Gould Academy // ECCC Crit Championship

A double race weekend once again. Saturday I headed north to Bethel, ME for Gould Academy's 'Grafton Notch Challenge' (part of the NE Prep School Race League series). Despite the blue skies and sunshine, the temperature lingered in the mid 40's –– and you know what that means: another race wearing EMBRO! 

We stopped for sandwiches at a swanky little café on the way to the race to grab some grub. Alden, one of my teammates, loves anything with bacon, sausage and grease –– and if he can get all of those things in one meal, he's a happy man. Well, he went to order his usual bacon-egg-and-cheese bagel sandwich, and when the lady behind the counter told him that they were a vegetarian cafe after he ordered, he just stood there stunned while the rest of us hovered around the counter laughing at what he'd just gotten himself into. Of course, the other boys were bumming when they learned this too. Let's just say the team really broadened their palettes at this stop...

We had a great view of Mt.Washington on our drive up to Maine. She's still rockin' plenty of snow – ay what's new?!

We arrived at Gould Academy to nothing but wind, wind, and more wind. I thought I was going to get blow off my darn bike as I rode to open my legs up a bit before the race. The race meanders along for 15 miles or so on some open rollers, then dumps you at the base of Grafton Notch, where you then spend the last 10 miles (or so) climbing to the summit. 

My race finally began and I sat on the front for about 10 minutes pulling in the horrendous wind before  I gave a flick of my elbow letting the others behind me know it was time for them to do some work. Nothing. A couple of more flicks. Still nothing. I looked back over my shoulder to see what the matter was, only to find the whole pack just sitting on my wheel refusing to pull. I couldn't believe it. I soft pedaled, steered the pack back and forth across the road to shake 'em off my wheel – really I was trying anything to get the message to them, but absolutely no response. Imagine that. 

Our van happened to be the lead vehicle for my race.
Just me and the KMS team van at this point after my slight increase in pressure on the pedals...
Sure felt like another hard training with my head down hammering behind the van the whole time.

Well, that really got me irritated, so when we hit the first wall at the beginning of the notch, I just stood up and drilled it. I opened up a 15 second gap and continued to drill it until I lost site of any other riders.  The wind was relentless, my left hand was completely numb from the cold and as I continued up the notch I started seeing snow on the ground. That kinda scared me, so I decided to ride a bit faster. I crossed the finish line with over a 3 minute gap on the other girls and immediately made a b-line to the van to change and get warm. 

The boys had finished up their racing before me, so once we were all changed and warm we rendezvoused back to NH to spend the night with our assistant coaches parents for the next day's ECCC Championship race at UNH in Durham NH. 

Another typical van ride on the KMS team.
It wouldn't be complete without lots of pillows and sleeping bags...

Scored the comfy chair at the Hadley's house...

Sunday was another early morning, but luckily our first race of the day was at 11 so things were a bit more relaxed. We finished the drive to UNH, and got to the race course with plenty of time. As I was warming up for my race, a reporter came over the team van and interviewed me – I thought I'd never end up seeing the article he wrote, but my friend who I race on the track with at Claremont shared the article with me this morning and it's a neat little coverage. I'm pretty sure I didn't sound so cheesy when he interviewed me and a few words were added in, but then again it was nice to get in a little shout out to LMC...

Women's A ECCC Championship crit at UNH.
This was taken on the home stretch – supa windy and  complete with a couple of deep man-hole covers.
 It's always fun when you hit those real hard in a race – you should get points for that!

Women's A ECCC Championship crit at UNH. 

The course was a four corner crit – not too technical but the last turn coming into the home stretch could easily become skeeheeetchy if people didn't hold their lines. I was riding very well, matching all of the MIT rider's moves and sitting in after it became apparent that no breaks would be forming. Many laps passed... Finally on the last lap, I moved up to fifth wheel getting ready for my sprint and then was boxed out on the back stretch. I tried to fight my way back up to the front, but on the last turn every rider to my immediate right stacked it hard and they slid all over the place. After I thankfully avoided the crash, I just sprinted for fear that I wasn't even going to make top 15! Later in looking at results, I got 10th. I was frustrated but thankful, of course. I got to keep all of my flesh, so it was a good day!

We all piled back into the van after a long day of racing, only to find that it wouldn't start up. Coach sent us out on a scavenger hunt to harass the collegiate teams for some tools, but no dice. So, I sat out in the sun and absorbed so much radiation from the sun that I started to feel like a swamp thing as the men tried to fix things. The AAA eventually man came, but in the end we had to have our van and trailer (consisting of over $50,000 in bikes and wheels!) towed to Kittery ME to a shop so it could be repaired. Turns out it was a clog in the fuel system – go figure!  

