Race #3: Nationals RR

Man, I slept horribly last night after the crit – I dunno what it was but I was pretty nervous for today's road race. I woke up at 7:15 to eat some breakfast, then we headed out in the van to the course at 8:30. My start time was 10:45, which meant that I'd be riding in the heat of the day. 

When we arrived I had over an hour before my start, so I leisurely pinned my jersey, made my bottles up for the feed and got into my kit. I'm so tired of drinking fluids – I feel like that's all I've been doing, but it's important to stay hydrated in this heat, so I continued to sip from my bottle before the start. 

Rolling off of the starting line...

After being rolled out again, I sat at the start line (luckily in some shade from the USAC banner) and we were off! Everyone was pretty antsy, but eventually we all settled in and began riding. Our race was 3 laps on a 15 mile course within the military base, with lots of rollers and it was blazin' hot.

I sat in all three laps, not doing a lot of work. Unfortunately, during the third lap with about 6miles to go the pack shifted left and I was caught right on the edge of where the pavement meets the sand and unfortunately got pushed off entirely to the side of the road – I'm talking in the bushes! Luckily the sand was packed down pretty well and I rode along side the road for about 200ft, looking for a way to hop back onto the pavement, but the drop-off was too much. All the while the pack was riding away pretty fast. I unclipped, ran onto the road and did a cross mount, clipped back in and buried myself to bridge back up to the pack. I eventually made it, but before I could recover from my effort Alexis and Grace (the two riders who I was most worried about!) attacked, and I just didn't have any gas to make that break. Watching them ride away was tough, but I hoped we could bring them back in.

This gives you an idea of how hot it was...

Well, wishful thinking. By the end of the race, the two of them put on 2 minutes on our pack: none of Alexis's teammates wanted to pull (understandable), but several other teams weren't working either. It was frustrating, because I wanted to bring them back in but I didn't want to waste myself. I could feel the heat really getting to me, and that was tough.

On the finishing climb, my legs felt pretty good, but at the top it sweeps right and opens up into the finishing stretch – a downhill sprint. One rider attacked right at the crest of the hill, one other followed and I just had no response. I watched them ride away while I tried my best to start sprinting for 5th. My legs felt so lame in that sprint, and in the end I had to settle for 7th.

Man, the heat really got to me today and I am excited to be done racing – don't get me wrong, this whole experience has been wonderful but it's been stressful to say the least! I'm thankful for the support of my coach, family, friends and teammates throughout my first Junior Road Nationals showing; unfortunately it will be my last Junior Nationals. Next year, it'll be Collegiate Nats and U23 races. 

So that's a wrap from Augusta GA. 5th in the ITT, 6th in the crit, 7th in the RR. Not too shabby!

Race #2: Nationals Crit

Headed to downtown Augusta for my crit on Friday afternoon. My race went off at 1:45pm and with each passing minute things only were getting warmer. We parked right before the first turn on the course near the sidewalk and set up shop in right under several huge trees for shade. After sitting around doing nothing and sweating, I finally popped my bike on the trainer, slipped into my skin suit and started blasting my 'warm-up' playlist on my ancient iPod (having a broken back-light on that baby makes things interesting...). After doing some openers I headed to the start line, where they had us complete rollout. The top 5 girls were called up to the front row, and the rest of us filed in behind them. I somehow managed to sneak my way to the front row on the right side, right next to the barriers.

Our race was a total of 12 laps on the 1-mile course, and it started out pretty mellow. The field isn't big to begin with (23 riders total!), but the course has a lot of turns on it and boy were they skeetchyyyy with some of those riders. I tried my best to stay up near the front marking any moves from the more important riders, but the only attack that went successfully was with 1 lap to go! The 7 of us made it through the back stretch (I was on the back, holding on for dear life) and I was still on the back coming into the homestretch. I moved up from 7th to 6th, but my sprint was so stale compared to the other girls, and I missed 5th (and the podium) by half a wheel. 

Anyways, we got these new skin suits just in time for Nationals with our new sponsors, but since I am headed off to college in about a month I only got a long sleeve – that's right, I raced long sleeve in the 95º heat! I felt like I absorbed enough radiation from the sun to become a swamp thing! 

Race #1: Nationals ITT

First race at Nationals is done! Yesterday was the ITT. My race was 12 miles on a rolling course (6 miles out and back). Things were pretty hectic before my start, but I managed to get there with enough time to complete rollout. I had a tube of ice (packed in some panty-hose...) stuffed down the back of my skinsuit to keep my core nice and cool throughout my race, and it worked very well. Although I had strange water marks all along my backside...

