Colavita/Sutter Home Women's CyclingTeam presented by Cooking Light

Tina missed the big Chicken!!!

2008-09-02T10:27:00.005-04:00

The US 10 K race on Labor Day for the women goes by in a flash. It is a unique event as the organizers put up a lot of money for just 10 kilometers on our bikes. No, its not a track race, nor is it 10 laps of a 1k crit course - its in a straight line, over many rollers, the exact same course that the runners, roller bladers and wheelchair racers do. And the announcers call us cyclers.

She's a tricky one, this race. Its rollers are hard enough, the descent finish is tricky and has to be timed perfectly, usually windy, there are 2 primes along the way, and it is short, so you have to watch out if someone attacks.

Tina and Laura Van Gilder are the only ones that can win the NRC competition at this point in the season, so Tina kept an eye on her while I tried to control the attacks. As I brought one of the attacks in closer, they all gave up except Lauren Franges, who continued to dig. The result was that the hesitation of the rest of the field allowed her to stay ahead by 100 metres, which was enough for the win. Meanwhile, Tina missed the big chicken!!!

The big Chicken is the landmark on the course that signifies we are at the last roller, after cresting it, it is the downhill finish....you have to be in position or be fighting to set it up by then to have a good shot.....

Well, we were scrambling this time...didn't go as well aswe hit it last year, this year only 5th and 11th.

Andrea said she was having her morning coffee in her kitchen at the time we were racing and was thinking to herself: oh, they shouldbe starting about now...finished her cup and said to herself, they should be finished now.....

That about sums it up how quickly the race is over with.....

next up: Michigan and Tour of Missouri............

Stars and Stripes

2008-08-07T17:26:00.006-04:00

While the cats away the mice will play they say.....looks like Ali P. got to be the lucky mouse that capitalized on the TT nationals course whilst 3 of USA's brightest TT players represent in Beijing.

But seriously, who is going to pretend that a Nationals Stars and Stripes jersey is not a handsome prize even if a few players were missing???? There were plenty of fantastic athletes that came prepared to do battle for it, just look at that podium....good work Ali P!!!!!Now its count down time until the Road Race.......

Charlotte Weekend

2008-08-07T11:53:00.004-04:00

mmmmmm, big money crits, delicious!!! Well, we wanted the biggest piece of tthe money pie by taking first step on the podium as we had done the last 2 years, but this year we were put on a bit of a diet, or portion control, by Kat Carroll of Aaron's team.

What started out as fairly normal proceedings with expected attacks turned into a one woman getaway as Kat slipped off the front and we weren't able to reel her in. This race we just were a bit off and not as sharp and it also seemed that the help from other teams was a bit disjointed. Or maybe we were all disjointed together in the "chase" - anyway....Kat is one of those riders that if your own team can't win that day, you're happy she is the one that took it. She rode strongly in that heat and held everyone off for a deserved win.

The girls at the Giordana Tent signing posters.

Tour of Jamaica - mon

2008-08-04T12:20:00.001-04:00

"It can neither be confirmed nor denied that certain males of the Jamaican persuasion chose to drop out of the final TT stage rather than be flogged by us females...."

Our hotel doorman testing the Jamis ride.

Yes, Jamaica has a Tour, and up until this year's edition, only men have ridden the Tour. This year, some crazy females decided to enter the tour with the men with the goal of completing the entire thing. I say"CRAZY" because, from the viewpoint of the Jamaican public, this was a preposterous idea indeed!!! What, women, on their bikes, with the men? All those miles?

The idea seemed even more implausible because it did not come from me, Iona the Olympian, who the Jamaican public is used to by now as not being a "normal" Jamaican female anyway. Which, from my standpoint, was a good thing that the idea was born of non-Olympic type females, regular fun loving individuals who like to ride their bikes, run or do triathlons as a partof their normal life of work and family.

Anyway, the news spread like wildfire...TV interviews, radio broadcasts, sponsorship for the female team to be trained, guided nutritionally, have support...basically all the things that are done in prep for a stage race that are taken for granted in other countries where the sport is much more developped for women.

The Team: Iona, Yolande, Rachel, Tina, Alex, Leslie, Andrea

In addition to my participation on the team, a teammate (or two) was invited to join. So the women's team was comprised of 4 Jamaicans, 1 German who resides in Jamaica and 2 Americans in Andrea and Tina as the guest riders. We all rode in Colavita colours.

Not your tupical resort reception area sight- prologue number pinning

The tour went well - the major highlight being that the local girls finished the epic toughest stage, one Spur Tree climb that came at the end of 80 miles in the blazing sun that was 8 miles long and up to 17 percent grades.......

There were some great moments:

-Jamaican public realizing that women can do this thang

- Jamaican male peloton (not the Americans and Argentineans that were competing, they already know girls can ride) waking up to the fact that some women can kick it better than they ever dreamed

- Being able to chill on the beach after stages with preferred icy beverage on hand

-Eating Jerk Chicken from the side of the road

We had a great time, the local girls did a fantastic job organizing the support details for the race and we even got to have our husbands with us racing in the race on other teams.

Until next year!!!!

Battles within battles etc.

2008-07-05T18:28:00.002-04:00

So, stage 3 saw us doing the circuit race and this race is basically coming down to a chess match between Cheerwine and our team. Our attacks are covered by them and vice versa, and today was no exception: the race was active what with points for various jerseys on offer on different laps. With both teams taking a bit of a breather at almost the midway point in the race, there was an attack by a non Colavita/Cheerwine girl that both teams gave a little rope to. Our super guest rider Anna covered the attack along with Robin Farina. Anna and Robin dropped the third rider in the break and stayed away for the rest of the race. Tina once again showed her super-power strength in winning the field sprint (which was up a steep hill). On the day Colavita was second and third on the stage. The top three on GC remain the same as we head into the criterium tomorrow.

