USGP Bend day one

Well day one of the USGP in over. Not the best day for me but it will do. It was so cold and windy all day.

We had 41 women on the start line in the Elite womens field. And of course I was number 39 on the call up order. So last row start :(

My goal was to see how many girls I could catch and pass. I got a good start and moved up into around 20th by the half way mark. I settled in with a group of gals. We were back and forth and a couple girls got around me and got away.

I felt good, just was affected by the altitude a lot. Lap 3 I started to panic a bit and was really having a hard time breathing. I calmed down and got control of the breathing and held on to finish 27th.

The corse was fun though. First time I have ridden in Bend for cross in the dry sandy conditions.

Mel got crashed out on the first lap and faught back to finish 27th.

Sean rode awesome and got 3rd in the 45+ men cat!

Chad wasn't feeling it today and finished in 50th in the 35+ men.

And Evan at the age of 18 raced his first National level elite race and finished strong, getting pulled with a couple laps to go.

Another day of racing tomorrow. My goal is to break into the top 20 tomorrow.

WA State Championships

What a beautiful day Sunday turned out to be at the WA State Championships in Arlington WA. It was cold but dry which made for some fast racing conditions.

My husband Chad got this awesome venue and created this awesome course. At first we were nervous that the course would be to fast and to boring, but after 4 hours of Chad tilling up the sand the course came to life.

With my rough season of injury, illness and mechanicals going into this race I wanted some redemption. And boy did I get it!

The womens elite field was stacked as usually with a ton of talent. I knew on this course with not to much technical elements I was going to have work really hard to be in the top 3.

The gun went off and I clipped into my pedal so fast. Best and fastest time so far this season. So I took off, and got the whole shot going into the first tree section. I heard a crash but I was off the front so I tried to make some ground. I had gotten about a 5 sec gap.

I was so surprised, I was off the front and feeling awesome. So I kept on the gas. I kept the lead for about 1 lap then Kari Studley caught me and passed me. I stuck to her wheel and we entered the sand. A guy fell in front of me and I ran right into him. I had to get back going again and that is when Kari got a small gap on me. I tried to bring it back but she was just a bit faster then me on the straight aways.

My team mate Mel Lewis was in 3rd with Jessica Cutler behind her in 4th. Mel played some awesome team tactics and didn't pull Jessica back up to me and with one lap to go Mel punched it to put a gap on Jessica and Mel came in 3rd place.

I held on and got 2nd just 10 sec behind Kari. What a great race. I felt like myself again. It just felt good to be able to push hard the whole race and not fade or have any mechanicals. Best race for me this whole season!

Sean, Evan and Chad all had great races. Sean took 2nd in the Master 45+ cat, Chad had a back injury and after being in 2nd for a few laps he fell back to 12th in the Master 35+. And Evan had another great race finishing in 13th in the Elite men.

Now we are off to race in Bend, OR this weekend. The season is almost over, I can't beleive how fast the season goes.

SCX #7 Monroe

What a day! It rained all day and made the ground very wet and muddy. The way they laid out the course this year was my favorite so far. So much mud and so technical. Perfect!

I was 6th going into the series finals and Mel my teammate was in 4th. So our goal was to take off and try to move up a bit in the points. We started, and I had a great start. I was sitting around 3rd after the straight away. I stayed there for about a half lap then Natasha passed me. I tried to hang on, but lost her wheel.

Mel came up and we rode together for a half a lap and then she got a gap on me after the technical downhill. We both rode down it just fine but Mel could ride up the up hill section after the downhill and I had to run which gave her a little gap each lap.

I held on and finished in 5th, Mel in 4th on the day. What a fun course. Good news was that the 3rd place girl didn't race so Mel moved up to 3rd overall and I moved up to 5th overall! What a great season so far for the Cycle U-PopCap team.

Chad figured out that so far in 18 races we have had 31 top 5 placings! That is awesome.

Chad and Sean also had a great race. They rode together most of the race and finished 4th and 5th on the day.

Evan had a good race but finished 10th overall in his first Cat 1-2 field! Super awesome.

And lastly Holden had lne goal and that was to finish his race. And he did, he was so cold and muddy when he was done but he did it, he finished in those crazy cold, wet and muddy conditions. So proud of him!

Ok so on to State Champs this Sun. I hope for some fresh legs.

Thank you SCX for another great season!

SCX #6 Sprinker

Well what can I say, another bad luck race for me. The bad part was I was feeling just about the best I have felt all season too!

I really liked the new course layout, it had more turns then before which slowed it down a bit and made it a little more technical. It was so cold today. I raced at 1:30 and it was only about 38 degrees. So I broke out the long sleeve thermal undershirt for this one.

We took off at the start and I decided to not go all out, to just sit on 2nd or 3rd wheel to see how I was going to feel and I felt good. I really felt good, I was so excited and about half way through the first lap I was in 2nd, right on 1st places wheel and not going all out. This was setting up to be my best race this season.

Then it happened, I shifted down to get ready for the 2nd run up and my chain fell into my rear wheel. I fixed it but realized my chain had come out of the bottom of the derailleur. I fixed it but 5th place had already gone by. I got to the pits, where Justin and Chad had my bike ready for me. Awesome bike change, thanks guys. So I got on the B bike and right away it felt wrong. My chain was popping in the middle of my cassette. So I still tried to bridge back up to the girls in front of me, but just couldn't do it.

Turns out my rear derailleur was broken so Justin took one off of Chad's bike and had my bike back running in 2 laps. Thank you Justin! You rock!

So back on the A bike and I gave it one good shot and tried to bridge back up. But after one lap I just faded out. It was just not my day. I am trying so hard to stay with it this season with all my injuries, illnesses and bike mechanicals. I am so mentally fried, but I just hung on and finished 7th behind Mel who was in 6th, who also had a bad day and had her chain drop off twice.

