Sweet Victory

Done!

Ok, I didn't want to admit it before racing, but the event last night, the Omnium, was the one I really wanted to win. I needed to win it. 5 events in 6 hours. Long night.

On the international scene, this is the event where I can be competitive. I had to win it here at Nationals to prove it to myself and others.

The race starts with a 200m time trial, the a scratch race, then a 2k pursuit, then a points race, and then a 500m time trial. For those who don't know much about track cycling, this is similar to the pentathlon in track and field. It determines the best all-around track cyclist.

200m- 1st place

Scratch- 1st place

Pursuit- 2nd place

Points- 4th place

500m- 1st place

My biggest supporter! I think he was more exhausted then me and he has to race today too.

Podium: Christen King 5th, Anna Lang 4th, Heather Jackson 3rd, Theresa Cliff-Ryan 2nd, Cari Higgins 1st. That was some tough competition!

Christen and I strutting the PROMAN stuff. This girl killed it in the points race!

Today is the 500m and Team Pursuit. Greg races the Scratch race.

You Were Warned: 2012

Everybody's talking...

SKINS announced a partnership with USA Cycling until the London Olympics. They will providing some sweet kits for the National Teams through 2012. Smart move for both organizations! Looking forward to sporting the new kits.

PROMAN has our own fun announcements coming soon... stayed tuned!

Nationals starts tomorrow. PROMAN will be representing! We have 5 women competing- me, Christen King, Shelley Olds, Hanan Alves- Hyde, and Coryn Rivera.

The schedule is brutal for me. Last year I stuck with traditional sprint events and went 4 for 4 :) This year I am branching out and getting crazy with 8 events. Yep, double.

Wed- Omnium which includes 200m, points, 2k, scratch, 500m

Thur- Team Pursuit, 500m, Scratch

Fri- Keirin (only 1 event? how lame. ha!)

Sat- Sprints

Sun- Team Sprint, Madison

See everyone out there!

LV-LA

We made it out of Vegas unscathed. No gambling, no drinking, no bike racing... great dinner, great friends, great sponsors.

Onto Los Angeles- we are staying with friend and teammate Christen in Huntington Beach for a couple days until competition. There were some time trials events on Saturday morning that I used to open the legs up and get moving. Nothing outstanding but can't be too disappointed after recovering from driving and from Interbike. Greg planned on racing the mass start events Saturday night but we opted out of spending a whole day at the velodrome. We have plenty of that on the horizon. Racing starts on Wednesday so there are still a couple days to get things (legs) in place.

Nice little beach recovery ride after track session yesterday.

Dodging strollers, surfboards, cruisers, wanderers, kids, dogs, etc. As sketchy as a Madison and still better then the highway.

Dinner last night was amazing! California Shabu Shabu. If you haven't ever been.... GO!

My friend Lana and her boy Emiliano. Lana's brother owns Shabu Shabu and was our feerless leader in teaching us how to enjoy this traditional Japenese style of eating. Thanks Lana!

Off for a spin this morning and then the track this afternoon. Keep checking back!

Trippin'

Today the road trip started. People always ask why I drive to LA for training/racing. The picture below should make you understand.

First stop, D2 Custom Shoe in Eagle, CO. This is the first time I have seen the where the biz is conducted. I have been wearing their shoes on the track for about 9 months now and have seen drastic differences. I am going to one day experiment with my SRM and quantify this improvement. Oh, not to mention the comfort of a customer shoe :)

Don Lamson, the genius behind the scenes. The stories and people he has built shoes for is amazing.

Me and my stinky foot on the computer screen. High tech biz! Who knew?

Part of the process. You can pick all "color" scheme you want. Some people get crazy... my track shoes are pretty tame.

Apparently the production requires lots of equipment.

My stinky foot getting fit for a pair of road shoes! YAY!!!!

Oh, yes, I am wearing a pair of SKINS in white camo. See, I told you I wear them all the time.

We then arrived in Fruita, ran into a friend at the gas station (all of Boulder is heading to Interbike), rode our bikes, ate dinner, and now Greg is watching some terrible movie with SnoopDog. Snoop, if you read this... you should stick to music. Our road ride was nice but it is torture being in Fruita without mountain bikes. To all our friends in the Front Range... it's warm and still beautiful fall weather out here!

Next stop... Vegas.

Off we go...

It practically turned to winter here overnight in Boulder. Mid to high 70's yesterday... mid 40's and rain today. Yikes! Thank goodness we leave tomorrow.

Off to Interbike in Las Vegas where I will be representing for SKINS. Lots of big announcements for sponsors and our team. Cycling trade show on steroids.

We really aren't Las Vegas fans and will avoid all fun if possible. :)

We go from there to LA for Track Nationals. I downloaded new music last night for my warm up mix on the iPod. My adrenalin will be pumpin'! 7 or 8 events in 5 days.

Day 1 is the Omnium which includes 5 races in 1 session.

Day 2 is Team Pursuit, 500m, Scratch

Day 3 Keirin

Day 4 Sprints

Day 5 Team Sprint and Madison

Watch this video of the World Championship Madison from 2005 in LA. Sweet! Mark Cavendish wins his first senior World title. Our own b.a. Colby Pearce racing with Marty Nothstein. If you don't know what a Madison is... controlled chaos! This year at Elite Nationals will be the first women's madison (and omnium) for a national title. :)

Bring it!

I am feeling good. You may have noticed that I am adding some endurance events to the sprinters standard. Hell ya!

Thursday plans?

If not, check this out. Max Muscle, the super cool store in Boulder will be hosting "Anti-Aging from the inside out." This free seminar is for women only.

I wish I were in town that night... I would be there for sure! If you do go and learn how to age like Hallie Berry, please let me know what the secret is.

Recruiting

This is the time of year. All the teams are signing their riders for 2010. Rumors have started on who is riding for who, what teams are going under, and what new teams there are.

As the owner and coach of a junior team, Flatiron Flyers, I decided to get busy this week in our own recruiting. I am thinking about the long term viability of the team... and so I start sweet talking the young ones.

Here is my pick for Rookie of the Year, 2015.

She needs to practice her skills since she almost ran me over on this one. But, we discovered she has little fear. Downhiller?

Greg was testing her sprinting ability.

We are going to offer her an early contract and hope she commits.