Finding Nima: A Report on Not Racing

Posted on by lindsay
While everybody in the universe who can pedal contested Page County, Millersburg, Elk Grove, and a bunch of other events over the past two weekends, I took a much-needed break from racing. I like to think of this time as a polar bear sees hibernation; a chance to disappear for a while and emerge bigger, badder, and ready to kick some ass. Except that (a) nobody knows how a bear views hibernation and (b) from what I recall from my "Planet Earth" DVDs, the bear actually comes out weakened, starving, and often with cubs in tow. I'm digressing. It is unlikely that I will be either starving or in possession of a bear cub at the end of this hiatus. Instead of racing, I've been doing unstructured rides for 2-3 hours at a time. Although my coach described them as 'mellow' rides on my training calendar, I interpreted that to ...continue reading.

Presbyterian Criterium

Posted on by lindsay
The Race: NRC Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium The Course: 8 corners, long start/finish stretch The Field: Pro 1/2 women The Finish: 15th (out of about 60 starters, 43 finishers) To go or not to go to this race was the big question for most of last week. With a big proposal due August 1, I was putting in excessively long hours at work and barely making time for anything other than training rides. It wasn't even clear that I'd be able to avoid being at the office over the weekend until Friday evening, and by then I was worried that the week had been too exhausting to make the 7-hour drive to Charlotte for one crit worthwhile. I'd also been told that, considering the $25,000 prize money plus primes for the women, this would be one of the fastest crits of the year. After consulting with Alison and the wonderfully wise LVG, though, I ...continue reading.

This Report Brought To You By Wah-Wah

Posted on by lindsay
The Race: Grandview Grand Prix/PA State Championship The Course: 25 laps, 6 corners in a neighborhood The Field: 1/2/3 women The Finish: 3rd I'm feeling a bit of burnout from all of the racing this season (please, for the love of god, no more race day PB&J), and on the way to Grandview, I found myself thinking of things I could be doing instead of driving to a race and feeling anxious. Things like fishing or lounging around the house or going to the beach or working at a mulch store...okay, so upon passing a mulch store, I realized I wasn't willing to be doing anything else, but it was close. So it was hard to get my head in a good place at Grandview, especially because I was just there to chase points for my cat 1 upgrade, which meant any result out of the points was going to be frustrating. (This is ...continue reading.

Long story short…

Posted on by lindsay
The Race: The Arsenal Criterium in Philadelphia The Course: Smooth and flat with 8 corners, shortened from 25 to 20 laps The Field: 1/2/3 women The Finish: 1st The race started, I won a prime, got into a 4-person break, dropped two of the riders, rode the second half of the race in a 2-person break, and then won the sprint. The end. Oh, and I got stung by a bee around lap 15.

It was never flat. Seriously. Not once.

Posted on by lindsay
The Race: Giro di Coppi The Course: 37.5 miles, 6,345,294 hills The Field: 1/2/3/4 women The Finish: 1st Coming off a rest week after Toona, I wasn't sure what to expect out of my legs. It was an unpleasant surprise to discover immediately after the start that they were sore, rubbery, and shaky. Shortly after the first longer climb, Laurel, Kathleen, Ainhoa, and Monika picked up the pace and I latched onto their group as we pulled away from the field. Our break stuck and we rotated pulls to keep the pace high. The field was out of sight pretty quickly, but our pace never slowed (and it took all of my dignity to keep from pathetically gasping, "Can we please slow down?") It hurt the whole time. The downhills were no relief, because when I'd start pedaling again, my legs would feel like they had nothing to give. Only by focusing on the ...continue reading.

TDT: Altoona Downtown Criterium

Posted on by lindsay
The Race: Altoona Downtown Criterium The Course: 30 miles, 30 laps The Field: Pro 1/2 women The Finish: Earlier than expected Prior to the start of the women's race, I got into a strategic position near staging that would allow me to jump on the course quickly and get a good starting position. It worked, except that the announcer then said the chief referee wanted the women to take a lap of the course before starting (presumably for safety reasons, as the course was fairly technical). By the time I rode the lap, I was behind a number of riders and we all rolled up to the line behind the half of the field that did not take a lap. I started in the last row. As soon as the whistle blew, the front of the field attacked and a blistering pace was set. By the first corner, I was 100 meters ...continue reading.