GMSR Stage 3 & 4

Sunday: this is the awesome-est stage, since it climbs over a long gap, descends, and ends at the summit of Appalachian Gap. I was particularly excited to be in the GC lead, because I really wanted an opportunity to call a pee break (which I did, satisfying one of my cycling goals....no making fun of me; we all get our motivation from different things). I knew that my only hope of keeping the leader's jersey was going to be to stay glued on Lea's wheel for the final climb of the race so she could get no more than 20 seconds on me, and knew that was going to be a tall order, but I had to try...but that's getting well ahead of myself. The race was uneventful for the first half; I was second at the "hot spot" sprint, keeping my jersey but with a smaller margin against Emma the kiwi. We hit the first gap, Brandon Gap, which is just a long-ish, steady climb up. I was planning on making sure we drove it up the climb at tempo, but Johanne Cyr, who had won the TT had other ideas and attacked and pushed the pace fairly early up the climb.

With about a km or so to the summit, Lea attacked, and since I wasn't going for climbing points and knew I needed all I had for the finish, didn't try to get all the way to her wheel, but rode
hard up with Silke and Clara, some of my New England friends and strong climbers, to make sure that if there was going to be a front group over the top, I would be in it. We had a reasonable gap at the top, but the official at the top shouted out that there was a bad crash, and we needed to slow up, so we weren't able to drive it over the hill, and in fact had to come to a complete stop for 3-4 minutes because there were 2 ambulances completely blocking the road. I really hope the dudes were OK; I can only imagine that someone in their field must have been doing something sketchy because it really was a fast but safe road down. Anyway, the field came completely back together while we were sitting there, and the official decided not to
start us with any gaps but to let us all roll on together. I don't think it affected me any, but I think it did hurt my friends Silke and Clara who had put in a huge piece of work climbing so well up Brandon Gap, and a couple people should have had to put in a ton of effort on the descents and flats to catch back up, and they didn't have to do so and lucked out. Ah well, that's racing for ya.

The whole field being back together eliminated any desire to ride hard, so we were piddling around until our official told us the 3/4 women were about to catch us if we didn't do something, so I went to the front and convinced the entire 25 woman field to settle into a pace-line. A couple women didn't want to pull at first, but I think they got over it eventually,
after a bit of a reprimand from me (the benefits of being in the leader's jersey). Anyway, eventually we reached the bottom of the climb up app gap, and I knew what I had to try to do. Lea didn't exactly attack at the bottom, but settled into a hard, fast pace and I didn't think I could hold it the whole way up, but knew I had to try. I dug deep, but at 2k to go, I came off her wheel, and then it was just a matter of climbing as well as I could and seeing if it was enough to keep the time gap manageable. That last 500 meters is incredibly brutal; you can see the road stretching up, the grade kicks up, and it was all I could do to propel myself forwards, but I
finished in 2nd. Lea made up 55 second on me over 2km of climbing and took the GC lead, but I held onto second place in the stage and the GC. Eventually I got enough air into my lungs and lactic acid out of my legs that I could descend back towards the car, and that's a fun fast descent for sure!! Later in the afternoon, the folks I was staying with went for an "ice bath" in the local swimming hole, complete with cliffs and a waterfall. I love Vermont (it's almost as nice as Minnesota).

Monday was the crit in Burlington. I like Burlington. It's a cute little college town, and you can get tasty, tasty smoothies. And tasty, tasty burritos. It's a 6 cornered, technical, bumpy crit with an uphill drag of a finish. I knew that the only way to get the GC lead back would be to get every time bonus second in all of the primes and the finish and to have Lea get none, so when she edged me out in the first sprint, I decided to be happy with second, and to focus my energy on maintaining my sprint jersey and trying to add a win to my string of stage second places (not that second is bad, mind you, but winning is better). Emma edged me out in the first sprint points prime, narrowing the margin and raising the stakes, but I felt like I was riding better and picking better lines with each lap, and was able to edge her out on the next sprint. SO the race moved steadily towards the finish, and for pretty much the first time all season I was able to sit almost exactly where I wanted to through the final corner. I hit a good line and then stood up and hammered it, and just managed to come around Lea by half a wheel at the line, and to hold
off Emma by a bit more. Let's just say I respect them both quite a bit; that was a hard won race but was super fun! I just hope I helped with some last-minute fine-tuning before Lea heads to Europe to take on some mtb world cups! After that, it was just a bit of hanging out until Chris was done, then we ate tasty burritos and high-tailed it home. After all the gels and bars and such over the weekend and the season, I wasn't even in the mood to stop at the Ben and Jerry's
factory on the way home!!

I must say I love GMSR, even in years past where the climb up Appalachian Gap treated me much less well. I love rolling through the farmlands and the forests and the race is well organized (the only thing they're missing is neutral feeders in the feed zones) and in all the years I've done it, the weather's been beautiful. I missed y'all there and hope you can join me next year! ~ Anna McLoon
Photo courtesy of GMSR photographer; M. Katz.

Green Mountain Stage Race - TT & RR

The last major race of the season for most racers on the east coast, we sent one rider as school started for most of us - Kristy teaching in high school, I in administration and starting my first graduate class and the rest of us done for the season.

Okay, McLoon-inator started "school" too, working on her Ph.d. at Harvard but she was able to make the trip to GMSR. Here is her report. I am going to provide it in three or four parts as I could only read one day at a time. ~ Good luck with cross season to those racing; enjoy the break for those of you taking time to smell the peaches and apples. Michele

Hey friends! I hope those of you in ME had fun at Sheba's wedding, and Kate (big Kate), I hope your neck is healing well and your new school is good-Kristy and that life is oh so good for everyone else right now.

SO I was planning on only writing up a few words on the weekend, but y'all know by now that I'm not good at succinct race reporting...

Thursday: we (me and 2 other Harvard cyclists) drove up after I finished this CPR class I had to take in order to volunteer coach the Harvard skiers again this year...I pray to God I never have to do CPR on an actual person, though. After the long, traffic filled drive up to VT, we previewed the TT course as the sun was setting and narrowly avoided getting run over by a pickup. Fun times.

Friday: My time trial was early, which was good in some ways because it got windier later in the day. Anyway, I was not happy with my time trials earlier this season so have been working on time trialing for the past month or so and it totally paid off! I know reading about watts and stuff is boring as all anything, but I'm super proud that I gained almost 30 watts of average power over a 16-17 minute effort and improved my time by 45 seconds compared to last year, even though with the conditions most people were slower this year. I ended up second in the time trial by 7 seconds (helped no doubt by the playing field leveling "no aero bars/no TT bike" rule) which was awesome, but to be honest, I know the most important to me was knowing how much better I was compared to myself because that's all I can really control in a time trial.
Anyway, I sat around all day waiting first for Chris to finish his TT, making friends with a regional cat3 men's team in the process. Then we decided there wasn't time enough for us to go over the mountains and back in time for the awards, so we went to hang out with some of
his pro/cat1/cat2 male friends. Finally we made it over to my collegiate cycling friend Emma's house, where we had time to relax and settle in and generally chill with a gaggle of other cyclists and our hosts.

Saturday: I had a clear goal: get me the yellow jersey. I didn't think I had a shot at it when planning for the race a month ago, but since I figured out how to improve my TT by so much, I had to try! I also wanted the sprint leader's jersey, 'cause I was second in that competition last year and it's the prettiest jersey. SO I went for the sprint points the first lap, and went too early and came in 3rd. After that, we climbed up to the QOM point (it was a longer climb than
I remember from 2 years ago, but maybe that's just 'cause people were pushing hard up the climb from pretty much the bottom this year) and I was second over the top to Lea Davidson, a super nice woman and Vermont-native pro mountain biker. A few of us had a bit of a gap
over the top, but it quickly chased back together over the long descent. Noting how much effort the climb took, I decided to focus my energy on the GC and sprint jerseys. I do love hammering up the climbs, but reasonable is reasonable. I did a better job of timing the second sprint, so got the maximum points there, which was good, and then tried to conserve energy and plot my best for the finishing sprint. The pace really started ratcheting up the last 3-4 km and I
decided to shake things up a bit and was sitting on the left side of the pack. Someone attacked really early and in the shuffling, I was pushed out into the wind on the left and decided I'd better just go early than kill myself in the wind and risk not being able to react well enough. Emma Peterson, a super nice Kiwi from the Ultralink team, edged me out across the line, but I still had enough points and enough seconds of time bonus to be in the yellow and sprint leader's jerseys.

