The Ridge Crit

The crit course in Haney was one of the coolest courses that I've seen - sharp corners, with half the course really wide, then funneling into a very skinny U-shaped 180 degree corner with a park in the middle for interactive spectatorship!

Bill Pickle, aka Chelsea Bilsbarrow, dominated the Cat 4 women and won all three stages this weekend, including the prime...she showed them no mercy!! Congrats Pickle, and welcome to Cat 3:)

Our team numbers dwindled from 8 to 4 on Sunday for the crit, with just Leah, Claire and myself left to defend Leah's overall lead for the stage race. Claire and I could feel the pressure before the race, it was perfect, just the pressure that we needed!

Claire did a great job covering any attacks at the front, while I marked other potential racers that could take points for the overall (especially Leah's good friend Jean-Anne!). We were on every attack that was lauched, and never let one go...
As the race went on to half way, BH lauched an attack every lap, obviously trying to tire out the rest of us to get there sprinter Laura Brown the win.
With the prime lap called, I moved to the front of the pack into the last two corners, with Claire leading Leah up on the outside - the perfect lead out! We came around the corner with Claire leading where she enable me to take the prime with Leah in second holding off Laura Brown in 3rd.
With only 5 minutes to go, the pace slowed and it was obvious that it would be a pack sprint for the finish. Jean-Anne lauched one more try for a breakaway, but we hooked her back in...
The bell lap saw myself and Leah sitting in 5th and 6th for the final corner where we were able to outsprint 2 riders for a 3rd (Leah) and 4th finish, respectively keeping Leah in 1st Overall for the Stage Race!!

Thanks for a great race ladies!

BC Cup #2 Race the Ridge

Well, we now have two BC Cup races under our belt and our team still has the leader's jersey. The road race on Saturday was the kind of course you could see on a World Cup circuit, it was extremely tough both physically and mentally. The race started out with the sun shining so I knew things were looking up for BC racing. The race started out at a moderate pace set by Trek and Symmetrics. The group stayed together nicely as a cohesive unit for about half a lap, and then came "the Wall." Leah Goldstein from Symmetrics was up front setting a solid pace with Marni Hambledon (Symmetrics) tight to her wheel, following her was Allison Testroete (Expresscopy.com), and following her was Jenny Trew (Giant), and after weaving my way through the pack, I was following Jenny. As the hill became more gradual, Symmetrics continued to drive the pace and Allison started to open a gap. I decided to come around Allison and jumped on Marni's wheel. Unfortunately, Jenny was unable to get on and missed out by a pedal stroke- Next time Jenny, next time!!! Then the fun began for me (Leah Guloien), Leah Goldstein continued to drive the pace on the flats and made sure I was taking equal amounts of pulls as her as Marni sat on my wheel. Eventually, I could no longer respond to her attacks and soon enough she was out of sight leaving Marni and I behind. For the remainer of the race, Marni and I worked together holding off the chase group that consisted of about 8 girls including Jenny Trew (Giant) and my good friend Jeananne McKirdy (Rocky Mountain Bicycles). As the finish line neared, Marni was on my wheel and I started to slow down the pace in hopes she would come around me so I could jump on her wheel. Soon enough, she jumped around me and I got on her wheel but in the end I was unable get her at the line. Needless to say, Symmetrics placed 1, 2 and I took third. On the other hand, our team sprinter, Jenny Trew, walked away from the pack in a group sprint and took fourth. Overall, it was a successful day for the Giant girls taking 3rd and fourth.

Tour de Walla Walla - Criterium (almost) Domination

Hi Fans,

After a very successful road race, our team of self-declared crit-riders lined up to the start of the 40 minute L-shaped criterium in downtown Walla Walla looking to put the hurt to our competition (namely the Wines of Washington team, but you should all talk to Jenny about that). It was raining lightly, but after this past winter, it didn't phase us a bit.

From the gun, our constant attacking left the field strung out, and even resident pro Mara Abbott (Webcor Builders) found herself in a spot of bother, dangling off the back of the field. Much like the rest of the weekend, we found ourselves to be the only team willing to attack, with Wines of Washington's domestique pulling things back for the race leader, Suz Weldon. Kele Murdin (Ultralink) was also aggressive - following our many attacks - and threatened to get away a couple of times with both Jenny and Alena, but it was not to be.

