TREADS.COM/DFT women's cycling team of "professionals"

Melbourne World Cup . . .

2010-12-03T14:53:00.000-07:00

The World cup season has officially begun. I just spent the week in Melbourne with teammates Jen, Emy and Jessica, enjoyed my first ever visit to Aus (surely not my last), learned lots about the culture, as well as about world cup level racing. It was so darn exciting to be a part of it!
cycling news and fyxomatosis photos: http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/uci-track-world-cup-i-cdm/session-2/photos/150680 and http://fyxomatosis.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=530%3Afriday-its-so-easy-&catid=66%3Ar-i-d-e-s&Itemid=97

Emy, jen and I rode the team pursuit well - 3:38, which would've won us the us title at track nats, not too shabby for our first ever ride together as a team . . . look for big things from this team as we get more experience riding w/one another and develop more trust and rapport and continue learning!!!

Then Jess and I rode the team sprint -my first ever TS -so why not try it at a world cup! We rode a :37 -4 seconds faster than my 500m time at nats!

So as you can see, it was all forward progress and we've only just begun!

Visit to 2010 team sponsor ENERGY MUSE!

2010-11-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

I am out here in LA taking my recovery day following 5 days of devo TP camp, and just before leaping into 5 more challenging days beginning tomorrow with the elite TP camp. I knew our team sponsor Energy Muse was based out of Torrance, which is nearby, so I looked them up and sent them a note saying I'd be popping in today. And I was so glad I made the time to visit!!

Our 2010 road team was sponsored by Energy Muse with necklaces that brought us protection, focus and willpower. Here a few of the girls modeled theirs at redlands:

So today I met Miranda, the marketing goddess at EM, and the woman responsible for our team's receipt of the cool necklaces we wore this season. I also had the chance to see their collection in person and let me just say -the brochures and website don't do these amazing pieces justice.

This jewelry isn't just gorgeous, it's purposeful. The entire concept of EM pieces is to set an intention and to use the piece to channel your energies towards those intentions. The employees there will tell you, should you visit, that certain items will jump out to you more, and when you put them on, you will feel an immediate connection.

And so it was today. I browsed for awhile, not really having gone there with any intention of purchasing any items. But one necklace lept off the wall at me, and what happened when I put it on is difficult to describe, but I felt the connection that they spoke of. I tried on another necklace and felt nothing. So then I put the first back on again and wow. I then had the opportunity to sit in their special intention room, to place my intention on my new necklace and to really meditate about it. They encourage purchasers to own the vision - to see yourself already accomplishing that which you have set your intention to do. It isn't an "I will do . . ." it's more of a "I already see myself doing . . ."

"this one time, at band camp . . . "

2010-11-08T09:52:00.001-07:00

i'm headed to LA this week. again. 3rd time in as many months. And each time I go I get a better feel for my way around town, making it just a bit less stressful to leave my home and my husband for training time on "the boards," aka the LA Velodrome at the Home Depot Center. This trip is for my 2nd usac team pursuit camp, the last one being back in October. I'm anxious to see how much improving I've done fitness-wise since the last camp, combined with all the new tidbits I learned last time i was there. My back and calf are healed from my madison nationals crash. My legs feel good, the weather here in Denver has allowed me to get in amazing training outdoors. And oh yeah, I'll be on my new track bike for the first time -CAN'T WAIT.

After camp I'm home for 7 short days during which we'll host the rents for turkey day and then I depart again to LA. Except LA won't be the destination . . . i'll be headed through LAX en route to Melbourne. First World Cup!!! So while all of you roadies are enjoying your off season and time off your road bikes, think of me ;) It's not only NOT my off season, it's THE season!

Home again, Home again

2010-09-20T10:14:00.002-06:00

Hi All- I headed back to New England this Saturday for some time with my family and friends and a little Mayor's Cup action next Sunday. Yesterday, I made the trek with my folks to the Smuttynose Portsmouth Crit in Portsmouth, NH. Downtown crit in an awesome seacoast town. In 2008, this was the first race I ever won. Last year, I repeated the victory, and this year I was planning on making it a 3peat.

The race was fun and fairly active- Richard Fries was announcing which is always great! Come final lap we headed into a field sprint and I thought I had it in the bag as I started to pull ahead before the line. *I'm going to pause here and take it back to my soccer days. In soccer, when someone was running down the field, no one around, and face planted it, we called that a sniper.* Well, imagine that in a bike race...full on sprint. Let's just say the result of my back wheel no longer making contact with the ground was not pretty. Catching the edge of a manhole cover- I did some nasty acrobatics and wish I had landed a little farther up the road. A major bummer to say the least. The race officials were kind to give me a placing (read pity result).

Pain and disappointment aside, here are some gems from the day:

-East coast racer, Susan Delaney puts on a phenomenal race. Well organized, safe, great community support, and Dr. Jennifer! Seriously, a sports medicine specialist at a bike race. Dr. Jennifer did an awesome job taking care of me (and my mom who was getting a bit woozy). Thanks!

-Friend Kevin Wolfson, who had a stellar day in the break during the pro men's race and who can always be counted on to make me laugh and brighten my perspective, said I looked like a super hero getting up from the crash- straight out of a disney sports movie. As Tiff might say, "Ahhh, s***..." (chuckle)

-Friend and coach Steve Weller (BellLapCoaching) rocked it in the pro men's race as well- getting 7th!

-Friend and former teammate Danielle Ruane kicks it to take the win in our Pro race! *Actually, I believe she led herself out too. I'm so psyched for her.

-Having some post-race ME doughnuts with the folks- DELICIOUS.

To sum up, racing with east coast dudes is wonderful. Our community here is great and it's such a joy to be at home with friends and family. Thanks to all you New Englanders who rock it. Looking forward to some SWEET racing action next Sunday at the Mayors Cup in downtown Boston and some post-race/end of season hang time in the city.

Thanks for reading,
Kat "Get off my wheel or I'll take myself out" Carr

Some links to pics:
http://gallery.me.com/acanniff#100554/Portsmouth_Crit2010D3003_-516&bgcolor=black

http://gallery.me.com/acanniff#100554/Portsmouth_Crit2010D3003_-499&bgcolor=black

SLC satellite Treads.com/DFT

2010-09-15T09:22:00.000-06:00

Posted by TiffP:
Teammate Kat recently moved to the 801 so its been super cool to have a teammate out here! We downward dogged together on Monday at a yoga studio near my house and then did the boys training race together last night. It is really neat-o to have another stars and stripes of the blue and yellow variety out here since (like you girls in NB, NM and SW CO) I am normally a one-woman show out here!

And if yoga sounds off-season-y, don't be fooled. Kat heads to the east coast for a crit in Maine and then I'll join her for the TD Boston Mayor's Cup the following week (and THEN the road season is officially finito!)

Rough Ride

2010-09-14T14:44:00.000-06:00

...today was a rough day on the bike. The riding and training part were going great. Until I got a piece of glass stuck in my rear tire and flatted. No big deal, I pulled over, switched out for a new tube, inflated and thought I'd be on my way. Except: new tube wasn't holding air. Ugh. I only carry one spare tube because in all my years of riding, that's all it's ever taken. So today I tried calling my husband. No answer. I tried emailing him, hoping he'd be on his itouch or laptop at work and could see I needed help. No response. I called again and left a VM just to be sure. Still no call back.

Well, where I'd flatted was about 2 miles away from his workplace, so I coasted downhill standing up/ riding both brakes with my body over my front wheel, trying not to ruin my rear wheel or tire as it flopped around with the flat tire on it. This totally stunk, esp since I had to keep the speed really slow for fear the tire would roll off the rim. Finally I make it to his workplace. I run inside and, they inform me, he's just left. AAARGH!!!

His co-worker overhears my plight and says "here take my keys and run to the nearest bike shop for a new tube." So I load my sweaty self and bike into his car, drive like a maniac to the nearest bike shop, they put in a new tube and sell me another spare for good measure. This was the sort of day I was planning for when I memorized my credit card info. (I only carry a few bucks when I ride so I wouldn't have had the dough to cover 2 tubes). I drove like a maniac back and returned the car (whew!!!) and then got back on my bike and started riding like a bat outta hell to get home (as by this point i was under a time crunch for afternoon commitments).
Moral of this story? Perhaps there are 3: first, definitely memorize a credit card # just in case (be sure to get the exp date and 3-digit code off the back too). 2nd- consider carrying 2 spare tubes. And 3rd- always have at least TWO people you can call on for a ride home, in case the first one goes MIA like my plan A did today. If I'd flatted just about anywhere besides where I did, i would have been in big trouble - thank goodness for his sweet coworker who lent me his truck!

-megan

Racing is an addiction!

2010-09-12T22:10:00.000-06:00

By: Kasey, a recovering addict

So, after the road season ended for me on Labor Day weekend with the fantastic Steamboat Springs Stage Race, I hung up my road bike.
Just to take down my mountain bike!
And do 2 races this past Saturday in Breckenridge!
What started out as a mini-vacation to the mountains turned into a 1-day, 2-race whirlwind.
I decided to sign up Friday night for the Breckenridge Fall Classic Circuit Race, which was 5 laps on a 2.2 mile course. If this had been a road race, we would have been done in under 30 minutes. As it was, I took an hour to do it, falling over in the switchbacks, and generally having a blast!
I finished 2nd in my maverick class. This was so much fun that I went straight from the finish line to the registration tent, where I proceeded to register for the time trial (hill climb) which started in 1 hour.
Lots of chamois time . . .
The hill climb was much better, because turns out I'm better at going uphill on a mountain bike than down, compared with all the pro girls who have been descending crazy trails all year. It was a 3.6 mile hill climb, took me 29 minutes, getting 2nd again.
So sad that the mountain bike season (locally) is over :(
Hmmm, most people would probably recommend cyclocross or therapy at this point!
I choose neither! But I am so happy to have made my 50 races this year!
Here's to next season!!!

Treads.com Takes Colorado BAT and BAR for 2010!!!

2010-09-08T11:24:00.000-06:00

By Kasey:

After finalizing and tabulating the results from Steamboat, the ACA has posted the Best All Around Team (BAT) and Best All Around Rider (BAR) for Colorado for 2010...

Treads.com sweeps the podium with:
BAT-Senior Women 1-2
BAT-Senior Women 4
2nd BAT-Senior Women 3

BAR-Megan Hottman, Senior Women 1-2
3rd BAR-Kasey Clark, Senior Women 1-2
3rd BAR-Holly Bell, Senior Women 4

Congrats to everyone on the team who helped us get these amazing results! Great job everyone!

Gateway Cup

2010-09-08T09:38:00.000-06:00

By TiffP:
While our teammates were duking it out in the mountains, Gwen and I headed to the Show Me state of Missouri for 4 days of crit racing.

Lafayette Square:
Day 1 was a night crit around Lafayette Square. It was smoking fast and hard to see in some places. The shadows did crazy things to the brain. I ended up 7th in a big field sprint (with Colavita's Modesta winning) and Gwen was about 20th.

Tour des Hills:
I did not like this race that much last year and so some of the hating must of transferred over to this year. Its all about the attitude! A big square with some rollers, the race would go from strung out to sitting up. Kristin Sanders from Colavita broke away and solo'ed for the win. Gwen and I both ended up about 20th. I was pretty un-psyched but definitely motivated for the next day...

Giro della Montagna:
Day 3 was a large rectangle with a hill and it was held in the Italiano neighborhood! The race was aggressive and a break with Laura VanGilder, Colavita, Vanderkitten and Team Type 1 got off the front. Argh. Gwen snagged a $100 prime--taking a page out of her husband Michael's book. On the last lap there was some serious bumping and grinding. There were words between several riders, but ultimately everyone stayed upright and I took 5th in the field spring (for 9th overall). Shontelle Gauthier from Colavita sat in the break the whole time and then won the sprint. VBF's Lauren Hall won the field sprint. Gwen finished about 20th.

Benton Park:

This was a new race for 2010. Differing somewhat from the other courses, it was a figure eight with lots of corners and challenging pavement. It was pretty windy and the smell of the Anheuser brewery was also something to contend with as we rode right by it. The course was also LONG--at about 1.6 miles. There were many attacks but ultimately it came down to a field sprint with Gwen and I finishing 10th and 11th, with Sam Schneider winning.

Along with the racing, we enjoyed spending time with our excellent hosts Jerry and Dana in the Southwest Garden neighborhood. We met a lot of really cool St. Louis-ans and definitely look forward to racing this excellent series next year!

Steamboat Finale!

2010-09-07T22:19:00.000-06:00

By Kasey:

What a fantastic race to end a fantastic season with! The Steamboat Springs Stage Race was my favorite race last year, and probably the same this year, although you always like the races where you do well!!

To add to Megan's post:
Friday's TT was abysmal for me, I finished 17th, lacking a TT bike and general motivation and will power!

Saturday's circuit race was redeeming, I got off the front with Jeannie Longo for about 5 minutes, whereupon she slowly (not so slowly) pulled away from me, in a gruelling headwind! Crazy! My 4th place finish here moved me up to 5th in GC.

Sunday's road race was WINDY, which seems to be a big weather theme around here this year ...Once again, Jeannie made a break very early in the race, and Megan, Toni Bradshaw and myself tacked on. Once again I was shelled, to find myself being picked up by the chase group of about 10 girls. We picked up Megan and had a hard time getting girls organized, making for a very long 50 mile race. I made a small attack at the top of a rise in the tailwind about 5 miles from the finish, and Megan was the ideal teammate and sat up for me and nobody closed the gap, allowing me to get 4th and put some time into my GC contenders.

Monday was the day I was looking forward to most-it's a great, safe, fast crit course. Megan and I had some pretty big goals for the day, and we pulled them all off! We both got sweet money primes, and Megan had a super strong 2nd place finish, while I popped both my lungs to outsprint Amy, for 3rd, which gave me the time bonus and moved me up to 4th GC!

My overall goals for the weekend were to finish higher than 6th GC (that's what I finished in last year), and to get on the podium one last time before the season ended, which I did, with Jeannie and Megan.

What an awesome way to end the season, and I had such fun racing with Treads all year! Congrats to all the other Treads women who braved the wind and the 4 day race!

Thank you to my team everyone who made my year such a success!

Here's some pics of the crit podium and the Treads crew:

Megan, Roberta, and I at the end of 4 tough days!

steamboat stage race - road season is over!

2010-09-07T09:52:00.000-06:00

well, the road season has officially ended for 2010. Hard to believe it! I wrapped up the season that began for me back in March and consisted of over 50 race days, this labor day weekend with a 4-day stage race in Steamboat. I had put in a pretty monster training session at the velo thursday afternoon, followed by Thurs nite velo racing, so I came into the weekend with what coach called a "fatigue handicap." Therefore I had to be very true to my real goals for attending and couldn't vary from them, as hard as it was at times.

Day 1 was the prologue TT with an uphill finish. I took 2nd to Jeannie Longo (who put 40 seconds into me in 10k!). Day 2 was a hilly circuit race with technical descent in Marabou Ranch - SAWEEET course on normally-closed roads. Longo rode away from us mid race. Towards the end we had a very small group of riders left including teammate Kasey. Toni Bradshaw of Vera Bradley attacked up the final climb but began to fade, so I countered and took 2nd and the time bonus.

Day 3 was a brutal road race. Only 50 miles with some climbs, but we started at 1pm and the wind never died down below 25mph. Early on, Jeannie, Toni and I rolled off the front. Teammate Kasey was just a few bike lengths back so I told Longo I would not pull through until she caught on. Longo proceeded to berate me for my "stupid tactics" and as I sat on her wheel, she "jake braked" meaning she locked it up hoping I'd rear end her. I swung out to her left, at which time she proceeded to push me on my back and told me to get riding. I just sat up and let her ride up with road with Toni. Life's too short to spend 50 miles with someone like her. They proceeded to put minutes into our chase group - mainly because our chase group refused to get organized and I eventually quit trying to form a paceline. With a few miles to go, Kasey rolled off the front of our group and no one chased, allowing her to make up significant time in her GC standings. I finished the stage 6th and was feeling pretty punished for having spent a good deal of time in the wind. It was a really really tough day for as short as the stage was.

Day 4, Monday, was the crit. A rectangle with slight rise through the s/f and a short popper hill on backside, with the descent into a headwind. The race was fairly active but the final 15 minutes was where the action unfolded. Kasey and I each sprinted for $50 primes -yeah! We ended with a group of 5-6 of us and on the final lap Longo attacked me and got just enough of a gap; I couldn't close it before the line. So, 2nd for me. Kasey pulled out a sweet sprint, taking the 3rd place time bonus and with that effort, moved herself up in GC from 6th to 4th overall! So we had 2/3 of the crit podium - super!
final GC: Longo, Bradshaw, Hottman:

It was a nice weekend of training in preparation for track nationals which are in 3 weeks, and it was a positive way to end the road season and my tenure with the team that I've run for the last 5 years.

Well done to all the DFT ladies that raced this weekend, including Roberta (5th-SW3) and Becky, Jennie and Shannon in the SW4 race!

A few additions....

2010-08-30T13:40:00.001-06:00

Fan Hunter Carr watches lap 1

Yes, it was strung out for most of the race....

Post- race hang time

Check out Tiff's picture in velonews!

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/08/news/samantha-schneider-wins-chris-thater-memorial_136855/attachment/thater_women-pezzulo_pounces_on_turn

Had a blast this weekend with Tiffany and her family! A big thanks to the Pezzulo family and Aunt MeMe for all her wonderful support! Also, thanks to my parents and Hunter for making the trek to Binghamton. And to Jim for the support and encouragement!

-kat

Kat and Tiff's excellent east coast adventure

2010-08-30T06:44:00.003-06:00

Posted by TiffP:

Kat and I are both originally from the right coast. I definitely consider the west home now, but I know which side my bread is buttered--or olive oil'ed as the southern Italians prefer. In a last second decision, with a huge sales pitch from me, Kat decided she would make the journey too.

This past weekend offered up 2 big races in upstate New York and Pennsylvania. Chris Thater Memorial in Binghamton was the last NRC race of the season along with being the final race for the USA Crits series. On Sunday, Altoona, PA hosted a GREAT women's criterium--with equal purses AND distances for the men and women ($11,000).

I was sitting 2nd coming into the final USA Crits race. Pre-race write up on Spokepost, Cyclingnews, and Podium Insight Taking over the lead would've required a pretty major act of god (and I'm not a religious person). Erica Allar lead me by over 100 points coming into the last race. However, third place Kasey Manderfield was definitely close behind.

The race was active from the gun with Tibco, Colavita, Vera Bradley and BMW (who had a roster of some really strong guest riders) firing off lots of attacks. The race was LONG too (over 30 miles) with a kick you in the face little climb. Eventually a break consisting of NRC leader Cath Cheatley and Tibco's Sam Schneider got clear of the field. As the laps ticked down, I focused on trying to hold position. On the last lap, things got a little jumbled on the descent into the last corner but I managed to get 11th in the field for 13th in the race. Erica finished several spots ahead solidifying her lead in the USA Crits overall and I maintained 2nd with Kasey in 3rd.

Kat rode strong but was a little gassed by the end. She put in a solid effort and was a great help to have in the field!

Race write-ups and photos in the local paper, Velonews and Podium Insight

We stayed in Binghamton on Saturday night getting up early Sunday to make the 4 hour drive to Altoona, PA. Sunday's race--held in downtown Altoona--offered up a 65k race with an $11,000 purse! I couldn't believe how hard the race was initially. It seemed like no one had fatigue from the day before or any issue with the fact that we were racing more a circuit race distance! Once again, Colavita was incredibly active. Cath Cheatley would eventually escape to lap the field solo. I made it into a group of 11 that got away from the field but didn't catch the leader. There were 2 VBF riders, 2 Colavita riders and then most of the sprinters (LVG, Erica, etc.). Colavita wasn't interested in pushing the pace as they had a rider ahead. VBF did a lot of work to make it stick with a few of the individuals taking pulls here and there. I went through all two full bottles during the 100 minute crit and was pretty parched by the end. I was 8th in my group for 9th in the race with Kat finishing 13th.

It was a fabulous weekend of racing and a really great experience. Kat and I had a blast and both enjoyed getting to see our families (my Aunt Meme was our soigneur for the weekend--and Kat's parents drove from Mass for Saturday's race!). Definitely a whirlwind of traveling--but in a good way.

Next up: Gateway Cup in St. Louis for Gwen and me!

Tiff wins Tour of Utah Park City Crit

2010-08-23T15:42:00.000-06:00

Everyone has been hearing about Tour of Utah lately. It has been an awesome race for the men. We have had a lot of fun with such a big event in our hometown. On Saturday before the men's crit, there was a women's race. While the competition and money were a far cry from the men's race, many strong local women lined up to test their mettle on the challenging "crit" course (100 ft of climbing per lap is still a crit?).

