LaRue Report: Paris Roubaix Tour

Hello,

Nancy and I got back from Roubaix. Man what an experience. We rode the last 115k of the course. We left from the hotel in Valenciennes and rode 5 miles to the famous pavê section Arenberg forest. This is rated as a 5 star (the highest rating). It felt more like a 9.9 on the Richter scale. We then rode several other sections of Pavê until we reached section 5 which was about 8k of cobbles another section of 5 star. I got about halfway th rough and wanted to start crying. I had to look down at my arms because I thought they were on fire and ready to shake off. I know everyone thinks that they should go to the Tour de France but this was the neatest tour we have done. If you get a chance this would be worth doing. I would make it a week of classics starting with Flanders,Gent-Wevelgem, then the queen Roubaix. I thought that cyclist at this level were great but after this I think they’re gods. That was one of the toughest ride I can remember in a long time. Of course you know my memory is short.

Well the next stop is the Giro in 4 weeks. I will send out a LaRue report then.

Gina Kenny Report: Hillsboro Roubaix

Wow. Not only has Jessi’s riding improved, bringining her to “prominent name” status, her race reports have improved as well. Thanks for the entertaining read! = )

As for the Women’s 4’s race– We actually had nearly 50 starters. Pretty unbelievable. Pretty soon into the race, there was a crash — I heard some loose gravel but didn’t see it. I just all of a sudden saw girls going down everywhere. I was far enough back that I was able to break before adding to the pile but was right smack in the middle of a row and couldn’t get to either the left or right. I couldn’t latch back on to the group. I passed some girls and worked with some others for most of the race. I’m still slow as heck on the hills but do seem to be improving — even passing a few girls! = ) Dawn was able to get around the tangle of girls and bikes quicker than I was but she, unfortunately, ended up spending the majority of the race riding by herself which had to suck with those windy sections. Myself and three other girls were working together until the last hill, two passed me, I passed one. The two that passed me slowed way down for the cobblestones so I barreled past them and finally caught up to Dawn. She latched on and passed me right before the finish line making her 24th and me 25th.

Jessi's Hillsboro Report

My trip down to Hillsboro indeed brought back many interesting memories. I could again envision myself age thirteen laying by the side of the road getting a back rub from my mother just 10 miles from the finish line, crying tears of pain as all the cat 4 women I had worked so hard to drop slowly passed me again. Another image, a year later, of a dark, dreary, freezing wet day shivering at the start line with 20 other juniors (I was the lone girl of course) and riding by myself for hour after hour after being popped from the pack.

All these past memories of the hilly road race only left me in a quandary at what today’s fresh, new Hillsboro experience might bring.

The day started at chilly low temperatures, and after circling the small loop in town twice I was forced to resort to jumping jacks as a final desperate attempt at a warm-up. This year was the first year I would be riding with the big girls, the catty 1,2,3s, and I wanted to prove myself as a persevering rider with greater potential than they could have ever though possible. As of this moment, I just looked like a scrappy teenager doing jumping jacks in the middle of the road.

As I looked around, I calculated my chances of victory. If there are 30 riders in a bike race and one rider is dropped per mile for 44 miles, what is the probability of Jessi winning the bike race? I’ll give a free powerbar to anyone who can figure that one out.

Today’s race would definitely be no cup of tea; just looking around I could spot prominent names of some of the most ruthless women in the Midwest. Sure, I’d competed against a few of these strong women here and there, but today it was as if the Prominent Name Convention had come to town and every single prominent name in the Midwest decided to show up.

I was still yapping my trap off to Sue as the starter whistle blew, and I scrambled to get my feet clipped in as the race began. It only took about 4 miles into the race for the attacks to begin; I guess Prominent Names don’t like to stay together that often. None of the attacks lasted longer than a minute, or gained more than a few feet. For the first time in my life I used my brain, and figured that if the Prominent Names’ attacks weren’t working, than mine probably wouldn’t either, so I became a wheelsucker for most of the first lap.