Chris Thator - Anna Mc Reports....

Stay alive don’t drink and drive

Hey friends!

The last team race of the season was this past Saturday. We (Me/Anna M, Kristy, Dale, Jenette and Kate) congregated in Binghamton, NY for the Chris Thater Memorial criterium, in memory of a fellow who was killed a while back by a drunken driver. So I’ll take a moment to remind you not to drive after drinking. Seriously. Not worth it, for you or the people around you. And don’t let your friends drink and drive either; take their car keys, give them a ride, lock them in the closet, whatever it takes.
BUT I’ll digress to a less serious and more light-hearted topic: bike racing!! I spent the nights before and after the race with friends in Albany, and Kathleen and Louise were gracious hosts for this cyclist/student and I’m super grateful for that. I was anticipating rain, but tried my best to luck us into a dry race; Emma, my collegiate cycling friend and travelling companion and I kept telling the clouds “gee, we hope the sun doesn’t break through, because we forgot our sunscreen” so we’ll take a small bit of ironic credit for the fact that in a soggy, soggy day, we lucked into a dry road and a completely rain-less race. Kate, sadly had hurt her neck but came along to help us with the logistics of the day, for which we’re grateful (although we’d have rather have her riding, too, and hope her neck heals fast). We picked up our numbers, and found that many of our Eastern friends and the eastern teams had come out to race, as well as a number of folks on Canadian teams and Tibco and Colavita had both sent small (for them) squads to the race. It looked to be some good competition, and since the organizers had changed the women’s race to the shorter (and easier) version of the course, we weren’t sure what to expect. I was feeling super good, so was looking to get into a break, and everyone else on our team was planning on helping me find an opportunity to attack, and generally ride aggressive races. The course is of the kind I like; it has a nice little hill in it that we got to hammer up…again…and again…and again… After a few laps, there was a crash, and while thankfully everyone is mostly OK (speedy recovery, Cath) it caused the race to be neutralized for about 4 laps.
After that, the racing resumed, but the character of the race changed and seemed strangely negative. I did succeed in attacking and getting clear of the field a couple of times, but everything was quickly chased back together within a half a lap or so. Tibco seemed to enjoy sending solo riders off the front, but they didn’t seem to be interested in actually working a break, and well, I’m hardly willing or able to pull one of them around for too many laps. BUT I felt like I was riding really well for me, and it was fun being in the mix, even if my attempts at primes were all foiled. As we were nearing the end of the race, there was a small break that was holding together a bit, and Jenette moved to the front and did a large piece of work to bring them back. With 2 to go, another Tibco rider pulled off solo, and I thought it was another attempt at a break, so I hopped on her wheel, but we never quite got clear, and I quickly decided that since it looked like she was about to pop at any minute, I’d better move back a few wheels so as to not be forced to drag the field around for the rest of the race (as much fun as that would be, it wouldn’t give me a very good finish). I did my best to hold a good position as the pace ratcheted up for the final lap, and ended up finishing 14th. While we may not have won the race, a few spectators complimented us after the race for being aggressive and making the race fun to watch, so we should at least be proud of that!!
Unfortunately, the rain was threatening, so after the race we rushed to the cars to pack up before getting drenched, and the rain started just after we packed the last bike into the cars. We said some hurried good-byes and made our respective ways home. I suppose it’s just as well that the weather prevented lingering, ‘cause it being the last team race of the year (I’ll be racing the Green Mountain Stage Race this coming weekend, but it wouldn’t fit in anyone else’s schedules), it was hard to say good-bye. So, my last words of this post are to them. Y’all are super awesome and I’m so going to miss riding and hanging out with you. Hopefully, the memories of all the fun we had this season will help me get through the cold, trainer-filled months that are coming!


Anna McLoon

Nationals 2009

Hello friends!

Well, road nationals is over and I’m home and back in lab, still kind of on Pacific time, but good other than that. Overall, it was a good trip. I did some good racing and some not so good racing, rode on some nice roads, ate some tasty food (including about 2 pounds of cherries), met some nice people, saw a good movie, and generally got to visit a state I’d never been to before. BUT I’ll skip all that and just give you the details on the road race, last Thursday.
SO Nationals. Nationals, in the 3 years that I’ve gone now, can be a funny road race. Depending on the course, it can vary vastly in how teams will try to race it, from the race 2 years ago in seven springs, PA where it was a climber’s race and teamwork had little effect, to last year’s race where the sprinters cleaned up. This year was something in the middle, and well, I thought the climbers would win, and guessed wrong. But that’s getting ahead of myself.
Tuesday, I landed in Portland in what felt for my body like the wee hours of the morning, but my bike, transportation, a hotel to spend a night in in Portland, the drive from Portland to Bend all went perfectly. The kind of trip that’s so smooth the stories are all boring! After getting to Bend, I spend Wednesday afternoon putting my bike together and checking out the course. It was HOT and DRY but the course is nice, winding through ranchland and state park/forest.
Thursday’s race started at 8:15am and what with the cooler morning temperatures and the fact that I was still mostly on Eastern time meant I was OK with that. For once having the less prestigious start time of the day was a blessing! The race had a neutral start since Bend is full of roundabouts (each with a different and distinctive piece of public art in the middle), so racing started after we cleared the second roundabout. Amber from Tibco attacked pretty much right away and rode solo for several laps. Interestingly, teams didn’t work too hard to shut her down, and instead tried to bridge other solo riders up to her…which didn’t work, and eventually she came back. I was betting that the hills were going to be tough enough to split the field, so tried to kind of keep my eye on the attacks but mostly to watch the climbers on the hills and to be in a good place on the climbs. Unfortunately, that isn’t what happened. Instead, for most of the race, the climbing was hard but not field-shattering, and what ultimately won the race was a break that formed early in the final lap. There was a crash in the feed-zone the final lap, but Kate and I managed to stay clear and upright, and on the final climb of the race, finally the climbers pushed to the front and broke things up. Unfortunately, I was a bit too far back at the bottom of the climb and couldn’t ever quite get up to Mara Abbott and Evie; instead I ended up in the next little chase group. We pushed it a bit over the last few miles in to the finish and I came in in the middle of my little group, finishing 14th out of the elite women and 15th if you count the top U23. Kate was in the next little group behind me, finishing 24th or 28th depending on how you count. Meredith Miller from team Tibco won the race by attacking out of the break. While you can read all about it in all sorts of places, I just have to say that hearing her talk with the announcer after the race, sometimes you just hear someone and think, wow. She seems like an articulate, gracious woman and a great person to be wearing the stars and stripes for the year (since it wasn’t in the cards for our team to take it). After the race, Kate and I went and got tasty fruit smoothies, sat in the chilly river to rest our legs for a bit, and generally tried to recover from the race and for the next day’s time-trials.

Kate’s going to tell you all about the time trial, but I’ll just give you a cliff note’s version: 35km is LONG when you’re alone. It was darn hot. Borrowed fancy carbon/disk wheels make exciting whooshing sounds. I finished, yay!
See y’all on the road,
Anna

Lost River Classic

There was much excitement at the prospect of converging together again at Lost River, West Virginia – the location of our initial training camp in April, this time to race the Lost River Classic – a road race through some majestic scenery and over several rather steep hills!!

The race was brilliantly run by NEBC and Jay Moglia and Audrey– who own the Lost River Barn – one of our sponsors (and our MINT accommodation for our training camp at the start of the season). We are happy to report that we came away with the race win – courtesy of Kate Veronneau who rode like a rockstar!

Our race was 30 miles long and we were racing with a team of six, as well as Lorena who was both helping out the race organizer and the team (while 7 months pregnant – she’s amazing I tell you!).

