Mt Hood

We are in Hood River racing Mt. Hood Stage Race. It is beautiful here but really, really HOT! I think yesterday it was mid 90's and today high 80's a big change from last years rain and snow.

Stage one: Pro log
This was a 3 mile time trial. Kat Carroll was 3rd, Kristen was 5th, Felicia was 9th, I was 14th, and Michelle was 28th. It was short and sweet - over before you new it.

Stage two: Road Race 86miles
This day was long and slow. No one wanted to work. Value Act did most of the work - they were in the leaders jersey. We had three hard efforts for the QOM (Queen of the Mountain). And then the down hill finish. This stage was bitter sweet. We won the QOM - we had awesome team work and set Felicia up perfect each time. Felicia did an awesome job of securing her win. The finish was a bit crazy. It was down hill sprint and we just ran out of people to do work to have a good finish. Didn't end up with any stellar results. But we do have the climbers jersey.

Stage Three: Circuit Race 66miles
This was an awesome day. We had great team work and had a bunch of fun. I attacked on the second lap and my teammate Kristen attacked and got away for 2.5 laps solo. She was amazing! She got caught 2k to go and then Kat Carroll and Felicia put in a great attack which they ended up one and two for the stage. We road smart and had a great plan from the start. Wonderful. We are now in the leaders jersey and climbing jersey. WOW what a day.

More to come....

We all took turns at different elementary school and did bike presentations. The kiddos were so cute!

Previewing the time trial course for Friday. It is a really gorges course!

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW

So Brandon and I left Denver to have a little get a way and do some good training at altitude in Breckenridge. And wouldn't you know it, its SNOWING!!!!! F#$K, SOB!

Look it is snowing so hard you can't even see the mountains!

Well Brandon and I are going to brave the snow and ride. Then get massages for being so hard core. If it is snowing tomorrow I guess we will head back to Denver and ride from there.

Another Big WIN!

We had a great day today. It was a crit and our team road like super stars! Kat Carroll ended the stage race with a win with Sarah Caravella 2nd. This secured Kat's overall GC win.

I had a good day helping out the team and finishing with the main sprint group. My legs hurt and felt very tired but I did my job and felt like it was a successful weekend of racing.

Here are some pictures enjoy!

Hard Day

I had a lot of first time experiences today.

• got a flat in a race
• chased back to the pack through the caravan and then through all the people who got dropped
• followed my teammate the rest of the way to the pack
• helped pulled a teammate back from getting a mechanical
• raced a double day (RR and the an up hill tt)
• took a picture of a one eyed pug

Our team had a rough morning, but it ended well with our teammate Kat Carroll holding her position as race leader.

I don't have any race pictures for today but I do have pictures of the one eyed pug named Chad.

Chad obviously has only one eye, but what you don't know is that his tong always hangs out on the right side. Even when his mouth isn't open. They even have a picture on there wall of him with his one eye and tong hanging out.

Day 1 of Racing

Wow what a day we started in the rain and ended in the rain, but most importantly we WON!!!!!

Kat Carrol (aka bad ass) sprinted Laura VanGilder for the win. The race started out pretty low key with a few attacks from Target Training, Webcore and some other small team. Nothing got away. We started the climb and webcore set tempo for a while and then some attacks, nothing got away. Our team set tempo for a while and then a smaller team got away solo, no one wanted to chase. The person put in a good effort and got almost 2 minutes into us and then we started to Chase. We caught her with about 15miles to go and nothing else went. It came down to a sprint!

We are back at the host house and resting. Tune in for more tomorrow!

On the Road Again

Joe Martin Stage Race!

I am so happy to be racing again. It has seemed like it's been two months, but it's really only been three weeks.

We arrive, to Fayetteville Arkansas yesterday afternoon. Our host family is wonderful and the house is gorgeous! Our host family Mom took us on a little ride around town. It is really pretty here.

Michelle and Felicia on the back road of Fayetteville.

Felicia and I trying to take a picture while riding, not a good idea before a race. We didn't crash each other out, but it was pretty tricky!

Today we road the tt course. The day started out really nice and then after our second time up the course it started to rain and oh did it rain! Then when we got back to the van the clouds parted and birds were signing. Of course, Murphy's law.

The girls in the van. Starting in the front Michelle, Catherine, back seat (behind Catherine) Sarah, Felicia, and Kristen.

A huge bug caught a ride back to our host housing and wow it was big.