You know the saying "When the going gets tough, the tough get going"? It goes something like that. Well, the same applied for this race. The race soon turned into Café Ride Gone Wild with attack groups catapulting themselves at every opportunity. Everyone knew this was the moment of truth: this was the decisive moment of who would make the break and who would get whisked out into the empty cornfields of Illinois, forced to take the scraps left behind after the riders up the road got first dibs on podium. The terrain turned to a grade steep enough to deliver the final blow needed to splinter the pack. Just seven of us came out together. And I was one of them.

The paceline began immediately, all of us working together swiftly and efficiently to insure no stragglers clawed their way back on. I could name every face in the pack and match at least one first place victory with each face as well (except one gal from St. Louis).

The race continued on this way for the rest of the first lap and the entirety of the second lap. Near the end of the second lap, another lady somehow conjured up the Herculean effort to ride herself back into our group, increasing the number to eight. After so many miles of such brutal pacelining, I was beginning to fatigue, and each hill I would fall back farther and farther.

Finally, as the last hill loomed overhead, I scraped together what little power remained from the far reaches of my being, and stood up in a mad frenzy to just stay in contact with the other riders in the group, knowing there was just one mile to the finish line. It was to no avail, though, because I quickly became gapped by five who hammered their way out of my reaches up the road. My mind momentarily flickered with disappointment because there were only five paying places in the race, and it was disheartening to ride 44 fierce miles only to finish just out of money range. I still continued my relentless struggle up the hill with the other two dropped women, never abandoning hope of some miracle.

And then, as if God himself had answered my prayers, the most amazing and spectacle of the twenty-first century occurred right before my scrappy little eyes. One of the ladies dropped her chain. And then there were four little Indians. I ascended the top of the hill and shook my legs out as I scorched down the descent into the cobbles. I paced myself with the other two women, barely noticing the battering cobbles jarring my teeth, knowing I was clinging to my last chance at a podium finish. The final turn came and I sat patiently behind in third position, knowing how long the final straight was. Lady 1 and Lady 2 slowly ramped it up, eyeing each other side by side. As the pace quickened and they started to sprint, I got boxed in as Lady 1 sat in front of me with the curb to my left and Lady 2 to my right. It was not exactly the ideal situation in the final moments of a race, but I slowly backed off and kicked it into high gear as I sprinted around both of them sliding right into 5th place.

And with that I think it’s safe to say that in the course of just 3 hours the once scrappy teenager doing jumping jacks in the middle of the road has just graduated to the title of Prominent Name.

Until next week…

-Prominent Name

(Jessi Prinner)

Irene Pang Reports In from the Desert

Hello everyone! Greetings from Arizona! Since you now have more outdoor racing coming up, I’ve decided to issue a summary race report, which includes a total of 4 mountain bike races and 3 criteriums. Would you believe that the State Championship Criterium is in a mere 2 weeks??

I’ve been participating in the 7-race state mountain bike Championship Series in both the Marathonand the Cross-Country mountain bike racing divisions. 4 races are already over, and the whole series ends mid-May, so the entire series as much like an early-season exercise. Mountain biking inArizona involves coming in close proximity to a multitude of sharp thorny plants, some with detachable appendages that cling to whatever body part or soft bike part unfortunate enough to happen by. So despite having mountain biked here before, I felt the need to don protective armor on my first few rides here. Fortunately, the race courses tend to feature less sharp plants, but are full of sandy washes, loose climbs, loose descents, rough rock (granite and volcanic), drop-offs, and twisty trail. I race in the Expert category (Women 19-39), but found early on that due to my desire to stay upright, I have inferior speed and skill at negotiating downhills, drop-offs, twisty sections, and some otherwise ‘technical’ sections when compared to other Experts. This is where the Marathon event comes in – the Marathon event is a much longer event, typically requiring 4-6 hours to complete, but due to the length of the event, the route tends to be on the average less ‘technical’. So as it turns out, my best placing so far is second in a Marathon event (but less people do the marathon event). 3 of the 7 events are at mid-altitude, with one at 5000 ft, another at 6000 ft, and the Final at 7000 ft, but since most of the competitors in this state live at lower altitudes, I’ve come to the conclusion that on the average, this is not a huge detriment. Interestingly, I’ve noted that 2 of the other Expert Women raced regularly in the Wisconsin WORS mountain bike series a couple years ago.

