Hill Climb, 2nd RR
The Kern County Women’s Stage race is 4 stages in 3 days, with a 10 mile TT on Friday, a 60 mile circuit race followed 3 hours later by a 13 mile hill climb on Saturday, and a 74 mile hilly, hot, miserable road race on Sunday.

Some highlights include winning the circuit in a field sprint for the second year in a row, having a lovely stroll up the hill without a compact (ha!), and somehow getting a three minute lead on Molly Van H. and Jane D when I “attacked” them after the three of us got away in the road race.  I was convinced they must have crashed, but Rob assured me it was just the case that each was waiting for the other to chase.  Unfortunately Molly caught me at the start of the last lap and was too strong for me on the major climb.  Sigh.  Overall the race was fun and epic as always.  Much thanks to Rob and Russ from Metromint for all of their help (including a feed of the best fruit punch Gatorade I’ve ever had.) [Read more →]

I have been embarrassingly absent from the blog since I joined the team. First and foremost, I have to assert that this is not my fault. In fact, the fault of my absence lay solely with the University of Arizona and particularly, with the Gender and Women’s Studies department, who for the last two years have held me captive in their minor program consisting of endless reading and papers!*Last Thursday, I was freed from my academic shackles (free at last!) and received nothing  (diploma to arrive by mail “soon”).

Despite my inability to type even the shortest of blog posts for Women’s Bike Talk, I have been working very hard on the bicycle and have been thrilled to see the fruits of some hard wrought labor and hard lessons- learned coming together. I started the season new to the team with the two main goals of maintaining a consistent training schedule and gaining as much experience as possible in races.  In addition, I knew that I had a wealth of opportunity to learn from my more experienced teammates, many of whom I have had the pleasure of getting to know over the last two years through the UA Cycling Club. [Read more →]

Whew.  What a month.  A year ago I raced my first Tour of the Gila followed up by Collegiate Nationals in Fort Collins, CO.  I told myself that’d be last time I’d race for multiple days, consecutive weekends, smack dab during the last week of school.  Well, I guess I forgot.

This year, it happened again (still not sure how).  Except Collegiate Road Nationals were located almost a thousand miles further than last year.  Madison, WI is a long ways from Tucson.  Yet somehow I survived finals, finished my papers, fought a cold (and lost), and still managed to have a great time.  It helped having so many teammates in the same situation so we could aid each other in procrastinating.  Melanie has written up an excellent summary of the races, although I think she’s being a little modest about her own results.  A top-ten NRC results is a huge accomplishment, and especially impressive on top of her PhD studies, blogging, role as Team Captain, race promoter, and upcoming wedding (yes–she’ll be the bride).  Anyway, it’s pretty exciting to see hard work pay off and it’s a great result for the Specialized D4W team.

Now I’m realizing that I won’t line up at another collegiate race for quite some time, and I’m a little bummed about it.  For three years I juggled racing as a professional mountain biker for the Luna Chix and the responsibilities of a full-time student.  For those years, collegiate racing helped me keep things in perspective and realize why I race bikes.  I think it’s safe to say I  wouldn’t be racing today without collegiate racing and the UA Cycling Club (and TJ!).

Luckily, I’ve found a home with the Arizona-based road team Specialized D4W/Bicycle Haus.  My teammates kick ass in the hundred different things they do (including some very impressive on-the-bike accomplishments).  Plus, I’m now comfortable wearing pink and baby blue; although I’m not yet comfortable considering myself a road racer.  Hopefully I can figure it out at the Nature Valley Grand Prix–my next big road race.  Until then, I’ll be moving into my new house, mountain bike racing, and hopefully blogging more often!

Also, thanks to all the Specialized D4W/Bicycle Haus sponsors, my teammates, my friends and family, TJ, and all the other sponsors and supporters I’ve had along the way.  I’ve definitely had some ups and downs with training and racing but I’m in this sport for the long haul.  Thanks for checking in!

I apologize for the recent lack of updates.  It’s been a whirlwind of a couple weeks, what with Tour of the Gila in Silver City, New Mexico, followed quickly by Collegiate Road Nationals in Madison, Wisconsin, followed by finals week at the University of Arizona.  School?  Eeek…what?  I just want to ride my bike…

Instead of running through each stage of all the races we’ve done in the last few weeks, I’m just going to post a few highlights from Tour of the Gila and Collegiate Road Nationals, which are the two big races I attended in the last few weeks.  However, the team has been active all over the state of AZ and beyond, such as Luisa’s recent MTB racing success at Battle of the Bear.  So check back soon for reports from the rest of the ladies.

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