The van looks pretty good way up there – don't you think?!
It spent the night in ME while the rest of us piled into two cars with all of our bags where we
sat for three hours crunched together, tired beyond belief. 

That's a wrap for the ECCC racing this year. Next year I'll be racing in the SECCC series down south in North Carolina (which LMC just won, btw!) – but likely I'll be seeing a lot of familiar faces at collegiate road nationals which are in Utah next year. It was a great experience and I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to have ridden with such talented riders. 

This coming weekend, it's Tour of the Dragons. 

L'Enfur du Nord // Dartmouth ECCC Weekend

What a weekend! This time we stuck close to home and raced in Dartmouth's ECCC weekend, dubbed L'Enfur du Nord. After years of training on the roads throughout Hanover, NH and up in the hills in Norwich, VT (my hometown) it was neat to finally race on them. Not to mention I was able to sleep in my own bed...I had easy access to food I liked...and I spent less than $10 on gas all weekend! 

Saturday started out with the 3.75 mile itt from the Ledyard Boathouse lot. We climbed up the access road to the backside of the Dartmouth Green, then headed out on Rt.10, finishing at the elementary school shortly after the round-about. My teammate Brendan (aka Drago) lent me his tt helmet. I'd never worn one before and I looked pretty ridiculous – but it made a difference in the end when we looked at results. I went as hard as I could, and no one caught me – but I didn't catch anyone either! I had super smooth transitions between the flats and rather steep rollers and managed to pull off a 3rd place finish. Hasta la vista, bambina! I guess I should consider investing in one of those tt helmets...

30 seconds after the start of the itt and I finally got my foot clipped in . . . 

"With zis helmet, I vill control ze world!"

The afternoon crit was located on Frat Row right on campus – the sun was out, the frat houses were bumpin' and the racing was fast! The four corner crit is not too technical, except for one turn – if your not checking your speed before it, you will stack it hard. Anyways, things started out pretty mellow, then the MIT gang started to wreak havoc on the field. The ECCC points leader Katie Quin from MIT broke away off the front and ended up lapping the field (!) while I did my best to mark any other moves from the MIT crew. We formed a breakaway, but no dice – no one was willing to work together, especially the 2 MIT riders when their teammate was ahead up the road. I wasn't going to pull the break around all day, so once we got caught I tucked myself in the front and waited. The bell lap came and I positioned myself right up front for the sprint but my timing was a bit off. I still managed to pull off a 5th place finish in the crit. 

Turn #1 (this is not the sketchy one). Photo by Christine Feehan. 

Turn #1 (different perspective, different lap). Photo by Barb Wood. 

Sprinting – that's right. Lacking in style points...but not in speed! I've been working on my sprint
for a long time now and things are starting to come together. It may look bad, but progress is progress!
Photo by Christine Feehan. 

Sunday's course was challenging to say the least. Nothing but hills at full tilt all afternoon. Women's A set out for 6 laps, totaling 49 miles with 1,066.27 feet of elevation gain per lap. I did a recon ride with my team on the rr course last Wednesday and I'd been stoked about it all week leading up the Sunday. 

It was pretty chilly, but I decided to ditch the tights for some of my favorite Mad Alchemy embro and headed to the line zipped up all nice and warm in my down coat. It felt like 'cross season all over again!

Ascent #4 of 6 on Jericho. This hill gets steep. Unfortunately I wasn't able to appreciate
the view from the top – maybe in a few weeks I'll return to Jericho...

My two MIT buddies – these are the girls you want to be with in a breakaway!

The start was mellow, and I just sat mid pack conserving energy while others tried to edge their way up to the front of the pack. On the first ascent of the day on Jericho, we overtook the Men's B field and they were forced to neutralize on the climb! My field had become pretty strung out, but I made the lead pack of five (2 of which were MIT girls!) which eventually formed into a breakaway. We stayed together for 3 more laps, then the two MIT girls slipped away from me on Jericho – I fought like crazy to bridge back up to them, but I lost contact with them and rode the remaining 3 laps alone. What a death march, but I still ended up 3rd in the rr. Just as I finished, it started to pour. Got lucky on that one!

Next weekend I'm headed to Durham NH to UNH with the team for the ECCC Championships.  

Tour of the Battenkill // ECCC Army Crit

I spent all of last week leading up to Saturday's long-anticipated race (Battenkill!) tapering and allowing my body to recover from last weekends crash. It's a strange feeling when you cut back on your training – you feel lazy because you aren't doing your usual tunnel-vision workouts, you begin to feel fat even though you watch what your eating and your legs feel twitchy. The only plus side is you get a lot of extra sleep... 

