Tour of STL - what a ride

Well, its all over now. Three races in two days...a first for me. It was interesting to see how the legs and body respond to multiple days in a row of hard efforts. I definitely felt the fatigue set in.


Saturday Morning Crit:
Bright and early was the first crit in Carondelet Park. Nice course, wide open turns, but pretty windy on the back of the course with a couple small hills/inclines - including a pretty nice grade to the finish. It was a 7:30am race and I think we were all still sleepy eyed as we rolled up to the line. I was feeling fresh and ready for this. This was my first 'A' race of the season and I had peaked for this weekend. I was anxious to see what that felt like.
We had a pack of about 11 or 12, mostly Team Rev women. I feel bad for the other women out there on their own w/o a team, Im already seeing the advantages of that. They did incredible out there on their own (and we were nice :) Anyway, I got out front right away for a lap or two and then tucked in from the wind for a couple. I was in a good position when they called the prime and went for it by attacking on the hill to the start/finish. I think I had one other person on my wheel (maybe two) and was able to win it! I had made a small gap on the field, but there was no way I would be able to stay off the rest of the race, we were only 10 mins in at this point. So, I basically sat up and jumped back in. Kate mixed it up a bit by trying to go off the front a couple of times, but the pack wouldn't let her go. Everyone just hung on. Though I did bump wheels trying to get out of the inside and catch her wheel once. Good thing Allison was holding on! :) The pack stayed together the rest of the race with a couple of people trying to make some moves, but nothing really sticking. It would take a big move to get out and away. With one to go I decided to jump early (around turn 3) and go for it. I didnt know for sure how my legs would react, I was hoping I could stay out front of the pack for the finish. Teresa followed and soon we were elbow to elbow hammering up the hill to the finish. We were both sprinting out hearts out, digging as hard as we could. I wanted 1st BAD! I got her by milliseconds, what a rush! An awesome sprint for sure! Ill post the video. Jason was sweet enough to record that! What a great boyfriend! The rest of the Team Rev women kicked some butt too. I was impressed at how well everyone seemed to move around the field and work together. Some good attempts at breaking up the field and making us all work. Thats what it all about, helping each other improve. Great race and exciting to get my 1st, 1st place in bike racing! Im still smiling! :)


Saturday Time Trial:
Well, after some food and a nap, it was time to race again. I purchased some aero bars for my road bike and decided to try them out for the first time on the race. It was actually pretty easy to adjust to, they need some adjustment, but they were much more comfortable than the drops! This was only my 2nd TT. My first was just last weekend in Herman and I had definitely found my threshold and wanted to focus this time on not going over my threshold so I didn't burn my legs out so much. However, I guess from the hard effort earlier, I wasn't able to hit my threshold. Instead I was about 6-8 bpm less than what I had hoped to level off at. My legs just didnt have the strength to get my HR up there. My legs felt dead and I felt like I was going in slow motion. Probably because I must have bumped my computer signal and it wasn't reading my speed. Ugh. Then, a guy with a flag in a turn around confused me and I turned around at the wrong spot. If I had know what my mileage was, I probably wouldn't have confused it. Oh well. I am bummed that I made such a stupid mistake since it cost me 1 place, maybe 2! The strongest head wind was on the way back. I was miserable and just wanted it to be over. I passed many Team Rev women going out and they all yelled encouraging words, but most of the time all I could do was nod my head and try to keep focusing on my form. Once I could see the finish I added a gear and pushed harder. My legs screamed NO, but I knew it would be over soon! Thank God! I finished 6th. Just 3 seconds behind 5th and approx 13 sec behind 4th. Damn turn around!

Sunday Morning Crit:
Up early again. No one looked very awake this morning! It was cruel. But, the nice thing was that the weather was supposed to be rainy and cold and miserable, but the sun came out and it was near 50 degrees! Very awesome. I was a little anxious about racing in the rain. Though, I need to do it sometime... Anyway, we had 2 new women this time. Not sure if they did the TT, but they had not raced in the crit yesterday. I wasn't sure how I would fare against fresh legs. I went up to pull the first couple of laps and had a hard time tucking back in. No one wanted to pull. Ruth got up there and helped me out and other Team Rev women took some time on the front, but I ended up spending a lot of time up there. At one point I pulled way to the left and slowed down to about 16 mph and the whole field was still behind me. I couldn't believe it. I know that everyone was fatigued today, that was obvious, but so was I! They called the prime and I was 2nd wheel. Steph was up front and I offered to help set her up for the prime and jumped in front of her. However, right before turn 4, Ruth jumped and went for it. I stayed with her. She gapped the field very quickly. Jackelyn Denny (a very strong 14 yr old Jr) was on my wheel the whole race and stayed for the push to the prime. I urged Ruth to take it easy until she got closer, she had a lot of room. Then when Jackelyn jumped, I yelled for Ruth to go for it. She sprinted and grabbed the prime! I was hoping the 3 of us could stay off the front longer, but by the 2nd corner, the field had caught us. Like the last crit, a couple of people tried to make a move, but the field stayed together. I kept trying to get tucked in, but it didnt happen for long. At one point I was on the back and with only 5 to go, I did not like my position. I was afraid someone was going to attack and I wasn't going to be in a very good place to bridge. I moved up some and then at 3 to go Karen put the hammer down. She definitely mixed it up and picked up the pace. Again, I was worried I was going to be too far back, but I squeezed into 2nd or 3 wheel and thought Id be good for another lap. However, at 2 to go I somehow ended up back on the front and at this point NO ONE was going to pull. I slowed down the field a bit, but everyone was enjoying the draft. This is exactly where I didnt want to be for the final 2 laps. Ugh! I knew it was going to come down to a field sprint and I wondered how I would ever sprint well enough to place after pulling so much. on turn 4 I could hear everyone adding gears and I did the same and picked up the pace hoping no one would go around me and I could sit until 200 meters. Then Ruth yells, "Jamie, watch out, on your left" a girl had jumped and was sprinting past the pack. I stood up and added gears and tried to stay on her. She was one of the fresh legs and had not pulled once during the race. I knew this wasn't going to go well for me. I pushed and my legs and lungs screamed at me. I could tell that Teresa was going to get the 2nd place and me and Allison were now just millimeters for each other. I pushed as hard as I could over the line and beat her by a hair for 3rd! Another great sprint, I just wish I had been able to recover more before it all went down!

