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

May 28-30 Robert W. Cameron Law Corporation Cycling Series

With a short lull in the NRC schedule, Erinne got to race in her own backyard in British Columbia.

Here is Erinne's report:

This weekend was the Robert W. Cameron Law Corporation Cycling Series. It consisted of three great races put on by local sponsors and the field was the best cyclists of BC. It was a great opportunity to race in my home town with a strong field and many family and friend supporters! Friday night was the Pro City Bear Mountain Hill Climb p/b CHEK News where we raced the clock up a gruelling 3.3km and 10% hill. I’m not sure but I think I set the women’s record with a time of 8:33 which would have placed me 8th in the men’s field behind local pros like Ryder Hesjedal and Rob Britton.

Saturday morning we woke up early and all gathered in Russ Hays Sooke Classic Road Race p/b The Condo Group, which was not only one of the most beautiful courses I’ve done because it winds along the west coast of the island, it is also very hard and this weekend it doubled as the BC Provincial Championships. Unfortunately, it is of course the West Coast and the potential of rain is still very high in May and of course as luck goes it was dry at the start and we all tossed our rain jackets and then as we rolled out 5 mins down the road it started dumping and never let up. It was head wind, raining and miserable on the way out and the hills were not as significant as I had thought. Therefore other than a few breaks, it was pretty mellow and I’m sure people were having many conversations in their heads saying “I should quit... no I can’t....” Luckily immediately after the turn around it was now tail wind, downhill and ‘game on’. The BC Teams did a fabulous job of attacking me nonstop. Total Restoration and Trek Red Truck were launching attacks everywhere, and with the rain and fog it was very hard to follow wheels or see who was going up the road.

Eventually 3 girls (2 Total Restoration and 1 Trek Red Truck) got up the road. The Keller Rohrback team put a girl on the front to chase until Jordan River. At Jordan River, Amy Dearden and I set the pace up the hill and got a group of 4 who worked to catch the break. Now we were 7. Up the French Beach (which was the last big climb) I attacked and got off solo but then Jessica Hannah caught up on the descent and because we weren’t working well together we eventually got caught by rest. So for the last 15km I had 3 Total Restoration girls attacking me one after the other, and they never stopped. I knew I had to chase them and I also knew I still had a chance for the win since the last 1km was uphill. So once I hit the last 1km I went to the front and set the hardest pace I could. After 15km of chasing constant attacks I have say it wasn’t incredibly fast but fortunately I still had enough in the tank to hold them off. I finally won my first Elite BC Provincial Championships!!!

I was extremely happy that the rain stopped for Sunday as it was the La-Z-Boy Bastion Square Grand Prix p/b 100.3 the Q and the crowds were out in full force! This has always been a great event in Victoria for the past 17 years and I was lucky this year to be able to race in my home town and with such a strong field of women and a great crowd of family, friends and supporters. My Uncle was the La-Z-Boy sponsor, my husband was announcing up stage, my coach was present and a hat-trick was possible if all the stars aligned.

The race started fast and never let up for the whole 45 laps. With about 10 laps into the race, Leah Guloien had a small gap that had grown to maybe only 5 or 10 seconds. I knew Leah was strong and could work in a break (which was what I wanted) so I did a big attack and bridged the gap. Now we had 5 girls, all from different teams in the break. I did some work initially to get the break moving and then organized the girls to roll through together. I kept on saying “Let’s lap the field!” so we did! First time I’ve ever lapped the field and it was pretty exciting. We caught them with about 13 laps to go. Unfortunately though this allowed the other 4 girls in the break to recover for 10 laps. The field did their sprint finish with 3 laps to go, which Andrea Bunnin won and then the 5 of us duked it out for the last 3 laps. Naomi Cooper of Trek Red Truck attacked first and I went with 1 lap to go and had a good gap of like 4 bike lengths on Leah but they reeled me in and around the last corner she outsprinted me for the well known leather recliner La-Z-Boy chair that I really wanted in my living room.... But I hope Leah enjoys it.

