Union Vale July 12, 2009 Emily Maynard Places Top 3 in the Cat 4 race!

Union Vale, NJ July 12, 2009 Emily Maynard another natural joins Radical Media for a top 3 place.

My goal for the race was just to feel more comfortable in a pack and to try to anticipate breaks. It was comforting to be riding with Dara and to hear her advice from time to time, or to just see her nod at me when we were near each other.

We were on a long uphill on the first lap, nearing the top but still with the crest to go, and I decided to have some fun with it and attack. To my surprise, my attack stuck! And I just kept pushing it and pushing it and kept the break for a few miles. I knew that it was a foolish move because it was so early in the race and there was no way that I could sustain it (much as I'd to incarnate Evie), but I also felt like "What the heck! I'm only a beginner once!'" :) I can make all the silly mistakes I want to now and figure out things in the meanwhile. Besides, when else am I going to get the chance to feel what a break is like? It gave me some satisfaction that it took the group a while to catch up with me, and at least I shook up the race a bit! I think that the group broke into two at this point but I'm not sure...

So after that I just hung back and avoided pulling or doing any effort. There were a few short breaks from time to time but nothing that the front group couldn't pull back. The big event of the middle of the race was Dara's flat at mile 21 (of 30); Colleen told her she could use her wheels but Dara disappeared for about 5 miles and then all of a sudden she was there again, before the build-up to the end.

During the last half of the race, everyone seemed to be holding herself back in order to have enough energy left for the big hill. About a mile or so before the final hill Caroline from Proasshit and a Kissena woman broke away from the front group and we let them go; no one wanted to sprint to catch them so close to the end. At the beginning of the hill I was sure to position myself in front because I didn't want to have to wind my way around people falling back. I took the hill really steadily and was in 4th for most of it; Dara, Lindsay from Velocity, and Caroline were ahead for most of the way. I knew that Dara and Lindsay were too far for me to catch them but Caroline started to drop back and I pulled up behind her and passed her at about 300M. My father-in-law was right there and he kept yelling at me so I started to get out of my seat at 200M and had a bit of a sprint finish (it probably didn't look like that, but it sure felt that way!). I was sure that Caroline was going to catch me at the last minute but I stayed ahead of her and took 3rd!

Union Vale July 12, 2009 Donna McMahon Races for Radical

Union Vale NJ 1,2,3 race report by our new rider Donna McMahon

The race was amazing. Maria spent a lot of time either in the front setting the pace or blocking the wind for Ashley or me. She was riding really strong! Ashley was riding the hills looking strong and helped me out as well and offered advice throughout the race. Thank you both!

After one of the long downhills, Ashley and about 5 others broke away. The women in my group tried to pace line back and when it was my turn to pull, I didn't pull hard or long so that I could try to keep the group from catching Ashley's group. But Ann Marie Miller is so strong and she was the main one who pulled the group back to the breakaway.

As the up hill finish approached, Beth Miller, Yvette, and Ann Marie went ahead a little. As I was riding up this hill I realized I started getting a little closer to Ann Marie and Yvette and then passed them. As soon as I did that, Ann Marie surged passed me and this went back and forth a couple of times! I ended up burning my last matches :-( by doing this and they got a little lead on me. With about 300 meters to go, Kristen passed me. I gave whatever I had left at the end to make sure I kept 5th place. That was a great race. Hard course and I loved every second even when the pain was so intense!!!! But that's why we do this! :-)

I learned that I should've been a little more patient/consistent on that last up hill and I believe I would've had more left at the end.

Radical Media rocked at Union Vale!

Union Vale July 12, 2009 Ashley Prine Rides Again in Cat 1,2,3

Union Vale, NJ July 12, 2009

I had not done the is race in 2 years and was excited to see if my memory was correct of the course- mostly rolling with some hills that could be made to be hard- but with a pesky downhill that make breaks hard to stick… memory correct!

Maria set pace for the race on the first 2 laps and put in a few attacks working her butt off for Donna and I. The first 2 laps were nice and steady with the start of the end of the second lap getting a bit spicy with an escapee Anthem girl on the downhill and a nice attack by Maria at the start of the third- here we go!

My legs were feeling loose after a very stiff first lap, but I was breathing great and climbing pretty well- Anna M. attacked at the top of the feed zone climb to string us out a bit popping some girls off the back- then soon after in flat section Donna put in an attack and I countered- Audrey came after me pulled around and we then had a counter from Anthem- so fun fun!

