Tucson, stages 2 & 3... Weekend Roundup

Stage 2- Road Race
We knew coming into the RR that we needed about 30 seconds to claim the leader’s jersey. Clare and Leda were our best options for capitalizing on this type course and Sunday’s circuit. Therefore, Missy’s plan was to set up Leda and/or Clare to be in a break.
There were sprint time bonuses on the first lap, only 4 miles into a 60 mile race. America’s Dairyland had to get these bonuses no matter what, we needed to help our overall GC positions. Missy’s instructions were for Kate and Clare to stay at the front and set up a lead out for the time bonus for Cari or Leda. As it turned out, Cari won the sprint with a great team effort leading her out.

Cari looking strong in the field.

The rest of the first lap was a pretty easy pace with many teams not wanting to work in the wind. On the second lap, Leda’s fierce competitiveness introduced itself to the women’s peloton. She attacked in the hills and that was the last we saw of her that day. Leda took one Colivita-NM girl with her and had three other girls in a hot pursuit. Luckily, Colavita-NM couldn't stay with Leda and quickly made her way back to the main peloton. To the benefit of Dairyland, Clare was in the group of three pursuing Leda. So, the group of three “chasing” was really only two girls chasing and Clare sitting in. Cari and Kate controlled the main peloton, chasing down any potential bridgers and prevented the chase group from organizing. As it ended up, Leda was long gone and ended with a lead of several minutes. Clare saved enough energy in the chase group to take the sprint for 2nd place. In the main field, Kate practiced leading Cari out to win the sprint for the main field nabbing 5th place.
America’s Dairyland ended up 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 12th.

Clare, she just finished applying some Lip Smackers... or waving to the crowd...

Stage 3—Circuit Race
Going into this morning’s 7 lap, 39 mile circuit race, Leda had a comfortable lead of about 4 minutes. Clare was in third place—only 32 seconds down from second place. Our goal today: get Clare into 2nd place overall. In order to do this Missy devised the PLAN. Cari and Kate were to control the field for the first 3 laps. At 3 laps, there was a sprint time bonus and Clare needed this bonus to claw her way to 2nd place overall. All was good and the lead out went as planned. Their lead out was so good, Clare and Leda had a gap from the field… which was enough to work with for the rest of the race. Cari patrolled the first chase group and Kate patrolled the main field. To wrap up today, Dairyland came out on top. 1st Clare, 2nd Leda, 3rd Cari, and 11th Kate.

The team enjoying the Tucson morning sun after a sweet, sweet win! :)

We all think Leda looks great in yellow.

Weekend Overall GC.
We had a great weekend, making a plan—and communicating to execute the plan. Our team used team tactics and worked together to get the overall win, second, fifth and eleventh places.

Our Host family! Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful house with us!

Tucson Cycling Classic Road Race!

Today was an excellent day-- We began our day at 3:30 am... in the dark. Our race was about 45 mins away, and we arrived at the start at 5:15 am. Check out some warm up photos.

Here's Leda warmin' up... She had a good enough warm up to ride in to #1-- riding for 30 miles by herself!!
Kate warming up. Yes, in the dark, in a Safeway parking lot.

Missy getting us ready. We really don't know what we would do without her. (But if you look closely, it may look like she is putting tags on our wheels, but she is really checking out what is left in her beer stash in her Trader Joe's bag...I guess it is what gets her through 3 hours of waiting to give us handups).

The race went well today. Leda #1, Clare #2, Cari #5, Kate #?. I (kate) led Cari out for the final leg of the race, needless to say my legs were pretty worked!

Here is the 5 of us at our Host's house. It is a most excellent house and very comfortable! We will post more photos tomorrow-- including a photo of our most gracious hosts!

Tomorrow is the Circuit, starting again at precisely 6:41 am.

too tired to write more!

Cheers! (pronounced cheez mate)

Our Return to Tucson!

We made it down to Tucson! After 13 hours of driving (thanks Missy and Cari!!), we arrived at our host's house. Steve and Patricia have been excellent and they have a beautiful house filled with plenty of bicycle related art! Very cool! We were all impressed to hear that Steve hasn't driven to work since 2005-- a 16 mile commute ONE WAY! AND Patricia rides her bicycle to work everyday too-- even when she is on call and is called into the OB emergency room at 3 am!Definitely inspiring and very cool!

