Poor College Kids Road Race
February 2, 2012It’s racing season again! I had the opportunity to spend last weekend in beautiful Santa Barbara, CA with some old teammates and race in an early season race. Poor College Kids is a low budget race put on by the cycling team of UC Santa Barbara. So low budget that the officials didn’t even have a gun to shoot for the race start! But the race supports the UCSB collegiate season which is where a lot of young cyclists get their first taste of racing and being a former collegiate racer I was excited to support.
I had to brush off the cobwebs and get back into the swing of racing, luckily permanent teammate and close friend Jenna the Jammer and I got to the race with plenty of time to spare. But we didn’t plan for our race to be full! This threw us both for a loop since women’s fields never fill and all I could think of was the long trip we made for nothing. It turns out our race was supposed to be with a masters field to save time, but with so many excited SoCal racers our field filled up. Fortunately the officials had mercy on us and separated the women so we could all race.
We started from a pullout in the road when the official yelled ‘GO!’; it was funny to watch the masters start before us, there were so many of them that some had to start Le Mans style while others took their pricey wheels through the dirt.
We finally got the go ahead and boy it felt great to get out there and stretch the racing legs after winter hibernation; nothing makes you push yourself harder than a race. New teammate Kristina Seley got in the break of the day a quarter of the way into the race and Jammer and I went about making sure it stuck. With all the teams represented our job wasn’t hard though, the break was gone for the day and we all knew it.
Fast forward to the last climb before the finish, I sat near the front and found Jammer in the rolling section before the last turn. We settled in for the field sprint; I wanted to drop her off as late as possible knowing the finish line was up a little rise. Coming around the last bend I saw some spectators on the side of the road and knew the finish line was near. I started the leadout on the far left making just certain that we didn’t go over the double yellow. I was in a huge gear that got even bigger as we went up the rise to the finish. At this point I was at the front of the race and the finish line seemed so far away, as my legs turned over, slow as molasses, in my enormous gear. I forced myself to sprint until Jammer came around me. After what seemed like eternity; and plenty of cursing Jammer in my head for taking ages to come around, she sprinted to a decisive field win and I ended up second. We were 7th and 8th overall on the day; Kristina was 5th overall. It felt great to get the leadout perfect and a great start for our new team! Looking forward to many more adventures this racing season.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments OffThe Last Hurrah
December 22, 2011
Race: Jingle Cross
Venue: The Greek Theater
When: December 17, 2011
Teammate Jenna ‘Jammer’ Kowalski and I couldn’t help but take the cross bikes out for one final showdown to end the season. After a quick ‘warm up’ checking out the view from Griffith Park Observatory and catching up with my favorite people at the Spy Optics tent I headed to the race start.
Race promoter Dorothy Wong put together a grueling course with a long, uphill drag that started just before the start/finish and ended sometime later when the pain in my legs was unbearable. I never knew the grass parking lot at The Greek Theater was so painful! My race strategy was to power up that hill and put as much time into my competitors as I could before the technical parts of the course began. For the most part this strategy worked, it put me in second place early on. I was able to hold my position despite a brownie hand up gone wrong and some overzealous heckling on the backside.
Teammate Jammer made fans o’ plenty with her barrier hopping skills and still pulled off a third place finish.
Final Podium:
1st: Christina Probert-Turner
2nd: Julia Lafranchise
3rd: Jenna Kowalski
Thanks to all who made this cylocross season happen, especially: Cynergy Cycles, NOW Energy Bar, SoCal Cross, Specialized, Spy Optics
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Turkey Trot
November 29, 2011Racing the Sunday after Thanksgiving sounded like a great idea to me, especially after a huge Thanksgiving dinner with my family. Turns out the rest of SoCal was thinking the same thing at this year’s Turkey Trot at Verdugo Park in Glendale, CA. In one of the healthiest sized fields this season, I lined up alongside permanent teammate and sidekick Jenna Jammer Kowalski and several heavy hitters, including a Hungarian National champion!
I started in the second row and found myself much too far back in the race right away, but teammate Jammer was fighting strong in the top group of four so I didn’t chase. I did; however, enjoy racing on my favorite cross course to date. The course had everything imaginable: sticky grass, barriers, fast corners, a rideable sand pit, steep embankments, slippery leaves; oh, and a Spy Optics sponsored stair run up of death. At one point we went screaming down a steep embankment into a hard right turn dismount, then up a muddy run up; only to remount and do it all again moments later, only this time, yep you guessed it: stair run up of death (my calf muscles are still recovery from that one).