As well as having numbers, we had extra incentive to win because Altarum was the main sponsor of the event!! No pressure or anything! ;-)

Anyway, our plan went perfectly, with a couple of us dedicated to setting the early tempo, then others launching off the front forcing other riders to chase. Michele was the first to go, flying around the course and eventually getting caught on the hill up to the finishing straight on the 1st of three laps. Kristy then countered this, splintering the field and leaving Kate and Jenette with a select group of riders. Jenette’s attack on the next big climb forced the other riders to chase while Kate patiently sat in until Jenette was caught, then she deftly launched out of the bunch like a rocket, never to be seen again – taking the race win by over a minute!! Just like the Tour de France!!!

It was a truly fantastic win for the team and a brilliant sign that Kate’s build up to Road Nationals in Oregon this week has gone to plan and she is FLYING! Anna will be joining Kate out there on Tuesday and we wish them all the very best. These girls are hammers. We know this for sure because sometimes we can’t hold their wheel. Hee hee

Following the race and podium presentation we then had a Wedding Shower for Anna Kelso and a Baby Shower for Lorena, which was graciously and generously hosted by the ever wonderful Marijka (and it was her birthday too!) in this fantastic country house her and her awesome friends were renting for a week long holiday! We had all sorts of games and laughs and while we will be sad to see Lorena and Rob head to Sweden on Tuesday, where they will be living for 3 years, we are looking forward to their stories of their adventures.

Ok, that's all for now!
Ciao
DT

Photos from Lost River

From the top down:

Kate on podium

Marijka's birthday pressie

Anna Kelso

Lorena

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!!

We would all like to wish our beautiful team mate and incredible manager Michele a HUGE happy birthday!! Hope you have a brilliant day Mama! We think you are the best!!

xxxooo

Shorewood, WI

Shorewood has been my favorite race at Superweek the last two years I have done it, and this year in no exception because…..drum roll…..Jenette came 2nd!! Yah!

The day was nice and cool, although a little windy, and the race had a whole heap of mid race money primes which ensured it was active and positive racing as everyone sought out a few bob.
The plan was that I would try and go for a few mid race primes, cover any break away attempts and try and instigate some breaks. Well, I was getting absolutely smoked in the mid race primes (apparently the smell of money makes people super fast!) so focused on trying to attack at opportune moments and follow any threatening looking breakaway attempts.
The race ended in a bunch sprint with Jenette needing 5 more meters to take the win - she was flying up there that fast! It was an outstanding performance after a long break off racing and while still struggling with major injuries.

We hung out at and cheered for fellow Kiwi Heath at the race afterwards and enjoyed the fantastic atmosphere with live music, bbq’s and hundreds of cheering fans!

Rest day tommorrow.......well earnt. My legs are smashed and I felt like I was pulling a truck and trailer unit behind me by the end of the race today!

Ciao
DT

Arlington Heights and Bensenville, IL

Well, two more races under the belt at Superweek and some tired pins!
We raced in Arlington Heights Tuesday which was long course with 8 corners to keep us on our toes. There were many riders keen to breakaway so the race was very active – I attacked numerous times, and as a result there wasn’t much fuel left in the tank for the last 5 laps (read – hanging on for dear life!). The stronger and bigger teams wanted a bunch sprint and that is exactly how it ended up. Jenette rocked up for 10th which is was a great effort considering she had no form of lead out as I dangled on the back!
We talked to many friendly spectators after the race and Jenette supported the local economy by downing several cups of home made lemonade from the stand on the corner after the race (the wee girls admitted that they made it from a powder mix, but Jenette reassured them that this still counts as homemade since they had to put some kind of effort in their homes. Hee hee, I was giggling in the background).

Hosts Duane and Shaun cooked us a splendid meal of steak, salad and potatoes as we rounded out the evening solving the worlds problems on the patio. Magic!

Wednesday was a lazy start, we watched the Tour in the morning and headed out to Bensenville after lunch where it was a hot and windy day. As a result, the racing was negative – no one wanted to face the wind and it was too hard for a break to stay away. I think everyone was just really tired and that made the whole race a bit of a non-event to be honest. I tried to rark it up a couple of times to make the sprinters work, but to no avail since no one else was too interested in doing anything much.
Jenette got boxed in through the twisty finish but still came 12th so that bought our dinner as we hit the road for Wisconsin. The State of Cheese.
We are planning a visit to the ‘Mars Cheese Castle’ at some stage in the next few days…… which, by the way, is not a castle at all. The first time I visited there in 2007, I had heard so much about this amazing destination that I had let my imagination run wild and was dreaming of some kind of cheese version of Charlie and the Chocolate factory. I was bitterly disappointed when we rocked up to a perfectly normal building which merely stocked a variety of cheese, candy and trinkets. There were no ompalompahs, no edible furniture or plants and not even a tour of any kind of factory. However, now I have worked through the disappointment I am ready to revisit the ‘castle’ and perhaps sample some cheese curds and buy a cow magnet.

Tommorrow we race in Shorewood, Wisconsin which is a fun crit through a vibrant wee town where the locals always come out en-masse. Should be fun!

Ciao
DT

Super Week Day 1 - Richton Park, Illinois

A few weeks ago, Jenette and I decided to make a road trip up to Illinois, the day after Iron Hill, to take part in the legend that is ……..Superweek!.
Superweek or the International Cycling Classic is actually a 2 week series (Super Fornight doesn’t have the same ring I guess!) of criteriums and road races through Illinois and Wisconsin. It used to be a huge series but the prize money has been dramatically reduced and now that there is a similar series held up here in June, Superweek hasn’t attracted the same numbers as in previous years - there are about 35 to 40 women racing this year. Yesterday was actually day 4 of super- week, but the first day for us!

It’s a pretty long haul up here– (12 hours from Lancaster where we stayed with Michele the night after Iron Hill…..she set us on our way with omlets, coffee and snacks! We love our wee Mama!). We joked and laughed the whole drive and the time flew by, so we weren’t feeling too wrecked when we arrived at our host house in Downers Grove.
Duane and Shaun had hosted Jenette and Michele to stay last year, so they were so excited to see Jenette again and we have made our little nests in their sun room….which, coincidently has a huge flat screen television in order to watch the Tour de France – magic!!

Traditionally, it is like racing on the surface of the sun at this time of year in Chicago, however it is defiantly a bit cooler this year which is great! The race itself was aggressive from the get go with Jenette launching the first attack from the gun and a whole series of counter attacks going from there. We were both continually off the front making the sprinter teams work, until it became clear nothing was going to be allowed to get away. I told Jenette to sit in and wait for the sprint and I would continue to instigate breaks and cover any other breakaway attempts.
With 11 laps to go I was away off the front and really starting to feel the effects of all the work I had been doing. I got caught by the bunch just before the sprint lap and the group of 6 riders that were contesting a mid-race sprint prime got a small gap as they sprinted for the line and the rest of the bunch, who weren’t interested in the sprint sat back and conserved energy. Normally, things come back together after a sprint as the sprinter recover from their effort, but this time they had a reasonable gap and they kept on going! I was so exhausted but knew I had to get across as it was a good representation of the major teams– so off I went chasing, chasing, chasing. I dug and dug but just couldn’t close the gap before I ‘blew to bits’. I was so frustrated and angry and knew I hadn’t left enough fuel in the tank to deal with this final effort and it was my own fault! So off the break went, with the other individuals or smaller teams that weren’t in the break seemingly not that interested in chasing. For the last 5 laps I was hanging onto the back of the bunch for dear life and was no help at all in leading out Jenette for the bunch sprint, however she still managed to sprint to take 10th overall. Great effort!
While a frustrating day, we did learn a lot about the style of the racing is going down this week, so can go into the race today with a more informed game plan and hopefully come away with a win! We had a lot of compliments after the race from other teams and also the race commentator who said that we had really made the race and it seemed like we had a whole team racing, not just two riders, so it was really nice and very sencouraging to hear that!
Ok, that’s all for now. I am rambling as I procrastinate from my school work!
Ciao
Dale :-)

Iron Hill, Westchester, P.A

This was a crazy race! The field was shattered to bits early on and no one really knew what was going on, except that the two locomotives (Cath from NZ and Laura) lapped the field twice and took various riders with them each time, with riders in between and everywhere else! It was incredibly hard and fast and the crowds were huge and loud - great atmosphere!