The Giant Team scooped up all available primes before setting up for the finish. Alena buried herself keeping the pace high to avoid last minute escapes but unfortunately Kele jumped us a split second too early, and we were unable to close the gap, finishing a disappointing second and third. Alena surprised everyone by finishing fifth, even after such a huge effort in the final laps.

More surprisingly still, was the lack of sprint representation by the local girls. I was sure that they would have taken advantage of our tired legs from our constant aggression, but I guess they were too tired/intimidated/slow (take your pick).

While in general it was a sucessful crit, we learned a lot, and we're ready to take it to the BC Girls next weekend at Race the Ridge.

I'd like to end this post with the best compliment a team of women racers can receive:

"You raced like men" - Jeremy Storie

Walla Walla TT

Saturday morning the Jenny, Lisa, and myslef (Alena), started the Tour of Walla Walla with a 12 km TT. The out and back course consisted of a gradual uphill on the way out, which lead everyone to feel kind of slow and sluggish, and the way back to be suprisingly fast and for the most part a lot more fun. Although, I don't Time Trials are generally supposed to be considered "fun", the way back was actually kind of fun. I think however I could have made it a little less "fun" and perhaps more "fast". Lisa was the top Giant rider of the day in 8th place 1 minute back, Jenny followed in 13th 1:31 back, and myself in 16th 1:41 back. After the time trial we were looking forward to showing what we could do as a team in the road race, which proved to be very "fun", in that strange kind of, I like to hurt and make other people hurt kind of way.

Kellog Hollow Road Race

After an 8 hour drive and what was thought to be an innocent burrito, Leah was doomed to tummy ache land, and I (Alena) was the only Giant rider to race in Friday's road race. Although I like to deem myslef as independent, I felt a tad lonely and kind of missed the usual banter and perhpas loud voices of some of my teammates. The course as Jeremy said "does not look hard, it is hard", was a hilly, but short 60 km road race somewhere near Walla Walla. The race started off neutral for about 3 km, then quickely headed for a descent and technical off camber corner to begin the climbing. The group stayed together for most of the first major climb, Mara Abbott (Webcore Builders) picked up the pace and procedded to make her first move. A few girls managed to stick with her, and unfortunatly my legs did not quite have the speed to match the pace. The rest of the race was made up of attacks and chases and a continuous attempt to get closer to the 5 girls infront of us. We finished the race with a sprint for 6, where my positioning was little bit less than ideal and I ended up in 10th. Overall, not a bad race, and I left feeling like there was lots of room for improvement, but that I had the legs to keep it going all weekend.

The Giant Show

Despite losing a few members at the last minute, I think it's safe to say that the Giant team came away with a successful weekend of racing down in Walla Walla, Washington. I won't lie, I'm tired and I would totally prefer to be out on my bike, but instead I'm at work (procrastinating) and thinking about the weekend. We originally thought that we were going to be heading down with a beefy team, but lost Claire on Wednesday (luckily we found her - ha ha, I'm funny - and tired can't you tell?) as she had a work commitment, and poor Leah came all the way down (8 hour drive) only to come down with a yucky tummy flu and become well acquainted with various sleeping areas (we missed her out on the road) - so we were down to the trio of Alena, Lisa and myself. That having been said, despite the smaller numbers, we definitely made an impression on the race.
So I've chosen to give a quick recap of Saturday's Roadrace. The course was 100km in length and started out with a 3km neutral climb. But let's be honest, a climb's a climb - Lisa even pointed out that her heart rate was 172 going up it - so it wasn't all that easy. The next climb was of similiar length at about km 20, but it rolled easier (and we stopped for a pee break near the bottom which made the ascent generally easier - unless you are me and the very last person to get the bibs back up and have to chase a little). The pack stayed in tact and the three of us did a little animation, but nothing really stuck. There was a sprint in town for a $25 dollar prime that I took going into the base of the climb - so that was fun.
The second time up the big hill (first time racing) was at tempo until the final few hundred meters when the QOM points factored in. At this point, I would like to mention that I, Jenny Trew, ended up 5th in the QOM competition - rather happy with myself ;) I digress, but the group made it back together and Lisa decided that it was time to make it a race. She attacked and despite multiple NRC podiums last year - everyone just let her go. She was away for 30km or so and when she got back Alena and I took at stab at it, before Lisa went again and I heard a girl in the pack mutter "REALLY?", but this time she was pulled back and on the next rotation of attacks, Alena got away. Again, the pack didn't really react and she was out front for the next 35 minutes - we put the radios to good use trying to motivate her, but alas the pack was too eager to get to the base of the climb in a clump and we gobbled her up about 200m up the pitch.
With both of the other girls having had their cracks at long breakaways, the 3km finishing climb was all me - talk about responsibility! :P We started hard, but manageable as the pack dwindled with attrition up to about the halfway mark when the attacks started. It was stop and start and I managed to stay with the front group until about 1200m to go. At that point, Mara Abbot of Webcor Builders (of Oak Glen fame) attacked and took a few girls with her, I was able to close the gap with about 1km to go, but at that point it was all I could do to hold the pace I was going. Note: 200m going up a climb is much longer than say, on the track. That having been said, I was able to hold on to 5th place, only 28 seconds behind Mara - not so shabby if I do say so myself. The ride bumped me up to 8th in the GC after a somewhat lacklustre TT performance - it's an interesting world where I come 13th in the TT and 5th in the summit finish...I just don't know... But the Giant girls definitely put on a show!