Today was a beautiful day in Tucson. We had a nice morning eating our favorite team breakfast-- oatmeal. Our mission was to pre-ride the TT course for the www.TucsonBicycleClassic.com . It is a short 3 mile tt course that begins with a nice descent leading to a long climb, into some rollers, ending with a decent climb for the finish. Very short! The course is near Gate's Pass and Saguaro National Park west-- big Saguaros everywhere. Remember all the cacti pics???? There are going to be some more! Be prepared to see Cari's foot.....

Until tomorrow. Good night!!!

Easter Weekend Racing in Colorado

This weekend, the four Colorado Cowgirls got in on some local racing.  Keep in mind that for local racing, it is always pretty interesting in Boulder to see what kind of field comes out of the woodwork.  It might include the US National Road Champion at the front and the Geelong podium Aussie tucked in along with our newest addition, Leda, in the early break!

 

Coach Missy's Pink Cow Train (PCT) at the front starting to pick up the pace and put everyone into a spot of bother!

Another fun day at the office in the Colorado sun!  We are fast, stylish, and having lots of fun!

Jack Russell Terrorist

While you all are out riding and racing, I'm stuck here in Wisco, with a fresh 7" of snow on the ground and a crazy puppy. If you think life gets tough, here's what it's like cleaning the house with Mini Cooper.

I started by sweeping the kitchen floor. Here is Coop, helping by clamping on to the bristles and being dragged around the floor. It's sort of an added feature: sweeping with dust pick up at the same time.



I had to get some horse hair off a saddle pad so here is Cooper, aiding (not) in that process.

Then Lindsay came downstairs with her slippers on. Coop loves slippers. Especially if the feet in them are trying to walk.















Next we move to laundry.


Once I got the sheet unhooked from his incisors I quit doing housework. I'm stuffing him in his box and am going out to clean the chicken coop.

Good luck at the races today. I'm working on hopefully the last of the bike adaptations. This time of year is really a challenge: swapping out cranks, handlebars, this that and the other thing. Thanks all of you for your patience as I sort it out.

toodles.
becx

Sequoia Criterium.

Now that Im feeling better I want to tell you about the Sequoia Crit. Ill keep it brief, It was hard, fast and risky, I have the scars to prove it.
Cari was out in full force that day, she was up there in a good position throughout her race but unfortunately had a mechanical and was told she could not get a lap out and could not finish the race.
As for me, I made the mistake of stepping back from the situation at the beginning of the race and letting the other riders take control. I was not in there for the ride I was there to race so after my first crash I got a back pocket full of HTFU! (Which is were I left my gloves, Greg). So I started to race, unfortunately again I crashed by being on a bad wheel which led me into a gutter. The last lap was fast and I was trying to get into a better position, I was coming towards the last corner really fast and as I was about to take it but there were bikes and riders spread along the pavement. The riders in front of me slammed on their breaks and so did I which made my back wheel slide out and caused me to crash hard on my hip. So I didn't finish the race (Sob).
So all in all , it was an experience and I have learned allot and Im honored in being awarded the Tyler Hamilton award from Greg, he knows I've trained for it coming down from Jamestown, literally.
Also I would like to thank Mitch Friedman for posting the photos of Cari, Kate and myself on Cycling News. Cheers!

Clare

Newest Team Member

As per Rebecca's brilliant idea, my mom worked her seamstress magic to come up with a jersey for Abe! (Thanks, Mom!)

Abe's favorite Lipsmacker flavor is Banana Berry.


A good cyclist always carries a snack.

Sequoia Classic

Some weekends are better then others.  Period.  Don't get me wrong- we had some bright moments and good laughs.  We always do.

Missy, Clare, Kate, and I (Cari) went out to California to join in the torture/fun of a 40k TT and  a 40 mile crit.

Here are some shots of us on the TT course on Friday:

