Blogs by Professional Cyclists - Professional Cycling Unplugged™

Boulder CX #2 was held at Interlocken Park in Broomfield, CO and boy was it a chilly early October day with thermostat hovering in the mid 20’s all day. BRRRRR. Winter cross weather!?!?! What?! It was a day to harded the body and that it did…fact! Good practice for later in the year I guess.

The course was an excellent combination of a little bit of everything…twists, muddy grass, a run up, sand pit, pavement, triple barriers…the works! Despite the weather, there was an excellent spectator turn out to boot. In my race I was all excited the first couple laps, but the cold hit me hard and there was nothing to do but practice skills and call it a good time after that. A good time it was…despite the cold conditions being a bit of a shock to the system. As I departed home the Hudz-Subaru guys where killin it with Matt of the front solo the entire race with Colby and Chuck right up there on the steps and Brad out for a race before the baby comes! Lance and Riis came out as well to spectate and hold jackets…always awesome to have a dedicated sponsor.

Great day and lookin forward to the big cross show coming up Halloween weekend..Boulder Cup!

(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)

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Posted under ROAD BIKE

Nature Valley Grand Prix
June 14th, 2009
Stage 6
Stillwater, MN

The Stillwater Criterium is the infamous final stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, and it is so for a reason. This “crit” can make or break the race with a 20ish% climb every lap. After Webcor’s disasterous day 2 and miraculous day 4 we were beyond fired up to help Alex hold on to anything and everything she had gained for the team. We knew it would be a challenge as Alex had put out a serious effort the previous day (only loosing 1 min on four laps of a hard circuit with Kristin Armstrong chasing HARD) but we were up for the challenge to try and keep our girl in contention.

The start line for the crit is at the base of this legendary hill, and being the nice day it was, the crowds were out in full force on the road screaming and waving flags. Awesome. Amped. Ready to go! The first hill probably hurt worse than any other time up, but we were off and doin well. Armstrong was gone by the second lap with 2 other riders–Dovorak and Olds–but that was the least of our worries. Making sure that Alex and Powers (3rd on GC, only a second behind Al) were in the same group with out gaps was the goal. With Nikki, Katheryn, Erinne and I all looking out, damage control was fairly easy to monitor. The pace stayed high everytime up the climb however and nearing the final 1/4 of the race, the previous day’s efforts took their toll on Alex. She gave everything she had though and there is no way you can give up on someone willing to give so much. Erinne and I were the last ones remaining to try and keep the time loss to a minumum and we did our best. Even though we couldn’t hold onto the gains we had incurred the previous day, we went down fighting and it was one of those days that you are really proud to be part of such a great team.

To better luck for the future. We are all already psyched for Cascade!!!

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Posted under ROAD BIKE

Everyone has their own reasons for liking one race or another, but Nature Valley Grand Prix always holds a special place for me because it is the best stage race in the Midwest. I grew up on the mean streets of Chicago about 9hrs south of Minneapolis, so as a Midwest native, NVGP has always had an unmatchable allure. Since 2004 I have raced at NVGP four times now and watched the race evolve to greatness. The courses seem to get a little harder with near perfection in terms of difficulty at Mankato and Stillwater, a cool dirt section leading into Cannon Falls, downtown crits, and straightforward time trial that brings out the best. The evolution of the race this year is to have the TT as the first stage which is awesome as now we will go into stage 2’s Downtown St. Paul crit (after the TT in the morning!) with the GC already in the works.

I am excited for NVGP as well because it will be the third stop on the Women’s Prestige Series where I am currently leading the Best Young Rider competition. I’m determined to win the Best Young Rider in MN this round as well! My team will be arriving to Minneapolis in good spirits after the completing a run up of races in Montreal and Philadelphia the weeks before hand. None of our riders are from MN, in fact only four of us are American with 2 Canadians and 2 Australians rounding out the roster, however our beloved sonigeur Jeremy lives in Minneapolis so we can consider it a hometown race for him.

