Today's Lunch Break

Just thought I would share with you some photos of the setting of my lunch break today...and some friends who REALLY wanted to share some of my lunch. Maybe tomorrow I will bring them a special little treat!

Huh.

Huh. And I thought that I was Goth in high school. I would have been schooled by these two!!!

Grandview Grand Prix

I love this race. I mean it...I absolutely LOVE this race. I did it for the first time last year and managed to get 3rd from a break that lapped the field. Ever since then, I have been looking forward to racing this one again. It is just such a GREAT course, and such a great field, that it's a high point of the race season for me. Today was no different.

The field today was stacked - Cassie King, Collen Gulick, Dana Walton, Christine Fennessy, Cheri Fager, us...just to name a few.

Though the road surface at Grandview needs some serious tending...the course is awesome. As is our tendency, Alaina and I spent a lot of time at the front...throwing attacks, chasing EVERYTHING that went, and pushing the pace. I ALMOST got away with two to go. There was a prime with 3 to go, which Cass won. Once we got her back, I launched off the front and pulled away from the field. After coming up through the final turn, I realized that I had a rider on my wheel. We had a decent gap with two to go and probably could have held it, but she refused to work. When I finally got her to pull through, she really slowed up. By the time I got back in front of her and pushed the pace, the field was on us and our chance was gone. I was pretty bummed, but decided to just sit back in and grit my teeth for the sprint.

I had a bad turn through the final corner, but still managed to pull a good sprint out of my butt and move up a few spots to finish 6th. Robin was 12th, Alaina was 8th and Mitch was 2nd!!! YAY! All in all, a REALLY good day for CAWES.

We also met some AMAZING people at the race. For the first time this year, they had a hand-cycling category. There were 26 riders pre-registered for this race and it was really awesome to see them out there. They were truly inspirational individuals who had overcome a variety of disabilities, injuries, illnesses, etc. and have embraced their lives and their sport. We had the opportunity to talk to Chris Kaag and his wife Gretchen, who founded the IM ABLE Foundation. They have dedicated themselves to working with disabled individuals to get them set up with hand bikes or other equipment to move (literally!) past their handicaps. We cheered for Chris during his race - it was pretty cool to see them JAMMING it out there - and hope to work with him and Gretchen when we do our Special Olympics Juniors Day out in September.

Worst Names in Sport

My dearest Sara, you asked for it...so, here it is...

Now, please understand that I have nothing against these riders, this is purely a name game.

#1 Rémy de Grégorio...sounds like a name for a really fancy, really stinky men's cologne. Or a bad guy in a James Bond movie.

#2 Brent Bookwalter. Hey, wasn't that one of the characters on The Simpson's? Maybe their librarian or someone on the Channel 6 news with Kent Brockman?

#3 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui....because, really, how do you even say this name?
#4 Koos Moerenhout....????.....I've got nothing.
and finally....

#5 Vladimir Karpets. He may have one of the worst names in the tour, but he has the BEST mullet.

Sara, I hope you enjoyed this! ;)

Great Names in Sport

I have always believed that there was something to having the perfect name. A name that would strike fear into the heart of your competition. A name that sounds great when announced over a loud speaker as you speed through the start/finish line. Usain Bolt. For a guy that runs the 100 meter dash, it doesn't get much better than that, right?

So, I've decided to put together a list of my favorite names from the Tour de France. Some are chosen because they are, quite simply, wicked. Others, because they are simply so fun to say or they give you a fantastic mental picture...

Names that just sound cute:

Linus Gerdemann....where's your blankey, Linus...and where's Charlie Brown!

Sammy Sanchez...yep, he is as cute as his name...

Names that are fun to Say:

Juan Antonio Flecha - Flech-Ah....

Rein Taaramae - just rollllls off the tongue!

Amets Txurukka....pronounced something like Chu-ru-kah....awesome.

Names of guys that you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley....cause they'd kick your butt:

Pavel Brutt...'nuff said.

Lars BOOM!

Bram Tankink...he'll steam-roll you!

And, of course....

THOR Hushovd...the God of THUNDER and really fast Cycling!

So, that's it...my favorite names of the Tour. Keep riding, keep watching, and keep ringing those cowbells, folks! The boys still have to make their way through the Pyrenees.

New Life

My new life is consumed with dissertation research. This is a GOOD thing. I am getting so much work done (except for right now, as I post to my blog!) and finding excellent sources, fun tidbits to include in my paper, and just generally enjoying my time with the books and my paper. I have written more in the last two days than in the last two months, so that is a huge movement forward! Plus, I am working in an amazing space. The library, rare book room, and archive here at Winterthur are fantastic. The staff is so helpful and knowledgeable about EVERYTHING in the collection, it's kind of wonderful. But, really, how can you not be productive when surrounded by this....



