Blogs by Professional Cyclists - Professional Cycling Unplugged™

Well Team camp is almost done!  Let me tell you it’s been a long 2.5 weeks.  Today is the last hard day; TTT efforts on the Tour of the Gila TT course.  We do so many TTT work on this team it’s insane, I guess that’s what I gotta live with, riding on the coattails of arguably the worlds greatest TTT team ever assembled.  I don’t see myself as a poor Time Trialer by any means but it’s all I can do to just hold the wheels as Tuft, DZ nuts, VdV and others pin it!  They go hard and I stay behind just to make sure their brakes aren’t rubbing or anything, that’s my job!

The cool thing is that the entire team is growing together.  I’m way stronger this season, yet so is everyone else, so comparatively I’m the same as last year.  That means we should be lighting it up this season.  The average here is about 3000 kj’s per day including rest days!  My breaking point came 3 days ago when we had a race simulation.  The plan was 50k of racing with rules on how many you could drop on your team… well I think JV got a little bored in the car because we pulled over with 3 hours to go and JV said, “$1000 to the winning team, GO!”  The funny part is I heard everyone grumbling because when someone throws money out like that, you know it’s automatically going to hurt more than it should.  Well we lost, but the benefit of imploding myself was not lost.  I led Tommy D out up the first climb, and was torched the rest of the day. He won, but Peterson, DZ ad Svein were 2,3,4. So they won the team race and the spoils along with it.

left: The String Bean Band, Cozza actually bought their CD!

Other than riding everyday, I’ve been busy enough.  I finished season 3 of Dexter, I’m halfway through studying for my Scuba certification, and we hit up downtown Silver for inauguration day!  The entire city was in this coffee shop and they had a hillbilly band with guys playing banjos and even a washboard!  Cozza and I danced with great enthusiasm and poor style.  Sunday is Super Bowl and I’m so stoked for the Steelers, they’re like my second home team because I spend so much time in Pitt.  That’s also the last day of training, so we’ll finish a good ride and instead of a normal lunch we’ll binge on nachos and beer!  Wish I’d be there with Dy for the riots, err, public displays of celebration.  She’ll have to have fun because when I’m stuck in a hotel, I live vicariously through her, haha.  On a final note, my brother and roomie Julian Kyer just got a gig with Trek-Livestrong, Congrats! But now I’ll have to crash and drop him…

left: My new D2 shoes, more breathable and more argyle!  Just showed up a week ago.

(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Posted under NON-BIKE, ROAD BIKE

Whelp, its Track Camp #2 now in sunny Los Angles, California and man is camp a great time. The goal of this camp is really to kind of unite “Team USA” riders from all ages and places, a great goal if you ask me. We have a bunch of junior and U23 boys here along with myself and a few other roadie women and a couple track girls too. The whole lot together is really entertaining and I think everyone is feeding off of each other’s enthusiasm.

Last Track Camp back in Decemeber I beat fellow Two Wheel Tales writer Lauren Franges to posting about camp and so I have to beat her to it again but I promise that I am not stealing her material as we have had some great and funny times here which she will go further into and I think she might even have pictures to go along with it all whereas I am just typing to beat her to the punch.

I left Chicago last week after a solid 2 weeks of riding the trainer as we had loads of snow and below freezing temperatures so the only way I was getting outside was to walk Porsche. My sister and I went to a lot of Bikram yoga during these trying times and after doing so much yoga for 2 weeks my last day I had someone ask me if I was a gymnast. That was the highlight of my year. No, I am a biker I said and yeah…I had one great day of flexibility due to indoor confinement. It may never happen again but at least it happened once and it was a good note to leave home on.

Enjoy and eagerly anticipate Lauren’s post on camp. I am off now.

Bye.

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Posted under ROAD BIKE

 When the hotel shuttle driver drove into an area of what appeared to be abandoned warehouses I wasn’t sure what to expect of Ray’s indoor mtb park, but as I stepped inside I was floored!  This place is amazing.  It is a seemingly endless park full of pump tracks, berms, ramps, teeter totters (sp?), jumps and technical lines.   Walking in I was definitely a little intimidated by all the baggy shorts and skilled riders, but luckily a friend Tim was there to take me on a lap of the park.

 I flew in Friday night arriving at the park at 7pm…without my bike. The last time I saw it was as I put it through customs and got the thumbs up.  Well thumbs down for the no show.

 I entered the park on a bike borrowed from Ray.   Thanks Ray! So way wider bars, different brakes and shifters, sneakers and flats and of course my spandex I headed into the park.  It only took a couple runs to forget that I might look out of place and get totally absorbed in the Park.   I was smiling like the kid on the playground I was.   None of the riders had attitude, they were all just there to hang out and have a good time.

