Ode to Arnicare!

*Okay, so technically there is no poetry here.  Just praise from a long-time fan and some before and after pictures of Arnicare's handy work.  If you are squeamish, don't scroll down to the pictures at the end.  Consider yourself forewarned!


I began using Boiron products after I injured my ankle playing soccer in high school.  The swelling, bruising, and incredible pain that accompanied the severe ligament tears were unlike anything I had experienced.  The negative prognosis I received from my doctors was discouraging.  A competitive athlete never wants to hear it will be months before they will be able to walk normally, a year or longer before they can run or compete again.  With my season starting a few months later, naturally, I considered their very conservative recovery timeline to be a challenge to overcome.  The more they insisted it would be quite a long time before I was playing competitively again, the more determined I became to prove them wrong.    

My family was incredibly supportive of my decision to dictate how and when my healing took place.  I was very lucky my mother kept me supplied with Arnica Montana, a homeopathic remedy used for centuries to relieve pain, inflammation and to promote the body's natural healing process.  With the help of this Mountain Daisy, taken both topically and sublingually, the swelling, bruising, and pain in my ankle diminished quickly and I was able to start getting movement and strength back in my ankle within weeks.  Arnicare was instrumental in my ability to start the recovery process quickly, to be productive during physical therapy sessions, and to be back on the field playing soccer again 3 months later!    

For over a decade now, I've kept Arnicare creams and gels on hand for tough training days, bumps and bruises, and long car rides.  The form of my occasional aches and pains have taken over the years has changed with my transition from a D1 soccer player to a competitive cyclist.  With long hours on the bike, a great deal of time lugging a heavy bike case through airports, and racing at the professional level (with some races lasting 7 days in a row!) I still rely on Arnicare to keep my body feeling fresh and ready to go, but I've also added two new essentials to my cabinet.  Calendula and Sportenine.  I've found Sportenine, a homeopathic medicine which reduces the symptoms associated with prolonged physical exercise, to be a great recovery aid, particularly when training or racing in the heat!  Calendula ointment (available in creams and lotions too) has been so good to my skin and keeps me from looking horrifically scarred considering how often my skin comes into contact with the pavement at 20+ mph.  After an unfortunate downhill slide on the pavement at one of my last races, I cleaned the deep gashes (nothing left to stitch according to the doctor) and road rash and began using Arnica Montana immediately after the crash.  I put 5 Arnicare pellets under my tongue to dissolve, applied the cool Arnicare gel everywhere with intact skin, and then applied the slight sweet smelling Calendula to the road burns.  As the deeps cuts started to heal, I began applying Calendula to those as well.  Photos below...

Sorry for the blurry photo, but you get the idea...

A couple days later....

A week and change after the crash!

Before...

After!

Paceline Projects p/b Veloforma Women's Cycling Team is very proud to partner with Arnicare this year.  We can't thank the folks at Arnicare enough for their support, keeping us healthy and healing us quickly so we can do what we love!  Next time you or a loved one is in need of some healing aid, check out the health section at your local co-op, or natural grocer to find Boiron products, or read more about their homeopathic medicines online at http://www.boironusa.com/ or http://www.arnicare.com/

Back in Black

It's Whitney here. First race of my comeback is complete! While I may have only placed a measly 6th (all behind some of the most legit in Colorado- a few pros, former pros, and an Olympians or two) at the Niwot Criterium, it was a great victory in more than one way for me. The race served an mental opportunity to expose myself to other women racers and gauge my fitness level since my comeback, see my weakness, and work on them in the final two weeks before Tour of Elk Grove. This 7-turn course with two u-turns was complex and a great way to get me back into cornering comfort. The race just started with attack after attack until we were down to 8 riders- Kori Seehafer, Flora Duffy, Cari Higgins, Gwen Inglis, Julie Emmerman, myself and a couple others I'm unfamiliar with. (Afterwards, I found out there was some "alliance" with all the Boulderites who take up about half the field which explains a lot about which moves were brought back, but otherwise, it would have appeared it was all individual racers). Never the less, I prefer my races hard and aggressive and I'll never turn down a challenge like that.

