Still waiting...

7:30pm:

I made it to Washington Dulles International Airport only to be delayed for ANOTHER two hours. United was kind enough to send me an email telling me this. I think that is a bit odd, they send you an email alert about a flight that you should already be on. If you haven't figured out yet that the flight is delayed I think you probably have bigger problems. My first instinct when my plane is delayed is NOT to check my email. I'm not sure, but this might be a feature that could be eliminated to help keep the costs of air travel down.

I hope the trip gets better, right now I am really tired of paying absorbanent prices for internet service because I need to work and I'm stuck in the airport.

I have been traveling for 10 hours now and am farther east than when I started. hmmm....

On the Road Again....

...And it is that time of year again. Travel is back upon us. Two weeks ago we were in Florida as a "warm-up" and now the marathon that is race season is HERE. I am currently sitting in the Nashvile International Airport waiting on a delayed flight. That didn't take long. I usually have at least a couple of trips before I have huge delays, but apparently not this year. This is race number two of the season. I am two hours into a two week trip and I am delayed. I hope this is not a sign of things to come...

I complain but I love the travel. Not the traveling, but the travel. With all the airline restirictions and cut backs, traveling had become more of a nightmare every year. Mark and I are doing this trip on frequent flyer tickets, so suprise, we are not on the same flight. We are actually not even on the same day. Oh well, free is free. I also snuck my bike on without getting charged (think $80 each way if they hear the word "bike") so I guess the delayed flight is not too bad. I'll wait as long as money isn't involved.

I am on my way to Arizona, California, Las Vegas, and back to Arizona. The races are in CA and AZ and we are staying with two of my favorite people on the planet Rachel and Foye. They have the unfortunate pleasure of living in AZ now so we are invading their house. From their house we are driving to CA for the first National Mountain Bike Series race in Fontana, from there to Vegas to visit some old friends for a couple of days, and then back to Phoenix to race the second NMBS race. It should be a ton of fun and great racing.

Mike, one of my athletes, is also joining up for the journey. He is a brave soul to spend two weeks non stop with Mark and I.

I should have regular email and internet access so stay tuned for travel updates and race reports. Most of the rest of the team has a couple of big weekends of racing in the Southeast so we should all have good stories to tell.

Star and Lisa debut their new Specialized Ruby Pros

Star and Lisa headed to Birmingham this past weekend to try their legs, and new bikes, on the Speedway at the annual "Ride to Live" race.

Let me just start by saying that we are all SO EXCITED about our new road bikes. They arrived last week and they ROCK!!!! For 2008 Specialized has an even better women's line than in the past and we are all on the Ruby road bike. It is incredible. It is fast and light and responsive like my Tarmac was, but I can ride it with a regular length stem. I LOVED my Tarmac and this bike is even that much better.

With new bikes, new gear, and legs antsy from a winter of not racing, Star and Lisa decided to head to Birmingham and remember how to race. They lined up a strong field and and raced well. Both ladies animated the race and were trading punches with two other teams that each had 4 riders, along with a bunch of solo riders. They made the final selection but were a bit out-maneuvered in the last turn. They ended up 7th and 8th. Great job ladies!! You rode well and looked great doing it. Notice the "rock star" pink and silver Specialized sungalsses...

Our new team kits are due in any day so please ignore the clothing. The new stuff will be worth the wait....

Vantaggio ROCKS SERC #1 in Gainesville!!!

The opening SERC (Southeast Regional Championship) Series race was this past weekend in Gainesville, FL. Jamie, Emily and I headed down, along with a contingency of Tennessee boys, to test our legs in Florida. It was going to be Emily's first expert race. She's 15 and has no junior women to race with. After DOMINATING the sport women's field last year she was ready for the challenge.

This race is always really tough for us because it is HOT compared to the weather we have been training in and the Florida riders are always FLYING. They race all winter and already have their race legs. We never have huge expectations, if we see the podium it is a bonus. The joke Jamie and I had heading down was "oh well, it's Florida in March...". It was our answer to EVERYTHING about the weekend.