** We are currently having technical difficulties with loading the pictures, so those will come later.

Fitchburg Longsjo Stage 1 and 2

2008-07-04T19:17:00.003-04:00

We had a great day yesterday for stage 1's opening TT with Kristin taking the win albeit by a only 4 seconds, but it was certainly motivating to get into the leaders jersey right off the bat.

Tina and Andrea had solid performances as well coming in 7th and 8th to put 3 of us in the top ten on GC.

Stage 2 brought the Wachusetts road race which ended up being a battle between us and Cheerwine. We knew they would try to put us on the defensive and they did a good job of it, coming out on top of that climb and moving into the leader's jersey. Kristin is now in second place and Tina and Andrea finished up 4th and 5th to hold their GC positions.

Pictures to follow, connection is always timing out when uploading them....

Nature Valley "Stage 1" and Stage 1 again

2008-06-13T13:21:00.002-04:00

By now on the various cycling news websites it has been well documented that the first stage was a complete washout for both the men and the women. Thunderstorms and constant rain soaked the course and the officials decided to start the fields anyway. MANY crashes later, the races were neutralized and or discounted.

We had 2 casualties: Nikki and Iona. Nikki broke her frame and had to get a new one and came away with some road rash. Iona hit into the barricades which had hay bales on the OTHER side of them (good thing the barricades are being protected, not the riders crashing into them) and suffered a concussion. They decided that stage 1 would not count as too many women got taken out.

Fast forward to stage 2, ahem stage 1 again, and we started everyone minus Iona, just to rest her head. This stage was filled with attacks from the get-go. After a windy, rolling road race section, and a crash involving Tina and Shontell, the field entered the finishing circuits for 5.5 2mile laps. The girls all worked well to cover moves and stay up front and Tina did an especially good job with positioning and staying tough after the crash here to take the win.

We have no photos...boy do we miss Tiffy and her camera.....maybe we can score some later.....

Tina in yellow, Kristin in the best amateur jersey.

Commerce Bank Liberty Classic

2008-06-09T13:17:00.003-04:00

CJ Farquason took this photo at Philly and it pretty much sums it all up for the race!!! Tina had a crash on the first lap on the descent off Manuyunk, hitting a bump, hands sliding off and saving it until hitting barriers. Shontelle and Nikki hung back with her as Iona, Ali and Tiffy monitored the action at the front of the race. They ended up doing a monumental effort bringing her back up to us which cooked them for the rest of the race. Once she was with us and we determined she really wanted to try to stay in, especially after the effort those two put out bringing her back up to us, we continued to monitor the front and get into moves, cover attacks while trying to rest her if it came to a bunch kick. The fact that she pulled off 6th with the pain she was in showed how tough she is. It was a fun race as there were many attacks and people not content to sit in. The heat made it tough, and there was only a select group going for the sprint at the finish.
Good teamwork, even though it would have been nice to be on the podium, we gave it what we had and we had each other's backs at all times.
Next race for us is Nature Valley Grand Prix.

Commerce Bank Triple Crown #1 - Lehigh Classic

2008-06-03T21:59:00.002-04:00

Today we were treated to a little bit of a step up in pace in women's racing as we are starting Philly week. On the line today were Ina Teutenberg and the Cervelo Lifeforce team that added a bit of Euro flavour to the race. Right from the start it appeared that Cervelo Lifeforce"s intent was to set a high pace to shed some dead weight. After the first few laps, many attacks were made and absorbed and re-shuffled and finally one rolled off that contained 8 riders. Alison was covering that one and made that move. It contained Laura Van Gilder in it but not Ina or Tina. It was only a matter of time that Ina would look for a good opportunity to bridge, and we certainly wouldn't have minded getting another one of us in as well to increase our representation in the break.
When Ina attacked to bridge, both Shontelle and Tina were ready but the problem was that Erica Allar from Aarons was directly on Ina's wheel in front of Tina and Shontelle and slid out in the last corner leaving Tina and Shontelle to skirt around while Ina continued powering up to the break. A chase ensued to bring one of us closer to jump across, whilst up ahead in the break, it was being shattered. Ali made the front selection of Ina, Laura and Sarah Duster from Lifeforce Cervelo. That was good, and we concentrated on absorbing the other 5 left behind, so that the field sprint would be for 5th place rather than 10th.

Up ahead, there were attacks and Ina won followed by Laura and Ali took 3rd place. Tina won the field for 5th.

Overall, we were satisfied as we came with four today and had decided to have 3 cover and get into breakaways and save Tina in case of a sprint. That is pretty much how it worked out and it was a fun fast day. Great job Ali P!!!

CSC Invitational: Dre on the podium!

2008-06-02T11:41:00.000-04:00

CSC was a short circuit(only 1 km) with many turns and some good bumps and manholes......which made for some necessary handling skills! Amazingly, there was even a crash at the line (!) as we were starting! So we tried to set the pace high from the start so that we could make it as smooth as possible and swoop through the corners safely. After some attacks and reshuffling of breaks, one rolled up the road with Andrea in it and stayed off almost lapping the field. The only problem was that the race officials left the many clumps of girls on the circuit that had gotten lapped and this was so confusing. We couldn't make sense of how close Andrea was behind us which was a shame as it would have been SO cool to have had her back in the field so we could have given her a leadout!!!

She was a trooper and handled the pressure of being in the winning move and tried to attack her breakaway companions knowing they were sprinters before finally having to sprint. So, with Andrea in the break handling the podium for us, we did a mini-leadout for Tina to win the bunch sprint, which she duly took care of.

Next up.....part of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown Series: LeHigh in Allentown

Huge congrats also go to the boys who had Luca and Luis in a 12 man break with some big protour team names, they lapped the field and then the rest of the Colavita boys completely drilled themselves to set up a furious lead out train for them with Luca taking the win.

Somerville World Cup

2008-05-28T19:39:00.006-04:00

We say World Cup
because for us, that is both mens and women's teams for Colavita, this race takes on extra significance as it is right in Colavita's back yard. We want to win every race we go into, but especially this one as our sponsor is right there!

Needless to say, both teams came ready and motivated.