So Anthem kept it spicy all the way to the fast down hill when 5 of us got a break on the downhill. It was a good one: Anna M, Beth Miller, Audrey, Yvette and I- we were missing just one person….. Ann Marie Miller! We pace lined and were doing our best to stay off the front for the final lap but Ann Marie dragged a few back up to us- thankfully Donna was with her! - We were about a group of 10-12- so we slowed down and took it easy a bit before the climbing started again- we got passed by the pros so that made the feed zone hill confusing but Anna M. attacked at the top. For some more spicy attacks on the hills- I was just trying to conserve what I had left for the finish.

The last selection stayed together going into down hill- some girls got a bit of a gap including Beth Miller who won- she started the hill first- the finishing climb for me was hard- I lost it a bit but finished 8th- but was reassured to see Donna up the road finishing strong!! For 5th place- Fun racing yesterday!

50th Fitchburg Longsjo Classic 2009- July 2-5 EVIE BEATS THE PROS!!!

50th Fitchburg Longsjo Classic 2009- July 2-5 ERICA LOVES THE PODIUM!!

FITCHBURG, MASS July 2-5 2009

DAY 1- TIME TRIAL

The TT this year was on a beautiful rolling out-and-back 14.5 mile course that had a slight downward bias on the way out and a corresponding upward false flat on the way back, as well as a long bridge across a lake. The idea was to conserve slightly on the way out, and then really rock it on the way back, which as luck would have it would be into the wind as well. We had a chance to ride it the evening before, which really helped with the pacing visualization.
We woke up to such a major rainstorm that out hotel room sprung a leak. Pessimistically loaded the cars and drove in a blinding rainstorm over to Westminster for the TT. Fortunately there was an overhang under which we could warm up, and even more fortunately, the rain had more or less stopped by the time we had to race.
Dropping off the ramp I couldn't see my 30 second girl at all, and was fearing another blind TT, but within about a half a mile I saw both my 30 and 60 second riders, happy I would have someone to try to chase down after all. I passed the 60 second rider right away, but timed the 30 second catch rather unfortunately for the turnaround. Didn't slow me down too much though, and then I had the dubious honor of having no one else in my visuals for most of the way back. I finally saw my 90 second rider about a mile from the finish and used her to motivate myself to really push it to the end. Finished 100m in back of her, so I knew I'd beaten at least three riders but was thrilled and surprised to hear later that I'd taken 3rd. LOVE my new bike!!!

I had listened to David's advice to wait until after the TT to set up my goals for the rest of the race, so now I knew that above all my goal was to keep my podium spot for GC or move up from there. The first in GC was 40 seconds ahead, which would be difficult to reach unless I could out climb her. Second place was only 12 or so seconds ahead, but even more threatening was the 4th place rider, Jenny Ives from Anthem, who was less than half a second behind me.

DAY 2- CIRCUIT RACE:

The weather was beautiful the morning of the circuit race, which was a welcomed surprise because the forecast had been grim for the whole weekend. The course is a 3+ mile circuit some slightly technical turns into a downhill at the beginning of each lap and a somewhat challenging uphill double "wall" at the end of each lap. We had 7 laps to go. It was so nice to be called up to the front with the top 10, made getting to the line so much less stressful and going into the starting turns a lot less terrifying, along with positioning to start out the race. The field had gotten bunched up again by the time we came around to the bottom of the uphill, I heard a small crash in back of me but it didn't sound major. All of a sudden we hear the announcer saying "The race leader has crashed, the race leader is out!" So just like that I'm second in GC.

I don't plan to go for any of the points (struck laps 6-4-2 to go at the start/finish), in part because I can't seem to get positioned right, but mostly because I wanted to be ready to respond to any attacks that might happen after them. That turned out to be a decent strategy because there were attacks after two of them, and Jenny was quick to respond, but so was the new race leader, so it wouldn't have benefited me much from a GC standpoint for the break to work. I guess others felt kind of the same way so the breaks never really stuck. Plus we kept getting neutralized on the back side because there was an ambulance taking one of the riders of our field away, so other riders caught up then. So it was pretty messy going into the final sprint. My positioning wasn't great yet again, so my goal was just to stay in touch with the front group to get "same time." I guess I jumped on that just in time because I got 10th with the same time as the leaders, and riders in back of me got a 9 second time gap. Fortunately for me, Jenny was one of the riders who got gapped, so I had a bit more margin to play with. Unfortunately for me the rider who had been 5th in GC won the race, and got a 10 second bonus to put her into 2nd place GC, 5 seconds ahead of me. The new race leader took 2nd to push her even further ahead. The old race leader had gotten up and continued to race but she lost about 2.5 minutes on the day.