Tour of the Battenkill is a 62.2 mile race with 3,950ft of elevation gain and 10 dirt sections. It attracts a lot of road bike honchos from all over the US and Canada.

Anyways, the drive to Cambridge NY was pretty uneventful. My race started at 2:20pm in the afternoon and luckily it was beautiful outside: not too hot, not too windy. Things started to heat up after the covered bridge on Roberson Rd., then attacks flew on the steepest climb on Juniper Swamp Rd. at mile 12. I moved up to the front of the pack, and once the initial separation occurred I just sat on the back of the newly formed group conserving and keeping an eye out for any more moves. My legs were feeling horrible. 

The pace became excruciatingly slow at times, but things started to pick up on the new dirt section on Safford Hill Rd, mile 34 baby! Newly graded, this road was skeh-he-het-chy. Rocks the size of golf balls bounced off of wheels and into frames and we kicked up a lot of dust. 

Before the second feed located at mile 45 there were many sections on Wrights Rd. (also dirt) that had transformed into sandpits. The pace really started to accelerate and I was holding on for dear life. I watched numerous women loose control of their bikes and stack it hard doing their best imitations of the Flying Wallendas. I maneuvered as best I could around them (heck, it was just like a cross race at this point!), but a gap began forming between me and the lead riders and I knew I had to close it or else they'd kiss me goodbye for good. Time to really suffer. 

This is at the first feed zone, mile 23 or so.
This is the only picture I have of me from Battenkill – taken before my spout of bad luck! 

Then I had a mechanical at a very inopportune moment when I was trying to bridge back up to the leaders on Meeting House Road, mile 45 (second feed zone too). Massive chainsuck locked my cranks up entirely and nothing would budge. After spending ~5 minutes trying to loosen things up, I hoisted my bike up on my shoulder and began hiking up the hill where my feeder, Jon, was. Lucky for me, Jon is a wrench at Paradise Sports, and when he spotted me he began hauling down the hill. Five minutes later, things were un-jammed and I was back on my bike.

By then, I accepted the fact that my race was over. I blew it. My hopes of getting top ten at Battenkill diminished within those ten minutes. I just didn't have anything left in the tank to try to get back up to the leaders. I spent the remainder of the race picking up stragglers from my pack and finally crossed the line after all the hype was over. Even with my mechanical, I managed a 20th place finish in the 3's. All things considered, I'll take it.  I ain't superstitious, but a black cloud crossed my path. Believe or perish man, I made it. 

* * * 

Sunday we raced in West Point, NY at the Army ECCC crit. I've never been to West Point – but boy is it beautiful there! The crit went around the track area and turf feilds on campus, and the whole day our brains were being rattled by the "sonic artillery" of Army which was blasting great pump up tunes. It was awesome. 

Just to give you a perspective of the campus...

That's the Hudson River in the background. 

It felt like I was in Europe!

My legs felt pretty lame today again, so I just sat in the pack. A lot of people tried to attack, but no breaks were formed, so the 50 minute race came down to a massive field sprint. I thought I'd have a chance at doing something at the end, but no dice. I was boxed out and had to settle for 11th. 

Finally warm enough to rock the short sleeve skin suite! 

It's all about perspective...

This weekend I'll be sticking close to home racing in Dartmouth's L'Enfer du Nord ECCC races.

 Come out and support the KMS team – we'd love to see you! 

  

Yale ECCC Weekend

 Another ECCC race weekend under the belt! This weekend we headed to Yale to race in the Bulldog's Lux et Velocitas race weekend. It wasn't tanning weather, but it was certainly a lot warmer and nicer this weekend than it has been in some time. The neat thing about these races is that they all happened within the East Rock Park in New Haven, CT. Everything had a very Euro feel. 

Europe...in CT. This is almost the top of the climb where the finish is. 

Saturday we woke up at the crack of dawn to take a little 5am rendezvous in the van to preview the TT and circuit race course (the meat of both courses was the steepest climb in the park!). The TT course meandered below the access road to the climb before dumping us out at the gated entrance. Even in driving the climb, it felt fast – except for a nasty hairpin turn which surly would be a big watt burner. The finish was at the highest point in the park and overlooked the city of New Haven. It was calm and beautiful. The sun burned through the morning dew and there was still a slight chill in the air...but let's be honest here folks – it wasn't going to be that calm once the racing started up later that morning. After all, the slum lords of Killington were in town! 

A perspective of the hairpin turn! Photo courtesy of Nick Wimer (Dartmouth Cyclist).

