Some Photos from our Training Camp

Okay, sorry for the delay in the posting of these... winter holiday travel and "computer probelms" have slowed me down a bit. Mark and I are in the great white north visiting family right now... these pictures really make me miss home and my teammates!! Bill took 300 pictures so I will try and post more over the next couple of weeks.

Team Training Camp

Whew. I am tired. We had what could only be described as the best team weekend EVER this weekend. And never let it be said that we don't know how to throw a party. We threw the Christmas party of the season... I'm quite sure people will be talking about it until next year. More on that later...

So we started out the weekend at my house with Mark's famous pancakes. For those of you who have never had them, they are a MUST for any big ride day. With the weather threatening rain, we headed out quickly for our excursion into the hills and mountains of Northern Hamilton County. We did a ride that is best described as "parts unknown" and like all good rides, it involved a few dogs (thanks a ton to Mark in the follow car for the "horn action") and a dirt road. It was a good thing the rain held off until after we were past the dirt. Bill Parsons, our "team photographer", braved another day of hanging out of the back of a support vehicle driven by Mark-the-mad-man-Fasczewski to get some great shots of us. I'll post those up as soon as I get the final cut. Everyone rode strong and we lucked out on the weather. It started raining just as we pulled back into the house 5 hours later. After a quick burrito we all parted ways to go get cleaned up for the "evening festivities".

THE PARTY: Okay, we all decided as a team that we needed to do something to say "thank you" to all our sponsors, friends and family that have helped support or crazy cycling habit this year. Without them, we would not be as successfully as we are. Paula had the killer idea that we should throw a holiday party. PERFECT. Shannon volunteered her house and we all brought food. After a few "beverages" we even had our very own dance club in the downstairs complete with a strobe light. There was much dancing by everyone and we had 40+ people attend. All our guests seemed to really enjoy themselves as was proven by the LATE night. Hey, don't we have a ride planned tomorrow!!??? UGH. Did I mention we had a "kissing bandit" at the party? I'll leave it up to you to decide which Vantaggio/Specialized lady took that title for the night. I also will have photos from the party as soon as I get them off of Gina's camera.

Sunday morning was a bit slower than we had planned. It was COLD and damp outside and everyone was feeling the effects of the party. We started the morning with a long but necessary team meeting over bagels. We found out some really cool stuff like WE ARE RIDING SPECIALIZED BIKES AGAIN FOR 2008!!!!!! This made every one's weekend. We have loved our bikes so much this year and were really hoping that we'd have the opportunity to ride them again in 2008. Much of our morning was spent pouring over bike catalogs and trying out each other's bikes. We are going to go with more of the women's specific products for 2008 and we cannot wait.

After the meeting we loaded up the cars and headed toward Raccoon Mountain for some mountain bike riding. WOW IS IT COLD. Okay, for those of you who live in the great white north (hi mom and dad) it would have been a heat wave, but for us, it was by far the coldest day of the year. 34 degrees with 25 mph winds and snow flurries. Wow, makes a bunch of tired girls want to ride. We toughed it out for about an hour and a half and decided to call it a day and head to Lupis for pizza. YUM. My favorite.

Unbeknownst to me, my AWESOME teammates surprised me with a birthday cake and a gift certificate to my favorite shopping experience, Rock Creek Outfitters. I LOVE YOU GUYS. We all pigged out on chocolate cakes and went home with full bellies and a great weekend of memories.

The only thing that could have made the weekend better was if Catherine could have been there too. She was moving into her new house this weekend and could not sneak away. We missed you!!!

Thanks to everyone for reading and for all of your support. Look for those photos to be posted soon.

Finishing out the MSG Cross series in style!!!

I am FINALLY getting the hang of this cross thing. I guess even an old dog will learn a new trick every once in a while!!

We showed up to Johnson City last weekend and it was 45 degrees and spitting rain. FINALLY real cross conditions. Being the mountain biker that I am, I live for cross races that require the roadies to "handle" their bikes. I have not had too much luck with that this season, it has been a lot of dry, fast stuff out there. The slick, off camber conditions made me do a secret little "happy dance" when we got there.

The girls that race the MSG series are what I call "real" cross racers (as opposed to a wanna-be-I'll-use-it-as-training-in-the-MTB-off-season cross racer that I am...) and they were all using the race as their tune up for Nationals the next weekend. Yikes. This could be UGLY. I was pleasantly surprised with myself. I was smooth over the barriers and kicked some butt up the run up. I even passed some of the men in those areas. I NEVER pass anyone in barriers. Hmmm. Maybe I am getting better at this. I ended up third, my best result at the MSG races this year, and had a blast. The mud helped me, it was nothing compared to what I do on the mountain bike.

Now I take a little break from the cross thing for a few weeks. Things start up again in January and I am excited. Next up is the team training camp and I cannot wait to spend a weekend riding with the girls. We are also planning a killer party to thank everyone who has helped us throughout the season.

Chattanooga CX Racing

Sorry I have been a bit lax in publishing as of late. I got really sick for about two weeks (I even missed my FAVORITE trip of the year....Pisgah over Thanksgiving), it's been a struggle catching back up to life.

