Greentree Recap

Well...it turns out that there was more than one pink rider there tonight! Much to my surprise, Lenore was at the Greentree crit tonight. As was Kelley Bethoney, a few Verducci ladies, and Elizabeth Bonilla. It was a fun evening.

I had one sketchy moment when some bozo boy decided that he REALLY needed to get between me and the wheel in front of me. So much so, that he decided to simply merge into the side of my bike. He nearly took me out. I saw the race flash before my eyes before I managed to whittle my way out from the pack and off the road into a parking lot. Once I got myself under control, I pulled back onto the road and waited for the pack to come around. I stayed on for a few laps, but I was really spooked by my near crash, so I was unable to engage with the pack. Think Maverick in Top Gun..."No, man, it's no good." :)

I took another easy lap and then tacked on with a vengeance. I was NOT going to let these boys scare me! The rest of the "race" was great! I felt really good and going at high speeds was pretty awesome (I averaged 24.8 including my two easy laps).

I'm thinking that my legs are in good shape for the weekend. All they need is a nice Colavita ride tomorrow! :)

Greentree Crit

Tonight is the Greentree training crit! I've not done the Thursday night crit before, but as the NJ State Crit Championships are on this course, I figure I should start taking advantage of a race-pace plus training ride on the course!

Plus, it will be a perfect leg-warmer for this weekend, which will inevitably be killer, considering the fields for both races! Davina (the Aussie from the Comeback Crit) has registered for both Hammer Creek and Doylestown. She's bound to make things bloody interesting. I know I can hang with her to some extent because I did it at the Comeback. However, I also know that she is fully capapble of ripping my legs off and then handing them to me with a smile and a "G'day" as she screams past me! With her, Melissa O, Swope, and Jackie Paull in the lineup for the weekend, it should be great. My plan...hang on and garner me some upgrade points! :)

For now...I'm getting ready to practice race with the boys. Wish me luck!

Intervals are Fun!

Oh, yes...I just keep telling myself that.

The great thing is, I used to be able to do 21 or 22 mph on my 2 minute intervals. Today, I was holding 23 or 24 mph for my intervals, and bumping it up to 25 or 26 when Christian was leading them. When we did our 1 minute high intensities, we were cruising at 29 or 30 (we nearly hit 32 mph at one point).

It's amazing what you can coax your legs into doing sometimes! I'm looking forward to racing this weekend...only a few points to go!

Crazy Week!

Even for me...this week has been particularly nutty.

On Tuesday, I drove down to the beach with my gear and that of others who were planning to join me on the upcoming Shore Ride. It was lovely...Chuck and I spent his day off doing a bit of shopping and cleaning the house in preparation for our guests. I then drove back home.

Two days later, I started back down to the beach by bike with 4 lovely friends. We rode down on Friday, arriving there around 11:30 in the morning. It was a great ride, with only one flat and one mishap in which I (standing completely still, mind you) fell over. Don't ask. Weird road camber. ANYWHO...we arrived at the beach no worse for wear and ready to bask in the sunlight and swim in the frigid ocean! We did this with all the fervor of 5 year olds and then went back to the house for a dinner at Sunset Bay and a few yummy drinks.

But not before Luly took a little nap with Jake! :)
The next morning was great - with breakfast at the Star Diner and then back onto the bike to head home. Within the first four miles, we had two flats! :)
I'm not sure if this photo is number one or number two, but we must have shed the bad karma early because the rest of the ride was flawless. We managed to come home only 9 minutes slower than the way down, with our average in both directions between 20 and 20.5 mph.

I called Chuck when I got home and he says, "Why don't you drive back down? Richie's having his Jaws movie night." Crazy Sarah says, "OK!" After watching the tour and getting a bite to eat, my butt turns around and drives back down to the beach!

I get to Richie's house around 7pm and proceed to gorge myself on delicious BBQ foods and play with the new kitty, Chase. Here is a little video of the goofball, who has a very interesting habit. Not unlike children who suck their thumbs, Chase likes to suck on the large pad on the bottom of his back feet. He was gracious enough to allow me to video his rather unusual habit and post it for you here! Richie says he does this all night long!

I stayed down there until this morning, when I returned home. Now, I have to get ready for my brother's visit! Well...that and Pint Night! :)

Shore Ride

83 miles down in 4 hours and 3 minutes.

83 miles back home the following day in 4 hours and 12 minutes.

Great company on the road with Luly, Jenny, Ed and Christian.

