So many thoughts & emotions, but I’ll try to keep this brief!
I came into this year’s 6-12-24 Hour World Time Trial Championships trying hard not to set expectations, but also wanting so desperately to defend last year’s title. After 8 weeks of non-weight bearing beginning in early August, I just didn’t know how much I could reasonably ask my body to give me. I have a STELLAR support team to thank for getting me back on my bike, and rehabbing and rebuilding fitness as quickly as humanly possible, while not rushing things to the point of re-injury: The Training Room (Phil Davis, Blaze, and the rest of the team know their stuff!), Austin Massage Company (both Massages AND recovery Yoga with Erica), My Coach, Matt Seagrave, who checked in nearly daily before updating my workout plans, and did a pretty darn good job of bringing my fitness level back up as much as possible, while working around so many injury-imposed restrictions, Cryo Wellness (Cryo, Infrared Sauna, and Hyperbaric Chamber), and use of a BEMER Mat (sponsored by Blood Flow Rocks). I owe this team SO much (including my sanity!), and can’t express my gratitude deeply enough.
I guess above all, I’m GRATEFUL. Grateful for the support of ALL of my sponsors, friends, and family, who believed in me and supported me throughout 2018 – through thick and thin!
Grateful to be able-bodied enough to line up, start, and finish this race, despite the many setbacks this year has seen.
Grateful for hubby Jamie Tracy that continues to support, love, and push me to be the best version of myself that I can be (also through thick and thin!)
Grateful for a coach that invests so much of himself in my training and success, and knows exactly when I need to be pushed, AND when I need to rest/recover.
While yesterday’s race did not play out the way that I’d hoped, I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to leave it all out there. I’m grateful that my body gave me 8.5 solid hours of racing before beginning to fall apart. I’m grateful that I was able to coax it to finish out the full 12 Hours.
At the end of the day, I finished out VERY salty, and 3rd Place/11 Overall Woman in the 12 Hour TT.
12 Hour W 30-39 World Champion
3rd Place W Overall 12 Hour World Championship TT
SALTY!
Thank you Sponsors!
The VanDoIt made it easy!
SALTY!
I may not be riding away from CA wearing rainbows this year, but I DID set a new weekly mileage & TSS PR last week, which included 2 amazing 11 mile climbs up The Glass Elevator, and a nice little 12 hour race, concluding in a Time Trialist’s version of a “Crit”… 😜… I’m celebrating every little victory because each baby step puts me that much closer to “whole” again… and I appreciate so much more the things that my body is capable of doing after being unable to do so many of them for what felt like forever but was really just the blink of an eye.
My fitness may still be a bit below it’s peak, but I’m pretty stoked about the direction & grade of that ramp!
On the road trip from Austin, TX to Borrego Springs, CA this year for the 12 Hour World Time Trial Championship, I found myself struggling with many conflicting thoughts and emotions.
I’d had a lot of time with my thoughts the past few months, since fracturing my pelvis the first weekend in August. Before the accident, we a full block of adventure right around the corner: Road-Tripping it up to Colorado for the CO Classic with Swisse Femme Equipe, then heading over to VT for the Race to the Top of VT and the Green Mountain Stage Race, then swinging through MD and VA to visit both our families before racing the Pisgah Monster Cross Challenge along the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Pisgah National Forest.
I’d been looking forward to that trip all year. My coach and I had been carefully managing my training and racing efforts in order to peak me for this late season block of racing, and I can honestly say that my fitness was at the highest point it’s ever been. Then “it” happened. A split second in the sprint finish of a weekly Crit that I race every single week – things went sideways in front of me, I went over my handlebars, and BOOM. Fractured Pelvis. Instant change of plans. No more CO. No more VT. Not visit to Mom and Dad. No shredding gravel along the Blue Ridge Parkway. All of that planning, carefully honed fitness and “peaking”. Out. The. Window. In the blink of an eye. On top of that, I’d really hoped to compete in the Zwift Academy again this year, and maybe even make it to the finals (after juuust barely missing them last year!), but I certainly wouldn’t be smashing trainer workouts out of the park, setting a new FTP, or TTing off the front of virtual races with a busted hip.
Not Impressed
Those that know me personally can tell you – I’m about as Type A as they get. I categorize myself as Type A+. I am a planner. I LOVE planning. I do not like “rolling with the punches“, “flying by the seat of my pants“, “winging it” or “going with the flow“. . . .these things just don’t compute for me and my Type A, analytical brain. Sometimes life has a way of forcing you into the most uncomfortable places in order to initiate growth though. Maybe not growth as an athlete, but growth as a human being. More Patience. More Tolerance for the unknown and unpredictable. Learning how to slow down, enjoy living in the moment, and just rolling with the punches and going with the flow.
After fracturing my hip, I was non weight-bearing for a full 6 weeks. No exercise of any kind allowed, because my fracture extended from my illiac crest to just shy of my hip socket, and if I “pushed it”, the fracture could extend into the socket, causing displacement, and requiring surgery to correct. . .so you’d better believe that I followed Dr’s Orders 1,000%, and then some.
