San Diego Update

I had intended to update more from San Diego but my computer wasn't working all week and I didn't want to hijack anybody else's computer for a blog. We've had a good week all in all but the weather certainly could have been a little nicer. Monday's ride up a snowy cold mountain set a lot of us up for getting sick and being super duper lucky I've had a touch of a cold since Wednesday. I felt well enough to continue to ride all week but this morning I started feeling worse and took today off. My computer has magically decided it will work again so I figured I'd at least write a small update.

Here are some highlights and some photos.

Our wintery ride up Mt. Palomar. Note - climbing in 35 degree temps is fun, descending is not!



We happened to spot the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile parked at a nearby hotel - we even sang the song.


Post ride stop at one of many lovely cafes in the area.


A group of us up at Torrey Pines - beautiful views.


Going to the beach - note the new team jackets

Lori, Jess, and I on our jaunt down to Point Loma



Today is gorgeous out - probably the nicest day yet. Too bad I feel icky and can't bring myself to ride. I'm hoping the flight home tomorrow isn't too painful. Maybe I'll pick up some drugs to knock me out.

All in all it's been a fun week. We've got an excellent team put together for this season and I'm really excited to see what we can accomplish. Should be a successful and fun year! Alright - I'm out - I think I might go lay in the sun for a bit and see if I can boil this cold out of my system!

Winter Blahs

Not a whole lot going on so the motivation to update this thing is low. Took three weeks off and enjoyed the holidays and some time off the bike. We've had really good snow in Wisconsin so Dave and I decided to dig out the cross country skiis after they sat in our basement all last winter. My technique could certainly use some work but I have fun out there. It's nice to just be outside and to be doing something different.

Now I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and get into more structured training. New bike is all set up with some SRAM Force - it looks and feels pretty good but thus far it has yet to touch a real road. Although yesterday we climbed through the Alps with Lance and the boys at the 2003 Tour. Ahhh - trainer time in the basement. The new bike and my fixed PowerTap at least make it a bit easier to handle.

I went with white bar tape! We'll see if I decide to keep it!

Thank goodness that I'm headed to San Diego on Saturday for a week of training with the team. I'm really looking forward to some big hours on the bike and the chance to ride outside and not wear multiple layers. And we might hit up a beach or two - at least for some whale watching. Should be a fun time and I can't wait to hang out with my teammates.



Hopefully my ailing computer makes it through the week and I'll try to get some updates up from SoCal!

Year in Review

So it's that time of the year where it's fun to look back at the happenings of the past 12 months. And since I didn't start the blog until October I figured it might be fun to go over the earlier part of the year. This being a pretty superficial and cycling focused blog I'll recap how my season went.

First an overview -

64 race days (48 road, 16 cross)
10 wins, 23 podium (top 5) finishes

States Raced in - 10 - California, Illinois, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan


March - A training/racing block in Cali to jump start the season. Starting off racing NRC events after having been on my bike outside only a handful of times in the preceding months may not have been the smartest plan. I had some fabulous experiences, met some great people, and got some solid racing in. I was out there for 20 days and had 9 days of racing.
Plus I got to ride through Sequoia National Park on my birthday and stayed overnight alone in my rental minivan in the middle of the park. It was so much fun! Quite the adventure. The racing was a bit over my head but I had tons of fun and learned a lot.
Half of our Redlands team



April - Soon after getting back from Cali and feeling strong from the racing I had a minor mishap on a training ride and ended up with 14 stitches in my face. This photo is five days after the crash since the earlier pics are a bit hard to stomach. Left me eating through a straw for a few days and sitting on the couch. Raced a local crit with a bunch of teammates and Debbie got the big W for us. I also still ended up going down to Georgia for Athens Twilight and Nalley. Fun races but I was getting hungry for some stage racing.





May - A big month for me. Traveled down to Arkansas for Joe Martin - a sentimental favorite since in 2006 it was my first ever stage race. It was a great race and I was feeling decent on the climbs. Right after that I stayed down there for Tri Peaks - another stage race in AR - and although it was a relatively small field I was pleased to finish 8th in the second road race - my only top 10 NRC finish of the year. Arkansas is a beautiful state and I always enjoy racing on the roads down there.
Tri Peaks TT and view



The weekend after getting back from AR I traveled to Iowa for the Memorial Day races. After winning Snake Alley the year before the pressure was on for me to defend. With the rain pouring down the race was soon whittled down to two riders and an attack with two to go gave me the solo victory. I love the suffering of this race!

The Snake


June - Started off with some local WI races. Took a Silver Medal in the State Road Race behind Julie F who had a phenomenal season. Then the city of Grafton put on a fun crit with a huge purse and lots of community support. After being aggressive all race my solo attack with two laps to go stuck and I came through for the win.

Then came Nature Valley which I had gotten to race composite in last year. It's great because it's so close to home and draws one of the biggest fields of women in the nation. This year over 130 started the first stage - a short technical crit - and by the finish of the notorious Stillwater Crit there were 83 finishers. I was really happy to finish 27th in the GC here and had tons of fun at the races. We had a great bunch of Kenda riders and some excellent host families. It was also nice to have my parents, aunt, and uncle came out to watch a few stages plus Dave was up to help support the team.

