Portland USGP

Okay . . . I've been an especially bad blogger. 10 days spent in Oregon and my only internet access consisted of using a crappy hotel computer that crashed multiple times and my IPod touch which was very useful but not so great for blog updates. So we're going to go backwards with the entries - first a USGP entry, then some Portland adventures, and finally a Bend/Nationals update. Hopefully I haven't lost my handful of loyal readers in my absence! If you want more Team Planet Bike content head on over to the Team blog where there are lots of race recaps and photos. All I have to say is what an honor it is to be a part of the Planet Bike team and the successful season we have had.

Alright . . . here we go . . . the trip began with lots of aiports

Here was my view leaving Madison. A light dusting of snow on the ground - the first we've gotten on the year. I flew to Chicago where I met up with Kaitie and we headed to Seattle.

A view of the setting sun from my seat on the plane. I've never been to Seattle before so I needed a shot. Someday I'll have to go back - I hear it's an awesome place. Once we were in the air to Portland I was in awe of this mountain pushing up through the clouds.
A quick survey of my flight companions concluded that this was Mt. Rainier - very rugged and way cool to see. Kaitie and I arrived at PDX and quickly gathered our luggage and hurried to get our rental car. We were hoping to make it to the USGP Number presentation at Hopworks Brewery. Turns out all 3 of us (Linda, Kaitie, and myself) made it into the top 10 and thus would be presented with our numbers in a ceremony. We made it with time to spare and decided to get a picture with this sweet bike/bar.
The number ceremony was fun and we got to rub elbows with all the cool kids. Linda played up her superfan persona and snapped pictures of anyone and everyone. Kaitie and I give her a lot of crap about this but it's nice to have the photos ;) We also met up with Daniel and Dave G. who drove our bikes all the way out to Oregon - you're the man Dave, thank you tons! Thanks to everyone associated with the USGP as well - it's been a blast racing the series in its entirety and the announcing crew always gives a lot of praise to Planet Bike and the team for their support of the sport. Likewise we appreciate the opportunity to participate in some high caliber, well organized events - thanks to Joan, Bruce, Barb, and countless others for their hard work!

We were starving so we hit up the amazing Paradox Cafe for some tasty food and a discussion of the weekend's race course. Daniel used napkins to draw it all out for us.

Somehow Portland was dry and sunny the week leading up to the races - rather unusual for a city known for its rain. But it was still chilly and there was a lot of fog Saturday morning. Luckily most of it had disappeared by the time we got to the venue - Portland International Raceway.
Supercool course with a mix of motocross dirt track and some twisty sections of tacky mud in the woods. The series of swoopy bumps was so much fun. We really enjoyed our preride and the wet mud had dried up by the start of our race.

photo: Dave McElwaine

Off we went. There was a big crash on our first passing through a sloppy mud section and riders were flailing. I think only about 7 made it through and unfortunately we all got stuck behind it. It was time to try to make up some ground. This picture doesn't do the terrain justice - riders were catching air off these - so fun!

photo: Dave McElwaine

I was riding alright but admittedly am not a great technical rider. Luckily there were enough straight away power sections that I could make up for that a bit anyway. The last lap my left foot didn't unclip right away and I nearly smashed into the barriers. My bike hit them and my chain dropped. I quickly put it back on and was able to keep off the chasing rider behind me to finish 13th. Linda rode awesome to finish 8th and Kaitie a strong 11th.
Following the race I noticed Kaitie was talking to some random guy who I assumed was interviewing her. Turns out she was picked as a random for drug testing. The one race we're at all year that actually is testing and Kaitie is the lucky one! Since she's under 18 I got to be her representative and hang out in the tent with her. What a process! Interesting to talk to the nice couple who work for USADA though. We watched the mens race afterward and then packed up to head home. The venue also had a Christmas light drive going on and we figured we'd check it out. Little did we know we were driving the wrong direction and when we finally got to the "end" there were a line of cars waiting to enter - woops!
After cleaning up Kaitie and I headed to a little local pizza joint while Linda got dinner with her family. Portland has so many cool neighborhoods and restaurants and the cycling culture there is awesome. Bike lanes everywhere! And the Planet Bike Superflash is the light to have there - I saw the boom, boom, pow light pattern on many bikes.

