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