Oh well just another bad day. I was pretty frustrated when I finished but it is time to move on and focus on Monroe. Who knows what will happen there, but I will be there and give it my best for sure.

Holden crashed hard at the first set of barriers in his race and hurt his side and leg. He got back up and finished one lap and then bailed do to pain and a bad head cold. Poor guy, he will be back for Monroe.

Chad and Sean also had a rough day, they were sitting both in the top 5 after the first lap, looking good, when a rider crashed in front of them and they had to stop and wait to get by. Chad worked back up from almost last place to finish 8th and Sean in 11th. Evan also was in a crash, and he got up and finished in 18th.

So overall not a good race day for Cycle U-PopCap. But we will all shake it off this week and focus on Monroe.

Thank you again Justin for rushimg to get my bike fixed and back available to ride!

MFG #6 Magnuson Park The Finals

Wow I got behind this week and never posted my race report from Woodland Park. It is so awesome to be able to race in Seattle and at Woodland Park.There were so many spectators and we hit a record with 970 registered racers! That is crazy, but so awesome.

We had 19 women on the Cat 1-2 start line. That is the biggest WA Cat 1-2 turn out yet. Super excited to see so many women upgrading.

Going into the race my team mate Mel Lewis was in first place overall with Jenni Geartner not coming to race. I was in 4th. I really wanted to move up into 2nd and thought if I finished 2 people in front of 3rd place, I could get enough points to move into 2nd.

We took off and I was in 2nd right on Mel's wheel going into the first turn. I stayed there and Courtney McFadden came up and around us. We went over the first set of barriers and we were all still really tight. Mel burped some air out of her tubeless tires and then dropped her chain and that set her back to around 15th place. I kept on the gas and tried to stay with Courtney. I couldn't hang on but was sitting in 2nd for awhile until Beth passed me. I decided to sit on Beth's wheel because she was in 3rd place overall and I needed to beat her.

So I sat on her for one lap then Jessica and Marsa came around and I jumped on their wheels and we dropped Beth. I stayed with Jessica and Marsa for the rest of the race. Marsa and I were swapping back and forth for the last 2 laps. I got ahead of her but she was able to kill me on the run up and the back side gravel hills. I blew up in the last lap but hung on to finish in 4th behind Marsa.

Mel killed herself to try to get in between me and Beth and she worked her way up to finishin 5th behind me and in front Beth. It was so awesome to see her do that, I was so happy and grateful for her efforts for me.

So I thought I had moved into 2nd overall but then starting doing the math and realized I had missed it by 1 point. Super frustrating but that is how it goes. Later in the week I found out that I was actually 4th overall, and that Jenni even though she wasn't at the last race had won enough races to hold onto 2nd place overall.

On Thursday we went to the MFG awards party at Hale’s Ales in Ballard to cheer on Mel and Sean who won the Cat 1-2 women, and the Master 35+ men's overall!! It was a good time with MFG holding a raffle with some awesome prizes and then the winner of each cat got to play musical chairs to determine their order for picking prizes from the prize table.

It was pretty funny watching all the adults and kids all play musical chairs. Then after that they went in order and picked out prizes, Mel got a Raleigh single speed cross bike!! And Sean won an awesome pair of Mavic shoes. MFG has amazing prizes!!

Thank you MFG for putting on such a great series and making it so much fun every weekend.

SCX #5 Steilacoom

SCX #5 brought us back to Fort Steilacoom in Tacoma.

This place I have a love hate relationship with. Sometimes I have my best races here and sometimes my worst.

This race was right in the middle. We started out with over 10 ladies in the 1-2 field. I am sitting 4th in the series so my goal was to try to break into the top 3 today.

I have another head cold. Frustrating, but what do you do. I started my warm up and felt off, I was even a bit light headed and considered not starting. But I took some Dayquil and that helped a lot.

We took off and Mel my team mate got the whole shot. I decided I wasn't going to go all out on the start since I wasn't feeling well. So I sat around 4th on the start. I hung there and thought for sure we would hit the first climb and I would get shelled off, but no. I actually felt ok. So I hung in and got to the run up. Which again, thinking I would get dropped. But no I felt ok again. So back on I went. I was sitting in 4th when Emily got by me. I stayed on her wheel and quickly knew that on the downhill’s I was a bit faster and used that to my advantage.

On the 3rd lap I got around Emily on the uphill and then hit it hard on the downhill and got a gap. I caught up with Jessica and sat on her wheel. Mel was in 2nd and I knew if I went around Jessica I would be pulling her back up to Mel. So I used some road tactics and sat on her wheel forcing her to work to try to catch Mel.

Mel noticed we were back there and she kicked it in. Every lap, she was getting closer and closer to 1st, and pulling away from 3rd. I tried to get around Jessica but just didn't have the strength. I held in for 4th, pretty happy with my race considering I was sick.

Mel caught up to Courtney who was in 1st and it came down to a sprint finish and Mel got the win! Super excited for her, her first win!

Chad and Sean had great races. Sean finishing in 5th and Chad in 7th.

Evan said he felt the best in this race so far. Great sign for him that he is healing up and getting regaining his fitness.

And Holden got a flat and was able to pit and get a new wheel and held on to finish in 15th.

Another great weekend for the Cycle U-PopCap team.

Halloween

The family all went out with the "RUM RUNNERS" crew. We met at Mandi's parents house in Glen Eagle in Arlington. There were a lot of kids and a lot of candy. Super fun.

In the picture, my mom is Santa, Holden is a turtle, I am a cow, my neice Alyssa is a lepard, and my dog Elvis is Super Dog.