While I feel my "jump" and acceleration is still lacking, my fitness isn't too bad for about 3 weeks of riding outside! I had no issue staying in nor launching quite a few of my own attacks, bridging and the like. In fact, I threw all my eggs into my basket and attacked with about 6 to go, got caught and countered, I hopped on the counter from Gwen and we stayed away until 2 to go. I was pretty toast by then (poor legs are wondering what the heck is going on). I was pretty much cross eyed waiting for the move to go. Julie Emmerman attacked and got a good gap. I knew I couldn't bridge after just being caught and no one else wanted to bring her back, so I sat in. I saw Cari prepping to attack but I didn't have the acceleration or legs left to catch on and the race became every lady for herself as we all strung in one by one (Cari taking the win). 

No matter, I was a little disappointed as one always goes for the win in bike racing, but I'm really proud of the progress I've made in the past few weeks in training and I know that I'll be able to be a great teammate to Kat at Elk Grove in a couple of weeks and an even better teammate to her at Gateway Cup and Mayor's Cup in September. 

For all the tears shed and anger felt in being off the bike May and June, here's to a recovery, a comeback, aggressive racing, and all the excitement the rest of the season will bring.

photo taken with permission from Dejan Smaic
( http://www.sportifimages.com/RoadRacing2012-1/Niwot-Downtown-Crit)

Exergy Twilight Crit & Idaho Crit Championship

Last Saturday I packed up the car, Veloforma secure on the rear courtesy of RockyMounts, and began the 5 hour journey north to Boise, ID for the Exergy Twilight Crit Saturday evening.  Matt and I had a pretty smooth drive.  Mostly due to Matt driving the entire 5 hours, enjoying some pre-race gourmet sandwhiches on my homemade sourdough oat bread, with fresh mozzarella, tomato, and our own fresh basil I picked on the way out the door (it's a frequent occurrence I'm running late on account of food-what can I say...it's generally worth it), and listening to an entertaining book on tape from the library.  Love your local library.  Even with the periodic rain, the drive went quickly and we found ourselves in a sunny and hot Boise in no time.  I warmed up while cheering for Matt who was having an exciting race-  top 10 yeah.  As soon as his race finished, I rolled up to the start line and downed some Honey Stinger Chews, love 'em, in time for the opening ceremony and pre-race instructions. Of course the clouds rolled in and a few warning drops fell on us before we were off.  A series of ppschhhts (sound of deflating tire) went off as most riders started lowering their tire pressure at the last minute.  Not this woman.  My Michelin Pro3s are phenomenal and I have the utmost confidence in them.  I wouldn't want to be on any other tire in the rain, so I abstained from messing with my tire pressure on the line.  With pretty full teams, notably Exergy, Tibco, and NOW, the race was pretty active.   I spent a good deal of the race 20-30 riders back as it seemed like we were almost always single file. 

Strung out on start/finish straight, and yep, I'm the last one...

Then the rain started coming down in a serious fashion, and the crashes began.  Luckily, the rain stopped as we neared the end of the race and the roads were beginning to dry for the finish.  The break that had been away was caught in the final laps and then it was really on.  Similar to what seems like every other race this year, my positioning was all wrong and I was caught behind a ridiculously big gap on the final lap.  I gave a big effort to get up there and pick off as many riders as I could before the finish line which landed me a 18th for the day.  Didn't hit the pavement (thanks Michelin) and had fun racing.  Not a bad day.  Cleaned up (I certainly needed it) and went out on the town.  Enjoyed a nice dinner with Matt at the Fork.  Cool place, love that my plate was a cutting board.  

Lookin' crazy but havin' a good time post Exergy Crit

Good times in Boise, ID

Raced the Veloforma, took a shower, and about to enjoy a delicious meal with Matt

Sunday, I rode out to a local crit for Idaho State Crit Championships in Hidden Springs, ID.  Nice climb to the race and then enjoyed a 8 corner course racing with the master men and Pro 123 women, going for all the primes, and winning the race. *Short clip from the race...I go by on the right side of the screen... 

I'm in there....I'm positive.  By the tree maybe?  Sure, that looks like me.  

Look forward to racing in Boise next year and a huge thank you to the Exergy Twilight Crit for a great event, great crowds, and showing your commitment to women's racing by offering equal prize money for both pro women and men.