Women's 17/18 TT podium 

Anyways, the course starts out on a dam, and immediately after I shot out of the start gate I settled in to suffer. Last year's winning time was around 29 minutes, but the top five riders finished within 1 minute or so from that time, so my goal was to finish the race in under 30 minutes to at least make the podium. 

2012 ITT Podium, Junior Women 17-18.

I passed a lot of girls on the rollers (tiny little things coming from Vermont!) and that's where I made up a lot of time. My mouth was extremely dry on the second leg of the TT – the whole race I had it wide open attempting to get as much air as possible (not sure how aero that is...). Anyways, before hitting the bridge and coming into the homestretch I passed another rider, and I was gaining on the next rider in front of me but I just couldn't close the gap before the finish.

Less than 200m from the finish! 

Coming out of the starting gate.

I crossed the line in 30:14.72 good enough for a 5th place finish! Not too bad, especially since I wasn't running a $15,000 time trial rig! You can see full results here. Coming into the TT I really didn't have any expectations for myself; while I had been practicing quite a bit since KSR and tweaking my position, this race was only my fourth TT race ever.

Me and my teammate Ian after our award ceremonies. He also placed 5th in his age group!  

Lake Sunapee RR

What a weekend. I graduated on Friday night...went to the all night school-sponsored Harry Potter themed senior graduation party...bailed at 2am (3hrs short of the 5am closing time)...and woke up Saturday for some bike racin'! I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the whole Harry Potter scene, but this party was a blast. The whole school was decorated right outta' Hogwarts – amazing work, parents! Not to mention I got my first manicure, I had my fortune told, I played lazer tag, I was up doing karaoke, and Marko the Magician blew my mind. That's one packed night.

My first manicure ever...and it was free! Not too shabby.
Probably won't be getting another one ever again...

Anyways, when we arrived at the Mt.Sunapee Resort it was extremely hot – my race (women's Pro 1/2/3) started at 1:25pm allowing the sun to heat everything up real nice before we went out to race two laps on the 23 mile course. I had a good hour or so before my race started, so I laid out in the shade behind the van on the warm pavement and shut my eyes...man that felt pretty good! The course is very fun, but hilly – especially on the backside as where you take Rt.11 to Rt.103 and Rt.103A before heading back alongside the lake. My field wasn't very big, maybe about 15 women total, but most of them were Cat1/2 riders – so I was pretty nervous. 

Can't remember what lap this was for the life of me...

 At first my legs felt extremely lame – but luckily the smaller rollers at the beginning of the course opened them up well for the later part of the race. On the first lap, several riders attacked but nothing really happened except for some gut wrenching accelerations. Later on, my friend Yuri (an MIT rider who I raced against during this year's ECCC series) attacked towards the top of the steepest climb on the backside, and put in a huge effort to bridge up to her. Karren Strevell (FarmTeam Elite) and Amy Miner (1KtoGo-Onion River Sports) came with me, and the four of us tried to open up a gap but the field was pretty quick to close things. Oh well, one of three matches burned there. We tried once again to get away again on another difficult hill after the descent, but no dice. We finished off the first lap as a pack, but several women had already been dropped.

On the second lap things really started to pick up several miles after passing by the round-about, especially on the climbs. We had a headwind, but it was a relief to have some breeze in the heat. On the same hill, Yuri attacked again, and this time I was right on her wheel. Karen and Amy once again bridged up, and several other women joined us to form a break of 6 and we opened up a gap on the field...

At first, working with everyone was painful – we were all pretty gassed from the initial attack and we were coming up on another tough hill (not steep, but a leg burner no doubt) but no one wanted to be up front pulling. Man, that kinda frustrated me, so I pulled up to the front and hammered hoping to put more time on the field and get the message across to the other women that we needed to pull ourselves  together if we wanted to make the break happen. I guess it worked, because after my hard effort we started pace lining and finally said 'Hasta la vista bambinas!' to the rest of the field. 

The finish of this race is pretty tricky and it's all about timing your sprint: right before the uphill finish line there is this strange downhill, and if you don't attack at the right spot on that descent it's difficult to gain on anyone because the finish comes pretty quick. We entered the traffic circle, exited and proceeded up the hill to the Mt.Sunapee Resort, crossing over to the same lane we descended at the start. I was sitting in the top three wheels after the beginning of the climb, then going into the little downhill I started sprinting right at the most opportune moment...like everyone else! I was able to distance myself from most of the others but I was neck and neck with Amy Miner and she beat me to the line by less than a wheel for the W. Now that's what we call a photo finish!