My first crit here was a semi-success, but somewhat accidentally (Scottsdale Grand Prix - 4 corners, 1 mile course). I have exercise-induced asthma which appears to be aggravated by high pollen counts and/or high pollution levels. Unfortunately, due to the different environmental profiles in Tucson vs.Phoenix, I was not entirely medically prepared for this event. My first race was the 30+ women, which was run concurrently with the Cat 4 women. The entire field was 15, with 8 teams represented, plus 2 unattached. I knew no one, nor any of the teams, and was also having asthma issues during most of this race, so I was mostly ‘hanging-out’ observing while trying to stay upright and not get dropped. At some point I must have gotten over the asthma and with 1 lap to go, it seemed like everyone suddenly slowed down. So I got into a reasonable position and by merely sitting on another racer’s wheel, I found myself in 2nd with about 50 meters to go. Since I did not want to interfere with the Cat 4 sprint and did not appear to be challenged by any 30+ women, I initially opted to just continue sitting on this woman’s wheel, but in the end decided that the finish would look silly if I didn’t at least try to go around. So in the end, in the field, I was second by about half a wheel, and 1st in the 30+ Women.

My 2nd race that day was the Cat 3 Women, which was about 3.5 hours later with a field size of 9. Due to either eating solid food too late before the race, or due to the settling-in of respiratory issues, I noticed during my warm-up that I was getting winded unusually easily (i.e. - 120W felt like 145W), but decided to race anyway. Oddly, this race was slower than the Cat 4 race, and with everyone ambling along at one point just before a prime, I went for the prime, but at an apparently harder effort than my respiratory state allowed at that time. I did not get the prime and was promptly dropped after that. The lesson here was to take adequate asthma medication with me.

My 2nd crit was a local one (Tucson Crit Series) held on a go-cart track with 11 (!!) ‘corners’ over a sub-mile course. There were few straight-aways and rapid successions of left-right-left-right-sequences making it difficult to pass at whim. Not trusting my own ability to adequately safely negotiate the course in the front (after having to brake a couple times while pre-riding) I decided to hang out in the back leaving others plenty of room also. Women of all categories were combined and 2 women separately got away early. There were 2 crashes total, 1 near the front of the group, and 1 near the back. This was just sort of practice for me, and I ended up 2nd in the Cat. 3 Women. I also raced with the 45+ men that day, but after being unable to make it around 1 other gapped competitor prior to the first sequence of rapid left-right-left right’s, I ended up pacing the entire race with this other competitor. All-in-all, I think I’ve gotten adequate practice on this course to be able to do better next time on the same course.

My 3rd crit was in the South Phoenix area (Hungry Dog Crit – 2 corners, ½ mile course). I have no idea why the event is named this, but each category winner received a dog bowl. This time, armed with more asthma medication (the regular amount), I proceeded to chase breaks right from the gun, but later, it became apparent that perhaps these breaks did not need chasing because they were 1-2’s who were scored separately anyway. So the rest of us rode at mostly a tempo pace after that, with a couple primes sprinkled in. Towards the end, we were lapped, at which point I should have latched on, but debated this concept for much too long until they were well ahead and already sprinting for a prime. At some point after that, a couple riders bridged up. Oddly I don’t even remember seeing them go, so I must have been in the back at the time. After this happened, I also mistakenly thought that one of the bridgers was on the same team as one of the 1-2’s, but it turns out I was incorrect. In the end, I won the field sprint, but was 3rd in my category.

After this race, I decided that I need to learn to identify the various team jerseys better, as well as individual riders. I believe I must be the only racer around here with an orange jersey, but there appear to be multiple royal blue, green-royal blue, and pink-purple themed team jerseys around here.

Not sure if anyone bothered to read all this, and I’m not offended if no one did ….

Best wishes in your upcoming races and events!

Irene

ABD/Gear Grinder Report: Carter Gets Rolling in Texas

Last week I was working in Corpus Christi, TX so last weekend I put my feet in the water and did my first race of the season in Copperas Cove, Texas near Austin on the way home. I'm still weightlifting and have done very little outdoor riding ... basically I'm still in winter training mode.

