Link to each race report from the list below or just scroll down to browse:

May 30 Montreal World Cup

The Montreal World Cup and Grand Tour of Montreal this coming week are the only international team races on the Webcor calendar this year. These races draw out the best riders from Europe, so it is a good opportunity for us to face the best competition in the world. The Montreal World Cup is probably the toughest course on the World Cup circuit with 11 trips up Mount Royale.

The Webcor team of Erinne, Katheryn, Alex, Nikki, and Amy had a good race with Erinne in the top 8 and four of five riders in the top 20. Here are links to some photos:

Amy on the way to earning her first ever World Cup points
Erinne on her way to a top 10 World Cup placing
Nikki, Amy, Katheryn in the field

Here is Erinne's Report:

We woke up today to pouring rain and thought the Montreal World Cup might be a repeat of last year's weather. Luckily as we were driving to the race the sun started poking through and we stayed dry.

In the Montreal World Cup we do 11 laps of 10km each and each lap we climb to the top of Mount Royal which is a 1.6km hard climb, although I swear it must be longer. Today, Emma Pooley (Cervelo) decided to attack from the GUN!!! And she held it! This is very unusual, especially in World Cups, and so not everyone reacted very quickly. Luckily for Webcor, Katheryn reacted and got away about half way up the first climb with Andrea Dvorak (Colavita) and Eva Lutz (Nurnberger). Columbia was missing from the front as well as Tibco, Lotto, Selle Italia and everyone else of course.

Emma Pooley continued to gain time and Katheryn’s group of three also did for about five laps. Back in the field Columbia made a couple of attacks and kept the group rolling but no one ever drove it until just before half way through the race. At that point, Eva had gotten dropped from Katheryn’s group so Trixi and Amber Neben (both Nurnberger) attacked and split the field. Katheryn’s group was caught another lap after their attack. From then on Nurnberger and Columbia were chasing hard. There were only a few attacks after that since the pace was high. We brought Emma’s lead down from four to 1:15 minutes by the end, but she was never caught and rode the whole race solo.

On the second to last climb up Mount Royal, the chase group split again with Amber Neben and Mara Abbott (Columbia) driving it. At the top there were only about 10 riders left with myself (Erinne) present from Webcor. We stayed steady around to the next climb with Amber Neben doing most of the work for her teammate Trixi.

Last time up the climb it was the ten of us going into it together. Mara attacked about half way up and then died pretty quickly and was dropped from the group. Then Emma Johansson (Sweden) countered which split our group into two. I was in the second group and stayed on Carla Ryan’s wheel (Columbia) until over the hill when I attacked on the descent. I didn’t get away from my little group but my attack did enable us to rejoin the front four. The last time around, there were only a couple of attacks but mostly Amber again was at the front. I attacked hard on a short steep (and very bumpy) hill with about 3-4 km to go and I got a good gap but with a fast descent after I was caught pretty quickly. Regina Bruins (Cervelo) came flying by me on the other side of the road with everyone in tow and I wasn’t quite able to ever jump on the wheel. I chased that little group for the next couple kilometres finishing the race in 8th.

Webcor had a great day today! With Katheryn being in a break for the first half of the race, a top ten finish and the three other Webcor girls ALL finishing in the top 20. Nikki was 13th, Amy 17th and Alex 19th all in the 2nd chase group of 15 or so. If there was a team classification today we probably would have won it!

Tonight Gina is flying in to town and Monday night we will start the Tour de Grande Montreal.

Back to the index

May 24-25 Iron Horse Bicycle Classic Stages 2 & 3

Amy continued to race in the Iron Horse Classic last weekend.

Here are Amy's remaining reports – a good read!

Stage 2

Sunday the 24th was the downtown criterium of the Iron Horse Classic in Durango, Colorado. The course consists of eight bold corners that zig-zag through Durango’s lively Main Street and lovely side streets. The start/finish escorts you onto a left turn and up a punch-in-the-gut 200m kicker, to a soft and gradual uphill right turn. This 150 meters had a head wind, as did the finishing drag. A hard and man-hole laden left turn shoed us onto a cross-winded 100 meters before a fast left and a 250 meter tail wind section. We flew into a rough and cracked left hand turn and then a quick pot-holed S-turn. Gaining more speed in this 200 meter tail wind, we railed another left hand turn down a short and sweet descent, before pinning a hard left to the long finishing head wind straight.