Both teams have been working together for a few months now getting all the kinks out and gelling. This shows when you are able to work seamlessly and smoothly and execute a plan.

Catch all the race writeups on our team site and also on Cycling news and Velonews along with photos here:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2008/may08/somerville08

http://www.velonews.com/article/76739/lucas-sebastian-haedo-tina-pic-win-the-tour-of-somerville

teamcolavita.com

yay!!!

Tour of Leelanau

2008-05-26T20:10:00.000-04:00

So, this race didn't go smoothly for us. That's the way it goes in bike racing, and it is times when it isn't so fantastic that make you appreciate when things are great. We love this race - it has a bit of everything, climbs, sprints, QOM's, wind, rolling terrain and it is in a beautiful part of the country. Pity we didn't get a great result to go with all the great things that come with this race!

Team Cheerwine had the upper hand from the get go when one of their riders got up the road and so the rest of their riders got armchair rides on all attacks from that point on that took place from our team and other teams. Net result, we were pretty smoked when we got to the finish due to all the attacks on that terrain, and the field shattered into tiny groups of twos and threes!
Only 17 riders made the time cut! We ended up with Tina in 5th, Iona in 6th and Tiffany in 9th.

So sad, ah well, tomorrow is another day - we have an important rendezvous in Colavita-land tomorrow: Somerville, NJ

Kelly Cup

2008-05-25T16:32:00.003-04:00

Yeah!!! Shontell won her first race of the season. What can I say?….Our lead out was wonderful. Shontell, Andrea and I (Nicky) raced here last year and we knew how “swarmy” the final laps can get. Andrea was unstoppable today; she went with every attack. We all sat behind her ready to help. Kristin tested her legs out on the first race prime. The finish line is at the top of a small gradual climb. After we watched Kristin win the prime…we almost decided to sprint for her at the finish -- “just kidding”. With two laps to go we started the lead out. Andrea drove the pace for one full lap, and then Kristin took over. About 200 meters before the last technical corner, right before the straight away, Kristin was still going strong. I told her to take one last pull…she powerfully upped the pace and launched me (Nicky) and Shontell through the last chicane. I went from there as if I was going to win. Shontell stayed on my wheel and blew by me at just the right moment to take the win. I got so caught up in watching the final meters, I forgot to keep sprinting (but I did manage to throw my arms in the air). What a team effort! The rest of our team is in Michigan right now racing the Tour of Leelanau. Good luck gals. Our next race is Tour of Somerville.

whew!

2008-05-19T22:54:00.004-04:00

So, after stage 3, which was a bit of a hilly affair up Cooper Spur Mountain, the entire peloton was shocked from the sudden spike in temperature. We went from cool and grayish with rain to smoking hot and humid. Many girls were dehydrated and cramping, and almost everyone pitched themselves into the freezing river for an ice bath afterwards in their shammies!

The next day was an individual time trial, which ALSO contained climbs, happily, there were some decent descents to go with it. Tina said Jeannie Longo blew by her so fast that she was positive she had won it. Turns out there was some kind of holdup at the start with Jeannie's tt bars and she started over a minute late and still got third!!!!

Well, lets just say, that the rest of us did not fly like Jeannie in this particular venture....our little Tiffy put in a solid ride to score a top ten place, moving her up into 8th on GC. We went to dinner that evening at a spectacular house (friend's of Dotsie and Kirk) with a view and tried not to think about the suffer-fest that was to come with the next day's stage.

So, the famous Mt. Hood Meadow's stage was indeed filled with climbing.....over 9000 feet of climbing. The heat wave in Oregon continued and our plan was to keep our climbers as fresh as possible until the business end of the race when the climbing turned steeper. Dotsie, Tina and Iona covered moves during the race. When the climbing pace finally got harder and harder, Tiffany managed to come in with the first set of girls after Mara Abbott and Jeannie Longo, holding on for 8th. Our next best climbers were Kristin and Andrea a few places back. There was snow on the top, which Tiffy and Tina sat in to cool their aching muscles!!
The final stage was a criterium and we were stoked at the chance to get another stage win. We thought it would be aggressive with other teams also looking for the same thing, as well as some of the GC people were separated by seconds, so getting up the road would translate into time and therefore a move up in overall classification. We had to be alert. Right off the bat, there was bad luck - Andrea came down in the last corner and had to retire from the race with a pro-rated time. We also lost Dotsie to that crash. Both girls are alright. We were now down to 4. The way it worked out was that Tiff found herself covering moves at the beginning, then Kristin and Iona were taking care of the middle portion of the race, and then by the end, Tiff was recovered to be able to get up front to give Tina a lead-out. Tina took it 3rd out from the last corner and never looked back. We finished this very tough stage race with 2 wins, a podium, and a top 10 on GC. All in all, we were pretty satisfied, and now go home for a bit of a rest before the next races.

They call that a crit?

2008-05-14T23:28:00.007-04:00

Stage 2 of Mt. Hood is listed a criterium in the race bible. I think everyone will agree that it was really a circuit race as it was a 1.4 mile affair that was uphill for half of it and downhill for the rest. Since we had been expecting a regular type of crit with maybe a bit of a hill in it we were a little shocked when we did the first run-through in warmup of the course. Then we were thinking: ruh-roh, maybe this could end up in a selection, we had best be very attentive near the front.

It worked out really well for our team though. The first 3 laps Tina, Dotsie and I (Iona) were berating ourselves individually for being too far back and making things harder on themselves. Riding like newbies is what we were doing. Fortunately, Andrea, Tiff and Kristen were riding up front and not getting themselves into a kerfuffle with people pushing and riding a bit frantically. So, after we got ourselves together and started riding as we should, all 6 of us girls were always represented and taking turns monitoring affairs at the front of the race.

The race came down to a field after unsuccessful attempts at breakaways, and Tina pulled off a win again which now puts her tied with Joanne Kiesanowski (Tibco) on time for the lead of the race. Tina actually gets to wear the yellow jersey tomorrow though as the more recent stage winner. She also has the lead in the sprint and Mountains competition as winner pretty much took all on the line for bonuses.

