Day 1: Louisville or Bust (No Robin, you don’t have to choose)

The essentials:

• 4 cyclists
• 7 bikes
• 28 wheels
• 1 pound of gummy bears
• 1 pound of sweet tarts
• 2 gallons of water
• 2 pounds of bananas
• Unlimited phone minutes
• United States Atlas circa 1999
• Garmin (aka “Jack”)
• Full bellies (thanks to Pancakes by Jason™)

8:15am – Chef Jason, anticipates the arrival of 4 hungry cyclists. He skips the 7am and begins to prepare coffee and a helluva lot of pancakes.

9:00am – Everything but the kitchen sink outside one car. Within 20 minutes, all is packed and we’re ready…9 hours to go.

9:45am – On the road, Vehicle #1 [Leslie and Wendy] leads the pack. Vehicle #2 [Andy and Robin] scopes out the competition.

10:12am – First bathroom stop. Thanks LJ. Make that 9 hours and 7 minutes.

11:30am – Second bathroom stop. Nothing but high class for bike racers in “Wild and Wonderful Virginia.”

1:00pm – Lunch Stop at Panera – Andy makes tactical error of ordering salad to go…. His car is a stick-shift. Eat fast.

3:45pm – While LJ and Andy fill up the gas guzzlers, Robin and Wendy decide to check out the local movie store. Wendy stopped here. Wait. Where’s Robin going? Oh. Wendy misunderstood.

7:10pm – ARRIVAL !! Andy conveniently learns that his Priceline booking for the Hyatt starts on Sunday. He’s homeless Sat night. After he unloads both cars, the girls finally give in. Yes, you can stay in one of the extra bedrooms—just tonight.

8:10pm – Robin, Andy & Wendy go for a quick spin in Louisville, KY. The route is scenic and reminiscent of River Road in Potomac MD. After an hour, the three return home. Tired. Hungry. Mentally and physically exhausted. But feeling really punchy. Leslie is inside watching TV and chillin’. She sees the three walking into the back yard with gardening tools. Leslie is accustomed to random photo ops, so she (wisely) stays inside.

Stay tuned for more adventures on Day 2…

New Teammate or Cross-Dresser ?

We recruited a new teammate at the Murad race. Unlucky for him, (but quite amusing for us) the only jersey we had on hand was my women's small, so it was a bit of a squeeze. But once he was all zipped up, his new colors made him feel like a tough-guy. Tough enough to tell me his chest is bigger than mine. I'm not sure how to take that.
It was all fun and games until we had to tell Mark that Team CycleLife is, in fact, a women's team, so we were going to have to let him go. He took it well. We had to get a little forceful to get my jersey back ... so we're not sure if he REALLY wanted to ride with us, or he just wanted to wear a womens jersey. The truth may never be known.

CSC in a picture

This was how my race got started at CSC. This is pretty much the story of my day. As this happened, I looked down at the girl (who was on a PRO team) on the ground in front of me and said outloud "Really ? Is this really how we're gonna start this race?".



Live to race another day. Thankfully, LJ had a better day, finishing 18th after a long, arduous race. This was a prime example of my feeling that they should pull lapped riders - no one knew who was where and on what lap. (Someone sent me this pic, so I dont know who to credit for it ... sorry!!).

How to get fast - a true story

Part of my plan to get fast(er) by July is to hang with really fast riders. Lest you think I'm kidding, this plan worked for me in 2007. Friends noticed when I started "coming into form" last year, i.e., actually getting some Ws and hanging in with the big girls at the Crystal City Classic... Clearly, I was doing something different. Okay, so I was actually riding my bike and doing that training thing and having fun with the R1V peeps. But I was also seeking guidance and insight from Josh Frick, who was rumored to be pretty fast, with minimal training, and an equal love of ice-cream and Maryland rest-stop cinn-a-buns. I'm not kidding. He loves racing and eating. Ok, me too. Now make me fast. And while you're at it, are you going to eat that last cookie?