It was NOT easy though. Mentally, I felt like a basket case. Take someone that is fiercely independent, consistently getting 2+ hours of endorphins through training EVERY SINGLE DAY, and rip that right out from under them. Put them flat in a bed, unable to so much as sit up without assistance for a full week. . . needing assistance to drag a useless leg via walker 10 steps to the bathroom – needing assistance to sit down and then stand back up, and then needing assistance to get back into bed. That lasted for a week. . .but even once I was somewhat “self-sufficient” again, I had to keep ALL weight off my left leg, which meant dragging that stupid walker, and then after a while crutches, around with me EVERYWHERE. I couldn’t just run to the kitchen to grab a glass of water really quick between meetings. It was a 5 minute pain-filled excursion every time I stood up to do anything.
Then, when I started to feel better – still dependent on crutches and non-weight bearing, it got even worse. . .every fiber of my being craved exercise and endorphins. I was eating ~2,000 calories of nutrient dense food a day even because I knew this was necessary in order to fuel the healing that was taking place inside my body. . but I watched as my hips, midsection and thighs grew in circumference and got “soft”, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Cutting calories was not an option, because this would delay healing.
Complicating matters, I struggle with clinical depression and anxiety, and in my day-to-day life, I have it 100% under control through exercise, clean eating, and medication. . .I 100% forget it even exists and is a non-issue 99% of the time in “normal” life. But again – rip away my exercise and endorphins, and you’ve pulled 50% of my comping mechanisms out from under me. . add to that the weight gain and quickly diminishing fitness. . . . let’s just say that I was not a happy camper, and not fun to live with at all during this 6 week period.
AS SOON AS I was cleared to be weight bearing and get back on my bike though, I rolled up my sleeves and, working with Phil & Blaze at The Training Room, and my coach, Matt Seagrave, we did everything humanly possible to remedy the atrophy, strengthen my hip, and bring my fitness back up as much as possible in the 5 weeks that remained before the WTTC.
The first 4 weeks back on the bike were excruciatingly painful, from a patience perspective more than anything. I began to realize just how much fitness I’d lost. . . . I could barely pedal my bike without my HR skyrocketing and remaining pegged. . . my left leg quad was ~1 inch smaller in circumference than my right, and my L/R power output was 40%/60%. I had a LOT of work to do, but the caveat was that I couldn’t rush it without setting myself back to square one. It was so very hard for me to get on my trainer and just spin super easy for an hour per day. SO HARD. Harder than any max effort intervals or FTP test I’ve ever done.
My first outdoor ride with teammate Chelsea ended with me seated with my Slurpee outside of a 7-11, and entirely unable to stand up! This is friendship, people! Sacrificing your ride plans to ride at a sloth’s pace with your broken friend on her first ride outside in 7 weeks, and then breaking out your phone to film paparazzi-style the joyous laughter at the end of the ride. . . despite my inability to return to standing. . . that was the best ride I’d had all year!
For 4 weeks after being allowed to resume weight bearing, I wasn’t allowed to ride more than 1 hour at a time because my left leg would fatigue quickly, and as it fatigued, I’d rely more and more on my right leg, reinforcing poor form and imbalance. I had to get in more than 1 hour a day though. . .my fitness was IN THE TOILET (see pic below), and I had to get some volume back in order to start bringing my fitness back. This meant DAILY 2-a-days. . . getting up at 5am to knock out an hour before work. Working my 9-10 hours. Forcing myself to take an hour lunch break 3 x per week to go to The Training Room for PT. Getting off work, and knocking out another hour. Getting off the trainer, and doing 30 minutes of at home PT stretches. I was exhausted. I was grateful to be getting a regular dose of endorphins again, but spinning super easy on a trainer & doing 40 minutes of 1 leg drills a day is NOT exactly my idea of fun on my bike. I began to dread my training sessions. I didn’t want to get up at the crack of dawn to sit on a bike and spin easy. I didn’t want to get back on the damn trainer at 7pm after a long-ass, exhausting day of work and spin easy again. I wanted to WORK & what I was doing did not feel like work. But I stuck with “the plan” because I was DETERMINED to line up to race on October 27th.
Like that CTL plummet? NOT the kind of descent I like. . .
On October 6th. . . 21 days before I’d be lining up to race a 12 Hour World Championship TT, I was FINALLY cleared to ride 2.5 hours in a single shot on my bike. It was glorious!! Granted, my fitness still sucked, and I couldn’t hold sh*t for power – but that 2.5 hours outside on my bike did my mind and heart a world of good, and reminded me how much I loved to train and ride.
