Category — Bicycle Racing/Training

Callville Bay Stage Race Report
Ruth Clemence and Cara Gillis headed to Las Vegas for the always exciting Callville Bay Stage Race.  The race is comprised of a 3.5 mile hill-ish climbing tt, a 55 mile road race, and a 45 minute crit.  Several teams showed up with decently sized squads including Colavita Las Vegas, SC Velo, Bannings, and Herbalife LaGrange.  Alisha Welsh of PB&Co Twenty12 also showed up to defend her title from last year.

Ruth had a great first tt of the season and finish 3 seconds back from Alisha and Katie Donovan of SC Velo who were tied for first.  Cara finished mid-pack.

The road race started with rain and very cold conditions.  Ruth rode very smart and stayed tucked-in and out of trouble, while Cara stayed at the front and made sure nothing got away that would jeopardize Ruth’s position.  On the approach to the finish line, an official started yelling that the finish line had moved because of a horrific crash at the original line.  A few minutes passed and then all of a sudden some guy was yelling that finish was 400 meters away.  Cara moved up, but jumped far too early to come around Nicole Evans.  Nichole Wansgard, riding on her own, had a much smarter sprint and took the win, foiling the leadouts of several teams.

The crit dawned sunny and warm.  There were some attacks, but nothing too exciting.  With 4 laps to go Cara attacked, after a lap away Ruth bridged up, sat on for a moment and then jumped again.  She managed to stay away until the last lap (we were trying to get the win).  Both Cara and Ruth finished mid-pack, but managed to collect $200 in primes.  Ruth held on for 3rd in GC.  Excellent work!

The Specialized Designs for Women presented by Bicycle Haus team started the season off right this past weekend at the 4th Annual UA Criterium in Tucson, AZ, with a win in the Pro 1, 2, 3 women’s field by Chloe Forsman!

The race was exciting from the start with a lot of attacks by riders from TriSports.com/Eclipse Racing, Specialized, and more.  Finally, a break went and stuck with Chloe and Cara Bussell of TriSports.com/Eclipse Racing.  Meanwhile, in the pack, there were 2 more Specialized riders (Melanie Meyers and Judy Jenkins), another TriSports.com/Eclipse Racing rider (Chloe Black), and 2 other riders who were racing without teams.  Chloe Forsman won the sprint out of the breakaway against Cara Bussell for 1st place, and Melanie got 2nd in the pack sprint for 4th place overall to Chloe Black of TriSports, who was 3rd overall.  Judy rounded out the bunch in 8th.

It was a great day of racing, and the 2010 Arizona road season is shaping up to be a great one with some strong women’s teams around the state!

Please join the University of Arizona cycling team for the 4th Annual UA Criterium, to be held this Saturday, January 30, 2010, in Tucson, Arizona.  The UA Crit was voted the Best One-Day Race in Arizona by Velocity Group Cycling in 2009!

To register, please visit Sportsbase Online or you can register the day of the event.  Some of the great sponsors providing support and prizes for the race also happen to sponsor the Specialized Designs for Women Cycling Team, including Athlete Octane, XOOD Endurance Drink, and Genuine Innovations!

Additionally, the UA Cycling Team has organized a cruiser ride in benefit of Haiti.  All proceeds from the event will go to Partners in Health for their work in Haiti in response to the earthquake there in early January.  Entry to the cruiser ride is $10, and donations for Partners in Health are also accepted.  The ride is USAC sanctioned which means all participants must wear a helmet, purchase a USAC license (annual or $5 day of) and must have a mechanical brake on their bike (coaster, rim or hydraulic–no legs). Otherwise, ride any bike you like and enjoy the cruise!

The Specialized Designs for Women Team has many members who are also members of the University of Arizona cycling team, so come out and join the fun in Tucson!

2009 is quickly coming to a close, and the Specialized Designs for Women p/b Bicycle Haus team is very excited about 2010.  We recently got together for a team ride and meeting up in Phoenix.  The weather was fantastic, and we had a great ride, lunch, and meeting.  Here are a few photos from the day, compliments of Heather.