The next day was even colder (high of 35F) and extremely windy. Brr. We layered up and got on the course which had quite a few changes. A few tough short steep hills with some thick mud going into them. Another techie course but again a lot of fun. The long headwind section was cold and speed zapping.
Off we went for Day 2. Getting through traffic was again tough on the first lap as many riders were forced to dismount a few sections as there were only one or two good lines.

photo: Dave McElwaine

I felt like I was riding okay but just never got in a good rhythm. I bobbled a couple of times on a section I had ridden every lap on Saturday and my confidence was shaken. I ended up 17th - a bit disappointed but so it goes. Linda, who has been riding like a rockstar got another top 10 with a 9th place finish, and Kaitie was just behind her for 12th.

Cyclingnews report
A cooldown on the trainers and then another chance to be a superfan with the guys race. We bundled up and ran around the course trying to see how fast the guys can ride some of the tricky spots.
Eventual race winner JPow over the barriers.

I also got a little post race recovery food - fries! C'mon - it's a cross race - live it up.
We had dinner that night with some Wisconsin transplants to Portland, Dan and Jen, as well as a friend from Madison, Dave T, who was in town for the cyclocross spectacle that was hitting Oregon for the week. Excellent food once again and following dinner some more Midwest crossers joined us for drinks and conversation. Kaitie and I had to pull the plug around 9 though as we were pretty much falling asleep at the table - maybe we were still on CST?

And so concludes the first leg of the journey. Next up we had 2.5 days to do something we hardly ever get to do while travelling for cross races . . . we got to be tourists!

Kaitie A. in CX Magazine, UCI standings

Team Planet Bike's 17 year old cross sensation Kaitlin Antonneau has been competing in Elite UCI events all season and her strong results are starting to get noticed. Cyclocross Magazine recently interviewed Kaitie about how her season has been going. Read the article here.

This week the UCI point rankings were updated and the Planet Bike women have all four of their Elite riders in the top 50. Katie Compton still reigns supreme in 1st with Kristin 39th, Linda 40th, and Kaitlin 43rd. Kaitlin is the only rider under the age of 20 in the top 50. Way to go ladies!

On the mens side Jonathan Page is ranked 22nd, Mark LaLalonde 75th, Tristan Schouten 87th, and James LaLonde 175th.

Full UCI rankings can be found here

Jingle through the Mud

Had a super fun three days spent in Iowa City, IA for the Jingle Cross Rock UCI events. This is my 4th year coming down for the races and this was the first time that they added on a Friday night under the lights race. I convinced Dave to join us for the weekend which was awesome as we got to spend a weekend together and he even raced too. This meant we got to bring Cider too. We broke out the down jacket for her as it was chilly and she's a wimp.The night race was pretty intense. They had some really cool lighting that helped with visibility. There were still a couple of dark corners where you couldn't really see what you were riding over but that made it kind of fun!
They had forewarned us that record rainfalls in the month of November would make things muddy. My overly optimistic attitude told me it was beautiful outside and would dry up. . . . not so much. It was a mixture of sloppy, thick mud and it was a mess. And it was wrecking equipment. I must have seen or heard of 20-30 rear derailleurs busting. The worst was the pea gravel sections after the mud. The rocks would stick to the mud, get lodged somewhere and then you were done for. The grassy mud was also clogging up near the brakes and bottom bracket - not good. And the course was tough. Up and down the famed Mt. Krumpit the run up was incredibly long, steep, and muddy. Shouldering the bike was essential if you didn't want it to weigh 50 pounds from all the mud that would collect on it while pushing. And then you got to come down the ridiculously steep, rutted, off camber switchbacks. I didn't preride - might as well let the fear hit me in race mode! Bike changes were going to be crucial too and luckily we had an amazing pit crew with Chris, Dave, Daniel, and Jim all helping out.