We awoke to pouring rain, so instead of a mellow coffee shop spin before our 4pm start, we were beckoned to the rollers. Instead of the sand man bringing me sweet dreams, I think he opted to pour sand into my legs…or mud, or lead. However, after some time spinning I felt much more spry, and ready for a nap! Waking from the nap I didn’t know what day it was or whose legs I was wearing. All the caffeine in the world couldn’t wake me from this funk, nor could any amount of efforts. I arrived to the start line yawning and unable to get my heart rate above 150. And so it began.

Carmen Small, now riding for Colavita, joined forces with Tiffany Cromwell. Carmen came out to play, all rested, snappy, and amped to win in front of her hometown crowd. Though groggy, I knew I had to stick to Carmen like a fly on sh…compost. From the gun it went with a slew of attacks from the two Colavita members, the Defined Fitness Training squad, and the Colorado Bike Law gang. For the first 15 minutes I surfed wheels, following bridges, attempting to awaken my body a bit before pulling any superhero stunts. But there were no superhero stunts to be had today. The tipping point was a counter off Tiffany’s attack by Carmen following the little kicker. I found myself a few wheels back when I tried to bridge to the four escapees. That extra gear wasn’t there, and I found the remaining field glued to my wheel. The stragglers and individual riders wouldn’t help me, and instead of pulling through, on multiple occasions they attacked me.

I did make a few other attempts to bring myself to the break, but never had the pop to break free of the chase group. After pulling hard on the front, again some individual would attack. This left me feeling jaded, frustrated, and uninspired. I sat in for the remaining laps until four to go, when I made my way to the front to contest the sprint. Sitting second wheel for the remaining laps, I thought the finishing straight would allow enough real estate to overcome the driver on front. Again my plan fell through. Tiffany, Lauren Hall, and myself came to the line, a hair between each of us – mine being the thickest for a 7th place finish.

Stage 3

Memorial Day leaves me memories of pain and achievement. My time trial began at 9:58.30. I was on my bicycle at 8:28.30 and rolled over to the start, at Bread, the best darn bakery ever. The owner, Rob was waiting for me with a piping hot Americano. To y’all who raced Tour of California – Rob was the rockstar who gave us all the cookies, bread, granola, and hats!

Everyone brought their A-game with TT bikes, disc wheels, aero gear, rockets, and after-burners. My TT bike is in MN waiting for me at Nature Valley, so I already looked off the back with just my lucky Leopard road bike, with dorky clip-ons. Little did all the geeked out martian-looking time trialists know that I was angry from the day prior, and anger can breed the most rampant of fires. My warm-up didn’t go as smoothly as I would have liked. The bathroom was out of order at Bread…darn overly caffeinated bike racers! So I had to go hike off into the woods. Then my shifting was all out of whack, and I couldn’t get into my 53, which I figured I might need for a mostly flat to downhill time trial. After my hike I couldn’t get in or out of my pedals, so to keep from falling over, Michael Engleman had to hold me up! Leggies still weren’t kicking as I would have liked, but after a couple sets of pyramids my heart was beating a bit faster and I was licking my chops.

The 15-mile time trial was mostly tail wind, and quite rolling on a quaint country road. When living in Durango the year prior, I had ridden the road, but was still surprised by how much downhill there seemed to be. The last half-mile finally kicks up a good climb, which is still big-ringable. My eyes stayed glued to my power meter for the entire race, and it served as a friend – a brutally honest friend. I maintained the numbers I wanted and was pleased with a time not-far-off of some known and geeked out time trialists, and ahead of a lot of silly looking aero pedalers.

Kristin McGrath of ValueAct is coming back from a knee injury, and had the green light on the TT. She smashed the competition, posting a mid-34 minutes. Tiffany Cromwell of Colavita was a minute behind her in 2nd. I was a minute off of Tiffany in 5th place, with Terrie Clouse of CO Bike Law and Marissa Asplund of DFT in between.

Back to the index

May 23 Iron Horse Bicycle Classic Stage 1

While the California Webcor contingent was at Mt. Hamilton, Amy was racing the Iron Horse Classic in Colorado.

Here is Amy's entertaining report of the first stage:

May 23rd kicked off the Durango Iron Horse Classic, a 3-day omnium consisting of a 50-mile road race from Durango to Silverton, a downtown criterium, and a 15-mile time trial. Part of the Boulder contingent – Fred Dreier of VeloNews, Tiffany Cromwell of Colavita, and Mara Abbott of Columbia, and myself, Amy of Webcor Builders–- drove the seven hours early Friday morning. Fred’s Subaru was busting at the seams with seven bikes on the roof, one bike in the back, along with a menagerie of wheels, duffels, food bags, and us four large bike racers.

