TD Bank Mayor's Cup & Sweet Podiums!

I had a great trip back east for the last NCC race TD Bank Mayor's Cup and the CT Cycling Festival.  Beautiful fall weather, great time with family and friends, and some fun racing.  Finished 10th in Boston, and while not my best finish at the Mayor's Cup, I had a blast nevertheless and earned my cannoli from the North End.  A huge thanks to Sara Bresnick for all the hard work she does to make the Mayor's Cup a success! 

 

 

 

Sunday, I raced on a 8 corner crit in Hartford, CT.  Managed to (narrowly) avoid the crashes thanks to my Michelin Pro 4s and their superior performance on wet pavement.  Love those tires!  Crossed the line 5th in the sprint and enjoyed the podium festivities.  Confetti launchers are a pretty neat way to jazz up a podium!

 

 

 

 

In other exciting news, newest SKINourishment p/b Paceline Projects athlete Amelia raced her first cross race this past weekend in Chicago!  Made my day that she rocked a big smile racing in the junior field and earned a podium spot too! 

  

 

Congrats Amelia!

US Pro Crit Championships

Well, the US Pro Crit Championships was a bit of a disappointment for me.  Maybe it was the traveling all night before, the crazy work week, fatigue and stress... or maybe I just had a horribly bad race regardless.  Sometimes bad races happen.  Whatever the reason, my legs just would not respond to the pace after a while and my tank hit empty long before our 1.5 hour race was over.  On the plus side, a good a** kicking can be a strong motivator and I have about two weeks left before the last race weekend of the season... plenty of time to get my game face on! 

On Sept. 20th SKINourishment p/b Paceline Projects will line up for a sweet downtown crit on the streets of Boston.  Please check out my favorite race the TD Bank Mayor's Cup!  The TD Bank Mayor's Cup has been supporting women's cycling from the start.  For six years, I have been competing in this event and EVERY year the race offers the pro cyclists equal race length, charges equal registration fees, and pays equal prize money and equal primes regardless of sex.  Pretty darn cool if you ask me.

So, please spread the word to all cyclists (women and men) that this race is a blast, Boston is wicked sweet, and supporting TD Bank Mayor's Cup (a race that supports us) is worth the trip!!!  Come join me and maybe I will treat you to cannoli...

:)

Oh, I almost forgot to thank my new friend Suzanna Dupee for her wonderful company on Saturday and for her generous hospitality in NC!  Looking forward to riding with her again soon!

Gateway Cup

My trip to St. Louis was a good one.  Not much to report on the racing front.  Arrived Saturday afternoon in time for the race, but the race felt a bit harder than it should have.  Sunday's race (USA Crit Finals) in the Italian district was fun as usual.  My legs were feeling a bit better, a plus. Unfortunately, I got caught behind a crash heading into the last lap so that's how that goes.  At least, I got to enjoy some tasty gelato post-race.  Monday's race went similarly, crash in the last lap meant no sprinting for me.  So not the best weekend results-wise....HOWEVER, I got to spend some quality time with the Cash Family and that's always a good time!  A huge thanks to Carrie and Chris for making the trip a blast! 

I feel some mtn bike racing in my future...

After a little spin on my new sweet Scott Scale from Joe's Garage, I'm now off for the next trip!  US Pro Crit Championships!  Race tomorrow at 4:10 PM EST.  You can check out the race live here:

http://www.hpcyclingclassic.com/TheRaces/LiveVideo.aspx

Tour of Utah Recap

The SKINourishment p/b Paceline Projects team had a blast at the inaugural Tour of Utah events!  It was a honor be part of Utah's bike racing history.  In addition, it was a pleasure to race with such awesome women and to have them represent our sport and our sponsors so well. 

Zappos Cedar City Grand Prix

We were 4 women strong at the Zappos Cedar City Grand Prix.  Lindsay Fox gave me a stellar ride into the start-finish straight, and I won the early sprint point. 

