Success in Canada

After China, I returned to California for 2 days for washing clothes and repacking before boarding another flight to Canada for the GP de Gatineaux road race and time trial. 

Training ride in Parc de Gatineau

The next morning we went on a training ride in the Gatineau Park race. The park was super beautiful, with nice smooth roads and great views. The ride was good for testing the legs, which were definitely not liking it. 

View point (+thumb)

The road race the next day was 120km, 12 laps of a 10km circuit. My job was to protect my teammates, chase any dangerous attacks, or let any less dangerous attacks go to calm the peloton before reeling them back in in the later laps of the race. I stayed in front for most of the race doing my job, I even won the first prime, but at 100km my legs decided to stop listening to me. I managed another few last ditch efforts for my teammates, but then had nothing left to even stick with the bunch, so I had to let my teammates take over for the last 15km. I trundled around the course the last lap and a half by myself, catching glimpses of the bunch wherever the course doubled back on itself. All the time I was hoping that my teammates had stayed fresh enough for the finish and that our plan would work out.

Viewpoint from Parc de Gatineau

When I finally made it to the finish line I found my team waiting for me already, screaming and shouting and jumping in the air - our team had worked perfectly to plan with our team controlling the race in the last few km to put Shelley into position to win the sprint! What a great feeling it was to have played part in this success. 

Win for Team TIBCO!

One anti-doping control and a shower later, Team TIBCO spent the evening celebrating with a nice dinner and walk around in the warm summer evening in the buzzing town of Ottawa.

Then we had one day to recover before the TT, which was the same course as the road race, just the other way round. I did the best I could, but my legs were still fried. My teammates were flying though, with Chantal taking 3rd, Claudia 6th and Shelley 7th, while I had to be happy with a smack-bang middle of the field 16th. 

Straight after the race it was the usual procedure of quickly packing the bike and legging it straight to the airport for a flight back to SF.

The China experiment

A couple of weeks before Speedweek my DS asked me if I would be interested in going to China to race the Chongming Island Tour and World Cup at the start of May. If I would be interested? Well, of course!!! I've done World Cups in mountain biking before, but this would be my first road racing World Cup. Trying to organize a visa in time was nerve-wrecking but it all worked out fine and just in time.

After the last race of Speedweek I flew back to California where I had 10hours to quickly go "home", wash my clothes, repack and get back to SFO airport to fly to China via Korea. I arrived with my team late in the evening in our hotel on Chongming Island. Thankfully our mechanic (who was being harassed by the Chinese girls like a rock star) built our bikes, because the racing started straight the next day in the morning.

The Chongming Island Tour has 3 flat stages, on big straight roads, with few turns, and the team was riding in support of Shelley, our resident sprinter who had won the World Cup there the year before. It was funny, in the race book the profile was like a dead persons heart beat - exactly 3.5m above sea level.

Day 1 (passed by OK in good weather without any issues but also no results to write home about, it was a bunch sprint and we all stayed safe and arrived with the bunch. We were stared at by the locals a lot though, which was funny.

A bit dirty after Stage 2!

Day 2 was another flat day, but this time round in pouring rain. At least it was warm. I punctured less than 1km into the race with a big chunk of metal in my tire and had to chase back on. It took forever because I wasn't comfortable to cycling an inch behind the car, but I'm getting better. Then, trying to move up inside a corner, I had to brake and slid out on the wet, slippery tarmac. Thankfully I didn't take anyone else down and the bike was OK to ride, but I had to chase on again. Then, just after I had caught back on we got into a crosswind section and the pace went through the roof! Cursing myself for not having moved up further into the safety of the front I now had to fight tooth and nail to stay on that wheel in front in a peloton-long line out. Of course people let wheels go and I found myself in maybe the 3rd group on the road. Thankfully my teammates were in front, so I hoped they made it into the break. Our group chased hard to get back to the next group on the road, where I found 2 of my teammates, so only Shelley had made it into the break. Another group caught back on and the two big teams not represented in the break kept working hard in the front so that eventually they reeled in the break. A few crashes later (which I luckily avoided) it came down to another bunch sprint, with the front of the peloton coming down in a huge pile up just after the finish, where the surface was even more slippy.