Sunday’s road race began all too early and soon, at the raw time of 7:26 a.m. There is a train that runs from Durango to Silverton, so the object of the day for the citizen riders is to “beat the train." For the women, the object was to cling to Mara’s wheel.

There is always a calm before the storm, so we rolled along the first few miles before the climb began at an easy and quiet pace – either because it was so early, or out of anticipation of knowing we would be climbing out of our skin at 11,000 ft! Sure enough the storm began when Mara went to the front, so I grabbed her wheel knowing that if anyone were to open a gap on her it would all be over. Within a minute of this, the 60-women field was reduced to a front group of Mara, Marissa Asplund, Alicia Welsh, Melissa Mcwirther, Susannah Gordon, Tiffany Cromwell, and myself. The storm had crushed its first victims before ultimately decimating this group of seven. About 25 miles in, I couldn’t match Mara’s final surge, which separated herself from the group. Toasted, I watched Marissa, Alicia, Susannah, and Melissa ride away from me too. Tiff had fallen off, and I found myself all by my lonesome at 9,500 ft.

The road race had turned into a hillclimb time trial for me, so I went through a variety of different mental states, ranging from ‘this sucks! A $50 entry fee for a training ride?!’ to ‘Harden up, you can get yourself top 5 instead of lousy 6th!’ to ‘screw this I’m tired of pedaling’ to ‘OH, she’s right up the road, pedal harder, stronger, faster!’ to lyrics from another song…”There’s no way you’ll march on top of me, not how this is gonna be – it’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the fight in the dog." Ultimately, through all my mind games I pulled myself out of the dredges and even made my arms go numb.

The first pass to get over was Coal Bank pass at 9,600 ft, which shoves you down a wicked descent, dropping you at the looming doom of the second pass – Molas Pass, which tops out at 11,000 ft. From there, you then have the final four miles of a joyous and ripping descent into the finishing town of Silverton. Mara had told me that two years ago she had been in the lead up until the climb ended, only to be rocketed past by a speedy Alison Powers in the final 2k of the 50-mile/2.5 hr race. I took this ticket of information and stuck it in my back pocket.

I was relieved to have made it over Molas Pass. I had tried to eat a Powerbar gel blast while climbing, but apparently only my legs were still functioning, as the first one hardly made it out of my pocket into my hand before being dropped; I missed my mouth with the second one; got the third one in my mouth, only to see it careening back out and onto the pavement with a string of drool. To add to this, I have had problems with my left eye closing at high elevation, so I fought this as the ascent turned into a switch-backing descent. Fortunately with my right eye I was able to see my prey a couple switchbacks ahead. It was Susannah Gordon, a rider from Colorado who can definitely hold her own on a bike uphill, downhill, and all around. But I had my 11x26 on, which was the ultimate gearing, so I could go faster than I should have been going. With 3k to go I blew past Susannah like she was standing still and held onto it for a 5th place finish. In the end I fought through all sorts of mental states and was pleased to see that over a two-and-a-half hour climb I was only four minutes off of Mara who has proved to not suck when the road goes up.

Here's a link to the road road results. Stay tuned for the reports from the crit and TT!

May 24 Mt Hamilton Road Classic

The Mt. Hamilton Road Classic is one of the longest running races in the San Francisco Bay Area. The first time I (Karen Brems) did this race was 17 years ago! It is an epic course that climbs the highest peak in the area: Mt Hamilton at over 4000ft. It always draws the best local climbers out, and with Memorial Day falling earlier this year, it did not have the usual conflict with the Montreal World Cup and drew a good contingent from the top Bay Area teams like Tibco and ProMan, and also the New Zealand Jazz Apple squad who are based here for a short period. This was Katheryn's first time doing this race and she did it in style!

Here is Katheryn's report:

Today was the classic point to point race, Mt Hamilton, a mountainous 100k race that starts in San Jose and finishes in Livermore, CA. I was joined today by Karen Brems and it was nice to see her racing with me rather than behind the wheel in a team car.

Mt. Hamilton is a challenging race because right from the gun the route takes racers up for 20 miles, with an average gradient of about 5 percent. The climb is broken up into three sections with two short descents giving us a bit of a respite before kicking up for the last seven miles. After a very steep and technical plummet from the top, the road rolls through a valley, with another 3k climb coming at about 40 miles into it. Riders then roll gradually downhill for the next 25, with the last 5k or so being the fastest.

The small peloton of 35 or so women seemed fine rolling out at a mellow pace and it was not until about 3/4 of way up the first climb that a Jazz Apple gal attacked with no response from the group. She stayed away for about 1k before being brought back just before we went down the first descent. Jazz Apple was again aggressive going up the second climb, and a few other riders briefly unhitched themselves from the group but again, we hit the descent all together.