She says she doesn't know how her climbing legs will be for tomorrow's stage, but geez.....one day at a time...who cares - today was FUN, and we will deal with tomorrow.....well.....tomorrow.

Prologue - Mt. Hood

2008-05-14T00:21:00.002-04:00

Its RAINING!!!! Oh stop it already, its mid May, WHY is it still winterish weather here? We warmed up in the rain on the course and at least it stopped raining by the time the prologue started, but the roads were still wet. It made it a little iffy on the turn around, but Dotsie made the podium within fractions of the leader's jersey!! Yay Dots!
SO fun! We were the goober teammates and cheered her at the podium, I don't know why we were so giddy this afternoon, its not like we haven't been on the podium before or that Dotsie has never been on the podium.....

Photos from Joe Martin

2008-05-13T23:29:00.007-04:00

Ecstatic to win the TT and her first NRC race, Mackenzie jumped up and down screaming in a high pitched Mackenzie scream voice or about one minute before Kirsten Robbins could interview her.

We became a strong trio day after day.
Sam took me through the last corner blazing fast and I quickly sprinted up to Cheatley who launched Laura into the final corner. As soon as she (Cheatley) started to open up a gap I went. I carried the momentum from Sam’s lead out and soared past Laura. We were soooo excited to win the stage. Winning two out of the four stages with only three riders felt very satisfying and to top off the day, the Colavita boys won the criterium as well.

Thanks to our wonderful hosts (Joel and Erika) who opened their home to us during the race.

Look at Mackenzie....she can TT and sprint. She almost passed Laura at the line in stage 3.

Joe Martin Stage Race

2008-05-13T00:43:00.001-04:00

Yay Nikki! She won the final stage of the stage race, with good support from Kenzie and Sam. That made it two stage wins out of four for the team (Kenzie won the opening TT). However, those girls neglected their blog updating duties, which is why there are no photos or reports...LAME!!!!!

So, this means that any kind of picture shall be inserted for these girls......!!!! Ha! You shall have to send in proper pics and make a proper report!!!!

Joe Martin Crit

2008-05-13T00:32:00.003-04:00

Yay Nikki! She won the final stage of the stage race, making that two stage wins out of four for the team after Kenzie (Goofy pic above) won the opening TT.

Snow in May???????

2008-05-10T15:22:00.003-04:00

Yes that's right you read it correctly it's May, it's Spring, and we got snowed on today! Where else but Boulder Colorado!

Andrea is visiting for the week in between Gila and Mt Hood races as her Brother lives here and she's keeping up the altitude training whilst Tiffany is living here whilst in the states and not racing!

On a lazy Saturday morning what better thing did we have to do but get up for an 8am local race up a mountain the race was Sunshine Canyon Hill Climb a tough climb that starts about 2 miles from the heart of Boulder it is 9.14 miles long average 7.6% gradient with a maximum gradient of 23.1% starting elevation 5509 feet and climbing to 8426 feet with total elevation gain of 3226 feet and the last 3.5 miles on dirt. So we knew we were up for a challenge and also questioning our sanity of racing up a mountain early on a Saturday morning on recovery/rebuild week hmmmm, i guess a good opener for Mt Hood!

We rolled out and already the pace was half on then we started settling into our own rhythm at about the 2 mile mark Mara Abbot (team high roads) had opened a gap then Tiffany and Andrea and a couple others were together then soon enough Andrea had a gap on the field whilst Tiffany was suffering challenging another girl for that 3rd spot eventually getting a gap and settling into her own pace feeling the effects on the first half of the climb of not have a proper warm up but then finished off slightly stronger!

As we were climbing up I couldn't help but notice cars coming down with large amounts of snow on their roofs and trunks, as we hit the dirt we started to get little snow flakes hit us and it continued as we reached the top and their was a fair bit of snow about which is understandable as all the snow hadn't yet melted from the cold winter Boulder experienced however it was actually snowing up their which wasn't cool especially considering it was May!

The race was a good hit out though Mara took out the win from Andrea not too far off the pace and Tiffany another couple of minutes back all going under the 55minute mark not bad for first thing on a Saturday morning! It was tough but the fun was yet to come as we still got the decent after putting on layers of clothing the fingers had gone numb and face and toes too as we began to descend the dirt sketchy as it is but fun too trying not to crash with the number of people still climbing and descending and also us nearly taking out people as we stopped part way down to get an awesome photo! Then finally back on sealed road the real fun began trying not to take myself out while flying down at 50mph and dodging all the other riders going slightly slower whist not being able to hold the brakes on the windy road as the fingers were so cold all made for a fun morning!

Hit up the coffee shop and ready for some easy days before flying out to smash it up at the Mt Hood cycling classic in Oregon!

until next time,

Peace out! Keep it rubber side down!

Pan-American Championships

2008-05-10T08:42:00.001-04:00

Bausch wins continental pursuit title

Montevideo, Uruguay (May 6, 2008)—Dotsie Bausch (Irvine, Calif.) gave the United States its second medal at the 2008 Pan American Road and Track Championships on Monday with a victory in the women’s 3000-meter individual pursuit.

Bausch clocked a winning time of 4 minutes, 2.91 seconds to win the gold medal by five seconds over Ana Rocio Bernal (COL).

The 2008 Pan American Road and Track Championships continue through May 11.

Anniston Crit

2008-05-06T22:44:00.000-04:00

Post victory Glow in Anniston after Tina put her stamp on the Sunny King Crit!! We had a great race, and we would especially like to thank Patty King for her southern hospitality and yummy bread from Birmingham.

Speedweek Wrap-up

2008-05-05T12:45:00.002-04:00

We won 6 out of 8 races! yay! This was a very hard week because of the driving transfers from race to race all over the Southeast. The races were all evening races which meant that we would finish at night and then have to drive to the next city, usually arriving past midnight. The sleepers on the team (and there are many this year - double yay!) were having a separate competition for most amount of hours of sleep squeezed in before having to get up and do it again. Tina wins the gold medal, followed closely in second by Nikki and I believe Bronze is a toss-up between Tiff and Iona. Shontell is off the back in the sleeping competition as she only requires about 5-6hours!