Life gets interesting on the road all the time but in reality it is the reason why the sport holds such a great allure. I sit on planes going here or there and it can become mind boggling at times, but you really learn a lot about yourself quite quickly as well. I am 23yrs old now and have been on the road racing like this pretty much since I was 18. I am from Chicago and that is where my mom, pa, grandpa, sister, dog, cat, coach, home friends, ect live so I try to go back when I can, especially in the fall when I have some downtime and build time into the following season but that time is short…this fall I set a record for my self being home for an entire 3 months straight! Once I need to ride more I make my home in Tucson, AZ. Throughout the season I go home when I can but then find myself here and there wasting days between races in New Mexico or Arkansas, or in places like Boulder, CO where I’m spending a couple quality weeks between race blocks (that is where I am as I type this sentence). Ah the life. Sometimes it gets hard to keep the story straight however as I forget where I have been or where I am going. The most comforting way to deal with the constant change is to just be happy where I am at the moment…and I listen to a lot of music because my favorite songs are always the same no matter where I am.

On that note it is time to become productive with my day as I can only sit around writing sweet nothings and drinking coffee for so long…

CYA at the races soon!

Thanks,

Rebecca Much

(4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)

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Posted under ROAD BIKE

May 2nd, 2009

On behalf of the World Bicycle Relief I was honored to present a very special award to an incredible person at the Tour of the Gila’s downtown criterium this year. World Bicycle Relief is a non-profit that was started by SRAM in an effort to change the planet through the power of bikes. Our current project has provided over 50,000 bicycles to the people of Zambia to aid in economic development, healthcare, and education.

As racers, we ride bicycles for sport, health, and fitness. In Zambia people can run entire businesses off the back of a bicycle and can shorten a 12mile, 4hour commute by foot to only an hour by bike. In the spirit of this great initiative World Bicycle Relief recognized Michelle Geels for her efforts in making the 2009 Tour of the Gila an incredible success.

Michelle is one of the co-directors of the tour and has been coordinating various aspects of the race the past 21years. Despite battling colon cancer Michelle was out at the courses everyday making sure everything ran flawlessly. Without Michelle the Tour of the Gila would be at a serious loss—thank you Michelle for your amazing hard work!

For more information on World Bicycle Relief please visit us at: www.worldbicyclerelief.org

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Posted under NON-BIKE, ROAD BIKE

The Tour of the Gila is a 5 day stage race in Silver City, New Mexico. There is a small amount of altitude here and a lot of dry heat. The first stage consists of a 73 mile road race is a mostly downhill/rolling course that ends on a 6 mile climb with sections that run as steep as 18%.

Webcor’s goal for the day was to put pressure on race contenders from other teams so once the race got going we started launching attacks. Amy, Alex, and Gina got the ball rolling for quite some time giving it a go one after another.  There were moments when each of our 3 riders appeared to have gotten clear and would possibly make it to the base of the climb in a small group but because of either a lack of cooperation from break mates or a strong chasing field no one got clear initially. At about the ¾ mark of the race Nikki and I joined the attack efforts while Katheryn conserved in the field. With 5 Webcor riders attacking, Gina finally got clear with 2 other girls—Rachel Heal (Colavita) and Hillary Billington (Lip Smackers)—when she rocketed up the side of a rise.

Once Gina and her group got clear, Karen instructed Nikki and I to attempt to bridge so we would have more numbers to start the final climb. It took a couple tries, but eventually there was a lull in the field and I attacked with purpose. I got clear with no troubles and spent the next little while bridging up to Gina who waited patiently for my arrival. It was pretty exciting to reach Gina with only 9 miles to the base of the climb but that left a lot of work for our fearless chief. She drilled it up and down every rise and decent to the turn off for the climb until she was cross eyed and then it was my turn to take over. With about 6 miles remaining I gave it a little extra where the climb began to drop the remainder of the break and then I was on my own. Long time up hill alone!!! I tried my hardest and gave it my all, but the steep sections killed me and around 2 miles to go Kristin Armstrong passed me. It all ways an honor to get tromped by an Olympic champion and I tried to hang on to her but it was only in vain. The next group to catch me happily contained Katheryn with 2 other girls. I watched Katheryn pull away from her companions so I was pleased to see her lock up 2nd place on a wicked climb. A group of 3 Vaule Act girls were the next to catch me and as we approached the line I was officially toast! I think I held on for 8th or so and I couldn’t stand at the finish—first time experience.

The rest of the team rolled in strong with Nikki and Alex both in the top 20 and Amy and Gina just shortly there after since they had demolished themselves prior to the climb. Today was a great team effort and we are excited to be in 2nd place overall. There are still 4 hard days remaining!

Photo ©: Mitch Clinton/www.clintonphoto.com

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Posted under ROAD BIKE