Amongst the confusion, Kate V had a great ride to finish 11th, Kristy 15th, me 22nd and Michele 30th.

We hung out for a bit afterwards and had a bite to eat and watched the guys race (seemed like half of New Zealand were racing! Exciting!) so it was cool to have the Altarum crew together for a catch up as we haven’t had so many of us together since Clarendon Cup!

Ok, well that’s all for the moment - sorry this is short – it is late and well past my bed time!

Ciao
DT

Fitchburg -Days 3 & 4

More news from Anna:
Well, Fitchburg's over and clearly the score is bad luck: 2, Altarum 0 for the weekend. Sorry to disappoint.
The road race was solid for me. I was still feeling pretty wiped out, but able to ride into it, and it's the kind of course that suits me; climbs but nothing longer than a few minutes. I was doing a good job of riding forward and was in several non-breaks (ie. we got a bit of space from the field, but didn't organize). We got neutralized for the pro-men to pass us, and apparently the field had split and regrouped after that (I hadn't even noticed we'd shed that many people). That was on the top of the hill, because clearly the organizers like stopping us after doing a whole bunch of work, instead of after the downhill, once things have had an opportunity to shake out... anyway, at the bottom of the descent on the second to last lap, 4 women sprinted off and surprisingly the field didn't shut them down.
On the climb, I was with the front of the field, and maybe 6-8 of us had a sizeable gap, and Alison Powers used her fearless alpine skier guts to tear it up on the downhill, and while the group never organized and were caught (Alison and Evie, who were 1 second apart in the GC were playing mental games, and the rest of us weren't going to put in work uselessly) we reeled in 3 of the 4 women, leaving Andrea Dvorak to solo it for the rest of the lap to the finish, and she held off the field by 11 seconds.
Once our group got caught again, I had a bit of trouble staying right up at the front, so climbed across the line in 16th place, which is solid, and I'm satisfied with the way I rode, and the way I stayed where I needed to be.
In the evening, I went down to the river to watch fireworks, 'cause why not, really.
The road race in the hot sun took a lot of energy out of me, but I felt OK warming up for the crit. Unfortunately, I got a flat warming up with 15 or so min. to race start, so borrowed a neutral wheel... after 9 or 10 laps, the chain popped off the cassette and jammed, and they pulled me within a lap and a half of that, since that's not the kind of mechanical that gets you a free lap, and I slowed up at the pit to ask instead of just hammering on alone.
SO, that's it. DNF for me. Bummer. I've had nothing but trouble from the shifting on this bike, so I should have known it was finicky and just asked the neutral dude to replace the tube and waited...lesson learned.
Peace,
Anna

Fitchburg - Days 1 & 2

Here is Anna's report from Day 1 and 2 of Fitchburg:

Well, I figured I'll give you all a brief version of the past 2 days of Fitchburg. Expect another one probably Sunday, to finish off the race. Thursday. SO unfortunately, luck would have it that a super important scientific conference (on prokaryotic development) was happening Wednesday through Friday in Cambridge, and I couldn't really not go to it, but didn't want to skip Fitchburg either, since I get so few opportunities to race NRC races while staying in my own bed. SO I got a friend to pick up my numbers for me, and another friend agreed to drive me around to make this possible, but my Thursday went kinda like this: get up, eat a quick breakfast, ride my commuter bike over to the conference hotel and sit through 2-ish hours of talks, get into my friend's car, swing by home to pick up my bike and stuff, get to the race with about an hour to my start, warm-up, race, cool-down for about 20 min, pack up the car and drive back to the conference where I presented a research poster before sitting through another 3 hours of talks... SO add to that a sinus infection and you have my time trial. It was slow. About 20 watts lower than I can hold training, 2 minutes down in the GC and 56th or so place. Ah well. Some of the talks were super cool and the GC place means I don't have anything to lose going into the next races, so can be aggressive and enjoy myself. Kate, however, had an awesome time trial and finished 13th. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to talk with her afterwards, given the schedule outlined above. Today. My day was kinda more of the same duel-life thing, but at least I didn't have to present my poster again. Sadly, I had to skip the talks that are most related to my own research, but so be it.There was a crash in the first lap and Kate, although (praise be) she didn't go down, something happened to her bike and when the neutral follow dudes stopped to help, they didn't fix the problem and after a valiant attempt at riding through it, Kate ended up pulling out (she's a bit unsure whether someone hit her, or just the combination of potholes and heavy braking did the damage). Anyway, I know she could totally have stayed in if not for the equipment issues, but as we all know, $#!& happens and after a really big ice cream, hopefully the intact skin will seem like the most important thing. There are other races!! Warming up, I felt pretty darn exhausted (probably more from the work and the opportunistic pathogenic bacteria that have colonized my head than the race), and was worried lining up that it would be a disappointing race. Still, knowing I had nothing to lose helped, and I was able to ride into it. Still not consistently, but there were even parts of the race where I was able to sit up near the front, right where I want to ride. Unfortunately, Team Type1 and Colavita made it pretty clear that the field was going to stay together, and that's pretty much what happened. Anyway, I finished a respectable 23rd; nothing super thrilling, but after yesterday, I felt like I was back in the game. OK, tomorrow's the road race and fireworks, and Sunday's the crit and ice cream. If all y'all don't have a road race and a crit to ride, at least I hope you can all find fireworks and ice cream!! Peace,Anna

Philly

So here is the long awaited Philly report……..sorry about the delay, things were a little mad afterwards….(well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!).

As a bit of background, the Liberty Cup in Philadelphia, P.A is the highest ranked and biggest one day race on the U.S calendar. It is massive. There are so many people cheering you can barely hear yourself think, and there is so much excitement in the air even a non-cycling fan couldn’t help but get caught up in the atmosphere! (I think ......in reality they are probably cursing all the closed roads and millions of crazed fans lining the streets!)

Michele worked like a little dynamo to get us all organized for this race; in fact my bet is that she probably didn’t sleep for the 4 days before it!

Anyway, we all congregated in Philly the Saturday before the race, and pre-rode the course together….it is technical so definitely warrants a recon if there is time.
Here is Philly 101: After starting right in the centre of town, you head out along Kelly Drive, through Manuyunk township at mach 9 speed, and straight into the rude awakening of the infamous Manuyunk Wall (which is a super steep piece of tarmac heading straight UP), you come flying down from this faster than the speed of sound, back onto Kelly drive then up Strawberry Hill catapulting back down onto Kelly drive and then up Lemon Hill, before careering onto the Champs Elysees of Philly (otherwise known as Logan Circle), which is where the finish line is located. The women complete the circuit 4 times for just shy of 60 miles (100kms). As you can see, the nature of the course means it is destined to consistenly be a fast and furious race!

We were treated to an incredible meal the night before the race, at one of our sponsors ‘ Betty’s Speakeasy, which is a speciality fudge shop owned and operated by the wonderful Liz who was a fantastic cyclist in her day (she gave us some secret Philly tips while we ate – perfect!).
SO after a DEVINE meal, we got to sample fudge (personal favourite moment!). If you are visiting Philly you would be CRAZY if you didn’t visit Betty’s Speakeasy and try this stuff…it is the cutest, quaintest little shop and it sells music for your mouth, and Liz is cool. What more could you want?! Because I know you want to go, the address is 2241 Grays Ferry Ave Philadelphia, PA

Anyway, back to the race…..we were up EARLY on race day. Since racing started at 9.15am, we had to be up 3 hours before hand in order to get a little bit of kai (food - I've decided I am going to teach you all Maori -the native language in NZ) in our puku's (stomachs) and get ourselves well warmed up and ready to roll!!

The race itself, as always, was FAASSTT. Everyone is battling for position leading into the wall, and it just makes the race faster and faster and faster……….Positioning is everything in this race, but everyone knows it so it is a constant fight for the front.
In short (ok, because I can’t remember every little detail of the race) it was a very tough day out…… Anna finished 24th, Casey (who we had the absolute pleasure of having guest ride for us!) finished 28th and Kate V finished 55th. Kristy unfortunately had a substantial crash and was unable to finish, and I had a bad day (lets just say I am not friends with the Manuyunk Wall).

