Since it's about that time of year when traveling gets a bit old...
3 hours ago
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Nashvegas
Back from the Edgar Soto Memorial race in Nashville. It was a huge success as a stage race over Memorial Day weekend last year, but the change in schedule this year also changed the format to a crit series. The promoters and volunteers did such a great job with this event, everything was nailed down to the last detail. If you're racing around the southeast, Tennessee racing is where it's at! This series was also part of the Southeastern Women's series, which helps promote women's racing at all levels.
Friday night we had a kilo TT and sprint heats at the Tennessee Fairgrounds Raceway. This place is bad ass, man! Nashville doesn't have a velodrome, but they could improvise using this 1,000 meter track. I placed a mediocre 3rd in the kilo TT (although this is suspect cuz we didn't have timing chips, and we were milliseconds apart). The sprint heats that followed were basically scratch races, and I qualified in all of those. By the time we were done, it was 10 p.m. and we were in search of food! Random strip mall sushi, anyone?
Saturday night was a crit in the heart of downtown Nashville. I finally met Sharp Emmons, owner of the best socks on the planet, Swiftwick. Not only are his socks the shizz, but Sharp is one of the nicest people I've met in a long time (common in this part of the world, it seems)! Sharp hooked me up with some shorty's before the race, and I would wear them as my good luck charm for the night. Before the crit, they announced a sprint competition with points every 5 laps. The winner of the sprint points would get these crazy E-Motion rollers that you can fully sprint on, and it's almost impossible to fall off of them. I wasn't exactly going for them at the start, but it just sort of went that way so i thought, why not! It was uphill from the start toward the capitol building, then a long drag along the river to the last two tight right-handers to the finish. My legs were so fried from the sprints, that by the end when Andrea Wilson (Kenda Tire) jumped before the second to last turn, I just couldn't match her. Although I ended up 3rd...I won the rollers ;)
If you want to fully experience Nashville culture, you have to hit a honky tonk. So a few of us went to the best honky tonk on Broadway, Robert's Bar and watched this amazing band "Brazilbilly". They play every Saturday night and pack the house! So after Robert's we went to Coyote Ugly, and this is where things got a little...shall I say...fugly?! Thinking about it now, really the only thing that separates this place from a strip joint is that they don't let guys take body shots! I went in there saying, "I'm not getting on the bar," and by the end of the night they were hauling me off by my ankles. Not cute!
Needless to say that yesterday morning I felt like death, and going out like a rock star was not the smartest move, but Nashville culture is to be experienced! So it was about a million degrees and zero shade at the crit yesterday, the final race of the weekend. The finish was a 500-meter long uphill drag. Not the best type of finish for me. Since I wasn't running on all 8 cyclinders, I wanted to be even more watchful during the race, and be aware of everything that was going on around me so I could just slide onto wheels. This seemed to work well, and I narrowly won in a photo finish at the line.
Nashville is great, but I'm glad that the weekend is over and it's good to be back home in the ATL. Think I need a few days rest from all the racing and traveling we've been doing. Not to mention getting all refreshed and ready for Austin!!!
Friday night we had a kilo TT and sprint heats at the Tennessee Fairgrounds Raceway. This place is bad ass, man! Nashville doesn't have a velodrome, but they could improvise using this 1,000 meter track. I placed a mediocre 3rd in the kilo TT (although this is suspect cuz we didn't have timing chips, and we were milliseconds apart). The sprint heats that followed were basically scratch races, and I qualified in all of those. By the time we were done, it was 10 p.m. and we were in search of food! Random strip mall sushi, anyone?
Saturday night was a crit in the heart of downtown Nashville. I finally met Sharp Emmons, owner of the best socks on the planet, Swiftwick. Not only are his socks the shizz, but Sharp is one of the nicest people I've met in a long time (common in this part of the world, it seems)! Sharp hooked me up with some shorty's before the race, and I would wear them as my good luck charm for the night. Before the crit, they announced a sprint competition with points every 5 laps. The winner of the sprint points would get these crazy E-Motion rollers that you can fully sprint on, and it's almost impossible to fall off of them. I wasn't exactly going for them at the start, but it just sort of went that way so i thought, why not! It was uphill from the start toward the capitol building, then a long drag along the river to the last two tight right-handers to the finish. My legs were so fried from the sprints, that by the end when Andrea Wilson (Kenda Tire) jumped before the second to last turn, I just couldn't match her. Although I ended up 3rd...I won the rollers ;)
If you want to fully experience Nashville culture, you have to hit a honky tonk. So a few of us went to the best honky tonk on Broadway, Robert's Bar and watched this amazing band "Brazilbilly". They play every Saturday night and pack the house! So after Robert's we went to Coyote Ugly, and this is where things got a little...shall I say...fugly?! Thinking about it now, really the only thing that separates this place from a strip joint is that they don't let guys take body shots! I went in there saying, "I'm not getting on the bar," and by the end of the night they were hauling me off by my ankles. Not cute!