Day 3 was a circuit race around the streets of the local village. We were going OK as a team, but couldn't finish it off in the last few and frantic kilometers, that included yet another crash. This was probably the closest I have raced within a peloton, with elbows and handlebars nearly touching, but it felt surprisingly safe.

Ready to go shopping in Shanghai!

After the last stage we spent some time in a market in Shanghai, haggling for handbags, shoes and watches.

View over Shanghai - it's a big city

Day 4: Recovery day and a nice ride around the island. It's a very organized island where trees are planted exactly the same distance apart.

Recovery ride with Cipollini

Day 5: World Cup. 130km or thereabouts in 40 degree heat. The start was in Shanghai, so we had a long transfer over from the island. The day was super hot. We all had our assigned tents and it was crazy how much media attention this event attracted. It was difficult to find a good time to put on chamois cream, without a camera filming, a microphone being pushed into your face or the riders being asked to pose for pictures. I've never experienced anything like this before. There was even a race helicopter! It was so hot we kept dumping water over our heads and put ice onto our necks and into our jerseys and helmets. My job during the race was to keep attacking, hoping to create a breakaway or at least to make some of the other teams work hard. I kept attacking left, right and center, but nothing stuck and I was chased down every time. Some other people were let go, but not me.

Another breakaway attempt

We had to go through an 8km tunnel, that was scary, then over a 10km bridge. I kept attacking throughout the race until the craziness of the last few km started. I hung back towards the finish, which was even more crazy today because someone at the front missed the correct turn and we went down the wrong road in the last km, had to scramble through a barrier and then start sprinting again towards the finish. It was chaos! For a race where everything else was organized so perfectly, it was unfortunate that this incident had happened.

Our Chinese translators - Roxanne and Sally or "salt and pepper" ;)

The next morning we were all back on a flight to California. Arriving back in California my short Chinese experience felt like waking up from a weird dream!

At the airport in Korea....

My results in China were:

Chongming Island Tour:
Stage 1: 65th
Stage 2: 57th
Stage 3: 62th
GC: 52th

Chongming Island World Cup: 77th

(Results found here).

I'll have two more blog posts coming up soon about my racing experience with Team TIBCO this year, covering my trip to Canada and the last few crits in the USA. Now I'll be resting up for the National TT champs tomorrow!

Learning the ropes in crit racing

Because of my inexperience with crits, my DS signed me up to do Speedweek. All I thought was - eurgh, a whole week of crits? How horrible!!! - whereas my teammate Sam, our crit expert, couldn't have been happier. But deep inside me I knew I needed it. What better way to learn how to race crits than a week of crit racing?

Skylar, Sam's little sister would join us in the races and the team would be supported by the Schneider sisters' dad Dave, so I was outnumbered by the Schneiders! Skylar is only 14, but races crits like a seasoned pro. My money's on her once she's allowed to race on adult gears.

The crits would be based all over Georgia and South Carolina and we started off with the Terrapin Twilight Crit in Athens, a buzzing student city. I was really nervous and the race was super hard, especially on the backside drag that stretched the field in every lap. But I managed to stay with the peloton for the first 20min, at which point I would have gotten dropped before. But I was told that the peloton eases off after about 20min, so I told myself to "hang in there". And then, just a lap or so later, the bunch did ease off ever so slightly and I knew I had made it. The time went up to 25min, then to 30min, and the laps went down. When I saw 7 laps left, I knew I would finish the crit without being dropped and I did! I was probably the happiest 36th position finisher ever.

Video of the pro men's Terrapin Twilight Criterium

This was the first pro-level crit that I didn't get dropped in and it completely reversed my dislike and fear of crit racing. I actually think this was the most fun racing experience ever. Racing in the dark, cornering so close to the barrier that you touched the zip tie that held the barrier together every lap, shadows racing over the tarmac and thousands of people out having fun in a warm summer night cheering on the racers - wow, I finished with such a high, I was a convert! I knew I had finally cracked crits and I actually couldn't wait for the next one!