The next week (Oct 8 – 14), we gradually increased my volume and intensity to see how my body responded. To my delight, my power #s started to come back up, while my avg HR came down. Still nowhere remotely close to my “peak”, but I started to actually believe that I might be able to “race” the full 12 hours! At this point, it was still painful to walk, so I was still using crutches to get around, but it didn’t hurt to ride my bike, so my saddle was my happy place, and I went from dreading those dang trainer workouts to looking forward to my daily training rides again 🙂
The next week, we left TX for the 2 day road trip to CA on Thursday. We laid over in Las Cruces Thursday evening, and I had an “easy 1 hour spin @ 160W” on my trainer. I set it up next to the van in the parking lot – the weather was beautiful – breezy and ~55 degrees. I jumped on my bike and started to pedal, but my legs were full of crap! I thought surely I must have a brake rubbing. . . . jumped off the bike and checked. . nope! WTH?!? Get back on. Start pedaling again. 120W and I’m sweating. Suck it up, take it up to 160W but I swear it feels like I’m pushing 200+. After just a few minutes, I’m sweating buckets – literally dripping from every sweat gland in my body. . and my HR is MUCH higher than it should be for 160W. By the time I finished the hour, I felt like I’d ridden 50+ miles at tempo. And the monkeys in my head started going nuts. . . .all of the doubts came rushing back in. What was I thinking? Why was I dragging Jamie all the way out to CA for this race when my body clearly wasn’t ready? Was I even going to be able to ride 6 hours? I went to bed discouraged with a heavy heart and legs.
Friday the 19th we drove from Las Cruces, NM to Borrego Springs, CA. After clearing Border Patrol about 45 minutes outside of BS, we turned onto the familiar road that led us into town. I was off work at this point in the afternoon, sitting in the passenger seat, gazing out the window, and remembering the thoughts/feelings/emotions swirling through my head a year earlier.
As we had descended into BS in 2017, I was full of desire, hope, optimism, and dreams. Earlier in the year I’d won my first National TT Championship (Master’s Nats). I’d gone on to win the TX State W P12 and Age Group Road Race Championships, and had just found out that I’d been selected as a Semi-Finalist for the 2017 Zwift Academy. My fitness was at an all-time high, and the world was my oyster. I had visions of winning the 12 Hour World TT Championship, and then being whisked off to Spain for Training Camp with Canyon/SRAM, and racing my way through Europe in 2018 dancing through my head.
In contrast, as we descended into Borrego Springs this year, I was fighting back feelings of insufficiency and fear. I was the defending 12 Hour World Champion, and wanted nothing more than to defend my title, and prove to myself that I could come back yet again, but the realist in me knew how unlikely winning the World Championship this year would be. I believed it was possible, but had hundreds of doubts swarming around me like flies that I had to keep swatting away. I didn’t want to let myself down. I didn’t want to let my coach down, who had worked so hard alongside of me to rebuild my fitness. I didn’t want to let my husband down, who had been SO supportive through yet another setback, and put up with my horrible mood swings resulting from lack of endorphins, and was driving me the 18 hours each way to defend my title. Friends and Family had been texting, calling, and posting on FB for weeks to reassure me that I could do this. . . but I had this sinking feeling that I was about to disappoint everyone.
We finally arrived at our AirBnb, unpacked, and Jamie and I went for a #BikeDate. I finally felt the blanket of pressure and fear start to lift. The weather was beautiful. I was here in this perfect place with my husband and our bikes, and I didn’t have to work for the entire week. I could ride my bike as much as I wanted. My hip was healed enough that I could walk without crutches *almost* pain free. My legs felt SO much better than they had the night before on the trainer in Las Cruces. It was going to be okay. Blue Skies, Sunshine, Wind in my hair, and a bike date w/ my hubby was all I needed. #Nevernotsmiling, #happyhappyhappy, Optimistic Little Miss Sunshine was back!
The week of Oct 22nd, I did most of my training rides on the TT course – getting to know wind direction, false flat sections, etc. I also got the chance to ride up Montezuma (The Glass Elevator) and Yaqui Pass while I was out there and loved EVERY SINGLE MINUTE of those breathtaking rides! Jamie and I went on several bike dates, and also made it out to The Spandex Stampede in Temecula and had fun hanging out w/ Tadd and Brett of Atom Composites for the afternoon, and learning more about the CA Gravel Scene!
Maddy, a friend that I guest rode w/ JL Velo at Redlands with, came up with a friend Thursday night, and we had a blast hanging out and catching up on Friday.
Friday afternoon rolled around, and I was relieved to feel a sense of peace about the race the next day. While I can’t lie and say that I didn’t want to win (I mean, c’mon. . it’s a bike race!), I didn’t feel that sense of dread or pressure that I’d felt as we’d driven into town the week before. I was thankful for the simple fact that I was able-bodied enough to be in CA, riding my bike up mountains, and lining up to race a 12 Hour TT just 12 short weeks after breaking my friggin hip! LOL
And you know what? My coach & I had done a pretty dang good job of ramping my fitness back up given the limited amount of time that we had to work with, and the many injury-related restrictions that he had to work around. . . so I was going to go out there and give it everything I had, and wherever that placed me at the end of the day, I knew i’d walk away content, having given it 100% of what my body had to give it.