The pre-ride was less than stellar; I had bruised and bloodied myself in the first 5 minutes. I was NOT optimistic. The course was typical Florida... in and out of a quarry, tight and twisty and stupid little wall type hills. It did not seem to flow but I was hoping it would get better at speed.

We lined up a strong field, including a number of Florida natives. Jamie, Emily and I all lined up together and were discussing the finer points of wanting to puke on the starting line. Nerves are always a killer for the first few races. They said "go" and I somehow immediately was at the back. Hmmm... I need to remember how to start a bike race I guess. Jamie had a great start and was second wheel with Emily not far behind. I put in a huge effort at the first corner to pass the field and ended up third wheel behind Jamie. We hit the first couple of little "walls" and I powered up them to second place. The next wall was bigger with roots on it and was the one that got me during the pre-ride. I told myself I was going to ride up it today and I did!!! I was the only one that made it and suddenly found myself at the front. Okay, let's go with this.... Jamie quickly caught up and we decided to work together for a couple of laps and then beat each other up at the end. All was going well and then she washed out in a corner. She was fine and I kept going, figuring I'd see her again shortly. The course was flowing for me and I was concerned that the Florida girls were going to catch us. Where is Jamie?? Keep pedaling... By the end of the third lap it occurred to me that I might win this race. In Florida. In March. WOW!!

I WON!!!! Jamie took a strong second place and Emily rolled in 9th. We had a great team showing for a race that we had no real expectations for. We are off to a phenomenal start this year.

On another note; my incredibly supportive husband raced his first expert race in 6 years and did great. He started 2 minutes ahead of me and the goal of the day was to see how long he could hold me off. 38 minutes and 32 seconds. Good job Mark!!!

Race season has started!!

Yesterday we officially kicked off our race season with a crit in Maryville, TN. WOW, what fun!! Lisa and I represented the team; Gina, Star and Paula were all supposed to join us but were battling injury and illness when the weekend arrived; oh well, next time. We missed you ladies!!!

The women's field was big (21 women) and STRONG. We had riders from everywhere including one nationally ranked pro. Hmmm.... this was going to be a harder race than I thought. I guess that today we find out if I am ready for racing.

They said "go" and we went hard from the start. Rebecca Larsen, the Aaron's team pro was definitly the driving force and I was NOT going to let he get up the road. We immediately got a gap from the field and then one other rider bridged up. I was psyched. I figured that was the break and we were set. Suddenly the girl that bridged stopped working. AHHH. Then Rebecca stopped working because the other girl wasn't working and she didn't want to give anyone a free ride. Well I was certainly not going to pull both of them. The chase group caught us and then NO ONE was working. Have I ever mentioned that I HATE women's negative racing?? I attacked a bunch of times (and probably did more work than I needed to but I had fun), won a prime, and it ended up coming down to a sprint finish. I got pinched in the last turn by a lapped rider and took third. Ultimately, I would not have won anyway; Rebecca was STRONG and definitely was the best rider today. I think I could have taken second but that's bike racing.

Lisa rocked!!! It was only her second crit and she was in with the big dogs. She rode strong and smart and finished 8th overall, one lap down to the top 7 but her group was still way up on the rest of the field. She was the 2nd Cat4 rider; although at the rate she is going, she won't be a 4 for very much longer. Lisa, we are all so proud of how far you have come in such a short time!!!

After the women's race I decided (against my better judgement, thanks Mark...) to jump into the Cat 3 men's race to get some more intensity in. I was definitely wearing the "bad idea jeans" when I agreed to this. Not only had it gotten cold outside, I was TIRED and my legs were COLD by the time they finally started. It was UGLY. I made it almost 10 minutes before I got pulled. Oh well. I think I could have raced with them if I had been fresh and not freezing but not the first crit weekend of the year. I'm sure I'll get another opportunity to make a fool of myself in the men's race, but this was enough humble pie for a while.