The next crit, the Historic Roswell criterium, was in complete contrast to the Terrapin Twilight one. The sun and warmth had been replaced with pouring rain and cold temperatures and the racers were huddling together under a tree before the start of the race, trying to stay warm. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the Historic Roswell Criterium in the pouring rain and my teammate Sam got onto the podium for 2nd place.

Women's peloton in Roswell

After a long transfer from Duluth, Georgia to Beaufort, South Carolina on our rest day, the third criterium, the Coastal Empire Cycle Fest, was again completely different. It took place in a chilled town in hot weather right down at the beach and was super fast and super fun on a straight-forward 4-corner course. I managed to get into a group chasing the break, but the peloton caught us again and stopped chasing for the leaders.

Thanks to our host John!

The next day's Downtown Walterboro crit wasn't my type of course with tight roads and corners and a long back straight (and maybe it didn't help that the legs were tired), but on the positive side my teammate Sam won!

Teammate Sam on the top step in Walterboro!

After Walterboro we had another recovery (i.e. transfer) day to Greenville, a great cycling-mad town, where we spent our recovery ride with our hosts.

Next day's Spartanburg crit was probably my best performance (if you ignore the first half). The course became challenging by a slight drizzle, just the type that turns the road into a slippery ice rink. I nearly binned myself on a slippery rutty section on the road at the start. Several people slid out during the race. I took it easy for the first half, navigating safely and testing the corners. By the second half I was racing near the front in perfect position. My legs felt great and I was having super fun, being in the mix at the front. Unfortunately I let myself be pushed back in the later laps and just as I was making my way back up the front in the 2nd last lap some riders came down just in front of me and I was caught up behind the crash. Bummer!

Fun with the Schneider sisters :)

Another transfer back to our original host family in Duluth, we only had 2 more crits left, Belmont and Sandy Springs.

The Belmont crit was my worst one. I had a bad start and the pace was super fast for the first few laps (thanks, Sam!), with a steep hill on the course, making it hard to chase and move up into a safe position. The peloton was lined out all the way and I chased down too many gaps that riders let open in front of me before I could reach my teammate. By that stage a break had gone, but I had spent all my matches just to get into the safety of the front that I wasn't able to be of much help. Eventually my legs gave up on another high speed ascent up the central hill and I was dropped. Not fun.

The final crit of the series, Sandy Springs, was another hilly crit and my legs could have been better, but they could have been worse too. Straight after the finish, I had to pack my bike and make my way to the airport to catch my plane. Thanks to Holly for the lift to the airport and lounge access, so that I could have a shower before my flight back to SF!

Leading the peloton in Sandy Springs

The Speedweek was a something of a mad experience, a crazy whirlwind of ups and downs,  adrenaline fuelled racing, late nights and lots of traveling. I have learned so much during it and have come a long way in that week as a rider. I am very grateful to those that have helped along the way. I owe a big thanks to Dave for his support and mentoring during the races. All during Speedweek we stayed with amazing host families, so thanks to Edie and David and the kids, to Valerie, and to Jeni and John for sharing their homes and food with us and making us feel so welcome. I feel blessed to have met so many nice and supportive people!

Jeni with the 3 crit girls after a Mary Kay make-over!

My Speedweek results were:

• Terrapin Twilight Criterium - 36th
• Historic Roswell Criterium - 29th
• Coastal Empire Cycle Fest - 24th 
• Downtown Walterboro Criterium - 24th 
• Spartanburg Regional Classic - 36th 
• Belmont Criterium presented by Carolinas HealthCare System - 39th
• Global BMW Sandy Springs Cycling Challenge - 28th

First few races and team camp in California

After my false start in France (described in a previous post) I arrived in the US in March without racing legs, no idea about crit racing and went straight into a stage race (San Dimas) in 30 degree heat. I've described the race in previous posts for Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3. In short, my uphill TT wasn't too bad, but definitely not my best, I had left too much in the tank. I cramped 2 hours into the road race stage and had to roll around the rest of the course by myself, trying to stay within the time limit. I got dropped in the crit 15min into it. That was not a good start and my confidence was at an all-time low. Was I really that bad?

Nice training road near Ohai!