After crashing on the 1st lap, I jumped back in (thanks to Matt--teammate Kat's boyfriend--who hooked me up with a wheel in the pit). I got thrown back into the fire. When mountain biker Kelsey Bingham sprinted for a prime (which I couldn't sprint for as you can't sprint for prime after you take a free lap!), I chased back up to her and then it was just 2 of us. We worked together putting time into the exploded field behind us.

While the finish wasn't at the TOP of the hill, it was about midway up--not ideal for me. I was also dealing with some shifting funkiness, probably from the crash. I survived the last time up the climb on Kelsey's wheel and then attacked with everything I had to gain a little gap on the descent. I had enough of a gap (that was quickly closing) when I came around the last corner and managed to hold her off in the 250m uphill sprint!

It was a GREAT event--really hard course, awesome crowds and a decent purse for the women. Hopefully the women get some sort of national level counterpart to Tour of Utah next year. Even if it was just one or 2 races, there would be nothing better than to have the best men AND women in the 801 for some awesome racing!

Race # 43 & 44

2010-08-23T11:09:00.000-06:00

By: Kasey

This weekend marked my 43rd and 44th race, more races than I've ever done in my life! And boy was I feeling the drain...The oppressive heat and wind certainly didn't help my situation this weekend, where I felt "flat", as in 'no-spunk, no punch'.
Gwen and I raced at the Raisin Hope crit on Saturday, where nobody was willing to make the race fast, so we tried some moves that didn't work because everyone was glued to our wheels. Gwen ended up 2nd in the sprint, with me coming in 5th.
Then yesterday was our Primal Crit, where most of our team volunteered and raced, and where the temp crept up to over 100! Teammate Joan joined us, doing some nice work up front at the beginning-thanks Joan! Gwen and I again were closely tailed by Pro Design. Gwen scored a great prize prime, and I decided to try something different and take a solo flyer at half a lap to go, and I almost had it, but got caught and swallowed up right at the finish line, getting 5th, again. At least Gwen was able to get 3rd, so we had someone on the podium each day!
Looking forward to a restful weekend of mountain biking this coming weekend, and then the Steamboat Stage Race over Labor Day, which is always fun!

Gwen on the podium at Raisin Hope!

Teamwork to the Max!

2010-08-15T18:50:00.001-06:00

By Kasey:
What makes bike racing so much fun is the team aspect, I've learned! This past weekend's races were all about teamwork, and it was a blast!

Saturday we had the BRC crit, where Megan and I relentlessly launched attack after attack, wearing down the field. Megan got in a 3-woman-breakaway and won, while Joan and I sat in, taking 4th and 5th in the field sprint! Great job everyone!

Today saw us down at the Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs. It was the State RR Championships, and even though we tried very very hard, we were unable to secure the win. We did 6 laps on a hilly, windy course, with a downhill, headwind sprint finish. Megan got off the front after lap 4 with 2 other women, while Joan and I sat in the chase group. As our chase group came to the climb, I was feeling good and could see Megan's break-away group up the road. I decided to do something that I've never done before, and put myself completely on the line to bridge up! I broke away clean, and after some serious pushing through the red-line, I caught them! And I didn't bring anyone with me, success!

So that should have meant that, with 2 of us, we could have won. . .Megan was a wonderful teammate and offered to let me try to take the win, which I was so flattered by. Unfortunately, when I went to sprint, I didn't have quite enough, and Teri Clouse came by me right at the end, taking the championship with her. Dang dang dang! I guess that solo bridging effort took more out of me than I thought!
Even though I didn't pull through with the win for the team, it felt so good to have been given the chance!
And it was very satisfying to have had my newly attempted bridging effort pay off!
Every one of our CAT 1-2-3 women finished, which is more than a lot of people can say about today!
Next time I'll be ready!! . . .

Results from the Road Race:
1-2's
Megan: 2nd
Kasey: 3rd
Joan: 8th
Jill: 16th
3's
Susan: 8th
4's-Congrats girls on going 2-3!
Heather: 2nd
Holly: 3rd

8/11 Witches Cup

2010-08-14T16:54:00.001-06:00

The Witches Cup in Salem, MA is one of my favorite races. The course runs along the town common, is pancake flat and fast, has a great crowd and community support. Love it.

I flew into VT on Tuesday night (we are celebrating Matt's grandma's 90th birthday) and decided that while we were waiting for other family members to arrive, we might sneak down to MA with our friends for a little bike racing. Matt and I left for Jackson, NH to meet up with Debony and Bruce, and then we made our way to Salem.

The race was a blast, quite a number of primes, and some aggressive racing. I decided to go for one of the 100+ dollar primes and test out my legs. Mary Zider smoked us...I wasn't even close to winning it. However, I did take note of all the mistakes I made going into that sprint and prepared for the finish. Nicole Freedman & Anna Milkowski were aggressive trying to set up their teammate Amy McGuire for the finish. My former teammate, Danielle Ruane (a total stud on the bike) shut that down and stayed on the front into the last lap to help out Debony. The pace started to slow up a little bit heading into the stretch before the last corner, so I went for it into the last corner so I could pick the fastest line. Luckily, it worked out well and I won. I have to admit...I was pretty psyched. I've come close in the past, but have never won.

The finish

http://www.salemnews.com/sports/x208444220/Anthony-bests-Johnson-rest-of-field-for-redemption-at-Witches-Cup

The podium

W/ Speedy Cannondale

Having fun with Bruce & Debony (Danielle-photographer extraordinaire)

Thanks for reading!
-Kat Carr

8/8/10 Bannock Crit

2010-08-14T16:02:00.000-06:00

Hello all- Treads.com/DFT had a strong showing at the Bannock Crit in Denver last weekend. All 8 of our teammates did a great job- Gwen especially for her work in the break!
Results:
Kat Carr 3rd
Kasey Clark 5th
Gwen Inglis 9th
Joan Orgeldinger 14th
Sandra Hyra 15th
Roberta Smith 16th
Susan Adamkovics 24th

Presbyterian Hospital Invitational

2010-08-11T23:06:00.004-06:00

Posted by TiffP:
This past weekend I headed to Charlotte, NC for USA Crits #4, the Presbyterian Hospital Invitational. 1 is the loneliest number--and that's all there was representing Treads.com/DFT at this excellent race.

I arrive Friday evening in some SWELTERING heat. Made my way to the hotel courtesy of the Sprinter bus, some sweet public transit that went straight from the airport dropping me off pretty close to the hotel. With all the schlepping, I arrived at the hotel about 5 water lbs lighter, and assembled my bike. Once the bici was put together, I headed into the urban metropolis that is downtown Charlotte. There were tons of cool restaurants and bars. Definitely a happening place on a Friday night! I absorbed some urban-ness and then headed back for some sleep.

I woke up Saturday and went for a little spin. Charlotte was pretty easy to negotiate en bici and I found myself outside the city pretty quick on some nice roads. I headed back to the hotel for some chill time.

As race time drew near, I hopped on the bike and started pedalling on the course. It was a super cool 8-corner course with 2 long straightaways. As I rode around, I ignored the #2 lead pencil feelings in the legs. You know its never a good sign when you go to shift in the little ring and you are--unfortunately--already there--on a totally flat crit course.
Well I've felt like pooh at the start of races and then been able to turn it around before so I tried to go with that, telling myself "it'll turn around once you start racing." But there was no turning to be had. The race was fast with lots of attacks from Tibco and Vera Bradley. Colavita had 8 people--to keep things in check for their sprinter Theresa Cliff-Ryan (who ended up winning). Downtown Charlotte definitely represented with some awesome crowd action too which was really great.

Welcome to the pain cave
photo from Cyclingnews

The race was fast (or it felt fast) and I was solidly in the hurt locker the whole time. As the laps ticked down, I tried to rally myself into position for the final sprint but I was just cooked and limped in at the back of the bunch sprint in 28th place. Despite the less than stellar performance, I am still sitting in 2nd in the USA Crits overall series behind Erica Allar. I managed to enjoy some eats and drinks with fellow Utahrd Nicky Wangsgaard while getting in a little hang time with Carrie Cash and Alison Powers before turning in for the evening...

Thanks for reading--and look for the outcome of the last race of the USA Crits series...Its in 2 weeks in my home hood of upstate NY!

Victory at Salida!

2010-08-02T18:50:00.001-06:00

By Kasey:

Yesterday's Salida Road Race was a great self-esteem booster, after my sub-par performance at Cascade!
I won the women's 1-2-3 road race, earning myself enough points to upgrade to a CAT 1, within the ACA!

Unfortunately, teammate Gwen was stung by a bee in her lip on the ride over to the start, and had a nasty allergic reaction, making her unable to compete in the race. But Treads.com did well at the Omnium as well, with Gwen winning Saturday's crit!

It was so much fun to be back home, racing with my teammates and all the supportive local women. Salida was a good course for me, and our breakaway group of 4 worked well the entire time!

Kasey's Cascade Culmination

2010-07-29T21:24:00.000-06:00

After driving 25 hours through the night to get home to a wounded husband, I now have had time to reflect on my experience at my first ever Cascade Cycling Classic. . .
While my results were not stellar, and a bit disappointing, I learned much more about racing and being part of a team.
I finally learned what it means to 'go to the front'. If you're just going to finish as pack-fill (ie, in the middle of the bunch), you might as well work hard in the front to help a teammate and get noticed. Having gone to the front and worked a paceline with Megan on the Cascade Lakes Road Race was a fantastic experience. It was probably one of my most fun days of the whole race!
And I discovered that while you're there to race your bike, there's so much more that goes on . . .My best experience was getting to drive across the country and race with my wonderful teammates, to feel at home with the world's best hosts (Nils and Karen), and to see a new location (Bend, OR).

Below are some shots of us on and off the bike!

Marisa and I in front of our crazy black SUV rental car!

Celebratory hug for Megan's top 10 finish!

Working hard not to get dropped in the crit!

Wonderful team dinner at Ellen's house!

Heading out for the all-nighter drive home!

Husband Hal is Okay!

2010-07-27T21:32:00.000-06:00

By Kasey:

To all those who read Megan's kind and supportive blog and facebook post about my husband, fear not, he is home and being taken care of! Hal crashed in his Men's 3 criterium race on Sunday, while I was in Oregon competing at Cascade. We drove through the night to get me home asap, where I found a mummy for a husband! He had a clear CT scan, so that's the most important. The severe road rash will just take some time to heal over.

Many thanks to Marisa, for being there for me when my stomach dropped out from underneath me, and to Tiffany and Kat for pulling the all-nighter drive to get me home! And to Jill, and all our friends here in Louisville, who stepped up and took care of Hal when I couldn't get there! Thanks Megan for posting the news, while I was too busy fretting!

All the positive thoughts and support are/were greatly appreciated!

How a severe crash puts racing and petty results in perspective, like Megan said!

Cascade's final stage

2010-07-27T10:38:00.000-06:00

As Sydney's recent post stated, I DNF-ed on the final stage at Cascade. DNFs aren't something I'm ever proud of, and certainly not as the conclusion to my personally-most successful NRC race ever. Just days before I had posted my best NRC result in 7 years, the 7th place finish atop Mt Bachelor. Sunday afternoon, I found myself in front of the official stand, with an official unpinning my race number as I hung my head and cried.

Rewind to the beginning of Sunday's race -it was evident the peleton was tired -a silly crash on one of the climbs really opened my eyes to just how deep the level of fatigue was among the racers. I continued to try and position near the front to be safe. As I looked around and saw my 4 teammates, I knew that our legs were faring much better than others' legs, and I could see the spark of hope in my team's eyes. We made it up the climb to the feed zone and then we had the final steep climb to the top of the loop, just near the end of the first (of 3) laps, each 17 miles. We had crested the top and I found myself in the front selection. We began the descent back to the start of the lap and as I descended among the group of leaders we rolled over a small chuck hole -it wasn't a gaping hole just more of a divot in the concrete. Though riders in front of me had just rolled over it -no one pointed it out. I rolled over it and for whatever reason, my rear wheel hit it just right (my brand new used 3-days tubular being on that wheel) and the wheel just BLEW out. Not pretty when you're hauling down hill. As riders screamed by me, I made my way to the side of the road and calmly shifted and got the wheel off the bike. I stood there on the side of the road as the rest of the riders, and then the entire caravan went by. After all of that traffic, a neutral car finally stopped and swapped out my wheel.

Immediately I knew it wasn't going to go well for me, as the wheel he gave me was so far out of line of my ksyrium that I couldn't find any gears that worked. I didn't want to stop again as I really believed I could still catch back on. So just kept riding and there was teammate Tiff who'd dropped back for me. She heard my gears and offered her bike to me - such a sweetheart -but her bike's too big for me and we ride different pedals. So I just kept on solo thinking "gotta catch back on, race isn't over, don't give up." A short while later I see another teammate -Kasey- has dropped out of her group and is waiting for me. BLESSED TEAMMATES. She begins to pace me and we take turns taking pulls - a 2-woman TT isn't what you want to be doing on day 6 and we were both pretty cooked. We began to pick up riders that had been shelled OTB and soon had a group of 7 or 8. But no one was in any hurry to work and Kasey and I were toast. As we made our way through the 2nd lap, the realization that my race was over, my GC standings were over and that all of the bad luck i'd endured for the previous 10 days had resulted in this moment -well the devastation just overwhelmed me. And then the muscle cramps started. In my haste to catch back on, I hadn't been drinking or eating and I began to pay the price. As we neared the start to begin lap 3 I made the decision to pull out of the race.

And so -I stood there, defeated, deflated, and depressed as the official took my race number.

I watched as the race ended and my teammates finished - all 4 survived the day and all 5 of us had survived the week without crashing. Marisa ended up our top placed rider in 17th which was a great result. I immediately got into my car and started driving towards home. Hoping to drive away from all of the bad luck i'd suffered, away from the pain of DNF-ing at a race where i'd come to do my best.

As I drove home, all of the negatives began to fade away and the positives began to surface. Our girls stayed safe all week. We had some laughs. I got my best NRC result. We raced our bikes hard and contributed to the races, rather than just sitting in and surviving. We had amazing host families. We learned lessons. We got good training. The weather was awesome. Bend was awesome.

After the race it was learned that Kasey's husband had crashed in a bike race back in Colorado and was hospitalized. the reality of this completely overcame any thoughts about bike racing disappointments and I began to pray for his recovery and to send Kasey well wishes as she drove through the night to get home to him. As it turns out -there are FAR more important things in life than how one fares in a bike race and this was just another reminder of how truly small and insignificant bike race outcomes can be in the scheme of life.

And so on balance - now that I am safely home and can honestly say I survived my 12 days of hellish bad luck - it was a good experience. Many thanks to the team, our director Tom Jow and assistant Julian, our hosts, Ellen, Nils and Karen, and everyone that cheered, gave us a boost, sent a nice or reassuring email.

Cascade 2010 standings

2010-07-27T07:00:00.000-06:00

Stage races are harsh. Our highest placed GC rider, Hottman, suffered a tire failure on Stage 5. When neutral support's wheel failed to shift properly, she was out of the race and a DNF means your out of the running for the overall.

	Megan Hottman	Marisa Asplund	Tiffany Pezzulo	Angela McClure*	Kasey Clark	Team Standing	Best Young Rider(McClure)
Prologue	36	51	46	84	87
Stage 1	22	19	88	46	69
GC	22	19	88	50	70	7	6
Stage 2	22	36	50	92	80
GC	21	18	87	54	71	8	8
Stage 3	7	31	83	55	58
GC	16	18	84	52	65	8	8
Stage 4	27	44	11	72	59
GC	16	18	82	55	64	7	8
Stage 5	DNF	42	78	41	62		7
Final GC	X	17	78	46	63	8

Different Shoes, Different Lessons

2010-07-25T09:39:00.001-06:00

By Marisa

As usual, the morning of the final stage of the “Classic” brings up many emotions and thoughts as I start to pack up my things and prepare for the trip home. Being gone now a week I am a touch homesick…just don’t have the stamina like I used to have being away. On the polar opposite side, I am sad to leave Bend. We spend so many days here and still yet, having raced the classic four times, am hungry to really dig into the town, it’s social climate, and the geography. My amazing hosts (whom I know refer to as Aunt and Uncle) make this race such a positive and unique place. Not just another bike race, so to speak.

I have found myself wearing some very different shoes this go around, and really it has just all come together this morning as I sip my java and try to put some since to thoughts-more caffeine, please.

On the most obvious and personal level and a position that I must state too often and need to keep a little more quite-are my own plans for the future. I have spent this year transitioning from a cyclist to a triathlete so I’ve been forced to swallow my own pride and accept that the punch in the legs that only bike racing delivers is gone. Trading in those bike accelerations for mile repeats. I’ve been told that by others, my coach, myself-but now I understand. Having the very typical “roadie-perfectionist” attitude this is a hard pill to swallow.

MORE, importantly than that though-it is now time for me to celebrate and take happiness in my teammates successes, that is my most important lesson and pair of shoes to wear. Our little team has been hugely successful at this race, going up against the largest field the Classic has hosted. Two of our gals dug deep and pulled out two top-ten stage finishes! Quite impressive. Going into today’s stage, assuming all goes well, we will also secure two top twenty GC slots, and perhaps even more…. Results aside, our team has had a strong presence that has been noticed and even complimented on by other riders. To me, this is the most exciting-earning the respect and positioning of other strong riders-representing ourselves with strength and integrity.
Continuing to trade the fast twitch, for the slow twitch-I find myself also wearing a pair of mentoring shoes. It must be my mothering nature-I am a Cancer after all. We have two blossoming riders here that are young and incredibly strong and are on the brink of launching a successful career. I give perspective, feedback, and share stories. Some well stated, others perhaps a bit harsh-but than again, that is bike racing. Brutal, Joyous, Harsh, Elated, all wrapped into one sport. The emotions of the sport are exhausting in and of themselves.

So, having said all of that-I greet this last stage of the classic with excitement-still wearing my roadie shoes. Good luck gals, and nice job!

Cascade Stage 4 Downtown Crit: ‘what’s the number for 911?...’

2010-07-24T21:26:00.002-06:00

Tonight was the second last stage of the Cascade Classic in Bend , OR, a four corner fast Crit with two long straights. The team sprint sensation Tiffany Pezzulo was on form tonight...if you brought tickets to the gun show it was money well spent! Megan chased down some early attacks, while the rest of the team Marisa, Kasey and myself where sending out good fast vibes from the pack...! Tiff pulled off an unofficial yet to be confirmed 7^th,8^th, 9^th, Megan 20^th and the rest of the awesome team finished the race hanging off the back of the main field!

‘911’ was going through my mind the whole race. With great support from Tom, Julian, Little Bit aka Ellen our host house and some home support from coach Dan I made it through a very painful Crit, my end of season is one race away, and my job on the team till I cross the finish line tomorrow will be to help Megan on GC and be the team enthusiast over the 51mile hilly slog fest that will commence tomorrow at 1pm!

Till next time when treads.com/DFT rock this party,

Train hard, and live even harder

Ange McClure (Guest Rider and proud of it!)

Stage 3: trying times at the time trial

2010-07-24T15:00:00.001-06:00

Posted by Tiff:
On Thursday we raced a 15 mile time trial. After just squeaking in to make the time cut, I was early on iin the line up. I was pretty wrecked from the previous day's race but still psyched to go out and give it ny best!

The course rolls gently up then turns around for fast times on the way back. I was spun out in the 53x12 but still managed to pass some people. I ended up doing a 40:43 for 50th place with Erinne Willock posting a smoking fast time just under 36 minutes!

After Megan arrived at the tt course, she realized she had forgotten her front race wheel. She burned rubber back to Ellens to grab her wheel only to discover her disc had a flat!

Fortunately, awesome Julian came through to loan him her disc and MH was able to rise above the stress and the fray and post the fastest time for our team in 39:10. She and Marisa both finished in the top 25. I was 50th and Kasey and Ange finished a little after me.

We finished off the stage with an "ice bath" in the deschutes river.

Stage 3 Update at Cascade

2010-07-24T14:56:00.001-06:00

By Kasey Clark:

Yesterday's Cascade Lakes Road Race was a testament to the fact that anything can happen in a race.
After getting popped off the main group in the first 5km, I was working hard in a chase group to catch back on to the main field when I had my first real 'mechanical'. As I went to shift into my big ring, my chain caught and wouldn't pedal forward. I tried to finesse it into any gear, but realized that I needed to get off the bike and get it fixed.
So I resigned myself to putting my hand up, dropping back on the descent, and waiting for the team car to come by. Tom Jow, our director, did a fantastic job keeping me calm and pulling my chain free of where it had gotten caught between my cassette and my frame. I asked him what I could do to catch back on and he said, "Pedal like hell."
With that, I climbed back on the bike, put my head down and hoped for the best. I got joined by Tiffany's group, and we were able to all work together to get back to the main field.
A crash happened in the peloton that caused them to slow up and wait, and so Tiffany lead us through the team cars, ducking and dodging, until we caught up with the pack. Amazing!
Then I rested up, and joined Megan on the front in the pace line. We stayed up there for a good half hour, taking turns with Peanut Butter and Webcor to try and bring down the time on the attack group.