To attest how fast our race really was, the women’s field passed the men’s field, who started 15 minutes before us and theoretically should have been moving a lot faster than us. Don’t quote me on this, but I think that is probably a world first.

A HUGE thank you must go out to all the people who helped us for this race – especially Michele & Brad and all those who helped feed and water us, cheer for us, take care of our wounds (external and internal!). Philly is a really fun, exciting, all consuming, exhausting day out!

Aroha
Dale
p.s for your info, NZ dominated, coming 2nd and 5th in the women's race (Jo and Cath) and 2nd in the Men's race (Hendy). Power to the Kiwis!

Reston, Virginia

So last weekend there was also a criterium in Reston, VA, which Michele, Kristy and I decided to race as a wee test for ourselves, since we are all on the comeback trail – Kristy from a big crash at Philly (yes, the report IS coming one day, I'm not just all talk!), me from being sick, and Michele from working like a maniac and running round after everyone else!

The course had 7 corners, was a little undulating and therefore relatively technical, and was made even more exciting by the fact that it started raining as soon as we started and poured the entire race until 2 minutes after we finished. Murphy’s Law I guess!

Anyway, Kristy and Michele were at it from the get go, launching attacks of the front and riding really aggressively – I could hear Joe the commentator telling the crowd that Altarum were ‘all over it’……..and turns out we kind of were! I ended up winning the 1st two sprint primes (which I think was purely luck, experience in the rain and positioning since I have not done one iota of intensity for the last 3 weeks!), then we set up a brilliant, textbook lead out train for Kristy for the final sprint. Michele got on the front nailing it with two laps to go, then I took over for the last lap digging as hard as I possibly could….I heard a crash behind me with 2 corners to go (horrible, gut wrenching sound), but kept pushing the pedals as hard as I could, then, as I turned into the final straight ready to pull off and let Kristy fly past for the win, I glanced behind me to see where she was…..and she wasn’t there!!! I had the most sick feeling in my stomach knowing she had probably crashed, but in the same instant I knew I had to pull myself together, find another turn of speed and sprint for the team! I ended up 2nd, which was a good consolation prize as I am certain Kristy would’ve taken the win….she ended up getting caught up in crash and having to stop (without really crashing herself – phew!).

We had a great lunch afterwards at one of the fantastic Reston café’s (there are some really cool places there!)and Joe (the commentator) spotted us and told that crowd that you know you are big time when you have matching 'LEEISUURE wear' like the Altarum girls! hee hee.

I hitched a ride with Michele to Lancaster where I am hanging out with her and Brad in their little piece of paradise until Iron Hill, PA which is on the 11th. I really love it here – especially riding through all the Amish farms and amongst all the horses and carriages - never ceases to amaze me!

Meanwhile, Anna and Kate are getting ready to take on Fitchberg, up in Massachusetts. We think they are really fast and super cool and the other competitors should be scared. Really scared.

Staci and Jenette take on Ohio!

Hey all!

Here is Jenette's race report from the weekend - her first race back after 6 weeks of concentrating on rehabing her injuries - welcome back Jdub!! Kristy, Michele and I raced in Reston, Virginia this weekend - race report coming soon (along with the Philly one from a month ago - Ahhh! And a report about our visit to the National Musuem of Natural History in D.C - exciting stuff!)

So here is Jenette:

Staci, Jeff (Staci's husband)and I headed about 3 hours up the road from Huntington, W.V, to race in Cincinnati, Ohio. The race was in a upscale section of Cincinnati called Hyde Park. The field was comprised of a wide range of skill and experience.
Jeff, who owns the bike shop in our town and is a great mechanic , helped us out for the day-- Despite the fact he was racing himself later, he made sure to get mine and Staci's bikes together, tuned up and ready to go.
The course was an L shape with a 1 block long hill each lap. The pace was fairly fast at the start immediately splitting the field with a group of about 12 - including Staci and myself. There were a couple of good attacks up the hill, but for the most part the pace was just steady. Staci had a great attack up the hill with a couple of laps to go, but the group fought hard to stay with her.

On the bell lap coming into the hill, we had to go around some lapped riders which created a little confusion. Staci and I got caught behind a gap in the final turn and sprinted down the long straight away for 9th and 12th.
Staci and I watched the men's race and cheered on Jeff. It was a fast and exciting race that finished in the dark, under lights.

Staci, Jeff and I headed out of town and stopped and had a great dinner and found a hotel so we could get some rest for our drive to Columbus for our next day's race. Sunday's race was in a great community just to the West of Columbus and less than a 2 hour drive from Cincinnati. So, we were able to sleep in and have a big breakfast before heading out.

The women's race in Grandview, Ohio, had a smaller field and with the strong wind, hot temperature and tough course was going to be a challenging race. Jeff once again had our bikes in tip top shape and ready to roll.
Staci and I were aggressive from the start, and pushed the pace on the backside of the course coming into the fast downhill and into the climb to the start/finish line. Staci attacked on the second lap, doing the same and with the field in tow and not willing to come around, I jumped hard up the second half of the climb. A couple of riders attacked up the climb for the prime and the group started to splinter. I couldn't maintain the pace (nb - bearing in mind Jenette has barely been able to ride her bike in the last 2 months....D.T) . I rode for several laps and when the field lapped me I saw that Staci was not there. I looked back and saw her chasing with another girl so I decided that I could try to help Staci get back to the field . The group was only 25-30 seconds ahead and I thought we had a chance to catch them. We worked hard and very well together and after picking off a couple of other dropped riders, came very close to catching the field at one point, only to start to lose time to them during the closing laps. We finished strong with Staci holding on for 8th place - I got 12th .

Nature Valley - the final stage!!

The Tour is over, and has been a solid across the board representation of what cycling is all about – from the highs of winning, the glory and excitement, to the feeling of defeat, bitterness, disillusionment and perceived failure and then dealing with and illness on top of all of that…..all rolled into 5 days!!

Today was a really tough stage – an extremely hilly and technical circuit after 4 days of racing. More than half the field was pulled and the pain suffered by the remaining riders was etched into their faces each of the 13 times they climbed ‘the wall’ (17% average) on the course.

Laura and Anna, so ill that it hurt me to see them pull their kits on to head out racing, fought so hard to come in 18th and 21st in the stage - climbing up the General Classification to 15th and 16th respectively. So incredibly impressive!

Kate had a heart breaking day. She left everything out on the course, but was not able to keep the green jersey on her back for the finish of the Tour, coming in 2nd in the Amateur classification and 37th overall. Our hearts broke for her, yet we are so proud of the way she rode all week - she left everything out there and that is all you can ask. To add to the equation, she rode the whole week on a borrowed bike! (her bike never made it out here…long story!).

Finally, we need to add that we have had the absolute honour of riding with Laura this week – the consummate professional and one of the most beautiful people you could ever hope to meet…..we have all learnt so much from LVG and had a whole lot of fun to boot!!

All there is left to do is thank Anna’s parents – Steve and Linda, who looked after us like we were Queens, provided us with the most exquisite cuisine, accommodation and entertainment….words can’t describe how grateful we are and how blown away we were with everything you have done for us. THANK YOU!!!!!

Onwards and upwards for the A team from here!!

Nature Valley - Stage 5

The 5th stage of Nature Valley was a 91 mile road race. - A big, long, tough day out at any time, but especially when suffering from a horrendous cold as Laura and Anna are. However, all the girls hung in there and Kate is still wearing the green amateur jersey, with a 6 second margin, going into the last stage of the tour....and of courseshe is determined to keep it!
The race ended with a tough, hilly finishing circuit which was a big ask for the girls with colds - Anna gallantly hung in with the front bunch of elite climbers until the last lap. Laura helped Kate to keep contact with the rider sitting second in the Amatuer classification, and they all crossed the line exhausted.
Kate now sits in 19th on General Classification, Anna 22nd and Laura 23rd.
One stage to go.

Podium at Nature Valley!

Laura Van Gilder came 3rd in the criterium in uptown Minneapolis tonight (the 4th stage of the tour), behind Brooke Miller of Tibco and Shelley Olds of Proman Cycling. She also won a $200 mid race prime, showing that she can still foot it with the top of the top, despite suffering from a horrible cold!
Kate stayed safely in the bunch to make sure she keeps the green jersey for the top amatuer rider firmly on her back. Anna also finished in the top bunch, battling valiantly while feeling pretty lousy with a cold as well.