But you pick yourself up. After San Dimas we spent a few days training around Ventura, before moving on to our official team training camp in a super nice place in Carpinteria. There I met the rest of the riders and staff and everyone was really positive and encouraging and slowly I started rebuilding my confidence. We had fun during our official team photo shoot too!

Not a bad location for our training camp!

Team photo shooting!

Team portrait

Good (and in hindsight quite a lot of) training was had and it was nice to meet some of the people that make it possible for Team TIBCO to exist, our sponsors, with representatives from Fuji explaining their carbon framing, Shimano showing off the functions of the electronic shifting technology, Reynolds telling us about the importance of their patented Swirl Lip Generator during camp and us making the most of showing off our Rudy Project sunnies.

Team training camp!

Then we rode another stage race, the Redlands Classic. The TT at altitude was hard, and my time was below what I would have expected of myself (and surely my team had expected of me). The next RR stage was OK, my job was to control the race for the first 20km before the hill. I rode it a bit too hard and spent too much time in the wind and got dropped on the hill, but my job was done. Jo made the podium in 2nd place (after a controversial sprint finish with Alison Powers). I got dropped again in the crit the next day. I also got dropped in the last technical and hilly RR stage as did most of the peloton, just riding around the laps waiting to get pulled off the course. But it was great to see Claudia fighting with Mara for the stage win, Mara won, but Claudia won the mountains jersey and Jo managed to get onto the podium again for a third place, thus finishing 5th on GC. While I did my job, I was still not delivering the performance I was hoping for. But on the upside we were really lucky again with our host housing - our host mum was known and coveted amongst the racers, there's a competition each year of who gets to stay with her! No wonder, she was amazing and a great cook!

Beautiful Big Bear Lake at the start of the Redlands TT

Alison Powers passing me to go on and win the Redlands TT

My results were:

Stage 1 (TT): 35th
Stage 2 (RR): 70th
Stage 3 (Crit): 71st
Stage 4 (RR): 54th

Full race results can be found here.

After Redlands, we had part 2 of the training camp, visiting the factory of our clothing sponsor, Voler, which was super interesting and spend some more time training at the beautiful town of San Luis Obispo.

Voler factory visit

Lots of jerseys made by Voler

Ride with Voler staff

Training ride near San Luis Obispo

Finally, our training camp moved up California even further and we finished off with a visit to FRS in the Bay Area.

Team TIBCO visiting FRS

To improve my crit racing I entered the Santa Cruz crit solo where I snatched a 5th place, but the field was small with only a couple of pro-level riders so it was hard to judge my performance. I did get dropped in the men's masters 35+ Cat 1/2/3 race that I did just before the women's race, but I used my powertap in that race to see what kind of numbers I have to put out - you're either sprinting or cruising! I won 40$ and a T-shirt though and caught up with some Irish friends of mine!

Power data from the first 10min of the men's 35+ Cat 1/2/3 crit

Mel in Santa Cruz!

To find my racing legs, I entered another stage race solo, more known to the mtb crowd, the Sea Otter Classic at the Laguna Seca Mazda Racing track near Monterey. Ryan actually did his first ever mtb race there in 2006! But I didn't have good legs in that stage race either. Coupled with an 8am start for the crit that I nearly missed because of traffic and because I couldn't find my way around to the start I was dropped again. The RR stage was better, I felt I was getting better at my positioning in the peloton and liked the hilly course. The TT wasn't bad, but wasn't great either and had a lot of climb in it - some of the girls did it on their road bikes. And I should have really done a practice lap of the circuit race course on the last day - I got dropped after the crest of the climb when I let a gap open before the very fast corkscrew descent. But the buzz around the tent village was amazing, and the weather was great for the whole weekend. And I was so tempted to grab a mountain bike to do the mountain bike race, which was won by a roadie - Marianne Vos!!! On the plus side, I stayed with another wonderful host family in Pebble Beach!

Sea Otter Classic Tent Village at Laguna Seca

Beach along 18-mile drive at Pebble Beach - the Volvo team car got lots of attention! 

I made it onto Slowtwitch!

My results were:

Stage 1 (crit): 29th
Stage 2 (RR): 14th
Stage 3 (TT): 13th
Stage 4 (circuit race): 23rd

Full results from Sea Otter Classic can be found here.