That Ramp back up is pretty dang steep 🙂 🙂
So how did the race go? Well, my friends, family, and anyone that follows me on FB and IG already have the cliff notes version, but the full race report is coming tomorrow. Stay Tuned!
Team Tracy ATX (all 3 of us!) are headed out to the Lorimar Winery in Temecula today! We’ll be hanging out at the Spandex Stampede Gravel event at the Atom Composites Tent till about Noon. If you’re in the area, swing on by, tour the van, scratch Jake behind the ear, check out some wicked fast Gravel Wheels, & say hi!
Introduction to Ultra Racing – Mentorship Program for Beginners!
Exclusively for 1st Time Ultra Racers planning to race the 6 Hour Pace Bend Ultra Race.
If you’ve never tried an Ultra Race before, but are curious what the hype is about, and looking for a fun and fulfilling challenge to keep your training on track through the Holidays and heading into the new year, this is a program that you won’t want to miss.
~2 x 1 Hour Group Q&A Sessions with Shane & Christie during which we will provide general training, fueling, and hydration guidance, discuss race pacing/strategy, and answer questions
~Race Day Guidance along the same lines
~Full Crew Support on Race Day (and the option to bring a crew member for hands-on training)
~10% discount off the already reduced early bird pricing
~1 participant (drawn at random) will get to use a #UltraFast #UltraLight #UltraCool set of Atom Composites Carbon Race Wheels on Race Day!
Register Here, using BikeReg Code: “tracytraughbermentor”
**LIMITED TO 8 SPOTS (BikeReg Code will only work 8 times)**
I was recently interviewed by Kensie Garber for this feature article on the VanDOit website!
We discussed my cycling background, some of the setbacks I’ve faced (and overcome), my State, National, and World Championship Titles, and how the #TeamTracyATX VanDOit helped to enable us to chase dreams and adventure in 2018, as well as our VanLife-ing Road Trip Plans for 2019!
I still feel super awkward talking about myself and my accomplishments on the bike during interviews. . . but it’s kind of fun to see the finished product when articles and pod-casts go live 🙂
I’ve just recently updated our 2019 Race and Road Trip Plans too! You can check them out here, and contact us ( admin@teamtracyATX.com ) if you’d like to set up a Van Tour or Meet & Greet when we’re rolling through your town next year!
I’m beyond flattered to be mentioned in this article by Race Across America about the New Generation of Women Ultra-Racers. . . Sarah Cooper is kinda my hero(ine), so to be mentioned in the same write-up as her is a bit of a dream come true! (This was a complete surprise when it hit my inbox yesterday!)
I’ve recently decided to focus a lot more of my attention on Ultra Racing AND Gravel (AKA “My Happy Places”!) in 2019, and this helps to re-affirm my decision (More details on 2019 plans coming to my blog soon!)
In the meantime, if any more of my roadie friends are interested in dipping their toes in the Ultra Waters, Jamie & I are more than happy to answer questions and provide advice/guidance from our experiences so far!
Christie Tracy (USA) Relatively new to the ultracycling scene is Christie Tracy from Austin, TX. A regular at the Driveway Series, a weekly crit series organized by Andrew Willis and Holland Racing (which also puts on the 6-12-24 Hour Pace Bend race and the Texas Time Trials), Christie has been adding ultra races to her busy race schedule. In 2017, she won the 200-mile race at RAAM Challenge Texas, and followed it up by winning the 12-hour race at the 6-12-24 Hour World Time Trial Championships in 2018. She will be defending her title at this year’s WTTC in Borrego Springs.
Why does Pablo Gomez need to apologize to his mother? Watch the Episode 1 #Pickleball of the Drunk Athlete Show to find out this burning question and others like “Why am I sticky?”
AND, if you missed my episode of the Drunk Athlete Podcast, and are interested in learning more about how I “discovered” cycling (and got hooked), what my training looks like, and what dreams and aspirations drive me to keep coming back after every. single. injury. . . check out Ep 32, linked below!
Would NEVER have lasted the full 100 without the support of @jamieltracy & his worms 🤣 (& Ice Socks 🧦 , Nuun 💦, & Pickle Juice Sport 🥒 )
Congrats to Venny Alub on her 2nd Place finish, and Katelynne Marsan (not pictured) on 3rd!
Thank you @grittyteethracing for a fabulous, well run & supported event and fantastic, well marked course! And the handmade trophies & mugs are awesome!! #TeamTracyATX will be back next year!
At the start of the year, when I sat down with my coach, and we carefully reviewed all of the 2018 races that I could feasibly get to and race, while still working my 45-50 hr/week job, we decided to prioritize large UCI/PRT Stage and Road Races over Crits. . . my ultimate goal this year is to gain experience at the UCI/PRT level, and perform well enough to “get noticed”, and potentially picked up by a Pro Team for 2019 (ideally, a WWT team, or a team that races a lot of road/stage races, as my current strengths make me much more of an asset in long/hard road/stage races over multiple days than 60 minute crits).