Anyhow, the fun weekend of racing came to an end and after the men’s race we all went out for a late lunch at one of the many restaurants near Bastion Square.

May 19 Tour de l'Aude Stage 5

After Joe Martin, Katheryn headed straight to France to race the 10-day Tour de l'Aude with the US National team. This is probably the most prestigious international stage race for women – it is a women's only race that has been going on for somthing like 20 years and has the highest UCI ranking for a women's stage race – basically the equivalent of the Tour de France for women. Katheryn took her first European stage win here yesterday and rocketed from 14th to 2nd on GC!

Note that becasue this is a UCI race of the highest category, riders are allowed to use radio communication with their team managers, unlike the new rule fobidding that in all national level races.

See this CyclingNews photo of Katheryn's victory salute.

Here is Katheryn's report:

We went into the stage with a solid plan of how we wanted to start the day and from there, depending on how things panned out, we would adjust on the fly. Although time to the GC leader was several minutes, we knew we still could tick away at the time difference.

Since the first climb, 6k long, was less than 10k into the race, Manel (our DS) instructed the team to go full gas from the gun. What a beautiful sight it was to see Andrea, Carmen, Kat, and Kristin rotating through on the front. I had to work my way up to the front and brought Mara up too, so it was the six of us all lined up. I am sure the rest of the peloton was caught by surprise at our fast pace off the start line and I would have loved to have an arial view of things.

Kat gave a HARD pull to the base of the climb and Mara pulled through and set a hard tempo up the climb. I must have brought my climbing legs with me today as I was able to hang with Mara, Evie, and Emma (who was in the yellow jersey). Mara set the pace the entire time up the climb and although I got gapped about 500m from the summit, I was able to catch back onto them on the fast, technical descent.

The four of us stayed away until the course took us onto a more wide open road, and we were caught by a larger group of riders. Ina launched a massive attack and got off with another rider, but they were brought back. A few more attacks went and it was not until Ina attacked again and was followed by someone else that the peloton sat up. I tried to bridge but could not get away or make a dent in their lead.

We zoomed through the start finish line and I remembered Manel telling us that there was another climb right out of town. I bided my time until we hit the lower slopes of the climb and then, when the group seemed slow enough, launched an attack on the right side. I got away solo and bridged up to the two leaders. I was a bit unsure what exactly to do next so I set a steady tempo as the road continued to twist and turn upwards. Two more riders bridged up to our group so we were a group of five now, with two girls from the same team.

See this CyclingNews photo of Katheryn climbing solo in pursuit of the leaders.

For some reason, I was not entirely happy with this group of riders and put in another strong attack. I managed to get off solo and kept my head down and pressure on the pedals. Eventually, a Cervelo rider managed to bridge up to me and as happy as I was to have someone with me, she would not work with me as the gap to her teammate, who was in the yellow, was too big (I think well over 2'). I did my best not to get discouraged about her just sitting on my wheel and continued to push hard (but not bury myself completely as we still had about half the race to go!).

The course continued to wind around the hillside, steadily climbing the whole time. Manel eventually made his way up to my break and informed me there were two riders chasing (from the same team) behind by about a minute.

Finally, we reached the summit of this climb and I was happy to see the road go down as it would provide me with a slight respite. On the descent, when the course got fast and technical, I would gap the Cervelo rider. Manel encouraged me to keep the pressure on and try and drop her. Eventually I did, but a few k later, the two riders went zooming by me. I wish that Manel had told me they were coming just so I would have had a heads up.

Working together, they opened up a gap on me and definitely had better skills going downhill than I did. I fought hard to minimize the damage but I was pretty spent. I could see them ahead but as hard as my legs could go, I just could not close the distance.

Suddenly we enter a round-about andI see the two riders go left while the moto bike that is leading me goes right! OMG, what do I do? Manel is in the radio telling me to follow the bike and that I am going the correct way and they were led off course. This leads me to leapfrog in front of them! Manel is encouraging me in the radio to keep going, I am now in front of the race.

