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. 

Rutland Herald // KSR 2012

On Sunday, May 27th an article, "Riding to finish, and beyond" was published in the Rutland Herald. Tom Haley interviewed me about my racing and future plans with college while I competed in this year's 2012 Killington Stage Race. You can find the article on the Rutland Herald website here. More on KSR to come...

Prom

Five hours, four gaps, 7,000+ft of vertical and 70 miles later...and I still made it to prom on Saturday with my teammate, Brendan, in tow. Prom or no prom, nothing beats a little rendezvous with the team through Vermont's Care Bear Valley... 

We started out on Saturday morning from the Locust Creek Diner on the junction of Rt.12 and 107 and headed over through Bethel and Randolph to the first climb of the day, Rochester Gap. After successfully making it over the top, we had a fast descent before heading to the second climb of the day, Middlebury Gap. We had more anaerobic fun ascending Middlebury Gap. then we took a sharp left turn on the descent and hit up some dirt roads with even more climbing before coming out nearly 20 miles later near the bottom of Brandon Gap. We climbed that too before coming back into the town of Rochester where we rode up the other (more brutal) side of Rochester Gap. All the while, Coach Vollers drove our team van yelling at us to push ourselves harder on the climbs – message from yo' mamma! 

Needless to say, this ride put the hurt to everyone. We hit up the diner for some grub and maple creamies...and then Brendan and I had to rush home for prom. 

My friend, Lucy, was having pictures at her house at 6:15, but I was supposed to get there around 5:30 to get ready with all of the girls – you know the drill. Well, Brendan and I left the diner at 5:15 and we made it to my house at 5:40. I ran inside to shower while my dad drove Brendan to his house in town. I spent about five minutes in the shower, 3 minutes getting dressed, 10 minutes doing my hair and makeup and then I was out the door to meet Brendan in town before scooting over to Lucy's. If bike racing has taught me anything, it's how to get ready real fast and stay real calm under pressure. 

Our sponsor, Smith Optics, made it to prom too!  

Brendan, me, mom and dad. 

Heels are bad shoes for recovery. Remember that ladies!! 

We were extremely tired from the day's ride, but we both had a great time at prom. The next morning we got up and it was back on the saddle with the team, this time doing a recon of the KSR rr course (more climbing, more miles!), which is coming up this weekend! 

More on that to come...

Smith Optics

Many thanks to Smith Optics for my new gear that just arrived today!! Yeeeeeehaaaaw.

Tour of the Dragons // Bennington Race Weekend

Headed to Bennington, VT for the Tour of the Dragons this weekend for three days of suffering in the Shires of Vermont. Luckily the rain clouds from the week cleared up and we had two back-to-back bluebird days on the bike. Saturday was the crit and itt, then Sunday was the epic rr. Leading up to the weekend, I spent a good portion of the week studying up on Sunday’s course map. My goal was to go for the KOM (king of the mountain) jersey...  

Anyways, I brought the goods on Saturday morning’s 1k downtown crit. The four corner crit is super fast, especially on the backside of the course where you come sweeping down a roller and hook a sharp right turn before turning once more to come up the homestretch towards the finish.

8:15am rolled around and I started the 27 lap race very near the front, hiding myself (hard to do when you are sitting in 4th or 5th wheel!) and going with any attacks that went off the front. I rode pretty aggressively to keep the stronger people’s wheels, which ultimately helped me in the end when it came down to the finishing sprint. Throughout the race Emma White and Ellen Noble (two other junior riders!) duked it out on the sprint laps vying for the sprint leader points. Emma’s teammate was doing a lot of work up front pulling the field and leading her out, but with two laps to go thing started to really heat up. Going into the last lap I moved up to 4th wheel, took the inside line on the last turn leading into the homestretch, and laid down a sprint to snag 2nd. After the race my teammates and coach came up to me screaming and yelling, scaring the granola outta' me because they were so psyched with my finish. So I guess I’m becoming a field sprinter now?! Oh oh oh...