So, the gist of the race series was that we had Tina in the overall competition and we wanted to keep it that way, so we decided after Walterboro that we would prefer to keep the field together most days. It was just much simpler than having to figure out if the composition of a break would be good for us or not. Not that we mind breaks, those are fun, and we were always represented in them, but within this series there were all sorts of mini-tallies going on: most laps led, team GC, individual GC, primes every lap, best under 25 rider - seriously, it was getting a little complex figuring and calculating in the blink of an eye if a break composition was good.

Cheerwine and Aarons seemed intent on doing the opposite and forcing a break, so we had our work cut out for us to cover those moves and neutralize them, then get up there for the lead out for Tina! But, happy to say, most of the time we managed it and we are tired but happy.

So, next up for us: Mt Hood, and Joe Martin.
Mt. Hood roster: Iona, Tina, Dotsie, Tiffany, Andrea, Kristin
Joa Martin roster: Nikki, McKenzie, Sam

Tina and Dotsie have been selected for the US National Team for Continentals in Uruguay this week, and Iona is also going but will be representing Jamaica.

Pictures to follow....we have many!

Mt Hood...Here We Come!

2008-05-04T18:14:00.003-04:00

Andrea and I consider ourselves 'more fit' after this week racing the Tour de Gila. I did my best to defend my second place on GC, but much to my dismay, my legs would not pedal any faster on the last day. After originally making the break on the climb on stage 5, I eventually had to drop off and go my own pace. 15 miles alone in the Gila national forest helped me sharpen up my fitness and mental toughness. I finished 6th on the day and dropped to 5th overall....Disappointing in the long run yet this week was a great learning experience in stage racing. Andrea was having a great week until she was struck with the revenge of Silver City, ie the stomach virus going around town. She delivered me safely and as fresh as possible to the base of the Gila Monster climb and then proceded to suffer up the climb as nobody in the caravan really believed that she was puking and would like a ride in a car....I think she sharpened her mental toughness today as well. All I have to say is watch out everyone at Mt. Hood, after some R & R and another week at altitude in Boulder, CO, Dre is going to be flying at Mt. Hood!

Hello from Windy Gila

2008-05-01T22:41:00.003-04:00

Well Andrea and I have been a little slack on blogging as we are in a place of mucho wind, limited internet, intermittent cell service....well you get the picture. So just a brief update for now.....Stage 1 was point to point 77 miles from downtown silver city to the top of Mogollon. We managed to stay out of the wind and out of the crashes (one sent Kris Keim from Kenda to the hospital with a sacral fracture). We started the climb in great position and continued to climb at our own paces. At one point I found myself leading up the climb with a significant gap on Leah Goldstein from Valuact....she eventually caught and passed me to take the win while I held on for second and Andrea finished a strong fifth while still adjusting to the dry altitude.

Stage 2...Inner loop stage
Wow another day of broken bones and tons of wind (like 50 mph gusts). We again stayed out of the wind and climbed strong to find ourselves in the lead group of 19. A satifying break of 3 rolled off the front and stayed off the entire race. Our GC positions were never threatened so we stayed protected and safe. As we entered the finishing straight, a brief thought was given to leading Andrea out for the fourth place sprint, but since we had pulled the entire group for over a mile into a head/cross wind, we had to settle for 11th (AD) and 13th. We maintained our GC positions for another day! Tomorrow is the time trial and they are forcasting the wind to be only 10-14 mph...horrah!!! Shout out to Tyler Wren for taking the sprint in the men's field. The men maintained their overall GC positions with Anthony Colby sitting second.

Peace out from Silver (middle of nowhere) City we hope to supply photos tomorrow!

Beaufort Crit

2008-04-30T13:59:00.007-04:00

Last night was the second race in the Southeast Crit Series. Nikki and Iona flew in to join the squad this week. We weren't super offensive, it was more just being attentive on the front and that worked out well as moves were covered and finally one move contained Tina in it that was trying to stick. It was Tina with Rebecca Larson (Aarons) and Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) so that gave the peloton pause as 3 big teams were represented. The hesitation was enough to get them a little space and from there the 3 teams monitored to see who would try to bridge across, just to be ready to go with a move and make sure numbers were always in our favour. The race was pretty mellow overall. In the final laps, the speed picked up a bit and the gap was coming down, but the trio managed to get to the line before the field did and Tina got the upper hand over Laura and then Rebecca.

The goal was to get the win and start moving riders into the overall lead as well as placing in the top 5 overall.

We poached on the Cheerwine train and tried to get as many of us over the line in the top 10 as possible, which worked out. So we have Tina now first in the overall, as well as Tiff in the best young rider jersey.

We also had a chance to get a picture of the mens podium, where Kyle Wamsley took second. From what we could see of the mens race, the boys worked well together and set up the train at the front with Davide, Luca, Anibal rotating on the front protecting Sebastian and Kyle. It worked out perfectly, as Seba took 4th and Kyle's second place was very close, he sprinted on the right side whereas Hilton Clarke of Toyota sprinted left and as it happened, the left side worked out better.

Athen's Twilight Crit!!!!!!!!!!

2008-04-29T22:26:00.000-04:00

Athen's Twilight well what can I say.... CRAZY to say the least and the first crit in the US crit series, also known as speed week!

The squad for Athen's was Tina, Shontell, Tiffany, and guest rider Sam Schnider who also rode with us in Redlands. Shontell, Tiffany and Jack flew in to Atlanta on the day of the race after avoiding storms then finally landing collecting baggage hit traffic then finally arrived at the race 45 mins before the start meet up with Sam and Tina and ready to roll!!!!