DAY 3- ROAD RACE:

Another beautiful day for the road race, such a nice contrast to the rain fest last year. Course is an 11mile loops, 1 mile down, 2 miles rolling, 5 miles up, then down again. The setup was a bit different this year than in the past because there would be no finishing climb due to construction on the road up Mt. Wachusetts. Instead, we did an extra half loop to end in Princeton Center near the feed zone, 3 miles or so into the hill. There was no KOM this year,instead there were points each lap at the finish line.

I again chose not to contest points, in hopes of attacking or responding to an attack just after. First time through the finish no one really killed it and most riders stayed together. Second time through however, the race leader went for points, and a few of us tried to get away, but she was way to strong and was able to tuck in with us. We got a good gap on the rest of the group but weren't working together too well, and then Jenny attacked hard on the downhill. I couldn't let that happen, and jumped to get on her wheel, but even the five foot gap she had on me was too much for me to hold it. I have no idea how she was able to descend that fast, it was very impressive. She had widened that gap to about a quarter mile but the time we got to the bottom. The race leader then jumped to get up to her, but the rest of us organized and were able to close the gap as a group. While we were catching our breath a few other riders caught back up from behind. Oh well.
Third lap we lost a few riders as well, but didn't even really make a pretense of working together or trying to stay away, figuring we'd just rely on the hill to separate us at the finish. I took the opportunity to launch my own attack on the rollers at the top, but I was too well marked and didn't make it very far. Jenny tried to attack again into the downhill but I was ready for it this time and got tighter on her wheel (with the pack on mine) and we made it down as a group. About five miles from the finish line we got neutralized by the break in the Master's field. Roger Aspholm had put 7 minutes on the field. They held us up for 4 or 5 minutes before they decided it was pointless or unfair or whatever to hold us any longer. Of course a bunch more riders caught us while we were lollygagging. We did drop them again into the finish but for those hill-climbers battling for the middle part of GC it was a bit of a bummer.

At the 500m to go point it gets really steep and really windy into the final turn up to the finish. One of our group who seemed strong but not necessarily the best climber jumped from the bottom of the hill. The rest of us waited a bit figuring there was no way she could hold it but despite a decreasing gap, she managed to finish 13 seconds ahead of the pack, and 7 seconds ahead of the race leader, who again showed impressive strength by gapping the rest of us into the turn. I finished 10th again with the same time as 3-12, but Jenny had gotten gapped again and lost another 5 seconds, so now I had a more comfortable 15 second advantage over 4th place GC. The race leader had increased her advantage to 22 seconds, while the rider in second finished same time as me, and remained 5 seconds ahead.

DAY 4- CRITERIUM

Another beautiful day! I had to decide what to do at this point, I no longer had quite the same imperative to just preserve my podium as I was now more than a time bonus ahead of Jenny. The only way to move up in GC would be to get 1st or 2nd today, and the only way to move down would be if Jenny got in a break (or I guess someone even further back, if it were a really big break), or of course if I fell down and couldn't get back up. The pace was pretty high from the start and the field was pretty motivated, so despite a few attacks here and there, nothing was going anywhere. Jenny launched one of her no-longer-surprising downhill attacks on the back side, but this course wasn't long enough and the hill wasn't steep enough for her to really go anywhere. With about 5 laps to go, a rider not too far back in GC launched an attack after a points sprint and kind of to the surprise of the pack, just kept going. She dangled off the front for about a lap, and then with only 4 laps to go actually began to increase her advantage. She probably wouldn't have gained enough of an advantage to knock me out of my GC spot, but I decided that it was more important that we close the gap and preserve my 3rd place than that I try to finish high at the end to go for 2nd, so I tried to bridge up. I was again pretty well marked so I didn't really get separation, but no one came around me either so now we're a little closer to her but not quite there. I tried again with 2 laps to go, and this time the group came around me to help close the gap. So on the positive front, we were able to get her back into the fold, on the negative, I've now been swarmed with less than 2 laps to go. So I'm pretty far back going into the final corner of the sprint, am able to pick up about 10 places in the finish to get an unimpressive 26th place, but that's still the same time as the leaders for this race so...

I PRESERVE THIRD GC!!!! Yay! Podiums are fun!

