Chi-Town Crits

I got home from Exergy Tour on Tuesday night, spent one great day at home, then went to Chi-Town (Chicago) on Thursday. 

The team went to Glencoe Central Junior High to tell them a bit about bike racing and bike safety. 
We had a huge group of 5th graders, 170 kids and only 1 did not ride a bike! A lot of them raised their hands that they did NOT wear helmets, which was a bit shocking to me. 

I showed them what can happen if they don't wear a helmet by demonstrating a bike 'crash'.  I told them how cool it is to wear a helmet and they must wear it on every ride!

 The kids were very interested on our bikes and had many questions, some we ran out of time to answer.

 The start of the first Lake Bluff Criterium.  It was a great race, the whole community of Lake Bluff was cheering us on and it was nice to see so many families with kids on bikes!

 Devon won in a break with Liza Rachetto from Primal/Map My Ride getting second and Kaitie Antonneau from Exergy 2012 getting 3rd.

Christina got 3rd in the field sprint.  It was a great race for us!

 On Saturday we went to race the Glencoe Grand Prix.  The Glencoe Central Jr. High Band came to play the national anthem for us.

 We tried so hard to get a break away but sometimes the rubber band just can't break!
Laura Van Gilder from Mellow Mushroom/Rose Bandit wins from a field sprint.  Followed by Erica Allar from Ride Clean/Patent it and our very own Christina Gokey-Smith getting 3rd.  The podium boy was some famous dude: Matt Modine; actor!

 It was a fun and great weekend for us! Devon finally got to celebrate her win from Friday by having her very own ice cream treat~

Whats up next for the team?
TULSA TOUGH!
One of my favorite races, although I will not be racing; I will be cheering from home!
Help me cheer on the team by following our team director on Twitter @Kurt_Stockton OR go to the website:
http://www.tulsatough.com/
** Show your support for women's cycling and click the top left hand corner, make a donation to the "Pro Women's Crowd Prime Challenge"!

Thanks for reading :)

Le Exergy Tour

 From the thousands of dedicated spectators, to the thousands cheering from home using tour tracker, the Exergy Tour was by far the biggest and best race I have ever been apart of.  The Exergy Tour is a top notch international bike race, and did I mention it is women's only?  The organization, the volunteers, the officials, the whole Exergy staff, and announcers (Dave Towle and Connie Carpender).  Everything about this race is outstanding!!! Yes, 3 exclimation marks; that is how amazing this race is.

 The picture above is one dedicated fan, dressed like Nacho Libre and his 8-year old side kick.  I am on the far right.  (idahostatesman.com)

 More fans on the side of the road.  This guy painted himself red and he is wearing a thong; he dressed up like a devil. Plus he also has a side kick dressed in an oreange speedo.

 Thanks Lyne Lamoureux from http://www.podiuminsight.com/ she covered all of the stages with amazing pictures, interviews, and a major supporter in women's cycling, traveling to tell the world about our racing!

 Roger the massager came all the way from Dallas, TX to help Emily (our swanny) with all of the massaging! It was his first go round at being a swanny, and he did great!

 The NOW clan!

 Above, Robin tells the audience what my job is on the team: get bottles, and get up to change the channels on the TV, because our remote control was broken. Thanks RF :)

 The characters on our team.

 Thanks to the BYRDS Junior Cycling Team and Grace Alexander for cheering us on the final stage!  They wrote "Go Addy" on one of the climbs.... it made me ride faster!

 The tour tracker was AMAZING! Showing results instantly, live video of the race, pictures, commentary and much more.  Everyone in the world was watching thatnks to the Tour Tracker!

 After the final stage, we went to a Rodeo on Chicken Dinner road.  It was a celebration dinner for a very successful tour!  They had mechanical bull riding and you could enjoy a ride on a horse!

 Beth won the most aggressive jersey on the first stage for on amazing break from the field! Which can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKNTqsoHzKs  she goes so fast, if you blink, you might miss her!

 That's a lot of fans! Thanks Idaho!

 Another random shot of our clan!

 Kids from a local school in Nampa, ID got to miss 10 minutes of class to cheer for us! I'm pretty sure it was the loudest screaming anyone has ever heard!

This is my favorite shot by Brian Black Hodes of VeloImages.  The race and Idaho's famous crop: the potato.

Top 10 amazing moments of the Exergy Tour:

10-   Getting a present every night after finishing a stage.
9-      Racing past a shooting a range in the country and hear all the Euros scream and Ina Yoko- Teutenberg saying "God bless America!"
8-       Making it to the start line on the final stage.  There were 118 women started and the final stage had 69 starters.... I was 69th #proud.
7-      Watching Kristin Armstrong crash, break her collar bone, and she still finished 11th place on the prologue!
6-      Beth taking home the most aggressive jersey and Alison Powers was 5th overall on GC
5-      Going to a Rodeo on the last day and getting massive Exergy Tour bedazzled belt buckles
4-      Seeing hundreds of dedicated fans cheer for us in the freezing cold and rainy stages (stages 1 and 2)
3-     The fly over of the jets to start off the final stage on Memorial day.

