Becky Reilly did her first track race on Friday night and got 4th place.
Tracie won some money at the local rally for being the first female to cross the line.
Nice job ladies!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Ronde Von Manda Road Race
Sunday was the open race. Wet conditions and rain made it a very interesting race. Lined up with over 30 women. Good size group. I got to race with teammate Christina this time which rarely happens on the road so that was nice. I stayed near the front to avoid any possible mishaps in the rain and i also wanted to be near the action :) The group started to widdle out and at one point Christina made an attack and soon after the group caught her she went for another attack and this one was harder. That girl can move!! A few people went with her and i didn't try to jump. I knew this was probably the break that would stick. Christina advised me to stay with the group if there was a break so i did. The group lost more people and I ended up in the chase group with Sheri Jordan, Lori Barrett,3 ATT&T girls, and a few others. The ATT&T girls didn't have anyone from their team on the break so they ended up working a bunch. I jumped on every attack and was determined to stay in that group. My sprint was less than stellar and placed 11th. ARRRGGh.. one shy of top ten. But i was happy to be the first cat 4 girl to cross the line and only cat 4 to stay in that chase group.
Christina finished 2nd in this race and lost to Kate Sherwin by just a hair.
Weekend was great with the people i was with. Thanks to Rachel for the ride share and Kelly and Stacy for letting us stay at your place. Thanks Christina for the advice and everything else. Wish i could've helped more!
Beltera - First road race for 2008
My intro to road racing for 2008 was this weekend. It's been a long time. I lined up with the cat 4s and had a good warm-up- was ready to go. We ended up going really slow the first couple laps. THere weren't many attacks throughout. By third lap things started to get a little more interesting. On the last lap, Rachel Byus jumped at the top of the only hill. I went around someone and chased to get on her wheel to work together. I caught up, gave myself some seconds to recover and went around her. We had a gap but we jumped too early. A couple girls caught us. I motioned for help and Rachel started to move to help but saw the other girls making their way in front. She moved over to let them by and accidentally moved into my front wheel. I thought for sure i was going down. I started to lose control, bumped her wheel again and somehow kept myself upright. Our strategy for a break didn't work. The group caught us and i didn't have much left for the sprint. Ended up 7th. Very disappointed.
Lessons on Beltera:
1. it is possible to get your front wheel bumped and stay upright
2. I need work on my sprints
3. Pay attention to finish area
Christina Smith ended up 3rd. Stuck in the curb at the sprint she was left without room for her sprint.
Lessons on Beltera:
1. it is possible to get your front wheel bumped and stay upright
2. I need work on my sprints
3. Pay attention to finish area
Christina Smith ended up 3rd. Stuck in the curb at the sprint she was left without room for her sprint.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Outback Blowout was a blast!
Waco- a great challenge and a lot of fun as usual. Rich and i did our annual trip :) to waco and got there on sat to preride the course.
Everyone did a great job in organizing the event. It was also great to see the big women fields in all the categories. Our 30-39 group had 12 women but since they lined up all the 19-39 women together- we actually had a group of 15 which is great!!
The 19-39 women were the first to go out. I made it to my start right in the nick of time with a couple minutes to go. Thanks to some peeps telling me my group was already on the line. We lined up and i set my watch and noticed my HR was already 174. My nerves were high as usual but i was a little surprised to see it already there.
Gun went off and we were off. Christina in front setting the pace around the circled driveway with the rest of us trying to get a good spot into the trees. I had a great start and ended up 3rd behind Kim J which was where i wanted to be. With Kim showing me the good lines through the trees, we gapped the rest of the girls while Christina gapped us. For the first time in my racing history i was in front of Leslie Reuter and i gotta tell ya.. it felt pretty good!! :)
I held on to Kim's wheel as long as i could but she started to gap me before the end of the half lap. I was happy to be able to stay on as long as i did though. I held that position going into the first full lap but after that Leslie passed me. I held on to her wheel and i got to ride with her for a while. NOW THIS WAS RACING!!! My stomach started to cramp in the first full lap and was painful throughout the race and after. I threw up a little bit and i have decided that that is just part of racing for me. The stomach was a little different..the harder i pushed, the worse it felt.