A solid crew of Midwest women signed up for the race with national powerhouse (and fellow UW alum!) Meredith Miller also showing up. She's the current US road national champ and is a talented rider and she's super nice. Linda led out for the first little bit before Kaitie ended up getting around and getting a bit of a gap on all of us. She's a great mudder and it showed. Super announcer Dave Towle was calling out her name along with his usual grandiose analogies. Meredith was just biding her time though and came around on the next lap to take the lead. At one point Linda, Kaitie, and I were all chasing Meredith together on like the second lap and the announcer was dramatizing the situation - calling us the aramada and saying we weren't friends anymore as we were all trying to outrace each other. It was pretty funny. Kaitie pulled away from us and I was back in a group with Linda and Rebecca Much and by the end of the third lap had gotten ahead of both of them to sit in 3rd place. The course was a mess but it was fun. I was running down a few of the crazy off camber descents and riding a couple. I'm certainly not a great mud racer but I think my balance is at least improving - now I just have to stop grabbing so much brake! Lots of cheering fans made for a great atmosphere. The order stayed the same - Meredith won, Kaitie 2nd, and I was 3rd. Linda was 4th proving that us Planet Bike women are really closely matched. We were all taking bikes every lap and huge thanks go out to all of the guys in the pit working for us. Trying to pit for three people who generally ride very close together and all wear the same kit is not an easy task - and it was dark out!

photo: Velonews

The next day the sun was out and it was really nice out - mid 50s. Mud had dried up a bit but was still causing some problems. Here's Chris working hard on cleaning the bikes. He had a lot of bikes to take care of this weekend and he did a great job.

Here's Jim C's bike after his race - yuck!

Luckily he didn't break any derailleurs but I knew of at least two riders who had broken them on Friday, bought new ones, and then broke them again on Saturday. Bad luck!!

Here is Cider chilling out in the van while James pins his numbers.

Dave slapped on a PB skinsuit on Saturday and had a great race in the 2/3s. He ended up 12th - not bad for only having one bike and not really racing much cross this year!
Linda, Kaitie, and I decided to wear white on Saturday. Why not? It was a beautiful muddy day! Jordan was also wearing his white skinsuit underneath his jacket and pants. That kid tore it up this weekend taking 3rd in the 2/3s race on Friday and winning his juniors race on Saturday and Sunday - he's 14!?!
So the course was changed up a bit for Saturday - this time a really steep run up (still so long!) and a slippery straight descent down. Similar situation as Friday with Meredith proving her strength and going off the front early in the race. This time Linda was chasing after her with myself and Kari Studley battling for 3rd. I didn't have the oomph today and ended up 4th. Kaitie was 6th. Whew - too much running in these races! My quads were killing me and my shoulder was bruised from all the bike carrying - I know I'm a whiner!

photo: jared roy

We then watched the mens race - Tristan, Mark, and James were racing. Tristan and Mark were both in a chase group of 4 guys going for 2nd place behind Todd Wells. Marko crashed late in the race and had to chase back on. Tristan rode awesome and finished 2nd with Mark in 4th. Nice racing guys!

Saturday night we amassed the large Planet Bike crew and had dinner together. It was a lot of fun and is a little taste of what things are to be like out in Bend for Nationals.
Here Kaitie and Jim are scheming up something. Those two plus Jordan are always looking to pull pranks. I better watch my back in Bend . . . or should I say they better watch theirs ;)
Sunday was cool and windy with just some sun in the morning. The festive atmosphere was taken to a new level during the single speed race when a crew of bikini clad riders hit the course. It was awesome and for a second I felt like I was in Portland.

One final day of racing and another tough trip up and down the "mountain". My legs were killing me today - the running was taking it's toll for sure and a good warm up on the trainer was going to be important. I started out fast and knew I wanted to be first through the barriers so I could get through a likely bottleneck area. I actually got a gap on Meredith and led the lap until she passed me going up the hill. I tried in vain to stick to her wheel and was left chasing her the rest of the race. The switchbacks down Krumpet were so steep and I was pretty scared going down each time. photo: Nikicyp

Somehow I made it down the first lap but then crashed into the snow fencing on the second lap. I lost a bit of time and I could see Kaitie gaining on me. photo: Nikicyp

The next trip down I dabbed again and we rode together for a bit before she pulled away. On the last lap I could see Linda coming up on me too and despite my slow descending I held her off to finish on the podium again in 3rd.

photo: Mark Considine

photo: Nikicyp

The mens race was another impressive ride by the Planet Bike guys. This time Marko was on the podium for 3rd and Tristan was 4th.

What an awesome three days of racing. Thanks so much to everyone who helped make it happen and who helped make things go smoothly.

Chris

Daniel and Dave G.

Gordy and Jimmer

and Dave!

Jingle Cross was a great way to wrap up the Midwest racing and a good preparation for what we might face in Oregon! I fly out Friday to Portland for the USGP finale. I'm incredibly excited for the racing and the opportunity to visit Oregon. We'll have a few days off after that before we drive over to Bend and get ready for Nationals. We've got at least 16 Planet Bike riders racing out there and it's going to be a blast. I'm predicting some good things!

