Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Annie F. @ Ronde Van Brisbane

W3, 3/29/09
2nd of 20-25(?)
Teammates: None
Course: 1.7 mile circuit- 1k downhill with a couple tight turns, followed by a gradual uphill to a "hilltop" finish

This race was somewhat of an after thought- it was added to my racing calender last week as a good opportunity to grab some upgrade points. The course suited me well- a decent climb with a hilltop finish. Gotta love those :)

I warmed up for the race and felt the fatigue of the previous day's BtC TT and 1.5 hr ride. Luckily the race started out at a very manageable pace, so I had time to continue warming up and scope out the course and riders. I had been warned that timing the sprint at this race would be difficult because I would need to start sprinting before I could see the finish line. I found a spot that was roughly 200m away from the finish to keep in mind for the final lap.

There were two large teams represented in the field, so I decided to not waste too much of my energy on the front. I found that I lost my position on the downhill, but always found a good wheel to save energy for the uphill, where I had no trouble moving up. Besides one solo effort, the pelaton stayed together for the entirety of the race which set me up for my favorite kind of the sprint: the uphill kind. I had expected riders to jump early, but found just the opposite to be true. I stayed second row during the climb, but found that all the girls on the front were riding abreast and blocking any attempt to start a sprint. Finally, the field shattered and I managed to pick my way through to the line (just about in the gutter) in a close second.

All in all, a good race- complete with Thin Mints and $$$ :)

Anne Fulton
Bates College '08

http://anniefulton.wordpress.com/

Annie F. @ Ronde Van Brisbane

W3, 3/29/09
2nd of 20-25(?)
Teammates: None
Course: 1.7 mile circuit- 1k downhill with a couple tight turns, followed by
a gradual uphill to a "hilltop" finish

This race was somewhat of an after thought- it was added to my racing
calender last week as a good opportunity to grab some upgrade points. The
course suited me well- a decent climb with a hilltop finish. Gotta love
those :)

I warmed up for the race and felt the fatigue of the previous day's BtC TT
and 1.5 hr ride. Luckily the race started out at a very manageable pace, so
I had time to continue warming up and scope out the course and riders. I
had been warned that timing the sprint at this race would be difficult
because I would need to start sprinting before I could see the finish line.
I found a spot that was roughly 200m away from the finish to keep in mind
for the final lap.

There were two large teams represented in the field, so I decided to not
waste too much of my energy on the front. I found that I lost my position
on the downhill, but always found a good wheel to save energy for the
uphill, where I had no trouble moving up. Besides one solo effort, the
pelaton stayed together for the entirety of the race which set me up for my
favorite kind of the sprint: the uphill kind. I had expected riders to jump
early, but found just the opposite to be true. I stayed second row during
the climb, but found that all the girls on the front were riding abreast and
blocking any attempt to start a sprint. Finally, the field shattered and I
managed to pick my way through to the line (just about in the gutter) in a
close second.

All in all, a good race- complete with Thin Mints and $$$ :)

Anne Fulton
Bates College '08

http://anniefulton.wordpress.com/

Monday, March 30, 2009

Lauren's First Headshot



Isn't it cool? Miss America!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Annie M. @ Redlands - God Bless Canada!

Annie had some drama getting into the race due to USA Cycling's random determination about her racing status as a member of Webcor/Alto Velo and its association with the Webcor Builders pro team. That said the Canaidans came the the rescue and Annie is riding for one of their regional or national teams!
God Bless Canada!



With all that tension Annie killed it...check it out!

71 338 *Malouin Annie Team BC 13:04.52 at2:23.85

About a 140 Pro/1/2 riders are in this race... she might even be the top woman on her team.

Full results here... http://velonews.com/results/89783

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Cholet-Pays de Loire by Lauren

Warning: this is a very long race report :) I had a lot to say...