All my USA racing results can be found on the USA Cycling website here.

My next blog post will cover my Speedweek experience - where I go from being dropped and hating crits to and not being able to get enough of and loving them!

San Dimas Stage 3: Criterium

This is a blog post I'd rather not have to write. On Sunday I rode my first real criterium - nothing what I have done before compares to what crit racing is like here in the US. It seems in the US crit racing is the bread and butter of any cyclist. In other words, I was in the deep end - and I drowned.

First of all, there is the race before the race. It is CRITICALLY important to start off as near to the front as possible. Fail 1, I didn't have the confidence to elbow my way into the front. Secondly, once the race starts, you have to be ready to go full eyeballs out. Fail 2. I just wasn't prepared for this and struggled at the back, trying frantically to make up a few places in the line-outs, letting myself be caught out in the accordion effect. By the time I had managed to get back on, there was another line out and without a breather I was burning all of my matches quickly. I managed to do this for about 15min before my match box was empty and I trundled around the course for another two laps chasing, but to no avail. My teammates, all super experienced crit riders, had a blast with Jo sprinting into 6th place.

So, I just need to pick myself up off the ground and look at the positives. First of all, my teammates, support staff and bike are all absolutely amazing. My team are being super supportive, even when they realized how much I still need to learn. I  had not been racing on the road since July 2012 (which was my first year concentrating on road racing) to finish off my PhD, and the road races and crits we do in Ireland are just not comparable with regard to bunch size and standard. So I'm just looking for my confidence in the bunch now. I think I'm being signed up for some local crit racing before my next big race with the team. Our team director Jeff is great, he's super experienced with racing himself, in fact, he won the last stage of the 1987 TdF - the year that Stephen Roche won the Tour! So I'm in good hands here. Our mechanic Josh has been keeping our bikes in superb working order. He has been washing our bikes every day, and believe me, there is not much dirt settling on them in these super warm, dry and sunny conditions. And I've never before had so much equipment choice before a race - do I want to race on a 25 or a 23 cassette? The 32mm rim or maybe the 46mm? I can only say that my bike (Fuji) always works perfectly, the wheels (Reynolds) are amazing and the electronic shifters (Ui2) make sure that we always have perfect shifting, thanks, Shimano!!!

Onwards and upwards!

Here's some photos from today's training ride:

My and my training partners :)

Beautiful scenery here around Ohai

Capturing the view

Todays climb and descent - super smooth roads and very fast on the way back!

San Dimas Stage 2 - Jo on the podium!

Whoah, my legs certainly didn't like that! Today was stage 2 of the San Dimas Stage Race, with about 70 women lining up for the 56mile road course (8 x 7mile lap). It was sunny and warm, about 27 degree Celsius. The course was a technical enough course around Bonelli Park, with one climb and kind of a long drag on the other side ends. Where the roads were wide they were bumpy, and on the climb they were narrower, but both nothing in comparison to Ireland. All big American teams had representation, including Lululemon, NOW & Novartis, Exergy, Optum, and of course Team TIBCO!

The speed wasn't too fast in the first lap, but then, on the descent of the drag, a crash happened on the bumpy roads, about 10 people down with yellow in it. All my teammates and I avoided it, but it essentially neutralized the race somewhat for teams waiting for their teammates and yellow to catch back on. This in turn meant that we were going to be caught by another group racing on the course, which delayed any decent action ever further as we had to let them pass. Finally, from about lap 3 there was a bit more action and attacks. Even I found myself off the front in a short-lived break one time. But for most of the race I was really just getting used to racing again, this being my first road race since July last year!

Then, on the 6th lap, my legs started cramping up, and calves and knees started locking up completely. There was nothing I could do but ease off and let the peloton go. I had 2 laps to go and the time cut was 5% of the winning time, so I just nursed myself to the finish as gingerly but as fast as possible to make the time cut. I made it, so I can race the crit tomorrow. But the real reason for celebration was for Jo: when I had finally finished, I was super happy to find out that my teammate Joanne had come 3rd on the stage! :) Go Team TIBCO!

First day of racing with my new team TIBCO!