2-     Participating in the inaugural Exergy Tour.  Potentially the best stage race in the world AND it's on American soil.

1-    Talking with Amber Neben, world champion, Olympian, and Christian.  Over the past couple of months, I have been doing a lot of praying to find a Christian mentor in cycling.  God has answered my prayers and it's a very powerful feeling!  To follow her along, visit her website:  http://amberneben.com/  Check out her Dare To Be project, were she donates bikes to homeless children!

I feel so honored and blessed to have been able to participate in this race! I can't wait for more opportunities to compete in this race in the future!

What's next for me?  Glencoe Grand Prix in Chicago, IL.  To follow along, go to:  http://glencoegrandprix.com/

THANK YOU EXERGY PEEPS!!!!  http://www.exergytour.com/

Good Ol' South

It was back to pro racing for me this weekend! My team mates Ashley James and Christina Gokey- Smith traveled to Anniston, Alabama to race Sunny King Criterium and road race.  We had a small team compared to the 6 rider Optum Cycling Team, so we had to be very smart about our tactics.  I stayed up at the front, anticipating early breaks and controlling the front.  About a quarter of the way through the race, Gokey got in to a promising break of sprinters, but no one wanted to work.  It came back, reshuffled and another break got away.  Unfortunately, none of us were in the move, so we were forced to chase.  After a long 20 minutes of the break staying away, we realized we were out numbered.  We were sprinting for 7th place.

It was hard to not be the 'winner' of the race, or even get on the podium.  With racing, you have good days and bad days, we just had a bad day.  It just comes to show how important a team is.  Everyone has a role and if you do not do your job, you will not win.  There may be only one person that crosses the finish line to win, but when it's your team mate winning, and you contributed, it's a win for the team and it feels amazing.  That was the most important lesson I learned racing this weekend, not only in Alabama, but the racing our team mates were doing in Northern California.

My team killed Sea Otter Classic this weekend.  Alison Powers won every single day of the 4 stage event.  It showed me that even though she won every stage, everyone on the team had a job to do to keep her in the yellow jersey! Olivia Dillon got 2nd on GC and they won the sprint jersey.  A job well done and deserved to the team out west.

There was a military tank at the race this weekend; we all got to go inside of it.  It was pretty cool and Gokey was tripping out!

Ashley and I decided to camp out in the Atlanta airport at the cell phone lot.  We thought Christina's flight got in at 10am when really, that's when it left Dallas.  We can provide self entertainment for a few hours.

One of the coolest things I experienced this weekend was meeting Jennifer Schuble.  She was racing in the women's field and I noticed she had world champion rainbows on her sleeve.  I asked her what she won and she said she has MS and has several world championships and world records on the track and road in the Para-Cycling.  It was so inspiring to me.  Here I am, racing for a team that raises awareness for MS and she was racing to prove her disease does not limit her to reaching her dreams.

We talked for a while after the race about life and I got a better understanding of how she feels about living with MS and being an athlete.  I wish we could have talked longer, but at least for those short 20 minutes or so, I finally got attached to the philosophy of our team on an emotional level.

Best part is, Jennifer will be racing Speed Week next week, which will be the same races I will be doing.  I'm sure we will have plenty more chances to chat.

Thanks for cheering me on!

San Dimas / Redlands ReCap

This was my second year racing San Dimas Stage Race. Last year I remember coming in to the race so nervous because it was my first big girl pro race. I had no idea how I would race, what the course was like, the pro riders, the aggressive tactics and so on. I got dropped on the first lap of the road race, and failed to make the 10% time cut. My numbers were stripped and I could not race the next stage. I was so upset, I knew that if I came back to race San Dimas again, things would be very different.

This year, I came to the race with much more experience and strength. With a stronger team, amazing support from our staff and just a better knowledge of professional bike racing, I knew this time around would be better. Alison Powers got 7th in the time trial so we knew we had our work cut out for us for the road race and criterium. The morning of our road race, it was pouring rain and 50 degrees, but I didn't mind because the worse conditions the better opportunity for epic racing!

Powers got in the winning break and moved up to 4th on GC. We warmed up from the cold day of racing and prepared for the last day: the criterium. It was aggressive from the start. Anne got in a break of 4, amongst Ina Teutenburg and the rest of the NOW team stayed at the front of the pack controlling the race. With about 7 laps to go, Olivia Dillon took a flyer and almost stayed off the front, but the field caught her and she still managed to do 1 last effort for the lead out train.

Overall, Alison got 4th on GC and Anne got 4th in the stage. We packed up the bus and headed to Redlands, CA.

This is the team warming up under the Taj Mahal (our tent) preparing for the cold/wet/ windy road race. Thank you Kinetic trainers... best way to warm up for this kind of weather!