Tommorrow is a 91 mile road race at Mankato.

Nature Valley Grand Prix - Minnesota

Kate V had a brilliant opening stage time trial to take the green jersey for the top amatuer rider in the race, and after stage 3 of the race (last night), she still has it sitting squarely on her shoulders and is also coming 9th overall!

We have the honour of having Laura Van Gilder guest ride for us, and despite struggling with a horrible cold, came 9th in the second stage crit and 6th in the tough 66mile road race last night. LVG is a joy to have around and has so much knowledge that she willingly shares - she is a very special person and represents Altarum absolutely brilliantly. This woman really is a legend and we love having her around!

Anna also has a horrible cold but is battling it out valiantly - she is sitting in 22nd on the General Classificiation, right behind LVG who is in 21st.

Altarum is coming 6th on the teams classification which is very impressive considering the calibre of top professional teams who are racing here!

I am not well at the moment and didn't last past the first day of the Tour which has been tough. It means I am able to help the girls with support though.

This is a very quick update sorry, and I am also behind in the Philly update but will chip away on those reports in the next few days

Translations

We have decided that a New Zealand English – American English translation article is in order to ensure there is full understanding of the crazy Kiwi on the team.


Kiwi Terms / Translation for Americans:


Fizzing: Very excited and happy

Gutted: Very disappointed

Mint: Great! Perfect!

Hot!: Very nice (for example, “that is a HOT time trial bike Kate!”)

Biscuit: Cookie

Kumara / Yam: Sweet Potato

Yam: Very small, not sweet, root vegetable which doesn’t seem to be
available in the U.S

Cheers Mate: Thank you very much my friend

She’ll be right Mate: Don’t worry my friend, everything will be ok.

Homely: Someone who loves to look after and cook for people
and provide outstanding hospitality (was mortified to learn
this meant 'ugly' in the U.S since I had always described my
beautiful team mate Michele as'homely'!)

Scroggin: Trail mix

Wrecked: Tired

Ratbag: Mischievous

Hard case: Funny /humorous person

Flat: House being rented with other people

Shifting: Moving house

Cruisy: Relaxed / Easy going

Plaster: Band Aid

Togs: Bathing suit / swim suit

Jandals: Flip flops

Dodgy: Questionable / dubious

Wee: Little / small

Arvo: Afternoon

Vivid: Marker pen

Hot Dog: Corn Dog

Ok, so after you have all memorized these phrases, I expect there will be no more blank stares and “say that agains?”!! Feel free to adopt any of these sayings….it is about time you Americans learnt to talk proper English.. Ha ha!


Some wee tests for any one super keen to brush up on their Kiwi:

“Cath was _ _ zz _ _ _ to s _ _ _ _ into her new _ _ _ t in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, It’s a m _ _ _ place!”

“It was so hot, all Kate wanted to do was get in her _ _ _g_ and jump in the water, she was _ _ tt _ _ the rivers were too d _ _ _ _ to swim in, and it also wasn’t a brilliant idea because she had a couple of _ _ _ _ _ _ rs on her leg from a crash.”

Anyone who can get all of these correct (c’mon, I made it easy!) gets an Altarum t-shirt with gigantic Kiwi (which are actually a native bird, by the way, not a fruit…..we refer to the fruit as ‘Kiwifruit”) drawn all on the back in vivid!

Ciao!

Clarendon Cup, Arlington, Virginia

As Bellie has already reported, the Airforce Cycling Classic / Clarendon Cup in Arlington, Virginia, was a resounding success for the team in every aspect! We really enjoyed a day out with the Wounded Warriors from Walter Reed – their stories inspired us and their company really made the day special.

We also had the best ever support crew with Jenette making the huge trip from West Virginia to help out, even though she was unable to race due to her injuries, Staci’s husband Jeff and daughter Claire also from West Virginia, Lorena, Superwoman Michelely Bellie, Kate Flore, Marjika, Devon and a full Altarum cheering squad with supporters all round the course it seemed!! We were inspired to race out of skin!!

The race itself was brilliantly and unselfishly executed by the team, and while we didn’t achieve the top step of the podium we were hoping for, we really rode so fantastically as a team out on the race course that I have no doubt that in one race soon all the stars will align and we will come away with the coveted win. It takes practice to make perfect! To have all 5 who raced finish in the top 20 shows that the form is there. Exciting stuff!

We had a team dinner after the race which was lots of fun (although Kate V nearly had her arm bitten off by Jenette's pet Lion as you can see in the picture) then we all went our different ways until we converge again next weekend in Philidelphia for the biggest race on the U.S calendar – the Liberty Classic. Kate and I did a recon of the course in Philly yesterday, and the photo shows who we found on our adventures.....yep, we race right smack bang in the middle of Philly, passing Rocky on several occasaions!

Till then

DT

Clarendon Cup

My teammates raced an awesome race!! Our event with the injured service members was inspiring, too. I am so proud. Look for the race report from the riders later as I have to drag my arse into work right now.

Good Times Driving Home from Somerville

McLoon, Look what we found? I cannot believe I ate those Jaw Busters after they sat in White Lightning for a month but I was hungry.

Somerville, New Jersey

Kate V carving it up at Somerville

Somerville has always been a favorite race of mine – there is a really neat atmosphere in the town and the community really gets in behind the race. I also like the course, which is wide open and fast.
Something that stood out for me last year was the funeral home that was having a big party to celebrate the race (I was hoping it wasn’t an effort to drum up business. Hee hee), and this year it was the panting cats on leashes – we saw two people who had brought their cats to the race and had them on leashes like a dog. Only it was so hot they were also panting like their canine counterparts (or may be they were having an identity crisis?!). Not quite right, but amusing none-the-less.
We ended up hanging out to watch the men’s race after we had warmed down and stretched. It was great to take some time to enjoy the atmosphere rather than duck straight home.

Michele, Kate V, Kristy and I were the team for the day, and we meant business. I am so proud of the way we rode – super aggressively, strongly, represented in almost everything and if were weren’t, we helped bring the break back……..unfortunately our efforts were not reflected in the results due to events outside our control. On the 2nd last lap a crash meant Kristy had to call upon her extraordinary Kung Fu balance skills to stay upright, which included a yet-to-be-named move involving hopping down the road delicately balanced on one foot (not forgetting that cycling shoes are lumpy on the bottom!). While she impressively stayed upright, it did mean she had to stop and that means race over when the bunch is traveling at such high speed. She clipped back in and carried on to finish though, which is credit to her character as many less tenacious characters would have called it a day at that point.

In the last lap, with Kate and I in good position in the front bunch, there was another crash with 500m to go and we both had to stop and start again as the remainder of the bunch rode away to take the placings. Kate got started again quickly and chased as hard as she could to finish 21st and I was back in the 30’s somewhere. So frustrating as we really felt like we were putting it all together to come up with the goods!! However, we all stayed upright and that is the most important thing. The start of this season has been marred with crashes, and while that is an inevitable part of bike racing, it is really tough to see friends and team mates injured and I sincerely hope that when my reports mention the crashes it is not upsetting anyone too much! Risk is part of sport and the fact that we take those risks to be the best we can be reflects our love and passion for cycling and all it brings with it.

Next weekend we are in Arlington, Virginia for the Airforce Classic, Clarendon Cup. This is an important race for the team and we are amped!!

In the meantime, stay tuned for a Kiwi translations article during the week!!!

RFK Criterium, Washington D.C

The RFK crit is traditionally like racing on the surface of the sun, but this year it was definitely a bearable temperature, just very windy and this ended up having quite an impact on the outcome of the race.

Only four of us raced – Kate V, Kristy and I in the Cat 1/2 race and Anna Kelso in the Cat 3 race. There were a few big teams racing in the Cat 1/2 race so it was going to be hard to cover every break away attempt, but we were definitely out to give it our best shot and were determined we weren’t letting the race ride away from us.