Karen had instructed me to attack at the base of the final, longest climb, telling me I would see a sign that said five miles to the top, unfortunately it is actually seven, and I was a bit hesitant to attack with so much climbing, yet, I also knew that it would be to my advantage to put as much time on the group as possible. So, I attacked hard on the left side (being mindful to not cross the yellow line) and drew out Ruth Corsett (Jazz Apple), Stacy Marple (Colavita), and Kat Carroll (Tibco). I kept the pressure on as long as I could before Ruth pulled through to keep the pace up. Stacy also rolled through a few times and Kat seemed to be at her limit and just hung 4th wheel. With about 2+ miles to go, I looked back and noticed there was a gap back to Stacy and Kat, so I upped the tempo a bit more to dissuade them from trying to catch back on. Ruth again pulled though steadily and even managed to out kick me at the top for the KOM. Link to a photo of Katheryn and Ruth just below the summit.

Having ridden the route before and being warned by numerous people and the officials, I knew that a lot could be lost on the descent down the backside and took it very cautiously (although on one tight corner I got target fixation and had to stop to correct myself, Ruth graciously waited for me to catch back on). We safely made it down to the valley floor and quickly went back to trading pulls.

I think we lucked out as we had a bit of a cross-tail wind and by the time we reached the second feed zone, had a gap of about 3'30". I was very grateful to make it over the last roller before the final descent (and also was greeted by Karl Elhert who had ridden backwards on the course) yet we were also faced with a quite brisk headwind. Thank goodness it was now all downhill.

I was very, very excited to see the 5km to go sign and soon saw the 1km to go as the road pitched down steeply. I did manage to have Ruth in front of me with 1km to go and at 200 meters, prepared myself for the sprint. Unfortunately 200m was more like 200 feet and the next thing I know I see the finish line right in front of me and do manage to put in a "sprint" to pip her at the line for the win!

Karen did a great job of staying steady on the climb and used her great bike handling and descending skills to reel in riders on the valley floor who had out-climbed her. The finish sprint got a bit crazy for her with riders from other categories getting in the way; she still managed to finish 4th overall, right behind Shelly Olds.

Back to the index

May 17 North Boulder Park Criterium

While the team is taking a short breather before the Montreal World Cup and Philadelphia races, our Boulder contingent of Amy and Gina showed the locals how things are done on Webcor! Here are links to some photos of the race from 303racing.com:

Amy in the mix
Gina is right there
Amy again
Gina out front
Amy is on it
Gina in the mix
Gina out front again

Here is Amy's report:

Last Sunday was the prized North Boulder Park Criterium, which used to be part of the Red Zinger and Coors Classics, back in the glory days. I spectated last year and watched the field let Mara Abbott ride away to solo in for the win. The previous year was similar, though I was racing, and was the only person willing to chase. That's how some Colorado racing can be – negative, frustrating, with no one willing to work. A lot of people can't seem to grasp that if you're not first, you're last. So, I was ecstatic to have Gina in town for this crit. It's a fairly technical crit, starting on a slight incline before diving down a hard left turn, which leads to another hard and rough left turn into a pot-holed alley way. The alley way is a straight shot of about 500m with a tricky and dangerous left turn into a quick s-turn before another left onto the finishing straight. The finishing straight is a long grind; an uphill drag into a headwind.

Gina drove down from Vancouver in her VW hippie bus, and set up camp outside of the house I am currently renting. The race didn't start until 5:40pm, so we had all day to get in a morning spin and drink lots of Grain's Grinds coffee – smooth like butter with a swift kick in the arse like jet fuel.

The race started off at a fast pace, as one of my fellow cross racing rivals rocketed off the line. I was on her like white on rice and we already had a gap on the rest of the field for the first lap. The announcer didn't waste any time before calling primes, as we heard the bell for $50 on the second lap. It went like this throughout the 45-minute crit, and at one point there were five primes in a row! This kept the pace hot and the 50-woman field was decimated within just a few minutes. Indeed, in the end there were only 12 women sprinting in for the podium. It was aggressive racing throughout, as Meredith Miller of Tibco showed up and showed off with a few solo attempts. Tiffany Cromwell of Colavita is always gunning to ride hard. Mara Abbott was active, smartly attacking when everyone was gassed. A few fellow Colorado-ans whom I have raced with for the past few years were riding strong. And everyone was contributing to stringing the field out like a runway model.

