Redlands' Crit!

Saturday's stage is a fabulous 7 corner crit in the heart of the Redlands' pedestrian district. With 96 of the fastest women in the world, our 3 girls had their work cut out for them! Ina Teutenberg, Tina Pic, Lauren Tamayo, and pretty much every other national and world champion you can name were ready to take the crit down today.

Warm-up was good, and while staging started 24 minutes before start time, the girls got in good position. They stayed top third of the pack for the duration of the blazingly fast 60 minute crit, with a rider going down in the last corner of the last lap, shuffling Jen from 5th wheel. She still pulled off a great finish FOURTEENTH! Absolutely fabulous.

Redlands Interview-

So someone screwed up somewhere, and Lori Barrett & soigneur (and veteran Redlands racer- placing 15th GC last year-) Suz Weldon were asked for an interview by the San Bernadino Sun newspaper. Click on the pic to check it out!

http://www.sbsun.com/redlandsbicycleclassic

Day 2: Beaumont Circuit Race

So it was great to line up with 150 of the strongest women in the US, if not the world. All the major teams were represented- Colavita, Tibco, Team Type 1, Columia High Road, & Webcor, amongst others. We had a great spot staging- right at the front, and behind the race leaders.

The course is like a 23 mile crit- right up our alley! Even the topography was reminiscent of Texas: long rollers, a 25 mph wind with even stronger gusts, and lots of exposed flats.

It was a great start- fast, fast, fast! Railing it from the gun. The trouble started with all of us comfortably in the pack: Lori's gear choice (the same 13-27 of the prologue,) proved utterly inadequate to handle the 25mph tailwind- we hit 50mph, and Lori's legs spinning at 140rpm, muscularly and cardiovascularly untaxed, but slowly drifting backwards in the pack, totally lacking in a gear to push. So while Lori is futilely spinning her brains out, a Tibco rider hits a downed water bottle and takes Rachel down! Fortunately, Rach is ok, roadrash notwithstanding. Her brand-new Crumpton suffered a smashed Sram shifter, but is otherwise none the worse for wear, thank goodness! So Rachel rode in the caravan with our fabulous mechanic, Ryan, and team director, Eric. Looks fun!

Jen stuck tight with the front pack (whittled down to 30 or so by the end of the race,) losing contact on the final Queen of the Mountain climb, but only losing a couple of minutes through the final windy stretches of the course. Great job, Jen!

Prologue- 5K Hill Climb

5K doesn't sound far. Really it's not- unless it contains a full kilometer of elevation gain!

Fortunately, our wonderful team mechanic, director and soigneurs had all in hand for our eventual success: they had the best spot, close to the start ramp, a fabulous tent, all of our trainers & bikes ready to go, and plenty of drinks & towels.

Tracie & Jen lit up the TT with great times: Tracie came in 46th and Jen came in 75th. Lori & Rachel had almost identical times- coming in 2 seconds off each other for 133 & 135th. Ouch!

The good news is that the circuit race is more technical, and not all uphill. Yay, say the Texas crit racers!

Host housing is rad!

So we have an amazing host: Ken Kramer, part of the heart and soul of the Redlands Classic, has invited 6 of us into his house for the duration of our race. (And if he's not careful, we just might not leave! He is an amazing host.)

So first there is The Wall: a welcome banner, with maps showing highlighted courses, x-marks the host house & race starts, laminated newspaper articles about the race in years past, and page-protected sections of the race bible, separated by day/course! Wow.

We bike racers always appreciate a well-stocked kitchen, and boy, Ken must have been forewarned! Check out the stores of food below- we're ruined! And if we don't win, it's not for lack of support. :)

Wednesday- meet the team, ride the prologue...

So the girls from Wines of Washington are from all over, and by that I mean the west coast. Plus, the 4 Texan imports to field questions about, "You mean you guys can get organic produce in Texas?" and other such gems. We're cultural ambassadors, I tell you.

After a first introduction, we all set out to ride the 5K Prologue, which we'll set into tomorrow. It's a hill climb- a 3 tiered, many turning, hill climb. Holy moly, why do I have to love chocolate so?

Tracie, with her collegiate running background, is our ace in the hole for the 10+minute effort. Jen rode very well, and Lori was with the group. Rachel had a mechanical, causing her to fall behind, but she made up for lost time on the second round.

Oh yeah- Fayetteville!

So Fayetteville Stage Race happened over the weekend! How did we forget, and go straight to the California trip?!