I think we rode really well during the race – we covered most potential break away attempts, rode aggressively and in good position. No breaks were able to stay away as the wind made it too difficult. Things just didn’t go our way in the end and we were swamped in the bunch sprint and didn’t come away with the top finish we would’ve liked.
It was frustrating, but that is bike racing and I have a rule – you take yourself away and give yourself 5 minutes to feel really annoyed, angry, whatever negative emotions you are feeling, then you move on and don’t dwell on what can’t be changed….take on board what you have learnt from whatever mistakes you made and look ahead to the next race!! So that is what we are doing – bring on Somerville!!
Anna Kelso was so strong in her race, but it is tough out there with no team mates and she was also swamped in the sprint at the end with the wind meaning no breaks stayed away.
Till tommorrow
D.T

A selection of photos.....

Team hairdresser - Gerard at Chaos
in Bethesda, Maryland. He's the man!
From L toR: Dale, Jenette, Gerard,
Kate Flore


Hey all!
This is a selection of random photos to check out.....you can look at whole albums using the flicker account (the icon is to the side of the blog)....
More news after the weekend!!
Ciao



An Amish market / yard sale Michele and I
discovered while out riding....then headed back
to it after our ride for a BBQ chicken treat!
Mmmmmmmm!!!



Kate V and Jenette on the bridge in Beaufort,
SC. The middle of the bridge swings out to let
big boats through. Very cool!




Exploring Beaufort...Nora took us on a walk round all the
amazing old houses (hence why we are wearing sneakers
in case you were wondering about our fashion sense!).

The lemonade terraces of Beaufort, SC - hanging

out with Nora and Charles.

Capitol Hill Day

This past Wednesday saw the team take part in the Congressional Cycling Fitness Fair, presented by Altarum, right in the hub of the Government buildings on Capitol Hill! It was a really exciting and fulfilling day and we all felt incredibly proud talking about our role as ambassadors of Cycling Fitness 101 – the program we have been running in some of the local D.C schools (which you can read about in some of the other blog entries if you haven’t already!)

Many congressional staff members and representatives were impressed by the program and several were interested in having the Program at a school in their district – yah!

As well as talking to all sorts of interesting people, we also offered a mini spin class for those who wanted to challenge us at what we do best! Michele spend many hours organizing a top notch music mix for the session – and although there were limited people up for the challenge (we must have looked far too professional and scary in our full cycling kit!), one person who was definitely keen to jump on one of the bikes was Congressman Earl Blumenauer, who is well know for his support of cycling as a preferable mode of transportation. We were all impressed he took time out of his busy day to come and support our cause and we all enjoyed meeting him and his staff!

Several other organizations participated in the Cycling Fitness Fair, including DC Metro Service, Capitol Hill Bikes, Honest TEA and the League of American Bicyclists.

The Cycling Fitness Fair was followed up by a round table to discuss ways to combat childhood obesity, which was well attended and received.

A huge thank you to Jonathon, Devon and Marijka of the Altarum Institute and Michele and Kate Flore who worked like Trojans to ensure this event ran smoothly and successfully and was a highly enjoyable day! Double thumbs up!!!

Kelly Cup, Baltimore, Maryland

Well today was a shock to the system because it was cold and we have become accustomed to beautiful warm weather in the last few weeks!

Staci, Jenette and I all stayed at Kristy’s awesome big apartment in Baltimore last night (full of antiques and her hilarious cats Monkey and Turkey and dog Brooklyn), so we had the luxury of a sleep in this morning before heading to the race course, which was in Patterson Park in downtown Baltimore. We rode to the race the scenic route and I was really impressed with the beautiful old buildings and the awesome area down at the wharf……however, there was little time for looking round as we needed to catch up with Anna McLoon, Anna Kelso, Michele and Kate and suss out the plan for the race!

Anna Kelso had already raced that morning in the Women’s 3 / 4 race but was chomping at the bit to get out and help us out in the 1 / 2 race and we were happy for the extra pair of legs!

Anna McLoon, stitches in her chin and all, lined up for the race…..gutsy I tell you! She's my hero.

The race course around Paterson Park is a little technical, with a climb up to the finish line. The attacks began from the start and Jenette, still nursing her very bad back injury, was an animal mixing it up at the front and in the early breakaways. Michele was also up there launching off the front (and continued to race like a rockstar for the rest of the race!)and the rest of us were finding our legs a bit further back!

There was a horrible crash through the start finish area about a third of the way into the race which Jenette came down in very hard. She now has a bad shoulder to go with her back injury. So frustrating!

The whole race was stopped and restarted due to the crash, and with a sole Australian girl solo off the front and the big teams unable to make a dent into her lead, she rode away with the race win. The bunch sprint was a crazy affair, with Anna McLoon coming in 15th and the rest of us further back. The race was only 20 miles so felt like it was over before we started!

After the race debriefs and getting our recovery foods into us so our bodies are ready to train again next week (usually a recovery drink with protein in it an some carbs to go with it, such as a banana and/or muesli bar) and the swapping of race stories, we said our farewells and headed in our different directions home until next weekend, when we do it all over again in D.C and New Jersey!

Till then
D.T

Wilmington, Delaware

Today was another NRC race in the cool town of Wilmington, in Delaware.

It was our first race with a almost the full team racing so we were excited to all be together and looking forward to the adrenaline rush that comes with a big race!

It was a relatively short race at 25 miles, so the pace was fast from the start. The field split fairly early on with Kate V and Anna making the front group of 17 riders and Kristy and Dale in the chase group, Michelle and Staci in the group behind that.

Anna’s run of the worst luck EVER continued and she came down after riders crashed in front of her…..a visit to the emergency room and several stitches later, Anna is on the mend. We hope to have her back soon.

The race continued with two main groups of riders fighting for the top 23 places. The front group had 17 riders, including our own Kate V, who despite being outnumbered by the larger teams, made several great efforts to pull breakaways in. Kate is a super strong rider and she put in such an impressive ride to finish in 9th place. Job well done!

Kristy and Dale continued to work in the second group and their effort paid off as they finished in 21st and 22nd place. Good finishes considering there were over 80 women that lined up at the start of the race.

We headed down to Baltimore, Maryland to make some good dinner and rest up for the race tomorrow.

Jenette

Maury Elementary School Visit

Yesterday was our second school visit, to the Maury Elementary School in Washington D.C – and what a great time we had!

We were so impressed with the kids at Maury– they were all so willing to learn and interested in what we had to say, taking full part in the activities we set. Coach Johnson is a fine ambassador for the school and a great leader for the children. We especially loved the fact that most of the kids had bikes, some rode to school and almost everyone played a sport or were part of a dance group – good work!!

We have a lot of enthusiasm for and belief in the message we are putting out there and are endlessly grateful for the help and support of our sponsor, Altarum Institute. We are on a mission to show kids how fun it is to live a healthy life - to eat healthy and to be fit! In the school sessions, we explained and demostrated to the kids what we do as bike riders and why, and taught them some of the in’s and out’s of bike racing and fitness and of course, talked about good nutrition! It’s Cycling Fitness 101!!

The day was structured along the same lines as the last school visit that Lorena wrote about, with four stations staffed by different members of the team. Kate Veronneau and I were on Bike Handling and Team Strategy – talking about how cycling is a team sport, even though there is only one person who wins, and letting the kids in on some of our ‘secrets’ for example, drafting, flicking your elbow when you have finished your turn at the front so the next person can take a turn on the front, forming a pace line when the wind is coming in different directions. We used a fan to demonstrate how much wind the person in front could block and the kids had a lot of fun with this.
We had a great time and I had all sorts of different questions about my accent, from “Why do you talk funny?” to “Are you from Texas?!”.

Kate Flore was on the Strength Training station where she put the kids through their paces with all sorts of exercises. This station was definitely a favorite and there were all sorts of yelps and laughter coming from her area as the kids held static strength poses – such as the plank or board (where you hold yourself on your forearms and toes with your back flat) and then stretched their muscles out afterwards.

Michele staffed the Nutrition and Recovery station, where she talked about healthy eating, foods to concentrate on eating most (fruit and vegetables and whole grains) the importance of a healthy breakfast, and foods to stay away from (junk foods and sugar). She borrowed some fruit snacks as props and the grapes sure didn’t last long!! Great that the kids have a good healthy appetite for fruit! All the kids got a bottle of water and a drink bottle at the end so they keep up their fluid intake, especially as the weather warms up!