Emily, Me and Judy

I got in a couple runs that night and headed back to the hotel to hang out with the other girls and hope my bike would show.  No luck.  At 10 am the next morning the airlines still had no clue where it was.  This is my Olympic bike no less.

 What can you do, but borrow shoes and some spd pedals to be a bit more comfortable and go race the borrowed bike?  We got in some more runs in the am and then it was time to race! 

 The race was a TT.  If we fell off a technical line we were penalized 15 seconds.  Judy Freeman was up first and pulled off a fast 9 min 41 over the 4 lap and 7 technical line course.  No dabs.  I was up next.  First lap was good and I started feeling it.  Heading into the technical lines you had to bring back your heart rate and focus for the skinnies.  Clean.  Another couple laps and skinnies and it’s all going well.  I head into last lap and I hear there’s a 2 second difference between Judy and I.  Not sure in who’s favour.  I clean the last technical line with a grin and head out for the final lap.  All’s good till an innocuous corner going into a ramp and I get distracted and dab.  Gotta giver now.  I cross the finish 1 second behind.  Darn!

 Next up is Melissa Thomas.  She cleans it, but is a ways off our times.  Lindsay bishop puts out another clean run.  Everyone’s riding so well!  Emily Batty is last up and looking good.  She’s flying and shaving seconds off of Judy and I each lap.  Then on line 4 she flies off course, grabs her bike and is back on…and still 1 second ahead after the penalty!   She burns off another hot lap and takes the win in a time of 9.36 and $1200 first prize!

Triflow was the major sponsor and Ray arranged for great prize purses all to be paid in $1 bills.  So we each got a stack of cash and a cool trophy.  Mountain Bike action was there and got lots of great shots so keep an eye out for an upcoming article!  

 Long story short you gotta come ride this place whatever your ability level!  You’ll have a blast, won’t get any attitude and will come out able to pump your bike better, catch air and ride tricky lines with confidence.

Lindsey takes the elevator

 Saturday night and Sunday were all about having fun with a big dinner out and then getting Jimmy and John from MTB action and photographer Ron sellers out riding.  Putting their equipment away, they joined us for a day of riding.  It was a wicked event.

 Special note: Ohio area women you have to get to Ladies weekend!  Feb 20 the park is shut down for just women.  Last year they got 300!  The rest of the weekend is half price and bike rentals are just $10.  You won’t regret it.  In fact I think you’ll all love it!

(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)

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Posted under MTB: ENDURANCE, ROAD BIKE

Where was I….?? I think my last post finished with stage 3. We felt good about where we were sitting in the GC. While taking the yello jersey would have been great, as a team we knew that it would be tough to defend. So, we started stage 4 thinking about how to make Jeremy have as easy a ride as possible going into the stage 6 individual TT….

Stage 4 was a lollipop shaped circuit race. At first the race bible stated that the race would finish on the circuit. At some point, in typical race organizer fashion, it was decided that we would race back into the town we had started in. Lucky for us, the organizers decided to use a different route, so as racers we had no idea where we were going. Great….

The break went as we hit the circuit for the first time. We put Justin Kerr into the move and had hopes he could pull off a victory. Justin was told to sit on because there was a rider about 2 minutes back on the GC also in the break. I told Jeremy to take it easy and my other teammate for this season, Pete Latham, to be ready for the finish if the break came back and also save some energy for the afternoon crit. This meant that I rode the front with the GC leaders team to control things. 100km later, we had the break exactly where we wanted, about 50 seconds ahead of the main field. This meant we could see the cars following the break, which got the local guys excited and they started to ride HARD!!! Our plan of letting the break stay away was out the window and it was full gas towards the finish line. About 15 corners later, Pete came through with a 2nd place and Jeremy was 5th. It was a hard morning for all of us, but another stage down towards the TT….

Now, dont get me wrong, I am not judging kiwi’s or their races. But, having a afternoon crit 2 hours after the longest stage of the tour is dumb. I knew that the GC leader was really strong and aggressive, so the plan for the crit was to keep Jeremy out of trouble and make sure the leader didnt go up the road. It was a windy day and that just added to our workload. The leaders team had shown they were strong and wouldnt hold back to keep the jersey. It was a intense 60 minutes that included several attacks by the leader going across to a small break and me and Jeremy working to bring it back. Eventually the end came and several hooks later, we made it to the finish line with no time gained or lost. The work was done, Jeremy just had to ride his best the next morning…..

The stage 6 TT was probably the hardest TT I have ever done. Maybe it was the workload in the previous 5 stages, but I suffered badly and knew about 1 minute into my personal effort that Jeremy would win and I should save everything for, in typical kiwi style, another afternoon crit. I was correct in my thought process because Jeremy won….!! But, not by enough to take the jersey. I have to say that I was disappointed because all I could think about was that maybe I could have done more to help him. The TT finished and Jeremy was still 16 seconds out of the lead. With a stupid hard afternoon crit to come, we knew that it would be a really tough win to take….