Cholet-Pays de Loire

Date: 3/22/09
Start time: 1:00pm
Distance: 80km (16 laps)
Place: 71/101 (starting field size: 170+)
Teammates: Amanda Miller (58th), Ashley Dymond (DNF), Einat Aragon
COURSE: a 5km loop starting at the top of slight rise. There is a sweeping, downhill left-hand turn about 250 meters into the race that leads into a downhill into a headwind. At the bottom of the hill is another soft left-hand turn at a round-about which leads into a relatively straight section during which we go through one round-about. This stretch has some parts that narrow up because of curbs and/or street dividers. At the end of the straight there is a sharp right-hand turn onto the hill. The hill is about 500 meters long, completely straight and about 6%. At the top of the hill there is a 180 turn to head back down a hill into another sharp right-hander. The next section is an out-and-back section that turns around a very large, pedaling round-about. Coming back there is one, more slight, right-hand veer that leads to the finishing straight-away. From the 500 meter sign to the 300 meter sign is a slight rise which evens out until about 150 to go when it kicks up again slightly.

http://www.cholet-pdl.com/
http://cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2009/mar09/choletwomen09

After breakfast and pinning of jerseys we wandered downstairs to find Chris and were greeted with a lobby full of hopeful fans. We could tell from their attentive looks as they heard our footsteps on the stairs and then their almost immediate looks of disappointment that we were not quite what they were hoping for :)

For this race we had a group sign-in and introduction on stage. That was a first! We all went up in our Canada Trust jerseys (unfortunately our USA kits have not arrived still) and were introduced as the US Development Team (with one Israeli guest-star). We are a motley crew :)

FINALLY (after two and a half hours of pre-race chamois time) we were warmed up (mostly) and ready to start the race. I missed the line-up and was the only one of my team who ended up near the back of the 170-woman field. I was not happy with this but decided to look at it as an opportunity (a BIG one) to practice moving up in the field.

The first lap was MAYHEM. I have never been in a race with a field this large and have never smelled so much burning rubber from braking. I assume most of the girls hadn't ridden the course before hand because its was complete confusion. Every time the road narrowed or turned I found myself in a near-trackstand. At one point everyone basically stopped and some girl in the middle couldn't maintain her balance and just fell over causing the first crash. We made it up the hill around the very tight, narrow turn-around, down the hill (more burning rubber into what should have been a very high-speed turn at the bottom) without any problems. The first big crash happened on the finishing stretch where the metal gates were marking lining the roads. I still have no idea what happened to cause it but I just barely squeaked by on the right side of it and chased like hell to get back to the main group, towing a line of girls behind me. We made it back on right before the climb.

After the descent as I was finally settling down from the effort when the girl three ahead of me ran into these massive cones on the right side of the road. I was edging my way forward through the group to try and land a top-20 spot and was unfortunately right behind this mess. I hit the girl who went down in front of me and somehow landed on my left side. I curled up into a ball, unsure of what was coming behind me. As soon as I saw they could all avoid me I was back on my bike, chasing yet again. This time, though, I was chasing by myself and eventually got swallowed up by the secondary peloton who was behind my crash. I never made it back to the front group.

Still pumped with adrenaline I went to the front and started pulling hard. I wanted to be in that front group! We couldn't quite get organized enough and the front group already had too much time on us so I settled into this being my race. I quickly discovered that there were only 5 or 6 girls in this group who were really strong and good bike racers. I tried to help a UCBH Saint Avold rider start a rotating pace-line but people weren't smooth and there was too much disparity in fitness levels so most of the race it was myself, the French UCBH rider (who I noticed a little late had national stripes on her sleeves), a girl on the Specialized team who were consistently at the front (mixed in with several girls who helped some but kept dropping back). I figured if I wasn't at the front and in the race I was at least going to get a good workout!

I was feeling REALLY good. What a bummer. I stayed at the front easily and suddenly realized the UCBH French Champion had disappeared off the front. I had a feeling I'd be seeing here again later. Around 50km into the race we were nearing the top of the hill when she came flying up the right side and took a perfect line into the turn-around to head down the hill. I reacted immediately, weaving in and out of riders in front of me and hammering down the hill after her. When I made it on her wheel she saw me under her arm and kept flying. I thought once I got settled on her wheel the pace would be manageable - wrong! This girl was STRONG! I kept thinking to myself, "she has to slow down soon, there's no way she can do this for long". Wrong again! I still am unsure of what her national title is for but my guess would be time trial or cycle cross.