I was determined to fight the entire race! (Left: Rae Shaw from Exergy2012)

The beginning of the road race, at the front ready to cover attacks and staying safe through the wet weather.

Anne and I have a post race chat.

REDLANDS:

When we arrived to Redlands I was very excited. We had a great host families, Cerina, and the Pompa Family, who already made us dinner when we arrived, which was amazing because we were all tired, cold, and hungry!

We spent the next few days in Redlands reviewing the courses and I knew from the beginning, it was going to be a hard race. We had a full day of media training, which was very helpful because I can now give an interview and I know the right things to say and words to avoid! We had a great big dinner party at our host family house; it felt like thanksgiving, even Phil Keoghan came to have dinner with us!

Below is a picture of me chopping veggies, that is always my job in the kitchen, and of course, I have to wear an apron if I am going to be cooking!

Powers got 3rd in the prologue (which was in a nutshell the hardest time trial I have ever done!).

This is how I like to prepare for a long road race.Stage 2 was a long road race in Beaumont, CA. The stage is mostly downhill with a 3km climb in it so every break that tries to get away, usually comes back on the downhill sections. The finish came to a field sprint and there was no change in GC for us.

Thank you Specialized for making an awesome bike, we love racing on them!

The next day was a crit in downtown Redlands. It was very technical, fast and aggressive. We led out Alison for the mid race time bonus and she got it, so it moved her up to 2nd on GC and 11 seconds separated Alison and Megan Guarnier. We got 4th and 5th on the stage after a nasty crash on the last lap messed up our lead out. Fortunately no NOW riders went down.

Here is a cool picture from Cyclingnews.com I am in the middle of the photo and Ashley James is a couple riders back

The last stage finally came: Sunset Circuit race. We do 9 laps of a 10k circuit that is 2/3 's uphill and a short downhill. It was very hard and there was not much time to recover from the uphill sections. There were so many people from Redlands cheering for us, especially our host family as the race goes right by their house. It was very cool to see the Redlands community come together for bike racing.

Alison stayed 2nd on the GC but she won the stage!!! Last year she shattered her elbow at this race and was out for virtually an entire season. She did awesome, and she won her redemption from last year. Not only did Alison get second on GC, but we won the team overall classification as well!

It is such great start to a season, the next race for us is the Charlotte Criterium! Keep cheering us on!

Great job team!

Handle Bar Coffee

About everyday at camp (twice a day) we went to Handle Bar Coffee! The store is owned by Kim Anderson and her fiance' Aaron Olson. Kim Anderson, a former professional cyclist for many teams such as HTC-Highroad and T-Mobile, won the Route du France Feminine, which is the women's version of the Tour de France. We spoke the same language: cycling and coffee! We quickly became regulars at the shop; Alison and Olivia even went to go get pastries for them during their busy hours, anything to help out a local shop (and our friends).

I have expanded my knowledge about coffee, how to make it the right way, and overall more respect for the bean itself! My teammate, AnneSlam told me that instead of drinking alcohol, like some teens my age, I am drinking coffee! I have learned correct terminology in the coffee world and the in's and out's of preparing coffee (thanks to Alison Powers who went to barista school).

Above is our mechanic, Erik, using his drill to grind the coffee. Originally, it was a hand grinder, but because the demand for coffee was so high in the house, we had to find a faster alternative!

Below is the entrance of Handle Bar Coffee, located on East Canon Perdido Street in Santa Barbara, CA

Thank you Specialized for the bike! Not only did we train on them, we rode them to Handle Bar Coffee. It was a great combo!

Phil Keoghan gets a lesson about how to run the cash register!

Kim Anderson.... self explanatory!We got Erik a pastry for every bike he built... that would be about 25, he is so awesome! Thanks a ton Erik!Handle Bar uses the cash register of the future! An Ipad application, no need to print receipts, it will email or text you your receipt!!

Pictures of some of the greatest racers displayed in the front of the store. Notice Evie Stevens on the far right with her Shiv from Specialized!

They roast their own coffee, this bad boy is named Hercules he is from Germany. They Kim and Aaron brew about 15 lbs of Decaf and 25lbs of regular about 2 times a week. When you drink Handle Bar Coffee, you know you are drinking the best and the most fresh coffee around!

Before leaving Santa Barbara, we stopped at Handle Bar for last cup of coffee and a goodbye to our cycling/ coffee friends!The awesome set up!

Meeting Kim Anderson was so cool! I really enjoyed the time we spent in Santa Barbara and especially the time we spent at Handle Bar Coffee

We are now in San Dimas, CA getting ready for Stage 1 of racing tomorrow. It will be a 4 mile uphill time trial wish the NOW Pro Cycling team goodluck! Thanks for reading!

If you would like to learn more about Handle Bar Coffee OR enjoy some of their amazing roast, visit their website: http://handlebarcoffee.com/