So, for a while, it's just me and my kids...studying them, how they were perceived in their lifetimes, how they died, how their deaths were commemorated by their parents, and how mourning practices included these small folks...

Well, back to work for me....

Racing at the Capitol

To be honest, I was NOT looking forward to this weekend of races. I was feeling really tired from Fitchburg and really sick of traveling. I didn't want to spend another couple of hours in the car, I didn't want to leave the house again, and I just didn't feel like racing. One thing I did feel like? Being with my teammates. I miss those girls when I don't get to see them for a while, and I was really looking forward to racing with Robin again (she's been hard at work on a trial and not able to train and race with us!).

So, with a tired heart, I got up early Saturday morning, got my gear together, and waited for Alaina to pick me up. Things began looking even more distasterous as we spent the entire 3 hour drive to Hagerstown for the MABRA championships in the pouring rain. Fantastic.

However, once we arrived, it was like Hagerstown had borrowed Morey's dome from Wildwood. The sun was out and the humidity was lower...it was looking like a beautiful day for a bike race. The field was strong - Heidi Goldberg, Laurel Larsen and Emma Swatman were there and Sara Caravella decided to show up. Whee!

It was NOT an easy race. There were attacks thrown right from the start - people were really interested in making this a real race. We had a GREAT race. We were really smart - sending Alaina off in a break a few times, launching some strong attacks, and covering everything that looked like it was going to go. At one point, Emma had taken a flyer and I started to chase her back in. Once I got to her, I just gunned it and kept going. I got away and a few minutes later Iliana Knopf bridged up to me. With 7 to go, we were off the front. We held the break until the start of 1 lap to go! :( Sara had decided that she wanted to bring us back...and she did. The field came around and I sat in, hoping for a decent shot at the sprint. I lost a bit of positioning on the last corner, but held on for 8th overall and 6th in the 1/2 field. Sonja was 3rd, which was a great finish. Emma won the Cat 3 championship and Sara won the 1/2.

I felt GREAT being in the break and have been dying to get into one for a while. I really had hoped that it was going to stick - and we worked like dogs to make it happen. Still - I won $25 and a case of beer, so I can't complain! ;)

Sunday was the Capitol Crit. What a neat race! We literally turned a left-hander on the course and come down Pennsylvania ave toward the Capitol building and then make a 180 degree turn to head back to the start/finish. So neat to race in the shadow of the FBI building and Capitol Hill. The whole team was on hand for this one, which was great. The field, again, was really strong. Kenda had a whole squad out in force and Laura McCaughey and Rebecca Wellons showed up, just to keep it interesting! of course, we also had Leslie Jennings, Erin Silliman and Amanda Watson, among others.

The race was nice and speedy again. There was a nice uphill block on the course that could have been significant, but really played only a minor role. Rebecca and Loz launched a lot of attacks in various places on the course. Sonja also launched a few - as did Emma. A lot of other riders sat in and just held position - including me!

With 2 to go, Jay yells at me from the sideline, "Go, Sarah! NOW!" So, I went. I shot up the hill and into the 2nd turn. I really didn't get away at all, but I did managed to string things out and keep anyone else from launching. I was hoping that Sonja would either sit in a good position and wait out the finish, or launch herself at some point to see what might happen. She took some major risks on the last lap to try to get away, but it came down to a bunch sprint. Loz took the win with Sonja in 9th and I was 13th (I think). We didn't wait around for official results, so we'll just have to see when they get posted.

So, despite my poopy attitude on Friday night and Saturday morning, bemoaning that I had to go race, it was a fun weekend. As always, we LOVE getting the chance to stay with Badger and Jay - who are the BEST hosts and welcome us so warmly into their home on the weekends. It was nice to share my beer win with them and I can't wait to hang with them again!

Nice job this weekend, CAWES! :)

Fitchy - the Crit

I was pretty determined this year to have a decent Crit race. Now, I am not really a crit rider. I get a tinge twitchy in packs and always end up surfing the back end of the field in an attempt to survive to the finish. But, if I can finish and feel good about the race, then I am typically satisfied. Especially in this case. After all, I was unable to finish the Crit last year, and I had been experiencing a pretty up and down weekend as it was. I wanted to end on an "up." For me, an "up" was simple....finish with the field.

