Party!

Grayslake

It was monsooning in Milwaukee on Saturday morning as I called up Kristin and Devon to see if we'd even be able to race; but they were game to head to the race and since it was Devon's first back in the states with us after a successful series in France, I loaded up to brave the weather and construction in IL! :)

We met up under surprisingly blue skies at an interesting horseshoe shaped course. It was a women's open field and a good size though we were the only team with numbers. We decided to make it hot from the start and boy did we! We had about 10 in our front group pretty quickly and after Devon took a hard attack, Kristen countered and found she had a nice gap. She kept it up while Devon and I patrolled the front and she was quickly out of sight. After letting a few girls wear themselves out chasing, Devon and I took turns attacking. I was off the front with a small gap when Devon countered past me and off she went as well!

A girl had managed to go with Devon but could only hold her wheel so long (understandable! I'd hate to be in that position!), we let her hang out there for a bit and then our small group organized to catch and attack past her.

Meanwhile, we finally starting getting some primes; Aspen yelled out at me to give them a go to prep myself for the final sprint. The first prime I was coming in hot, clearly set to take it when my cleat snapped and I barely kept it up. I was happy to save it and got back in. Next lap I was much more careful and didn't pull to hard and was able to drill it into the last corner to get a gift certificate for Wildfire. With two to go I hear the pace car behind us and Kristen came barelling through our field, straight to the front! I jumped on her wheel and she drilled the whole last lap and easily crossed the line first! It was quite exciting to have a full podium sweep for Team BH USA! (pics to come soon!)

After a very fun day, we will be headed to Glencoe with the addition of Ann!

Elk Grove Village

(Sunday's Podium)

(Madeleine at the front)

First the soap box: Elk Grove Village is a race that exemplifies the disparity between men's and women's cycling. The men get three days of NRC racing, with a total purse of $152,000. This year, the women got two criteriums on the same course; Saturday's purse was $3000, and Sunday's was $5000. Also, the 3/4 women got their own separate race on Saturday. This was a big improvement over last year, so we want to thank the Mayor of Elk Grove Village who is the promoter of this race for listening to us. However, from what I understand because the men's race was NRC, even though the women's race was not, the women's race still needed to be sanctioned under NRC rules. This meant that we would not get NRC points for our race, but they would cut our prize money on both days. Not exactly sure what we ended up racing for, but it was much less than $3 and $5k. This was USA Cycling's rules, not the Tour of Elk Grove. But bottom line, the women who showed up to race were penalized.

Now the racing! I was surprised to find at registration that my entries for both days had been comped and I would get to ride as #1 since I had won last year. This has never happened to me before and I have to say it was cool. Thanks again Elk Grove Village! Very exciting for the women's race we had Joelle Numainville and Laura Van Gilder show up to race. Joelle is a young Canadian who is riding for Kenda and she just won the Pan Am games in Mexico. Laura Van Gilder is a many time national champion, and someone I have admired in the sport for years. The course this year was shortened a bit with a nice section through a neighborhood, but they kept the hairpin turn in corner one and the finishing stretch was still super long, about 600 meters. It started to rain on Saturday before our race and it was terrifying but I got more confident as the race went on. We had tons of primes, and I tried a surprise attack for the midrace prime, starting my sprint wide and way back, but Laura Van Gilder was on it and easily came around me. Anne, Madeleine and I all stayed upright but with 4 laps to go, just when the free laps ended Joelle crashed taking her out of the race. Then Kristin Wentworth and Laura Van Gilder went off the front and it started to look dangerous. The pace picked up and the field was shattering. I was in the back when this was happening but was able to work with another rider to get up to the front. We now had an 8 person split and I was glad that we had a break because I wasn't feeling very snappy and knew the sprint would be tough. On the final lap, Jeannie from Mack did a spectacular attack and I was able to cover it, but couldn't come around her. Laura Van Gilder shot around both of us for the win, and Catherine from Kenda nipped me at the line so I ended up fourth. I was bummed to miss out on the podium, but was happy that we all stayed upright, and that Team BH USA all finished in the money.

Sunday's race was mostly the same folks but also included some of the cat 3's who had raced the day before. It was a gorgeous sunny day, so even though we were racing the same exact course as the day before it felt different. I felt much better too. Madeleine did a fantastic early attack causing Kenda to chase, and Anne and I maintained our positions. The race was fairly uneventful and in the final lap I moved up to the front after the hairpin turn. On the radio, Barry told me to wait for the Kenda leadout and sure enough I was ready and able to jump on when Wentworth did a great leadout. She singlehandedly continued it until the final straight away. No one was taking over so when she slowed I slowed slightly until I felt Laura Van Gilder and Joelle fly by. I tried desperately to get their wheel but it wasn't even close. Then I felt Carrie Cash from Team Revolution coming up on the right side and I so desperately wanted to be on that podium that I dug in and unleashed I don't know what, but it got me across the line before Carrie and Jeannie from Team Mack who was also in hot pursuit. People watching said it didn't look weird but I felt like I was completely out of control and my power tap (we are so lucky to be riding carbon tubular powertaps provided for us by The Bike Shop in Glen Ellyn) showed a new max wattage. Anne finished in the money and we had a great day for Team BH USA.