2 hours later we are standing at the start line of the crit. After sacrificing all week for Jeremy and GC goals, we were 6th on the team GC which was the call up order for the 750 meter crit complete with 5 corners and a 180 degree turn. It was probably the worst course for a rider like me, a professional donkey = no sprint. We pushed and shoved and after the neutral lap, another kiwi thing I think, we got Jeremy into the top 10 where he stayed for the duration of the race. I was able to get up there a close a couple of gaps, but Jeremy had great legs all week and he was fine sitting in the wheels. I wish we could have really made the leader work for it, but he was part of a Aussie pro team and had personally beat 2 Team Columbia riders the week before. I knew the whole team was peaked and at the end of their season. We did the best we could….

Pete, Jeremy and I are just at the start of our 2009 season. Today we fly to San Francisco and then are up to Santa Rosa for training camp. It will be great to see all the guys again and congratulate them for awesome racing in Argentina. For updates about the team and schedule of races, please check out www.bissellprocycling.com. Thanks….

(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)

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Posted under ROAD BIKE

 But I thought I’d give it a go.  Three years ago, 1 season of skate skiing under my belt and 4 days of classic skiing, my husband Keith and I decided to enter a pursuit loppet ski race.   The race started with 15km of classic skiing, a quick ski swap and then 15km of skate skiing.   I was sore for a week.

 We vowed to actually learn how to ski well before entering another ski race.  Three years later, the memory of that loppett and the pain it entailed where hazy enough in our memories to give it another go.  We signed up for the same loppet, now with 4 seasons of skiing, but with the added pressure of being an Olympian. I should be fast right?  I scoured my closet for my least auspicious racing clothes, a tough battle in a closet full of nice flashy race kits.

 The 5 am wakeup signalled the start of an adventure.  A slightly sketchy drive, with a bit of sliding on black ice and we were in Kelowna at the Telemark Nordic centre.

 This time round rather than eyeing up the 60+ or overweight crowd as my competition and feeling petrified I looked around for the fast looking girls, just in case.  I found a couple decked out in skinsuits, one from the New Zealand National team.  Hmmm.  Didn’t expect that, but does that really alter today’s outcome? Let’s be realistic here.  We had goals.  Keith’s was to not finish last …by as much and mine was to move up from 3^rd last and actually be able to train the next week.

 We lined up for the start on our classic skis.  The gun goes and we’re off.  Up the first climb people are out of the tracks and running up the hill –yes running – full tilt. Dang people can start hard!   Feeling confident in my ability to push myself harder than most people can without blowing I just kept pushing the pace and could actually see one of the skinsuit clad women!  The tucking advice Keith had given me, combined with an mtb racer mentality helped me pick off people on the descents.  The long climb helped me find my stride and push my fitness.  A couple tight turns, a bit of an exciting  crash, more turns and at just over an hour, after a fierce double poling battle with an older gentleman I was entering the transition area to swap boots, skis and hopefully some fluids.  The hole grasping a bottle with poles strapped on is a skill that evades me.  (Feel free to leave pointers for me!)

 I was in 3^rd with no clue how far ahead the two skinsuitted racers were as I headed out onto the skate portion.  Keith was close behind me.  The conditions were good, but the traffic ahead of me had left big scars on the steep climbs.  On some we resorted to a glorified herring bone.

 I chased the idea that women were close ahead and soon enough I was coming across other racers, picking off some guys and then, yes, that orange skin suit is one of the women.  And I was gaining on her.   Another woman, one of the relay racers, was between us and I was able to pace off her to reel in the skinsuited girl –see this is why I didn’t want auspicious clothes, you’re too much of a target!  Now in second I ventured to attempt eating and drinking.  Slowly but surely I downed some Luna sport and cliff shots to prevent fading and stayed upright in the process.  Hard to the finish and I was able to claim 2^nd on the day, a solid 10 minutes off the kiwi.

Didn’t get any pictures but check out this ski video.  Super hilarious.  I didn’t look like them on the climbs, but maybe at the finish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc8ppRiobus‏

 Keith and I both met our goals, he wasn’t even last and had an epic battle with the winner of the 70+ category –which he proudly won by launching a punishing attach as he jokes the other man had to adjust his pacemaker.

 Loppet organizers know how to hold an event.  There was a great community feel at the free chilli and soup lunch with loads of homemade cookies was well received.

 Next up the Triflow indoor xc challenge at Ray’s mtb park in Cleavland Ohio.  Yes that’s right I’m racing my mountain bike in a warehouse. Should be interesting.  Stay tuned!

(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Posted under MTB: ENDURANCE, NON-BIKE, ROAD BIKE