The race started out as expected...fast, but not screaming. This was aided by the fact that it was nearly 97 degrees when we started racing. Geez...it was HOT. The course felt better this year, although I still found that I would lose ground coming through the downhill section and gain ground on the uphill - I think I relax too much when I'm going downhill. I need to work on PUSHING the downhill sections as hard as the uphill ones. But, I digress.

The race had some punchy spots where Colavita or someone else drilled it at the front. But, on the whole, I thought that it was a lot like Somerville. It was doable. I surfed the back, in typical fashion, for the race, and managed to finish with the field! YAY!

It's weird that even though this was an NRC race, there are literally no photos anywhere. Nothing on Velonews or Cycling News, and I haven't been able to find many in other places either. If anyone had photos...let me know! :)

I took some well deserved time off this week and started my research Fellowship at Winterthur. Very excited about both of these things and am working hard and finding awesome stuff in my research so far. Can't wait to get this thing DONE!!

Fitchy, Day 2 and 3

The road race was yesterday. It was not good. That's really the best way that I can put it while still maintaining a PG-13 rating on my blog.

It was 3 hours and 20 minutes of pain and agony and complete bonkage. I was feeling okay at the beginning, but really ran out of gas (literally) towards the end. The last 5 k seemed to go on forever, and I actually thought that I might have to put a foot down on the way up the final climb on the last lap.

The race went a lot like last year - steady state from the start with a ramping up the big climbs - I stayed with the field on the first two laps, getting popped the 2nd time up the climb. I found myself in a good group of willing chasers, who managed to use lap 3 to get back to the field. We weaved our way through the caravan (thank you Tina, for yelling for me out of the Colavita car!), and caught back on in part because the field was neutralized for the Men to come through. Once we were back on and the neutralization was lifted, all bets were off and the girls were hitting it. I managed to stay with them until the next set of climbs and I was cooked. I think it was the massive effort to catch on just to be back with a group that was rockin' that just burned through a few too many matches. Add to that the fact that I didn't feed/eat enough and the bonk was inevitable. I lost a boatload of time, and was feeling really down in the dumps. But, a good juicy steak for dinner and a pep talk with the Big G and I was feeling better and ready to hit the Time Trial today.

The TT is really a fun race. The course is rolling - mostly down hill on the way out and mostly up hill on the way back - and can be really fast. The weather conditions were PERFECT today. It was overcast, not too warm (even though the weather channel called for temps above 90), and there was very little wind. I admit that I was a bit more conservative than I should have been, but I was very worried about blowing up again - not sure how my legs were going to feel today. I really just wanted to have a strong, steady ride so that I would be ready to hit the crit tomorrow.

And, I did! I had a really good ride today. I managed to finish 48th out of 77 starters today with a time that was 2 minutes faster than last year. Take into consideration that I was aboard Robin's AWESOME Cervelo TT bike, this makes sense. However, you have to think that last year the TT was on day one, so we were going into it completely fresh. This year, it was the day after a severe road race, so fresh was not a word I would use to describe me this morning! HA!

Well, one more day to go. The legs feel surprisingly good tonight. A little sore, of course, but nothing like last year when I felt like I could hardly walk up and down a flight of stairs.

So, bring on the final day - the Downtown Fitchburg Crit. Let's see what these leggins can do this year! :)

Fitchburg Circuit Race

Yesterday was stage one of the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic. Unlike last year, which started with the TT - thus effectively settling the major GC contenders from the start, this year's race began with the circuit race.

The circuit race last year was evil fast. I survived two laps with the field and finished just south of top 90 (92 out of 108)! This year, the field is quite a bit smaller - with only 90 women racing. The race was a bit more controlled, and I managed to make it up the wall of the circuit with the field 6 times. The hardest part of this race is holding on as the pack makes the right-hander just on top of the wall and punches it. I got gapped here this year and just couldn't get my legs to turn over fast enough to keep with it. I worked hard with a group of about 11 to conserve our losses and get to the finish line. I was racing with Amanda, Emily, and Kristine, so my weekend teammates were with me, which was nice! I managed to finish 60th this year. Can't be too upset with that, as I feel like I raced a lot better than last year.

Patty was a BEAST today and finished 8th! WOW! She's so cute and humble about it, saying that she was just lucky! I told her that I could have been lucky, too...but I would have had to be up in the front of the pack first, which I wasn't! She really had a great race and I think she'll do equally well today. I think that she could end up in the break today if she is in the right place and "gets lucky" again! I'm really hoping she does - this is going to be a GREAT weekend for her!

Today is the Road Race. Wachusett mountain - here we come! I loved this course last year. Hope I feel the same way about it this year!