Heading out.

Judy and Mary are all smiles.

[Read more →]

I came across this article in Velo News today by Monique Ryan about bone density in cyclists:

A sports nutritionist looks at the problem of low bone density in cyclists and what they can do about it.

There is definitely a lot of debate over the issue of bone density in cyclists and many conflicting studies.  However, this article points to a few key things that cyclists can do to help improve their odds.  For example:

• Repetitive impact activities, such as running
• Calcium intake
• Eating enough

The issue of bone density is especially important for female cyclists, as females in general are at a greater risk for developing low bone density.  Read more about women as endurance athletes in this article by Dr. Sal Tirrito.

Cramping is no fun, plus you lose calcium! Photo credit: Brian Meyer

For most of us, it’s the off-season, so now is a great time to add some different types of activity into your training regime.  Try going for a run or a hike, or maybe hit the trails on your cyclocross bike!

Remember being a cat 4 cyclist and having dreams of being a champion? Well, if I can’t be a champion, at least I can surround myself with them. I have raced three UCI cyclocross events the past three weekends, and the pros were there: Natasha Elliot, Maureen Bruno Roy, Katerina Nash, Mary McConneloug, and Amy Dombroski, just to name a few. I am “name dropping”, but I’ve only seen them in pictures, now I’ve watched them race!

As for me, I placed 44th 3 weeks ago at the UCI Verge series in Vermont, and this past weekend placed 22nd in Providence. It’s a blast!

My favorite part of the off season is hitting the trails near my house in the McDowell’s.  It’s a nice break from the road bike and a great way to keep fit.  I spend most of my time on the road bike and I’ve never really put much thought into fine tuning my mountain biking skills – just point it uphill and ride hard then point it downhill and scare myself.  Just kidding, I’m not really THAT bad, but I’d like to get better and I think someone out there can help me (I know I have some teammates who can)! 

Tight switchbacks kick my butt.  I do fine decending, but don’t do quite as well when I’m going uphill.  Does anyone have some tips for navitating a switchback – let’s say going uphill and downhill? 

Hi Gang,

Well the skinny is:
TT- Tied for 4th
Circuit Race- 1st
Road Race- 1st
Crit- 6th
GC- 1st

A really great stage race. This is one of the few, if only, stage races in Colorado. It’s the end of my season so I wanted to head to Steamboat and have a fun weekend. I had never been to Steamboat and had heard great things, it was a perfect opportunity to go have a look around.
I had a great travel buddy Erin Kummer. We had a great time staying at my good friend Dean’s place. The weekend was allot of fun.

If you ever get the chance to do this race you should! Great stages! Well organised and even fun events in the evenings.

Day one was an evening start on a hilly Road bike only TT.
Day two was a great little circuit with two climbs, two fast descents, a couple corners and two flat windy sections, so there was something to challenge everyone.
Day three we headed out on the roads on a very rolling course ending with two climbs. I had a great time battling it out up these climbs. We battled right to the end where it came down to a sprint in the last kick. A ton of fun!
Day four was a really fun, safe crit. Wide open, 4 corners and one little hill. The group stayed together in the end and my goal was to just stay close to my challengers for GC.

Next Chris and I head to Wisconsin for his big race. I’m super excited to watch him race.

Happy training and racing,
Marilyn

The Specialized Designs for Women p/b Bicycle Haus team chalked up a win in the AZ State Team Time Trial in the Women’s Open Category last weekend!  The four members of the team: Heather Sborz, Melanie Meyers, Judy Jenkins, and Maureen Brooks, busted the hour mark for the 40k race, with a time of 59:32 with an average speed of 25.05 miles per hour.  It was a hot, hot day with a strong headwind, but the team worked really well together and maintained a good tempo and rhythm.

Check out these photos of us warming up and on the podium.  I don’t have any photos of the race, because I was – well, uh…racing.  But you can find (and purchase, if you like) a race photo if you click here.

[Read more →]