At this point I have about 15k to go. Head down, go, go, go. There is one more climb that is about 3k long and then all downhill. Just get over that climb, just get over that climb. Manel does a great job encouraging me in the radio and thank goodness, as there were several points at which I just wanted to stop pedaling and get off my bike and sit on the side of the road.

The 2k to go sign to the top of the hill was both a blessing and curse and I think at this point I was eating my stem and my legs felt like they were pedaling squares.

Fortunately the climb was not too steep and I crested it and took a deep breath, only 4k to go! I did not take any risks on the descent and was so happy to see the 1k to go flag.

My first European win was awesome! What a good, hard day at the office and the team rode great.

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May 16 Sacramento Grand Prix

Andrea in the mix. Photo by Veronika Lenzi

The men get a whole stage race for the Tour of California while the women unfortunately only got to race a 1-day criterium in downtown Sacramento, but at least we got something and the organizers (not the same organization that puts on the men's stage race) did a good job putting on a first-year event. The course was on the finishing circuit for the men's race and took place about 2-3 hours before the men finished their road stage, so there were quite a few spectators. Unfortunately many of the media people I happened to talk to had no idea there was a women's race on the same day!

All the major US women's teams were represented, although most only sent 4-5 riders. We had a small but powerful team with Andrea, Lindsay, Joelle and, in her first race in green, Amber Neben. We got a podium finish with Joelle taking 3rd in the field sprint.

Joelle leads Amber. Photo by Veronika Lenzi

Here is Andrea's report (her English is getting better every week!):

Grand Prix Sacramento Crit…about black tie optional clothing, 4-corner rectangles and a podium sprint.

Finally – summer also in Northern California – just in time to welcome the Tour of California and its participants from all over the world.

Already two days before the Tour started, Joelle and I got the possibility to join the men's gala-dinner and team presentation together with the representatives of one of the Tour`s host cities, San Jose. It was really amazing seeing the Tour`s great heroes (including one Austrian professional, with whom I could finally use my Austrian dialect again after a while!), partially protected by police and security as if they were rock stars (anyway – for me they are, or more than that). By the way, since that day Joelle and I also know what "black tie optional clothing" means (and Joelle will for sure be reminded of it whenever she is wearing her new beautiful dress bought for this occasion in the future;)

Lindsay in the mix. Photo by Veronika Lenzi

AND…there was also a race for women during the Tour of California. We had a crit in Sacramento, only a couple of hours before the men were expected to arrive in downtown after their first stage of the tour. Although I am still working on getting used to America`s crits (a kind of race which rarely takes place in Europe), I was looking forward to this race as Sacramento is more or less my home town for this season. As expected, we had a huge audience watching our race through downtown. Unfortunately the course was kind of boring – 4 corners, 2 long and 2 short straight wide streets. With all the attacks happening on the parallel street to the start finish line, those people (including Karen as our sportive director and the majority of all the audience) watching at the start finish line didn`t see the real great show of racing. However from my point of view, I can say, we really raced. I counted more than 10 attacks that I covered, and we finished with an average speed of almost 42 km/h (I know that’s European, not American). Lindsay, Amber (it was her first race for WEBCOR) and I tried to be present at the front covering all major attacks and chasing any breakaways in case we missed it. We didn`t plan to race too actively ourselves as we had our sprinter Joelle sitting in the peloton. So we weren`t too unhappy that no breakaway really got away and the peloton prepared for a bunch sprint. Unfortunately our sprint-train still needs some training (or gas or power or courage or…) and we weren`t able to give Joelle the ultimative green fast protected super unbeatable awesome Webcor leadout; .however she finished on the podium as 3rd.

Joelle sprinting for 3rd in the Sacramento Grand Prix. Photo courtesy of Karen Brems

Good job Joelle, and expect the ultimative green fast protected super unbeatable awesome Webcor leadout for the next sprint, okay!