Saturday was the TT.  Let's just say that in the US when they offer big money )$10k) for a TT, all the TT girls show up.  So, for me, this was about challenging myself.  Before Saturday, I had never done a TT longer then 36 minutes and only have done 4 time trials ever before.  Ever.  So, the challenging course with hills and the inexperience killed me.  Every time someone passed me with their fancy bikes, disc wheels, and aero everything... I got a little more discouraged.  I think Cyclingnews appreciated America's Dairyland heart for competing in less then desirable aero get-ups because they posted quite a lot of photos of us.  We may not have won but we made Cylingnews!
Sunday we lined up for a crit with about 90 other girls and the toughest field I have seen.  Here is my race report.  Clare will post her own soon and Kate has a great take on the race that she will post shortly.
I couldn't have been more excited (and a little nervous :)) to be in this field.  The course was technical and flat- I like it! The first 30 minutes or so, I felt pretty good; I was up front and staying up front.  The pace was kept high and there were several attacks from many of the teams- High Road, Cheerwine, Aaron's, Proman, etc.  That is when crash #1 went down.  Off to my right, I saw a Vanderkitten girl slide in a corner.  She started the mass party with the pavement.  I was about the 4th one to hit the ground and it ended up being about 50 or so total held up in the crash.  Ouch.  Really ouch.  Only about 15 or so girls made it through.  The rest of the field headed to the pit.  My confidence was affected for about 3 or so laps and I spent too much time and energy hanging in the back for those laps.  But, I got back in the swing of things and made it back to the front half.  With about 20 laps (out of 57) to go, I hit some bumps pretty hard.  My saddle came loose and ended up pointing straight towards the sun.  I don't recommend this position; you can't ride your bike like this.  I headed to the pit for a free lap and a fix.  This is when the official (I am going to be very politically correct  when describing this conversation) informed me that this was not considered a mechanical.  Sorry, no free lap for you.  Um, really?  That stinks.  (Use your imagination on how this conversation really sounded.)  So, they will fix your bike because you obviously can't ride but you get no lap.  Your race is over.  Whatever. 
Ok, the positive notes:  I learned that I do have the ability and confidence to stay with this type of field.  I know I have some work to do on the fitness side of it.  It is one thing to hang and it is another to have a sprint at the end or to be active in attacking/chasing/etc.  We had a blast this weekend.  Traveling with these girls is a riot!  We have so many photos to share that we will post this week.  I love this team!

Cari

Great Weekend of Racing

Kate Said:

This weekend, the Colorado Cowgirls represented the team well, with nice finishes in the Frost Bite Time Trial and the Denver University Criterium. The time trial was a definitely a test! It consisted of a 6.5 mile out and back course only five miles from Wyoming. There was a cross/tailwind on the way out and the course seemed to fly by… and then we turned around! The wind blasted right into our faces and made for a treacherous, grueling, mash-fest back to the lovely orange cone by Buckeye road. I am not sure about Cari or Clare, but I was very happy to see that cone! Clare brought in a 3rd place, behind Meredith Miller and Georgia Gould! Nice Job Clare! They "think" Cari finished 4th right behind clare and I finished 5th.

Clare Said:
Last weekend was our first races on our fixture and I might say that it has started off really well! Last Saturday was the Frostbite TT which was a flat 12 mile course. I immediately thought, "Ill do this in about 30 minuets"! When Kate and I arrived to the race I got out of the car and felt what everyone does not want to feel when about to do a TT, WIND! "Well there goes my chance of doing a 30min TT", I thought.

Going on the way out was a tail wind with a slight cross wind which was a breeze but on the way back felt like you were pulling a pile of bricks behind you! The wind was that strong.

At the end of it all I was hyperventilating for 5 min after the race and accepted the fact that I way get at the most fifth place. To my surprise I got third and I cant complain about that. My team mate Kate got 4th place and unfortunately Cari didn't get a time. Cari went off before me and my goal was to catch her. She took off like lighting, I looked at Missy and said there is no way I can catch her!

UPDATE!! Cari came in 4th with a time of 33:43! which puts Kate into 5th place. Sorry Kate but awesome job Cari!

Sunday was the Criterium at Denver University. There would of been about 30 to 40 riders who turned up to race. At the start line I whisper to Cari, "Im going to go off like a sprint, watch me". So anyway, the gun goes off and what happens? I lose my balance and almost tipped over my bike. I had to sprint anyway to get on the pack, I can see Cari up ahead turn her head around looking for me with this confused look on her face. I made an ass of myself.

After the first lap I decided to make the first move, I attacked and went away for about one and a half laps. I wanted to string out the field and tried to get back into a good position once the pack caught up to me. Unfortunately Kate got a flat tyre and was out for a lap. Cari made an other attack and broke away with two other riders, Kate and I made sure that no one tried to bridge it and closed down any attempts of a break from other riders.

It was a great day for our number one sprinter Cari coming first over the line and having a great result for the team over the weekend.

Many thanks to Missy whith her support and game planning.

Above is a picture of the Criterium circut.

hee hee hee

My new laptop isn't here yet so I'm limited in what photos I have access to. This is one of my favorites from last year's photo shoot. Kate dropped her cup of milk mustache formula. Is that a great pic or what??

You can also imagine a photo of an excited Marcie trying on her new jersey for the first time. She was happy, as was Sabrina.

S'all I got for now. I will be in DC for two days. Toodles!

becx