After Gina claimed five primes, there were four laps to go and it was time to get the guns primed. With three laps to go I was sitting pretty, 3rd wheel from the front, just maintaining position. At one lap to go, Gina was glued to my wheel as I sat on Meredith's wheel through the alley. I took Gina around her through the s-turn, and went hard up the first 200m of the finishing stretch, utterly excited about my first chance to lead Gina Grain out! With about 300m to go, Gina jumped around me, taking the W with Tiffany Cromwell following in 2nd. I rolled in a couple bike lengths back in 8th.

It's always exciting for me to race at home in Boulder because it's like a giant party with all my friends and riding buddies out grilling, heckling, and cowbelling. It was especially exciting this time to be aggressive and work together with a teammate and come out victorious!

May 10 Joe Martin Stage Race Stage 4

The final stage of Joe Martin is a criterium in downtown Fayetteville. It is not an easy crit with an uphill finish to separate the field. Webcor started the day with 2nd and 4th on GC. We maintained our 2nd and won the team competition as well as the Young Rider competition.

Here is Katheryn's report:

Erinne places 5th and Katheryn 2nd in the Joe Martin Overall. Photo courtesy of Dori Hornbake

Stage 4 was definitely no walk in the park for the seven Webcor women as it was an hour-long, 8-corner, downtown crit. With Katheryn only 4" behind Alison Powers and closely trailed by Kat Carroll (only 5" back) we knew it would be a hard race – there were 10", 7", 5" for the top three stage finishers. We rode to the race with plenty of time to preview it. Despite the fact that it started to rain about 15' beforehand, the brief shower passed by the time we lined up.

From the gun the pace was fast and Tibco went to the front to try and control things since they wanted it to come down to a bunch kick so Kat would have a shot at the time bonuses. We wanted to be aggressive and force a break to make the race fast (and keep it safe). Alex was the first to attack a few laps in, yet no one went with her and she was quickly brought back. A few more attacks were launched and eventually Gina got off with Ruth Corset (Jazz Apple) and Brooke Miller (Tibco). As Ruth was less than 30" behind Katheryn, Gina sat on and launched her awesome sprint to win a $50 prime.

The trio was brought back fairly quickly and we again tried to force a break but Tibco was covering and killing most things. Erinne launched a great attack on the finish hill with about five laps to go and was quicky marked by Alison, Chrissy Ruitter (VAC,) and Kat. As this was not an ideal situation for Katheryn, who was gapped a bit, Erinne was instructed to stop but Alison countered and got away solo, with little energy left in the group (which had been greatly reduced in size due to the aggressiveness and fast pace). Tibco did manage to organize with their remaining riders to give chase, but Alison's strong time trial and technical skills on the corners gave her an advantage.

Unfortunately, with about three laps to go, Katheryn was coming down the fast decent and took the left hand corner in such a way that her rear wheel skipped up and slammed down hard on the pavement, causing her to unclip and drop her chain. She managed to keep from crashing and thought all was good until she got half way around the lap and realized her rear tire was quickly loosing air. As she was negotiating around another fast left corner, she lost control of the rear and went sliding, almost taking Erinne out (fortunately Erinne also displayed fabulous bike handling skills and did not go down!). Katheryn was in a bit of a panic as she watched the group ride away and frantically asked the moto official if she could get a free lap but was informed that it was less than five to go and no more free laps. She managed to get herself to the pit on the backside and receive a tire from neutral support and there was informed that she would get the same finish time as the group she was with. The challenge now would be for the remaining Webcor riders to ensure that Kat did not get any time bonuses.

Alison ended up staying off to win solo and Jen McRae finished 2nd, Ruth 3rd, and Gina 4th.

As Kat did not get any time bonuses, Katheryn secured her 2nd place in GC. Erinne ended up getting bumped down to 5th in GC by Ruth. We did end up winning the Team Competition and Rebecca was the Best Young Rider.

It was a great four days of racing by the Webcor women and we are all looking forward to a much needed rest before the Montreal, Philly, Nature Valley set of racing.

Back to the index

May 9 Joe Martin Stage Race Stage 3

Stage 3 of the Joe Martin Stage race was another day for the sprinters. The plan for Webcor was to try to get a breakaway off to sweep up the time bonuses and maybe move one of our riders up, or set up Gina for the sprint if it came to that to keep the other sprinters close behind Erinne and Katheryn from gaining any time bonuses.

Here is Gina's report:

The Lolllipop course was about 110 km. We rode out and back on the same road but did two 24-mile or so laps before coming back. The course was rolling with a bit of a nail biter hill in it. More nail biting for some. NOT for WEBCOR. Our plan was to make it tough on the first time up the hill. Amy and Erinne launched off the attacks that put everybody in the locker of pain.