I stuck myself in the pain cave with no idea how long I could last, or how long she could last. I think for the lap and a half that I was on her wheel I pulled four times. She didn't seem to mind, nor did she seem to have any intention of slowing down. I gave her a little bit of rest on the downhills and the flats but otherwise thought I was pretty useless.

We were approaching the finishing straight and she started talking to me in French. Then she asked if I spoke English and I said yes. Then she goes, "FAST!" HAHA I was thinking, "what are we doing now?!?!" She pointed ahead to a group we were about to catch and I understood that she wanted to move quickly by them to avoid stragglers latching on. She picked up the pace and I couldn't hold on to her wheel anymore without possibly impeding her efforts and being a magnet for someone in the group we were passing. So I yelled, "non! allez, allez", to try and get the point across that I was dropping off. She kept flying and I latched on to this group. As soon as I had 20 seconds of rest I was ready to go again (of course). I bombed through this group and time-trialed to the next group ahead of them. These were groups getting shelled by the front group.

Eventually I ended up back in a combined field of my original group and some stragglers dropped from the front. I kept working really hard on the front of the group, mostly just because I couldn't help myself. Between crashing and then getting all amped on the UCBH girl's wheel I was too pumped to stop. With two laps to go I shut myself down to rest my legs a bit for our field sprint (which wouldn't matter for much but I wanted to the practice). I was confident I could beat every girl in the group.

On the last lap girls went WAY too early, launching at 1km and 500 meters to go. I just let myself get swarmed and tried to be patient. Just as this girl (who had looked pretty much cooked the entire race) came flying up the right-hand side at the 300 meter sign another girl blocked me from grabbing her wheel. I wove through the last girls at the front and took off in a sprint. I made up a lot of ground but it wasn't quite enough to catch her so I took second in our group.

I felt great and had some bad luck but I am happy with what I made of the race. I pushed myself past my limits and felt confident that I was one of the strongest girls in the several groups I was in (with the exception of the UCBH rider).

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Lauren's Pictures from France

Hi everyone!

I have started a photobucket account and have a guest password. If you follow these steps you'll be able to see all of the photos I have taken so far on my trip in France....

Go to photobucket.com
Username: hecht_lauren
Password: france

Enjoy!

Lauren

PS This is a new application for me, so if it doesn't work or it causes problems, let me know...

March-April Schedule

This weekend: training locally. The Webcor women's pro team training camp is this weekend, and Annie Fulton (Big) is attending.
March 26-29 Annie Malouin (Red) to Redlands with Metromint
April 5 Santa Cruz crit
April 11 Copperopolis
April 17 & 18 Sea Otter. (Tentative)
Dana Point Crit April 26 (Tentative)

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Madera - Annie M.

Race report Madera Stage Race - Women 1-2

20 mile criterium, 4 corners. Another bad luck happened.


Within the first 10 laps, just as I was starting to get comfortable in the pack and we started speeding up... Going over the train tracks, I hit something and heard a big "crack". Then, my bike felt wrong. I stopped at the pit and realized that my front 404 was broken. Due to miscommunications with Coach Dan, I had no spare wheel in the pit... Ross saved the day by running to my car to get a spare wheel. ..The official let me go back in the race.. but put me one lap down (-2min). I returned to the race. I was a bit weird out and also mad at this new the bad luck. :-(. The rest of the race was uneventful. I finished mid-pack.


10 miles TT

Bees & wind added challenge to TT! It was hard. I gave everything I had, I thought.

I for sure need to become more aero. ...and mainly I guess, I need to work on pedaling harder and faster for the next TT.