Well, the best laid plans. . . Haaaa!!
For an itemized, brief summary of my revised Race/Travel Plans, you can check out the2018 Schedule & ResultsPage, or read below for all of the details!
Initially, we had chosen to forgo OKC Pro-AM, Tulsa Tough, and defending my 2017 TT Title at the USAC Masters National Championship, in favor of racing Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend, OR & North Star Grand Prix in St. Paul, MN – both of which would help to build my resume and help me to “get noticed” with solid racing/placements. . . . but unfortunately, both of these iconic races ended up being cancelled for 2018, with plans to return in 2019 . . . I was also hoping to race the UCI Winston Salem Cycling Classic Road Race, but unfortunately was not able to find a Composite Team or Guest Ride Spot.
Sad Puppy
Detour Not Dead End
But, you know what I keep saying. . . “Detour, Not Dead End“, right?!? So when I had a couple of teams offer me guest ride spots at Bike the Bricks Crit, the OKC ProAm Classic Crits, and Tulsa Tough, I threw all of those carefully laid plans out the window, and jumped at the opportunity!
Will racing these Crits showcase my strengths in the way that a solid GC Placement at Cascades or NSGP would have? Probably not (but possibly in a different way?!). If I’ve learned nothing else from the last several years of racing though, it’s that sometimes forcing yourself well outside of your “comfort zone” is just as important and necessary as working on continuing to improve your strengths. It’s sure as heck not comfortable most of the time, but it’s the fastest way I’ve personally found to grow, develop, and improve as a well-rounded bike racer, hopefully making me an even more valuable asset to a team down the road.
And the other bright side to all this?!? With NSGP being cancelled, my schedule opened up so that I’ll have the opportunity to try to defend my 2017 Masters Time Trial National Championship Title! Yipee!!!
Revised May/June Race Plans!
So, without further ado, here are my revised race/travel plans for Late May/June!
After returning from this month-long trip, I’m REALLY (really, really!!) hoping to find some way to get an invite to race the Kristin Armstrong Chrono Time Trial (along with the ASWB Twilight Crit and Chicken Dinner Road Race) in Boise, ID July 13-15. . . . however, I know that this is an Elite, Invite Only TT, and the chances of me acquiring a guest ride spot as pretty much an “unknown” are slim to none. . .
Since when do I back down when the odds are against me, though? LOL!
I’m going to throw my hat into the Lottery with the Zwift Competition on May 30th . . .getting up at 5am to knock that out before hitting the road to meet up with the Pickle Juice Ladies in OKC! Time Trials & Crits go together, right?!? hehehe 1 lucky woman who completes the 10 mile TT in under 27 minutes will be given a spot in the “real” TT on July 13th. . so it’s a long shot, and based more on luck than anything (random drawing of qualifiers), but I’ve got to at least ante up! (#All-In, right!?!? )
I’m making the Pro Nats TT on June 21st my “A” Race, and my coach and I are tailoring my training between now and then (around Crits! lol) in order to peak my performance at Pro Nats TT. In a perfect world, I’d post a Top 10 time, turn some heads, and possibly earn a last minute invite to the Chrono TT that way. . . .
This is another Elite, Invite Only, UCI Stage Race that I’ll need to secure either a Guest Ride or Composite Team spot for. . . I haven’t really put out many feelers yet because I was focusing on finding a spot for Winston Salem, but hope to be able to secure a spot at the Colorado Classic Stage Race this year!
A Stage Race in the Green Mountains of Vermont! This one overlaps with The Gateway Cup, but I think I will have had my fill of Crit Racing after Tulsa and OKC, and look forward to racing this challenging Stage Race in the mountains instead! This one isn’t UCI, so I’ll be able to register for it without hunting for a Guest/Composite Spot 🙂
September/October – Ultra Time!
After returning home from Vermont, I hope to defend my TX State Champion Road Race Titles in Mid-September, and then will switch my focus back to Ultra Racing through the end of October. I’m planning to race the 12 Hour Time Trial at the Texas Time Trials in Glen Rose, TX in late September, am considering the NCOM 383 Mile Anton Chigurh Ultra Race on Oct 13th in Alpine, TX, and will be returning to defend my 12 Hour World Time Trial Championship Title in Borrego Springs, CA on October 27th!
2018 Zwift Academy?
And who knows. . . I may even try to juggle the Zwift Academy again as I take on these late-season races. . . I really enjoyed the workouts last year, and the camaraderie built with other ZA Participants!
This is aimed toward my friends & family who do not ride bikes.
I was nearly killed today on a bike ride by an inattentive driver running a stop sign. And then berated by an uninformed motorist for breaking a law that does not exist. Please take a moment to watch this & inform yourself regarding a common misconception about right of way. Please share! Thank you!!