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May 9 Joe Martin Stage Race Stage 4

This was one close race! Katheryn went into the final stage 4.3 seconds behind Alison Powers. With time bonuses of 10, 6, and 4 seconds for the top 3 places in the stage, she had to either take time out of Alison or be 1st or 2nd on the stage without Alison being in the top 3. The Webcor team gave their all and Katheryn found her sprinting legs to take 2nd on the stage (winning the field sprint) but unfortunately for us, Alison took 3rd, giving her the win by 0.3 seconds!

Here is Katheryn's report:

In years past this has been one of the hardest stages of the JMSR; usually an 8-corner crit, but due to construction this year, it would be 12 corners. I don't think I have ever done a 12-corner crit. Not only would the 12 corners challenge us but also the start/finish stretch, about three blocks long, had a lovely hill in it that sapped the legs every lap.

We arrived with plenty of time to take a quick lap of the course to check out all 12 corners and get a good warmup in on the trainer. Being ready to go hard from the gun was of utmost importance. Yet, as with almost all of the crits in the US, there is always the "race before the race"; what I am talking about is the race to the start line. Yes folks, most people race to be the first one to cross the finish line but there are some that race to get the best spot on the start line! Really?! And trying to contain 60 anxious racers is next to imposible for the race officials. What did not help was the race announcer calling up the top 10 of yesterday's stage placing, not the top 10 in GC! Needless to say, things got somewhat sorted out and I lined up with the other GC contenders on the front line as we received our final instructions.

We were warned about one particularly "dangerous" corner (corner 39 I think it was, hahaha, nope it was corner 11) which had seen people crash at it in every previous race. Hmmm…this could be interesting.

The gun went off and immediately Sam Schneider (Tibco and the current U23 crit camp who had gotten a call up) went to the front and strung it out. I was actually happy about this as I did not want to be fighting with 60 other women for all of the corners. I knew this race would be fast as the GC from 4th-10th or so was soooo close and with 10", 6", and 4" up for grabs at the finish (not to mention I was just shy of 4" behind Alison), there would be some very driving riders/teams who wanted the race to be aggressive.

Unfortunately, about three or so laps into the race, 'sniper corner' (that is what some of the guys called it as it was almost as if a sniper was taking people out) took its first victims and one of them included Rushlee (Colavita), who was sitting 7th in GC; she was ultimately okay, a bit banged up, but was not able to finish. I was glad to have missed that crash and very happy to see Erinne about a lap later and know she too avoided the carnage. Erinne put in several attacks but was followed closely by Alison Powers and other strong GC riders. Andrea also made her presence at the front despite the sketchiness going on in the peloton and the speed causing riders to be popped off the back. Tibco tried several attacks to dislodge their riders from the group but were unsuccessful.

See this VeloNews photo of Erinne's action in the crit.

The Vera Bradley riders tried several different times and tactics to get riders off the front and it was not until a great attack by Alexis Rhodes with three laps to go that they managed to get someone off. Anne Samplonius (Nanoblur) set pace to try and bring her back along with several Colavita riders. She never really got out of our site, but due to the technical nature of the crit, it was a bit challenging to put on a full-on chase.

On the last time through 'sniper corner,' Anne went down, taking out Meredith Miller (Tibco) and a few other riders. Fortunately I managed to avoid going down as did Alison Powers, who immediately got on the gas and took off. Hot on her tail, I was not about to let her get away from me.

With one corner to go and the final time up the climb so close, I put my head down and gave it my all going up the climb. I was not able to catch Alexis, but did hold off Alison and got 2nd in the stage. Unfortunately, Alison got 3rd and secured her overall lead by less than 2". Sooooo close!

See this VeloNews photo of Katheryn winning the field sprint.

It was a great four days of racing for the team. I had what I had for the finish of the race because my team did a great job the other road stages to protect me and keep me safe.