The finish...Amy (eventual winner) is in blue on the left. 

I'm psyched to have gotten 2nd in this race – I remember the first time I did it several years ago: I was on my black Bianchi  (now ancient feeling, it even had rasta-themed bar tape!), rockin' my bubble-gum pink leopard print helmet, and my Coyote Hill Mountain Bike Camps kit. I thought I was so cool...too bad I didn't have the legs to prove it!

Next up: USA Cycling Junior National Road Championships in Augusta, GA. That's right, it's time for this Green Mountain girl to start melting! Keep checking back for updates on my blog, and while your at it explore USA Cycling too (schedule of events, results, rankings etc). 

Class of 2012

It's been a long four years, but I did it.
Hasta la vista, Hanover High School! It's been real. 

My teammates Ansel, Brendan, Peter Jr and my coach (not pictured) all came to my graduation!

Wilmington White Face RR // Saranac Lake Downtown Crit

...And we're back to racing!

Headed to Wilmington, NY with the team for two hard days of racing this weekend. Luckily, the only bad weather we encountered all weekend was during our three hour rendezvous to NY. We waited out the storm after eating dinner at George's in Port Clyde on the way to Whiteface. Good thing they're spaghetti was so good...

We stayed at this great little place called the Wilmington Chalet and it was nice to have a big bed all to myself, and the start for Saturday's road race was only two miles up the road! While the rest of the team had to wake up early for their races Saturday morning, I got to sleep in with my teammates Brendan and Ansel until 9. We lazily put on our race wheels, hydrated, jammed out to some tunes and laid our kits on the beds in anticipation of the afternoon's racing. It was almost too much time.

Anyways, with 30 minutes to go before blast off, we headed to the start. After sitting around more, yawning and nervously waiting in line for the Porta-Johns, the guys finally headed off at 12:30, and I was  next off at 12:45. In today's rr, I would be racing with the big girls, ie the Pro 1/2/3 field, which was largely dominated by the NY based Farm Team Elite women's team. Our field consisted of four Canadians and other NE based racers – mostly all familiar faces but I was too nervous to really look around at them. The race was 3 laps on a very hilly 14mi course, with a 1.6 mile finishing climb scaling Whiteface Mtn (total of 55 miles). The sun was out – it became pretty hot but luckily I knew I had some ice cold bottles waiting for me in the feed zone...

Near the feed zone!

Finish up Wilmington Mt.

As with most road races, there was a lot of sitting in and waiting, but the Farm Team chicks were certainly playing their tactics the whole time. When racers tried to attack, they'd send a few off the front to chase them down; when their teammates would attack the rest of them would block us. That happened several times, and when three of the strongest Farm Team riders attacked and got up the road, I tried to bridge up to them, but unfortunately the rest of the pack came with me. On the last lap coming up through the feed zone after ascending another vertical wall, I made a group of 6 other riders and we finally broke away to maintain a gap for the remaining six miles leading back to the finishing climb. All I can remember about that climb is that it hurt real bad and it felt real slow. I was sitting in 6th at the base, and with 25ft before the finish line I caught the 5th place rider by surprise and out sprinted her to get 5th and place (also the first junior). I don't know what it is, but these second winds man – they just keep on coming!

Women Pro 1/2/3 RR

Unfortunately Sunday came around a bit too soon despite my being in bed by 10pm the night before. Anyways, nothing but blue skies once again, but today was considerably hotter than Saturday. We left the Whiteface Chalet at 7am and drove through Lake Placid to Saranac Lake, stopping at a Dunkin Donuts so the boys could get some breakfast (luckily, I ate a much nicer meal back at the Chalet). The course is pretty short and has this one sweeping left-hand turn that carries you up through the roller on the backside – that's where a lot of accelerations occur. It's also littered with potholes and man covers, and if you get stuck behind a slower rider on that turn your hopes of keeping contact with the lead group slowly dwindle. After the roller, you descend down a bridge and take another sweeping left turn onto the uphill 500m homestretch where the finish line is at the crest of the hill. The whole loop is a leg burner, but then again, isn't that what a crit is all about?!

My first race of the day was the Junior Women 15-18 race at 10:15. I warmed up a bit on some roads that ran alongside the lake, but immediately as I began racing I felt horrible. Man, I dunno what it was but I just had no snap. I was hoping to spend the 20 lap race duking it out with Emma White, a good friend and extremely talented junior rider, but she got a little too far off the front and despite my hardest of efforts to close the gap my body just wouldn't have it. At least I can still say I got 2nd, eh?