Our mechanic Ryan (or GiGi) was on the technical station, where he showed the kids a road bike and a time trial bike, talking about the differences between these and why. He had all sorts of props – from an aero Time Trial helmet, a road helmet and some cycling clipless shoes. The kids loved trying on the helmets – some got lost inside them! And each child received some reflector stickers at the end of the lesson.

All up, it was another great day out at another great school! Thank you for having us!
Ciao
Dale

Sandy Springs, Georgia

Hi again!
This is the final blog from our Speed Week adventures!

The last race of the series was back in Georgia and while we were all looking forward to some rest and recovery at the end of this crazy bout of 9 days of racing and tripping round, we were also sad about saying goodbyes and ending such a super fun time.

We were up early (after a late night after the race and AAA episode) and on the road to Sandy Springs at 9am…White Lightening started first pop - YAH!

The course at Sandy Springs was fantastic – a little hilly, fast and technical. Anna rode brilliantly – taking out an early prime and ramping it up at the end, only to crash on the finishing straight……she was gutted and frustrated, but brave about it all and got on with packing up and heading off to the airport to fly home to Boston. Anna has collegiate Nationals in Colarado next weekend and we think she is going to ROCK! She has had a fantastic week of racing and really showed she is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the coming months.

Kate also had a really solid race, keeping well up with the best and rolled in for 16th place. I could really see our K.V improve in every area during the week after a rough start with such a hard crash in Athens…….for having only been riding for 2 years Kate is one outstanding athlete with a really exciting future in the world of bike racing.

Jenette is focusing this next while on getting her back fixed up – she went into the week nursing an injury and crashing in Roswell damaged it beyond what we could repair in a week. She stepped in, while in a really tough space and in a lot of pain, to support the rest of us for the week and really tried so hard to keep a positive outlook which I admire hugely. The rest of the team are behind our Jdub 100% in her comeback……Jenette is one of the most naturally talented riders you could ever come across so we can’t wait to have her back on board and firing on all cylinders!

I felt much better by the end of the week and am glad to have survived a pretty tough bout of racing for the start of my season here in the U.S. I always struggle at the start of the season and that can be really tough on my head, however I know that now I have a bit of speed in the legs I will be away….

I am so incredibly grateful I had the privilege of spending the last 9 days with 3 OUTSTANDING team mates, who supplied top notch company, humor and support. You couldn’t ask for more.

Add to that 5 super host families and that makes the best race series of all time!

Next up for the team are a bunch of road races and crits and we will keep the blog updated with reports from those.

Thanks for reading!!
Happy riding and healthy living
Dale

Altarum Cycling Fitness 101

Our first school event was a great success at Payne Elementary School. We showed great teamwork this week in fulfilling both of our team’s main objectives - half the team was out racing strong at Speedweek in the Southeastern States, while the other half of us got to go to Payne Elementary School in Washington, D.C. to show kids just how cool and fun it is to bike and be healthy!

We loved working with these kids, and they seemed to love us right back. The natural energy and enthusiasm of these 7 – 10 year olds, along with our enthusiasm for the message we were bringing, combined into a high-energy afternoon that left me as exhausted at the end of the day as if I had done a full workout. Exactly what I was hoping for!

Our goal was to put on a fun program for elementary kids to promote exercise, proper nutrition, and cycling safety. The fact that each of us on the team feels so strongly about these things is what makes us such a perfect fit with our sponsor, Altarum Institute, whose focus is systems research for better health. We feel so lucky to be sponsored by an organization with a mission we believe in so strongly and love to spread.

The kids got stock card pictures of the team and Altarum Institute water bottles that they had fun taking around to the different stations to get autographed by team members (it was fun, they treated us like stars). They rotated around four different stations – Russ Langley, guest pro from the Harley Davidson Cycling Team, seemed to steal the show as he demonstrated his cool aerodynamic time trialing bike, skinsuit, and crazy TT helmet to get their attention for his message about bike safety. The kids were in awe!

With such a show stealer in the station next to me, I had to be quick on my feet to find interesting ways to engage the kids in my message on nutrition and hydration. Let’s just say I’m glad I packed plastic fruit for them to play with. Who knew that plastic grapes were so interesting? I discovered some interesting facts while thinking up engaging ways to illustrate some points. Guess how many apples you would have to eat in order to match the number of calories in just a medium sized Baskin Robins Heath Shake? About 27!!! Yikes. I showed them the size of the cup for the medium shake (24oz) next to a medium apple. It appeared that about 2 apples would physically fill the cup. Being smart kids, they knew that they would need more than those 2 apples to match the calories of a shake, but their guesses were generally around 3 – 6 apples (aside from the answers of a million and infinite from at least one kid in every group!).

The stations were rounded off with Kate Flore teaching about strength training, and Michele Bote and Kristy Scheffenacker teaching about bike racing tactics. The kids had a blast trying to meet Kate’s challenges with different core exercises on yoga mats. And peeking at the tactics station revealed kids laughing and engaging in interactive demonstrations and mini-competitions to learn about things involved in bike racing like pacelines, drafting, blocking, and breaking away.

Many of the kids asked if we will come back, and I hope we can again next year! Our next stop is this Friday at Maury Elementary School in D.C.

Anniston, Alabama

We love this place!  Alabama is not only beautiful (green, lush with rolling hills and lots of beautiful forests), but it is also wins the Altarum Women's Cycling award for being super friendly....we had one of the most fun times you could possibly have at a bike race!  

Anniston is a fairly small town (well, by NZ standards I would say it was quite big, but by American standards it is micro!) but turns on a full on carnival for the whole day of racing with all sorts of food and craft stands, music, air guitar competitions, fun and games!  People were so friendly and genuinely interested in our racing and what we were doing - it was a pleasure to race here!

It rained most of the day but dried out into a perfect evening in time for our race - a bit of a relief since the course had a few tricky corners that would have caused immense carnage in the rain!

The course had a long uphill finish straight with a super fast downhill back straight and it was full on from the gun.  I tried to go for a few of the early primes but burnt many matches in my unsuccessful attempt and HURT for the rest of the race, not quite lasting the distance.  Gave my legs and lungs a good blow out though.....

 The high pace meant the field was shredded, so it was fantastic to see Anna and Kate still right up there at the end mixing it up.  Both had exceptional races, with Anna coming in for 7th and Kate 14th.  It didn't look like many more than 20 women finished, so big ups for the girls!!

The race director had organised a post race meal for all the teams at a delicious local restaurant, and we stayed on to watch the mens race and soak up some more of the atmosphere - it was a really fun night - and little did we know, but the adventures were just beginning...... 

We discovered, at the end of the evenings festivities, that White Lightening, our trusty Chevvy van, was not at all keen on 'roaring into life' as is usually the case........

Our 'women in distress' signals were attended to by several groups of would be mechanics, but to no avail.  Luckily Anna's parents are brainy (just like her - she is doing a phd at Harvard in Micro-Biology) and gave her an AAA membership for Christmas, so we made the call and waited for the eventual arrival of Vaughn the tow truck guy, who was our hero of the evening.

Vaughn arrival was not exactly speedy, however we used the time constructively and pulled out all sorts of yoga and stretching moves, made friends with the locals, and the Jelly Belly Cycling team left us with a few mini bags of jelly beans in case we were stuck doing an all-nighter in the parking lot and needed sustenance, so we selected the best flavours (I vote coconut)...luckily they didn't spring any of the Harry Potter vomit or snot jobbies on us as a mean trick!

Eventually, Vaughan managed to crank White Lightening back into action and we finally made it back to Doug and Brenda's place to find Brenda had prepared a fruit fiesta for us to snack on before bed....Super host number 5!

Ok, well past our bed time now.  Tommorrow is the last race in this epic Southern journey -in  Sandy Spring, Georgia.  Anna flies back to Boston straight after the race and Kate, Jenette and I head back to West Virginia so the final race report will be hot off the press sometime on Monday!

Laters!!

Dale :-)