The race was just a local, barely a prize-list race so I was surprised to encounter a completely full field and approximately 10 pros! The flyer advertised an 83 mile road race, but it turned out to be 95 miles instead. The weather, which is usually very nice at this time of year, was about 40 degrees ... a little colder than I'd have enjoyed. The terrain was a little more hilly than I'd expected too, some of the climbs were 3 miles long.

I was a little antsy and made the first 2-man break; I knew I should not have gone in it as soon as we began. I still worked equally hard as the other rider and we stayed off for a few miles. Then a group of 6 riders slipped off the front. Still relatively early in the race, as I was climbing one of the bigger climbs, I decided to take off my leg warmers ... of course, while I was riding at the back of the group another group of 9 riders pushed themselves off into a chase group. (I always know it's my first race of the year when I make all sorts of rookie mistakes!) Knowing that the race was up the road I decided that I needed to bridge across and get myself back into the race.

I found my opportunity to bridge when there was a big talewind with two consecutive, long climbs. Myself and two pros pushed it in the talewind and took some serious momentum and speed into the climbs and separated ourselves from the bunch. We brought the 1 1/2 minute gap down to about 30 seconds just in a few minutes. The three of us saw that the two groups ahead of us had joined to form one big group. We quickly joined up with them to make a big group of 20. I guess the other guys didn't like the new mix after we joined because as soon as we caught them, they sat up. It took a few miles of us riding very easy for the field to catch us. When the field caught us there were only a total of about 75 riders left ... about 3/4 of the origin field.

There weren't any more moves until about 20 miles to go when 2 guys just noodled off the front. Then another 2 guys noodled off the front to form a chase group. Then the same two pros I'd made the bridge with earlier, myself, and another rider attacked and got away forming a 2nd chase group. Our group caught and left behind the first chase group so that we were the new chase group out on the road, fighting for 3rd-6th. On the last big climb with 7 miles to go one of the guys in my group attacked. We all reacted but there was a limit to my reaction ... and I got popped. I was able to stay close once we got over the top of the climb but I was never able to catch back on. With a flat/downhill the rest of the way to the finish I was able to hold off the field and finish in 6th.

Overall it was cold, hard, and way too early to be racing ... but good to see where I'm at. I'm looking forward to seeing everone this weekend at the Indoor TT!

Josh

[UPDATE] Nowak Report: State CX Championships

You did what?

Yes I did!!! I made it over to Montrose Harbor today for the IL State Cyclocross Champs! I was quite a bit apprehensive about going as I was not feeling all too well when I woke up on Sun. morning; headache, scratchy throat, tired, but my goal of staying in the top 10 of the 40+ was in jeopardy if I didn't go, so what the heck.

Let me first say that Chris Dimmick and the Turin crew did an OUTSTANDING job of putting together today's race. I talked to Chris after the race and found out that he and a few other people were out at the race site SHOVELING and SNOWBLOWING for the past 3 days! Outside of a few areas, there was at the minimum of a one lane path to ride in, but 75-80% of the course was wide enough to pass.

Overall the course threw everything at us, fast gravel and pavement sections, slick technical turns (and LOTS of them), slippery uphills, two LOOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGG

GGGG runups, sketchy snowfilled downhills, and lots of slop (just like any other 'crosser would like!).

As I was doing a last recon of the course and coming by the start/finish area, I noticed that people were lined up and the official was counting bodies. I made a bee-line for the start and snuck into the first row. I peeled off my extra clothing and was ready to go. I got a pretty good start, around 10 to 12 back. We made it thru the first technical section without any wipeouts (I think), and then it was to the runup. I shouldered the bike and went hard passing a few people. At the top, I got on and hit the downhill hard. The unshoveled snow was like sand on top of ice. At the bottom of the downhill was a 180 turn with 2 barriers and then another runup. I hit the runup hard again and dislodged a few of the guys that I was trailing in the overall. In front was two Turin guys (Dimmick and Steel). In and out of technical sections and slop, I kept them in view. At the beginning of the second lap, both slid out in a corner with Steel dropping his chain. I caught him and we then continued to open space on the people behind us for the next 5 laps. With two laps to go, I was leading Steel thru a corner when my back wheel slid out and I went down. He gapped me and then I was caught by one other guy. I was determined to not let him pass me and keep him at bay.