Thanks to Dave, Jeremy, and Laura as well.

I am now off to France to do the Tour de L'Aude with the US National Team.

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May 8 Joe Martin Stage Race Stage 3

The Joe Martin Stage Race continues to be very close with Katheryn only four seconds out of the overall lead. The team rode aggressively to try to tire out Alison Powers and her team.

Here is Erinne's report:

Yesterday’s 69-mile loop was the third stage of the Joe Martin Stage Race. It was the shape of a lollipop (and I really wanted to eat a lollipop but we did have any…boo). We started near town, rode out 11 miles, then did two loops and charged back into town for a fast downhill big open road finish. Typically this race finishes as a bunch sprint but there are some hills and wind so team plan was to race hard.

We were sitting in 2nd in GC with Katheryn and our number one goal was to defend that or move her up. We were also looking for good opportunities to attack in order to make the defending team, Vera Bradley, work or have one of us move up in GC and win a stage.

It was pretty aggressive on the hill and over the top in the wind. We got some good moves going every once in a while, but they’d always be chased down. At some point early on the second lap when things were settled down, Dave had the guts to say in the car, “ this is soooo boring." But within five minutes some chaos happened and Dave was regretted his words. Katheryn’s front wheel was broken from someone else’s rear derailleur hitting it and Dave had to do a wheel change. Then Andrea’s gears wouldn’t shift to the little ring and she got a bike change; then Dave fixed the bike and she got another bike change onto her original bike! Whoof, I bet he’ll never say “this is so boring” again!

Anyhow, he did a great job, everybody was back in the group before the climb and winding section, and the race was on. It was very aggressive leading into the finish and some of the GC riders were putting in some good attacks. But it was coming down to a field sprint so we looked for Katheryn to make sure she was safe and up front. I tried to attack with about 500 metres to go with Katheryn on my wheel, but I couldn’t go around the lead-out train. It was so fast and downhill. Modesta won the field sprint with Laura Van Gilder second and Erica Allar third. We missed Gina and Joelle in that fast field sprint… but are happy to hear that Joelle just finished second at the Pan Am Championships.

GC was kept the same and Katheryn stayed in second.

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May 7 Joe Martin Stage Race Stage 2

The Webcor team had their work cut out for them in the first road stage in Joe Martin, with the overall race lead to defend.

Here is the first-hand report from our new Austrian rider, Andrea.

Stage 2 is a 61.5-mile road race. It was about dangerous bonus seconds, new vocabulary, and a bunch sprint .

Having the leader`s jersey (too bad we only had it in our minds as there was no leader`s jersey in this race, but in our imagination we all saw Katheryn in yellow J) we were all prepared to protect the close race lead working well together in this stage. However we knew it would be sooo hard (and even harder as sooo hard) as Alison Powers, sitting in second place less than one second behind Katheryn, is known as a great sprinter and unfortunately (for us) the first three finishers gained bonus seconds, which meant it was not only enough for our yellow jersey to glue herself on Power`s wheel (which would be hard enough – believe me!), but to cross the finish line in front of her or prevent her to gain bonus seconds.

Today's course did not have a demanding profile. There was one 10-mile climb, but not steep (even though there was a sign half way up the climb saying “very steep and crooked next miles”; and as I didn't know what “crooked” meant, I just decided to ask the girls around me as I wanted to be aware of what I had to expect… and I got the answer from three directions around me immediately – thanks girls for improving my English;).

Back to the climb… Not being steep enough, not beeing crooked enough, and moreover with headwind, the whole bunch stayed together 'till the top.

After the descent – still all the girls together – we unpacked our Plan 2 and started a firework of Webcor-attacks.

Again having headwind, going on a 4-lane straight highway, not one of us could really get away (at least it was Alison Powers herself who chased my last attack;).