Thanks so much to all of the sponsors - Bob and Planet Bike especially. And thanks for stopping by to see if I've actually updated yet! No promises but I'll try to update from Oregon!

North Carolina - UCI win!

We decided to make the 12 hour drive down to North Carolina to race in a couple of UCI events in Hendersonville (just south of Asheville). Sure it's a long drive but we knew it was a chance to get some valuable UCI points, some $$, and a perfectly good excuse to go to one of the most beautiful states in the country. We could also keep the trip cheap as the promoter was offering free entry to all Elites and we were going to stay with my friend and Kenda teammate Kat at the awesome house she rents in the mountains.

So we started our journey on Thursday night with Kaitie, James, Linda, Daniel (Linda's husband and our team support for the weekend!), and myself. We drove to Seymour, IN (the home of John Mellencamp in case you didn't know) before calling it quits for the night and then driving the final 7 hours on Friday.
Things were going well and we were enjoying the amazing mountainous scenery of the drive. Little did we know that a major rockslide shut down our intended route through NC and we had to take a detour - shoot! We were chasing daylight now and our hopes of preriding the course weren't looking promising. Daniel is driving like a champ when all of a sudden we hear a "woop, woop" . . . ahhh yes, we were getting pulled over. Didn't help that the interstate was a total speed trap with a limit of 55 on a major four lane road. We sit politely while he goes over the documents and then a second cop car pulls up. Geez - we get a bit nervous now. Unbeknownst to us, apparently I-26 is a major drug trafficking route and the good ole boys in Tennessee have to search every vehicle they stop. A third car pulls up, we sigh silently in our heads, and one by one file out of the van to get frisked and stand by the side of the road while they start picking through our stuff. Now we've got absolutely nothing to hide so we're not really nervous but rather just annoyed and bothered by how long this is likely to take.
James was able to slyly take this photo. Luckily I only had my ankles patted down. So we stand by the side of the road making small talk with the cop. The two guys searching the van occasionally stick their heads out to spit from the dip of tobacco in their lower lips. After about 10 minutes I think they realize we're really not drug dealers masquerading as a bike racing team and thankfully don't take out the bikes and go through the back of the van. We all sort of laugh at the predicament, get back in the van, and drive slowly and carefully our final hour to Hendersonville.

We actually made it in time to ride one lap in the dusky dark and with the lights at the park we got a good idea of what we were in for. Fun course for sure - a good mix of some trail in the woods, some swoops, straight stretches, a hill run up, and a short steep grassy wall before the finish. We also met up with Linda's coach, Dave, who was also helping us out for the weekend.

We did a little grocery shopping and had some tasty dinner in the very cute downtown of Hendersonville before driving the 10 miles to Saluda where Kat is staying. It was great to see her and we so appreciate her opening the house up to all of us. It is beautiful there and this is the sight we awoke to.
Saturday looked to be beautiful with sun and temps in the low 60s. We got to the course and registered.
Very cool park with lots of wooded areas and I loved that the course went through some of them.

Team PB warming up.

So with only 15 women signed up for the race and not a lot of huge names we knew that this was a chance for us to do well. Maybe a little road racing tactics of attacking and counter attacking if possible. From the gun Kaitie went to the front before Dede came around but we were still a big group. I decided it was time to give it a go and attacked.

photo thanks to Shane Orr

I got a decent little gap and had maybe 5-10 seconds lead by the end of lap 1. I could see Dede Winfield riding alone behind me and kept the pace steady. She bridged up to me by the middle of the lap. I wasn't going to pull hard as I hoped perhaps Linda or Kaitie might bridge up to us and we'd have a better shot of going 1/2. Dede threw down a few attacks but I vowed to stick to her wheel.