On the last lap, we were really going well and in the last technical section I looked up and Steel was just getting up and putting his chain back on. I gunned it to go past him only to be shut down by the tightness of the course. I tried to sprint past him in the final straight, but these old legs can't do that anymore.

I figured I did pretty well, but had no clue on placing. As it turned out I was initially 28th (WRONG!!!) and after talking to the officials, I got my proper placing of 7th, one of the best results of the year.

Also in the 40+ was Mr. Scotty Boyd who I believe was in the top 15 if not even the top 10. Ed Bartley was also out there and I believe he may have been in the top 15 also.

I know Gina Kenny and Sue S. where in the women's race, but I didn't get a chance to watch it as I was dealing with getting my placing right.

Not sure if anyone else was out there, but it was a great day for 'cross, and for me personally a great way to end the season.

Well, I just got my skis back from being stoneground so now it is time to wax and to switch to x-country skiing.

So I'll either see you on the white stuff, or in the spring.

Thanks for reading!
Jim

Gina Kenny Adds:

I know Tim Keeley and Jay Corgiat (sorry, if I spelled your names wrong) were there. Jay raced the 4A's. I think he said he got mid-pack. Tim appeared to be doing well in the 4B's. Sue got 4th!!! in the Women's 4's. Way to go! I did my first Women's 1/2/3 race and learned that I need to practice sprinting up hills and running, as that appears to be a weak point for me. I'll just say it was a learning experience and a humbling experience.

Hopefully some of the other ABD-er's that were out there can give us a report as well.

-Gina

Kenny & Bartley Report: Wisconsin CX Championship

This was the first true cross race of the year. I actually drove up on Saturday and rode the course. It started snowing while I was there making my preride nothing like the actual race.

The course had probably about an inch of snow and was a mushy, and in places, muddy mess. Turning became sketchy with me having to place a foot down from time to time and going down in the small sand pit. Between the Women's Cat. 4 race and the Men's and Women's Cat. 3 race
there was a small break to pre-ride the course. It started raining during this -- not drizzling but raining. I did wear rain gear for the warm up/preride but I was absolutely drenched by the time my race was over. Remarkably, I was not really cold during the race except for my feet.

I was hoping to do well in my first Cat. 3 race but, with the weather, most of the girls opted to stay home. There were six of us. Scanning the group, I knew my hopes of not being DFL in the race might be dashed. I ended up sixth, DFL. I had a bad start and had some "rider error" -- first, it was only my second time racing cross in the snow and I think I need more practice to feel comfortable going harder and practice actually mounting in wet, slippery conditions. Secondly, I listened to some advice on a cycloss forum about wearing two pairs of shorts to keep my butt warm. My butt was warm but the second pair of shorts slid down and kept getting caught
on my seat.

Eddie Bartley competed in the Masters 40+. His race was a little after mine. It had stopped raining and I'm not sure if the coursewould have been in better or worse shape by that time. I cheered him on for part of his race but I was freezing and my 16-month-old was bouncing off the walls in our CRV so I didn't stick around to see how he did. Hopefully, he'll give us a race report of his own.

We are supposed to have much better weather for the last Chicago series race. The forecast is for 40's. It'll seem balmy!
-Gina

Eddie adds:

I had a great time today with all the mud and what felt like ice water in my shoes the whole race.I got knocked off my bike in the first turn from the start .Boy you loose momentum in that stuff and its hard to get going again.And the running.Stuff that I would normally ride I had to run so today I had to learn to shoulder the bike.I know I lost places on the runups.Did I say run, YOu had to run completely to the top where the hill leveled off before you could get back on your bike and get going again.I don't think I made it to 4th gear today.All in all it was alot of fun and I learned how to shoulder my bike in a proper manner.I was in the red at the top of those runups.

I can't think of a better way to spend a cold rainy day.This was the complete package.Rain snow mud and Ice water.I've been Baptized into cyclocross today.Oh Gina my feet were frozen.I think neapreame sock would have been the order of the day.Dangit and I have a pair too.Oh yea I finished 7th in the 50+.There were about 12 of us mixed in with the 40+.Last chance to suffer next Sunday at Montrose harbor!!

Eddie Bartley