The Women's Pro 1/2/3 Crit 

The Women's Pro 1/2/3 Crit 

Anyways I felt pretty lousy after my race, but I sat in the shade sipping bottles to keep up on my hydration. There were three races in between my next race, the women's Pro 1/2/3, and it felt like with every passing minute the asphalt only began to bake more. My start finally rolled around at about 1pm and right from the gun my only goal for the race was to not get dropped. The 30 lap race went by a lot faster than the junior race from the morning. Gaps would open and I'd fight to close them, a few attempts were made to break off the front and I tried to be right there with them, but in the end no dice – we finished in a mass sprint. Going into the last turn I was sitting fifth wheel, and as soon as we hit the homestretch I opened up my sprint and crossed the line in 5th (first junior too). Man, what a race!

Overall I had a great time racing in NY. Not only was the racing challenging but it was also a great learning experience. Especially with Nationals coming up in a few weeks, it was nice to get in two hard races and along the way some great memories were made.

We headed into Lake Placid Saturday night for dinner and sightseeing.
I saw this sign at one of the shops and I couldn't help myself – I had to get a picture. Too cool! 

No photos up yet from these races, but be sure to check back as I'll update things as soon as they come in!

Next up is the Sunapee Road Race on Saturday 6/16. That's right, another local race!

For more info search for the race at BikeReg.com.

Pine Hill Park // Kingdom Trails

Ahhhhh, finally a weekend off from racing!

Don't get me wrong, I've learned to love my road racing, but the dirt is where it's always going to be at. Despite the ill weather this weekend, I headed out with my teammates both days for some good quality riding in the rain. We rode some pretty technical trails, littered with slick rocks, roots and bridges – made deadly by the good ol' rain!

John, Kenny, Alden and me after shredding at Pine Hill. 

Saturday we hit up Pine Hill Park in Rutland, Vermont. The climbs were reasonable and rideable for the most part, but the descending through the woods was sketchy. The Pine Hill trail network is phenomenal – lots of banked turns, bridges and technical riding galore. Luckily both John and Kenny know the trails there like the back of their hands, so decisions were made rapid fire and more riding was done than talking (fine by me – the mosquitos were ferocious!) 

As my friend Cody says, "straight pinned homie!!" Hitting up the jumps at Pine Hill. 

On Sunday John, Kenny and I drove up to Kingdom Trails in East Burke, Vermont. The weather was a little bit better, but not a whole lot – ay what's new!? My legs felt hard as wood as we first started riding, but once we got over the first climb before dropping in I felt better. Burke Mtn. was closed for today (they don't like you people dragging their brakes when things are super wet), so we rode for nearly 3 hours on all of the black diamond trails we could find across from the mountain. The rain turned the already tricky roots and rocks into slimy skin peelers. Traversing off-camber roots have never been my favorite – but I especially hate 'em in the rain! 

Me and my teammate "Kenny G" striking a pose...because John told us to!

Top of Heaven's Bench

One of the many bridges at Kingdom Trails...

Who ever said I had short arms?! 

Here's to good friends and some of the best riding right out our backdoors!

2012 Killington Stage Race

Memorial Day weekend is a special weekend for me as a cyclist and a Vermonter. While we spend time honoring the courageous men and women who have lost their lives while serving for our country, it also means KSR – that's right, the Killington Stage Race is back in town! Three days of excellent (mostly uphill) racing, sketchy pavement and great people and food. Plus you can say you raced, "The Legend" – I don't really know why they say that, but it sounds neat and it must mean something, so I'll take it. 

I stayed at my families lake house with my parents on Silver Lake in Barnard, Vermont so the driving was minimal all weekend long, which was nice. There was no internet or cell coverage either, but who needs those things when you have a whole lake at your disposal and recovery in mind?!

Anyways, Saturday's circuit race rolled around at 8:10am and my race was 2 laps on the roughly 20 mile course. My legs felt great, and I sat mid pack waiting for the climb up to the Calvin Coolidge homestead where I hoped to get some KOM points. The climb is very gradual and it doesn't get too crazy until the last 500m where the pitch really increases, so a lot of people are still feeling pretty fresh for the KOM and it's harder to separate the pure climbers from the rest of the lot. Both times, I played my cards right towards the top but no dice – I think that I took 4th and 5th on both laps at the KOM, which was not good enough to get any points (it goes 3-deep). The finish was pretty wild, but frustrating as well due to my junior gearing and timing of my sprint! I was sitting right in second spinning out like a mad-man thinking, 'ok, here we go!!' and with about 100m to go, it felt like the whole field passed me; I ended up 10th. If only I had opened up my sprint a little bit later, maybe things would have been different! I finished the day 10th overall in the G.C. (general classification). 