Today was the first day, for me, that truly felt like professional women's racing. Being able to be a contributor up front in the pace line was a great feeling, and even though I was a bit toasted by the time we got to the final climb, I was so happy with my performance, and happy that my race didn't end back with my mechanical!
Megan had a great finish, 7th!! And here's how the rest of the team played out:

Tiffany and I, trying to chase back on!

Marisa: 31st
Angela: 55th
Kasey: 58th
Tiffany: 83rd

We have some down time right now, before our crit tonight, at 5:45pm. Then just 1 more circuit race tomorrow and we're home free!

Cascade: Stage 2 (TT)

2010-07-23T10:53:00.000-06:00

Stage 2 Results: Hottman (22nd); Asplund (36th); Pezzulo (50th); Clark (80th); Mcclure (92nd)

GC: Hottman (21st); Asplund (18th); Mcclure (54th); Clark (71st); Pezzulo (87th)

Team: 8th of 14 represented.

Young Rider: Mcclure (8th)

Cascade update after days 1 and 2

2010-07-22T11:11:00.001-06:00

Checking in with 2 stages down and 4 to go . . .
Tiffany, Marisa, Kasey, guest rider Ange and I are out here in Bend duking it out against a huge women's field. The prologue was Tuesday night -a 2 mile course with several turns and a tight turnaround made for a technical, high speed sprint. We all rode hard and finished - it really wasn't about times as mere seconds separated the places and over the course of the week, minutes and minutes will be gained and lost. So the prologue served as a good opener for the legs and that was about it.

Except: the prologue revealed a serious problem with Ange's steer tube. it was CRACKED and so as she'd ride, the stem and bars would move. This meant we had to round up a loaner bike for her to use for the week (MANY thanks to colavita for loaning Ange a bike) however it also meant that our team director for the week -Tom Jow -was up very late Tuesday night disassembling Ange's bike and rebuilding the colavita bike for her to use. However none of us were complaining because Wednesday's stage and specifically the descent -would have been HORRIFIC places to learn of her bike malfunction. So -crisis averted on that deal.

Wednesday's stage in my opinion was one of the hardest road stages on the NRC calendar -harder than the gila stages, in that it boasted a long 14 mile climb in the middle of the stage (category 1) and then a final 9-mile climb to the finish (category 2). the scenery along the way was absolutely gorgeous -just amazing to take in. I made the break away (read more about the break's members here: http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/cascade-cycling-classic-ne-1/stage-1/results) and then as the article describes, when the super climbers came through our group, half of our break went with them and the rest of us were caught by the "field" which consisted of about 20 riders that had climbed well.

We all descended together and things were going great until that final 9-mile climb - the group surged and I couldn't follow. I drifted off the back and ended up finishing a few minutes off the pace of the group - BUMMER - after the first 65 miles had gone so well. I am in uncharted territory this week coming off 3 days of track racing and having worked in the break, i apparently had pushed my legs to their limits. I was cramping so badly up that final climb -even in my forearms! Marisa was able to stay with the group and finished just ahead of me. After me finished Ange, Kasey and Tiffany. Everyone was pretty fried afterwards but we were all in one piece- no mechanicals -no crashes for us -and we move into today's time trial in good spirits.

Cascade: Stage 1

2010-07-22T09:25:00.000-06:00

Stage 1: Marisa Asplund (19th), Megan Hottman (22nd), Angela McClure (46th), Kasey Clark (69th), Tiffany Pezzulo (88th)

General Classification: Marisa Asplund (19th), Megan Hottman (22nd), Angela McClure (50th), Kasey Clark (70th), Tiffany Pezzulo (88th)

Best young rider: Angela McClure (6th)

Team standings: Treads.com/DFT (7th)

2010 Cascade Cycling Classic

2010-07-21T13:16:00.002-06:00

ROSTER

TREADS.COM/DFT headed to Oregon for the Cascade Cycling Classic.

Pezzulo giving the prologue her all.

Standings after last night's prologue: Hottman (36th); Pezzulo (46th); Asplund (51st); Angela McClure (84th, guest rider); Clark (87th).

Alpenrose Challenge

2010-07-18T21:46:00.004-06:00

I sort of knew - er, expected -that after 5 successful weekends of racing in a row, the bottom was bound to drop out. I saw the bad luck coming I just didn't know how it would unfold. I'm not a pessimist I just know that I tend not to have good luck bike racing and so for 5 positive, episode-free weekends of wins and good racing, I would pay the price. And I have. They say bad things happen in 3s. I'm actually getting a bit nervous now that I've hit 4 and things don't show signs of improving.

So -left Denver last Wed to make the long drive to Portland for this 3-day track event at the Alpenrose velo. Drove west on I-80 and 5 hrs out of Denver passing through Wyoming in a construction zone something hits my driver side window and instantly causes the window to split into a million tiny fragments. (luckily i believe in illegally-dark tinted windows so the tint held the glass in place). Needless to say when it happened, it scared the CRAP out of me.

I pulled over and attempted to call husband to figure out if it was safe to drive like that to next town. No reception -cell in SOS mode. Only option was to call 911. Cop comes, inspects window tells me it's fine to drove 40 miles to next town but because of the insane wind up there the thing feels like it's about to split any moment and blow glass on my lap. stop in small town, glass place charges me $20 to plastic wrap it so i can keep driving. make it to boise. don't sleep a wink because i'm convinced my car will be broken into looking all ghetto and my bikes and every wheel i own will be stolen.

drive from boise to portland on thursday -immediately go to glass place to get new window. $200. then to tint shop to get retinted since i'm traveling w/all my bikes and don't want them stolen. $35. nothing like running errands in portland after driving 17 hours. Blessing of the day was arriving at WONDERFUL host housing -"Hoeferland" - they are fantastic!!! Shown here holding their sweet little baby girl who was completely precious and so much fun:

Friday - to velo. Race pursuit. time holds until last racers go and time is beaten by 4 seconds. pursuit has historically been my event but not this day. 2nd. doh!

afternoon session - 500m. first attempt -wheel pulls in start, have to pull off track. guys attempt to help me get wheel squared away except they have chain too loose but tell me "no it's fine." second 500m attempt and sure enough, 1/2 way through as i'm FLYING, chain falls off. megan careening around velo in front of everyone with no chain, looking like an idiot. sweet. not allowed to try a 3rd time -big fat DNF for 500m in omnium.
Saturday - scratch race. race doesn't go well. 9th. it's like i brought my checkers to a chess fight. however sitting at the front was profitable as the leader of each lap made $3. shown here on the front:

Sunday - missnout in am. race doesn't go very well though i raced it tactically as i wanted to, the legs weren't cooperating with me. of field of 20+ women, I was 12th to get pulled (so 8th place). walk to infield to grab my jacket and take out my blackberry -sweet. someone has stepped on the screen so it doesn't work-the phone is only good for making calls. no texts, no emails. fast and furious loading of bikes and hauling ass to the mall where i stand at insano verizon kiosk and learn that my international version blackberry retails for $509. uh no. so for now-i have a phone that i can only make/receive calls on (and unluckily for me i don't have anyone's numbers memorized).

back to velo for afternoon session having lost interest in racing at this point. Line up for points race and actually have a decent race, taking points in first and 2nd point sprints, and then bridging up to the break for final portion of the race, 2 laps to go made tactical error, we were lapping the main field and things got tricky. blew it on the final sprint for points, just missing the podium taking 4th. shown here with my shadows from pb2012 on my wheel:

since the 500m didn't go well i decided to give it my best shot at the flying one lap effort. haha yeah right. the true sprinters SCHOOLED me. My time was 18 seconds and change -they were in the 16-17 second range. doesn't sound like much but that's eons of time. silly megan, sprints are for sprinters.

so - after all of this, i'm ready to head to bend tomorrow for cascade, a 6-day stage race that starts on tuesday. i am REALLY hoping and praying for a change in luck -i can't afford to keep replacing things like windows and phones. am in good spirits, feeling blessed for the time i've spent with this particular host family -i've found them particularly inspirational and enjoyable and have become fast friends in a short time. ahhh bike racing ;)

megan

Iron Hill Twilight Crit

2010-07-11T20:48:00.001-06:00

Kat and I headed to West Chester, PA for race #3 of the USA Crits series. I wore the leaders jersey in the race and I had some SWEET booties to match from Kat (the matching wasn't intentional--the orange booties were the only ones that would fit my big feet). It poured rain all day on Saturday. It was beginning to feel like it might turn into an Athens Twilight deluge race. However, we lucked out and the sun came out late afternoon and the streets pretty much dried out.

The race was held in uber trendy cute downtown West Chester. On a course lined with restaurants and bars--the crowds were totally excellent. These are the best races IMHO.

The race started out fairly active. Bike NZ had several girls that kept the pressure on. Eventually Lauren Ellis would breakaway and hold it for the win. Kat was aggressive early in the race which she unfortunately paid for later on in the race (on the heels of coast to coast travel and racing a VERY hot and VERY hard Fitchburg!)

Erica Allar won the field sprint with Sarah Caravella rounding out the podium. I finished 7th overall which puts me in 2nd in the overall behind Erica.

Photo Credit: Todd Leister/leister.smugmug.com

http://www.cyclingnews.com/

Photo Credit: Todd Leister/leister.smugmug.com

http://www.cyclingnews.com/

Home Sweet Home: Fitchburg Longsjo Classic

2010-07-06T18:52:00.000-06:00

After leaving my new friends Teri & Kayla in Bend, OR, I returned home to the east coast for some time with family, friends, and a little racing action. Stage order changed from past years and we started with the circuit race on Friday. This is one of my favorite races and I had a blast despite off-roading it to avoid hitting the pavement and finishing off the back of the main group. Colavita dominated the circuit race and did the same on Saturday. The road race was tough as always and as always I was glad to finish. Sunday was an exciting day, lots of hanging out with my Sunapee Team friends, thanks to Bruce, Matt, Coach Steve and Harrison for their help with the bike and loaning me some speed gear!! Also to Jono for some awesome tt advice. My main strategy: DON'T GO HARD! That's right. This worked out just fine for me as this is the first time trial I've done and not lost 4 plus minutes. Post race, Matt and I had a great time in Holden with Debony and Bruce's fam. Amazing food and the best company. Plus fireworks our entire way home on the MA Pike! Race finished on Monday with the crit. Have I mentioned the temps? 100's. And a humid one at that. My bottles were too hot to drink within 10 minutes of the start. Thought I might be able to have a good finish, but didn't do a great job of holding my position going into thr last lap, and was too far back exiting the last corner. A tough race for me this year, but had a blast seeing my friends, racing with Debony & Danielle again, and having my mom, dad, bro and cousin at the race cheering. Good times!

Results 69th, 57th, 44th, and 35th. 60th GC

thanks for reading,
kat carr

Tour of Lawrence

2010-07-06T08:34:00.000-06:00

Well the 5 of us from DFT have returned from the rainy Lawrence, Kansas and I've got great news to report!!! Our only cat 3 that went, Roberta, won on Saturday and just missed the win on Sunday in the crit - she totally rocked the women's 3/4 events!!!
In the women's p/1/2 races, we also did quite well. Friday nite street sprints, Megan came out 2nd and Gwen and Sandy finished in the top 10.

Saturday and Sunday's races the skies opened up LITERALLY right before the women's races and we raced both days in the pouring rain! Shown here talking pre-race strategy during the rain delay:

We were joined Sat and Sun by teammate Sydney Brown from Nebraska so we had 4 women representing Treads.com/DFT. Saturday was a circuit race on the KU campus, we were slated to do 5 laps and each featured a nice little climb. I had not thought to bring spare wheels and was racing super slick tubulars (whoops) so literally first lap, first corner, 2 girls went down in front of me and I couldn't get around and crashed on my right side. Back on the bike I chased back into the race hammering down a descent and when it came time to turn left, the wet road took my bike out from under me and I crashed again -this time quite hard on my left side. I hopped on and chased onto the pack and at that point, was full of anger at the conditions and so next time up the climb, I raised the pace and at the top looked back and saw I was clear of everyone - and away I went. My teammate Gwen bridged up to me and we stayed away the rest of the race, taking 1st and 2nd. (This was my first-ever podium where podium boys delivered podium kisses!!!)

Going into the weekend my coach had said 20 hours of driving wasn't worth it for just 3 short races, so he'd given me orders to race with the p/1/2 men both sat and sun. the race director then ok'd this and he shared this tidbit with a local reporter and it grew into "big news." I woke sunday morning to find I was on the FRONT PAGE of the lawrence paper. WOW!

Sunday was bone dry until it was time for our race and then the rain began again. I used different tires/wheels and had no problem keeping the bike upright. The race came down to me being off the front with competitor Carrie Cash, who refused to pull through or work for the final 5 laps. I jumped her hard for the final sprint and it literally came down to a photo finish -she got me by a tire. AARGH!

So - I took 2nd and then looked back to see teammate Gwen beat her group for 3rd. Once again there were 2 of us on the podium! Sandy and Sydney also finished well and everyone kept their bikes upright!

(shown here next to Primal's Drew Christopher at the start line).

Although it was still wet and rainy I decided to get in with the men and had a blast - I worked to stay top 30ish as the back of the pack was getting shelled and stuck in for over 45 of the 75 minutes. As the speed increased and we began to take the turns wider and wider, I knew the slick road would cause problems -and it did. I heard a big crash go down behind me in a turn and I said to myself "Megan you've escaped crash-free so far today, how far do you want to test your luck?" So I pulled a couple laps later. I was glad I did -towards the end of their race it turned into an absolute downpour.

All in all a great weekend and a fun event -though we could have done without the rain!! Many thanks to Eric Struckhoff for directing a fantastic event, and to my teammates for making the journey. But special thanks to my mom and dad for cheering and supporting me all weekend and driving me back and forth to Lawrence!!

Speed in the Spud State- 4th of July Hailey Crit

2010-07-06T00:30:00.002-06:00

This past weekend was meant to be a mellow chill-out camp and ride mountain bikes weekend in Sun Valley, Idaho. However, my coach mentioned an awesome 4th of July crit in nearby Hailey that sounded like it might be fun... especially if I opted to ride the 30k from camp to Hailey including a 5k dirt road descent out of our campsite..who WOULDN'T be sold?

It was definitely a clashing of the worlds...to go from dirtbag camping to roadie world. Luckily, I was in a super fun town with awesome people, to help ease the transition. The race was a 4 corner rectangle in downtown Hailey, following their 4th of July parade. It was a total party with live music, live bbq and live beer. Add to that some sweet crit racing and what more could you want?

They raced the women with the master's and cat 3 men which was great. Only a few women showed up so it was great to still have a hard, fast race with a bigger field.

With the previous day's long mountain bike ride and the previous night's sleep in the back of our van--I wasn't sure how I'd be feeling...but I felt great. I was super energized by the coolness of the town and the awesomeness of the crowd. My coach and some other friends were also in attendance which was so great.

2 guys rolled off the front on the first lap. They were dangling not too far in front of the pack. I snagged a prime and realized I had a gap on the field and just put my head down and tried to catch the break. The announcer and what seemed like the whole town was going nuts supporting the chick-bridge attempt up to the dude break...It was not to be. I won another prime later in the race and then settled in for the field sprint. On the last lap I jumped on a group of 4 guys that accelerated hard on the back stretch. I came around 2 of them to take 2nd in the field sprint and 4th in the overall (and 1st in the women's race).

I rode back to Sun Valley and met up with my husband, Steve and our friends (playing some post ride cribbage and enjoying some post ride beers at the Cellar). After swapping recounts of our various adventures and grabbing some dinner in town, we headed back to camp where I slid back into camping/vacation mode. What seemed like it might be a clashing of the worlds ended up being a trifecta of awesomeness: camping, cool crit, crazy awesome people. It just doesn't get much better than that.
Posted by TiffP

Mike Horgan Hill Climb Hardships

2010-07-04T20:03:00.001-06:00

By Kasey:

So I think this past weekend I learned the key to success in cycling:
"Don't tie your emotions to your results"

Now, my 4th place finish at the hill climb was none too shabby, especially since I was feeling tired and spent, but the fact that I told myself I'd be on the podium was the kicker.
It's good to go to every race and demand the best of yourself, but your best should be just that-your hardest effort, not how well you placed.
I gave the race my all, and watched as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place slowly climbed away from me. I was able to stick with 2 other women, and outsprint them at the finish for 4th, which was somewhat redeeming for me.

It was great to have so many of our Treads.com jerseys out there! Here's a listing of results for everyone, courtesy of Joan:
SW1-2
Kasey was 4th, Joan was 8th
SW3
Susan was 9th
SW4
Jennie was 6th, Holly was 9th - with a flat tire for the last 3 miles!! Joy was 15th, Shannon was 16th

So, it was a good weekend for training, and an even better weekend for mental fortitude.

Susan, me, and Joan, before the pain began!

Shopping in Lawrence

2010-07-04T10:33:00.001-06:00

Roberta tries to find the right shoes

Megan in Lawrence

2010-07-04T10:22:00.001-06:00

Our superstar!

Nationals Road Race 2010

2010-06-29T16:28:00.000-06:00

The day began EARLY. I dont think Kat nor I are used to 8am starts, this meant eating my pre-race pasta at 6:15am, fortunately it was al-dente and perfect food for fuel. We were fortunate enough to have Mr. Jono Coulter using his vacation time from full-time soeigner at FLY VAustralia to be our soeigner for the weekend, what a trooper! We were both motivated for an active race, unfortunately I had forgotten just how tough this course could be. There were occasional breaks up the road but with no threatening riders and after the second lap when Peanut Butter 2012 decided to turn on the engines. I knew the 2' gap would come down in no time- my only question is WHY did they have to do it in the painful-steeper sections. But the win was deserved and worked hard for by Peanut Butter, this was a fantastic display of team effort and strength when it counted.
At two laps to go Kat was in a solid group of riders, but unfortunately they realized their day was over and they did not catch back on to the main field. I was even more disappointed about getting dropped from the front of the field at 6km to go...so close to the end....but I didnt have that last kick to get me over some of the steeper sections. I felt great this year and its always challenging to look back with coulda, woulda, shoulda, but we learn each year from our race experiences. Kat and I enjoyed the weekend, both learned from Nationals and look forward to upcoming races!

Buffalo Springs tri = Kona bound!

2010-06-29T08:42:00.002-06:00

From Tricia:
I seem to remember that I swore I would never be back. The Buffalo has beat me up twice before and you’d think I’d learn. Or maybe just decide that enough was enough. Hang it up. But you’re familiar with Michael Jordan, Brett Favre, Lance Armstrong, right? An athlete is an athlete is an athlete. It’s hard to say when it’s really the end, because there’s always the desire to push yourself that ONE MORE TIME. Whenever I think of giving up, I think of the great philosopher Rocky Balboa who once said, “going that one last round when you don’t think you can, makes all the difference.” With that said, I ended up at the Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon (a half Ironman) today for one last run for my money.

But it didn’t start out this way. At the beginning of 2010, I decided I wanted to keep my race schedule simple. Maybe some Olympic distance races and my big goal race of the year, the Duathlon World Championships. I competed at Duathlon Worlds last year and won (OK…I wasn’t really competing against anyone), but the organizers of this year’s race in Scotland, promised a good wheelie field, so I wanted to go and see how I would truly stack up. Therefore, at the end of May, I traveled to the Apple Duathlon in Sartell, Minnesota and qualified for the race. Plus, my year didn’t start off well anyway, with tendonitis in my elbow, which kept me from doing any exercise the whole month of February and a busy spring on the horizon. But there was one little thing that made me start thinking differently. The last week of March a new handcycle arrived at my door, with the help of a grant from the Challenged Athletes Foundation and the first day I took it out, I realized something…I was noticeably faster. I also re-did my seating position in my racing chair due to some blood clots that put me in the hospital in November and caused me not to be able to sit in a kneeling position any longer. That made a big difference in my pushing and I was getting faster in that too. So I decided to start entering road races just for fun and was having a great time hanging out with the other wheelers—traveling to the Salt Lake City Marathon, Bloomsday, Grand Rapids. I was doing well as I was racing myself into shape and the more I thought about it, the more I started considering that with increased speed maybe I could consider more.

I found out that the Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon (BSLT) was going to be the site of the new 70.3 championships for the wheelies and it sounded a little bit intriguing. But, I was still hesitant to commit to doing the race that has given me the most grief of my wheelchair triathlon career, so I sat on that thought for a long time. I had a lot going on as I had eight out-of-town trips in eight weeks, not a lot of time to train and still that concern over this course that has plagued me. Finally, two weeks before the race, I officially entered, the next week I spent an afternoon on the phone looking for a hotel room and on Friday, June 25th my friend and swim guide, Diana, and I got in her car and headed to Lubbock, Texas for the big race.