photo thanks to Shane Orr

The laps ticked by and as we rode the course I realized that I was climbing the "wall" much better than she was and needed to be in front of her as we went into that. There was only about 200 meters to the line following the climb so the first one over the wall would likely win the race. As we went into it before bell lap I took the shortest line whereas she took a diagonal line and I was forced to put a foot down as I ran into her back wheel. I attacked before the woods hoping to get ahead of her there but I took a bad line and she came around. I got out of the saddle and pushed to get back onto her wheel. As we came into the grassy turns I attacked again and put it all out there to try to get a gap. I could hear the crowd cheering as I crested the wall and as I made the final turn onto the pavement I sprinted, looked back to make sure my lead was safe, and raised my arms. Incredibly awesome feeling to have won a UCI race! Dede is a strong rider and it was great to have the race play out like it did. Linda finished 3rd and Kaitie 4th. Excellent finishes for the PB women. Thanks so much to both Daniel and Dave for helping us out and working the pits. Linda and I got some really cool homemade trophies - sweet!
We cleaned up and then watched James race in the mens race. He was having some stomach issues and wasn't feeling top notch but still finished a solid 12th.

photo thanks to Shane Orr

Kaitie and Linda goofing around as usualMmm, post race bagel

Following the race we headed back to Kat's to clean up and James and Daniel even rode their bikes down the mountain to let their tires touch South Carolina. The setting sun over the mountains was spectacular. Then dinner at the Purple Onion - a cute little cafe in Saluda. Yum.

Followed by some intense air hocky action. Kat is unstoppable. No one was able to beat her, I think the duck slippers must have had something to do with it.

James did manage to score a goal against her somehow though.

The next morning we awoke to rain and temps in the 40s. We knew this was coming and my crazy mud loving teammates were super excited for the wet course conditions.
The spitting rain turned steady maybe 30 minutes before our race. The course was thin, slippery mud but luckily wouldn't bog the bikes down and bike changes would probably not be necessary. Brr it was cold though and all of the women huddled under a tent and shed lots of layers on the line. Off we went and Dede took the hole shot with Kaitie and I close behind. The third swoopy corner I took a little too hot and down I went - sliding across the mud. Back up and in nearly last place I began trying to move up. Linda was on the front killing it.

photo thanks to Shane Orr

I kept picking off riders and as I neared the end of the first lap I came upon Linda trying to put her chain back on! She had gone down and dropped her chain. I passed by her and she lost nearly a minute with the mechanical. Soon I moved into third place with Kaitie in front of me and Dede in front of her. That would be the rest of the race. I tried to get to Kaitie but just couldn't get there.

photo thanks to Shane Orr

She's an excellent mud rider and she finished second - about 30 seconds behind Dede. I was 3rd about 20 seconds back from Kaitie. Linda fought incredibly hard after her mechanical and was 4th.

photo thanks to Jeff Zimmerman

After the race I couldn't really feel my fingers or toes and Linda and Kaitie were shivering uncontrollably. We wanted to take more pictures but we needed to get cleaned up and into warm, dry clothes. Here's a picture of the bike.
I sprayed down with a hose and oddly enough the water almost felt warm compared to the air temp. We warmed up the van and got toasty before heading to the podium. More cool trophies.
Yakima had some tents set up with firepits so we went and hung out there to stay out of the rain. They also had free coffee and brownies.

The course was a sloppy mess. Here's the wall - it was virtually unrideable although a few guys were making it up.

James was riding really well in the messphoto thanks to Shane Orr
It was cold and rainy

James rode awesome and finished 6th - he was just a little bit dirty after the race

Ouch - mud in the eyes!

Congrats to fellow Wisconsinite Brian Matter who had a great weekend of racing to take 3rd and 2nd on the weekend.And then we got in the van and drove . . . or moreso Daniel drove. That guy is a rockstar - he got us all the way to Chicago. We pulled into Madison at 3:30AM safe, sound, and a little muddy. What a trip. Hands down one of the best race trips of the season. Granted taking the win probalby skews my perspective a bit but it was a beautiful drive, an awesome course, varied conditions, great people, and overall just a fun experience. Thanks to all the sponsors who help make it possible - Planet Bike especially.

Huge thanks go out to all of our great helpers this weekend!! Daniel helped us with bikes, worked the pits, and drove much of the way. He also entertained us with lots of fire fighter stories.
Dave helped make sure the bikes were dialed in, worked the pits, and helped clean them all up after Sunday. We really appreciated all of his hard work!
And Kat for hosting us for the weekend. We loved staying with her in the mountains and really appreciated her hospitality. And not only will she kick your butt in air hockey but she makes really good pumpkin pie too. Thanks so much!

Thanks so much for reading! A quick trip home for Thanksgiving followed by 3 days of UCI racing in Iowa City for Jingle Cross and then the Oregon beckons. USGP Portland and Nats in Bend. We're in the home stretch and I'm enjoying every minute.