Sweet like...Honeystinger

Paceline Projects p/b Veloforma has been very lucky this year to receive a generous sponsorship from Honeystinger for our energy food. Honeystinger is unique in that the main source of sugar comes straight from the bees with honey! (They also use cane juice and tapioca syrup in their products). Personally both Kat and I tend to avoid more processed and artificial foods, so Honeystinger is a perfect energy food for our cycling! Using more natural sweeteners, Honeystinger is perfect for the feint-of-stomach too. 


We're both huge fans of their energy chews due to their perfect size, sweet taste, and portability. For a long race, dump two packages together and stick in your pocket for 320 calories of energetic honey! I've definitely been on a bit of a Pomegranate Passion Fruit kick lately. Yum! I do most of my training after work at 5pm so it's perfect for me to grab a Honeystinger-something to shovel down as I head out the door on my bike to train too.

Honeystinger of choice for Tuesday's weeknight crit, which I won!

Some other tasty treats they have are energy gels, post-race protein bars, traditional energy bars, and  the growingly popular waffles which are unlike anything you've had before (and delicious)! Living with three guys, I keep having to move my stash around and hide it from their sticky, honey-grabbing fingers! This honey is mine, guys. So next time you run out of energy food, consider Honeystinger! They love and support women's cycling!

Paceline Projects Team Car-tricked out.

We like to think that we are pretty environmentally and socially conscious here, growing our own food, supporting local business, commuting to work and running errands on our bicycles.  Reduce, reuse, recycle.  Captain Planet was a childhood hero.  Let's be honest though, jumping on a plane to fly across the country for a bike race?  Getting in the car in order to go ride a bike?  Truly environmentally conscious?  (Guilty shaking of the head.)


However, we are aware of our impact and do make a effort to offset some of our bike related splurges: natural cleaners to get the Strada SLR looking sparkly after a rainy ride, if we pack Honey Stinger waffles and gels in our back pockets, we absolutely pack 'em out, recycling old tires, tubes (did you know you can recycle energy gel packets too?) and of course, have tricked the car out with a sweet RockyMounts bike rack in order to increase our capacity to carpool to races while still maintaining fuel efficiency and using less natural resources.  

Paceline Projects team car with RockyMounts rack made the mountainous trip to Jackson WY averaging 44 mpg.  

We are very proud to have RockyMounts, a local Boulder company, as our sponsor this year.  RockyMounts shares our passion for bikes and adventure, engineering some sweet bike racks (and ski racks) that are very easy to use.  The RockyMounts hitchrack was incredibly easy to install and I'm very pleased to announce that we had a very successful trip from SLC, UT to Idaho Falls, ID (for a 2nd place finish at the Allan Butler Crit) then on to Jackson, WY (for a sweet ride with Matt, cousin Ben Rossman, and friend Gweneal over Teton Pass) and back home (for work).  How efficient were we during this almost 600 mile trip?  44 MPG.  Not too shabby in the mountains.  

Top of the pass looking out towards Jackson.  Yep, it hailed on us. 

A little off-roading fun

Post-ride recovery thanks to local creamery 

City Street Crit- A Comeback Win!

Tuesday I ventured to the City Street Crit, a low-key and fun local weeknight crit in Fort Collins. I'll be the first to admit, after being crashed out in a crit at Speedweek, which was my last time riding with other people, I was nervous. Without riding with others, I was also anxious because I feared I was going to be incredible slow. I raced with the men's B's in their 40 minute race. And HEY, I'm not in bad shape at all! My shoulder was exhausted by the end for sure, I could use a bit more top-end speed still, and need to work some more on cornering again (it's been awhile). I even managed to throw in some punches and stayed away for two laps solo. I ended up winning the women's and ended up about top 10(?) among the men. 


This weekend I'll race the State Crit Championships in Longmont to keep easing back into things. I also receieved my sweet, blacked-out Veloforma in the mail two days ago and am working on getting that all built up for the weekend of races. Hello comeback. 