I never had the privilege of meeting Amy Dombroski, but I’d like to think that I share her passion for living life to the fullest, and I will be forever grateful for the opportunity that the foundation established in her name has provided me.
I discovered the Amy D Foundation in late November, when a fellow Zwift Academy Competitor, Nicole Presspich mentioned that she’d raced with the Amy D Foundation Composite team at Pro Road Nats in 2017. I had just completed the Zwift Semi-Finals, and was trying to shake off the disappointment of having not been selected as a Finalist, my lofty dreams of a WWT Pro Team Contract for 2018 dashed suddenly, so I was throwing myself into making my own plans for the 2018 season: identifying and working on weaknesses, continuing to develop strengths, seeking out sponsors, and sending my resume to many US-based Professional Women’s Cycling Teams, in hopes of making the jump to the Pro Peloton “the normal way”. The general consensus from the teams that responded was that I needed more experience at the PRT/UCI level before being considered for a roster spot, so I switched my focus to identifying as many of the 2018 PRT & UCI races that I could manage to figure out a way get to & race on my own, while juggling my full time job . . .without destroying my finances!
While I was sending my resume off to Pro Teams, I also researched the Amy D Foundation, was touched by their mission, and everything that they have done to support, encourage, and enable women to chase their dreams in the sport of cycling. When the application window opened in December for a spot on one of their 2018 composite teams, I submitted my packet, crossed my fingers. . . and probably drove Des crazy with more than 1 or 2 follow-up emails over the next month or so!
Fast forward to March. . . I had discovered that finding Guest/Composite Spots at UCI races was more than a little bit difficult. How is an independent rider every supposed to gain the experience needed to “go Pro” if you must BE on a team in order to do so?!? I lacked connections at the “next level”, and I was still searching for roster spots at Joe Martin Stage Race, Tour of the Gila, Redlands Classic, Winston Salem RR, and the Colorado Classic, all of which require a Guest or Composite spot on a team of 4-8 riders to race. It was Mid-March, and JMSR was less than a month out, so I’d pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to make it to AR this year (and was SUPER bummed about it!).
Then, it happened! I opened my email Tuesday afternoon, March 20th, and there was an email from Katheryn letting me know that I’d been chosen to be a part of the Amy D Foundation team for JMSR!! EEEEEKKKK!!!! I think they heard me squeal in delight all the way in CA/CO! The team would consist of 7 riders (Beth Ann Orton – Mentor, Sammie Bosco, Tabitha Sherwood, Emma Swartz, Esther Meisels, Alex Christofalos, and myeself). You can check out the recap blogs of the other team members here!
Fast Forward (again) to April . . . all team member, directors, and mechanic converged on the host house April 10th-11th. First off, can I tell you how AWESOME it was to have the ENTIRE team housed under a single roof! It made team meetings, planning, and coordinating effortless, and I can’t thank Rosemary & Jason enough for their generosity and hospitality while we were there! After all team members arrived, and initial introductions were complete, Katie immediately got to work cleaning and tuning our bikes as the team members & directors had our first team meeting, and were given our matching Lazer Helmets & Glasses, Pearl Izumi Race Suits & Kits, Handlebar Moustache Socks, and t-shirts. I was told that I didn’t need to worry about bringing a trainer because the team had Feedback Sports Omnium Trainers for all of us to use (SUCH a relief to have one less thing to worry about lugging around!). A couple of things here:
It was an incredible and eye-opening experience to have a team mechanic who took care of EVERYTHING bike-related – from transport to cleaning to tire pressure to maintenance. I never had to give a second thought to my bike, how it would get where it needed to be, or if it was functioning properly on race day.
Having a Team Director & Soigneur was again – beyond eye-opening, and an amazing experience. Our daily schedules were laid out for us every evening. We knew exactly where we needed to be and when to be there, and ALL we had to worry about was racing our bikes. No stressing logistics. No stressing feeding/nutrition/hydration prep. Just show up and race to the best of our ability. Wow. I never realized how much mental stress that other stuff added until I suddenly didn’t have to worry about it anymore. Kathryn and Des did a phenomenal job of “herding the cats” all weekend, and I honestly can’t thank them enough for such a wonderful “Pro” experience.
Shortly after our team meeting, we went for our first team ride. Although we all came from different backgrounds, ranged in age from early 20s to late 30s, had various strengths and weaknesses on the bike and a myriad of personalities between us, we all gelled extraordinarily well as a team right from the start. This was one of the things that I was a little anxious about heading into the week. I didn’t know if we’d have 7 riders all coming together as individuals, each with our own agenda, and racing independently, but in the same jersey, or if we’d truly be a team. A team, we were.
SQUAD!
The Joe Martin Stage Race (JMSR) consisted of 4 stages: ~60-65 mile Road Races on days 1 & 2, an uphill Time Trial on day 3, and a downtown Crit on day 4.
