Boulder Roubaix 2008.

After Raining for 3 days straight (which is NOT normal!),

the rain hung around for one MORE day just in time for the Boulder Roubaix. I was planning on doing this race, but since it was raining, the thought about bagging it was looming about.... SO here is the short story...

I was working at the bike shop on Friday and this junior racer kid came in looking for leg warmers-- we joked about how much fun the race was going to be...

... the next morning I awoke to MORE RAIN. Sill raining... I was positive that the course was going to be miserable, so I decided before I totally bagged I would drive out to check out the condition of the gravel. I drove out to be slightly pleased, it was still hard packed- just really wet. Still not convinced I wanted to race, I drove up to the parking area to talk to some people... and guess what I saw. THAT SAME JUNIOR KID warming up underneath the back hatch of his parents' wagon. NOW there was no way that I could skip it.

The race was to be 5 laps, but was shortened to 4 because our lap times were taking so long. Only a few parts of the course turned out to be really mushy, otherwise for the most part, there was just a whole lot of mud spray happening, which made it interesting to draft. It stayed together for the first lap and then Mara Abbott rode away from the field. For real. I jumped on her wheel, but she kept motoring! She is super strong!

The race for me personally-- didn't go all that well- I am beginning to feel some knee pain after the 1st lap and I was hesitant to go really hard. ANYWaYS. It was really fun to be out with all those who showed up! Hopefully next year it won't be so messy! BUT, then again, isn't that what the Roubaix is all about??? :)

I was still able to smile after--- and if you're wondering, I and STILL cleaning all of my stuff! :)

Kate

National Champion!

We are so proud of our little Miss Anna! Congratulations on winning the 17/18 Road Race! We want a race report.

Seattle FSA Challenge

After Portland I went to Seattle for another couple days of track racing. Again, the weekend was awesome! The promoters did such a great job of bringing great athletes to compete, tons of fans, and perfect weather. I think there is something to drinking beer and watching track racing that brings in the fans!
The quality and depth in the women's fields for these two weekends was unbelievable. In Portland, there were enough women to split the fields into 3/4's and 1/2's and both races were full! In Seattle, we had record numbers on women enter and in several races had more in the field then the men's field!



Here is the quick rundown of races and results:
I had a huge result in the keirin placing 1st in a super strong field. The picture above is me making the move with one lap to go. I went super early and only won by a half of an inch. After placing 2nd to Monquie (the Canadian superstar) in every sprint event in Portland, it was nice to place 1st. As a reminder... the keirin is the event when the motorcylce paces you and brings everyone to speed and then it is a sprint to the end. Remember the video from Portland?

That same night, I got second in the Points race (an endurance event which I normally don't do great in.) I think I was still on a high from winning the keirin. Christine King (from the US National Team) won the Points race by taking a flyer off the front.
Saturday was the 200m TT and 500m TT in the morning. I was 2nd in the 200 and 3rd in the 500 and happy with both those results. The sprint tourney was ALL DAY on Saturday which was long and painful but I ended up making the finals against Monique. The finals were during the night session and unfortunately right after the women's scratch race. I choose to sit out the scratch race and be fresh for the sprints. I knew this would hurt me in the Omnium but I needed to practice my match sprinting with fresh legs.

As it ended up, I was 2nd in Match Sprints and 3rd in the Omnium after only doing 3 of the 6 omnium events. Another great weekend on two wheels!

Aside from the bike, I had a great time hanging with Heather VanValkenburg, Cristin Walker, Shelby Reynolds, and lots of other girls who ride bikes with no brakes! Thanks girls!

Cari