Coming down the homestretch towards the beginning of the race.

A perspective of the sprint finish.
Emma White (Farm Team Elite – she's in the pink!) would go on to take the
Sprint Leaders jersey at the end of the weekend. 

The finish caught on tape. 1st was soo close, yet so far away...

My teammate Ansel has this personal stereo he always brings to the races with the most excellent speakers, so we were bumpin' music all morning and late afternoon after the crit, resting up and lounging in the lawn chairs...

And just when you think it's safe to lie down in bed, you have to do a 10.7 mile TT up down around and about, and pray that you don't get caught and look like a lame-o. I didn't get caught...but I caught several other women along the way. Ouch! – my legs felt lame the first couple of miles but eventually I settled in and went as hard as I could – good enough for a 6th place finish. I definitely lost a lot of time on the transitions between the rollers, flats and steeps which is something I'm eager to improve upon before KSR (Killington Stage Race) roles around later this month.

  

Stephanie Wetzel (Paradise Sports) and I get ready to go for the second suffer fest of the day.
Steph won the TT and was the eventual winner of the whole race!

Sunday morning arrived way too soon: I was up at 4am, in Woodstock by 5am and by 6:45am I was sitting at Bob's Diner in Manchester, VT trying my best to stuff my face with a good breakfast in anticipation of the day's 62 mile rr. I was as nervous as a balloon in a pin factory – my legs felt pretty good but you just never know what's going to happen. 

We rolled out at 8:35am and all was well. The night before I had "tattooed" my arm with the KOM stats so I was set. The first KOM was on a dirt climb which started at mile 15 – but our lead motorcycle official took us on the wrong turn, so we had to back track a couple miles up another climb to make the correct turn. It was an unfortunate mistake of course, but I wasn't complaining too much because when we turned around I was able to get right up front and avoid the slower traffic towards the rear. Interestingly enough, at the summit of KOM#3 when I was off the front, the same official tipped his motorcycle onto himself – pinning his leg underneath the darn thing! All I could do was ride by and wonder...

Anyways, the pack shattered towards the top but I easily made the 8 man break and was 2nd going over KOM #1 before we descended down and really started the race. KOM#2 hit at mile 20 and I was 3rd crossing the line there, KOM#3 hit at mile 36 and I took 2nd. Unfortunelty, I didn't accumulate enough points at the end of the day to take the KOM jersey – instead I got 3rd overall but I was extremely pleased with how I rode. There was always this huge slamfest at the bottom of each KOM during the race, which I observed as I sat off the back playing poker face, pretending to have lame legs (when they actually felt amazing!) waiting to attack. Each time with with about 600m to go, I'd increase the pressure and let my legs do the talking. 

The 62 miles went by fast, and with 5k left in the race things started to heat up for the finish. You have to hook a left turn and then it's a 600m stretch of uphill sprinting to the finish banner. Unfortunately, an older woman driving her car pulled out in front of us and nearly took us all out. I had to brake pretty hard and swerve, but instead of getting all caught up in the moment with what had just happened like most of the other women, I focused on making it through the turn and sprinting to the finish line. I had no idea who was behind me but I was scared I was going to get caught – so I sprinted like a madman, and crossed the line in 2nd. Ain't bikin' grand?

Podium for Sunday's rr: Steph took 1st, I got 2nd and Ellen Noble was 3rd. 

No big deal – just giving Steph a well deserved kiss after
 she rode her way into the KOM and Leaders jersey on Sunday!! 

Video of the podium ceremony. 

Overall, I finished off 5th in the G.C. – which I am very excited about. I remember last year when I started to become more serious about my road racing I had absolutely no concept of what a stage race was – last year's Tour of the Dragons was actually my first ever stage race! Needless to say, I've come a long ways.

Next stop is the Sterling Classic Road Race on Saturday.  

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.