Collage town the sun is setting and it was party time, they had the standard call up's everybody pushing for front row start then 3-2-1 goooooooo! Preme on the next lap! great way to warm up and get going it felt like there were preme's almost every lap and as it got darker the crowd grew larger and the atmosphere was builing and it was insane. Tina covered a number of things early then Shontell got across in a break and it was a perfect break all the strong teams were represented and Shontell has a good finish so we were happy but coming around for the mid-way 5 deep preme a crash happened in the break-away and Shontell went down!! That break was brought back then counters went and Tiffany got into a break of 5 girls and the field almost sat up at that point and the gap grew eventually getting half a lap on the field once again each of the strong teams were represented and as the laps counted down and more and more premes were thrown at us then at one point confusion happened as 3 girls who crashed a number of laps previous were put into the break and then nobody knew what was going on then the break kept working through and tried to ignore they were there however they raced hard got the count downs the race went super quick and one-lap to go the action started in the break with Catherine Cheatley (cheerwine) attacking with two corners to go with Rebecca Larson (Aarons) on her wheel and Tiffany was right there next however Tiffany was caught off guard and Larson and Cheatley were off sprinting and Tiffany tried to hold on but ended up 5th then Tina took out the bunch sprint on the flood light lit crazy streets of Athen's Georgia!

The result was ok for the team however we always like to get onto the podium, lesson were learnt, lungs were opened, craziness was achieved on the short 1km 4 corner course and it was lots of fun with an amazing atmosphere!!!

Now the girls have two days rest to chill at Tina's house as we say goodbye to Sam and Say hello to Iona and Nikki in a couple of days for the next race of Speedweek, Beaufort, SC in the deep south!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Until next time keep it rubber side down!

P.S sorry for the lack of photo's we were a bit slack with the camera however next time promise to have plenty more!!!!

Next up........

2008-04-21T20:44:00.001-04:00

Tour of the Gila, New Mexico
featuring: Andrea and Kristin

Conditions: dry, windy, altitude
Terrain: Muy hilly

South East Criterium Series, all over the South
featuring: Tina, Shontelle, Tiffany, Nikki & Iona

Conditions: hot, humid, sweltering
Terrain: flat and bumpy

Sea Otter 2008 Races

2008-04-20T08:57:00.000-04:00

This was Dotsie on the podium after winning the road race. It was on dead chip and seal road with some punchy climbs and descents and she toughed it out until the end, after an acceleration by Tiffany up the final 2.4 mile climb back to the Laguna Seca circuit, Dotsie launched an attack and stayed off to get the win.

The next day was the Laguna Seca circuit race. There were Queen of the Mountain sprints as well as Sprinter points sprints throughout the race in addition to going for the race win. We weren't concerned with any of those except to be aware of when they were coming to watch for accelerations and possible gaps forming in the bunch. After a few breaks forming and then getting re-absorbed because the combination wasn't right, a group finally got a gap that contained a member from almost every team racing. This made for a bit of a pause in the main field as the gap grew and teams were sizing up their representatives in the break versus the other teams'. We were happy with our representation as we had Dotsie and Tiffany in there and they were climbing very well.

Our only concern was that Cheerwine had managed to get 3 in there and one of them was Laura Van Gilder who would be tough to outsprint if she made it to the end. Fortunately, she was struggling a bit on the climb so our director got Tiffany to go harder over the climb and that succeeded in having Laura and a few others drop off. The breakaway group of 10 riders were now in 2 groups of 5. Then Tiffany later accelerated away from her group while Dotsie stayed in watching for a reaction from the others - NONE! Tiffany continued to build her lead and we got word that we could now chase the faltering third group of that breakaway....which meant that we already had the win locked up with Tiff, Dotsie was in the next group of 4 and if we caught the next group after that we had a shot to set Tina up for sprinting for 7th place.....so Iona drilled it on the front for 2 laps and caught the group on the last lap, then Nikki and Tina finished off the job by Tina taking the field sprint and Nikki a few spots behind her.

Happy team riders and staff

Monterey's 17 Mile Drive

2008-04-17T21:52:00.000-04:00

Beautiful ride.

Seals and Sea Lions,

and one VERY friendly human-savvy squirrel.

As Dots said, he probably said to his buddies years ago "you guys go on and stick with foraging for the acorns and stuff, I'm gonna just kick it right here on 17 mile.....with the humans....i'll be eating Luna bars or some such"

Training in Monterey

2008-04-17T14:44:00.000-04:00

So, this is the scenery that Tiffany and Iona have to put up with while training in Monterey. This is the best part of being on the road for the sport. There are places you get to go to that are simply stunning and you make a mental note of the places you really liked. These are a few snaps from the house we are staying in which is near the Laguna Seca raceway.
We took a few laps around the course yesterday. The festival is set to start today, we could see all the tents and stalls being set up with all the best names in the bike industry. We had a little visit with the Jamis Bikes staff at their location within the festival.
Today Tina, Dotsie and Nikki get in to join us. Then the racing begins tomorrow and finishes on the Laguna Seca circuit on Saturday.

Monterey and Sea Otter

2008-04-15T02:23:00.000-04:00

Beautiful drive up to Monterey. We arrive at the host housing and WHO-AH as Dre would say. The house, sorry, mansion, is up for sale for some millions (i won't say how many) and we have it to ourselves for the week. Crazy. As we were driving into the sanctuary where all these types of houses are situated, Tiff remarked that we could just about do a training ride on the grounds.

Pictures to follow, but we are chilling and enjoying the scenery until race time. On the roster for this weekend: Tina! Back from Europe, Nikki, Dotsie, Iona and Tiffany.

Ojai

2008-04-15T02:03:00.000-04:00

After Redlands and Hollywood, we had a decision to make: were we still going to do the Garrett Lemire Memorial race in Ojai, CA? The race promoter sent out word while we were in Redlands that sponsorship had not been secured to guarantee the NRC status on the women's side and many teams were upset as arrangements had already been made to be there; flights, etc. After final reflection, we decided to race as we were already here, we wanted to race, and it was after all, a memorial race. It is upsetting when things get pulled last minute like that, but there are a few things to consider also: if the promoter has a record of this type of behaviour, then obviously, he or she should not be supported. The reality is that times are tougher economically.