Radical Media Race Schedule July-September 2009

7/11 Club Race- power points- points on Harlem Hill and Cats Paw every lap

7/12 Union Vale

7/18 Club race- scratch race

7/19 Club Race- Harlem Hill Points race

7/18-7/19 stage race Giro Del Cielo (women cat 3 & 4 only )

7/25 Club Race- scratch race

7/25 Tour of Hill Towns

8/1 Long Medow TimeTrial (part of CRCA Team Cup)

8/1-08/2 Tour of Lancaster County ( women cat 3 &4 only)

8/2 Club Race- Club Championship Race

8/8 Club Race- Scratch Race

8/9 Tokeneke Road Race

8/15 Club Race-Scratch

8/15 NY Capital Road Race (Albany)

8/22 Mengoni – Central Park (cat P,1,2,3)

8/23 Lou Maltese- Central Park (cat 3 & 4 women)

8/29 Chris Thater Criterium

9/4-9/7 Green Mt. Stage Race

9/12 Club Race-Points race

9/13 Bear Mt. Nancy Morgenstern Memorial Road Race

9/18-9/20 Tour of the Catskills stage race

9/26 Club Race- Scratch

Harlem Criterium 2009- Maria Made a Movie!

Race Weekend June 20 & June 21,2009. Evie Shows the World How its Done. Her Sisters Were There To Help

Race #1 Central Park June 20, 2009

Ashley, Erica and I were the Radical representation. There was a good showing from the other teams and we have a brief strategy chat on the line (trying to be discreet of course :). The first few laps were hard and fun, I would throw an attack in and Ashley or Erica would counter and then I would try to counter. Comedy started to throw some attacks in as well which made things even more fun. I believe it was lap number five when Ashley zooms by me on the way up Harlem hill and gives me this look like I am going to attack. So I get on the back of the train chasing her and then I attack over the top of Harlem. I get a way for a bit and then am caught by AMM, Sarah, Deb Kilmon and Fabienne. We weren't working too well together at first, so I threw some more attacks in. Eventually we started to pace line it a bit and then at Harlem hill I attack and get away. AMM catches back up to me and we work together in the last lap. We are going to horse poo alley when I see Sarah has caught back on, pretty impressive! Anyways, we ride for a bit, I am on AMM's wheel and Sarah is on mine. We get to the bottom of Cat's paw and I attack and get away for the win. It was a really fun race and AMM complimented Radical on how we were racing as a team and mixing it up!

Race #2: Housatonic Hills Race June 21, 2009:

Erica, Ashley and I were the Radical representation at Housatonic. There was a big showing from Anthem and Silke and Anna were there as well. The course is basically up or down. About 3/4ths of the way into the 1st lap Beth Miller, Silke and I got away on one of the climbs. The three of us rode a nice tempo together. We were climbing up one of the hills and I saw 100 meters sign for the QOM so I jumped and snagged it. Beth and Silke caught back up to me and we finished the lap together. We get to the big climb on the start of the second lap and I just chose a nice wattage number I could maintain and tried to stay steady up the climb. I got to the top and looked back and realized that I had got a good gap on Silke and Beth, so I decided to just try and go for it. I decided on a steady watt number for the flats, tried to go hard on every hill and then take the down hills fast, but also find some time for recovery. The course was beautiful and it made for a really pleasant ride. I was able to hold them off until the finish.




Race# 3: Harlem Crit June 21, 2009:

So the race promoter at Housatonic was really nice and did the women's awards first. So after that I boogied into my parent's prius (thanks dad!) and kyle and I headed into Harlem. I was able to make it to the race with about 20 mins to spare. Maria and I were the Radical representation at this race. I never really got my rhythm in this race, but it was fun nonetheless. Maria went to the front a few times and set a nice tempo which would allow me to attack. The atmosphere at Harlem is definitely exciting. I unfortunately didn't get myself in the best position for the sprint and came in about sixth. The girl who won it rode a smart race, I don't think I saw her at the front once and then she had a great sprint at the finish, props to her.

Central Park Club Race June 14, 2009- Erica Places top 5laces top 5!

Four Raddies showed up ready on this Saturday for the six lap power points race, joining 25-30 other women.

Points are to begin at the end of the first lap, and continue at the top of Harlem Hill and Cat's Paw through to the end. We're neutralized for the fist sprint. Our pre-set team strategy is not to worry about the first set of points up Harlem Hill, but to be with the lead group in case of a split, which we think is likely. I know Alejandra is going to go for it, given her great sprint and current fitness, so I get on her wheel at the bottom of the hill, and when she gets up to go, I go with her. She leads me over the line for third place. I'm as surprised as anyone, and am a little afraid that I've expended too much energy, but to recover as quickly as possible in order to be ready for a response from AMM or Jaimie Nicholson, which do happen but fortunately with enough breathing room that the pack is able to contain their attacks, along with a few other attempts.