The Beast

So I definitely haven't really updated anyone on the mountain biking scene so far. Basically, I have only done a few warm up races. (same idea as Spring Series, only with JUST highschool kids) and it has been a LOT of fun. I just love being outside in the forest, getting to hammer and not having to stress or worry about being a rooky or making a mistake that could pretty much end a life.
I pre-rode the Rat Race a week ago and had a stupidly painful crash on "the beast" aka my Anthem(a beast... BAHAHAHAHAHA). I was so scared I scrached her! I was launching off this little jump, but instead slid and flipped...hit a tree up-side down and slid down the whole thing. QUITE the adventure....until I saw my bum and woke up the next morning and couldn't move the neck. OH WELL though, what can I expect when I act like a hack and do stupid things like try and jump my 7000$ cross country bike on free-ride trails. So Im off to the mainland tomorrow to do another race.... Pretty much summing my life to the day.

jet fuel ??

well id love to write the race from my perspective and mabey one day i will but for now im gonna post some picts because if i dont the jet might get mad and we all know she is fast enough to chase anyone down so im just postoing picts and leaving it at that

Giant Women go 1 for 1 at the BC Cup

Well it appears that the hard training races we put in last month during the Spring Series paid off. Yesterday, the team took to the line at Harris Roubaix ready to show that we are the strongest team in BC, and I think we accomplished our goal. We were short Kath on the line (ha ha!), which is too bad because I'm sure she would have enjoyed the gravel chunk every lap - what with being a mountain biker and all!
The race was fairly aggressive from the get go and a Giant rider was never far from the action. Unfortunately on lap 2 Alena suffered the unfortunate fate of a flat and there was a resulting split in the field that ate up Jenelle and Claire as well - so we were down to four in the front group. No matter, we were able to continue to throw girls off the front - the most notable of which was Leah Guloien who attacked at a perfect time after the field had been stretched out for awhile and only Leah Golstein was able to follow. The two girls were out in front of the pack for most of a lap, but the flat terrain foiled them and the front group was all together with 1 to go. At that point, I knew that it was going to be a sprint (as did the rest of the field) and I started to get excited. The sprint went from the corner - I was the third wheel around and after a bit of a "is anyone else going to go?" lag - I took it for a drag race and managed to beat out Laura Brown of Integrale and Alison Testeroete of Expresscopy.
I'm very stoked to be the new BC Cup leader (and I get a jersey!!!) and proud of my team for providing such great support during our first real test. That having been said - the real hero of the day award goes to Chelsea for kicking ass and taking names in the front group - she even ventured an attack in the last lap - HOW COOL IS THAT?
Also a big thanks to Sean for coming out to cheer us on - we wouldn't be looking nearly so stylin' if it wasn't for you!

Mountain Biking

So just a quick re-cap of my day....

MOUNTAIN BIKE RACES ARE DA BOMB!