What next??? Plan 3 – the sprint

We stopped attacking with about 10 miles to go to save all our energy for the finish. Saving energy in this time of the race more or less worked out, except Katheryn seemed to have too much of it and first got a rock in between her crank and frame, and then after solving that problem, she decided to give our mechanic Dave some action by flatting her front wheel. However, both times we were able to bring her quickly, safely, and wind-protected back to the bunch.

In contrast to the straight rolling 4-lane highway we rode on the whole day, we hit some technical corners and narrow roads on the race's last 1k to go. With an uphill sprint, good legs and some race experience, I wanted to go for the sprint, stealing bonus seconds from Katheryn's most dangerous concurrence. Having raced with Modesta Vnesziuskaite so many years in Europe and being her teammate in “Nuerenberger” and “Bigla” I was 100% sure, watching her throughout the race, that she was going for the sprint and I decided to follow her wheel – which would have actually been a great idea (Modesta won the stage!), unfortunately another rider cut the last turn with 300m to go forcing me to break ;( - so no real good finish for me. But Katheryn's yellow jersey might have had wings and brought her on a 4th place in this bunch sprint. So far so good – everything fine, if only Alison Powers had not been up there just finishing ahead of Katheryn and – really too bad to believe – taking the last bonus seconds for place 3.

All in all we all did a good job today and Katheryn might have made one of her best sprints ever. However we lost the race lead, which kind of sucks, because I actually was on the right wheel and so close to take Powers' seconds. Excuse this personal description from my point of view and another last personal statement (but my teammates told me what the last sentence in this race report has to be and that's the only way it fits;) So, the more races I get in again, I feel my head is already 100% there again (I mean I actually had good tactics and the right wheel), I only still miss some toughness and some power in my legs after unlucky 2009…

But… “I'll be back!” (Editor's note: a quote from another certain famous Austrian….)

And there is still a hard road race tomorrow and Sunday's crit and Katheryn is still close in GC. So never give up…

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May 6 Joe Martin Stage Race Stage 1

The Webcor team came back down to sea level and a little less wind in Fayetteville, AR for the Joe Martin Stage Race. The team took our first NRC victory of the season with Katheryn winning the opening hillclimb TT. This was a long time coming as Katheryn placed 2nd to Alex Wrubleski (then riding for Colavita) by 1 sec. in 2007 and 2nd to Alison Powers by 2 sec. in 2009 on this same stage.

See this CyclingNews photo of Katheryn giving it her all.

Here is Katheryn's report:

After a cold, windy race up at altitude in Silver City, NM, we made the 14-hour trip to Fayetteville, AR and were greeted with more air, warm weather, and lush surroundings. It was nice to have two days off before the racing started and we took advantage of the down time to go for easy rides, read, stretch, watch movies, and hang out. By the time the day of the first stage of Joe Martin rolled around, we were all well rested and ready to race.

Stage 1 is a 2.5-mile climb out of Devil's Den State Park. There is 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%.

a small aside…
Writing race reports for time trials is always hard, especially short ones. i spend an hour warming up for a 10-minute effort and am so cross-eyed the whole time by the time I make it to the finish line, I am convinced I have killed enough braincells to drop my IQ down by several points. Now i need to write a race report about how hard it was and how my legs were screaming at me the whole time up and all I could think of was stopping, but there is some small twisted part of by brain that loves being pushed to the limit physically and mentally.
anywho…

With a good warmup in my legs and plenty of time to make it to the starting area to have my bike checked and weighed, I was ready to tackle the course.

I got some good advice several years ago about starting a time trial – go out with a whoosh not a bang. Pacing with such a short course is not as crucial as with a longer tt, but I still needed to make sure I did not go out too hard and blow up. I zoomed through the short flat section, holding myself back a bit to save it for the climb and hit the climb and immediately fell into a good rhythm. I quickly caught my 30" person and focused on keeping a comfortable cadence and making the course as short as possible.

