What a good lookin team!

National Criterium Championships

As a team, Devon and I finished 19th and 25th, and Anne also finished with the field though her result is mia. Personally National Criterium Championships was the highlight of my year. Depending on perspective I can be disappointed or happy with my finish. I was disappointed because I was hoping to be in the sprint this year. But if I'm honest, it was the first time I've ever finished with the main field at Downer's Grove, so it was the best I've ever done and I should be happy. Being a perfectionist, I usually choose disappointed but realistically I know I have made a lot of improvements this year and am trying hard to focus on that. I guess it just means I have to keep training and give it another shot next year!

Congratulations to Tina Pic! National Champion once again. She announced her retirement after this race and what a way to go out.

Check out this cool video footage of our race courtesy of Rene Cudal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCIKyVc1IEk

-Kristen

Glencoe Grand Prix!!

The women's 1-2 race at Glencoe was a small field, but there were a lot of strong riders on the line. I'm not sure why a bigger crowd doesn't show up as Glencoe always puts on a fun and super well run venue. The promoters even work hard to put together good prize money and great primes for the women which we really appreciate. Thanks to all the sponsors - ATT (i love the iphone), Alberto's cycles, First Bank of Highland Park, the Village of Glencoe, and many more... Also, thanks once again to Shelle Jewelers for supporting the women's sprint prize with a beautiful watch. Hopefully the word will start to spread to the midwest women about what a great race this is so that more new women come out to try racing and more experienced racers put Glencoe on their calendar.

The fact that Glencoe is a great race was no secret to Team BH, and we showed up in force with our full squad! We were hoping to have a strong showing as we comprised almost half the field and no other riders had teammates (it was not really fair). Jen of Vanderkitten and Jeannie from team Mack started the race off fast and furious, and with some early primes thrown in there the pace continued to be high. Madeleine attacked hard early on and held a gap for over a lap.... but her escape attempt came to a quick halt when the skies opened up and started dumping buckets and throwing down lightning (yikes). The race took a bit of an intermission waiting for the lightning to stop...

Round 2: after about 10 minutes, we all lined back up on the start line for a new shorter-versioned race. The rain was still dumping, but it was a welcome reprieve from the day's sweltering sun. Again Jen and Jeannie led out with a bang and the combination of rain and fast pace caused the field to string out and begin to split. After a couple laps, Kristen attacked hard for a prime and had a bit of a gap... meanwhile, I was hanging on wheels letting others chase back up and as soon as they did, I attacked. The field was split now and Jeannie of team Mack was the only chaser. Kristen took this opportunity to sit on her wheel and take a break while Jeannie and I went into all out time trial mode. It was a tough battle trying to stay away, but there were lots of people hanging out in the rain and providing encouragement with all their cheers! In the end I was able to stay away for a Team BH win! Kristen came around the last corner in the chase group of 3 with fresh legs (sorry jeannie!) and took the sprint for 2nd! Anne then came in with the rest of the field and let out her speedy power to win the field sprint for 5th! Overall a great day for Team BH!!

We are looking forward to another big weekend of racing at Downer's Grove. If you are in the area Friday, come out to The Bike Shop to talk bike racing and meet the team!

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