The Nature Valley Kenda Crew

June wasn't over yet though and a few of us headed to Ohio for the Grandview crits put on by Jay Baumeister - a great promoter and one who is especially encouraging of womens cycling. These were fun races - huge community support and very big prize payouts - I really encourage folks to support this weekend of racing. Debbie took 3rd the first day. The next day Mackenzie was off the front solo the entire race and I attacked with a lap to go in hopes of finishing second. I was swarmed meters before the line and still took a respectable 5th.



July - A quiet first week of July before driving out to Pennsylvania for the Elite TT and Road Race. Seven Springs is a beautiful area and the course has some great climbs, and one screaming descent - I hit 60mph last year! My races didn't go as well as I would have liked and the competition was fierce. Great racing.

Altoona came next and this would sort of cap off the road season for me - this is pretty much the premier stage race for women in the United States. 7 days of racing - over 400 miles - and the women race the same distances (and get even a slightly bigger payout) as the men.
We had a fun bunch of girls on the team for this one and the racing was incredibly tough - the top teams were pushing the pace constantly and with all of the climbing the GC was quickly broken up. A Team Time Trial started things off and thanks to our powerhouse composite rider Heather we had a strong finish.



This is another brutal race of attrition - 105 starters, 65 finishers. I was just happy to be one of those finishers this year and vow to improve for next year's version of the race. This is another one of those races that has an incredible amount of community support. Beautiful scenery too - it's so much fun to be riding on these closed courses that wind and descend through the countryside.





August - Not much happening in terms of bike racing this month. I took a little time off and went down to the Chicago area for a crit in Elk Grove and the following weekend Elite Crit Nationals at Downer's Grove. A few girls flew in for EG and the field wasn't huge but it was stacked with some of the best crit racers from the US and Canada. I put in a big solo attack early on and held the field off for 2 laps and took a $500 prime - I was SUPER excited about that. I got caught behind a crash in the last lap but Gina had a strong finish. Just a quick side note here - this event continues to grow for the men but the women only get one race. Next year they are planning on putting all categories of women (1-4) together in one crit. There are many racers and supporters advocating to change this (St. Louis Revolution) and the cycling community needs to respectfully write to the mayor and promoter explaining why this is not a good idea. It is unfortunate that these organizers do not see the dangerous and unacceptable situation that will arise from this change.


Next weekend at Downer's was monsoon like with all the rain. I pulled out the first day and after miraculously avoiding all the crashes the second day I finished near the back.


September brought some time off while watching Dave compete in the Ironman - he did awesome finishing in 11:14. He is the hardest working person I know and I was so proud of him. And he's back for more next year!


















I was going to take the whole month off but Rachel helped form a composite team to head over to Michigan for the Tour de Leelanau. A fun one day road race with a UCI designation this year. Being UCI meant there were many hoops to jump through but it was a great race and I enjoyed being on the same team as riders I normally compete against. Beautiful area and we got to stay in an incredible lake house.








Cross season started and I was hoping to take the overall series win for the third year. This was my first real ride on the new cross bike - just happened to be a race too!






October brought more cyclocross - some muddy, some sunny - all incredibly fun. Had a couple of wins but Devon from IL came up and schooled me a few times too :)




November was more local races and then to Iowa for Jingle Cross and my first UCI cross races.






December quickly came up and after getting second in both WI and IL State races (first WI rider for the State Championship) it was time to go to the big dance in Kansas City. Three weekends of racing in the snow was incredibly fun. Despite the hours spent cleaning my bike up I really enjoyed racing for the first time in December. Nats was of course epic and although several crashes and a flat wasn't exactly how I wanted to finish the season it was a great time nonetheless.


Whew!!! I didn't anticipate that getting so long!

So as you can tell I had a great 2007. Accomplished a few goals but definitely left some room for improvement. Throughout it all I've tried to keep a smile on my face (well . . . except for after my crash when it felt like my lip would crack open!) and enjoy the ride.

There are so many people to thank in helping support me in my bike racing adventures. First and foremost Dave for encouraging me and putting up with my addiction. Mom and Dad and the rest of my friends and family who I see rarely due to the busy racing schedule. Paul does an amazing job organizing and supporting this team and I was very pleased to be a part of it this year. Our team mechanic Mike is another one of those extremely generous people and I really appreciate all the support he's given me throughout the season. Also, there are so many great racers and riders from Wisconsin who I am honored to race and ride with - the social aspects of this sport are incredible! Kudos to all of my teammates throughout the year too - it's been a blast racing with you all!!

I know 2008 holds many more exciting journeys and I look forward to making it successful and fun! Thanks so much for reading!!

Happy New Year!

Cross Nationals

Sorry it's taken me a week to get around to updating. It's that hectic time of year and I guess my motivation was low for posting to the blog :)

I had an excellent time in Kansas City cheering on all of the Wisconsin racers and just getting to hang out with some great folks. The conditions were crazy - each day was completely different. Thursday was frozen icy ground, Friday was a muddy mess with a few frozen ruts, Saturday was snowing and windy with 3 new inches of white stuff covering the ground, and then finally Sunday was lots of frozen ruts with snow and an inch of mud on top. I think half the fun of spectating was watching the racers battle out the elements!