Roster: Shontelle, Nikki, Tiff, Iona and Dotsie joining us in her first race.

So, the race was pretty active right from the first lap thanks to an attack from Rebecca Much (Webcor). After this, Tibco riders attacked seemingly one after the other. All of us covered these moves and it was in covering one such move that I got away, and then immediately Tiffany bridged up and passed me with Morgan Kapp (Southbay Wheelmen) in tow. This was about 6 laps into the race. It was such a hot day. We worked well together, but as we had the numerical advantage, it was pretty clear the moves would be coming from us. Tiff pulled away uncontested by Morgan on the hill with about 7 laps to go and I sat on Morgan for another 2 laps. I then had to go because it was getting near to pack sprinting time (inside of 5 laps to go) and we were in danger of being caught. So we got the win and second and met the mother of Garrett Lemire. Her reaction made it worthwhile, and we were very happy we came out to support the race. This is a pic of her posing with us riders.

Next stop: Monterey......

Redlands Classic + a bit of Hollywood

2008-04-15T01:43:00.000-04:00

Redlands: first stage race for most of us. Tiff is flying as she is coming off of the Australian summer season, and has gotten in a world cup and a few hard stage races already before coming over here. Good news for us, as we were missing a few of our usual suspects for stage racing, Dots and Ali P and Tina. Tina and Ali were in Europe and Dots was still not ready to race after having been sick earlier this year. Racers for Redlands: Iona, Tiff, Andrea, McKenzie, Kristin, Shontelle, Nikki and a guest rider, Sam Schneider. We were hoping to get Tiff up there on GC as high as possible, with some back up from climbers Andrea and Kristin and the rest would help out where needed and aim for a podium in one of the stages. The end result was pretty much dead on: Tiff got 6th in GC, Andrea and Kristin were the next best climbers, Andrea managed to move up to 13th by the end and stay in there with Tiff to the end. We got 2 fourth places and a fifth missing the podium 2 near times. It was good to test the legs and get the feedback on where the form is, where we are with the climbing etc.

For those of us staying on for Ojai and Sea Otter, we took a little tourist trip down to LA and checked out Hollywood.

Bet you didn't know that Godzilla has his own star!!!!

Training Camp and Fresno

2008-04-15T01:22:00.000-04:00

Our training camp was held in Yosemite National Park this year. It was spectacular for the views and the photos, but a tad chilly due to snow still being piled high. We got a little altitude fatigue, up and down riding and tons of photos. It was good to get to know the new girls and boys and catch up with the returning team members. After days of photos, we all rode down to Fresno where we would be getting our first races under our belts.

In Fresno, we stayed with awesome host housing and thoroughly enjoyed being in the area.Lots of riding, a bit of racing, there was yoga, pilates, many yummy dinners, and even a birthday celebration.

Then it was time to go to our respective homes for a week or two, depending on who you were and what races were on your schedule, before the next round of races in California.

Meet the 2008 Team

2008-04-01T15:26:00.000-04:00

Another year, another training camp, and new faces and personalities to meet and gel with.
The cast of characters this year have 2 foreigners, me from Jamaica and Tiff from Australia, and 8 Americans. As far as staff, we have two Jacks: Big Jack and Little Jack. To differentiate the two, I suggested referring to the mechanic as JT since his name is Jack Turner, but this met with some resistance from Andrea and Shontelle as in their minds, JT refers to none other than Justin Timberlake. Alrighty, was not aware that we grown women had such keen insight into the pop culture of America much less the fond attachment, so I am still the only one who refers to Big Jack as JT.
Little Jack is Jack Seehafer, our Director. He gets to be called Jack plain and straight.

So, in alphabetical order then, I shall introduce them:

Dotsie Bausch (Dots):
used to be Cowden until she married almost 3 years ago).This is Dotsie's 4th year on the team and she is the one that is decalled on the team car and van. What always makes me giggle this year so far is that the men's team is using the van with her picture on it and I always find it funny to see them come piling out of the van with her picture on it. Anyway. So, Dots always gets the usual rap about her being a model previously etc, and I'm sure she is very over that, but its true that people always want to see her up close! I can always count on her to have a drop of red with me, and she is good for some great giggles while on the road. Her talents are at prologues and TT's and climbing races. She has two little munchkin dogs that are so tiny that they wouldn't even be a scooby snack for my cat Smushy. Great products. A girly girl that surprises people when they find out she is also down to earth.

Tiffany Cromwell (Tiff, Tiny Dancer, and yes, she will play the Elton John song): is our little Ozzie recruit from last year. She does half the year with us and then goes to Europe in the summer to join her AIS team from Australia for some of the European circuit. She is a noted climber and has a pretty good finishing kick, but really she brings freshness to the team as she is not even 20 and forces us to remember what that was like. Except, nowadays, the technology these young things come with is INSANE....she does all of our IT. Quite a knowledgeable, worldly young thing this one - its VERY irritating that she should be so aware at this age as we are constantly reminded that we SO weren't this clued in when we were 19. Always up for "a bit of fun" as she puts it.....it makes us do the same. Loves pink. A girly-girl with a bit of grit.

Andrea Dvorak (Dre):
her second year on the team, she is a bar-passed lawyer, but doesn't practice law, nor does it appear that she ever intends to. In fact, she possesses a mild disdain for the profession, and amuses herself making fun of it while enjoying the satisfaction of having attained the same education level. She and her husband Peter have a peculiar penchant for body-slamming type dancing, or maybe its the result of them loving the type of dance music that requires a certain amount of blackness, which they have not the slightest amount of, to be able to carry off that kind of skill. She keeps us amused with her neurotic funniness. Strengths on the bike: climbing, and LATELY... (Whoah!) criterium racing. An in between tomboyish-girly girl....she wants to be girly sometimes, but sometimes we have to force her out of her sweats.