Here’s the thing though. This year was different. There is a new kid on the block and she’s FAST! Her name is Susan Katz and she did BSLT last year with a bike time that beat my 2006 time by an hour! Holy smokes, is all I could think of her when I saw her 2009 times. But, I figured, maybe I could get a lot closer to her on my new bike now that I was so much faster. Still…I was worried. I learned back when I started cycling, to NEVER underestimate a competitor. I can remember vividly the City Park criterium that I did with my regular cat IV competitors one weekend and as we were at the start line, a certain Sarah Konrad pulled up on a ragged brown Bianchi and we all looked at her like, “She’s no threat. Look at that bike.” But the entire field was schooled that day and it was a lesson we would never forget. Sarah kicked our collective ass! The other thing I have learned in my years of competition, is that over-confidence kills. I didn’t want to go into the race over-thinking my abilities. And plus, since I didn’t do the training that this race requires, I decided to work on some of the other things I could control, like my attitude, confidence and mental preparation.

Yesterday (Saturday) we did the usual pre-race stuff, but I had the added challenge of a medical issue. I woke up and felt like complete crap. I knew that in my current state I would not be able to perform as I needed, so I called my favorite nurse practitioner, Cathy Edstrom-Clark, one of my swim teammates from my 8-and-under days and she immediately called in a prescription that literally saved my race!

Then we headed to the lake to meet with our handlers (we had to have our helpers assigned to us this year, so Diana and Steve couldn’t help me at all, once the race started). I had two wonderful gentlemen, who are also local body builders (read: super buff) as my help. We had the opportunity to give them a quick training session of getting us into and out of the water and then to strip our wetsuits and help with T1 and T2. At one point after I did my short swim I told them, “why don’t you guys carry me to my chair and then we can practice getting my pants off.” As soon I as I said that, I realized how it sounded. Diana and I got a big laugh off of that one. But these guys had great senses of humor and were completely at ease from the very beginning. Chris and Sid were great!

After the practice at the lake, Diana picked Steve up at the airport, there was a race briefing, dinner and off to bed for a 3 a.m. wake-up call.

Three a.m. came early as it always does. Steve, Diana and I got up and headed out the door of our hotel and I was feeling much less than confident. I knew this was going to be a difficult race against Susan and I just wasn’t sure how it was going to go. But we blasted a bunch of motivational tunes in the car and I was starting to get ready for the challenge ahead.

Our wave went off at 6:35 and I started right next to Susan. Fortunately, even though we are competitors, I enjoy being around her…she’s super friendly and out-going and a really great person. We wished each other good luck and we were off.

Now I knew by looking at her last year’s times that I could probably get her in the swim, I’d have to hang on for dear life on the bike (and likely get passed) and then it was anybody’s guess who’d have something left in the tank for the run.

Diana guided me off on a perfect swim and for once, I did not have to sit up a single time to see how much further, adjust my goggles or stop for any other reason. In my mind, I had a chant that I went through the whole swim. The right arm coincided with “strong,” and the left arm, “so-strong.” So for 42 minutes, all I said to myself was “strong, so-strong, strong, so-strong” but it must have been the right message to my brain and body because I felt good the whole way.

When we got to the beach, Sid and Chris rushed in and got me and put me in my chair. This year though, there were new rules. We couldn’t be pushed from the swim exit to our equipment. We had to push ourselves. Ugh. That was hard because our stuff was at the back of the transition area. It seemed like a big push, even though it really wasn’t.

I knew I didn’t have a lot of time, but I had a quick transition (mostly because I only wore wetsuit pants, not a whole wetsuit) and I was off on the bike. I figured I had between 10-15 minutes before Susan got out of the water, but I wasn’t sure. As I left, I hit 18mph or more in several spots and my speed rarely went below 13. That’s really good for me, so I was thinking I was making time on Susan. But, in reality at about 1 hour 19 minutes as I was heading one way down the road I saw her pass on the other side. She was headed to the turnaround I had just passed and wasn’t far behind. My immediate thought was “oh S#$T! She’s caught me already.” But I also realized something else. I was going hard but staying right where I needed to be, paying very close attention to my power and speed. I know how important it is to do that when racing 56 miles, and I decided that no matter what, I would do what I needed to, to stay within my ability so that I could last the whole race. As it turns out, over the course of the rest of the bike, I realized that Susan was slowing down and looked to be struggling on the hills (there are a lot of out-and-backs on the course, so you pass other racers a lot). I figured she blew her whole wad trying to catch me and then blew up. Lucky for me. Had the course been flat, I might not have been so lucky. The thing is that lately, I have come to the conclusion that I’m getting pretty strong on hills. If you ever asked my bike racing friends, they would say that “Trish is not, not, not, NOT a hill-climber” but it’s never too late to change, right? It’s becoming more of my strength, so I thought I would use it today. I also felt like I took advantage of some strategy and experience to out race an athlete who is technically probably faster than me.

On the last few hills, I was cooked. So was she. I kept going. So did she. But I did go a little faster. Once I realized I was probably going to beat her, I turned my thoughts to the eight-hour time cut and Kona. Did I really want to actually commit myself to another year of training for an Ironman? I’ve already trained for five and it’s taken a lot out of me. You’ve read about this or seen if first hand if you’ve followed me through my Ironman drama over the past five years you know that that distance has chewed me up and spit me out. It has caused more stress, disappointment and trauma in my life than is probably necessary. So after I completed the Beach 2 Battleship Iron distance race in 2008 I decided that would be the end. No more. Done. Fini. But today, I started thinking. My first goal in coming to this race was to win. My second goal was to beat eight hours, because I wasn’t able to do that in 2006. But, if I reached both of those, I would be eligible to go to Kona.

On I went.

When I got on the run I had visions of the first hill which gave me such trouble in 2006 and where, incidentally, Susan crashed in her descent last year. We asked the officials if my handler could just walk behind me, should I miss a hand placement and go careening off backwards. Sid was allowed to do that and he talked me through it the whole way. But just before I had hit that hill, I went by a runner who told me he worked with the Achilles Track Club in New York and he said I’m going to tell you what I tell my other runners, “You OWN this shit!” So that’s what I said to myself during the run. But on that first hill, it was more like, “you…own…this…shit…ugh…you…own…this…shit.” It got me to the top and I hit the flats as hard as I could as Sid drove to the next hill. Again, he walked behind and cheered me up. At the top of that hill, you think the turnaround is right around the corner, but it’s not. I started to feel sick as I hadn’t eaten enough through the bike and only had gels on the run. I thought I was going to throw up. I slowed to 3 and 4 miles per hour. I started to see the eight hours dwindle away. Plus, I didn’t know my actual time because I did not wear a watch and when I went up the big hills at 0 miles per hour, my computer didn’t advance the time. I had no idea where I stood with the time cut. When I finally hit the turnaround I had a slight downhill and just tried to settle into a groove. Then a big downhill and then the last uphill. At this point, Sid was working me pretty hard with his hard-nosed, tough love encouragement. He was supporting me with his words to push up the hill like a bad-ass. At the top, he left me to finish the last four miles or so around the lake that seemed to last forever.

I pushed as hard as I could and was surprised when I didn’t just make the time cut, but I crushed it by 29 minutes. Seven hours, 31 minutes and 26 seconds. Almost a full hour faster than in 2006 and with far less training. It was awesome!

At the awards ceremony tonight, I was awarded a slot to the Hawaii Ironman in October! Does the new bike mean I will definitely make the time cut this time around? No, of course there are no guarantees in the Ironman, but at least this time I feel like I have a fighting chance. The training will be tough as I feel quite burned out on the long-distance training thing, but I think if Rocky can go that one more round (I mean, isn’t he up to Rocky V or X or something), then I can too.

Stay tuned, as the saga continues…

But, before I go, I have HUGE thank yous to my support crew. First of all, my Coach Neal who has helped me build such a great base over the years, Coach Kathy who helped me prepare for this race, Larry Emerson, Jen Bars (www.jenbars.com) and Mountain Fitness Training Center for sponsoring me with personal training sessions, my Defined Fitness Training team and Bernadette Hunter who helped me get my head straightened out prior to the race.

Thanks goes to my family and friends who are a constant support in all of my athletic endeavors.

I appreciate the support of the Challenged Athletes Foundation for help in getting a new bike. And to Mike and Marti Greer for being awesome hosts to the 70.3 National Wheelchair Championships. I also appreciate having so much support from the other wheelers who were at BSLT this weekend.

Huge thanks to Jill Prichard from the Challenged Athletes Foundation who saved my life not once, but twice today.

Cathy Edstrom-Clark who helped me get my energy and health back.

Chris and Sid for being super awesome handlers, cheerleaders and overall really fun dudes.

Couldn’t have done this trip without my friend and massage therapist Diana, who pitched in, in MANY ways. She drove me to Texas in her car so I wouldn’t have to rent one, swam with me, got the knots out of my back and pretty much took care of me the whole weekend.

And, to my awesome husband Steve who put in over 15 hours of work getting my equipment fixed, tuned and up-to-speed for this race. He puts up with me and my neurosis surrounding sports and competition and everything else I do. I really couldn’t do any of this without his help and support and total buy-in.

And last, I would be remiss if I didn’t give a huge shout-out to my new friend, Johnny G, who gave me the world’s best pep talk and helped me find the 8 minutes (plus) that I never knew I had.

Thanks to all of you!!!

(By the way…if you haven’t read all my other race reports, come to my signing party for my new book Cycle of Hope: A Journey from Paralysis to Possibility at Lala’s Wine Bar and Pizzeria—7th and Logan Street…Tuesday, June 29th from 5:30pm-7:30pm).

Treads.com goes 1-2 at DeadDog!

2010-06-28T10:20:00.001-06:00

By Kasey:

As Megan has already articulated, this past weekend's DeadDog Stage Race was truly a blast!
We had a great, positive group of women in our breakaway group in the road race on Saturday, making the horrendous wind seem not-so-bad. I waited until Megan was up the road for her final sprint until I took off, managing to hold off the other 3 girls for 2nd.

Then in the crit, it was a hammer fest from the start line. Megan got away with a Colorado Bike Law rider while I sat up in the chase group. Then when they came around and lapped us, I jumped in, managing to stick it for 3rd place, as well as picking up a 3 second time bonus, both of which positioned me ahead of my 3rd place competitor, Susannah Gordon.

As for my TT'ing abilities, well, they're consistently improving! Susannah was my chase and my carrot, and so I just tried to keep her within my sights the entire time, finishing 11 seconds behind her. I finished 5th overall in the TT, which is such an improvement for me.

With my bonuses from the road race and crit, I was able to hang onto my 2nd GC placing by only 11 seconds! Whew, the excitement of stage races!

The great thing was to see my improvement from last year, where I barely finished 6th in the 3's. To come out this year and finish 2nd to Megan was a huge boost for me!

Here's another pic of Megan and I with the wonderful people who garnered such a good cash prime for the crit!

And for those interested, here's a link to the local Larmie paper, the Laramie Boomerang, which has a short article about the race in which Megan and I are quoted after our interview following the road race:

http://www.laramieboomerang.com/articles/2010/06/28/sports/doc4c26d59b779d7445902079.txt

Dead Dog stage race, Laramie WY

2010-06-27T18:33:00.001-06:00

This weekend was the 2-day, 3-stage dead dog classic, held in/near Laramie, Wyoming. I drove up with a young cyclist from Australia, currently staying in Boulder - Ange - she's a total gem and we had a blast hanging out. Watch for her in upcoming years on the pro teams -at only 19, she's going strong and has a great head on her. Shown here in front of our sweet room at the laramie howard johnson (yes, almost as bad as you might imagine):

We arrived at the road race start Saturday morning and the race went off around 10:40am. The race is less than 60 miles but climbs from 7,500 feet in Albany to over 10,000ft - so it's great racing at altitude and the scenery is simply amazing. Weather was nice, tho windy (as always, it's Wyoming!!!) The peleton worked cohesively into the uphill headwind section just trying to tick off those miles -and then we hit the base of the climb and the group began to whiddle down to 8 or so. As the climb progressed, we became a group of 5. Everyone worked, it was a very positive race experience. We came back down the descent and continued to take turns pulling through the final miles, which are rolling roads with a stiff crosswind. As we neared the finish, I opted to put a bit of time into the GC contenders and jumped to solo for the win. Teammate Kasey finished behind me in 2nd, Susannah Gordon in 3rd. Can't say enough good things about the group and how positive the racing was - I really had fun and it was so refreshing to be among women that play fair and congratulate other racers and help out with the pulls, etc. Crossed the line with a smile on my face from all the fun. Then we all stood in the icy cold creek/lake to ice down the sore legs.

Saturday nite was a fun team dinner with SW 3 teammies Roberta and Jill, SW4 teammies Holly and Kelley, and Ange. Many laughs were had - it was a good time.

Sunday morning was the 1-2-3 crit. Flat course, and only 40 minutes. Two brave souls decided to jump right at the gun to try and make a go of it. I was positioned near them so hopped on to see what might happen and soon one of them -Kate S (bikelaw) and I found ourselves off the front. It wasn't really the strategy i'd planned for the crit (with the TT to follow later that day) but we were working well together and soon, lapped the SW3 field and then began to lap the SW1-2 as well. Mid-race a crowd prime was offered and I went for it - sooooo excited that the fans in Laramie ponied in some dough for the female racers, it was STELLAR!!! Long story short, I won the sprint for the crit win, Kate 2nd, and teammate Kasey 3rd.
Shown here with the crowd-prime-rounder-uppers -

Packed up and quickly made for the TT site, arriving only 45 minutes before TT start. Got the TT bike out and primed for action - hammered the TT, later learning i'd set the course record for the women's time -and rounded out the weekend with my 3rd stage win/overall GC win. Teammate Kasey held onto her 2nd pl in GC - super proud of her efforts.

SW3 -Jill 3rd GC, roberta 8th
SW4 - Holly took 2nd in the crit!!! Still waiting to hear how their stage/overall results came out.

Craziness Nationals Criterium in Bend, Oregon

2010-06-26T21:16:00.000-06:00

Women's Elite National Criterium Championships were held in Bend, Oregon this year. Our Treads.com team started with 3 riders on a beautiful Friday evening in downtown Bend. We were anticipating an active race with a lot of women motivated to win the jersey on the new course. The team's with numbers and strong representation were TIBCO, Peanut Butter/2012, Vera Bradley and Colavita/Baci. As the race kicked off, there were a number of attacks, or small breaks but nothing seemed to stick or get much of a gap. The field averaged 26mph, it seemed consistently fast, however never strung out single file or separations in the field. As the laps came down to the end I knew Tiffany was positioned right behind me and I was doing my best to sit in the front out of the wind. However, I had a hesitant feeling with about 3-4 laps to go that girls were taking some close corner risks. Sure enough with about 1.5 laps to go a rider clipped her pedal near the front and it took out a few sprinters and the field was gapped immediately as the lead out riders were not slowing. I managed to see the crash and took the path of least resistance, headed straight for the curb, hopped up -rounded the hay bails and got back on the road. Tiffany was not so lucky and was pushed back behind the crash and no time to get around.
It's bike racing, we all were safe but a little bummed but ready for the road race.
Liza Rachetto 12th
Tiffany Pezzulo 22nd
Kat Carr 39th

ToAD: How I made it to the Appleton start line

2010-06-22T09:39:00.000-06:00


Ian Robertson, race saver

Nothing like heading out to an 11 race series and wondering if you should take a spare bike. This thought rose to prominence Sunday. We'd made it to Appleton, WI, parked and I was working through my "pre-flight check," and noticed my big ring was loose. Somewhat alarmed, but not panicky, I mentioned this to my traveling companion, Ian. He offered to take it over to the SRAM guys who are providing neutral support for the series. I took him up on the offer in the interest of time.

A few minutes later, approximately 30 minutes before my race, I'm striding towards the support tent to get my bike and meet Ian heading towards the car. He's carrying my crank in left hand and rapidly working his Blackberry in the other. Even with my limited wrenching knowledge, I recognize this as a bad sign. A lock ring is cracked and no one has a replacement. Uh.... 27 min to race time and 7 more in the series.

Ian's calling shops as we walk to the car and we find that Wheel & Sprocket is open, but no one answers the phone. We remain calm, but adrenaline is flowing and I find myself returned to my childhood as I trot to keep pace. We hop in the car with 25 min to race time and head to the shop.

In the meantime, Tiffany has returned to the parking stall to find the car missing. She thinks perhaps it's been stolen -- along with her phone, bike shoes and helmet.

Rebekah, is riding back to the race from where her morning traveling companion let her out of the car along the highway. She's not sure where she started or where she's going, but eventually she makes it back and hooks up with Tiffany.

Ian and I arrive at the shop, run into the building and he quickly rattles off what part he needs. They don't have it but one guy heads upstairs to the misc parts bin. Ian, confident he'll recognize a make-do quickly, follows. A generous shop guys offers me his bike as a substitute. It's now 2:40. Race starts at 3.

Ian comes down the stairs, announcing he's found a part that will do. We move for the door asking what do we owe. We're told to just go. We run for the car. Or rather, I run, Ian's at full stride.

I start the car and my phone rings. I see it's Rebekah. I really don't have time, but I opt to answer and begin to say, "I don't have time..." Tiffany interrupts and asks where the car is. I tell her our problem. We agree to meet at the final corner so she can get her shoes.

Ian and I hit every red light but two on the way back. We hand over the shoes and helmet. I drop Ian off at the start finish. He blazes towards the SRAM support tent to fix the bike. I park the car and run for the support tent. The women have lined up. Tiffany's there. I put on my shoes and don my helmet. They're doing call-ups. Ian takes my bike off the stand and hands it to me, I jump on and power to the line, heart racing. I back into the field and in less than a minute the race starts and it's a good one for me. I get a prime and though the break attempts don't work, my legs are better than they've been all season yet, and I'm able to be active and execute my part of our race leadout plan. So, that was cool.

HUGE thanks to Ian and Wheel & Sprocket. Dinner's on me.

Marathon 1 of ______?

2010-06-21T17:24:00.000-06:00

by Andi

I've thought off and on for the last month about this post.... do I blog it? Do I not? And after much deliberation have decided that if I'm going to train for 6 months for any kind of event, I'm gonna blog it, no matter how poorly I did.

This year, my schedule seemed to be too much to train on the bike at a level I would need to be competitive, so I took up the "multisport" aspect of my contract and decided to run a marathon (because that seems logical, right?). To make a long, torturous story short, I had set a tier of several goals that I had wanted to meet.....

1) qualify for Boston (ha!)

2) run under 4:00:00

3) last resort--- just plain finish

(other runners thought it was humerus my back said "TREADS bicycle outfitters. no folks, I don't run often!)

and in the end, it didn't matter that (it was 25 degrees + warmer than what I trained in and humid, causing me to have a "I will never ever make it to the end" experience) I wasn't even close to "Boston time," but I did finish my first marathon and that was all right by me! I told myself at mile 23 that I would never do this again... but somehow the competitive side in me trumps all..... and I"m signing up for another.... and another.... until I hit that Boston mark after all (darn you competitive spirit!)

we raced in Newport, OR. it was beautiful there

(which I thought would be an ideal, flat, cool place to run. it was flat, not cool)

it was still pretty

Niwot criterium

2010-06-21T09:55:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was the downtown Niwot, CO criterium - it's a fast and super technical crit, held each year and is one of my favorites. Last year it was the CO state Crit champ course and our own Gwen pulled out the win. The whole town comes out to support the race and GS Boulder does an amazing job of promoting the event and getting lots of sponsorship help. They also offer a BIG payout to the women: $1000/10 deep in the SW1-2 race!

So, Kat, Joan and myself lined up among the 20 or so gals and off we went. The race was pretty aggressive at the beginning with several riders trying to get a break established. I tried several moves as did Kat but everything stuck together.

Mid-race and sensing a lull, I jumped and strung things out waiting for a split -eventually a separation happened with Teri Clouse and Melissa Barker coming with me. We 3 worked together, quickly gaining 25 seconds on the field- and then I attacked them again, which reduced us to a 2-woman break. We lapped part of the field and worked well together. Coming into the final 3 laps it was clear that Teri and I would not be caught and so we pulled through taking turns. On the final lap I jumped her with 1/2 lap to go and held it for the win. Kat took the field sprint for 4th which was excellent. Joan helped us both out by blocking and racing hard. The payout and primes and prizes were absolutely fantastic - I can't say enough good things about this race and how well it's run!

SW1/2 podium: Megan, Teri, Melissa
Our SW 3 also did great, with Jill taking 4th, Phoebe taking 9th in her first SW3 event, and Susan 14th
in the SW4 race, Jennie took 4th and Holly took 7th.

Pezzulo takes over lead of USA crits series!!!

2010-06-20T10:57:00.000-06:00

From usacrits.com:

Giro d' Grafton Proves Its Importance on the USA CRITS Series

Tiffany Pezzulo and Isaac Howe Assume the Overall Leader's Positions

For Immediate Release

Grafton, WI - The 2nd stop of the USA CRITS Series completely shook up the overall in both the women's and the men's fields. Jackie Crowell (Team Type 1) and Rahsaan Bahati (Bahati Foundation) claimed the top step of the podium at the Giro d' Grafton, while Tiffany Pezzulo (Treads.com/DFT) and Isaac Howe (Mountain Khakis fueled by Jittery Joe's) now lead the USA CRITS Series.