Jen is wearing the Texas Cup leader's jersey for State and Regional races, having missed our only "Premier" race, thus far. We decided bluebonnet season was the perfect time to get EnJen to model it- glamour style! Placing 8th in the Men's 3's in both road races, while Lori was 8th and 4th in hers. Both time trials were unremarkable, thanks to a hankering for beef on both girls' part, pre- time trial. Oops!

On the road!

So first was a stop in Roosevelt- population 13. We stopped in and looked at the many spectacular mounted deer heads, as well as moose and other specialties. We ogled the locals (who were sitting in the feed store/gas station/cafe playing checkers,) and they got just the same kick out of us, as well. If you look at the accompanying picture, it takes a while to figure out what all is going on- the sunglasses, Tracie in action, and of course, the mounted deer butt on the wall. With glass eyeballs on either side of the tail.

On the drive, we discovered that Lori's iPod hasn't been updated in years, that Tracie is wheat/soy/corn & yeast intolerant, that Rachel knows the words to every popular radio song, and Jen travels to bike races with glittery eyeshadow!

Redlands or bust!

Rachel posing with one of our Crumptons- many, many thanks to everyone who made it happen!

So we're on our way- rad team bikes thanks to Nick Crumpton, Sram & Hed- three Team Hotel San Jose women: Lori Barrett, Rachel Byus & Jen Purcell, joined by one friend from another team, Tracie Akerhielm.

TEAM BIKES!

We are so excited! Our long-awaited team bikes done exclusively for us by Carbon fiber Magician Nick Crumpton are finished! Many, many thanks to Nick for the awesome flat black racing machines that are going to carry us through the season, and knowing Nick, for many years to come!

Jesuit Round-up Road Race- Sunday, March 8

March 8 Road Race.

Through the evening myself (Jen Purcell) and about a dozen other riders in the time trial sent emails in protest to the promoter. Thankfully, by the morning I was listed in 2nd behind Mina. I'm still not sure about the time, I think I was under 31 minutes based on my watch, but they had me as 31+. I don't care, it was good enough to secure 1st in the omnium. I thank all of those who vouched for me, that was super sweet of every one! :)

The road race was a 46 mile circuit. There were big rollers although less wind. The women again were in the 40+ field, I hoped to get into a break so that I could get a good workout for Redlands Bicycle Classic. I almost secured a break with Kurt Bickle (Men's time trial winner) but didn't have enough recovery after bridging up solo to him and another rider. I had to sit up and get back into the field. There I stayed for all of the laps, trying to keep at the front and be ready for anything that went. I must say I was really tired though. By the last 2 laps I started to mentally prep for the inevitable field sprint. There were fewer women in this race but the ones that were there, weren't going anywhere. The sprint would be critical to positioning and timing. It wasn't going to be easy, but it never is so there's nothing new there! Also there was a Colavita woman who had all of the Colavita men helping her, she's brand new to racing but impressively strong and I was concerned about my buddy Ginny, she's got a strong jump and is riding really well. There was also another uphill finish and I wished I had a 25 on the cassette (as opposed to my 23). It was going to be close. As we approached the last 1K I was ready , I just tucked in behind a couple strong guys. Then I felt the moment and went with it. I almost won the field sprint, by less than half of a second. I did the it in my small chain ring again and, of course, wish now that I hadn't. The picture is posted on TXBRA's home screen. That was a huge surprise, seeing me go for it on TXBRA! Lesson learned: no more sprinting in the small ring.

At the end of it all, it was a great stage race put on by Dallas organizations and the towns of Denton and Aubry. I was pleased to win the omnium and this week received the Texas Cup Leaders jersey in the mail. So far this season has been full of surprises and promise. I can't wait to see what else is in store!

Rhapsody Crit & TT- Saturday, 3/7

March 7 AM 20K TT

This was a windy morning with gusts over 30 mph. I was in the process of taping plastic wrap on my road helmet because I forgot my time trial helmet up in Wichita Falls! Luckily, I was parked next to a former collegiate racer and it was awesome because he let me borrow his nice aero dynamic helmet due to the greatness that is collegiate cycling connection - so props to collegiate racing! And further proof that collegiate cycling continues to give back even post graduation. Anyway, with my new and improved aero set-up I felt much more confident in the start line. In front of me were a couple of pro women and I knew it would be a challenging effort, in addition to the windy conditions. One of the riders in front of me was Mina Pizzini, a mentor and old friend of mine - also a seasoned Iron Man top competitor. Last year at Iron Man she was 2nd, and her time trialing is that of category 1 men. I knew she was the one to beat. Within the first few minutes I was passing my minute rider and that was a great sign because she is also a very strong and highly competitive woman, so I knew I was on the right track. I passed several more riders and Mina was within eye shot. She had started 3 minutes in front of me and was still quite a distance away. At the turn around I had a moment of relief with a tail wind and just barreled through the last 10 K. I was on my road bike with clip on handlebars, one of these days I'll get a tt bike set up! I finished in a little over 30 minutes. I felt it was good enough for second behind Mina if not even the win. Results were to be announced at the criterium - the suspense of official time trial results gets me every time...