Saturday's circuit race finish. Things got crazy...

D is for descent – why else would any sane person climb hills on bikes?
Coming down off the Calvin Coolidge KOM hill.  

I don't have a lot of experience racing time trials – unfortunately Sunday's KSR itt was my second ever time trial of the year using my clip-on bars and my tt helmet. As you can imagine, I was pretty darn nervous for my race, because time trials are where you can really gain and move up on the overall G.C. before heading into the road race. The ~11 mile course started at the Long Trail Brewery in Bridgewater and took us up Rt.4 past the SkyShip bridge. Regardless of the time of day, Rt.4 always has a massive headwind, which I experienced during my race – but no surprises there! Anyways I went off at 10:30am and spent some quality time in the pain cave, posting a 12th place finish among my field of 45 women. One of my biggest goals before Nationals roll around later in June is to get my tt position down to a t – a lot of improvements need to be made, but I'm psyched to work on them and hope to make progress.  

Yeah, that's right! You wish you could be a un-aerodynamic as me!
Lots to improve upon before Nats role around no doubt... 

Stephanie Wetzel (Paradise Racing – she won the itt!) and I pose with our sweet looking helmets after the race.
I don't care who you are, how good you look without a helmet on or how fast you are: your always going to look like an alien in a tt helmet wether you like it or not! 

For Monday's big road race we lucked out with beautiful blue skies and 70º+ degree weather. I started off the day sitting 13th overall in the G.C. The 62 mile course travels up through Killington before descending through North Sherburne on Rt. 100 to  Rt.107 where the first KOM of the day on the North Road begins. The pavement through these sections is deadly – lots of vertical cracks and pot holes – you name it, and we rode it! The hot spot (sprint competition) was at the base of the climb, so while a few ladies who were in contention for the jersey went ape for that sprint, I just sat in waiting to unleash on the KOM a few miles up the road.

The first part of the 5 mile climb is probably the steepest, but things gradually decrease in the middle, allowing some recovery time, but not enough before the final pitch where the KOM summit is. It's 5 miles of suffering at it's finest! I rode right up front staying with the lead girls; my legs were aching, but I clung to their wheels and crossed the KOM in 4th and easily made the lead group. As we descended into Barnard and meandered up through the feed zone, we continued picking off miles towards the only dirt section in the race – Prosper Rd, which spat us out onto Rt.4 by the farmer's market. Twenty uneventful and windy miles later, we arrived at the base of the dreaded East Mountain Road, the finishing climb of the road race which leads you all the way up to the very top of Killington to the K1 Lodge. 

People accelerated at the base of the climb trying to tough things out, but little did they know about  the wrath of East Mountain Road...you make a hairpin turn and wham!– you are hit with a vertical wall and there is no end in site! I sat towards the back and picked off people as we headed farther and farther up the climb. With under 5 miles to go, I worked my way into 6th place all the way from the back, and on the final climb up to the K1 Lodge, I bluffed a FarmTeam Elite rider to snag a 5th place finish. 

In the process of bluffing...

300m to go before the finish...

200m to go before the finish...

150m to go before the finish...


The gap finally opens! I held onto the line and snocked 'em en da spurt. 

After Monday's 5th place finish in the road race, I moved myself up from 13th to 6th on the overall G.C. I'm extremely happy with that no doubt! This year's KSR was a great learning experience and marker for how much progress I've made in one year since I started focusing on my road racing – it's humbling. At last year's KSR, I was way down on the G.C and struggled to break the top 40, and now I'm working my way up the ranks. It feels great. 

A big thanks to Mom, Dad, coach and my feeder Jon Wetzel of Paradise Sports for all of their support during the weekend. Of course, I cannot forget to thank my unofficial soigneuer, longtime supporter and neighbor at the lake, Mr.T! Just remember, if you ever need your laundry done at the lake, he's your go to man! Your jersey will smell like daisies. 

Me and my lovely mother after Monday's rr. 

The next races will be the Wilmington White Face RR and 
the Saranac Lake downtown crit in NY on June 9th-10th.