I think that we were all a little anxious riding in the team cars (yes. . TEAM CARS!) to the first race, but Tabitha kept things upbeat and kept our minds off of our nerves with her wit! 😊 I had all kinds of thoughts swirling around in my head. I’ve raced JMSR once before, 2 years prior, and had a lot of trouble on the hills. I was dropped in both road races about ¼ to ½ way through the race that year, so my own personal goal for day 1 was to race smart, position well, conserve as much energy as possible, finish with the peloton, and help my teammates out in any way that I was able to. I remember being uncomfortable/scared during the short neutral roll-out 2 years ago, so I was anxious about Day 1’s race -because we had a 6.5-mile neutral roll-out, which I knew would be full of nervous energy.
The team staged together, and being surrounded by teammates definitely helped with the nerves during the neutral roll-out. We had a head-wind over the bulk of the 1st half of the course, so positioning wisely was particularly important. I started out toward the front, but quickly fell into old habits and found myself shuffled to the back. Kathryn had given us some advice pre-race: try to ride in the general vicinity of each other, and if we noticed that we were behind all the other Amy D Foundation riders, it meant it was time to move forward. This advice proved to be very helpful for me during the first hour of the race. I’d slowly work my way forward, and then get shuffled back. . .over and over again. Every time I saw 6 Pearl Izumi Amy D Foundation Jerseys & bright orange Lazer Helmets ahead of me, I knew it was time to start the process again! Over time, I found myself having trouble moving up through the middle, and there was a small pileup in the middle of the group a few miles into the race, which made me all THAT much more comfortable moving up along the outside edges of the peloton. . . which of course meant that I was NOT positioning well, was eating wind unnecessarily, and was burning matches that I should have been saving! Beth Ann noticed what I was doing, made her way over to me, and informed me that my job, for the rest of the race, was to focus on moving up THROUGH THE MIDDLE, and holding my position better once I got to the front. . oh brother! Somehow though, hearing that from a teammate rather than dialogue in my own head was exactly what I needed. I moved up through the middle, and then doubled down on my efforts to hold my position and not give up wheels. Every time that I’d start to get shuffled back, one of my teammates would be there to give me a gentle reminder to hold my ground. And what do ya know – it worked! I realized after about 45 minutes of this that I wasn’t working NEARLY as hard as I had been over the first hour of the race. I found myself racing more confidently, and even covering moves on the front as we climbed out of Devil’s Den. From this point on, the race was honestly a bit of a blur because I was just focusing SO HARD on holding my position and trying to go with anything that looked dangerous. Beth Ann and I stayed fairly close to each other, and she helped tremendously by giving real-time feedback: when I was working too hard, when I wasn’t positioned as well as I could be, when I was racing really well! I went with several moves that didn’t materialize into much, but once we hit the tailwind over the second half, it was clear that the race was ON, and SOMETHING was going to go. Thanks in LARGE part to the help of the team – forcing me to focus on conserving energy early on, and calling me out on it when I wasn’t positioning well – I managed to make it into the break that stuck. The 12 of us worked together well for the first few miles, until we reeled in Emily Newsom with Tibco, who’d been off the front solo, but once we caught her, cooperation started to break down. I just let Beth Ann’s advice about patience and saving matches play over and over again in my head, as I battled the impatient voices in my head, and continued to do my share, but no more. A little while after the break was established, Katheryn and Katie pulled along-side in the team car (seriously – still so cool . . a TEAM CAR!), rolled down the window, and asked how I was doing. I gave them a thumbs up, and grinned from ear to ear. Was this really happening? Did a TEAM CAR just roll up to the break out of the caravan to check on ME? Yes. . yes, they did. Yet another experience that I will never, ever forget, and that I have the Amy D Foundation to thank for!
The rest of Stage 1 was fairly uneventful for me. The cooperation continued to diminish within the break, and attacks started going when we hit the final set of climbs. Our group splintered, and I found myself in 9th place heading into the final climb. I poured every last ounce that I had to give into my legs, glanced down at the Amy D Sticker on my top tube, and charged up the hill with everything I had left. Girls in front of me were fading, and I passed several over the final climb, moving into 4th about 200m from the finish, but my legs had given everything that they had to give, and as I clawed my way over the final meters to the finish line, I was passed by 2, and crossed the line 6th. The first thing that I saw after my eyes uncrossed was Des, standing there grinning and cheering and she gave me a big bear hug as I practically fell off my bike . What. A. Race!
The Peloton had pretty much caught the strung out break by the finish line, so the rest of the team crossed shortly behind me, and we re-grouped at the team car to debrief. We shared lessons learned, personal and team successes, areas for improvement, and I got the chance to thank everyone for their help getting me into the break. Race 1 was over, and we shifted our focus to recovery and preparing for the remaining stages.
This blog post is turning into a Novella, so I’m just going to briefly touch on Stages 2 – 4!