The women's race was animated from the get-go with USA CRITS stalwart Pezzulo attacking for several laps, and, for part of the race, taking over the Sports Base Online Lap Leader jersey. After being caught Team Type 1's Kori Seehafer took a flyer for several laps until being absorbed just before the midrace.

An intense sprint came at the mid-point of the women's race as valuable USA CRITS points were up for grabs. This allowed Team Type 1's Jackie Crowell to launch of the front for the last half of the Giro d' Grafton. Lauren Robertson (Metro Volkswagen) was able to bridge across to Crowell, where the two were able to stay away. Crowell picked up the win, which moved her from 24th place to 5th place in the overall. Pezzulo's 6th place finish shuffled her to the top spot in the overall after two events.

Giro d' Grafton Top 3

1. Jackie Crowell (Team Type 1)

2. Lauren Robertson (Metro VW)

3. Carrie Cash-Wooten (Team Vera Bradley Foundation)

USA CRITS Overall presented by Champion System

1. Tiffany Pezzulo (Treads.com/DFT), 451 points

2. Erica Allar (Team Vera Bradley Foundation), 432 points

3. Kacey Manderfield (Cycle Loft), 415 points

Sports Base Online Lap Leader presented by VeloNews

Jackie Crowell (Team Type 1), 13 laps

Maxxis Best Young Rider presented by Cyclingnews.com

Kacey Manderfield (Cycle Loft)

On the men's side, attack after attack tried to get away but none stuck until after the mid-race points sprint (picked up by Mountain Khakis' Adam Myerson). Juan Pablo Dotti (Aerocat), David Guttenplan (Mountain Khakis), and Jeff Schroetlin (Texas Roadhouse) were able to stay away for 11 laps but were ultimately gobbled up with 7 laps to go.

Bahati won a $750 "Super Prime" by several bike lengths with about 6 to go. This was going to come down to a bunch sprint to the line. Kenda Pro Cycling presented by Geargrinder lined up for their man, Chad Hartley, who was also sporting the Tour of America's Dairyland Overall Leader's Jersey, while Mountain Khakis fueled by Jittery Joe's was trying to deliver Howe to the line. In the end Bahati outsprinted the other 146 riders to claim the top spot at the Giro d' Grafton and a sip of the coveted chocolate milk. Howe's second place finish assured him the lead in the Overall USA CRITS Series.

Giro d' Grafton Top 3

1. Rahsaan Bahati (Bahati Foundation Pro Cycling)

2. Isaac Howe (Mountain Khakis fueled by Jittery Joe's)

3. Clayton Barrows (AXA Equitable Cycling Team)

USA CRITS Overall presented by Champion System

1. Isaac Howe (Mountain Khakis fueled by Jittery Joe's), 407 points

2. Emile Abraham (Aerocat Racing), 406 points

3. Adam Myerson (Mountain Khakis fueled by Jittery Joe's), 393 points

Sports Base Online Lap Leader presented by VeloNews

Hilton Clarke (United Healthcare), 17 laps

Maxxis Best Young Rider presented by Cyclingnews.com

Isaac Howe (Mountain Khakis fueled by Jittery Joe's)

Next up on the USA CRITS Series:

Hyde Park Blast

June 26, 2010

Cincinnati, OH

CO state TT championships . . .

2010-06-20T10:02:00.000-06:00

This annual staple event was held yesterday on a 40k course out by DIA = windy, rolling hills and not much to see in terms of scenery. It truly pits a rider against themselves as they turn the pedals over trying to get the lowest time possible. There was a pretty good breeze blowing from the east, so riders enjoyed tailwinds on legs 1 and 3 of the race, which meant finishing the race on an uphill into a headwind.

Our team enjoyed great success at the event with results as follows:
SW1/2 - Megan 1st, Joan 6th
SW3 - Susan 2nd
SW4 - Becky 3rd, Kelley 13th, Gracie 14th.

The team looks forward to upcoming championship events, such as the state RR and state crit champs in July.

ToAD: Post-Grafton

2010-06-19T21:18:00.000-06:00

Grafton went OK. Tiff held her own for 6th. I ended up 27th and Gwen finished with the field. It was pretty darn fast today. AND.... having experimented with hollering advice from the sidewalk as well as attempting to execute said advice within the race, I can confidently announce that running one's mouth is infinitely easier. Appleton is up next.

Quick update from ToAD

2010-06-19T06:42:00.000-06:00

I know, what an unfortunate nickname for the Tour of America's Dairyland - ToAD. But, they've even put it on the tee-shirts, so I'm going to use it. However, getting the image of a Holstein marked toad with milk teats out of my mind is proving impossible.

In any case, Tiffany is riding rock solid and has secured 2 top 10s out of two days racing. Gwen showed up yesterday and was active, including a bid off the front. Me? Had a very active race at Shorewood, but yesterday at Thiensville was not a good one for me. Felt sick. Don't know what the deal was, but legs weren't stressed, so tonight is the USA Crit series at Grafton. HTFU Sydney Brown. That's what my inner self is saying.

More news later. I think Tiff even has some great pix, but I'll let her share those with you.

Fixed Gear Classic recap from Megan

2010-06-15T09:12:00.000-06:00

So this past weekend I embarked on my first multi-day track race event -pretty much ever, other than nationals in 2007. It was held at the velodrome in Blaine, MN. I came into this pretty darn green and inexperienced, mainly going to learn as much as possible and to start wrapping my head around track techniques.

I arrived Thursday night and was treated to dinner with a local track cyclist and his wife and my coach. They returned me to the campus where the velodrome is located, since there is a also an on-site dorm, which was to be my housing for the weekend. Entering my dorm room definitely brought back memories of college a few years back -it was pretty spartan. I actually called around to a few hotels nearby to try and get a room bu they were all booked up due to a hockey tourney in town -so I fell asleep but woke shortly thereafter with mega-stomach problems and ended up being up all night sicker than a dog. Sleepless night + empty belly = no energy and not at my top performance. Friday was spent trying to recover while attending 2 track seminars presented by my coach. Friday night racing began at 6pm and while I was starting to feel physically better I wasn't 100%. I raced really poorly in all of my Friday night events -200m, the 1-mile scratch for 9th place in sprint heats, the miss-n-out (eliminated in the first round due to poor positioning) and the points race taking 7th. I just couldn't get my head on straight and was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the newness coming at me at once. Still -going into this event I knew that'd be the case and so I just went with it, soaking up lesson after lesson like a sponge.

Saturday I got to the track in the morning and got in an hour warmup and a few races began before the rain hit. And the rain continued - all day. So the track was closed and we got a day off. This made for a challenging Sunday, having 2 schedules combined into one day! However by Sunday I was starting to get my wits about me.

Sunday started off with my first-ever madison kilo, which is a team event. I haven't done exchanges before so we did a quasi-madison - it was a good opener for the legs. Next we did handicap qualifiers -I took 2nd in my heat. Moving into the final heat i was still trying to get a sense of how best to race this event. Well - I learned how not to race it, coming in 6th, whoops. Immediately after we lined up for the tempo which offers points every lap for 12 laps. I sat in and waited till the last 3 laps to grab my points, taking a 2 lap flyer for 4 points, giving me 3rd in the event. After these I was feeling pretty toasted, so was relieved for a short break. Somewhere in here was a scratch race, which went well with me, Cari Higgins and Kacey Manderfield all getting off the front and lapping the field twice, I ended up 3rd. My last race of the weekend was a 2nd points race. I sat in for the first half of the race and then jumped to try and lap the field. I got about 75% of the way there and just . . .kept . . .trying . . .and then slowly the gap started to grow again and then the field surged and I just couldn't close it . . . darn darn darn!!!! People were screaming for me and the announcer was trying to give me a boost - I so wanted to take a lap and enjoy those 20points but it didn't make it. So I stayed away long enough to scoop some points and then dropped back into the field and then punched it in the final sprint for another couple points. This gave me 3rd. In the overall for the weekend, I finished 4th in the endurance omnium. I had hoped for a top 3 placing but well - next time!

All in all I went home very satisfied with the results in light of everything going on, and I learned so much I am now brimming with information that I can't wait to apply in my next track race!

Results and recap here: http://www.naturevalleybicyclefestival.com/Festival/Fixed-Gear-Classic/June-13th-Results.aspx

Rocky Mountain Omnium Recap

2010-06-14T09:42:00.002-06:00

By Kasey:

This past weekend's Rocky Mountain Omnium, organized by our very own Sandy Hyra, was a trial of attrition for those in attendance. Traffic jams on I-70 kept the officials from arriving on time, thus pushing back Friday's evening TT start times one hour. Marisa, Sandy, and I went off around 8pm, which is a rough transition for your system. I had my best-ever TT, finishing 5th, and managing to stay focused the whole time, even though I was the first one off and had no-one to chase. Marisa took 2nd to Jeannie Longo and Sandy came in 8th.

Then came Saturday, and with it a deluge in sub-50 degree weather. Not wanting to skate around in the freezing temperatures, the 1-2 women decided to cancel their race, majority rules!

Then on Sunday, due to the 15 hours of steady rain the previous day, the road race course was changed by the officials who deemed the dirt section unsafe. So our 60 mile race turned into a 30 mile rolling course. Marisa and I had decided the night before to be aggressive and mark Jeannie Longo. We started attacking right after the first 5 minutes, only to realize that we were dragging the rest of the eight-woman field along with us. After the turnaround Jeannie attacked on a hill and Marisa chased here and caught her. I was in the front of the field so I sat up, nobody was organized, and it gave Marisa and Jeannie the time they needed to break away. I sat in the chase and managed to outsprint my field for 3rd, with Marisa taking 2nd.
This placed us in slots 2 and 3, respectively, for the Omnium!

Though the conditions were poor, Sandy and Mitch did a terrific job of keeping morale high and rolling with the punches! It was a really fun race, and it's always good to mix it up a bit and have your usual racing routines throw awry-it teaches me how to better cope with all manner of uncontrollable circumstances!

More Pix from Tulsa Tough

2010-06-08T12:45:00.001-06:00

Pictures taken from KOTV slide show. Check their Tulsa Tough slideshow for more great shots of the action.

http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=12602301

Third pic from Podium Insight's Gallery

http://www.podiuminsight.com/2010/06/08/photo-gallery-of-brady-village-crit/

Tiffany launched by downed Coryn Rivera. (Brady Crit)

Sydney goes up Crybaby Hill with Amanda M. (Riverside)(KOTV)

Sydney gets into first break attempt for Brady Crit. (Podium Insight Gallery)

Tiffany on Team Car Radio

2010-06-07T15:08:00.001-06:00

We should always have Tiff speak for us.

While at Tulsa, Tiffany had a chance to visit with Team Car Radio. Give a listen. (Link goes to Team Car Radio site where you need to click on the "play" button to hear it.)

Tulsa Tough

2010-06-07T12:30:00.000-06:00

Not a quitter.

I wish I could say we hit big goals at Tulsa Tough and pulled in oodles of cash, but we'll have to leave that report to others this time around.

This should not be counted as failure, however. The field was truly Tulsa TOUGH -- stacked with talented and determined pro and amateur women.

Though the results lend little support for the claim, Tulsa was a success for me. Having spent much of the early season injured, Tulsa was my first big race of the season. I was able to get to position and mostly hold it, with exception of the Riverside race, in which it took 3 laps to get to that front 10%, but I didn't have the juice to go with or bridge to the break. Maybe there would have been better decisions I could have made that would have compensated for my lack of legs, but I'm not smart enough to know what they would've been, and I got dropped. However, though the thought of yielding to the chilled beverages and cooling water hoses atop Crybaby Hill was seriously considered, I opted to practice not DNF-ing and pursued improved race fitness with a chase to regain the shredded field. I don't know how many laps it took - seemed like a million - but I did get it done and that felt good. The effort, however, cost me lots and I had nothing when it came time to sprint. Teamie Kat, however, secured 18th.

Speaking of teamies, this weekend was also the first weekend I got to race with them. And, they were every bit as funny and generally excellent to be around as I'd assumed from the first time we met. I can't wait till Dairyland for another go. I think we're going to be able to ride pretty effectively together, especially as my racing legs come online.

This post would be remiss to not mention our wonderful hosts: Marilyn and Mike Schooling. I have never appreciated a pool more and the hours in your lovely home were restful and will continue to bring smiles to my face until I see you again next year.

Kasey is the 2010 'Queen of Rist Canyon'!

2010-06-05T22:25:00.000-06:00

By: Kasey

I got to stand on the uppermost tier of the podium today, after winning the 27 mile Rist Canyon Hill Climb. It's essentially a road race, with a lot of hills! Too bad there were only four pro 1-2 women today in the field! Again, I ask where are all the women racers? A win is a win, but it would be nice to have fields of at least half a dozen . . .
The four of us stayed together for the first half, dropping one rider on the base of the climb up Rist Canyon. The grade was gradual, and the remaining three stayed together until the pitch steepened. I knew that I had more climbing power once the road tilted upwards, so at one mile to go, I punched it and soloed away for the finish!
It was a beautiful race, and very well organized, with great prizes!

Oklahoma & Texas for Memorial Day

2010-06-02T15:08:00.000-06:00


Jenny Willhite & I (front 2)

After filling out but not yet dropping the Iowa registrations in the post box, my friend IM'd me and said, "Hey, did you see the payouts at this race?" I looked and holy moly... a first time race in Woodward, OK paid $400 to win the crit and the road race paid $700. After some more investigation to find more crits to fill out the weekend, we decided to drive south.

Surprisingly, there were only 10 of us on the line at the start of the crit and most of those were cat 4 women, but that did not ensure success, especially since Miranda Long showed up. She's pretty quick on the sprint. I didn't know that at the start, but my 2nd place finish testifies to her effort, especially since she had to come around a couple of us. In retrospect, I should have started my wind-up further out, but that's OK, I'm still working on that. Right after the women's race, I jumped in with a large group of masters men and finished 13th in that. With half the course restricted to a single lane of traffic, the battles for position were fierce. It was excellent prep for my season's crit racing. Thanks, guys!

The next morning's 100K road race went off at 7 am. That was a little brutal and I opted to eat before the race, instead of waking up at 4ish to start the nutrition. Thinking back, it might have been better to have stuck with my regular prep and gone w/o the sleep, but at the time, I really wanted to sleep.

There were only 4 of us in the W 1/2/3, and one woman asked me if I wanted to ride with the masters men. I said sure. That'd be great, even though I do dislike what mixed fields do to a race.

The break went at less than 10K into the race. I looked up the road and saw every strong men's team represented except one, which I'd overheard one guy say not to worry about, so I jumped and bridged. It was expensive, but worth it as the break held for the rest of the race. I took a share of pulls, though I did sit out a couple of rotations after hard surges. The guys might have let me sit on, but in the spirit of racing and for the benefits of training, I did my best to shoulder a fair load. The win felt earned.

On the warm-up circle while Ian races.

By that evening, we were in Frisco, TX where one of my traveling companions, wanted to do a track race at the Superdrome. He had also called ahead and arranged for me to get some time on the track. I was going to back out because my legs were so fried from the road race, but opportunities for track time are rare, so Ian took me through some after the event concluded.

Sunday was hot hot hot. There were 20-25ish women in the race with two teams quite well represented. I attacked a few times and got off the front for while, but the field wasn't having it and in a few laps they reeled it in. More corners would have helped, but the other seemed quite determined to keep me in the fold. Tired, I acquiesced and at that point, of course, one of the teams put a girl off and nobody chased. Sigh. However, I'd decided my field sprint needed work and here was a chance to practice, so I continued to sit in even when another woman went off. It hurt to let them go, but I didn't think they'd let me jump clean and I wasn't going to drag the pack, so sit I did. The finish went perfectly. Followed two wheels, jumped hard accelerated up the hill all the way to the finish line for the field sprint. That felt pretty good.

Monday, we went to Ft. Worth for the Texas State Criterium championships. Lucky for me, the women's race was right after the cat 5 men at 8:55am. Normally, I'd be bummed to be so early, but even then the temp was 90ish by the time 30ish of us put our wheels on the line for the 60 minute race. My legs were feeling Ok, but not great. The heat had my HR elevated, but I liked the 10 corner course. They called it a chicane, but they were actual turns in a parking lot up a rise, so with 10 corners, a break could make time on a pack and I'd been given a heads up on who had legs.

Thus, when the first attack went on the 2nd lap, I impulsively countered and turned to find I was way clear, and that there were two women also separated from the field and coming my way. One of these, Jenny, had been identified as "having legs." Perfect. I slowed it down, they joined me and two of us started 30 sec pulls. The heat beat down and the minutes crawled by. Periodically, I thought about harassing the 3rd woman about not pulling, but I didn't want to waste the energy. I figured so long as she didn't jump us for the primes, we could solve that problem later. Eventually, I looked back and she wasn't even there. The heat must've done her in. Finally, because of Willhite's team and perhaps some disorganization on the part of the other teams, our success looked secure and I attacked before the last corner on the final lap to take the win.

It was a weekend of good racing and wonderful to meet so many nice people. The Oklahoma and Texas women ride their bikes well and race hard. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to returning.

Treads.com Takes 3 of 5 Omnium Spots at Ironhorse!

2010-06-01T22:10:00.000-06:00

By Kasey:

As the blog postings show, we had a great team showing this past weekend in Durango, at the Ironhorse Bicycle Classic! Marisa and Tiffany were supreme teamates, teaching me more nuances of professional level racing. I was personally very pleased with my 5th place finish in both the road race and the crit, and my dreaded time trial performance improved slightly from the Gila, enough to land me the 5th spot in the overall omnium. Congrats to both Marisa and Tiff on stellar performances and results!

Here's some pictures of the mighty 3 this weekend!

Marisa, Kasey, and Tiff after the Road Race:

Kasey coming down the final straightaway at the Road Race:

And Tiffany, taking a solo flyer at Sunday's Crit!

Superior Morgul Classic Road Race- posted by Kat Carr

2010-06-01T15:01:00.000-06:00

The Morgul Classic wrapped up this Sunday with 4 laps on the famous Morgul Bismark loop. For a little more info on this sweet loop: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgul-Bismarck

The only time I've done this loop was when I moved to Boulder last fall and went on a super sweet ride with Jessica Phillips (Colavita). To be honest, I didn't remember much about the loop, "the wall,"or the pain. Only good times and good company in my book.

To my surprise, I found myself next to Jessica during our neutral roll out and had fun catching up with her. Then I realized that this "wall" business was coming up. Sitting at the back of the pack with anything that can be referred to as a wall, hump, bump, hill, climb, mountain, elevation gain, etc on the horizon is not a good place for me to be. We moved towards the front, and after the climb found myself with Megan in a group of 10 or so off the front. The group got smaller the second time up the climb, but stayed together until Anne Samplonius and Jessica attacked- the winning move. I'm going to fast forward over the next bit and let's just say things got a little "interesting" as the individual and team omnium competitions made for some "interesting" group dynamics. I was happy to stick by Megan (sitting in 2nd and down by 3 points from Robin Farina) and help in any way I could. Alison Powers and Meredith Miller attacked which left Megan, Robin and I together. In the end, I finished 6th and Megan 7th. Megan came in 2nd overall (by 1 point!).
Joan (14th), Roberta(21st), Jill(22nd), Susan(24th), and Kat G(27th) all finished strong.

See article for a nice write-up and some pictures of the team in action:
http://www.mountainflyer.com/news.cfm?itemid=390

Thanks for reading!

Marisa wins Iron Horse Time Trial and Omnium overall

2010-05-31T21:32:00.002-06:00

The Iron Horse Crit is a really great event. It may not be a National Calendar event--but it always draws some good talent, decent prize money and the BEST CROWDS. Tiff, Kasey and Marisa lined up for the afternoon crit along with several girls who had opted out of the road race the day before. VBF's Alison Testroete was joined by teammate Lauren Hall and they started attacking from the gun. Alison was able to slip away early in the race and the group was never able to truly organize to bring it back. On the last lap, Marisa took charge and directed Kasey to get the group strung out with Marisa delivering Tiff to the 2nd to last corner. A Tri Sport rider tried to jump Tiff into the last corner but Tiff was able to come around her in the final sprint for 2nd. Marisa finished 4th with Kasey in 5th.
Durango Herald article can be found HERE

In today's time trial, Marisa netted a victory finishing the rolly, uphill finishing course ahead of Peanut Butter's Alisha Welsh and Alison Testroete. Tiff finished 4th with Kasey in 9th. Marisa's consistent placings secured her omnium victory with Tiff and Kasey rounding out the overall in 4th and 5th.
Check out the Durango Herald article HERE

It was a great weekend of racing in the greatest town ever.