I found myself in an early break with Tibco, Colavita, and United Health Care.  Not my cup of tea!  If I wasn't in trouble before Powers and Rivera bridged up to the break, I certainly was the second the two of them blew by me and drilled it at the front. 

 



That was the beginning of the end for me, but Lindsay, Alison, and Laura all did a fantastic job and finished the race strong. 

 


Two days later, we were very lucky to have Olympian and former Word Champion Amber Neben join our ranks for the ToUWE circuit race at the Larry H. Miller Motorsports Park.   As you might expect, she was the most aggressive rider out there and very well marked.  Amber was off the front trying to make things happen all race long. 

 



In the end, the field stayed together.  With 1 lap to go (still 2.2 miles from the finish), the jockeying for position began.  Holding position on this course was especially difficult as it was windy and the course had so many loops and turns.  You could be in perfect position one second, and in just about the worst position possible the next.  I found myself boxed-in, riding in gravel trying to get out to clear line as the sprint was starting.  Managed a 20th place in the sprint finish. 

If the ToUWE wasn't tough enough, Alison and I stuck around to race the Chase Pinkham Memorial Race.  Although our legs revolted, we were happy to be a part of two great events that day and to honor our fellow racer, Laura's nephew, Chase Pinkham. 

A very special thank you to some very special folks: awesome hosts and race volunteers Brandon and Joey, Alex Kim and Nicky Wangsgard for all their hard work making these races happen, support staff Norm Frye and Matt Rossman, and a special shout out to a few of our sponsors who provided goodies and helped make the race possible:  SKINourishment, Paceline Projects, the best bar tape, cages, and saddle bags from Arundel, Arnicare and Pactimo.  Last, but certainly not least... Kathy Kim, photographer extraordinaire!  Please check out her work here:  www.cottonsoxphotography.com. and on Facebook!
  




To conclude our recap, some thoughts from Lindsay, Laura and Amber!


"I am very grateful for the support given by SKINourishment p/b Paceline Projects to have the opportunity to compete in both Tour of Utah races.  Not only were the races well organized and exciting, but being part of a big stepping stone to have women's races as part of these large tours in the near future was incredible.  I had the chance to talk with some spectators after the race and all they kept talking about was how exciting our race was... that's always great to hear :) Also, a big thanks to Arundel for the saddle bags... honestly the best bag out there in my opinion:)"  -Lindsay

"I forgot my sunblock.  My nose was so burned, and the rest of my face was really pink.  I used my SkinNourishment sample, and I was so much better the next day.  Dramatically better.  Pretty cool stuff.  (I've had a melanoma, so I shouldn't be doing stupid stuff like getting sunburned.  But when I do, it's nice to know there is a product that can help me heal.)" -Amber

  ***Yes, Kat feels guilty about Amber got a sunburn in the first place.  She forgot to tell everyone she had brought Climb On! Mineral Sunscreen with her....  :  /    *

 "It was a privilege to race in both the Cedar City Grand Prix and the Women's Tour of Utah with 60+ of the strongest women in the country.  The events were a celebration of powerful and dynamic women's racing, hosted in great venues, with lots of enthusiastic fans.  Our team made an impact on these great races.  We look forward to more growth for the events and women's cycling in general." -Laura

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introducing SKINourishment p/b Paceline Projects Tour of Utah Team

Very excited to have these three women joining me August 4th and 6th for the Zappos Cedar City Grand Prix and the ToUWE circuit race!

Introducing the SKINourishment p/b Paceline Projects Team...

Lindsay Fox

 

 

Lindsay was born in Missouri, grew up swimming in WI, and raced triathlons.  In 2009, she decided to drop swimming and running (can't say I blame her!) and focused on racing bikes.  She's been racing ever since!  She now lives in AZ and won the 2013 AZ State Crit Championship.  Her off the bike interests include spending time with her family, doing anything outdoors, and reading. 