68 miles RR, 4 laps

We did the first lap with an easy steady pace. The paces speeded up as soon as we started lap 2, and many attacks went. I stayed towards the front, and covered many of them... Early on, I made the break, 5 of us got away, it seemed strong. However, the peloton ate us just before the hills. I then realized that the 3 leaders of the stage race were in the break! The speed continued to be fast with many attacks going. I contributed in covering many of the attacks, worked hard, hoping for a successful break away but nothing was going to get away. On the last lap, we went easier thru the rough pavement section. We went pretty fast up the hills, but everyone seemed pretty tired. I had not much left in me! I rolled in behind the sprinters. It was a very hard race. I felt good. I might have done a bit too much work, given I had no team mate in the race. I wanted to see what I would be able to achieve.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Lauren @ Chambery, France

Date: 3/15/09
Start time: 1:30pm (woohoo European start times!)
Location: Chambery, France
Distance: 80km
Place: 31/70
Teammates: Amanda Miller, Ashley Dymond, Einat Aargon
Course: 8km loop starting on the top of hill at a three-way intersection among a neighborhood. The race started on the gradual descent leading to a quick right and then left-hand turn into a twisty, pedaling but high-speed descent. At the bottom of the descent was a sharp right hand turn to a flatter section that led to an overpass and into a VERY tight left-hand hairpin turn. From this turn to the bottom of the climb was pretty much like an extended crit course: flat with several turns and a few scary round-abouts (that we actually went through on the right side). A decreasing radius left-hand turn took us onto the climb, which was about 700 meters long with 5 switchbacks and average grade of about 10% which got gradually steeper). The finish was at the top of this hill.

The start list included two French UCI teams (Bigla and BGL93?), Jeanne Longo and several strong-looking regional teams (Italian and French).

The race started at 1:30 and we lined up at 1:15. As we were rolling up the hill at the end of our warm up loop to line up Chris, our direction, came over the radio and told us that Jeanne Longo had just shown up. Oh my. We lined up and they called us up by number, which put all four of us in the second row of girls. I was nervous but because I didn't know any of the girls or what to expect it was a different nervous. The follow cars were all crowded around behind and to the sides of us.

We made it down the descent without any major problems. I could tell immediately that the bike handling here was very different. The riders are more aggressive and there is more jostling but somehow, despite all the scares and dramatic yelling, no one went down the whole race.

As we came to the tight left-hand hairpin Chris came over the radio and told us all to move up. I made my way to the front relatively easily but we were moving pretty fast. After a few turns there is a section where we go to the right around three round-abouts. These were the hairiest parts of the race because girls were trying to move up before the climb but the road narrowed around the round-abouts and curbs kind of came out of nowhere.

We pretty much bombed the first time up the hill making it up in about 80 seconds or so. I felt good going up the first and second times and stayed in the top third of the group.

On the second lap I was sitting on the right side of the pack waiting for someone to give me a free ride to the front and who comes around me but Jeanne Longo! I jumped on quickly and moved up to the front. I laughed to myself at the surreality of it all.

The third climb is where the break got away. As I got the to the second one I could see my teammate, Amanda, up at the front with the girls who were quickly breaking away and who would stay away for the entire race. Chris came over the radio as we came to the bottom of the descent to confirm that Amanda was in the break. Quickly a few girls tried to bridge but the pack kept pulling them back and Ashley and I covered most of the wheels that tried to get away. The break included three Bigla girls (the Swiss champion rider and her teammates), two girls on the other UCI team, a local Chambery rider, Amanda and Jeanne Longo. Chris told Ashley and I to control the front of the race.

On the fifth lap Chris told us the gap was up to 1:15 and the follow cars blew past us. For the third and fourth laps two teams went to the front and tried to team time trial and pull back the break but with the strongest teams (Bigla and the other UCI team) just sitting on and a UCI group off the front, their time gap just kept increasing. Once the cars passed, though, the few teams working started to give up and the pace slowed a bit.

Ashley and I did pretty well together covering anything that tried to get off (not many serious attempts except on the descent).

During the last 4 laps the girls in the break were attacking one another and their race finished with one of the Bigla riders winning followed by Jeanne Longo, who had initiated the attack on the lead group. The next group consisted of five break-away riders who had been dropped by the Bigla and Longo. Amanda finished on her own in 8th. At this point they had well over two minutes on the field.