Great company for dinner with the aforementioned plus Chuck and Jen (the scooter queen).

Great weekend.

Shore Rides ROCK!

Best of Luck, Sheila!!!

The hometown girl strikes again! I have mentioned her before, but I think she deserves yet another shout out from my little blog here - since she this little blurb was featured in Sports Illustrated!

The first American woman to compete in three different events, Sheila learned to ride, fence, and shoot in the last several years - the typical learning curve for each of these events individually is about 10 years! Amazing...I hope she kicks some royal butt in Beijing!

Good luck, Sheila!!!

Shore Ride #2!

Well, I am prepping for Shore Ride #2! This time, however, I am not only riding down, but back as well. 170 miles in two days should be fantastically fun! In addition, I am not going to be doing this alone, but with several teammates and a few boys thrown in for good measure (we have to have someone to do a bunch of the work, right?)!

I will be sure to take plenty of photos and provide a full recap once we have completed our excursion. It should be a lot of fun!

Visit from the Big Bro!

My brother is coming to visit! :) hooray! I am very excited for this. He's going to be in Baltimore for a swim meet that he is coaching, and rather than heading back home with the team, he's going to come up here for a few days! He'll get to see me race at one of my favorite courses (Rodale - oops...not Rodale, Doylestown, but I still love the course!) and we'll get to spend some quality sibling time together...bonding! :) How schnazzy! Can't wait!

Comeback Crit!

Race: The Comeback Crit
Distance: 17 miles (23 laps of a .7 mile course)
Weather: Hot, Hot, Hot!!!
Number in Field: 18 registered, 17 on the start line
Number of Sturdies: 4 (Sarah, Jody, Jen Sands, Doreen)

Course: Great course for us. Beautifully smooth road surface, nice wide turns, and a little tiny bump up to the finish. We knew at the start that it was going to be a fast and furious race.

The Race: The field was STACKED for this race. Nonnie Howard, Kristy Swope, Betty Tyrell, Lorainne Lipfert, Jackie Paull, and a mysterious Aussie Track/Road racer named Davina Summers rounded out the big contenders. As expected Nonnie and Davina took turns launching small attacks for the majority of the race. None of these were really intended to go off the front, just to shred up our legs a little. Thankfully, my legs were feeling good and I simply went along with these attacks and the responses.

My main goal today was to stay in a good position within the field and to try to get a podium spot. The field position became easier as the field shrunk under the pressure from Nonnie and Davina. The podium spot and category win looked to be in trouble when Betty launched an attack halfway into the race. The group let her go off the front...not a good idea. She stayed out for two laps or so until our Aussie jumped and bridged up to her. I began urging the other girls to chase (not at all content to race for 3rd place). Nonnie says to me, "Can you take a pull?" I said, "Absolutely." She says, "Well, do it." I pull up to the front of the group and start to charge. Within a half of a lap, I have caught up to Davina and Betty. I look behind me and the field is gone! Kristy joined us a few seconds later and it was the four of us off the front to the finish. Lining up for the sprint, the Aussie took off like she had rockets on her butt. Kristy and I followed, but I was unable to get around her at the finish! I did beat Betty...taking 1st in the Cat 3, and 3rd overall!

Jody finished 1st in the Cat 4 field, with Sands and Doreen close behind in 3rd and 4th.It was a great day for Sturdy Girl! The pink really rocked it!

I am now 5 points away from upgrading to Cat 2. This has been a secret goal of mine all year - one that I wanted but wasn't sure I was ready for. I now REALLY want and know that I am ready for it! :) Thanks to my team, my coach, and my cycling buddies that make racing so much fun and make me faster every time I train with them!

Under 21!

Woo hoo!

I went over to the West River Drive TT this morning with Candace and Jenny. My goal was sub 21 minutes for the ride and I was feeling pretty good as we were warming up. The last time I did this, I was on my road bike and clocked 22:13. Then, at the Philly TT I was on Christian's bike and went 21:12 (it's a tad bit longer than the Saturday course). Today, I rode the TT bike again and clocked 20:43!! Woo hoo! Under 21! I felt good coming into the last K, which is particularly good as that's where I cracked Pro Race Weekend. I held it together and am very happy with my finish.

The plan today is to chill out. Stay off my legs as much as I can and get ready for the Comeback Crit tomorrow. This should be a good race - it's loaded with great riders - Nonnie Howard, Kristy Swope, Melissa O'Reilley, Betty, Kelley, Lynda and Annie. I'm looking forward to a good race.