Ginger Candy for a Ginger

In Kat's box of magical goodies from sponsors were a ton of ginger treats called Gin-Gins from The Ginger People. I'd never had their gingery treats before and I've always had mixed feelings on ginger. I love cooking with it but hate how crystalized ginger burns my mouth and nose so oddly and have never had ginger candy before.  However, it does tout a lot of health benefits and it always great when you are feeling a bit under the weather or have a sour stomach.  I'm happy to report that the Gin-Gins are fantastic! With flavors like Original, Coffee, and Apple-Cinnamon, they are quite the treat too. There are also some double-strength Gin-Gin's that will be great for upset stomachs from traveling or a future winter cold.

Mmm Gin-Gins

The company has other neat ginger offerings- cooking sauces, preserved ginger, ginger beer and even a skin-care line! If you are a ginger-loving person, or are looking to add your to your healthy-food repertoire, consider The Ginger People- they support women on bikes!

A Crit Clinic & A Comeback

Hello it's Whitney again! Last Wednesday (not the 4th) was a big day for me! I was approved by the orthopedic doctor to get back on my bike OUTSIDE and start TRAINING! Yep. I'm in full training, physical therapy, and yoga mode again, whipping my body back into race shape for the Tour of Elk Grove at the beginning of August.

I kicked off my first ride outside by hosting a crit clinic with Tibco rider, Amanda Miller, and put on by Chris Johnson for the City Street Crits. We were expecting, like, 5 people to show up. It was pretty crazy to roll up and have about 60 people attending the clinic! Holy crap. Not only that, but the clinic ran a solid 90 minutes with all the questions people came with. We concluded the event with a mock race. From the feedback, it was really helpful! Score! To boot there were at least a dozen women.

Just in time for my training, I got a box of goodies from sponsors...Michelin tires and tubes, Honeystinger deliciousness, sweet treats from The Ginger People, and more Arnicare and Calendula.

To boot, my new, blacked out Veloforma frame should be arriving this weekend so I can build it up again (Handlebar bashed into my top tube in my crash)! I'm very happy to be on the bike again and am looking forward to more group rides and some local races starting this weekend. Elk Grove, here I come...

Farewell Wisconsin

Tour of America's Dairyland wrapped up this past Sunday in Madison, WI and after an exceptionally long time in airports on Monday, I am back in Utah.  Thankfully, Milwaukee's airport is one of my favorites thanks to a sweet used book store where I spent several hours reading rare cookbooks from colonial times and some cool essays on Ayurveda principles.  Unfortunately, I don't have much to report on the racing front as I've found myself in a bit of a racing funk.  The racing was tough and I struggled mentally to stay in the mix.  The first two crits were particularly bad for me and I finished in the 40s in Sheboygan and Fond du Lac.  Luckily, I had great company traveling with Carrie Cash and enjoyed staying with Laura Van Gilder, Kristin Lasasso, and Laura Parsons and the Pekarek Family in Sheboygan.  It helps to have good company to stave off that poor racing negativity.  


I met an awesome family on the start line in Fond du Lac and in addition to providing me with lots of encouragement and some tasty post-race ice cream, they went to the next day's crit at Downer's.  While most racers don't find "Move-up!" an encouraging comment from the sidelines, I know I need that reminder sometimes and gave folks the thumbs up to yell anything to get me going.  When I heard. "Kat, get fierce!!!" going through the first corner, I immediately laughed, promptly put the game face on, and moved to the front.  The race went much better for me in general, although I still botched up my positioning on the last lap and finished about 27th.  Better than almost 50th I guess?  Enjoyed a nice BBQ at the Schneider family's house and then prepared for the last race in Madison.  


Chris and Carrie surprised me with a sweet treat to get my butt in gear for the last race and along with some more cheering from my WI fans (whose son Matt skipped Summerfest to watch our race!), and I was feeling good.  

Bring on the gluten!!!

Timing the last pre-race bite perfectly...

The race went well, but again my positioning should have been better in the last two turns as I got caught behind some folks who seemed like they were going backwards.  Finished 26th. After such a poor start to the racing this series, I was feeling OK about the race even if I wasn't happy about my result.  After falling short of my own expectations for Tulsa and ToAD, I'm spending this week resting and re-evaluating where I'm at before heading to Boise for the Exergy Twilight Crit in a couple weeks.  


One last special thanks to Paul Warloski, the Pekarek family, and Karen Larson and her husband John for hosting me.  Looking forward to seeing you again next year!