Soon after the second lap I went flying past teammate Jammer who crashed hard in a sharp corner taking half the course tape with her. As I passed I yelled words of encouragement, unfortunately I never saw her again, but kudos to her for a wicked fast start. Shortly after I began working with Ritte’s top female cyclocross racer Amanda Schaper to bring back the leaders. I had a scary moment when I was white knuckling my brakes and not slowing down while on a crash course with a tree trunk. Fortunately my tree trunk collision days are yet to come. Unfortunately the leaders were far out of sight at this point despite a tough multi-lap pull on Schaper’s part. Just outside of one lap to go; realizing my days of working with my competitors were over, I attacked hard and pulled away. I held my position to the finish for 5th and Jammer rolled in for 7th. A tough race for the Cynergy Girls of Cynergy Cycles in Santa Monica, CA, but worth the effort to burn off that extra helping of stuffing and mashed potatoes.
Results:
1st Alison Mann
2nd Christina Probert-Turner
3rd Barbara Benko
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Specialized Demo Weekend
November 1, 2011The Specialized women’s demo truck made an appearance last weekend in the Santa Monica mountains where some lucky ladies got the chance to demo top of the line Specialized road and mountain bikes. You didn’t have to be anyone special to be a part of the event either. Cynergy Cycles bike shop hosted the demo; anyone was welcome to attend, no matter what skill level, and everyone was treated like royalty. With a free car ride up beautiful pacific coast highway to Encinal canyon, the chance to ride brand new road and mountain bike equipment on the nicest roads and single track in SoCal, food catered by Tra di Noi, and wine tasting afterwards; Specialized really knows how to treat the ladies.
Specialized has always known the ladies are worth it though; it is one of few bicycle companies that make women’s specific products in; well, everything imaginable. We are not just talking clothing that comes in pink and shoes that run small enough to fit dainty feet. Specialized also does bicycle frames in women’s specific geometry, saddles ergonomically designed for the ladies, and the list goes on and on. Oh yea; if you are wondering, it all comes in pretty colors too. Definitely my favorite event I have been too in a while.
If you missed out, be a part of Cynergy Cycles smaller scale mountain bike demos that happen regularly on Sunday’s and leave the shop at 7am. Call ahead to reserve your bike: 310-857-1500
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Spooky Cross 2011
October 21, 2011SoCal Cross; the Spooky edition, happened last weekend and it was a show!
The biggest cross race I’ve ever been to and with UCI races on tap the course was extremely challenging. In true Halloween spirit teammate Jenna Jammer Kowalski and I proudly represented Cynergy Cycles/ Untouched Worlds as caped cruisaders in the women’s A race at 2pm on Saturday. I luckily rode most of the course before starting the race. The most challenging part was a volleyball court sized sandpit (long ways) which I quickly found out was easier to run than ride. It felt like crossing the Sahara desert every time though. After one lap that included several challenging descents and a fly over I was sitting in third with Jammer behind me.
Unfortunately race leader Trina Baumsteiger flatted, but that put Jammer and I in podium positions. We fought hard to catch the new leader on the course; Amanda Schaper, but she held us off to the end.
The final results were:
1st Amanda Schaper
2nd Julia Lafranchise
3rd Jenna Jammer Kowalski
CYCLOCROSS DEBUT
September 20, 2011Race Venue: Downtown LA Cross Race #1
Team: Cynergy Cycles – Untouched Worlds
When: Sunday September 18, 2011
Weather: WARM
Course: A very long fun course, we only did 4 laps. Two dismount sections, two long headwind sections, a couple bumpy annoying sections … basically every section of the course was hard (I think that’s the definition of cross racing actually)!
The Skinny: The 2011 SoCal cyclocross season kicked off with the downtown LA cross race Sunday September 18 and I just couldn’t let the opportunity slip by to stretch my legs. The women’s field was bursting at the seams; a fast start and an early crash had me chasing the front girls off the bat. As I caught Cynergy teammate Jenna Jammer Kowalski we worked together and reeled in third place; however, an uphill left hand corner that caught me off guard and a crash moments later put me in fifth position chasing hard. That’s about where my race ended as I limped in for 5th place, but Jammer was in the fight of her life for second place and though she fought valiantly it was her short legs that held her back on the last obstacle before the finish as she rolled in for fourth. Props to Allison Mann who took the win solo with over a minute and teammates Christina Probert-Turner and Nancy James who rounded off the top three respectively.