RIP

To my dear little pal, Carlos. Rest in peace, you little wunderhund. You will be sadly missed.

The Anxiety Dreams Begin...

It's way too early for this, but I had my first prelim exam anxiety dream last night.

I walked into a huge auditorium for the exam. For some reason, it wasn't just me taking it, but a whole group of people, including my friends Whitney and Christa. Anyway...as I sit down, Whitney mentions the readings that we were all given and what I thought of them. I said, what readings? I never got any readings? She pulls out a stack of articles and chapters that were emailed by our professors and says, THESE readings. I start to panic. I never received them...they must have had my email address wrong! The first question comes up for the exam and it's focused on one of the readings that I never got. I panic and wake up.

I think I'll do a lot of studying today! :)

Best Day and a Half EVER

I just got back from the best day and a half I have had in a VERY long time. Maybe it was due to the fact that I spent the entire time with my fantastic husband? Definitely. Helped along by the following fun:

- finding Halloween ornaments for my Halloween tree at Winterwood! :)



- having breakfast with Sarah and Katie...go Team Wednesday!!

- going to the zoo! I love the Zoo...and we've made it a tradition to go to the Cape May zoo every year...one of the first dates we ever had was to the zoo. The visit was great - complete with a very active Bobcat, a snoozing Capybara (the largest rodent in the world) and some shocking pink flamingoes!


- going to see Hellboy II - it was ok...not great...just ok.

- dinner at Sunset Bay was beautiful. It was one of the most gorgeous evenings I've seen down there in a long time. The Osprey nests are really active right now. They are really successful this year, one nest full of four fledglings!

I can't wait to head down there again and spend more time with my honey.

Thanks for a great day, Baby!

Giro Pics!

Thank you to Catherine for her fantastic photography skills at the Giro last weekend! It's always fun to have pictures from the races, so here are a few that I borrowed from her Smugmug page. Please take a look at her site to see the rest of the field and the rest of her great pictures!

Thanks again, Catherine!!!!

This is the start of the Sunrise Mountain Uphill TT course. It was a beautiful ride up to the summit!
This is me at the start of the Crit...when I was sitting 1st in the GC. I held onto first until the end of the 1st lap of the Road Race on Sunday! :)
My wheel...pretty cool shot, I think!
This is the 2nd turn of the Crit. I love shots like this! :)

First Trophy I've Ever Used!

Or at least my cats are going to use it! I turned the trophy from the Giro into a lovely forest of cat grass for the kids! They are going to love it, once it grows enough for them to eat it! :)

That's the first time I've ever gotten functional use out of a trophy! :)

Ciao Giro!

I said goodbye to the Giro and to North Jersey today. The weekend was great. What an incredible bunch of women to race with. I feel very lucky to have gone up there and raced with this field. But you all don't give a crap about the warm fuzzies, you just want to know how things went down today!

At the start of the day, the Cat 3 GC was Me with 57 points, Stacey Jensen with 56 points, and Netana Hotimsky with 53 points. Needless to say, we three were duking it out for the top spots.

The road race course was awesome. A bunch of really nice, big rollers, but it was all big ring. Unfortunately for yours truly, they gave us a points preme on lap one. Have I mentioned that Netana and Stacey are awesome sprinters?! Anyway...I picked up 3 points to their 5 and 7.

The rest of the race went really well. I stayed in the pack, played it smart and tried to sprint for the line. Unfortunately again, I let up a few seconds too soon and was passed on the line to take 4th in the race. I'm still really happy with that, but as Stacey and Netana were first and second, I ended up 3rd in the GC!

Netana, Stacey and Me

But hey...I got a GREAT trophy to put next to my Doylestown tile!! WTF???

Yes, people...this was my 3rd place GC "trophy." Please tell me how I got this and the winner of the Cat 4 GC got a brand new Van Dessel Cross bike frame (see picture below!)? hmmmm...

Lenore was also 3rd in her GC. And 3rd in her road race. All in all, it was a great weekend and a really successful race for me. I am really happy with how I did and how great I felt getting pummeled like that. The TT was certainly the highlight both in terms of the beautiful setting and the win, but the whole weekend was awesome. Can't wait to do it again next year. With a few more teammates...we could really clean up! :)

Giro del Cielo - Day One!

So, I was up early today...5:30am to be exact. The time trial was set to start at 8am, and I wanted to make sure that my legs were good and warmed up for this thing, because it was going to HURT!