Getting ready for blast off at the start of the Women's A circuit race. 

Before the descent...with my newly acquainted MIT friend/enemy!
She was strong and I'm glad I had the chance to work with her. 

Anyways, we remembered the trainers this weekend (hallelujah!), so I was able to get in a great warm-up. I blasted out of the start and my legs felt pretty lame the first five minutes of the race. It must have been my tongue dragging along beside me on the road as I attempted to take in more oxygen. I climbed the hill as hard as I could and managed to catch a few girls right before the line. I got 5th in the race – that's 5 up from my last ECCC race at Princeton, so I was most definitly pleased.

The afternoon's circuit race consisted of many ~4mi laps of pain. Just like the TT course, we rode the same climb then descended off the backside of the park on some gnarly hairpin turns that were blazin' fast. Once we hit the climb on the first lap, attacks flew left and right. I found that I was able to match them, and as the pack slowly broke apart I was up front in the breakaway with 3 other women. Heading into the climb on the third lap, one of them upped the pace on the climb before the hairpin turn and boom... in my attempt to match the acceleration I mis-shifted and my chain fell completely off. Just my luck! 

My lactic-acid-brain struggled to comprehend this bizarre scene: the break which I had killed myself to be a part of now rode away in what seemed like slow motion, and here I was bent over my bike cursing and fumbling to put my chain back on. One other rider passed me before I got things running again. The moment I hopped back on my bike an MIT rider rode by, so I got on her wheel hoping we could bridge up to the now 4 man break. Unlucky for me, she refused to work with me because her teammate was in that break. I realized right then and there I wouldn't be seeing that lead group until after the race! Eventually though, she gave in and we worked together knocking off lap after lap, although I was still pulling her around for most of the race. I tell you what, that headwind was tough... 

On the climb. I feel like I ascended that thing at least 100 times that day. Not too shabby, eh?
Photo courtesy of Nick Wimer (Dartmouth Cyclist)

Anyways, on the final lap I played it lame on the climb up until the last bend, then whipped out a sprint to get 5th. No way jose was I settling for 6th after pulling her around all day! That's bike racin' for ya. 

The most fashionable cyclist award goes to these two McGill riders. 

The weekend of racing ended with a scooter, roller-blade, skate-board and longboard race. I think most of
the boys on my team were out there on something with wheels other than a bike!
 Unfortunately, the UNH roller-blade duo won the 1 lap race... 

Sunday rolled around and I wasn't able to race in the crit because I had gotten tangled up in a crash descending off of the course after my road race on Saturday. I luckily walked away from the crash, but I was frustrated and in a lot of pain and just wasn't ready to head to Anaerobic-Ville the next morning in the crit.  I'm not easily bummed, but I found that it was hard to watch my race on Sunday from the sidewalk when I wanted to be in there takin' names and ripping off legs. 

Anyways, the next race is Battenkill (boomboomboom!!) on 4/12 followed by 

the ECCC West Point race on 4/15.

Here's to road rash!

New Track Bike!

A few weekends ago when I was off racing with the team, a man by the name of Patrick Kearney called my dad up out of the blue. He had a Bianchi track bike that he wished to donate to me so that I could use if for training purposes. He had been commuting on this track bike for the past eight years, but admitted he was just getting too old to keep using it.  He told my dad that he has been following my progress from the past year in the local newspaper where many of my results have been published, and wanted this track bike to go to a new home if it was the right size... 

Mr.Kearney lives in the neighboring town of Thetford VT. He is the uncle of Hannah Kearney, a fellow Norwich native, who won the gold medal in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver for moguls. He's probably the nicest man you will ever meet – he has a great sense of humor and knows his stuff when it comes to fixies. When I picked up the bike last Monday, he told me that he sees a similar drive in the way I am approaching my training and racing as he did in his niece Hannah when she was my age. How about that?! 

Here I am with Mr.Kearney and my new bike!
 He told me that any bike related photo must always be taken in front of the blue door of his house – it's a tradition. 

Anyways, I instantly fell in love with the bike, despite my fear of fixies. Mr.Kearney took me out on a spin on a nearby road so I could try the bike out. On this short ride, he told me about his experience with riding fixies, his singlespeed bike which he now uses to commute to work on, and the do's and don'ts of fixies.  He's an avid cyclist, who still commutes to work every day on his Surly Monk singlespeed! 

I am humbled to know that I have someone who was genuinely interested in what I've been doing, as well as someone who wishes to help me as I set out to gain more experience racing and learning the tricks and trades of the sport. Thanks, Mr.Kearney for your support!