Marisa 2nd at Iron Horse Road Race

2010-05-30T11:18:00.000-06:00

Marisa took 2nd to Mara Abbott yesterday in the Iron Horse Road Race. In a repeat of last year, it was Mara, Marisa and then Mara's teammate Alisha Welsh. Kasey rode strong to finish 5th with Tiff finishing 8th.
Write-up in the Durango Herald here

Superior Morgul omnium update (after stage 2)

2010-05-29T20:23:00.000-06:00

from megan:

Close to home, 7 of us are racing the 3-day omnium in Superior, CO: http://www.superiormorgulclassic.com/

Last night was stage 1: street sprints. 5 or 6 women would line up and start from a deadstop - the idea was to get up to speed as quickly as possibly and then hold it for 250m. It was a RIOT. I really hope more promoters begin offering these -they are spectator friendly and challenge riders in a completely different way. Final results: Cari Higgins 1st, Megan Hottman 2nd, Kat Carr, 3rd. Not bad having 2 of us in the top 3!! Cari went into stage 2 wearing the leader's jersey. Megan received a jersey for 2nd place as well (not bad getting stars and stripes for any reason!!!) (we are missing Kat in our pseudo-podium):

Today was the criterium -a nice course with some good corners, a rise through the s/f and some wind to keep it interesting. Robin Farina with VBF went right away, taking Kat Carr with her up the road. A few laps later Kat drifted back to our pack and the pack racing dynamic heated up. A few attacks, nothing really interesting. 2 omnium point primes were offered - the first I was able to sprint for 1 more omnium point. A few laps later, about 1/2 way through the crit, Alison Powers and I jumped and got away. We worked well together until 4 laps to go at which point she played the "my teammate is up the road" card and said she wasn't working anymore. So I pulled the final 4 laps. At the bottom of the s/f she jumped and I hopped on her wheel, riding it to the line and outsprinting her for 2nd place. so Robin 1st, me 2nd, alison 3rd, cari 4th and meredith miller 5th. Robin was able to score both 5-point omnium primes so she got a lot of points today, moving her up into 1st place in the omnium. I am sitting 2nd, 3 points behind. Cari sits 3rd, 3 points behind me -then meredith, then alison rounding out top 5.

This will make things very very fun tomorrow - the road race, featuring 5 times up the "wall" and a bit over 50 miles of racing. Stay tuned!
SUPER COOL: Treads.com/DFT is WINNING the overall team GC competition!!!

Ironhorse Update!

2010-05-29T18:28:00.000-06:00

By Kasey:

Utilizing the Siesta Motel's patchy wireless connection, I hope to be online long enough to compose this brief update:

Ironhorse Road Race, Saturday, May 29th.
Tiffany and another rider went off the front right at the beginning, making a great break. Mara Abbott went on one of the rollers, I grabbed her wheel and tried to desperately hang on, which lasted about 5 minutes. I peeled off, trying to save myself for the hills to come, while Marisa, Alicia Welsh (sp?), and Alison Testerone (sp?) went after her. Mara ended up breaking away and winning, Marisa shook off Alicia for 2nd (woohoo!), and I managed to catch up to the chase and get 5th. Tiffany finished solidly not far back.
We are all looking forward to the crit tomorrow!
Stay tuned . . .

Tiff finishes 2nd at Sugarhouse Criterium

2010-05-23T11:22:00.001-06:00

Post by Tiffany:

I finally had occasion to participate in a local women's race here in Salt Lake City. With all the out of state travel, it just hadn't happened yet--but when I realized I would be in town this weekend (and that my whole family would be visiting), I was psyched to do this local race in a nice park a few miles from my house.

After watching my little brother come in 2nd in a 10k that morning (wearing his DFT singlet--woo hoo!), I headed over to the race course. Though we had a small field, Nicole Evans, Peanut Butter's Alisha Welsh and local strong teams PCIM and Ski Utah were there to ensure some good racing. The course is over a mile and its tough to get away. However, Nicole, Alisha and both teams put some effort toward trying to make something happen. With 3 laps to go, a Ski Utah rider attacked. It was the classic paralysis that can sometimes happen where everyone looks at everyone else to do something about it--while riding less than 30k an hour. In any event, we could see her dangling out there but on the last lap it was apparent we'd be settling in for a field sprint.

The finish has a slight downhill than kicks up for about the last 200m. Its wide open with no turns. There was some bumping going into the final 500m. Nicole dropped the hammer early and I stayed on her hoping she could keep up the speed long enough to prevent the swarm from behind. I felt the speed start to drop off a bit and jumped a little early but managed to hold everyone else off to win the field sprint for 2nd.

My parents and 2 siblings were in town and it was super fun having them out there cheering. Along with that, a ton of my friends who live close by came to the race as well. I heard my name around the whole course which was so awesome.

That's probably the last local women's race I'll be doing for a while as there is a bunch of travel for out of state races coming up. However, SLC has a great weekday race series where I get awesome training trying to throw down with the men.

Thanks for reading, and here's a to a FULLY UNDERWAY season!

Day By Day

2010-05-22T02:56:00.002-06:00

Day by Day

On Monday week we decided it was pizza night, a delicious fresh pizza for 5 euro each was quite a treat. We called the pizzaria and I requested 3 things on my pizza the lady said- “who eat’s that??” I’m always used to the Italians thinking I might eat something a little different, but it always makes us laugh. Of course the “American” does. We scarfed down our pizza for dinner and gathered around the table for another discussion of new words and to descriptions, very similar to playing shrades.

One event we all do together is the grocery shopping (Fai Spesa) on our team budget of 70 Euro for the week. Before I arrived it was only 50 Euro for the week, but we got an upgrade of 20 Euro. I was very shocked to see the bulk of food this covered… a case of milk, 5 packages of lettuce, 5 packages of pasta, fruit, some vegetables, feta biscotti, sugo, mozerella, etc. We each supplement the groceries with a few of our own preferences. I decided to splurge on some muesli, strawberries, spices, packets of nutella, fig jam, dark chocolate and a new down pillow. For 30Euro a few comfort items I can enjoy.

The tv continues to buzz with the Giro d’ Italia in the afternoons and its almost depressing to watch the guys suffering in the flood like conditions- if bike racing isn’t hard enough having weather like that is terrible. I am quite happy to have a TV in the house, regardless of the channel chosen- it’s a great recovery tool- aside from my yoga mat and compression tights.

This is my last week of washing everything by hand I supposedly we will have a lavatrice in our new apartment (which might mean its only 75years old J). It doesn’t bother me because I have the time to do it. It actually pleases me to see how little 5 or 6 people will consume very little kj in the house. We only have to run the instant hot water for 1-2hours a day.

For some reason there is some pressure on us to pick up an experienced sprinter this summer, so my advice or translating assistance is called upon by our D.S. This is not unusual especially for a team that is not UCI, at this point it certainly caused a little bit of stress in the house with regards to people’s place in the team or spot in the house. I was put under some translating stress today, which was unfortunate because the director did not pull me aside and instead everyone was there in person. Hopefully we will get something resolved soon.

Thursday was our team training ride with a few of the amateur club riders. We weren’t told really how long, etc. just that we would have a chance to ride a new climb. I’m adapting to the “team” training rides. Interpretation- anything goes and its sort of like a “test” of our form. There is no hiding on the climbs and if you can plan to go easy the day before I would recommend it. As a team the night before we suggested it was important for all of us to be supportive of each other and not try to “race” one another. I was almost in shock because I’ve never seen a team of European women discuss NOT trying to outdo each other in one language. *Remember there are 5 different nationalities in the team house. We started out with our ride to Camaiore, then Massa, rotating paceline, until we crested the climb to take a water/torte break. On the way up the mountain we entered about 4 different tunnels (galleria) and I forgot how incredibly dark they were and felt the need for my headlamp. We started our mainclimb which was about 24km in total, beautiful and amazing up to the town of Vestiti- surrounded by mountains of marble. It was a beautiful day about 27celcius and 18celcius up top- we could see our breath. Our DS greeted us at the top with jackets, torte and coke before the remainder of our ride. Descending was next, and this part I love, it usually takes me a few rides to regain my speed and confidence around the corners and take some controlled risks. Then as we arrived back to the flats, we had 2 more club riders join us- I knew what this meant- fresh legs and time to “hit” it again. Then would start the semi-organized “treno”, or in otherwords or DS would honk the horn from behind if we were getting dropped, not riding tight or just looking like chaos. A few screams and shouts came from a few girls, and at best Filipo (our mechanic/amateur rider) shouted and helped organize our “train” to bring back a rider who flew past us. The last hour of our 5 hour ride was spent rotating on the front of a slight descent past Borgo a Monzano towards Lucca, little by little we started with 9 and finished with 5. I knew I was cooked when I just couldn’t match the pulls of Lorenzo, Maurizio or my two teammates, so I had to sit on and jump in occasionally. Fortunately we finished this blistering ride together the last 30minutes and enjoyed a nice cappuccino before returning home to prepare lunch.

It was another warm sunny day that we started with an idea to eat breakfast outside in the garden and then start our ride a bit later.Today was a welcomed moderate recovery ride, relatively flat and a tourist stop in Pisa for photos around the leaning tower. Tomorrow will bring more technical group riding and evening games of shrades.

I’m off to enjoy some café since our propane tank ran out last night we just got a new one this morning.

Thanks for reading.

Liza

It's Rodeo Time!!!

2010-05-19T17:11:00.003-06:00

Yeee-haw!!!! A couple of weeks ago I got a call that there was a rodeo in town. Except there were no cowboys or bulls at this rodeo. This wasn't a rodeo rodeo, it was a BIKE RODEO!

Bike skills 101 - how to signal a right turn.

A bike rodeo is a skills and safety clinic with different stations set up that teach the kids how to ride their bikes safely. Pretty neat concept. The kids started off the rodeo by presenting their trusty (or more likely "rusty") steads to the benevolent bike mechanic who made a valiant effort to give each kid's bike a little love (even the bikes you could tell had been left outside in the snow all winter). With their tires pumped up, the kids headed over to the "Helmet Check" station, which is where they met me, and a very enthusiastic volunteer from Swedish Hospital whose job it was to make sure each kid's helmet was properly fitted. Having volunteered countless hours helping to establish the Raisin Hope Foundation of Colorado, whose mission is to assist people with traumatic brain injuries, I'm far to familiar with the statistics on the percentage of kids (and adults) that don't wear helmets and the unfortunately reality of how many non-helmet-wearing crash victims end up suffering a brain injury, or worse. Kids should wear helmets whenever they're on 2 wheels, and so should adults - (even you racer-types who think it's OK to ride from the car to registration sans your brain bucket!). It's a cause I'm very passionate about, and getting the opportunity to help the kids of Westridge Elementary and their parents learn how to properly fit a helmet was incredibly fulfilling.

Well, I'm not sure how many ways there are to wear a cowboy hat, but I certainly witnessed a number of different ways of securing a helmet to a kid's head. One girl had even put her helmet on backwards, yes, you read that correctly...backwards. Of the 50+ kids that came to the rodeo, only 1 was wearing his helmet correctly prior to his visit to the bike check station. The rest needed serious adjustment. Helmet over the frontal lobe...check. Helmet strap situated so that the "V's" are directly below the ears...check. Helmet strap securely tightened so only 1-2 fingers can fit between your chin and the strap (oops, I needed to fix this on my helmet!)...okay, check. Kids without a helmet, or those in need of a new one could get the best deal in town with a $10 helmet provided by Bell and Swedish. You could be pretty in pink or rocking with a bad-ass black, grey and yellow helmet (and yes, for those of you who are wondering, I did try on one of the helmets, and yes, I'm embarrassed to admit that the kids-sized helmet did fit me. Don't laugh if you see me sporting a pretty pink ladybug helmet at the next race.)

With helmets secured, we sent the kids off to learn how to brake on a dime, ride through cones, and look over their shoulder without falling over. My personal favorite was the "Demon Driveway" obstacle course where the kids had to stop at the bushes and check for crossing cars, stop at a stop-sign, and yield at the end of the driveway and wait for the cardboard car to "drive" past. Such a simple concept, but considering how many kids each year get hit by cars, it could be a life-saving lesson for one of those kids.

Part of the Demon Driveway obstacle course.

An hour and a half later, I was exhausted, but very happy to have spent a Friday evening helping a great group of kids. And I'm not just saying that because so many of the little girls called my "outfit" (i.e. cycling kit) "pretty"!

-Kat Garner

Checking in from italy - from Liza

2010-05-15T15:22:00.002-06:00

Ciao from Italia.

Location:Segromigno in Piano, Lucca, Toscana

(please excuse any grammatical errors)

Today I rode for 3 hours and I could have been on the bike for 6 or 8 without knowing. I am constantly stimulated by the surrounding environment on the bike. As I dodge in and out of the traffic before riding up to the hills, smelling the fresh air, and never needing to ever clip out of my pedals. It is always difficult to ease back into training because the roads call to my legs to discover new places. My teammate Fredrika joined me for the initial part of my ride and I told stories about America as best I could in Italian while keeping both hands on the bars. I am pleased to have an Italian teammate living in the house to practice the language. The other girls are Polish, Ukraine and Brazilian and have picked up the language quite well the months they have been here. I arrived a bit later than planned due to races being canceled in Europe and the opportunity to race/work with Megan Hottman’s Treads.com/DFT team at a few NRC events. In addition I also got engaged to my surprise when I was home(Thank You Mr. Jono!).

Learning the importance of TEAM: Many days will be spent on the road together or like us- living in the same house. The atmosphere in the house is great, positive, supportive, everyone chipping in to wash, clean, cook, learn the language and train together. It is never easy living with women of different nationalities or beliefs, personalities, ages, habits, etc. but if everyone has a good attitude and works together it can be a good experience! I look forward to the different environment this year- although last year was fun, the riders seemed to have other interests rather than racing seriously.

Most commonly I am asked what is it like to live and race in Italy. Well, very different that the US I can tell you first off. Adaptation is most important and learning the way your director runs his program. In the US we have many choices of races to attend close to home and if we are lucky we can go to all the NRC races our team attends. On our team it depends on invitations we receive to races or which races our director thinks we have a chance at winning or doing well , otherwise it’s a waste of time and budget. For survival you have to commit to adapting to the change and possibly giving up some independence. Yes, that might mean training with the team and adjusting your program, or adapting your diet to what food the team provides. But if you are creative and positive it can be done. Another important tip- making suggestions about how you live, eat or speak in America is not a good idea because guess what you’re in Italy living in a team house, given a team bike, given a stipend and a life many would dream of- so best to keep your personal culture to yourself. As it may seem like a very controlled environment, yes it is to an extent which has taken me a few trips over here to understand. Our director is concerned with his reputation and the safety of his riders. Rightly so there are some sketchy teams or riders that do not have a pleasant or safe experience Last year I somehow managed to gain the respect of my director as a professional athlete. Asking questions- but not too many, being on time, showing up for daily rides with a clean bike, making an effort to race aggressively, informing my director of reasonable needs.

Our current team house has beautiful wooden windows/doors that open to a gardenia grande with small ancient statues- yeah it definitely has that Italian style. The backyard has and outdoor kitchen for summer bbq’s. In another corner of the property is coop for white doves (I have yet to figure out the significance of this)The Fanini Family lives in a large house in front of the property which is just behind the shop. It is very convenient for us if we need anything and to use the team cars to get around.

Leaving the fast paced, high tech life behind is a breath of fresh air. As always in the past, when I return to Italy my life becomes simple and more domestic. It is less about chatting on line, updating my facebook status, juggling different short term jobs and more living. However I did just find a wireless connection to poach today to my surprise. I sometimes wish people that get wrapped up in an environment of material needs and pressure to keep up with the Joneses could take a step back and absorb the importance of basic needs and quality of life.

Another big change for me that I value is the quality of fuel in the forno (oven). In otherwords- the quality of food I eat which allows me to exist and train. In the US my body tends to feel like it is digesting cardboard- whether it be organic or processed, it is just uncomfortable and filled with empty calories. Every item in our house will spoil with in 1-2 days if left in the frigo. Our meals also provide a social gathering- mostly in the morning or evening and a good time to learn new words or discuss what they mean. The afternoon (pranzo) is staggered due to post-ride activities, showering, stretching and training schedules.

Tomorrow we race a local amateur race- not sure if it’s a medio or gran-fondo but about 60km- so relatively short.

For now that is my latest update. Buona Notte.

Stormy Wheels of Thunder

2010-05-13T15:18:00.001-06:00

By Kasey:

Last weekend's Pro 1-2 women's field turnout was a sad statement to elite racing in Colorado. Only 5 women were registered for the Wheels of Thunder crit, a well organized, decent prize money race. Granted, most of our women were at Joe Martin, but who knows where the other local racers have gone? Since our field had such a small turnout, they grouped us together with the Cat 3's, so Treads.com had a total of 5 women in the field. Kori Seehafer made an early break which stuck, even though I made about 10 attack attempts to reel her in. The head wind made the attacking difficult. At about 20 minutes to go, I saw Renee Eastman make a break and I caught her wheel. Fortunately I had my teamates to slow down the rest of the pack, as Renee and I stayed away until the finish. I knew she would try to outsprint me, so I tried desperately to shake her off my wheel, but alas, she beat me in the end by a few inches. If only I had two more meters . . .!! But that made for 3rd place, and a spot on the podium! Hopefully the women's fields will only grow as the season progresses . . .

Joan and I at the start line:

Our Cat 3's at the start line

The Podium Shot!

SoCal Racing

2010-05-11T22:44:00.005-06:00

Since there is very little racing in Tucson (and the race season is nearly over in AZ), my husband Michael and I decided to make the drive to L.A. for some crit racing this past weekend. Also, he was such a big help for our team at Redlands and Gila – I couldn’t complain at all about going with him so he could finally do some racing himself!

Saturday was the Long Beach Grand Prix. The course was fun - 6 turns in downtown Long Beach with a whole festival going on around it. About 30 women lined up for the women’s 1/2/3 race. The race was pretty active with each of the strong local teams attacking throughout the race. Everything got brought back fairly quickly though. They saved all the primes until the last 3 laps to go, so the pace stayed fast for the last few laps. It came down to a field sprint; I finished just outside of the money. (As a side note, Michael was able to win a couple nice primes in his races and pulled out a 4th place finish in the master’s race and a win in the Police/Fire/Armed Forces category. Pretty cool category, which I for one have never seen in a race.)

Sunday was the Paramount Crit, and the race was also the Master’s SCNCA (Southern California/Nevada Cycling Association) Championship Crit. The race course was wide open with 4 right turns in an office park and a slight rise to the finish line. The women’s 35+ and 45+ categories raced together (but were scored separately) for the 7:30am first race of the day. A few of the racers from Saturday were there to race again, and I was impressed with the field size – I would guess there were 30-35 racers between the two categories. I was also impressed with the quality of racing. There were more cat 1s and 2s than not, and it was again an active race. But like the day before, none of the attacks resulted in any lasting breaks, so it came down to a field sprint. I was able to finish on the podium in 3rd place for the 35+ category. My friend and former pro racer Suzanne Sonye launched a strong attack just before the 2nd to last turn and held the field off to win the 45+ championship! I’m so happy for her.

After two men’s races, it was time for the women’s 1/2/3 race. Another strong field of about 30 women started the race. None of the many attacks in the first half of the race produced a break. Then somehow I found myself in a break of 8. Each of the main teams were represented, so I was pretty sure it would stick. We tried to work together, but it wasn’t quite as organized of a break as it needed to be. And there was a solo rider back in the peloton that for some reason decided to drag the whole group up to us. Why she didn’t just bridge up by herself – I have NO idea! So we were caught with about 3 laps to go. By the time we got to the last lap, my legs were done – so much so that they didn’t even want to try to sprint for the finish.

The races were fun, though they made me miss my teammates! It’s hard to know what moves to cover when you don’t know the competition and you don’t have teammates to help launch, counter, or cover attacks. You have to be careful to not burn too many matches when you’re racing solo. Maybe I was too careful?! Anyway, we really had a fun time racing. And it’s always a bonus when you get to race for free – i.e. between our winnings and Michael’s primes, we had enough cash to more than cover the cost of entry fees and gas. He also won a 4 night stay in Costa Rica (air fare not included)!

Final Day in Fayetteville

2010-05-10T08:14:00.001-06:00

Our Treads.com team of four was ready to take on the criterium in downtown Fayetteville. This year the course had changed slightly from years past and it seemed there were 20+ corners- ok, actually there were only 12. However, starting this stage the GC tends to change and it comes down to attrition. We all decided to just give it our best go because it's mostly about survival. I was lucky to clip-in my pedals quick and find myself on 3rd wheel for the first lap, got swarmed a bit 2nd lap on the hill, then flatted at the top of the climb on the 3rd lap just before the wheel pit- which was lucky. However, I did hear there was already one crash on the bottom corners so I kept that in mind the next few laps with the main field, but unfortunately I was tailed off. Laura stayed tucked in every lap with the front group and I rode in a group that Megan drove at the front keeping it safe and strung out, picking up a few shelled riders in the remaining laps. Kat gave it her all to finish in the next group back. As the course took its toll on the riders, the field was only around 12-15 at the finish due to another crash and the remains of the field rolled in. We were very fortunate to stay safe on this course and all finish out the race. Laura rode smart and conservative to stay upright and finish 6th. It was a great four days of racing and I'm looking forward to Fayetteville again next year.
Until next time.
Final Stage 4 results:
Laura VanGilder-6th, Megan Hottman-24th, Liza Rachetto- 35th, Kat Carr- 50th.

