There are a couple of nice albums up now from the race:

Ted Bowling Photography
Trish Albert

My absolute favorite is the last one from the Ted Bowling 1/2/3 album. It really shows how I was feeling at that moment of the final sprint in the race.

I want to start with a big THANK YOU to the organizers of the SEW Cycling Series. Not only was the race itself well-organized, on time, on a great course, tons of primes, etc, they equalized the top 3 payouts to the women’s races with those of the men’s races and offered both cat 3/4 and pro 1/2/3 races separated by enough time to rest & recover! You guys ROCK! Any women reading this- try to get down here & race- they’re doing great things for women’s cycling!

I rode in both races…

3/4 Race
My strategy going in to the 3/4 race was to be as aggressive as possible. I attacked a small (but tiring) hill several times during the 25 minute race. It was also sprinkling and windy, so I would accelerate down the hill on the back side of the course to a wide, sweeping corner. Some of the other riders didn’t feel comfortable with the moisture on the road and the speed of the corner. Those tactics thinned the field out to 5 of us. We rode out the last half of the race together. I should have been able to make a top 3 finish, but when it came time to sprint, I totally spaced! I took the last turn too wide and fell back a little, then started my sprint waaaay too late! I was able to eek out a 4th- Lucky, because Gina Tolbert, who is also strong enough to lay waste to most of the group we were with, was sprinting with me & got 5th! If anything, it was a good tune-up for the 1/2/3 race. Betsy, a regional rider of Team Kenda Tire rode in the race as well. She’s getting into the learning curve of crit riding (kinda like me at about this time last year!) and finished a lap down, but I bet once she has a few more under her belt, she’ll be right up in the mix!

Pro 1/2/3 Race
This was my first race where I was able to work with some teammates! I lined up with Lee Farabaugh and Molly Freeman as well as a very strong field of pro 1/2/3 women- including Rebecca Larson from Aarons Pro Cycling. The wind had picked up as the day warmed and the sun came out (people were flying kites near the course!) From the start, I rode conservatively. I hung out near the middle/back of the pack and let other people cover attacks. Not far into the race, Rebecca attacked into the brutal headwind of the finishing stretch of the course. She got off of the front with one other girl. They put a 5-10 sec gap on the field by the time they were on the back side of the course, and the other girl dropped off of Rebecca’s wheel to return to the pack. I felt good, so, with Lee on my wheel, I went for the bridge, and no one else followed. We kept the hammer down to get away from the pack. Rebecca had all intentions of not helping out once the break was established, but she kept sprinting for primes then dropping back and sucking the wheels of Lee and I. We were getting tired in the wind, and we were a little peeved. I noticed how eager Rebecca was to get primes, so I thought of a quick deal- I told her she could take all of the remaining ones uncontested if she’d actually work to help us stay away (we were wavering at around a 40-50 second gap based on what people in the crowd were yelling). It worked, and she started trading pulls (of course, the next prime was for $100 cash, but, tempted as I was, I held up my end of the bargain…) Molly worked for Lee and I back in the pack- everyone said she did a great job of covering attacks then slowing back down! It’s awesome to have a friend back there instead of a bunch of people wanting to chase you down! Lee, Rebecca, and I worked hard until we were about to lap the field. At that point, we relaxed a little with about 5 laps to go. Lee was awesome and let me stop working & stay on her wheel so I could rest for the sprint. When it came time, she did her best to lead me out, but Rebecca made a slightly early jump. Being a pro, she’s very fast! I actually did gain ground on her, and think that if the finish line had been 10 yards further away, I could have caught her… but I’m pretty stoked with the results anyway!

I love having teammates! I’m looking forward to next weekend. I’ll be back in Birmingham to ride in the Live to Ride circuit race at Barbour Motorsports Park.

Photos up as soon as I find some!

I found this while searching the internet for photos of races I went to last year…

It’s from the TN State RR Championships just outside of Nashville. I was sprinting for the cat 4 champ title (although there were a few 1/2/3 riders just ahead of the two of us). The other girl in the photo is Gina Tolbert, who rides for Vantaggio now. She’s pretty darn strong- you can’t mistime your sprint or otherwise screw up, or she’ll beat you :)

I leave today for Birmingham! I’ll be racing in the Spokes For Strokes Hoover Criterium. As part of the Southeast Women’s Series, they’ve got a 3/4 crit as well as a Pro 1/2/3 crit for women, so I’ll be racing both. This will be my first chance ever to race with teammates! I’m pretty excited since I was solo (except for a couple of races where older masters racers were combined w/women) in my races last year. This will also be my first crit of the year, and seems like it may have sogginess potential as far as weather goes. It should be fun either way!

Ouch! I think Tyler sums it all up in one word…

Home Video of the Wreck

I’ve officially built my dream bike.

I rode in/won the women’s 1/2/3 field at the CARVE Crosswind Classic road race today! Although the day started out somewhat disastrously when one of the junior racers knocked me over while I was warming up, I had a very good race.

There were only 4 of us, but two of the other 3 women were cat 2 riders, AND we were forced to race against an obnoxious, fast group of guys who would periodically yell and try to pick fights with each other during the race! The race started out painfully slow. I was bored and didn’t like being in a large mass of sketchy riders, so when I had the opportunity to follow a somewhat suicidal break with two guys about 10 miles in to the 50 mile race, I went for it. We rode really hard for about 14 miles, only to get caught within a couple of miles of the end of the first loop of the course. The move earned me a bit of respect, though, and the speed that the field generated to catch us was enough to throw two of the other three women off the back- leaving only one very strong cat 2 from the CARVE team (along with the same pissy guys) to deal with. We rode hard for most of the 2nd lap. There were a few large men’s teams who took control of the pack during the last few miles, so it was very hard to maintain a good field position for the sprint, but my effort was more than enough to beat the remaining woman (along with a nice portion of the pissy guys!)

The only criticisms I have for myself is that I should have eaten/drank more during the race. Otherwise, everything was great! Hopefully today’s race is a sign of what is to come!

Photo from the end of the first of two laps:

I’m sick of this whole “Let Levi ride” campaign. I’m not buying into it. No, it’s not fair that he and the current team didn’t do anything wrong, but he chose to join a team whose riders cheated in the past and got caught. Did he think that Astana would go unpunished? You sold yourself to the highest bidding team. Now you have to deal with the consequences.

Also, why just Levi? Where’s the widespread “Let Alberto Ride” propaganda? He won The Tour last year- if Astana is out, then we get to have another tour without a rider wearing #1. And, If I’m not mistaken, a great deal of Levi’s success in the ToC was achieved through help from his teammates- why haven’t I received 20 Myspace bulletins telling me to sign the online petition to let Chris or Vladamir ride??

I say don’t give in. No special treatment for anyone. Don’t let Levi ride.