Shontelle Gaultier (SG):
is a new team member this year. She is our second sprinter on the team behind Tina. She is always asking questions and checking and double-checking things. First impression: Dots and I were scared! ha! but, although she comes off as tough and all business, she has a great sense of humour and we already found out she is a softie that covers it up well. I think she has uttered Jack's name ten million times already, (Jaaaaaaack!) as she always has questions; planning, organizing, etc. Constantly missing her magnet on the wheel that goes with the SRM, yep, she has the SRM-mania....She is from Louisiana, but home is Texas, and she helps people who can't manage their own finances, lives etc for various different reasons, through a company back in Austin. She is one of those "helpers" off the bike too, in the homestays, on the raod etc. Funny, Tina has the same trait...wouldn't think it normally of sprinters..... A definate tomboy girl, yet, has the kind of clothes that are understated cool quality.

Kristin McGrath (KMAC):
another newbie this year. She comes from a soccer and swimming background and still is young in this sport. Her strength is in climbing and obviously has a big engine that will continue to develop as the years go on. She hails from Colorado, but got the Southern experience going to college in Tennessee. She is also another one that goes with the flow smoothly on the team, and actually feels almost as if she has been with us a longer time than just this year. Also loves pink. An enviro natural girly girl.

Tina Pic (Bobina):
Ok, I really don't even know where to start. She is the one that I will fall off my bike laughing with. And over really stupid stuff. The kind of stuff you can't repeat because people won't get it, and then they look at you weirdly. She cares about racing and the team members so much and is the anti-primadonna. She is a flapper. She is always flapping about, getting nervous over nothing as she always is more than fine in the races anyway. Always gives her time to people at races: fans, sponsors, etc. The best person to work for a result, always gives credit when due to the team members that have helped her get the win and fights for them at contract time when people may be overlooked as they have no "impressive" results to show for their teamwork. Kind of the same as Andrea, a tomboyish, wants to be girly sometimes, have to force her out of her carpenter jeans type of girl.

Alison Powers (AliP/ AliWong):
Second year on the team, but she will be doing more stuff with the National Team based in Europe probably than stateside with us. She came over from downhill skiing and has crazy descending skills as a result. She doesn't make note of the climbs on a course, she makes note of the descents as to when she can attack them and hopefully drop some people. She dreams of living and racing in Europe and is already on the right track to making that transition. Discovered coffee last year and loves the frothy milk, loves good cappuccinos in Italy, prone to having a cow if she doesn't get food in her almost immediately after training and racing......if this is satiated, she is a pretty happy person that likes to observe life and its funnies. A cross between tomboyish/natural girl. She likes to be comfortable, mostly always looks sporty.

Nicole Wangsgard (Wangsy / Nikki):
New to the team, but not to the peloton. She has I think guest ridden for every team possible, but finally has her own home in a team where she is fitting in well. Very easy going, she loves racing and although she looks as skinny as a beanpole, she has a surprising kick! She has a job as a full-time university professor (special ed) in Utah, so she does that in the week and then joins us on weekends. I don't know whether her students know about her tattoos etc. They probably think she is some kind of nerd, not this double life she is leading. Tomboyish girl, definately, with a bit of a noir edge to her. Except, it looks feminine on her due to her lithe body....

McKenzie Woodring (Kenzie):
Tina and I plucked this one out of the North Michigan woods last September when we happened to guestride for the then Priority Health team at a race in her home town. We literally went for a spin with her prrior to the race and just about croaked trying to keep up. She is a talented climber who also has power for criterium style courses. Very shy at first, but when you do get to know her she is so funny and easy going., She is an engineer and works full time, so she comes to select races according to her schedule, plus, she will be riding better later in the season as it isn't exactly warm in Traverse City during the winter time as we know! Another tomboyish girl, but this one has the classic JCrew-ish type of understatement.

Iona Wynter Parks:
and finally, me. I am the other foreigner, from Jamaica, but because I live in the US and have been around a fair bit, and my husband is American, I think people forget I am not American. Especially when Downers Grove comes around, people expect I will be going to help Tina, when of course, non Americans are not allowed to do that race. So, lets see, I used to teach French full time at a private school while doing the cycling circuit, but this year will be the first I will be doing cycling with no teaching. Looking forward to being less tired this year. I haven't done any full-time training and racing since I was a full time triathlete (aeons ago). I went to the Olympics for triathlon and then quit it cold turkey, took the teaching position and switched to cycling. This is my 3rd year with the team. I would say that each of the girls i have described has something in their personality that satisfies all my personality aspects: you know, kind of like your regular friends.....you have girly shopping type of friends, serious or professional friends, goober or goofy friends....I can be all these things with this team. Best of all, they all put up with (or laugh at) my morning grumpiness when I can't get a strong cup of coffee in my hands quickly enough.......I am a cross between tomboyish in the sense of the understated type clothes, but girly-ish with the maintenance....leaving the house without mascara is just NOT done.

Jack Seehafer:
Alright, experience as a bike racer, check. Experience as a bike racer in Europe, check. Experience managing a team before, check. Experience with the courses and races in the US, check. But probably the greatest asset Jack brings to the running of a women's team is that he is the husband of an American racer and he has felt the pain, the ups and downs, highs and lows and ins and outs of the women's peloton via his wife's experiences. He knows the players in this game, but even more importantly, he knows what is needed to take care of us and ensure we don't fall into "cracking" mode. What he has seen work for his wife, he tries to apply to us as female racers too. He understands the equipment needed in the sport, understands the sport and can handle the quirks of many women operating in a close knit environment together. On the road. Different personalities and needs and modes of operating. He gets the job done and makes sure these aspects are taken care of. When the racing is finished and the riders are well fed, hydrated, happy and have a good place to sleep, he relaxes with his beer, before it all starts again the next day.

Jack Turner (JT):
Hails from Boulder, used to have a bike shop, sold that and the stress of it and keeps it all very low key on the road. Not a flapper. Definately is very chill and gets to it patiently and methodically. Can deal with all the personalities without ever losing his cool. Has lived in many places and always has a calm perspective to bring to any situation.