The Last ROAD RACE of the Spring Series- B Group

Well, the last Spring Series Road Race has come and gone. It was a very cold morning, however, the rain held off and as the race began things started to heat up. It was a very impressive field of people that showed up for the last road race, not only because of the numbers, but also because of the significant amount of women in the field. I can't wait to race with the Giant girls in an ALL womens field, it is going to be great. Okay, back to the race. The race started off at a good pace and there was an early break that went at about the 3rd to fourth lap. The break was initiated by our one and only Jenny Trew and six other riders including my good old dad, Nels Guloien. The seven riders worked together in hopes of holding the chase group off. As for the rest of us, myself (Leah), Alena, Lisa and Claire remained in the chase group and watched and waited to see if any groups were going to try and bridge up. Lisa marked her territory near the front of the pack while the rest of us did "intervals" within the pack. After about five laps on their own, the lead group started to fatigue and the chase group started to pick up the pace and eventually closed the gap. Once again, the group was back together. A couple of other attempts were made to get away later on in the race, however, the group stayed aggressive and closed any gaps immediately. With one lap to go, the pack started to get antsy and the yellow line rule was disregared on several occassions- oops. On the last corner to the finish line, Jenny was sitting well positioned in fourth place, however, some back luck came her way and she got tangled up in a crash and was unable to show off her dominating sprint. On the flip side, she was able to walk away with some pretty shades of blue on her leg. Myself and Alena finished in the top half of the pack, while Claire and Lisa stopped to make sure Jenny was okay. Overall, it was another day well spent on the bike and I can't wait for the BC Cup Series to begin. See you all at the races. Leah

The Final Duo: A Crit and TT

Sunday April 2 was a much anticipated day as it marked race numbers 9 and 10 of the Spring Series. The Giant girls went into the final 2 events of the 3 race stage race, with smiles and determination to finish off the series with aggressive riding and lots of action. The team leaders Jenny and Lisa have shown fantastic leadership and experience though out the series upon which the rest of the team is continually learning from. The message from them on the last day was simple, "you are not racing if you are not at the front - get there, stay there, anticipate moves, and react". The B race crit began on that note with Jenelle, Alena (me), Clair, Leah, Lisa, and Jenny racing. After a brief hail storm and some rain, we started the 60 minute crit. The team had riders in the front marking moves from the beginning. It took me a few laps to get myself together and to the front, which as it would seem should be a simple thing to do, however a few pedal strokes in the wind can do some damage to the legs, and that really adds up near the end of the race, as I would soon feel through out my continual effort to "get there and stay there". Myself, Leah, Claire, and Jenelle, had the jobs of marking moves from the front, in order for Lisa and Jenny to have enough in their legs for the sprint finish, which had some moments of effectiveness and a few other moments to keep learning from. A crash in the middle of the race unfortunately took Claire as a victim, but she escaped with no injuries. The race stayed together for a sprint finish where Lisa lead Jenny out for a 7th place. The team finished the race on a positive note in terms of the experience we had gained though out the series from learning how to ride together and the potential we have to keep that learning curve up.

The final race was a 12 km ITT. After the team spent some quality time together, eating, relaxing, and organizing TT equipment, we were ready to finish the series! Jenny and Leah were excited to try out their new super hot Giant Time Trial bikes. Most of the girls were feeling totally cooked after the previous 2 races and the past month of racing. We had some comments such as "my HR doesn't seem to be much higher when I'm going hard", "but my bike is so hot". Needless to say on the short, flat, and windy TT Leah ripped it up with a fast time, and the other girls followed behind putting their best effort forward. Myself and Jenny had the same comment "I went really hard...". It was a very satisfying finish to know there was no more work that could been produced from the legs of the Giant girls. We look forward to the season!

the last of the first

well i suppose that all good things must come to an end.
This weekend signaled the end to the ever popular spring series and what a fantastic weekend it was ( even if i did spend a small portion of it on the ground ). With a wonderfully flattish road course Saturday , a short and sweet crit Sunday morning and a perfectly frustrating tt complete with gusting cross winds Sunday afternoon.
To spice the weekend up a little for the "kids" on the team there where Weastern Canada games team points to be had ( Kathrine seamed to have a good time racking them up ).
All in all the weekend went fairly well for the c giant girls , more so for the one of us who avoided kissing pavement though :)
so I'm sure I'm speaking for all the girls when i say a big thank you to all the escape velocity and devo riders, coaches, and parents who worked so hard to put on a great bunch of races
THANK YOU