The preview told me that it was a course I could do and be pretty decent at. Most of the little bumps were power climbs that just needed a slight out of the saddle push and were over in a second or two. Stepping up to the start line, I was excited and ready to face the climb. I made one mistake...trying to take the first little bump in my big ring. I definitely lost a few seconds there, but I think I managed to make it up later in the race.

I knew exactly when it was going to get tough and set my goals on keeping my legs under me until the last 1/2 mile, which was the big part of the climb. For that section, I just put it in a gear that was tough but not a grinder, and went for it. I crossed the line with a time of 17:15, which I knew was good compared to times from last year. Apparently, it was very good. I ended up 1st in the Time Trial - my first win as a Cat 3! In a Time Trial! An UPHILL Time Trial! Liz, I hope you're proud!

Of the nearly 40 female riders that did the TT, there were three times faster than mine. Kristy Swope was one of them - she won the 30+, and the top two Cat 4s were under 17 minutes. DAMN FAST! Still...I won my race! :) Hooray!

We finished up and it was on to the crit! I knew that it was going to be a tough field for the crit, and it was. There were a few girls that were not in the GC (hadn't done the TT) in the mix as well. It was a short loop (.5 miles) that was essentially simple. 4 corners, pretty wide and not too technical. There were a TON of premes - including one for GC points. I ended up 3rd on that one, snagging myself 3 more GC points.

It was over pretty quickly. It wasn't a particularly fast crit, but I was determined to sit in and try to take a good place. I ended up 4th overall. The girl who took 3rd was not in the GC, so I'm not sure how that works for points...I have to find out. Anyway...at the end of the day, it looks like I am either 1st or tied for 1st in the GC with Stacey Jensen! And I should note that Stacey is REALLY good and a REALLY fast sprinter. I'd love to take the GC tomorrow - but that is NO easy task with her behind me or with me in points.

Tomorrow is the road race. I know what I have to do. Now, I just have to do it!

Lenore rode very well today, also! She finished 5th in the TT and 3rd in the Crit in a breakaway of 4 riders. She took a few premes along the way as well, scoring some really nice $13 lube! :)

Preview and such...

I went over to preview the uphill TT for tomorrow. It's going to be good. It's a hell of a lot easier than Reddish Knob, I can tell you! It's easier than the climb at Toona, also. There are two steep, tough sections - one a few tenths of a mile from the bottom and one about .6 from the summit. These sections will need to be dealt with smartly, but shouldn't cause too much trouble, I hope. There are a few really flat sections, where I think you can bump it into the big ring and really push for some speed. All in all, I am not fearing it at all...although I know that it will hurt something fierce.

There's only a few hours between the TT and the Crit tomorrow, so I have to work hard on recovering between the two. But, I won't be thinking about that prior to the TT. For the time being, the only thing I am focused on is the summit of Sunrise Mountain.

I have been sleeping like crap lately. Every night, I seem to go to bed and my brain will not shut off. I keep thinking about the things I have to do the next day, or what I did that day, or what I forgot to do or didn't have time to do. Sometimes, I wish I was one of those people who went to work everyday at the same time. Came home at the same time. Left work at work. Then I think...man, if I was one of those people, I'd probably be even more insane than I already am! All of this reminds me - I have to go study now.

Preparations Nearly Complete

I am getting ready to head out for my first Stage Race of the year! It's called the Giro del Cielo! It's going to be a fun, hard weekend! There is an uphill time trial and crit tomorrow and a road race on Sunday.

The uphill time trial is a 4.6 mile race with a "gentle" graditnt. Yeah...like the race last year that had "one short out of the saddle climb" that turned out to hit 13%! The website lists a number at 9%, but I don't know if that is the average or the maximum. Judging by the times from last year's race, I'm thinking that is the max, but we'll see. I'm hoping to preview the TT course today, so I should have either no fear or a ton of trepidation about tomorrow!

The Crit and Road Race are pretty standard, it seems. A four-corner crit and 5.5 mile loop for the Road Race. The field is tough, so the races should be great! I'm looking forward to all of it...well, maybe not the uphill TT part! :)

Wish me luck!

It's only $1825

If they raise the price of bridge tolls as they are suggesting, and Chuck or I travel over the bridges every day of the year, it will cost us $1825 annually. Maybe we should think about moving to Philly! Even if we paid more for our rent/mortgage, at least we would save money on gas and tolls. Crap.

The scary thing is...the price of everything is going up, but our wages are staying the same. It won't be long before middle class won't be middle class anymore. Best to start hoarding the extra dollars now...we're going to need them.