 

Favorite Ride: "Riding around Mt Hood in Oregon...90 mile route with 9,000 feet of climbing and spectacular views of the mountain the whole time"

 

Favorite Place: "my grandma's house"

 

Favorite Food: "oatmeal"

Alison Frye

Alison is from Salt Lake City, UT.  She was introduced to riding through centuries.  Alison then progressed to even longer endurance rides.  (Yikes!)  She dabbled in a few UCA races and eventually was racing just about any race she could enter.  She has over 12 top 5 finishes so far this 2014 season and is a two time winner of the Utah State Championship.  Off the bike, she enjoys knitting, gardening, and skiing Utah's fine powder.  

Favorite Ride: "Col de la Madeliene"  

 

Favorite Place: "Anywhere I can put my feet up and relax."

 

Favorite Food: "Uno's Pizza (in downtown Chicago- not the chain)"

Laura Howat

 

 

Laura is from Williamsville, NY but has lived in Salt Lake City, UT for decades.  Laura was thrilled to find cycling in her late teens- a sport in which she could finally beat her "overbearing older brother."  Laura's words!  Not mine!  :)  Laura raced in the 1988 Tour de France Feminine, has 3 National Masters Championship Titles, and she has won 8 Utah State Championships.  Her off the bike interests include spending time with her family, working at the University of Utah and gardening.  

Favorite Ride: "Vuelta de Colombia"

 

Favorite Place: "France"

 

Favorite Food: "All Italian Food"

Kat Carr

 

I'm from MA, but have lived in Salt Lake City, UT for several years now and I'm happy to call UT home.  I was introduced to bikes at Dartmouth College in 2005 and haven't stopped racing.  My off the bike interests include Nordic skiing, avoiding tan lines, making tasty food, and eating tasty food.  

 

I'm going to stick to UT answers for these next few in honor of the Tour of Utah races...

Favorite Ride:  Millcreek Canyon.

 

Favorite Place: Again, Millcreek Canyon. 

 

Favorite Food: Tough choice.  The enchiladas amarillas at Red Iguana with the jalapeno margarita.  Mmm spicy. 

 

 

 

 

July

It's been a hectic, but enjoyable month!  The highlights:

 

 

Guest riding with my favorite peppers! Being put to work for the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix and Boise Twilight with the Pepper Palace Pro Cycling Team was a blast.  Very thankful to have the opportunity to race for such a great program with awesome women.  Sarah Fadar 3rd in CA and Julie Kuliecza 10th in Idaho.  

 

 

 

 

After a fun post race dinner with Julie Kuliecza, Amy Phillips, Tina Pic, Laura Van Gilder, Laura Jorgensen, Kristin LaSasso and Matt Rossman, I went on an early morning adventure with Laura Jorgensen and Tina Pic.  Rapidly floating down the river in Boise thanks to Laura's super human lungs.  (She inflated all three tubes...head rests and all!)

 



 

Great Utah riding in Cedar City and Capitol Reef.  Raced the Utah State RR last weekend which started in Loa, UT and climbed up to Fish Lake.  Despite the suffering of chasing for 35-40 miles after getting popped from the break on the major climb, I enjoyed racing with Alison Frye and Laura Howat on a gorgeous course.  Or at least Carn Cat did.  According to official results.  (Who knew Kat Carr was such a tricky name?) 

 

 

 

Great folks visiting in Salt Lake!  Robbie King, Amy Caldwell, Julie Kuliecza, Ben Rossman, to name a few.  Looking forward to more visits in August with the Cedar City Grand Prix and The Tour of Utah Women's Edition races on the horizon!

 

 

 

 

 



Stage Race Training

Got some good miles in the legs at Baker City Cycling Classic last weekend- my first stage race in who knows how long.   Special thanks to amazing properties of Arnicare and Muscle Paste for getting my sore and tired legs through it.  Excellent race, very well organized, equal prize money for women and men, beautiful scenery, and a friendly good-natured atmosphere. 

The highlights:

1. Winning the crit thanks to the awesome Ski Utah|Plan 7 teamwork of Alison Frye. Inga Thompson announced the race (neat!) Thanks to Kenji, I now have a cool photo of the sprint! 