It was spectacularly sunny for my race and the earlier events had helped soften up the top layer of ground to make it good and muddy. The frozen ruts underneath, though, kept things interesting and you had to really pay attention to what lines you wanted to take and just keep the pedals moving. My few UCI points from Jingle Cross gave me a third row start. I was trying not to be too obvious about my excitement to just be lined up in a race with Katie Compton, Georgia Gould, and other big racers. And to be in a field of about 80 racers was incredible.

We started off on the pavement and I had a good position going through the muddy ditch. A short time later on a sweeping left hand corner I had some trouble keeping the bike going straight and got up close with nature in the woods. It was pretty annoying - I sort of fell over the top of my bike and was all tangled up in a tree. A spectator helped get my bike out and I jumped on and tried to regain my 20 or so lost spots. The course was difficult - it was hard to pass and you had to really focus on what line to take. It was tempting to just follow the wheel in front of you but that wasn't always the best line and if they crashed then you were in trouble too. I was doing alright but later on in the lap I got stuck in a rut and did another pseudo endo. Back on the bike, through another muddy ditch, and up and over the stairs. Then the off camber loopy stuff got me - it was SUPER slick and muddy and I totally went down on my left side. I was back up quickly and the already raucous crowds cheered even more. I tried to power on the pavement but by this point my positioning was not so great. Check out the muddy pic - thanks Renee for all these photos!


The second lap went better and I maintained my spot well and didn't have any spectacular crashes. By this point I was really having fun out there - I mean I'm at Nationals, there are hundreds of cheering fans - a huge bunch of them from Wisco and cheering my name, the conditions are extreme but that's what makes cross exciting! Trying to ride smooth through the mud and frozen bumpy ruts was challenging - but it was really fun too.



I dabbed a few times but started the third lap hoping to just finish it off and enjoy the moment as much as I could while still trying to move up. I was sliding around a few corners and one of them I went down in, about halfway through the lap I heard a loud bang and thought I just hit a rut. A little while later I could feel my back rim hitting the ground - flat tire. I was right before the stair section so I got off, shouldered the bike, and ran. I think this is where I was telling Renee that I had a flat. My plan was just to run and I had this sneaking suspicion that KFC (that's Katie F'n Compton - her nickname - I love it!) was soon to lap many of us for the win. So I ran through the muddy off cambers with the cheering crowds encouraging me. I got passed by maybe 5 girls. I made it to the pavement and I pulled off to the far left and started a slow jog - sure enough as I was about 100 meters from the line Katie comes around me, arms in the air for the solo victory. I get off the course before crossing the line - officially one lap down and in 48th place. I'll take it - I would have ran the entire lap just to finish but it would have been REALLY frustrating.

HUGE thanks to so many people for making this trip so memorable and helping out so much - JP, Glen, Renee, and Dave especially. I had a blast hanging out with all the Wisco folks and watching our riders help make WI the 4th state in the point count for Nationals. Congratulations to our new National Champs - Anna in 17-18 girls, Diane in 55-59 women, Bjorn in U23 men, and Marko in Singlespeed (technically not a nationally sanctioned race but darn impressive!). There were many other podium finishes and I really enjoyed being a spectator for some great races. The atmosphere at Nationals was unreal and I seriously have never had so much fun before at a cycling event. If you're on the fence for going next year I HIGHLY recommend it.

So that's it - my better late than never update! I'll try to do a recap of the season in the next week or so. For now I'm enjoying some time off the bike!

Happy Holidays everyone!!

The Icy Road to Kansas City

It somehow seems fitting that a major ice storm hits Kansas just days before national cyclocross races are set to go off. Cross is about surviving brutal conditions and thankfully the storms hit BEFORE the races anyway. It made for an eerily beautiful drive from Madison and the trees were thick with ice from Dubuque, Iowa all the way into Kansas. Roads were clear though so JP, Glen, and I had no problem making the trip. My pictures from the car didn't turn out too well so I apologize for how blurry they are.

We stopped in Iowa City for some lunch and after driving around for nearly 15 minutes we finally found a parking spot.
The downtown was packed - we saw this bus and wondered if a political rally was going on. Turns out Mr. Edwards sort of got stuck in the city because of the storm and was making the most out of the opportunity and campaigning extra hard.

This poor tree on the Iowa campus looked pretty sad. Broken branches were a common sight today.


Some icy pictures of Iowa City.



I don't race until Sunday so the next couple of days I'll cheer on all of the racers from the Midwest and see what sort of condition the course is in. I'm guessing all of the ice will make things very interesting. Temps are supposed to warm up by Sunday and I'm thinking the mud will be plentiful. It will be a good time for sure.

With free wireless at the hotel and a fair amount of time on my hands I'll probably try to do a few more updates - I'm turning into a blog junkie already. I leave you with a picture of Cider in her stylish new down jacket. Doesn't she look trendy? Now we just need to get her a pair of Ugg boots and drop her off at the coffee shop to get a latte.