Racing to Razorback Stdium

2010-05-08T16:05:00.002-06:00

Today was stage 3 of Joe Martin Stage Race for our Treads.com team. We are fortunate enough to have the knowledge and experience of Laura Vangilder joining us for the race. Today's stage we anticipated would likely end in a sprint finish so our goal would be to assist her in positioning for that scenario, but we also decided best to continue representing in any break that went up the road. So with our goals, we succeeded well to get in all the key moves- and there were numerous attacks at some points in the race. But also it came back together for the long straightaway drag sprint to the finish, it was a constant battle to stay in good position let alone find our sprinter. I saw an opportunity to jump out into the wind and pull up as far as I possibly could until nothing was left in the tank and I did, I wasn't sure if it was help Laura's advancing in the sprint but I tried anyways and she managed to pull off 2nd! Kat held her own in the massive sprint to stay up front and finish 5th.Megan raced aggressive helping us cover key moves to represent. For our small team of 4 we had great cohesiveness and team racing today! Tomorrow is the downtown criterium.
Results: Laura Van Gilder 2nd, Kat Carr 5th, Megan and Liza in the field.

Standings after the uphill TT

2010-05-07T10:56:00.000-06:00

Does the van look great, or what?

After the TT, our TREADS.COM/DFT women stand as follows in the GC: Hottman 23rd, Van Gilder 45th, Rachetto 51st and Carr 60th.

Last year, Van Gilder, riding for Mellow Mushroom, was 2nd in today's road race.

There's a tricky corner at the finish where you turn left and the road squeezes down. Then, you make an immediate right, do some little hills, but by then they don't feel so small, especially as teams jack up the pace to make the next right and fire it up the climb to the finish. In last year's race, I had worked hard to put myself on Van Gilder's wheel. However, when we turned left, she slipped through the inside pinch of the corner and I did not. Got trapped and by the time I got through the front was blazing up the first hill. Bah! :)

Here's wishing our women good luck and top finishes.

Elites off to the Joe Martin Memorial Stage Race

2010-05-06T11:32:00.001-06:00

TREADS.COM/DFT will be fielding a race-hardened squad at JMMSR this year. Riders include Liza Rachetto, Megan Hottman, Kat Carr and guest-rider, Laura Van Gilder. Stay tuned for more info. Uphill TT this evening.

Gila Recap-2nd NRC race in the bag!

2010-05-05T08:50:00.000-06:00

By Kasey:
As Megan said in her Gila posts, I can't imagine having been to the Gila with any other team! We had such a positive, amazingly supportive group of girls down there, which is so helpful to me as I try to learn this sport at the national level. Atrocious winds and the strongest women's field ever made me feel pretty good about my overall results. Maybe it was the terrain, or the smaller field, but I definitely felt much more comfortable in the pack here than at Redlands. It's encouraging to see improvement so quickly. I can't wait to come back next year, and to actually race aggressively, rather than just surviving! And a big thank you to my wonderful host family, Bonnie and Librado, for letting me stay all week in their wonderful guest house!
Until next time . . .

The blonde squad trio after Saturday's Crit:

My wonderful hosts, Bonnie and Librado!

Gila day 5- gila monster

2010-05-03T10:16:00.000-06:00

Similar to the way the race went down last year, as soon as we finished the neutral rollout from town, a group of 7 or so jumped off the front and got up the road. PB2012 and our team did not have someone in the break but we were not concerned as it was allowed only 40-60 seconds by the field which indicated -just like last year -it'd be reeled in just before the final beast climb of the day. And it was. The pack stayed together to the base of the climb, reeled in the break group, and then the field just shattered as the super-human climbers raced up the steep switchbacks while the rest of us worked to put one pedal in front of the other.

Initially Marisa was up in the lead group up the climb, but she dropped back to my group (the chase group) consisting of about 7 riders, to help pace me up the climb and get me to the finish, in the hopes we could try to move me up in GC a few spots. Her efforts did just the trick and at 1k to go, I jumped the pack hoping to put as much time into anyone near me in GC, as possible. However the legs quickly bogged down and I barely held them off to the finish line. I took 13th on the stage, Marisa finished in the group right behind me, and then very shortly thereafter, Kasey came rolling through. The girls did so well all week, I was really proud of them.

Because it was cold and actually snowing for parts of the final climb, we all said our farewells and took off. Rob and I packed up the tahoe and hit the road, arriving home last night around 1am. It certainly made for a long day of racing and driving, but it feels sooooo good to be home.

In just a few short days I leave again for Joe Martin - 12 hour drive in the OTHER direction (Fayetteville, Ark).

Final Criterium in Sandy Springs

2010-05-03T07:40:00.001-06:00

Our fearless Treads.com team was ready to tackle Sandy Springs course with intent again to set up Tiffany for the final sprint. We raced conservatively for the first half, focusing on staying near the front to avoid splits or to be represented in any moves that went up the road. The race was very active with teams initiating attacks or preems motivating the riders, there was no lack in speed. The course itself was challenging yet a fun circuit with 6 turns, uphill finish, some flowing down and ups on the backside. We also had a small local cheering section of friends that helped our motivation. Our conditions today played in our favor since Tiffany and I like to race in the wind (gusts up to 30mph!). Fortunately this did shell a lot of the field, but not enough to weaken the strong riders and AGAIN Rushlee (Colavita/Baci) attacked solo with five to go. Kori Seehafer (team type 1) attempted to bridge and I was on her wheel, it was too late when I decided to roll through- the field was on us and Rushlee was quickly gaining time. As the field preped for the sprint for 2nd in the final laps it was constant positioning as usual and focusing on sticking to the right wheels for the last few turns, I did my best to move up safely in the draft to help Tiffany but it wasn't enough. I was a bit discouraged that I didnt take more of a risk-maybe 2 redbulls before the next race would be better? Anyhow, our teamwork displayed over the week was solid, each rider learning something and everyone fighting off allergies from the Southeast pollen. Next year we will be back, more motivated and savvy!
Sandy Springs Results: 9th Liza, 11th Tiffany, 18th Linsey
Team Overall GC: 2nd
Overall Omnium: 5th Liza, 6th Tiffany, 19th Linsey, 28th Kat

Lookout Mounatin Hill Climb, Cat 3

2010-05-02T09:19:00.002-06:00

In keeping with my tradition of pre-registering for races that have snow in the forecast, I signed up for the Lookout Mountain Hill Climb. For those of you not in the Denver area, Lookout Mountain is a popular ride for cyclist, motorcyclists, and for student drivers. The climb itself is only about 4 miles from "pillar to post". A top of Lookout Mountain is Buffalo Bill's Grave. I think with many of the hill repeats that I have done on this ride, I have only stopped once to pay homage.

Anyway, waking up on Saturday morning the sun was actually out, and winds not so bad. I decided that I would ride my bike out to the race as a warm up. Well my coach had stated not to ride too hard and then actually start my hard warm up after I went under I-70. Hydrating along the way, I decided to stop my leisurely ride and use some nice restrooms and then when I hit I-70 I realized I really needed to ride much faster to get there at 8:00 (30 minutes before our 8:30 start time). Well I must have gotten every stop light along the way and rolled into the start area at 8:10. Luckily they had not sent the SW3 paperwork up the mountain yet and they still had my number. It was a cold morning but knew the climb would make me warm, so I stripped off my leg warmers and gloves and put them in my bag of warm clothes that would be carried up the mountain and waiting for me at the top. I randomly asked someone to pin on my number for me. He put in two pins and that was it. I didn't have much time so I had to settle for flapping in the wind.

I did a few more warm ups up the starting hill before taking my place at the line. The SW3 field raced with the 35+, 45+, and 55+ women. Looking back there were a lot of women. When the timers went off we left the bottom pillar and headed to the "post" 4 miles above. I know this ride in my sleep but it is always interesting when you are racing it. It pretty much is an individual time trial up the hill. Some girls really hammered up the first hills, but then quickly faded as more curves and turns came up. I have mentally divided this race into 4 areas, there is the first switchback area, then the "flat uphill" area, the second switchback area, and then the final push to the top. On the "flat uphill area" I was able to start picking off riders in front of me and settle into a comfortable fast cadence. Someone mentioned this to me at the end of the race. They noticed I was doing my own thing and just advancing past riders.

The lead riders were about 30 seconds ahead and despite trying to push myself harder on each area I was unable to catch them. The final curve on Lookout is actually quite fun. It is sort of a downhill but you can work up enough momentum for the slightly uphill finish. I had been right on one girl for the entire time and knew I could eek out somewhat of a sprint on the corner if I got enough momentum. Sure enough I did, passing with 200m to go. For someone like me that is not a real sprinter, I felt good that I had that final burst in me.

All in all it was a good race. No rain but like all Lookout descents after the race, it sent me into hypothermia almost shaking off my bike and I made a Bee line to the Golden Starbucks. It was pretty hilarious since most of the other women ( including Michelle, Cat 4 and her first race) had the same idea. Ultimately I came in forth in a time of 24:15 . I think the best thing about this race was seeing how many women were out there. I heard that there were 50 Cat 4 women that started! That is amazing and great for women's cycling in Colorado!

Roberta

Not a Dull Day in Dilworth

2010-05-01T16:13:00.004-06:00

Our Treads.com team made the drive from Spartanburg to Charlotte for some fast racing in Latta Park. Our game plan was to continue being represented in any dangerous moves and attack more towards the end of the race. Linsey and Kat made attacks to help string out the field. Just after a preem there were two riders off the front and one being Rushlee Buchanan(Colavita-Baci) I sensed this could be the move and it was. One additional rider bridged and our group of four was strong, keeping a good rotation and with two preems offered in those laps the gap remained 10-15 seconds ahead of the field. I picked up the first $100 preem but decided the 1lap to go preem for $250 was too risky. I did my best to ride it smart letting Amber (Fruit 66) leadout Rushlee and myself, in hindsight I probably should have attacked early because Rushlee's jump was too strong for me to match and I had to settle for 2nd. It was one of those days I was glad to take the risk of trying instead of saying "I should have done..." Just one more day is left in the Speedweek series and it would be awesome if our team could win the overall omnium tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
Liza Rachetto

Liza takes 2nd at speedweek today!

2010-05-01T12:45:00.002-06:00

Can't wait to hear how the race unfolded but here's the podium photo:

Speed in Spartanburg

2010-05-01T08:15:00.003-06:00

Friday night was the 5th criterium of the series and our goal was to place Tiffany on the podium. We wanted to race aggressive, testing our legs for the preems or potential breakaways. The race was again active with attacks from Vanderkitten, Type 1 and Treads.There was a potential dangerous move which was perfect for us with Tiffany and Teresa Clif-Ryan off the front, however Type 1 brought reeled it in. Linsey attempted to bridge to a solo rider and later again near the end attacked from the field allowing us to sit-in for the final laps. Kat raced hard working to bring threatening moves back and unfortunately flatted with 3 to go which was very disappointing for her. At two laps to go I found myself sitting third wheel and I was not about to slip too far back, hoping I could drop Tiffany off in a good position near the last corner. However, she was forced to the barriers and unable to make the final jump. We are hoping to keep inching our way onto the podium today and tomorrow.
Results:Liza 4th, Tiffany 5th and Linsey 18th
2nd In team overall.

Gila day 3- windy TT

2010-04-30T14:01:00.008-06:00

Today was the time trial which means a day of lower stress levels and just one massive individual effort. The TT is a tough course with some climbing and descending and today we had some serious wind (though not nearly as bad as yesterday) and chilly temps to add to the mix. Many opted not to race their discs or deep dish front wheels because the wind would funnel through the trees along the course and felt like it'd whip your bike out from under you.

We are down to 3 riders: Me, Marisa and Kasey. I decided I would take some risks today in the hopes I might be able to improve my 19th place GC so I opted to the run the rear disc with a regular front wheel. (photo courtesy of Peter Adamkovics).

Marisa and Kasey played it safe skipping the disc. We all busted our butts out there and went hard, and we finished safely without getting blown off the road.

shown here, we three blondes, all smiles, after our race was over:

Because I am our team's highest GC rider I had the honor of having our team director -aka my hubby -drive the car behind me during my race. He kept shouting encouragements and it really helped. It was motivating having him there for the whole race.

Prelim results showed I placed 20th today, which kept me in 19th GC (doh!) and Marisa and Kasey's GC positions also remain essentially unchanged. So now we have the crit tomorrow and the final road race -GILA MONSTER - on Sunday to try hard to move our positions up.

Team hangs with mayor at Speedweek

2010-04-30T09:37:00.001-06:00

Treads.com/DFT racers Linsey, Kat, Tiffany and Liza hang out with former Spartanburg mayor, Bill Barnet:

Gila day 2 - not a good day for deep dish wheels . . .

2010-04-29T16:44:00.003-06:00

So we knew it'd be windy today, that part didn't come as a surprise. but talking about 60mph winds and then actually riding in them are two different things. It was so windy the building we parked near at the finish was losing big metal panels (as in -flying off the roof). It was so windy I saw one of those giant orange construction signs blow through the air like paper. I saw one girl blow from the right side of the road to the left before she was literally blown off her bike. I saw masters riders who'd started before us, literally walking their bikes with bike shoes in hand as they hoofed it to the finish. Rob saw two girls with deep dish wheels literally trying to stop their bikes from being airborne kites. In a nutshell - it was brutally windy. the gravel picked up and thrown at our skin actually hurt - it stung like bee stings. I was glad all of our girls opted for normal wheels and not the deep dish wheels. It was unsafe-windy. Two local highways are closed due to poor visibility from blowing dirt. And yet - we were racing in it . . .

So the race itself - the wind made being towards the front more crucial than ever. The first sprint point is near mile 7 so it kicks things off and then as the road continues up and up, a front group just sort of separated itself from the rest. As luck would have it, I found myself in that group of 20-ish riders and was pretty darn stoked about that since in year's past I haven't made that selection. Even more fortunate for me, early on some riders got off the front which put PB2012 under serious pressure to protect their lead. So again like yesterday, their team went to the front of our group to start bringing back the break. At various times there were a few women up the road, forcing certain teams to chase. What that meant for me was that I got to sit in, conserve, and try to survive the stage. As we made our way through the second feed zone and began the long climb into the insane winds back to the finish, we all just tried to keep our bikes upright and worked hard not to crash into each other. Colavita had 2 riders off the front, so PB2012 and VBF were trying to reel in the gap. The final one mile our group really splintered and I think I ended up 10th-12th on the stage (results not posted) - by far the best stage result I've ever enjoyed in my 5 years at the gila.

Marisa, Kasey and Gwen were in the chase group, but Marisa had mechanical/shifting issues and had to get a fix from SRAM so Gwen and Kasey worked to bring her back into the group. The group wasn't super motivated to chase despite Marisa and Kasey trying to get some work going. Around mile 70, Gwen's bike seized up on her - as in, chain wouldn't go, pedals wouldn't go round and so she had no choice but to flag down a support car and get a ride in. This is a HUGE bummer and we are hoping to get to the bottom of the reason her bike acted up. We will really miss Gwen's super strong engine on the remaining 3 stages. Kasey and Marisa finished in the chase group. Bottom line most important: we all finished safe - which is more than I can say for the girls I saw getting blown to the pavement.

Today's stage is always the hardest of the gila's 5 days, but with the wind today, it was emotionally and mentally wicked wicked wicked. I am proud of our gals for staying in good spirits despite the setbacks of the day. We missed Amy, who we believe has a broken wrist from yesterday's crash -and we are wishing her SPEEDY recovery!!!!

Many thanks again to mike for making it to feed zone 1 which SAVED our butts on the hydration front, and to Rob for driving like a maniac to feed all of us at various times today. Phoenix rode along in the truck during the stage and received quite a bit of attention from the other team cars (photo coming courtesy of SRAM).

our SW3-4 team -Susan, Holly and Becky - also survived today's stage and the conditions. We are waiting for results on their finish. Glad they are also safe.

UPDATE: results are posted: http://www.tourofthegila.com/2010race/day2womens12gc.html
Our field went from 72 women to 60.

Thanks for reading!
Megan

Walterboro Criterium and Post Race Fire

2010-04-29T07:24:00.001-06:00

Our Treads Team was ready to race in full force today without hesitation. Walterboro’s race began relatively mellow without many attacks in the opening laps. After the initial five laps the pace picked up with Team Type 1, Colavita trying to get someone up the road or create separation to occur. BMW-Bianchi also sent one rider on the attack twice. Kat Carr and Tiffany Pezzulo each attacked for some preems while Liza and Linsey followed in the field with the chase groups. Towards the end of the race Kat did a strong attack at 5 to go and Linsey followed with an additional jump next to string out the field allowing Tiffany and Liza to position for the finish. Our intention was to set up Tiffany in good position, top2- 3 before the last two corners, but there was a lot of swarming and tremendous position changing that did not play out to our favor. However we had great team representation for the evening. Results are still not posted, however Liza 6^th/7^th, Tiffany 10^thor 11^th, Kat and Linsey top20?

Following the race a local law firm had a reception for us during the men’s race and we were able to mingle with the locals. The hospitality was great despite our motel located near 3 large firework warehouse stores. At about 1am we heard a loud *BOOM*, as Linsey peered out the window only to see a large cloud of smoke and two police cars arriving. We figured something was lit off in the parking lot, within a few minutes the police showed up banging on our door to ask if we had set off the fireworks- “Ha, ha, no we did not officer you can search our room- we are trying to go to sleep” replied Linsey. A few minutes later we continued to hear discussions outside and then saw firetrucks arrive and furniture removed from the lobby and placed in the parking lot which seemed a little odd at this point obviously something caught on fire. This morning as I sit and type the report in the lobby which as 2 holes in the ceiling probably from a bottle rocket, interesting. Next year we will probably stay in host housing. Just a friendly reminder to all cyclists- if you are provided with host housing or a hotel it’s probably not a good idea to set it on fire.

Reporting from the Planters INN, Walterboro, South Carolina

Gila day 1 -the good, bad and ugly

2010-04-28T16:25:00.002-06:00

Hey there, Megan here, reporting for our team on the happenings of Day 1 of the Gila. We were blessed with relatively low winds for most of the stage, as well as slightly overcast/lower temps so hydration wasn't as huge today and we could focus on positioning in the pack without dropping back for bottles. I was so proud of everyone - especially our NRC newbies, Amy and Kasey, for constantly advancing their position and trying to stay near the front. Marisa and Gwen and I also did a good job staying where we needed to be and it was so fun to look across the peleton at times to see our colors -there's nothing like knowing you've got friends for teammates in the peleton, it really makes this so much more fun.

Right after the neutral rollout, Anne S of VBF took off and no one chased. She eventually had over 6 minutes on the field. This worked to our advantage as PB2010, tibco, colavita and webcor all had to get serious about chasing. Us -well, we were happy to see Anne up the road and we were content to race for 2nd so we didn't need to participate in the hunt. Eventually, the entire PB2010 squad went to the front in TTT fashion and began to chip away at Anne's lead.

The stage flew by and before we knew it we were making the right hand turn to begin the final 6.7 miles which includes some intense climbing for the final 3 miles. Just after the first few miles, as the climb was starting to get steeper, our team all worked to move up in the field so we could do the climb with the front group. Without any good reason whatsoever, a group of girls went down on the left side of the road and as luck would have it, that's where Amy and I were positioned. Amy went down and hurt her wrist and her bars went crooked (but she's tough and strong so she got right back on the back and finished the stage!). I tried to lock up my brakes to avoid it but couldn't stop and so instead of doing an endo over the down riders, I opted to ride off the road. Oops. Steep incline of gravel met me and I tumbled down -luckily coming unclipped from my bike, which made its way even further down. I ran and grabbed the bike and then tried to shimmy up the gravel to get back on the road. Easier said than done, especially with bike in tow. It was like running the incline in Colorado Springs with ice skates on. I kept slipping back down -so I started shouting up to the road "hey can someone help me I'm stuck down here." But no one came. Desperate, I began clawing at roots and rocks and trees with my left hand as I drug the bike up with my right hand. I finally made it back to the road and of course my chain was off (and rear der was jacked) but I got the chain on and finding that I was stuck with my 27, decided to get busy riding.

Meanwhile, Marisa and Kasey and Gwen were making their way up the climb and doing a fine job of it, I might add. Results won't be posted till later but we think Marisa was 13-15th, then Kasey, then Gwen, Megan and Amy. Amy and I got busy climbing that climb and amazingly, began picking off riders that had been dropped.