Leave a commentUnlimited Fun Times
August 26, 2011
It’s that time of year again; off season! It’s been a long year with a lot of ups and downs and now my road season has officially ended. Time for loads of rest, fun cross training, and of course unlimited fun. Today I took the opportunity to head to the beach with a couple friends and did my best to get rid of these pesky tan lines. I really should include photos of people’s reactions to my ‘white shorts’. I’ve spent the last week or so exploring things like running, the beach, and the gym. Who knew there were other things to do than ride bikes?
My latest adventure this off season will be racing cyclo-cross. I raced a few times last fall, but I didn’t really get into it. Should be fun and all the cross madness will be documented here; the diaries of a newbie in cyclocross. Be sure to check back in. Oh and in case you’re wondering; my tan lines, they didn’t change one bit today. #cyclistforlife
Manhattan Beach Grand Prix
June 28, 2011The Players: Team Captain Lauren Liscinski, Celebrity Guest Jennifer Johansen (aka Jenjo), Team Awesome Big Sister Louise Keoghan, Newb Jamie Aron, Ivie Crawford and Yours Truly.
The cool kids on the team rode to the race; Jenjo and I took King Triton (the team vehicle for the day). The race started a little late, but was fairly active. Louise spent all her bullets chasing down attacks all day. I held back during some very generous primes. I was shepherded to the front several times by JenJo and Jamie, including on the inside with one to go which put me in good position for the sprint. We caught a break right before the end which kept things very safe. Riding in 5th position going into the last u-turn I moved up one spot before the sprint let loose and then sprinted around an INCYCLE rider for 3rd place.
All in all, a whole lot of fun with the women of NOW MS-Society!
Final Podium: 1st Jennifer Valente, 2nd Beatriz Rodriguez, 3rd Julia Lafranchise
Leave a commentDouble or Nothing: Back to Back Podium Finishes!!!
June 3, 2011Race: Dominguez Hills Memorial Day Race
Course: Old course, left turns
Start Time: 11:45am
NOW MS-Society Racers: Christine Barron, Jennifer Johansen, Lauren Liscinski, Louise Keoghan and me
Weather: A breezy 68 F
Things of note: Celebrity guest rider Jennifer Johansen made her second appearance of the season today. Also, Lauren Liscinski made this her first race back after breaking her collarbone a mere three weeks ago. Broken collarbone, two nights in a hospital, surgery, a week off the bike, a copious amount of pain pills, and Lauren only missed one team race. Impressive.
The Skinny: Goal numero uno today was to protect our most dominate local rider; Louise Keoghan, who is currently first in the overall standings at the California Bicycle Racing (CBR) series. In doing so I got myself in a break with Dara Rogers of Helen’s and Melina Bernecker of LaGrange; we were shortly joined by Priscilla Calderon of Incycle and the four of us worked hard to stay off the front. In the final sprint I got third and Louise maintained her lead in the series. A great day for the team!
Lessons learned: only work as hard as your break buddies.
Final Podium: 1st: Priscilla Calderon, 2nd: Melinda Bernecker, 3rd: Julia Lafranchise
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Podium Finish!
May 31, 2011Four corners, gusting winds, potholes a plenty and three tough NOW MS-Society riders. Welcome to Barry Wolfe Grand Prix, 2011 edition.
1:50pm start; Woodland Hills, CA: I got in an early break with two dominant SoCal teams: Incycle and LaGrange, despite herculean efforts by all of us, the move came back. Teammate Jenna (Jammer) Kowalski got in the very next move, the winning move….except it wasn’t. Five riders up the road, late in the race, with all big teams represented seemed promising, but a couple riders wanted to bridge and I followed. It took forever for the five of us to bridge to the break inside nine laps to go. This wasn’t a pleasant let’s all work together and bridge to the break kind of experience, it was more like five beavers trying to build the Hoover Dam. It worked out; however, and by this time I was gassed so I followed wheels while Jammer regulated the front. At the bell lap I picked up Jammer for the lead-out and made it to turn four second wheel behind former teammate Kendall Ryan riding for TIBCO pro cycling. Miscalculating the short tailwind sprint put me in second and Jammer in fourth overall.
Final Podium: 1st Kendall Ryan; 2nd Julia Lafranchise; 3rd Pamela Schuster
Until next time,
Quadzilla
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