March 7 PM Criterium

I arrived at the criterium with less warm up time than I hoped for. Of course the first thing I did was hunt down the promoter of the time trial to see if I actually had a faster time than Pizzini. I found him and looked over the results and there I was listed in 10th place. The crazy part was that I saw several women that I had passed with times of 1 to 2 minutes faster than me. I told the promoter that there was no way this was possible - by now everyone is starting to line up on the start for the crit, I was still debating my results, it wasn't a good scenario. The promoter said to be happy, there were a lot of strong women in the field and that 10th was nothing to be disappointed with, he also said to go online to officially protest. It was very difficult leaving him and jumping into another crit - with the 40+ men, and no warm-up. My head was reeling. It was difficult to let go of the time trial and mentally switch to the race at hand.
Of course the guys dropped the hammer from the gun, it was even winder now than at the tt. I'm not sure, but it felt like 35+ mph gusts. Also, it was crucial to hear the announcement that the women's field was going to be included in the men's purse. I missed that part while I was in discussion of the time trial results. Also worth noting, there was a female U23 national champion in the field who had also won the sprinter's jersey at Superweek in 2008 (not to mention on a UCI pro track team) and this course was flat. I knew to keep my eye on her the entire time. The dynamic of the crit was different, I of course was confused as to why the men wouldn't let the women get into a break, which was of course because we were all playing for the same outcome. It was frustrating out there, not only windy and hard with out a warm up, but there was a lot of pushing. Guys were taking their hands off the bar and shoving other riders. A guy did that to me once in a turn, actually he pushed me 3 or 4 times and the last time was pretty dangerous, I swerved and almost lost it. Thankfully another male rider stood up for me and told him to keep his hands to himself. It was odd, lots of aggression. Finally the last lap comes around and it was a stellar sprint between me and the National Champ. It was close, she had it up until about the last 5 meters before the line. I felt good and was surprised to take the win for the women. I believe may have won the field sprint with the men? I was 7th over all. I know there was a break of about 6 up the course.
There was confusion with the lap cards, the officials forgot to change the card back one for the field due to the break. LUCKILY, they chose to score the women based on the lap we thought we were sprinting - not on the lap we were cooling down on!

Lago, Day 2

Day 2 at Lago was a great race. It was great to have Jen McRae come and push the pace a bit. The first couple laps were definitly fast here. As always, our own Jen Purcell was on! A couple of times our pack got separated. Rachel came off the back of the main field, but managed to get back up to the field, twice. The race was kind of negative, not many attacks, no one wanting to do much, I am assuming because the notorious Jen McRae was there. No girls managed to get off the front, and our race ended in a pack sprint. Jen Purcell battles Jen McRae at the finish and McRae barely managed to come around Purcell. Rachel ended up 7th(trying to sprint in the wrong gear). All in all it was a great weekend! Can't wait until next time!

It's never the wrong time for beer.

Lago Vista will always have a special place in the hearts of Texas racers: the promoter, long time Austin-area rider Don Hutchinson, cobbles together a community of volunteers and gets the resort community of Lago Vista to welcome us- always a boon!

Lago is a more selective course- it is either climbing or descending, with few flat moments in between. The group started with 35 women in the open- a great field by our standards! With 6 laps to make total, the first few were pretty uneventful, some minor attacks, but nothing that really shook the pack. On the 4th lap, in one of the only relatively flat sections, one of the Brain & Spine girls goes to the front to drill it. Immediately afterward, Jen Purcell attacks, splitting the group: 8 girls down the road, including Colavita pro sprinter Shontelle Gauthier, longtime national-level racer Catherine Walberg, and U23 National Road Champion (and Superweek Sprints winner,) Casey Manderfield. A total of 8 broke off, with myself in a group of 8, behind them. Our pack worked together smoothly, most of us having someone down the road that we weren't interested in catching- the Flyers, AT&T/B&S, and of course THSJ.

The break worked together pretty well until the last half of the last lap (go figure-) when attacks started cropping up. Jen covered what she could, and the group stayed together for a final sprint with the eight. Jen led out the final stretch, then decided waiting time was over, and went for the uphill sprint finish. She held off the other gals, putting 3 bike lengths on the Colavita sprinter, with Catherine coming in 3rd, and Casey coming in 5th. Another V for Jen & THSJ!