 2. Final Stage.  While 84 miles with over 6,600 ft of elevation gain (most of which occurs in the last 15-20 miles up to Anthony Lakes) isn't what this crit racer is use to, it was pretty darn awesome.  Mostly because Alison put the hammer down on the climb and destroyed everyone, including the GC leader which she made up over 2 minutes on to finish 2nd overall. 

 

 

3. Boise bacon with Matt.  Bike racing road trip with good coffee and bacon...happiness.   

 

 

 

 

The bike racing road trips continue this month with Manhattan Beach Grand Prix and a return to Boise for the Twilight Crit.  Looking forward to the crit tomorrow in CA where I'll be guest riding for Pepper Palace Pro Cycling.  Check out their products- my personal favorite is their Scorpion Cotton Candy. That's right... scorpion pepper cotton candy.  It rocks. 



 

 

Air Force Cycling Classic

Had an awesome opportunity to race for Mellow Mushroom p/b Shady Grove Fertility Clinic at the Air Force Cycling Classic this past weekend!  Definitely an honor to guest-ride with Laura Van Gilder, Kristen LaSasso, Laura Jorgensen, and Meaghan Bryan and sport the specially-made Pactimo kit!  I really enjoyed being back in a team atmosphere. 

Clarendon Cup was awesome, loved the course, and it didn't hurt that I felt fairly good despite the full-on allergy attack I was experiencing since my arrival in Virginia.  Covered attacks, enjoyed the fun corners, and was psyched to help with a lead out for Laura in the final laps. 

However, my intention and my execution were two different things.  Kristen drilled it on the front with 2 to go and being on her wheel is no easy task.   Looking back at one point and seeing Tina on my wheel instead of Laura left me hesitating.  In the last lap or two of a crit, there's really no place for hesitation.  That combined with my screaming legs meant bad news bears for my contribution to the lead out.  Definitely made some mistakes, but took away a lot from the experience.  Laura finished 4th for the day and earned the Most Courageous Rider jersey. 

We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon with our awesome hosts the Robb family!  Their son Lawrence was pretty excited about my name- cats and cars being his two favorite things in the world.  It was pretty adorable. 



Thanks to Scott Kingsley for the photo!  Check out his other work at https://www.flickr.com/photos/kingsleyscott/

Sunday, we rode over to the race in Crystal City via bike path.  Sunday's race was a tough one, rough pavement, hard racing, and I was not feeling well and not able to contribute much.  I got popped in the last laps, but still enjoyed racing with those awesome women and was excited to see Laura up on the podium with 3rd for the day and 3rd overall. 

 

 

Huge thanks to the Air Force Cycling Classic, LVG, Kristen, Laura J, Meagan, the Robb Family and Julie Kuliecza and her folks for a great weekend of racing in VA! 

SKINourish Spa

I'm thrilled to have SKINourishment, Inc. back as my title sponsor for this 2014 season and very excited to try some of the new goods!  SKINourishment is committed to using food grade products and educating consumers about the benefits of using quality ingredients to promote your body's health.  Have I mentioned they are transitioning to biodegradable and compostable packaging?  Love it.  



Lots of sun and high altitude riding- have to protect the skin.  This racer doesn't like tan lines.   

While I'll continually rave about Climb On! sunscreen, which like all SKINourishment products contains only food grade ingredients (no synthetics!), I've been introduced to a few other items this year I want to share.  First, SKINourish Spa line.  Makes my face feel happy.  This is my AM & PM routine:

1. I have very sensitive skin and absolutely love the Soothe & Cleanse facial cleanser. I rinse my face with warm water, apply the cleanser to a very soft exfoliating brush and wash my face using gentle circular motion.