This is my life. Work too much, ride too little, eat whatever the hell I want, and remember that despite results or lack thereof, this is fun. And it is. Not just because I love my new teammates, but because showing up at every summer wedding and poolside-bbq with that all-too familiar bike tan is the new mullet. People stare, they whisper, they point, they say, "wow, you've got some look going there." And secretly they want it, too. The bike short tan with a bikini is a show-stopper. As in, please, stop this show. I digress.

Josh was known to tell me on more than one occasion, "Robin, you cannot get fast just by talking with me." But I talked to Josh a lot in 2007. And I got faster. And I raced smarter. And I had a ton of fun.

It's now 2008 and we're smack into the season. And I am still following that tried-and-tested training plan from 2007. Talk to fast guys. Josh clearly sees the ways of my training as he called me yesterday while he was riding with the fast guys, and said, you should grab dinner with them. Yummy food with fast bike racers? No brainer. When, where, and do I have to bring my boyfriend? (Yes, because he took the picture.)

In case you cannot tell from the dimly lit atmosphere at Sonoma's, these handsome, charming and super fast men surrounding me (while I breathe in their aura of speed) are from left to right, Blake Caldwell, Jason Donald, Magnus Backstedt, yours truly, Tyler Farrar, and Steven Cozza.

Was great to meet the Slipstream Chipotle crew! You've definitely got a DC-based contingent cheering you on this season and wishing you all success. And of course I'll thank you now for making me fast in the latter part of the 2008 season.

Southern MD Crit

Awesome twisty course. Rain. All the makings of a disaster. Fortunately it was a small field and the women can handle their bikes.

Sonja Evers (Joe's) set a hard pace for the first lap and the tone for the rest of the race. Attack after attack after attack. But while the field was small, it was strong and nothing was going to get away. Though we did lose a few racers along the way.

At the end there were 13 (maybe?) riders left (6 CycleLife thank you very much). But somehow two Artemis riders snuck away on the corner with the planks. It seemed like we would catch them, but they were stronger than we'd realized and the race had taken it's toll on the remainder of the field.

They held it!

Congrats to them. Though we won't let that happen again.

CycleLife Results: 6 out of the top 11 including 3rd, 5th, and 6th.

Wilmington Grand Prix - Stream of Consiousness

Since most race reports are pretty self involved anyways, I thought I'd go whole hog and do a little stream of consciousness for the first NRC race of the season. For a more comprehensive race report, check out Wendy's blog: http://plain-jane-ramblings.blogspot.com/

Here goes...

Crap. I missed the race to the line. What's that? Joe Jefferson is doing call ups and is showing the local teams some love. Pardon me….I must be in the front row!

And the whistle blows…

Must stay forward. Must stay forward. Must stay forward.

The field is strung out going as fast as we can. Two riders are up the road, and there goes Laura Van Gilder accelerating away to catch them. For a second the daydream of following her wheel seems like a good idea. Nope. Would pop in 2 seconds. She has a secret power booster somewhere.

Just focus on the wheel in front of you. Must hold wheel. Must hold wheel. Must hold wheel. The field is blowing apart! But I'm still in it! Move around gapped riders. In the zone.

This sucks! I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!

How many more laps? Crap. 25.

I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!

Whoever is driving this train is strong! Stronger than me. But I can hang on.

I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!

Is that my dad yelling?

I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!

My parents are probably wondering "Why is our daughter doing this? Why couldn't she just be having kids by now? What the hell is going on? Oh well. Go!"

I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!

The break of 3 riders is gone. Only 10-12 of us are left in this chase group. Local rider Susanna Matsen (LSV) is one of the drivers of the train along with Aaron’s, Colavita, etc. The other local rider in the group is Heidi Goldberg (Kenda). Juice Plus and Advil have teammates in the break so they aren't helping...though they are attacking and causing painful surges. I am the caboose and have been no help whatsoever. Though I haven’t yet puked or pooped on anyone so they should be grateful.

A wall of screaming people as we go through the start/finish. That's cool!

Move to the front. I’m helping… really. OK enough of that. It's too hard up there. Much easier to follow wheels.

Crap. Lapped riders keep mixing in our little group. Must get around them. Why aren't they getting pulled?

Finally, it slows down. Can start focusing on the finish.