The course was rolling after that and Alexis, Rebecca, and Nikki covered and launched. The only somewhat significant thing that happened which neutralized the pack, was that a Value Act rider got off the front. She was reeled back. Setting up for the sprint finish was a super fast downhill to an uphill sprint. The team brought back all the attacks that were attempted by the non-sprinters and the sprint was on. On the slightly uphill finish, my legs didn't pack the punch needed to win it. Combined with a late jump behind Laura Van Gilder and 3rd place was as good as it got. We lost a place from 3rd to 4th with Erinne, since Kat Carroll took 2nd on the stage, but we maintained Katheryn's 2nd place.

Back to the index

May 8 Joe Martin Stage Race Stage 2

The 2nd stage of the Joe Martin Stage Race was a road race with a significant climb at the midway point. The Webcor team rode a great race, but did not quite get the win we hoped for. It was a good learning experience though!

Here is Erinne's report:

Today was Stage 2 of the Joe Martin Stage Race here in Fayetteville. The first 25 miles of the course was rolling and then we hit a 10-mile gradual highway grade climb. After the climb was a big descent and flat roads until the last 2km hard and technical finish. We woke up to a thunder storm this morning but were lucky enough to have a dry and safe race!

The Webcor plan of attack was finely strategized, and we started off the first 25 miles patrolling the front and going with attacks but not being the biggest aggressors. At the bottom of the 10-mile hill as planned we started to make use of our strong climbing team with the confidence that our sprinter would out-climb the other sprinters. We wanted to get breaks away and make Team Type 1 (yellow jersey) and Tibco work.

Rebecca went to the front to set a great tempo to make the climb hard. Katheryn was the first Webcor to attack on the climb and got an immediate gap with two others. They put good pressure on the field and made Team Type 1 chase. Then we all continued attacking and Nicki had two great moves that stayed away awhile. Erinne countered Nicki about 1.5km from the top and got away with Kristen Lassaso (who was in 4th place) and a Jazz Apple girl. We worked well together and drilled it to the top and down the descent and even along the flats for awhile. Our largest gap grew to 40 seconds and this made the other strong teams chase. We were caught about 12 miles to go and initially there were a few counters and attacks always covered by a Webcor jersey. Then everyone realized it was going to come down to a sprint finish and things slowed until the last two miles. Here’s the description of the final 2 km. Left, right bam bam, roller, roller, down, right, to a long straight gradual up finish.

Our race had been perfect till now and we were sooooo excited to WIN the race! The plan was to lead out Gina but have me do an attack on the first roller in order make Tibco chase me again. But I couldn’t attack because the speed was already too fast and my legs did a little cramp as I stood up. But no worries about that, Katheryn and I really had to just make sure not to get time gapped, which we did successfully. Then Alex roared up the right of the second rollers and took over the leadout from Tibco and sped down the hill to the right and final corner with Nikki and Gina on her wheel and in that order. It was perfect, Webcor 1,2,3 into the final corner as planned!!! But, it is always hard making split second decisions in those sprints, and today with a little confusion of when Nikki was supposed to pass Alex and with a little hesitation in the speed of the bunch, Nikki ducked up the inside of Alex and went as hard as possible out of the corner. Unfortunately, Gina wasn’t expecting Nikkii to go that early and lost her wheel. Nikkii ended up about three meters ahead of everyone, which was great for looks but with a 300 meter uphill finish, it was too soon and too far to hold. Gina was no longer in an ideal position and came by Nikki just at the line, Gina in 4th and Nikki in 5th.

We are very proud of how we rode today, but of course also disappointed to not win because we deserved the win today. There weren't too many smiles at the finish, but after some time and realization of how well we raced the smiles came back and we are ready to rock and roll to the right timing tomorrow.

Tomorrow is another road race of 70 miles with good steep and shorter hills, but a probable sprint finish.

Back to the index

May 7 Joe Martin Stage Race Stage 1

After a long drive from Silver City, New Mexico to Fayetteville, Arkansas, the Webcor team started the - day Joe Martin Stage Race today. This race is the 2nd one of the Women's Prestige Series (Redlands was the first). The race started with an uphill time trial and Webcor took two podium spots.

Here is Katheryn's report:

The course would challenge riders over a 2.5-mile climb out of Devil's Den State Park, beginning with a brief flat section before the road steadily climbs 680 feet to the finish with an average grade of 6.8%, with most of the climb at 10%.