Once I determined that I was going to live to race another day, I started looking for an event. Lucky for me I did not have to look far. Scenic City Velo (our team's club affiliation) was hosting a cyclocross race right here in Chattanooga. GREAT!!! I am almost well (only a slight fever and congestion...) let's do it.

Shannon and I lined up in the category 1/2/3 women's field, myself still a bit weak and Shannon never really having raced cross before, with no expectations and ready to have fun. It was just like fun only different. OUCH. I was still sick, not too bad, just enough to not be fast. I finished second and Shannon took third. We were not graceful, we got in good laughs at ourselves, and have great stories to tell.

Thanks to SCV for a great race. Once again the club has gone above and beyond to put on a quality event. I can't wait for the next one!!

Team Training Camp

We had our first team training camp this past weekend. WOW. We have an awesome team for 2008. Lots of talent and a whole bunch of super cool chicks. We are all so excited for next year. Everyone made it to at least part of the weekend with the highlight being 7 Vantaggio ladies and probably 20 guys pedaling out of Chattanooga right through downtown on Saturday morning. We accidentally bumped into the SCV group ride and combined forces for the first 40 minutes. FUN.

Look for pictures and all kinds of fun for our big team weekend next month.

Swank 65

The annual Swank 65 mountain bike race was the second weekend of November in Pisgah National Forest, NC. Not only is Pisgah my favorite riding anywhere around (it's gnarly, technical and steep... what more can you ask for??!!) this "race" is almost a right of passage in the Southeast. It is a 65k (42 mile) mountain bike race over the mountain of North Carolina. It is an all day affair.

Shannon, Paula and I decided that this was the year to conquer Swank. We are all doing our off season base miles right now so what better to get in a long day on the bike but 42 miles of mountain biking. I was doubly crazy and decided to get a warm-up the day before by doing a 'cross race. More on that later....

Swank started this year Le Mans style. There is nothing quite like watching a pack of mountain bikers RUN to their bikes. It wasn't just a short run either... we ran close to a half mile before we got on the bikes. I think that was the most painful part of the entire day. Paula and I were close together at the start and there was a lot of walking up the first climb with such a large pack of riders. After we got back on the bikes I settled into a pace and for the next three hours I rode with a friend of mine Sam whom I hadn't seen in a long time. Her and I motivated each other and the company made the time go by very quickly. Near the second SAG area we were told we were the 4th and 5th woman. Wow, we were just riding and chatting... maybe it was time to start racing a little. Shortly after that we got to THE descent; Farlow Gap. Farlow is one of the things that Swank is known for. It's gnarly, slippery and steep; marginally rideable at best. In fact, there are parts of it that are not rideable by anyone. My goal was to see what I could do. After riding past a bunch of guys walking their bikes (yes, I do love that) I ended up doing some walking of my own. In the process I passed the girl that was in 3rd and somehow lost Sam. Okay, I am now in third, the "training ride" has just turned back into a race. I pushed a decent tempo pace for the last 12 miles and finished 3rd. Paula had an impressive ride and brought home second place, about 8 minutes ahead of me. Shannon had a blast and finished a respectable 9th.

What a great day!! We had a blast and will definitely be back for more next year.

As a side note. I took 4th the day before at a very competitive cyclocross race in Bristol, TN. I also learned that 'cross racing is not a good warm-up for epic mountain bike racing. I am SLOWLY getting better at the 'cross thing (I actually had someone tell me I looked good out there) but I am still SLOW through the barriers. My legs were tired and SORE for the first 2.5 hours of Swank but what a great weekend. A special thanks to Cara and Andy for the use of their house Saturday night.

Jamie ROCKS at Collegiate Nationals!!!

Young Jamie went to Collegiate Nationals this past weekend and showed the world once again why she is a "rider to watch" for the future. Jamie we are SO proud to have you on our team.

This article from Cycling News.com says it all:

“The USA Cycling U23 cross country mountain bike national champion, Chole Forsman (Tucson, Ariz./University of Arizona) was the heavy favourite entering the slightly-delayed 11:30 a.m. start of the three-lap division I women's cross country race. The Luna Chix professional rider did not disappoint, gaining speed as the race went on and riding to her second national championship win in as many years. Forsman was however faced with a pair of strong challengers in Colorado State University's Amanda Miller (Fort Collins, Colo.) and the University of Tenneseee-Chattanooga's Jamie Dinkins (Powell, Tenn.). Just behind Forsman, Miller and Dinkins gave the crowd the day's most exciting finish. Dinkins was able to ride past the running Miller on the final descent, but the CSU junior overtook Dinkins on the home stretch to earn the silver.
"She rode the downhill and I walked it because it was really muddy and I did not want to crash and take myself out of the race," explained Miller who was a last minute entry into the competition. "I am so thankful I was able to make it here. Collegiate cycling is great! It is so nice to have other women teammates to ride with and for."
Hometown favourite Carla Swart of Lees-McRae College (Buford, Ga.) and Teal Stetson-Lee of Durango, Colorado's Fort Lewis College finished fourth and fifth out of the 44 Division I women's entries. “