8 laps to go and the fantasy of sprinting for 4th is burst - 15 riders swarm our little group out of nowhere! Where did all these people come from? We’ve been caught by a chase group from behind as well as a few lapped riders. Who is who?

I hate sprinting out of large groups. I'm going to go for it with 2 laps to go.

There’s Wendy. She was in the group that caught us. Comforting to have a teammate! Words of encouragement. A voice (Wendy’s) says to “move up”. Thank you. Yes. Will do.

2 laps to go and way too far back not to mention the field is moving too fast. So much for the grand plan.

“Move up."

Finally the finish…25 riders sprinting for 4th. Is that a lapped rider in the middle of corner 3? YIKES!

"Move up."

Going around the final corner I'm not in the front, but Lorena Candrian(HPC) is right in front of me and Susanna Matsen (LSV) in front of her. Maybe I can pass them before the finish line? Must stand up. Don’t sit down! Don’t sit down! Nope. Not going to catch the riders in front of me. But there goes Sarah Caravella (Tibco) blowing past at twice the speed and passing all of us. She must have that power booster.

Crossed the line. 10 riders in front of me in the sprint. Quick math. 10 +3 in the break. 14th!

Not bad. Actually really happy with it.

I love racing! I love racing! I love racing!

CycleLife Results: Leslie 14th, Wendy 23rd, Michelle – lived to race another day.

Other Notable MABRA results: Susanna Matsen (LSV) 12th, Lorena Candrian (HPC) 13th, Jenette Williams (HPC) 15th, Sonja Evers (Joe’s) 17th, Heidi Goldberg (Kenda) 18th.

Oh yeah and the podium results: Laura McCaughey (Juice Plus) 1st, Jennifer McRae (Advil) 2nd, Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) 3rd.

End Note...The parents ended up not being there. So I don't know who was yelling at corner 4, but he sounded a lot like my dad.

Playing with the Boys at Greenbelt

So, now "race season" is in full swing. I always know when we're getting into the groove when I pull up to the Greenbelt Races for the first time. Route 1 Velo does a phenomenal job promoting this training series year-in and year-out. Many thanks to them for the time, effort and heart they give in order to give us OCD racers a mid-week interval session. Big shout out to our very own Robin, who officiated the race. Robin took the time to become an official earlier this year, which is super cool. It was great to see a friendly face at the line each lap while we were dying after the hill-interval. I love to see racers giving back to the sport - awesome.

A few ladies lined up with the boys of the "B" race - there were some purple-gals , the velo-chicken, newly minted in C3 colors, our TT specialist, Sara and me. Sonja, being the rockstar that she is, decided to try her legs in the A race.

Things were fast from the get - I put myself in the top 5 or so just to avoid the chaos that is the pack of the B race - and besides, I felt GOOD. After a lap or two, two guys tried to take a flier. I completely lost my head and decided that I had to go get it. I'm a little like a greyhound with the rabbit. It doesn't matter that it makes no sense, if it moves, I'm on it. Anyway, as I dragged the pack, kicking and screaming, up to the break, I thought - hm, I might pay for that in a little while. But thankfully, I was able to sit in near the front of the pack and recover before things got animated again.

Quite a few ABRT guys were in the field, which was fun since we like to play with them (being friends and former teammates). Matt took a great flyer for a couple of laps followed by an awesome counter by Lance, who stayed out a few more laps. I was sitting pretty, top 5 or top 10 at all times and thinking, hey ... this is kinda fun ! Unfortunately, our fun was interrupted by a rider who hit the pothole on the fast downhill and took out Sara. Have no fear, Sara has some cool road rash (only cool if its not yours) but she's alright - and yes, her bike made it out unscathed. Thatta girl- take the road rash, save the bike !!

We came around for the last of our 17 laps and I was in decent position, but I sat up as the sprint started. Still not entirely comfortable sprinting with the boys. All in all, the race had a fairly good pace and I have a feeling that we'll get faster as everyone finds their race-legs. Thanks to all the guys and gals that made this a relatively safe event and a great workout - and thanks for all the support and good vibes after the race - you are too good to this kid !