We arrived with plenty of time to preview the course before the Pro/1 men went off and it was nice to be able to see what we were about to tackle. This also allowed us plenty of time to rest and relax before the first women's rider was off. I took a quick nap in the sprinter and chatted a bit with other riders who I had not seen in a while. As time grew closer to the designated start times, we each climbed onto our bikes, which Dave had set up on trainers. I will say it was a bit of a shock to the system to go from high altitude and very dry, to sea level and warm and humid.

I was the third to last rider off, chased by 2007 winner Kat Carroll (Tibco) and Robin Farina (VAC). As this was a short effort, pacing was less of an issue than a longer one as you had no time to waste getting up to pace. I quickly made time on my 30" rider and this helped keep me on top of the gears and motivated. I did my best to keep the legs ticking over at a good cadence and never get bogged down. With 1km to go I knew the road flattened out a bit before kicking up and I dug deep to keep the power up. With 200m to go I put my head down and grunted over the finish line with nothing left to give.

In the end the Webcor women had a great day (see results below).

1 Alison Powers (USA) Team Type 1 9.37
2 Katheryn Curi Mattis (USA) Webcor Builders 0.04
3 Erinne Willock (USA) Webcor Builders 0.18
4 Kristen Lasasso (USA) Mellow Mushroom 0.19
5 Robin Farina (USA) Valueact Capital Cycling Team 0.22
6 Katharine Carroll (USA) Team Tibco 0.24
7 Dotsie Bausch (USA) Jazz Apple Cycling Team 0.25
8 Ruth Corset (USA) Jazz Apple Cycling Team
9 Christina Ruiter (USA) Valueact Capital Cycling Team 0.33
10 Alexis Rhodes (Aus) Webcor Builders 0.39
11 Amy Dombroski (USA) Webcor Builders 0.40
12 Kristin Sanders (USA) Valueact Capital Cycling Team 0.42
13 Rebecca Much (USA) Webcor Builders 0.44
14 Kori Seehafer (USA) Team Type 1 0.46
15 Lauren Tamayo (USA) Team Tibco 0.47

22 Nikki Butterfield (Aus) Webcor Builders 1.07
46 Gina Grain (Can) Webcor Builders

Back to the index

May 3 Tour of the Gila Stage 5

The Webcor team had a successful finish to the Tour of the Gila – this was one of the hardest races the team has ever done in the US! Great preparation for the upcoming races! Below is the link to the:

VeloNews Photo and story

Here is Katheryn's report:

Stage 5 was a 71.8-mile point-to-point road race with 5,610' of climbing, leading the riders from Silver City to Pinos Altos.

Katheryn atop the podium for the overall. Photo courtesy of Karen Brems

After four days of hard racing, the green machine was feeling a bit fatigued but knew everyone else was as well. Our goal was to move Katheryn back up into 2nd place in GC as all she needed to gain on Alison Powers was 11". With a time bonus sprint coming just 10 miles into the race, we wanted to insure Alison not gain any more time and use Gina or Nikki to scoop up the time. Fortunately, Lip Smackers was interested in the $100 prime that came with the sprint and took the money and the time. They continued to be aggressive and finally an ideal break got off a few miles later. Rebecca was the Webcor representative in the break and was given the green light to go. In the break with her was Amanda Miller (Lip Smacker), Nicole Evans (VAC), and Rachel Heal (Colavita). A few smaller teams missed the break and tired to bridge but were unsuccessful. With all the major teams represented in the break, the main peloton relaxed and were spread out across the road.

As we wound our way along the valley floor, we were informed that the time gap was close to 5' and Alison Powers got nervous since Rebecca was less than 2' behind her on GC. As she had no teammates, she did her best to get other riders help her manage the growing time gap. Kristin did not feel threatened by Rebecca as long as the time did not get to 6'. With the assistance of some riders and rolling through herself, by the base of the final climb she got the time gap down to under 3'.

Kristin immediately went to the front when the climb started and set a hard tempo. Katheryn did her best to stay with her but soon fell off the pace. She found the wheel of Robin Farina (VAC) and as Rebecca was still up the road, allowed Robin to set pace at the front. The pace was too hard for Alison to hang with Katheryn and Robin and she fell off, but unfortunately the climb mellowed out and she was able to catch back on.

For the next several miles, the course rolled along and other riders caught back on as the pace slowed. Chrissy Ruiter (VAC) made a couple of attacks but was covered by Katheryn and Alison. Alison was very aggressive on the descents as her ski racing background provides her with very good descending skills. Amy, who had been one of the riders who caught the group, did a great job of covering her and making sure Katheryn did not get gapped. The chasing group eventually started to pick up remnants of the break and over the radio Karen instructed Rebecca and Amy to try to attack with Katheryn on their wheel in the final mile to try and put time on Alison.

