Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Evie Stevens Dominates in France

Click on the link to read all about the phenom Evie Stevens and her bright bright future.

Capital Region Road Race Aug 16, 2009 Ashley Prine Takes the Heat

Maria, Erica and I were there to represent Radical for a very hot day of road racing in Albany!

Although this race destroys me every year- I love it! It is a very difficult course that on paper does not seem that it should be so difficult. The course was 43 miles 2 laps-

The first hard climb comes quickly in the start of the first lap- I think around mile 4- Silke hit this climb hard- there were girls falling off left and right. The strongest players stayed with the front group- I at this point know I should be in the front group and am really struggling to stay on- after the first climb there were about 15 of us- but on the next roller Silke hit it hard again and I with 3 other girls came unglued- but I knew there was a long descent and I was going to get back on- luckily Erica was still with the front group-

We reattached ourselves never getting too far away from the front group- only to hit the wall of a climb that broke up the pack. Silke and Audrey got off in a 2-person break- Beth Miller was just behind (and did catch up to make a 3 person lead group) Fabienne was caught in no-persons land for a while- with our chase of 5 picking her up to be a chase of 6.

Our chase group worked together well- but man it was so hot- I kept having chills- thinking what is wrong with me- then Erica reminded me (thankfully) that we were all feeling like crap because of the heat and humidity- so I was not alone- but after shoving in 4 Shotblocks at once and downing half a bottle I started to feel better-

Our chase group stuck together through the second lap- Erica and I had a brief discussion about what to do- - we decided on a leadout situation- but in retrospect my first thought was to attack and counter in the last 2 miles- and think that we should have done that- Fabienne was sitting on the back of the group not working in the last miles - we should have broken the group up a bit- next time... our lead out did not end up working Erica told me to go for the sprint- I did the best I could- getting 7th; Erica 9th- ( I thought I had 6th@ ! but in the end I had 7th) Maria finished strong in the group just behind us- @ 14th-

Truth be told we were all seeing stars at the end of this race- we learned some lessons- but man it was tough-

Central Park August 8, 2009 3/4 Club Race Dara Keise and the Radical Women Kick Some A**!

We had a couple of goals in mind: attack/counter-attack to wear down the field and have a good lead-out to the finish. And this time, we did it!

Donna and Erica kept the pace high with their attacks. As the designated sprinter for the day, my goal was to slow the field and give them a chance to get away. I did my best to sit on chasers' wheels to let them bring me back to the front. I attacked a few times and once I got a good gap. I couldn't sustain the pace for very long so I slowed down to let the field pull me along again. With 2 laps to go, Erica and I broke away on the West Side thinking that with two of us, we might have a chance. Deb Killman thought so too and bridged up to us.

With the field narrowing the gap, I convinced Erica to give up... I mean to spare our energy. Donna was on the front controlling the pace for a lot of the race. On the last lap, she ratcheted it up on the East Side. Deb was on her wheel, with Erica and me following--a perfect set-up for the sprint.

As the field started to box her in on the flat section of Harlem hill, Deb took off, taking Erica and me with her. Finding ourselves alone at the top, Erica led us out with a kick-ass pace. Deb pulled off for the sprint. I should have stayed on Deb's wheel for a little longer, but overestimated the distance to the line. With proper gearing in place, I still managed to nudge past her for the win.

Thanks to some amazing teamwork, Raddies got 1st, 3rd and 4th place and gave the field a very challenging race to boot.