On the peloton's second to last lap I asked Ashley how she felt about me leading her out for the hill. I knew she was stronger on the hill than I was at that point and I felt good enough on the flats to try and do something. The Italian team set up their leadout at the beginning of the last lap and started rotating on the front. I stayed in the top 10 until we cleared the cornering section and then went up to about fifth position. At that point there were only two Italians who hadn't popped yet and they were pulling hard enough to keep it strung out so I continued to sit on. Ashley was on my wheel but lost it when I had to cut left through the line to end up in third spot. I hit the hill hard thinking she was behind me. I pretty much sprinted the bottom third of the hill with the mentality that my finish was halfway up the climb to slingshot Ashley. As I made it to the first switchback I heard a crash behind me and knew that it was Ashley. I was surprised that we were dropping people and that I was maintaining third position but knew that I was going to pop sooner than would allow for a good finish. I just coasted the second half of the hill, which was about all I could manage after my attempt at a leadout.

It was an awesome race! The course was amazing and a ton of fun with all the corners and obstacles and, yes, even the hill. I think later in my career a course like this will be great for me.

Thanks for reading!

Lauren

Thursday, March 12, 2009

My Journey to France

I landed in Toulouse, France on Wednesday March 10th at 3:30 or so in the afternoon. Luckily I was still functioning surprisingly well, considering I had been flying for 15 hours across an eight hour time change. I was greeted at the airport by a very friendly Israeli cyclist who is riding in the area on a French team. We located my baggage and mon velo (my bike - have to learn that French phrase quickly) and headed to Limoux, where I will be living for the next 4 and a half weeks. These tree-lined sections of road are scattered throughout the towns and act as sort of natural entryways into the little villages along the French country-side. The roads are narrow and the cars are few and far between - as a cyclist, I already love it! This picture to the right is the view to the right out my front door. Obviously the streets are extremely narrow so navigating around town has been exciting to say the least :) The picture below and to the left is the front door of our house. This has been a hotel to a long list of famous cyclists including Olympic champions Sarah Ulmer (New Zealand) and Nicole Cooke (Great Britain), World champions Amber Neben (USA), Marion Clignet (France), and Elizabeth Chevanne (France),as well at least 15 national champions of Canada, New Zealand, France, Israel and Belgium. It is a true cycling house complete with bike hooks in the kitchen, two fridges, washer, dryer and posted translation notes of French phrases on the walls. The house is conveniently located at the edge of the town square (only 100 meters from our door). Today was our first long ride and we finished a perfect, beautiful day with a petit chocolat as a boisson du recuperacion (recovery drink) at the cafe around the corner.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Merco Grand Prix Race Report

Merco Grand Prix Race Report
Womens 1,2
Date: 2/28/09
Teammates: Annie Malouin
Field size: 43

This was a fast race from the gun. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th laps were prime laps so that set the bar for the race pretty high. A few breaks got off the front and one got around 40 seconds on the field but none of the teams were happy with the break so it was pulled back. There were a few crashes, one of which happened relatively early. This presented problems because an ambulance pulled onto the course in the first corner and the field was unaware so we tore around the corner and I just about ran into the moto ref. Luckily I bounced off his shoulder and made it back to the field but it caused some mayhem and some were not able to catch back on. I did not have the legs for the sprinty corners so besides one attack I made to try and bridge to the first break-away group, I mostly sat in and tried to finish. Unfortunately Annie was caught in all the confusion with the moto and the ambulance and so did not finish the race. But both of us were very pleased with the road race the next day. Stay tuned for Annie's race report.

Lauren Hecht

Monday, March 2, 2009

Quick Merco Post

By Coach Dan

Just getting a chance to go through weekends emails... more to come later!
The crit was fast with lots of attacks, and breaks but came together for field sprint and Teutenberg beat Miller. Lauren was able to finish. Annie is still working on her crit skills.

The RR was 72 miles and the second day of racing. Some wind and sprinkles. Both did well and finished in the main group! I'm very proud of them both. Stellar field ended in another field sprint and Teutenberg won again.