Unfortuantely in the end, Alison hung tough and managed to outsprint Katheryn, securing her 2nd in GC.

Amy finished like the superstar she is for a 6th place in the stage and Rebecca was not too far behind. Alex, Gina, and Nikki, who had done a great job all week, did a great job on a tough finishing climb.

A hard body deserves a hard hat. Photo courtesy of Karen Brems

GC results:
Katheryn - 3rd
Rebecca - 10th
Alex - 16th
Team - 2nd

Stage results:
1st place x 1
2nd place x 2
3rd place x 1
4th place x 2
6th place x 1
7th place x 1

Back to the index

May 2 Tour of the Gila Stage 4

Today was the downtown Silver City Criterium. This stage usually draws a good crowd of spectators, but this year there was the extra "Lance Factor" to make it even more popular! Webcor put on a good show with all our riders at the front controlling the race and covering any significant attacks. We wanted the race to come down to a sprint for Gina and to have another opportunity to fine-tune the team leadout. The team rode very well together with everyone contributing, but our leadout got derailed in the final turn, which was a good 300m of uphill headwind from the line and Gina had to go early and Carla Swart from Lipsmackers came around her in the final meters. Here are a couple of photo links:

The women line up at the start
Webcor is all over the front

Here is Gina's report:

Well today's stage started out with Nikki, Alex, and I making bets on all the kids racing. We cessed out the competition of all ages from 4-10 in their respective age categories and picked our racer. Probably the best incident was this kid who had food all over his face and the smallest bike in the gang and Nikki chose him… he rolled in last (she'll make a great mom)!!! Alexis made progressive improvements and finally chose a winner in the final race.

Then our race. Everybody with tired legs fighting a "breeze" so they called it. Wel,l winds swirling and twisting our tent in a pretzel. The main goal of course was to not let anything up the road that would put Katheryn's GC in danger. Kristen Armstrong laid the brrrrrrrrrrraaap down in the first two laps tearing our legs off. She continued to do that a lot of the race. A few attempts were made for breakaways but the wind was so strong that it was tough to stay away. Nevermind Kristen and Alison Powers bringing things back that didn't really matter. That was ok though because we wanted a field sprint anyways.

A girl got away and was away at two laps to go. We learned a lesson in patience today. We panicked a bit and brought her back too quick too soon, leaving not the whole team for a leadout. We needed to control the race with a solid leadout because of the wind and the course. We are capable but because of the circumstances of PANICK we didn't. So Alex was there as the last leadout, which as usual she had under control… then comes the out of control Alison Powers basically cutting her off and making some erratic move before the last downhill off camber left corner. Alex was in her 53x11 leading me out downhil…spun out. Alison comes PAST her right before the corner. I had to make a split decision and follow the fastest person. Well, I made it through the corner with her line and speed, following a 2-wheel slide for me and then (what we think happened) Alison scared herself!!! Because she kind of hesitated and didn't continue driving it to the finish. At that point I had to jump at 300-350m to go… yep I basically lead somebody out for the win. And I got first Loser – 2nd place.

Criterium racing is so fast and takes split minute decisions, which is what makes it so fun and exciting. Sometimes things work out and sometimes not. All in all Webcor rode a really good race and continues to show how we shine working together as a team on and off the bike. We've been on the podium every day. Tomorrow will be no exception!!!

Tomorrow I think are more hills....:-))))))

Back to the index

May 1 Tour of the Gila Stage 3

Stage 3 of the Tour of the Gila was a 16+ mile time trial. The Webcor team had a good day with Alexis placing 3rd behind Olympic TT champ Kristin Armstrong and US national champ Allison Powers. We continued out trend of podium placings every day so far! Kristin smashed the 9-year old course record set by Jeannie Longo. Her time would have placed her 66th out of 146 pro men!

Allison's 2nd place moved her into 2nd overall, but only 11 seconds ahead of Katheryn. With another big climbing day on Sunday, there are still opportunities to move Katheryn up.

Here is Alex's report:

Stage 3 or the Tour of the Gila was the race of truth otherwise known as a Time Trial. The approximately 1- mile undulating course was a lot of fun, for someone who likes 39 odd minutes of Mindless pain!!!!!!

Kristin Armstrong again showed us how it is done, and in the process smashed the previous course record by nearly two minutes. I managed to ride out of my skin and placed third behind Alison Powers. Katheryn rode solidly to hold onto third place in overall classification.

Tomorrow is a criterium in downtown Silver City. It is such a great feeling in the team at the moment, as we are all excited about the crit tomorrow, so hopefully we can continue the daily trend of being on the podium.

Back to the index