Leslie ended up gapping me and i went as hard as my stomach would allow to keep my position. I wasn't the smoothest of riders and almost bit it a couple times. The climbing there was significant. It's always a good race because it's a fast course with everything.. technical climbs and descents, switchbacks and tight cornering through the trees. I was able to hold my position til the end of the race so i was really happy about that but i wasn't able to get back to the second place spot. I didn't feel the worst but definitely didnt feel the best racing. HR ended up being 182 avg and 192 Max which is still low for me. I feel great about being less than 2 min behind 2nd place (thank you Christina Smith and Christian Williams at LoneStarWorks.com!!) and hopefully i'll be able to take that spot next time. Thanks to the guys at Dallas Bike Works for helping to get my bike once again ready for race day!!
Teammates Christina and Kim got first in their categories and i ended up with 3rd!!
Rich, on a new bike that he tried out for the first time on Sat, ended up getting 8th place in his category!!! Not too shabby for a roadie!! ;)
And congrats to Steve Innes for his first podium finish in his category!!!!
Everyone did a great job in organizing the event. It was also great to see the big women fields in all the categories. Our 30-39 group had 12 women but since they lined up all the 19-39 women together- we actually had a group of 15 which is great!!
The 19-39 women were the first to go out. I made it to my start right in the nick of time with a couple minutes to go. Thanks to some peeps telling me my group was already on the line. We lined up and i set my watch and noticed my HR was already 174. My nerves were high as usual but i was a little surprised to see it already there.
Gun went off and we were off. Christina in front setting the pace around the circled driveway with the rest of us trying to get a good spot into the trees. I had a great start and ended up 3rd behind Kim J which was where i wanted to be. With Kim showing me the good lines through the trees, we gapped the rest of the girls while Christina gapped us. For the first time in my racing history i was in front of Leslie Reuter and i gotta tell ya.. it felt pretty good!! :)
I held on to Kim's wheel as long as i could but she started to gap me before the end of the half lap. I was happy to be able to stay on as long as i did though. I held that position going into the first full lap but after that Leslie passed me. I held on to her wheel and i got to ride with her for a while. NOW THIS WAS RACING!!! My stomach started to cramp in the first full lap and was painful throughout the race and after. I threw up a little bit and i have decided that that is just part of racing for me. The stomach was a little different..the harder i pushed, the worse it felt.
Leslie ended up gapping me and i went as hard as my stomach would allow to keep my position. I wasn't the smoothest of riders and almost bit it a couple times. The climbing there was significant. It's always a good race because it's a fast course with everything.. technical climbs and descents, switchbacks and tight cornering through the trees. I was able to hold my position til the end of the race so i was really happy about that but i wasn't able to get back to the second place spot. I didn't feel the worst but definitely didnt feel the best racing. HR ended up being 182 avg and 192 Max which is still low for me. I feel great about being less than 2 min behind 2nd place (thank you Christina Smith and Christian Williams at LoneStarWorks.com!!) and hopefully i'll be able to take that spot next time. Thanks to the guys at Dallas Bike Works for helping to get my bike once again ready for race day!!
Teammates Christina and Kim got first in their categories and i ended up with 3rd!!
Rich, on a new bike that he tried out for the first time on Sat, ended up getting 8th place in his category!!! Not too shabby for a roadie!! ;)
And congrats to Steve Innes for his first podium finish in his category!!!!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Big NEWS!!!
Even with my OCD [i believe these bottles lose their potency when they're half full so i end up with a ton of half full bottles- Rich doesnt believe me].. But even so.. Rich still loves me and decided to propose anyway. We are officially engaged!!!!!! :D No date set yet-trying to figure that out. Yippeee!
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Meanwhile..at Lago...
CONGRATS to teammate Kelly Stark for winning the Women's 4 on Saturday!!!! Woohoooo! and then getting 2nd on Sunday!!! What a woman!