Catching my 1' and 1:30" women motivated me and kept my head in the game as my legs started to feel like lead. I did my best to keep a smooth pedal stroke and power on the pedals. At the 200m to go sign, I knew the end was near and dug in deep, wanting to cross knowing I had left nothing on the course.

another small aside…
Finishing a tt is a very odd thing. I always wonder if there was more left in the tank, yet my immediate behavior after finishing is to stop pedaling and collapse over my bars, gasping like a fish out of water. Yet I need to keep pedaling, even though the legs don't want to move, lest I fall over (so not pro).
anywho…

I definitely crossed the finish knowing I had given it my all. I did my best to keep the legs going around and rolled around enough to begin to think straight and regain my bearings. As I rolled back towards the finish area, an official came up to me and said that I had the fastest time and to hang out here as USADA would be testing the top finisher.

I knew that there were still some strong riders left to finish and nervously waited at the top. Emma, manager from Tibco, and Tina, manager from Colavita, were up there figuring out times, so I stood by them as more riders rolled through. I knew the rider to beat would be Alison Powers (Vera Bradley) and as she came into sight, powering up the hill, I could hardly wait to see what her time would be.

After a few anxious minutes, which felt like hours, the official finally came over and said that I had won, by less than a second!
This is my first NRC win and I was super excited!

Here are the final top 10 results and how the rest of the team did:

1. Katheryn Curi Mattis (Webcor Builders Cycling Team) 0:09:38.8
2. Alison Powers (Team Vera Bradley Foundation) 0:00:00.8
3. Alison Starnes (TIBCO/ To the Top) 0:00:10.1
4. Meredith Miller (TIBCO/ To the Top) 0:00:25.0
5. Anne Samplonius (Team Nanoblur-Gears) 0:00:25.8
6. Amanda Miller (TIBCO/ To the Top) 0:00:27.9
7. Rushlee Buchanan (Colavita/Baci Pro Cycling Team) 0:00:28.9
8. Robin Farina (Team Vera Bradley Foundation) 0:00:31.7
9. Alisha Welsh (Peanut Butter & Co. Twenty12) 0:00:34.1
10. Patricia Schwager (biketiresdirect.com) 0:00:36.9

16. Andrea Graus
25. Amy Dombroski
32. Erinne Willock
46. Ange McClure
50. Lindsay Myers (her first race back after breaking her leg in Redlands)

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May 2 Tour of the Gila Stage 5

The final stage of the Tour of the Gila is a tough one with another hilltop finish. The cold weather continued and there were snow flurries at the finish! Luckily, the forecast of more gusty winds did not materialize though. The goal of the day was to defend Erinne's CG podium position. The team rode well, but a couple of others were just a bit better on the day and we ended up with Erinne in 5th and Katheryn in 8th.

Here is Erinne's report:

Today was the the 5th and final stage of the Tour of the Gila, nicknamed the "Gila Monster." It was about a 70-mile race that started in downtown Silver City. There were two time bonus sprints at 10 miles and 38 miles and both were 3, 2, 1 seconds up for grabs. After the time bonus sprints, we hit the Gila Monster and climbed (with a few descents) until the finish. After yesterday's crit, I was still sitting in 3rd GC, but Andrea Dvorak had gained three more seconds in a sprint and was only sitting one little second behind me.

We wanted to get either an early break-away or have Andrea try to take some time in the sprints. So only about two miles into the race one attack went, Andrea covered and helped to drive the break until the first time sprint. Unfortunately her effort to make the break work got her dropped after the sprint but she still did a great job and we were still happy with having a break up the road. For most of the day the three girls in the break worked together while back in the main group the Peanut Butter team kept things under control and set tempo on the front. They kept the break at about one minute all day.

