Although not without its challenges, 2015 was good year! With starting grad school in May, my goal was to race one national crit a month. Seemed like a reasonable goal given all the change in my life that was about to take place. My amazing sponsors
SKINourishment and Paceline Projects were wonderfully supportive.
The season started with a 16th place at Dana Point Grand Prix in May. Not too shabby.
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| Rockin my new Pactimo kit in California! |
Next stop was Chicago for the Glencoe Grand Prix. Placed 17th in a smaller field. Even better news, my favorite junior racer Amelia won her first crit!
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| SKINourishment p/b Paceline Projects getting ready for the podium! |
By June, the pace had picked up at school. Awesome classmates, love the material, but I'm not into sitting in a chair from 8AM-5PM. Luckily, I've got some good riding outside our classroom door and
crossFIXE muscle paste for my stiff body.
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| My awesome classmates |
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| Mtb trails behind school |
With over a month before the next crit, I jumped into my first local mountain bike race in June. I loved it. Expect to see more mountain bike racing from SKINourishment p/b Paceline Projects in 2016!
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| 4th place... definitely need some descending work |
I made the journey to Boise, ID in July for the Andersen Banducci Twilight Crit. Had a good race and placed 14th.
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| Pro Women's field cruising through downtown Boise |
Once I finished my finals in August, I immediately jumped into the car to head to CO with Matt so he could start his fellowship. Raced the Littleton Crit until crashes and mechanicals took their toll. DNF. Left the next day to join my guest-riding teammates for the Tour of Utah. We placed 21st on the final stage in Ogden. It was a pleasure to race with these awesome women!
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| Danielle, Alison, Chelsea, Tina, and Kat |
I spent some time in CO before heading back to school...
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| Flatirons in Boulder, CO |
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| Tough climb up to Gross Reservoir |
August and September were busy months. With school, moving twice, realizing my fatigue wasn't only a product of life stress but I had apparently had mono, I was definitely struggling to muster the energy to train for the last two races of the season. I've always loved these races and have had some my best results on these two courses. Despite my ridiculous optimism, I just didn't have it in me for the TD Bank Mayor's Cup and the CT Cycling Festival. I had nothing left in the tank. I got dropped from the field both days and wasn't able to finish. Not quite the way I wanted to end my race season, but I couldn't be more grateful to be able to race another year and with such wonderful support. A huge thank you to the wonderful folks at
SKINourishment and Paceline Projects! I'm a lucky gal.