Way to go ladies! Tammy Wallace got 4th and Tracie got 5th in women's P/1/2 on Saturday. Michelle Montoya got 7th in the Cat 3 and on Sunday- Tracie got 2nd and Tammy got 6th in the P/1/2 and Michelle got 9th! Good job!
Way to go ladies! Tammy Wallace got 4th and Tracie got 5th in women's P/1/2 on Saturday. Michelle Montoya got 7th in the Cat 3 and on Sunday- Tracie got 2nd and Tammy got 6th in the P/1/2 and Michelle got 9th! Good job!
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Bar-H Bash
This past Sunday i raced the first mtn bike race of the season at BarH. Put up by DORBA and all it's great volunteers-it was a great event as usual. I lined up at the start. I was fired up and nervous. We took off down the hill and i didn't have the strongest of starts. Teammate Christina Smith was in the lead gapping Leslie Reuter, Kim Jennings, Sara Krause and Rachel Byus who just catted up to expert.. CONGRATS! Then a gap and it was Nicole Call and I and then a gap behind us. The course changed from previous years and we took that right turn -right into the strong head wind. Fortunately, i was behind Nicole. We caught up to Rachel and i grabbed onto her wheel and then the men started to pass us. Thanks to Alan Johnson and Bill for letting me suck their wheel. I now owe Alan for helping me out in two races :) We caught up to Sara and we all staggered up the long false flat. Crossing the starting line, i was behind Kim J- about to start the long climb. During the climb i started to feel the start of one of my asthma attacks. I was trying to calm my breathing down so it wouldn't be a full on attack but i was still climbing. I was concentrating on breathing, breathe, breathe dammit! That's when Sara Krause passed me. She said something to me but all i could get out were gasps for oxygen. I knew if i stopped it would be full on so i wanted to just recover and continue. I finished the climb and was able to maintain and then recover and not stop. I glanced at my HR and it was only at 189. Usually i'm much higher and it felt much higher.
The whole race i went all out. My second lap i was having some trouble with the climb again and ended up throwing up after the first initial technical climb. Kim Chance (in the other class-good friend- super strong racer)caught up to me and we descended together and rode taking turns in the front the way back to the finish line. I never caught up to Sara again and i wish i would've worked with Kim to really pull on the false flats to gain some ground on Sara. That's one change i wish i would've made to make a stronger finish. My avg hr was 185 which was great. Although my max was only 193. Way below norm. That was a tougher course than the previous years (with the extra climbing and strong winds).. I'm not too disappointed with my finish. I did what i set out to do which was go all out. I hope Waco in a couple weeks will be even better.
Thanks to LoneStarWorks for ALL your support, Christina for allowing us to stay at your parents farm -what an awesome place, and of course for all the support, coaching and advice.
Thanks also to Dallas Bike Works for getting my bike ready for race day and working on it post race day. Whoever missed the bash this year should look it up for next year. It's definitely a race to put on the calendar.
Congrats to CHristina Smith, Kim Jennings and Dave Parks for winning their categories!
I ended up in 4th place.
The whole race i went all out. My second lap i was having some trouble with the climb again and ended up throwing up after the first initial technical climb. Kim Chance (in the other class-good friend- super strong racer)caught up to me and we descended together and rode taking turns in the front the way back to the finish line. I never caught up to Sara again and i wish i would've worked with Kim to really pull on the false flats to gain some ground on Sara. That's one change i wish i would've made to make a stronger finish. My avg hr was 185 which was great. Although my max was only 193. Way below norm. That was a tougher course than the previous years (with the extra climbing and strong winds).. I'm not too disappointed with my finish. I did what i set out to do which was go all out. I hope Waco in a couple weeks will be even better.
Thanks to LoneStarWorks for ALL your support, Christina for allowing us to stay at your parents farm -what an awesome place, and of course for all the support, coaching and advice.
Thanks also to Dallas Bike Works for getting my bike ready for race day and working on it post race day. Whoever missed the bash this year should look it up for next year. It's definitely a race to put on the calendar.
Congrats to CHristina Smith, Kim Jennings and Dave Parks for winning their categories!
I ended up in 4th place.
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