Nearing the base of the initial climb we started gaining more time on the break and caught them right at the base. Peanut Butter and Colavita were on the front going into the hill and once on the hill there was an acceleration. Katheryn had a gap; Cath Cheatley reacted and jumped across followed by Mara. The three had a good gap on us and my group was now being pulled by Alison Powers. The three up the road split up and katheryn came back to our now small group. She put in a big effort the rest of the way home leading the chase for Cath Cheatly who was just behind Mara. We tried to recruit Vera Bradley’s help but unfortunately we didn’t get much. Cath caught Mara up the road on the descent and ended up winning the stage, about two minuntes ahead of our group, moving Cath into 3rd overall. With about three miles to go, Alison Powers attacked us on a descent and finished 3rd on the stage. Our group started attacking each other and I was covering Andrea Dvorak who also had teammate Carmen Small with her in the group. At the finish, Carla Swart and Andrea kept attacking me and I was with them until about 200 meters to go but couldn’t keep up and I finished 6th on the stage. I dropped to 5th in GC as Andrea got a couple of seconds gap on me at the uphill finish, but overall it was still a good week with two stage podiums. It was good hard racing and I can’t wait to get down from this altitude. At the moment we’re in the cars driving to Arkansas for the Joe Martin Stage Race which will start this Thursday.

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May 1 Tour of the Gila Stage 4

The Tour of the Gila crit is always hard and with 19 seconds worth of time bonuses on the line and four riders within seconds behind Erinne wanting to knock her off the GC podium, the Webcor team had our work cut out for us. In the end, Shelly Evans of Peanut Butter & Co won the race and Andrea Dvorak (Colavita) moved up within 1 second of Erinne, but we held onto the podium for another day.

It has been fun to have our Amy back in green again for these races and everyone likes her race reports, so here it is:

Colorado's ambiguous weather has kept the wooly boots, mittens, and snow shovels beside my front door, so I was looking forward to a trip to Silver City, NM where sun and heat normally don the Tour of the Gila. I scoffed at my winter booties as I packed my bag, but Gila's wind and frigidity scoffed me in the bootie.

Stage races are always a hurry up and wait kind of atmosphere. So it was nice to have a relaxing morning before the gun was fired for today's downtown pain city criterium. But of course as soon as noon hit it became a frantic herding of cats. Our train of Erinne, Katheryn, Andrea, and Amy knew we had to be smart about our efforts as the other teams had two to three more bodies. Our little Canadian Erinne slid into third position on GC from her smoking time trial so we wanted to keep her protected like a diamond in the rough. Strong winds and an ominous sky greeted us on the start line for our 2pm start. I think these winds helped keep the ever-shrinking field together as any attacks and breaks were kept on a tight leash.

Here's a photo of Erinne at the start line.
And here's a photo of Katheryn's call-out.

The race was 25 laps and 27 miles. The lap begins with a straight of 200m which was a head wind before hanging a left into a guttering straight before a hard right up a snippy climb where the crowds gather to see the look of agony, grit, and pleasure in our faces. As you crest this kicker your heart is half way up your throat but is pushed back down through a choppy descent into a wicked fast left which gives you the sensation of when Batman tucks in his wings to bullet through the window of a 50-story building. Pop out of that corner hard and the finish banner is looming 400m ahead and you hear the Joker laughing down your neck.

Here's a photo of Erinne on Alison Testroete's wheel.

There were three time bonus sprints, in addition to a time bonus at the finish. Erinne was sitting in third slightly ahead of Andrea Dvorak of Colavita, so we didn't want her to pick up any precious seconds. The pace grew hotter when there were primes or time bonus laps, but other than that there wasn't a whole lot of instigating. Webcor did a stellar job of being attentive, while Peanut Butter & Co, being a no-stir variety, kept things under control in protecting their leader's jersey and providing an opportunity for a sprint finish. With two laps to go, Alison Powers put in a valiant attack that had serious potential, but again the wind kept the race in check and Peanut Butter didn't like this separation. The sprinters were licking their chops and kicked it on in. The green train did a good job of following wheels to ensure no time gaps.

Here's a photo of Erinne with her head down sprinting strong.

We head into the final day to attack the Gila Monster and protect our Canadian diamond.

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Link to March-April race reports