Second sprint, the first at Cat's Paw, Lisa Force goes early, I get on her wheel, she leads me almost all the way up and I pass her near the line for second place. This is going well. David has warned me though that it is difficult to recover from Cat's Paw in time to sprint at Harlem so I'm a little worried that I've made a mistake. But fortunately we got neutralized again, right after the sprint this time, so we get a chance to catch our breath before the next HH sprint. I get on Alejandra's wheel again for this one, and end up with second again. How exciting! I'm wondering if I'm actually going to be able to pull this off for the whole race. I was unfortunately right to wonder. Next time up Cat's Paw I get on Lisa's wheel again but am only able to pull of around 5th, and am just lucky to have a teammate like Ashley who is on Jaimie Nicholson like glue when she tries to get away after the sprint.

Next time up HH a whole new crop of sprinters have taken over, with AMM and Deb now competing with Alejandra. I'm beginning to get a cramp in my calf and have lost my sprinting mojo, so I back it off just a touch over the top and try to jam it down the other side and help Ashley cover any attacks and gaps in the field. And so it goes. By the fifth time up Cat's Paw, Ashley is up the hill in front of me, I'm in mid-pack with Jaimie, so we switch roles and I jump on Jaimie's wheel when she launches her predictable post-sprint attack. I hear AMM say to Jaimie "I'm here" from in back of my wheel, and thought well if we do get away, I'm in good company if I can just hang on. That lasts about a second and the group is with us again.

Going past Tavern for the last time, Ashley comes up in front to set up a lead out for me for the finish. Cecelia goes in front to keep the pace high, we can't quite get on her wheel since she is on the other side of the road, but it helps string out the field a bit so it's not too messy going into the sprint. Ashley gives me a good leadout but the Teany riders, who haven't contested a single sprint all race, have timed their leadout and energy reserves perfectly, and Colleen Conway sprints across the line first for her first top finish (unfortunately that only gives her enough points to finish 5th, but kudos to Teany and Colleen for their excellent finish!). I'm not even sure who else finished ahead of me, but they place me 5th for the finishing sprint, with Cecelia finishing right beside me (or something like that?), and fourth overall for the race.

Great teamwork Raddies! Thanks so much for believing in my sprint more than I did.

Cheyney Road Race June 14- Ashley Was Feeling Good Again

CHEYNEY ROAD RACE

Sunday I headed down to Landcaster County- armed with promise of temps in the 80s and a clean cardiac bill of health.

There were about 25 girls lined up- it was a combined Women's field- and I really didn't know anyone but for Betty-

The course is a 10 K loop ( same as central park) with a pretty nice climb in the middle- well a 2-part climb. The first climb started out a bit steep at the bottom but was steady ( 1.5 k of climbing combined)- leveling out a tad towards the top. At the top of that main climb there were QOM points on all laps but the 1st. After the first climb there is a slight down-hill then a 2nd climb that was long and steady ( not as steep as the first) that leads into a face tech downhill- with the finish at the bottom- so fast finish.

2nd lap- I stick with the girls going for the QOM- legs a bit tight- and get 4th- but I realized that the other 3 girls had really gassed themselves and I had a lot more in the tank, interesting.
3rd lap- I pushed it on the hill setting the pace - I was not planning too, but no one wanted to go that hard- and I wanted a work-out so I pushed it a bit. One girl came with me, Laura McCaughey (Australian track champion living at T-Town over the summer- I didn't know this until after the race) she took the sprint just barely- and would sit up after the sprint- we had a huge gap- and I felt good- so I decided to just go- what the hell? I pushed up the 2nd climb got out of sight for a bit but they really made up the time on that fast downhill and I was caught after a half lap- I should have saved this move for the last lap but well- I was antsy I guess :)

So I kept up the strong climbing with Laura clipping me at the line every time- I encouraged her to go on the 4th lap- but she was not interested- why would she be- she will win the sprint!

So now I am a pretty marked woman and knew I would have to wait until the 6th final lap- the first hill we went pretty hard but they fought to be on my wheel- so I sat up a bit and decided to go on the second climb- the 2nd climb there was one team with numbers and they set up an attack counter attack- I went with the counter- she went hard- we got away! wow- a 2- person break! we made it down the hill coming into the finish with a group chasing hard and catching us on the line!!- DARN- there went my finish- I ended up in 8th- but had a very fun time- the best by far I have felt this year-