Great weekend of racing. My goal this weekend was to finish top 3 in both crits this weekend and it feels SO GOOD to have accomplished that! We have such a strong team and I couldn't have done it with out everyone working together at various points in the race. It was also awesome to watch the Women's Open races and hear them talk after the race about how things went and what they wish they could have done differently. Its a great way to learn! We have an awesome group of women, and Im SO proud of all of us!
Rev on!

Herman RR Report - Cat 4 race

We lined up and listened to the rules, and to our (Cat 4) joy, found out that we would not have to go up “the hill” since we were only doing one 20mile lap! Woohoo!

There was a neutral start through the town, nice rolling roads, and I was trying to figure out where the race would start. The only thing I knew was that the pace truck would start going faster. Winding through the outskirts of the town, we found ourselves at the start – the bottom of a pretty big 6-10% grade climb! Great place to start! (moan) The Cat 1/2/3 group quickly pull away from the Cat 4s and then about ½ way up, there is a lot of heavy breathing and suffering going on, and two Cat 4 women (Rebecca Baker and Cheryl Rathert) attack on the hill. I couldn’t catch their wheel, but I tried to stay as close as possible and really push it up the hill. I get to the top and look back and find myself torn between chasing the Cheryl ahead of me on my own, or waiting for Teresa and Allison who were not too far behind me so that I could work w/ them to chase. I tried to chase for a while, but the hill had obviously not fazed the 2 women ahead. It looked like Rebecca was still with the 1/2/3 group and Cheryl was out there on her own. Teresa and Allison caught me, and I enjoyed a bit of a break on the back of the line. Then on the first KOM hill I knew there were points for top 3, so I pushed – hard. I had hoped to catch Cheryl on the hill, but she was a really strong climber. I managed 3rd place though! Then at the top, I was in the same situation again. My legs were pretty smoked, so I recovered and waited for Teresa and Allison. To my surprise, Gina Richard (Big Shark) had caught them as well. Cool, more people to work with! Gina was great, she pulled a great pace and then pushed me to pull fast and keep ahead of the women behind us. I told her I REALLY wanted to catch Cheryl and so we made it our mission to catch her. Cheryl was my carrot the entire 1^st half of the race! Thanks to her for keep me pushing so hard!

We finally caught Cheryl about 3-4 miles from the 2^nd KOM and it was all I could do to stay on her wheel. I zoned in on her rear break for some reason and just tried to ‘embrace the burn’ and find a rhythm in my breathing. Ouch! She stood up right before the KOM line and I did too, but couldn’t get around her. Oh well, 3^rd again. She was an animal. She tried to let me pull, but I wasn’t pulling hard enough for her, she rode next to me for a while, and then jumped back up front before she even caught a draft. I figured fine, she is stronger, so she will have to pull. We hit the flats and the last 3 miles were fast. I just wanted to hold my 2^nd place in line with the hopes of sprinting around her at the finish. However, as we came upon the final left turn in town it was at a busy 4-way intersection. There was a flag guy, but cars were confused as were we. I thought I might get hit my an oncoming car as I couldn’t see around the 2 cars in front of us, but the other women cut the corner and around me. I was suddenly 20 ft off the back and worked hard, but could not make up the loss for the sprint. Oh well, better 5^th place than dead or injured, but I do feel a little cheated out of my sprint. Such is life.

There were some beautiful roads and perfect weather! There were some screaming down hills (got up to 40 mph), and plenty of climbs, but some nice rolling roads as well.

I felt good about the race and my climbing performance. It was a tough race! Hats off to the women who did 3 laps of that! No way could I have done that 3 times! It was awesome to watch them finish and to be there as a group! All the Team Rev women really represented at Hermann!

Am I really a blogger?!

Ok, I guess I am. When people first started blogging I thought it was silly. Why would I want to read peoples rants about random crap? Boo hoo. But, then I got into cycling and found that I really enjoyed reading others blogs about cycling, their training info, race reports, and developments on the sport. It was a great way to get and share info w/ others with particular interests. I see the 'why' of blogging now. I started racing as a Cat 4 (woman) last year and have dedicated myself to racing all season this year. I am part of an awesome women's cycling group, Team Revolution, and I thought this might be a good way to share and document my development as a racer, person, and team member. So...here I go..time to blog! :)