Of course i'm bummed about the crash, because my legs felt awesome and when I finally did start the climb I felt amazingly strong and wish I'd had a shot at climbing it with the leaders. But I am equally grateful to be ok and to have been able to finish the stage. going off the road like that could have been quite bad. And several of the other crashed riders sustained some tough injuries. So - I'm glad that I am healthy and ready to take a crack at day #2. Hoping Amy's wrist is ok so she can hit tomorrow too.

Can't say enough good things about my team here - I wouldn't choose anyone else in this peleton to ride alongside me, these gals really are great and I'm proud of them. Also pumped and proud of my hubby Rob for doing an excellent job directing our little squad - he's been great! And mucho thanks to Gwen's hubby Mike for feeding us in feed zone #1 - -THANKS MIKE AND ROB!!

Thanks for reading!

Speedweek: Beaufort -from Liza

2010-04-27T20:33:00.002-06:00

Beaufort Criterium:
Tonight our race was located in historic beaufort, south carolina founded in 1711. One of the few historic towns that was not burned in the civil war.On the start line tonight Tiffany and Liza received call ups for 7th and 6th place in the series. We were ready to race aggressive tonight, however so was everyone else. Colavita started to put the pressure on early with Rushlee Buchanan hitting the field multiple times with attacks. Eventually the field was spilt with a group of 10 up the road with representatives of all the teams including Liza. However the break would not work together to stay away and the field caught up.Linsey set up a nice attack at 5 to go which helped string out the field. In the final two laps Liza stayed near the front with the the last two laps managing to help tiffany in the end.
Results:Tiffany 6th, Liza 12th and Linsey 14th.
Thanks for Reading we are headed to Walterboro tomorrow.

Read Tiffany's Beaufort report.

TREADS.COM/DFT off to Tour of the Gila

2010-04-27T08:19:00.003-06:00

Tomorrow, our women join 70 others for the 2010 Tour of the Gila. Last year, the field was dominated by Olympic gold medalist, Kristen Armstrong. This year, however, looks to be quite a battle among the strongest teams.

Marisa Asplund

TREADS.COM/DFT will be lead by the 2010 U.S. national elite duathalon champion, Marisa Asplund, formerly of pro teams, Cheerwine and Tibco. Asplund has done this race several times, finishing 13th in last year's general classification and 7th in 2008. Asplund's time trialing expertise along with her ability to climb makes her a strong contender in this particular stage race.

Megan Hottman

Also providing experience, leadership and time trialing skill is team owner, Megan Hottman. Hottman, a 2009 Masters National Champ on the track, knows this race inside and out.

Gwen Inglis

Gwen Inglis rounds out the crew of Gila veterans and will likely play an important role in ensuring Asplund makes it to the base of the climbs ready to take it to the top with the lead group. Having raced against and with Inglis many times, I can tell you hers is a hard wheel to hold when she starts cranking on the power.

Amy Gray-Smith

Kasey Clark

Rounding out the Gila squad are new elite racers, Kasey Clark and Amy Gray-Smith, both who have been racing heavily and rapidly accumulating experience on the national stage.

View race map and full profile

Stage 1: Mogollon
Mogollon finishes with a 6.7 mile exercise in suffering. I'm not making that up. Having done this race last year, I feel qualified to speak on the point.

The first two miles finish with a 13% grade leading to a flattish section where you'll want to rest, but will instead have to red-line it in order to stay hooked as you'll be assaulted by crosswinds and teams drilling it to shell their rivals and deliver their climbers to the base of the final climb at the front. The whole race is an effort to arrive at the final 7 miles in the best condition possible.

This year, that 2 mile flattish section looks to be especially bad. Weather.gov claims riders will be dealing with WSW winds around 25 mph and gusts exceeding 30 mph if they arrive at the base of the climb near their predicted time of 11:30 am (MST).

Cat 3 Team Dominate at Groove Subaru Crit

2010-04-26T21:04:00.002-06:00

Recap of the race from Kat G.:

This weekend was the first time that all 4 of the the Cat 3 team really spent any time together, starting at a pre-race dinner hosted by Roberta and husband Paul on Saturday night and the Subaru Groove Crit in Golden on Sunday afternoon. Well-fueled from all the food that Roberta and Paul cooked for us, we showed up in Golden excited to test out the team strategy we had discussed over dessert the night before. Bike racing is a little bit like chess....you have to have some general moves planned out in advance, but your opponents truly dictate the game and you have to think on the fly. Our plan was to attack early and attack often, and hope that with 4 of us in the field, we would be able to split the field at some point.

The crit was 45 minutes on an oval-shaped wide open course. Riding around the course feels like you have hopped onto a rollercoaster ride as you climb up through the start finish and then descend back down, only to do it all over again. There were 12 Cat 3 women in the race....a fairly small field but enough to keep the pace fast and the race interesting. DFT started off conservatively, marking other teams for the first couple of laps, letting the other riders wear themselves out. About 10 minutes in, the officials rang the bell signaling the first prime of the race. We'd been told beforehand that it was a t-shirt. Now there is nothing wrong with a free t-shirt, but when they tell you that it will be "pajama-sized' on all of us ladies, it's not exactly the type of prize you want to waste your energy going after. So again we just tucked in, stayed at the front, and watched some other girl go for the prime, pretty much uncontested from the other 11 of us.

The pack all together...but not for long.

Fast-forward 8 minutes and we have the 2nd prime of the race, this time worth $20 in cash. The DFT girls were smartly riding near each other, and on the inside going into the last corner, meaning we were safe from the 20+ mph gusts of wind on the course. I (Kat) moved up to the front with Roberta, Jill and Susan close on my wheel. I was marking one of the stronger girls in the race, planning to lead out one of our stronger sprinters if I had the opportunity. Well I didn't need to, because for whatever reason the girl in front of me didn't sprint to the line, so about 30 yards out I punched it down a few gears and sprinted around her for a sweet $20.

I think I need bigger arms, or smaller armwarmers.

As I moved over to the left to catch my breath, I saw Roberta and Jill on my right cheering for our little mid-race victory. I looked over my shoulder to notice that we had somehow gained a 15-second gap over the rest of the field. In between gasping to catch my breath I yelled at Roberta and Jill, two very strong time-trialers, to GO GO GO!! And they did just that, taking off and putting a sizeable gap on the field that would stick for the next 27 minutes of the race. Turns out that Susan got a flat just as we were sprinting for the prime and after getting a neutral wheel from Rol Wheels, they put her back in and she managed to bridge up to Susan and Roberta. So we now have 3 DFT riders off the front, with a HUGE gap! Seeing the three DFT jerseys off the front of the race was inspiring and I settled back into the pack to help block any attempt by the other teams to chase them down. After taking a hard pull, Susan eventually fell back into the pack, but Roberta and Jill were able to hang on for that 1-2 spot....and the next $20 prime.

Now that's a pretty sight!

The sprint finish!

We were all excited to race so well together in the first race of the season for the team. We all played an integral role (even in trying to calculate how to divide 2 $20 checks, two $5 bills and one $10 bill among 4 people). The only way the race could have been more successful was if we'd won that pajama-sized t-shirt. (just kidding...)

As a team we had decided prior to this race that one of our goals for the year is to have each of us win a race. Well, 1 down, 3 to go....stay tuned for more exciting updates from the Cat 3 girls, Jill, Roberta, Susan, and Kat G.

Thanks to Susan's husband Peter for the awesome camera-work!

http://fastducatirider.smugmug.com/Sports/DFT-powered-by-TREADS/GrooveSubaru-Crit-April-2010/11964812_rhRk6#847675387_7CGY3

Roswell crit --day 2 of Speedweek - from Liza

2010-04-25T19:46:00.003-06:00

A Sunny Day in Roswell.

Tiffany, Linsey and Liza rode out to the Roswell Criterium from Marietta, Georgia.

We were determined to try racing aggressive today, but still try to help position Tiffany well for the sprint. Luckily today we had sunny skies a dry course and some women excited to race. Last year the race finished with a large breakaway group of sprinters so we were anticipating this might be a good day for a break. Unfortunately the field did not put out the aggressiveness we were hoping for. However Linsey had a good day, and spent a lap off the front and Tiffany consistently stayed at the front. At three laps to go we were positioned well at the front, but like always the key is holding that position and avoiding the swarm. The race unfolded differently without any large teams to drive a lead-out train to string out the field. Tiffany and a number of other top sprinters got swarmed and pushed back with 2 corners to go and I took advantage of an opening on the outside to take the last two corners wide and moved up. It was a long sprint from the finish and there wasnt any moving up after the last corner. We were pleased to stay safe today, but looking to ride a little more aggressively on Tuesday in Beaufort.

Results: 7th Liza, 19th Tiffany, 23rd Linsey

Thanks for Reading!

Rubbins' racing...

2010-04-25T18:51:00.004-06:00

At the Subaru Crit today I was so excited to race with Megan and Gwen in my first ACA 2010 race with the ladies and on the second lap I felt this violent pull on my back wheel that took me out of the saddle and made me momentarily lose control. I managed to stay upright and look over my shoulder to see another racer not so lucky. Gwen rode along side me and asked if everything was alright and I thought, sure but what happened? She said it looked like the other racer got her front quick release lever caught in my rear derailleur cable and to make sure all my gears worked. I ran through the gears (trying to stay with the group, of course) and even though the shifting was fine I kept feeling this funny shake in my back wheel. On the fourth lap, my back wheel seized up and about threw me off the bike. After the second save of the day I was counting my blessings and a nice race mechanic ran over to discover my wheel was out of true and a spoke severely damaged. Nice trick, aye? He ran to get me a back wheel and I quickly backed out knowing that now I have a HUGE problem; trashed race wheel and leaving for Gila tomorrow...AHHHHH! Hubby called around for a spoke and no luck but Treads, our WONDERFUL bike shop had a shiny pair of Ksyrium SL's with my name written all over them. We ran down to the Treads in Parker (yes I live in the boonies but I LOVE my bike shop!!) and Ted the manager hooked us up with the sale and Pear the BEST bike mechanic in the world took my old cassette off the damaged wheel, put on some new tubes and tires and the best part of this whole fiasco is that I lost nearly a pound in weight. Just in time for an event I'm not quite sure I'm cut out for...the Gila Monster.
THANK YOU Treads in Parker, Ted and Pear and of course my wonderful Husband, Marc!!
The team heads to New Mexico tomorrow...stay tuned...

Subaru crit (ACA)

2010-04-25T14:56:00.001-06:00

As a final pop in the legs before we ship off to the gila, Gwen, Amy and I lined up for this race located conveniently close to my house (which allowed a nice ride over instead of starting the car-I love not having to drive to a race!). The women's field was quite small, which was surprising given that the season is in full swing and the weather was decent today. We had our sights set on putting as many of us as possible into the payout. Rebecca Much of Tibco was present and she spiced things up early, jumping on the climb through the s/f to see who would/could respond. After a few of those, we had a group of 4 off the front: Gwen, Rebecca, myself and another rider. (Unfortunately Amy and another rider tangled each other's pedals and spokes and Amy's wheel was compromised, so she pulled out and went straight to the shop to get her wheel fixed!).

A $25 prime (pronounced "preem") was announced and I timed my attack for it just as the men's 45+ field (also racing on the course at the same time we were) came by -in the confusion I was able to get up the road and score the $. A few laps later our group was down to 3: gwen, rebecca and me. A second $25 prime was announced and Rebecca and I drag-raced up the hill to the s/f line with me narrowly taking the prize.

Being in a 3-man break with a teammate is absolutely divine. You really have the ability to put the other rider under pressure in a 2-vs-1 dynamic, and that's precisely what Gwen and I did. The final laps of the race unfolded textbook style - I attacked with 3 laps to go and was clear for a lap with Much chasing me and Gwen on her wheel. As soon as they caught me, Gwen attacked and was clear for a lap with Much chasing and me on her wheel. On the final lap, Much reeled Gwen in at the last corner and I jumped Much for the sprint. I was able to hold her off to the line, taking 1st and Gwen taking 3rd -plus we scored all 3 primes of the race: 2 cash primes and a 12-pack of Stella. life is good ;)

Athens Twilight Criterium recap (NRC) from Liza

2010-04-25T14:33:00.000-06:00

NRC Race

Terrapin Twilight in Athens, Georgia

Pouring Rain in Athens But not on Treads.com/DFT spirits!

Results: Tiffany 6th, Liza 14th

Our team traveled out to the southwest for a week of speed and some fantastic racing! Leading up to the race we traveled from Marietta, Georgia to Athens, Georgia. I personally was very excited to do this criterium after 9 years of racing but never having the opportunity to race Athens Twilight and it definitely met my expectation! Music, Crowds of People, Funnel Cake and Hotdog Tents, and a bike race in the dark. However, just as we lined up the storm rolled with rain in to give us some wet and slick roads.

None-the less we started out and in our pre-race meeting decided to be opportunitistic. Tiffany was a star in hitting out for a few preems and forcing the field chase for 1-2 laps. I managed to go for one preem and Kat Carr was consistently present at the front and ready for anything. Unfortunately we lost Linsey early on to a mechanical in the first lap, she managed to keep racing but was also later caught up in a crash. The field was actually relatively steady and safe around the corners, with a few attacks from Vera Bradley and Vanderkitten the race otherwise stayed compact for the hour. At one lap to go Kat and I were near the front, however just one girl had her wheel slip on the paint strip and it was a domino effect going into the last lap.

Luckily Tiffany was ahead of the crash. She had a great result and was happy to stay safe as the five finishers in front of her crashed AFTER the finish line! I managed to untangle my bike and still roll in to finish 14th! Better luck today for us at Roswell.

Thanks for Reading

Suffering in Iowa

2010-04-25T12:06:00.007-06:00

While my teamies are off racing NRC events on the coast and preparing for an assault on the Gila, I headed next door to Iowa to open my race season and see how I felt now that my leg is mending and my training is picking up. Ended up 6th in the Iowa City Road Race and 4th in the Old Capitol Crit. I really needed a teammate.

The road race was quite dull with few attacks. I pressed the pace up a few hills to test legs, including my own and found there were at least three other riders who'd shown up determined to score some cash. One rider in particular, Lisa Vetterlein, who rode for Kenda in '05, was especially strong. As it turns out, she is also a Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) world record holder. I believe she took the wins both days and I'm looking forward to racing her again as my form improves.

Anyway, the few attacks that had occurred failed to split the pack and on the 3rd of 4 laps, I decided to give a huge effort and see what came of it. As we approached the turn where the headwind became a crosswind from the left, I determined to attack about 100 yards from the corner and then put the field in the gutter and see if some damage could be done. The move was a success, but it was also too expensive in my current condition. As we turned at the next corner to take advantage of the tailwind and put distance on the field, Vetterlein and Kim Eppin put the pressure on up a power climb and I was unable to close the gap and no one did it for me. The chase group did not want to reel in Vetterlein and Eppin badly enough, so they took the race and I was outsprinted by my chase companions ending up 6th. I consoled myself thoughts of vengeance on the Old Capitol Crit course, which I've won twice.

Unfortunately, not only did the other racers recall this course has meant success for me in the past, but the reason for those successes happened to be a rather fierce power climb, which this weekend, was a weakness, not a strength. Concerned, I hoped for more rain. I thought my one chance might be to take the right turn at the bottom of the hill after the start/finish line as fast as I dared and perhaps force more sensible riders to slow and allow a gap to open. If the gap opened large enough, maybe I could pace up the hill and expand the gap by ripping wet corners on the rest of the flat course.

However, the rain stopped, the pavement dried, and although I was able to create a gap that others fought the headwind to close, they didn't have to fight it long and hard enough before they were back on my wheel. Vetterlein attacked up the climb on lap six, I think, with Eppen and Kristen Meshberg going with her. The gap opened, the leg said no way, and away they went. My attitude plummeted, but upon reaching the top of the hill and after a few rubs I determined to finish the race. Shortly thereafter, Robin Williams joined me and then she attacked me on the hill, scooting away as she does so well, especially at the start of cx races.

Grr. That was too much. Decided the race was now a great opportunity to practice cornering and to make the most of my steady state power with smooth lines. In short order, Williams was reeled in and then dropped off, but I never saw the other 3 again.

In summary, the weekend was great training and I hope to give all the women a better run for their money at the end of May in the Memorial Weekend races. Yeah, that's right. I'll see you Iowans again. :)

Treads.com/DFT Speedweek Squad

2010-04-24T19:42:00.000-06:00

The best thing about having a good sized elite team is that the speedsters can do one place and the stage racers another. Treads.com/DFT has a crew hitting it hard at Speedweek in the southeast while the stage racers make their bids in the west.

The Speedweek Team
Tiffany Pezzulo, Liza Rachetto, Kat Carr & Linsey Sandoval

Better Late than Never!

2010-04-23T20:06:00.002-06:00

Wanted to post a few things in regards to our sponsors and the springs racing scene!

Amy Graham with Wayz to Wealth did my taxes this year and is phenomenal! Just wanted to put a shot out there as she did them with late notice and met me in Castle Rock to make it happen. I was very impressed!

As for the Colorado Classic Weekend (Colorado College Criterium) weather was beautiful again this year! The cat 3/4 field was a bit larger than last year, 12-13 women, still small but a great opener race for the season. A closed road wide course with a little popper (15-18 second hill) Just enough to feel the power to push over then feel the burn in the legs with an effort a little too hard. A wide 180 degree turn also makes this course fun! Had a blast, took 2nd and beat a girl right at the line! off to a fun start this season!

Louisville Crit

2010-04-20T11:46:00.002-06:00

   6 am, clear skies! The nasty weather that plagued the girls Saturday in the Haystack time trials gave way to cheerful sunshine and a warm 9 am start. Kelley, Pheobe, and I raced among a well-represented cat 4 field. Two GS Boulder girls were there with smiles, stories of last season, and strong wheels to follow. I must admit I was pretty nervous for this race, wondering how my fitness and lack of racing was stacking up next to the competition.
   Everyone took equal turns pulling the group through the race, a short course, with a minor leg-burning hill finish. A few attacks went though, nothing really stuck. I decided to attack twenty minutes into the race after sitting on the back of the pack, trying to conserve my energy. When no one broke with me, I realized that it was going to be a long twenty minute time trial to the finish. The pack caught me after a short time and then cheered me for my solo effort.
   Towards the end of the race, Pheobe pedaled an attack and then pulled everyone through the remaining laps to go. After her effort, I jumped to the front and pulled, rather sling-shot 3 girls through the last corner and up the last hill for the sprint finish. Pheobe took second place, and I placed fourth. Kelley hung on and finished strong. My nerves were quickly replaced with a smile so big my cheeks hurt and I remembered why I love this racing thing so much!

Sea Otter wrap

2010-04-20T08:57:00.002-06:00

Liza, Tiffany and Megan set sails last week for Monterey, CA for the Sea Otter classic. This huge event features downhill, MTB, BMX, road and other cycling events - all held at the Laguna Seca raceway. To say that the 3 of us had a good time at this race would be a huge understatement. We stayed with fantastic hosts -Kurt, Janet and Frannie -who opened their home to us and we enjoyed lots of laughs and good times there. We also got to celebrate Liza and Jono's engagement which happened after the circuit race on Saturday. It was GREAT!!! And oh yeah -amidst all the fun and celebrating we did some racing too!

Thursday night was the crit- Liza made the early move and got into the break, taking 7th! Friday was the road race - Megan missed the split but still managed to claw her way up to 14th thanks to the uphill climb finish. Saturday was the toughest day-the circuit race on the raceway, which features a climb that really starts to hurt -especially after the 15th or so time up! Liza pulled out a 15th place in the field sprint with Megan and Tiffany in the group just behind her.

Sunday we drove to Santa Cruz for a Norcal crit - super fun course, technical in spots with a nice climb each of the 30 laps. We raced hard and ended up in 11, 14, 15 places.

It was a fantastic week of racing and meeting people and having fun -and the weather was gorgeous and sunny!

Shown here with super-fun hosts Janet and Kurt:

and other fun pics:

Louisville Crit

2010-04-19T15:24:00.001-06:00

Our Cat 3 racers Roberta and Kat G. joined Kasey and I yesterday at the Louisville Crit. It was a gorgeous day, solid warm-up (gotta love races you can ride your bike to), and a decent turnout. Let's just say it was the largest field I've seen at a CO women's 123 race.

Let's also say that CO's picture perfect sunny blue sky gorgeous days can give you a false sense that everything is pleasant, relaxing, and in general, all good. Well everything was not exactly "all good" once the race got underway. The field shattered fairly quickly. Personally, I was having a tough time out there. Kasey did well winning a prime and putting in some work at the front. Mara Abbott lapped the field, and Cari Higgins did some damage with her sprint, winning primes and the field sprint. Kasey and I finished 5th and 3rd respectively, and Roberta and Kat G. finished strong. Possibly the best part of the day was the post race scone party. My folks are visiting from MA this week and brought scones from Breadworks to the race. Tasty!

Thanks for reading,
Kat Carr