Alright, so much has happened since my last update!

After the race debacle in Chambery my guest team returned back to Limoux, coinciding with the arrival of some of the European contingent of Team TIBCO. I was very happy to meet my new teammates Rushlee, Jasmin and Sam, who have been flying the flag high in the tough European Spring Classics. All the girls are super nice and still so young, but so experienced! It was great to spend some time with my teammates before I was flying to the US. The girls were stopping over in Limoux between races and my earliest flight back to Dublin was on Friday. I was lucky that Chris could give me a bike to train on, so at least I could keep training. The area around Limoux is absolutely beautiful, so I went exploring a bit. Unfortunately the weather turned from jersey and shorts to thermal gloves and shoe covers within a day and I found myself nearly blown off the top of a mountain in gale force winds and snow and when I started descending, the road turned into forest track, but I didn't really care as I was nearly dying of hypothermia at that stage...... I decided to go home the flat route instead of back over the mountain.....

Beautiful old stone houses in Limoux

Anyhow, after Limoux, I had a short stopover in Dublin, where I spend time washing and repacking and getting everything organized for my stay in the US. I even managed to squeeze in a mountain bike race in polar conditions on Paddy's Day, the last round of the Biking Blitz, which took place just on top of my mtb home training ground (it was the race or indoor threshold intervals, so the choice was easy). The weather was so bad that all road races around Dublin had been cancelled, and I didn't have a road bike anyway, so I was lucky this one still went ahead. I hadn't ridden my mtb in a long time, but I had a blast and really enjoyed the race. I was killing it on the climbs and taking it easy on the descents, as I had a flight to catch at 7am the next morning. And I nearly made it only the men's podium!

Having fun on the mtb before starting my road season with Team TIBCO (photo by Action Pictures Ireland)

On Monday morning I joined the long, hungover, post-paddy's day queues to get out of Dublin airport. One queue after another and they had already closed my flight after I had made it through snailpace security, but I wasn't the only one missing the flight, so they waited around for another few peeps to make it on. Same story in London, my Kindle got me into trouble at security and I nearly missed my connecting flight. After a long and uneventful flight I arrived in LAX, where the queues were just as crazy as I started with in Dublin. Finally I made it out, waiting outside for my husbands uncle, who was waiting inside.... we found each other eventually.

My new race machine is awesome! (It's got my training wheels on)

At his home my team bike was already awaiting me in a big box. I built it up the next day, eagerly wanting to try it out. It's my first Fuji bike and my first time with Ui2. What I didn't know is that for transport some of the cables of the electric shifting had been disconnected, so I couldn't shift and was stuck in one gear only! A trip to the bike shop and some explanation of how to use this cool piece of kit and I could finally go exploring on my cool new bike! I went to recce the TT stage of the San Dimas Stage Race, just up the hill on the Glendora Mountain Road, enjoying the weather and the amazing views over Los Angeles.

Grounding in the lake in Bonelli Park - until the coast guards told me off!

On Wednesday I went to do some more intervals up the TT course, to open up my legs after the long haul flight. On Thursday, I rode around the road stage of the SDSR, a nice technical course around Bonelli Park. The weather has been absolutely beautiful here and I've been cooling off my legs in the lake of Bonelli Park. And on Thursday I relocated to our host family who are kindly hosting me and my three teammates for the SDSR, in a beautiful house right beside the road course. So I finally met three more awesome teammates, Meredith, Amanda and Jo, all super experienced and decorated riders, so I knew I was in good hands.

I could imagine a worse workplace

Today was the first stage of the SDSR, the 6.84km uphill TT (384m of climb) up Glendora Mountain Road. The sun was beaming down, and here I was now, in this beautiful place, racing for one of the best pro-teams, living the dream, standing at the start line of my first race with the team this year. Wow, just a little overwhelming and I struggled to get into the right frame of mind for the pain of the TT. Well, I tried the best I could, staying conservative at the start, and probably a little too conservative as well at the end, I think I left too much in the tank, but hey, there's always room for improvement, right? I finished 13th, 0.3secs off 11th, 1min 50 off the winning time.

Tomorrow I have a 56mile road race, looking forward to it!