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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Tour of WashCo - RR

I was greeted at Smithsburg High School for the road race this weekend with a big smile and a little gift by my teammate Anna

Circus Peanuts!!!

These mid season morsals were very special because they had sufficient car time so they stick together like one big peanut and the aroma takes on a whole new concentration. I knew Jdub would be jealous. Thanks for thinking of me Anna!

Also racing were Fast Kate and Lesley fresh off some very impressive performances at Nature Valley with the Super Pros. Mimi was back trying her legs at the races this year as opposed to officiating. And then a huge surprise attendee was our PA teammate, Bellie. I just renamed her Miracle Mama . She's always been Mama but I added Miracle because good things always happen when she is around.

My race went like this...Lap 2 of 6, Lesely attacked had a little gap. I rolled to the front next to Fast Kate. A few riders began to roll up after Lesley. My attempt to tag on to the back was the first indicator that I had crap legs. I immediately drifted to the back of the field with what sounded like an asthma attack, ok maybe it wasn't my legs after all.

We turned the corner to hit the most difficult rollers on the course. I was still at the back looking for the "skinny side" of the peloton. This would be the side that looks the lightest (lbs.) so I could roll up and over. The strategy didn't work because in the middle of the hill some unnamed rider* (*stolen this from Plain Jane she always refers to the unnamed rider and I KNOW she's talking about me) crashed, jamming up about 10 of us. I had to unclip on the hill to get the bike around the silly mess. Another unnamed rider, big girl, riding for an out of area team, decided she would pick up her bike cross-style and run up the hill. I started laughing and suggested she go across the hill to clip in, it might be a little faster. Sure enough she caught me on the down hill side and began working together to catch the peloton. We chased for 1.5 laps and stayed about the same distance from the group. I give Miracle Mama credit for this next part. They neutralized the field to let the 50+ race go by. This would not have happened if she decided not to race! They restart the field, my legs feel funny from chasing. A few girls decide to ramp it up and a break was formed. I was able to hang in the field the rest of the race but it wasn't pretty. Our very own Lumpy rolled up on the back of our field from the 50+ race. I tried desperately to get him to bust a hole thru the field for the finish but it was a no go.

I offered up some advice to the other girls from last year's race when Goat had the move of the day, taking off on the last rollers and sticking it for the win. I believe she did the same in the field sprint this year! Congrats to Goat on a great well deserved GC win!

After my TT experience I decided nothing good could come of racing the crit. I heard it was brutal. Lesley made the final break and finished up strong in the GC. Fantastic job after 2 weeks of NRC/UCI racing. Big shout out to my buddy Janelle for a monster bridge to the break and a strong finish!

Thanks to Antietam Velo Club for bringing stage racing to the Mid Atlantic.

Free Joe Jefferson

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Tour of Washington Co - I won the TT!!

NOT!!!...
This was the most fun I've had in a while. I haven't done many race reports lately. I think they are covered pretty well. I haven't been inspired. Today was fun.
Here's what happened:
Fast Freddie wakes up at some crazy hour to make sure I'm ready to go for one of my favorite TT courses only 1/2 time (20k). Tires pumped, gears lubed and shifting like butta (PhilBillysm)...I'm off....
I drive 7miles to Boonsboro for a great parking spot near the start. Suffuciently caffienated I start unloading wheels, bike, etc. I notice my front tire is flat. Uh Oh....pump it up again and hear air shooting out of the valve....ok...brought the training wheels...no problem.
Warm up, feeling tired yet hopeful legs will go into auto-pilot after the start. Wondering how many seconds my clincher training wheel is going to cost me but happy to be on one of my favorite bikes.
I hit the start line, idle chit chat and I'm off. I love this course...UP and over the little rise and killin' the down hill...chasing one of the areas fastest ladies. I hit 2.5 mi. and I had that uh oh...not good...glance back and sure enough I have a rear flat...UGH.....
Bang a U turn and head back hoping to find a ride as to not ruin my wheel. No luck....

Here's the fun part. I limped back and rolled through the finishing cones and respectfully told the officials I was a DNF, rear flat. Evidently they didn't believe or hear me and I had finished in just enough time to send lots of GC'ers into a frenzie at the results table.

They scored my time as official. The fun part here were the calls I received congratulating me on my TT win from some of my good friends that didn't know I flatted and the laugh we got we I told them it was a mistake. THEN I got the calls about how extremely funny it was watching how other racers were acting...looking at an almost believable time... and they knew that I had flatted and not won and how wrong the results were.
The bike racing journey is always exciting. Most people that know me well know how amusing this day was given how I really felt about not being able to compete.

It's just a bike race....

Helmet mania...

I was looking for my TT helmet recently and this is what happened....How many different companies are here?

My all time favorite helmet EVER....is here . A proud sponsor of HPC powered by Altarum
When I received this lid the only adjustment necessary was removing the tags. This is a must have. As you can tell I have had some experience with helmets!

Monday, June 9, 2008

Storm Damage

After last weeks storm we were pretty lucky considering the craziness that went on just west of us in Washington County. There was not much media coverage on the damage but while pedaling around the area we passed about 4 insurance agents driving around with in a 10mi. area that looked like a tornado touched down. I heard that some houses were considered a total loss.

Fast Freddie with power tools

We lost a huge black walnut over our creek
He LOVES that chain saw

Family Stuff

Number one son, Alex and number two daughter, Alison were over to celebrate her birthday Fri. night. Chef Kelley served up a beautiful salad. Then came the skewers of veggies, shrimp, and scallops off the grill along with wild rice. We finished up with cheese cake and ice cream. Very tasty. Alison is off to St. Mary's College as a junior this fall. We did miss having daughter number one, Katie.




Twin cousins Emma and Alyson are all ready for their dance recital


If there were any doubt where my athletic ability came from, here you have it. My mom with the blue visor doing a duck impression and my dear Aunt Celeste with the towel over her favorite hat the reads "Redneck Woman". The ladies were rockin' it at Celeste and Roy's place on the Paxtutent River this weekend. Fun stuff.

Catching up ...

It's June and I have some catching up to do. Let's just jump right into last week's Tuesday Night Worlds....

Remember Ti Don from back in Feb.? Well, he's back training and riding like a crazy man.

So here he is as ...

The featured rider

Antietam Velo Club's own Ti Don was concerned about the rain last week. Not much else I can say except "you are who you associate with" does not apply in this case.