Team Training Camp

Wow, we have a really AWESOME team!!! That is the overwhelming thought I have after this past weekend. Seven of us (Kym, Shannon, Lisa, Star, Emily, Tanya, Catherine) went to Pisgah National Forest in Brevard, North Carolina for a team camp with one of our sponsors, Scott Wagner of Wagner Research. Scott is a Pathologist/ author/teacher from Indiana who has been a great supporter of our team for the past few years. We love all of our sponsors but Scott has a special place in our hearts; he'll put up with a cabin full of crazy cycling women for a weekend!!! He was grossly outnumbered and I am sure quite overwhelmed at many points during the weekend.... THANKS AGAIN SCOTT!! We really couldn't do this without people like you. Gina, Paula and Jamie had other commitments and missed all the fun. Next time ladies, next time....

As I have already mentioned, for 2008 we have an elite mountain bike team AND our newly formed road team. Well the trip to Pisgah is traditionally a mountain bike weekend. This was fine, Star is a recovering adventure racer and Lisa is a "Jack of all Trades" so they are both just as at home on the dirt. Catherine is our one "roadie"... she has ordered herself a mountain bike this year but as of last Saturday, had never been on the dirt. Time to fix that!! Catherine got her first dose of mountain biking Saturday on a rental bike (thanks Scott!!). Our 2008 team bikes are on the way but just missed us for the weekend. We took a little pity on Catherine and decided to ride slow and easy to break her in to mountain biking. We headed to DuPont State Forest Saturday morning and CATHERINE ROCKS!!! She rode everything and we even got her on a little teeter totter before the day was up. What a fun day. I would also like to thank the unsuspecting Forest Service personnel who allowed 7 hungry mountain bike women to fill up their bottles; we only "borrowed" a few of their snacks in the kitchen....

After riding for 4+ hours we headed back to the cabin for a shower, some food and an afternoon of shopping; we are women after all. One of the local outdoor stores was having a huge sale and it was too much to pass up.

It was also Emily's 15th birthday on Sunday so we had to have an excuse to get a gift (the shopping) and a cake. I have never met a group of women that are worse at keeping a secret for a whole three hours. It is a good thing that Emily is not terribly observant because we pretty much told her numerous times "hey, we got you a present and a cake, surprise". It actually became comical after a while.

After a huge dinner at what I have deemed "world's best buffet" we had our little surprise party, lots of giggling and then headed to bed.

Sunday was more great riding, we split up and some of us went to Pisgah for mountain bike fun while the others (including Catherine) went for a nice road ride. The weekend went by WAY TOO FAST... next time it has to be longer. It was such fun experience, not only the phenomenal riding we got in, but the team bonding. I know that everyone is just as excited as I am for race season to start.

...and Cross Season is Over.

This past weekend was the last cross race of my "off season racing". We have a team weekend coming up for the last race of the Knoxville series and that is the last one of the year. I am a bit sad that it is over already...I've had a lot of fun. If you look at the photos, I've even almost gotten competant at it!! In the process I've won the TN State Championships and the TBRA series jersey. Not bad for a self proclaimed "clutz" that is NOT a cross racer. Okay, maybe I'm a little bit of a cross racer after this winter. I swear it is all the bike. It is my favorite bike I own right now. Thanks Specialized!!

Saturday's race was great. The weather was nice and sunny and I LOVE the course we were racing... what a great way to end the season. We lined up 8 women and I never looked back. It was a slight uphill start into a headwind, I should have probably drafted a bit, but I wanted the hole shot and was willing to do a bit extra work to get it. Sometimes you have those days where you just feel "on" and today was one of them. I felt like I was floating around the course. My Power Tap was telling me I was working hard but it didn't feel like it. I have been doing all of my cross races with a Power Tap, the cross thing has been first and foremost about training for me, (can't you tell??) so I want the numbers. Call me a coaching geek but I am what I am. I have had more than one race that I did not like what it said but today was different, today it said "go Kym, you are killing it...". Yes, I talk to all my equipment, not just the bike.

I won. It was a good day. I turned really fast laps too. We started behind the men today and I caught most of them. I turned as fast of laps as they did. FUN. I wish every day on the bike could be like this!!!



Mountain bike season starts in four weeks and we have a road race in three weeks. Whew. I hope I am ready.

Thanks for reading...