Needless to say that yesterday morning I felt like death, and going out like a rock star was not the smartest move, but Nashville culture is to be experienced! So it was about a million degrees and zero shade at the crit yesterday, the final race of the weekend. The finish was a 500-meter long uphill drag. Not the best type of finish for me. Since I wasn't running on all 8 cyclinders, I wanted to be even more watchful during the race, and be aware of everything that was going on around me so I could just slide onto wheels. This seemed to work well, and I narrowly won in a photo finish at the line.
Nashville is great, but I'm glad that the weekend is over and it's good to be back home in the ATL. Think I need a few days rest from all the racing and traveling we've been doing. Not to mention getting all refreshed and ready for Austin!!!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Bringing the Heat
As a wise cheerleader once said...it's already been broughten!!!
Vanderkitten recently hit two key stops on the team's calendar: Tulsa Tough and the Philadelphia Liberty Classic. We took the trips with Michael Hernandez, and were later joined by his lady Sabine in Philly. Michael bravely took on director/mechanic duties with us, and he did an amazing job of getting our bikes running smooth and keeping us calm and stress-free in the days, hours, and minutes leading up to Philly. Michael took care of every detail, and I cannot thank him enough for his leadership!
Vanderkitten recently hit two key stops on the team's calendar: Tulsa Tough and the Philadelphia Liberty Classic. We took the trips with Michael Hernandez, and were later joined by his lady Sabine in Philly. Michael bravely took on director/mechanic duties with us, and he did an amazing job of getting our bikes running smooth and keeping us calm and stress-free in the days, hours, and minutes leading up to Philly. Michael took care of every detail, and I cannot thank him enough for his leadership!
Our hosts in West Chester were very wizzelcoming.
Philly...it was a hot one lemme tell ya! I missed my feed on the last lap (painful) but managed to "borrow" one of Mel's bottles for utter survival. We snaked our way through the field, muscled up the wall four times, and managed to stay with some key groups all the way to the finish. On the last lap we were all together - the peloton had brought back Kristin Armstrong, who was on an early solo break. As it usually plays out, it came down to Lemon Hill on the last lap.
Perfect timing! Getting ready to miss my feed.
(Thanks for the photo, Sabine!)
A group of 5 broke away on Lemon Hill, which contained eventual race-winner Chantal Beltman (High Road). Coming off Lemon Hill on the sweeping right and left turns back to Kelly Drive, the field was fully strung out. I took the inside lines and tried to jump up to the front with our sprinter Melissa on my wheel. By this point, Chantal had broken away by herself, so 4 were left in the group. I chased the group of 4 until they were reabsorbed back into our group. I was gassed at this point, but when I saw that Mel had been shuffled and was no longer on my wheel, I got back in, Mel and I found each other, and I tried to recover for the finish.
Lemon Hill is deceivingly far from the finish, and people forget this, even after going around the thing 4 times. Good for my recovery at this particular moment, bad for girls who try to go too early! Anyway, Mel and I moved our way inside the roundabout and up the pack to the finishing straight. With about 200 meters to go, there was a pretty big crash in the middle of the field that took out a ton of girls, including Flavia. Mel and I moved left and avoided the carnage, finishing 18th and 19th respectively. Philly was one of Mel's key races, and I wish I could've done more for her at the finish. Guess that's racing, and we just have to learn from the experience...and Philly is Philly!
In other "Vander-news" we also did the Tulsa Tough series previous to Philly week. After our consistent top finishes, Vanderkitten currently sits 1st in the USA Crit Series team standings, and 2nd in the individual standings (Jennifer "Wheels" Wilson). We're really excited to hold this place, and are looking forward to defending the position for the duration of the series, which finishes at Interbike in Las Vegas.
Apparently this is normal in Tulsa?
This however...is not.
Photo Courtesy of Taos Action Photos
Next stop: Austin, TX (USA Crit series)
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZZER!
If you happen to see Vanderkitten femme-fatale Liz Hatch in the Philly area this week, wish her a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
So if you're in Philly this Sunday, cheer the Vanderkittens up Manyunk. And I've got a few of these waiting for you on Sunday, Liz! (Served room temperature, of course.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)