After the race I'm afraid I babbled incoherently to Laura about how much I admired her and what a big deal it was for me to be on the podium with her. She was very gracious and polite and thanked me for the compliments. :)

-Kristen

Chicago Criterium

(Kristen in the final sprint. Joelle Numainville is on the right. Photo credit Ed White)

The team was back together again (minus Devon) for the Chicago Crit. What a cool race! Downtown Chicago, close to "The Bike Shop" with tons of cycling fans and friends lining the course. We saw a lot of people riding BH's! Word is getting out on how nice these bikes are. The women's field was small, 30-40 maybe? I felt pretty good and got in an early break with Ashley James from Kenda for a couple laps. Anne was at the front blocking for us, and I think it was Laura Van Guilder who closed it. Determined not to get boxed in, I was at the front at the end for the final 2 laps. Madeleine did a fantastic attack for a gambler's prime at 1 to go. She didn't get it but it helped position me for a bit until Kenda chased her down I still ended up at the front. On the final lap I was neck and neck with LVG, and no one wanted to lead it out. I wanted Laura (or anyone!) to come around me so I could get her wheel but that didn't happen and when we hit the final corner my instinct told me to go now! and I exploded first out of the corner. I knew it was early, but thought if I waited I'd get swarmed. "When in doubt--lead it out!" As it was I managed to hang on for 6th place. I felt given the circumstances I finished the best I could, and though I would have liked to have placed higher I was pretty happy with this result. Anne finished in the money and we rode well as a team and all had a great time crit riding through the streets of downtown Chicago. Joelle Numainville, a young Canadian from Kenda was able to outsprint Laura Van Guilder for the win.

-Kristen

Superweek=Superfun

(Team BH USA at the front at the Evanston Superweek Crit Photo Credit Mike Ferren)

Superweek has begun and this year the women get two weeks of racing! Though we are not targeting the entire series, there are a couple of "can't miss" races. I've jumped in a couple already and it looks like Anne, Madeleine and I will be racing this week at Racine and Kenosha. The above picture is from the Evanston race on Sunday, a super fun course with a great home town crowd. I did not get a great finishing result (though I did snag a $100 prime) but I had an absolute blast racing! It's always fun racing when you have a huge crowd and tons of people cheering for you. Thanks everyone!!

Up next on our schedule: Chicago Crit!! Hope to see you all there.

-Kristen

Anne's in Iowa Again

Another weekend, another trip to Iowa. While it might not be so great to do these small races every weekend, they are in some ways a nice break from the high intensity races done previously this season.

The weekend consisted of two races in picturesque Clear Lake, Iowa, famous for the Surf Ballroom, the last place that Buddy Holly performed before his death. Some of you may have heard of him :)

Saturday evening's criterium was a fun, technical course near the business area of town, and along a city park where a blues festival was also going on. The fields were small overall, but the atmosphere was festive, the weather was great and the event was well run.

My field was indeed small. I was not feelin' it that evening. I really struggled to feel like I was actually racing. I gave 90% effort for a few prime sprints but quickly realized it was not going to be my day. I gave it my all at the finish, and thought I could pull off second place. However, I got nipped at the line and ended up third. Tomorrow is another day, right?

Sunday morning we met at the Surf Ballroom again for the 42-mile road race, a large loop in the pretty flat and windy countryside south of Clear Lake. Because there were so few of us, we started with the Master's 40+ men. We got to sit in with their equally small field for awhile, before they started attacking each other. We (the women) all got dropped at that time, but really liked the idea of riding a few more miles with the men, so we put in a valiant "team time trial" trying to catch the master's 40+ "team time trial". We lost. They rode away from us, giving us the impression they didn't want us barging in on their race (hard to imagine!!). We simply kept time trialing as if we were in a well-organized breakaway. There were so few of us, we did not really want to start attacking each other.

The finish for the race is tricky only in that for some reason the exact finish line is hard to determine. Despite it being well marked, people always jump too early or too late because they just aren't sure. I had this knowledge on my side. I had also warmed up in the area so I could get a feel for where the finish would be.

One of our foursome jumped pretty early, and I figured it was meant to be a ploy to make the two of us who were not her teammates chase her, therefore allowing her teammate to counter. Her teammate did counter, but it still left us all a pretty long way from the finish. I sensed that we all inwardly groaned when we realized the finish was in sight, but a long sprint away. We were all sort of in a line across the road, heading into a decent headwind. I realized I needed to go now or risk being caught off guard. I jumped, fully expecting someone to come blasting past me. It did not feel like a great jump or even a great sprint once I got going. However, I thought I actually might make it, as the line got closer. All of a sudden, the IS Corp girl who nipped me on Saturday was right in my peripheral view. The line came, and I saw her catch me at it. I couldn't believe it, to be caught right at the line two days in a row!

These races have awards ceremonies for every category. When they did the women's ceremony, I got ready to go up after they called the third place girl to the podium. Much to my surprise, they called the IS Corp girl up for second. Thank goodness for the finish line camera! What a nice surprise.

(Too close for me to call!)

(Hey, why am I up here, and why is there a beer in my hand??)

Apparently, the "312' beer was a sponsor of the race. We were all give these as we were up on the podium.

As an aside, the promoters are really invested in providing a good venue for women's racing and would love to see more women at the event next year. The courses were fun and safe, the event was very organized, and the prize list was good.

Soon, it will be off to a race or two of Superweek, and then the weekly trips to Chicagoland, where I can finally hook up with my teammates again!

--Anne

Iowa State Criterium Championship

With the conclusion of the Tour of America's Dairyland and the team taking a bit of a break from our scheduled races, I decided to travel solo to downtown Cedar Rapids, IA to take part in the Iowa State Criterium championship. The weather was great, the course was fun and the event was very well organized. The best thing about this race was seeing old friends and teammates whom I have not seen for awhile.

Our field had both local talent and riders visiting from far away, including California and New Zealand! After awhile, the lead group was whittled down to 6 after some hard post-prime attacks. On the last lap I made a move on the back side of the course that was good enough for second place. Thanks to the promoters for putting on a nice event!

(Showing off the team colors in Cedar Rapids)

--Anne