2. Rinse with cool water.

3. Spritz my face with Clean & Tone, facial toner for sensitive skin. 

4. Apply Rose & Cucumber Beautifying Face Crème.

5. Feel happy. 

 

 

If I'm heading out in the sun, I make sure to protect my skin with the mineral sunscreen. Every week, I will also incorporate the Rose & Cucumber Soothing Masque into my routine to further nourish my skin.  If you are interested in checking out these products, the Essential 5 Face Line is on sale and you get free shipping on orders over 50 dollars!  Just sayin.... :)

Glencoe Grand Prix



Made my way to Chicago last Thursday to take part in the Glencoe Grand Prix- an amazing event in a great community.  Went straight from the airport with Vanessa Drigo to South School to spend the rest of the school day with the kids!  We did several presentations with the little ones and 2nd graders.  Lots of silliness!  The little ones insisted on smelling my cycling shoes despite my many warnings.  One little boy declared they smelled like cupcakes... I wish!

 

 

 

Friday morning I met up with pepper Julie Kuliecza to roll.  We spun over to Glencoe Coffee located on the last turn of the course and enjoyed a nice relaxing morning.  Then it was go time.  Lights, camera, action.  Literally.  I joined Rahsaan Bahati and Andres Alzate to star in the Glencoe Educational Foundation's commercial.  Every year, the Foundation raises money to enhance the quality of our youth's education.  They are doing great work in Glencoe and in surrounding Chicago schools.  Glencoe Grand Prix is one of several ways they raise funds and it's a privilege to be part of the great work they are doing. 

 

 



 

 

Went for a nice quick spin with Michael before I was off to the WCA Pro Rider Meet & Greet Dinner.  Met a lot of nice folks, including a number of young women planning on racing for the first time the next day, and autographed trading cards for a lot of excited kids.

 



 

 

 

 

Saturday the Pro Women raced early.  The weather was perfect, the crowds great.  I did a little pre-race check-in with Kenny Labbe who announces for GGP and then got a surprise call-up.  So, the start of the race was great.  It was only as we hit mid-way through that I started to feel it.  This technical course features an up-hill portion that shelled about half the field.  With two laps to go, I was caught behind a crash as we started to descend into a technical right corner before punching it up-hill. I got going again and tried to re-connect, but it wasn't happening.  My legs were done and the group that got through ahead was going full-speed.  While this was a bummer, it also meant I avoided the nastier crash before the final turn. My Pepper Palace friends won the race, so that was exciting to see especially after they did such great work as a team organizing and executing their lead out.  I finished 24th. 



One of my favorite things about GGP is spending time with the Chiang Family.  They are just wonderful.  Everyone had a busy day, racing, volunteering, starring in a musical, so we all spent a good amount of the evening relaxing.  Elise picked out this lucky clover for me and Amelia made my jersey lucky for Sunday's race at Cobb park.  While I didn't make the break of four, despite my best effort of trying to bridge solo and making it within 7 seconds but unable to get any closer, I won the field sprint to secure a 5th place for SKINourishment p/b Paceline Projects.  That felt great!  I owe it to the girls good luck and Regina's blueberry muffins!

 

 

A very big thank you goes out to everyone involved in putting on such a great event:  John, Matt, Nikki, Catherine, Kenny, the Glencoe schools and their awesome teachers who marshaled the course, and last, but certainly not least, Michael, Regina, Amelia and Elise for being the absolute best!   

Closing the gap

I've fallen behind.  Now for some catching up! 

Enjoyed a fun weekend in DC for my brother's graduation.  Tried biking, drafted this guy...decided it was better to take some time off the bike while in the city.  Instead enjoyed a great weekend with my family on foot. 

After graduation, headed north to beautiful New England!  Really happy to be home with my family and see some friends too, including Steve Weller...my favorite coach!    (http://belllapcoaching.com/)  As always, my bike and I stopped by Joe's Garage (my favorite shop!) to visit with Joe and give the bike some attention before I was off to race Tour of Somerville in NJ with Debony.  Our weekend of riding and racing was a blast. 



Race was good and I felt good.  I was also more aggressive than I usually am in the last laps when the going got crazy.  I was pleased with that improvement and that I kept some composure when I was getting pushed around.  Wasn't enough through the last two turns after avoiding a crash and a VERY long finish straight.  Finished 19th for SKINourishment p/b Paceline Projects.

 The perfect post-race treat in NJ...

That's it for now... the Glencoe Grand Prix up next!