Stage 2 was the second Road Race, and was a point to point race with a tailwind most of the day, finishing in a downtown circuit loop, up the Crit Course Hill. It also happened to fall on my 39th Birthday! The team raced well again together today, and everyone worked hard to try to protect me/keep me positioned well in order to protect or improve our GC position. After ~60 miles of racing, we were approaching the sharp left/right that would lead into the final circuit, and Beth Ann had warned us that positioning was key at this point in the race, and that we needed to make sure that we were as close to the front as possible before that sharp left/right. I found myself drifting back, and fighting hard to move up, but was having difficulty being assertive, and “making holes”. . . The next thing I knew, Sammie was pulling alongside of me, motioning for me to jump on her wheel. She pulled me all the way to the front with a massive effort, and I tried to hold my position, but got “spooked” when a car found its way onto the course and there was a sudden shift of the peloton to the left. I was shuffled back to mid-pack, but Sammie saved the day yet again, and dragged me back up to the front, depositing me among the top ~15 wheels just before that sharp left/right. I held my position through the turns, and as we started up the next hill, Esther positioned herself in front of me and told me to “hold on!”. She helped to ensure that I held my position toward the front, guided me through the final two turns, and pulled me up the final kicker of a finish hill – the best birthday lead-out a girl could ask for!! Esther finished 15th, & I finished 17th, scored with the same time as the race winner, and the rest of the team finished just after us. I lost a few seconds to intermediate sprints during Stage 2, and slipped from 6th to 7th Place GC.
Stage 3 was the Time Trial, or as Beth Ann dubbed it, the “Climb Trial”! Time Trials are usually my favorite Stage of a Stage Race, and typically I can count on the TT Stage to move up in GC. . but this one was an entirely different animal, as it was 3 miles straight UP! The temperature had also plummeted overnight, and it was only in the upper 30s/low 40s in Devil’s Den Park as we rolled up. The team warmed up together on our Feedback Sports Omnium Trainers, and then set off one at a time to go tackle the mountain. I left it all out there, with an official time of 12:32, which placed me 32nd on the day and dropped me to ~16th (?) in GC. After the TT, the team regrouped and debriefed. We all shared the sentiment that we left it all out there, and were content with our efforts, especially considering the frigid temps. I was a bit disappointed in the fact that I’d dropped so many place in GC in the TT stage, which is usually my “clutch” stage, but everyone’s spirits were high on the ride home, and the positive energy shared by my teammates helped me not to dwell on it, and instead to shift my focus to celebrating successes and prepping for the next day’s Criterium.
Stage 4 was the Criterium – an hour of racing around a 1.2 mile downtown circuit with one heck of a finishing kicker hill each lap. Everyone on the team did a good job of staging well, as we knew that positioning from the whistle was the key to success in this race. Unfortunately, although I was staged ideally, when the whistle blew, I made the newbiest of newbie mistakes: I **thought** I had clipped in, but realized as my foot slipped off the pedal with the first pedal stroke that I, in fact, had not… While I managed to hold my line and not panic, I went from ~top 15 wheels to nearly dead last wheel as the field surged around me while I was trying to get my foot back onto the pedal and clipped in. . . I spent the first several laps burning match after match as I worked my way through the strung-out single file back-end of the field, and riders that were getting popped up to the “main peloton” of ~50-60 riders that was more bunched up. Unfortunately, I connected with the back of that group at the very bottom of the finish hill on a time bonus lap JUST as there was an attack for the bonus points! The field surged forward just as I connected, and I just couldn’t will my legs to close the gap 🙁. Fortunately, though, after another lap or so, I found myself in a small chase group of 4 with Amy D Foundation Teammate Esther Meisels. Our small group worked well together in an attempt to minimize the time put on us by the maim field but ended up being pulled with 3 laps to go. The great news though, is that we made the time cut, so our finishing times were pro-rated for GC Scoring. We also had the chance to watch the end of the race play out, and cheer on teammates Emma and Beth Ann, who raced extremely well, and finished out the full crit!
Looking back on my time with the Amy D Foundation team, I just feel so very fortunate to have been given this amazing opportunity. The program that they have really is amazing, thanks in part to their wonderful sponsors, and the amazing leadership/organizational skills of Kathryn and Des. They did an unbelievably good job of ensuring that everything ran smoothly from the time riders arrived to the time we headed home. The structure of the composite teams: providing a mentor who is able to give real-time feedback, advice, and encouragement to team members as they race, the knowledge shared during Pre-Race meetings and Post-Race Debriefs, the friendships made and stories shared – these things are absolutely invaluable. I can’t thank Beth Ann enough for ALL of the mentoring that she provided to all of us during our short time together. The knowledge and real-world race experience that I gained; the friends and camaraderie that was built with teammates, and the confidence that I’m moving forward with as a result are the things that I will forever be grateful to the Amy D Foundation for, and I’m going to leave the Amy D Foundation’s Heart Logo on my top tube as a constant reminder to #RideLikeAmyD.
I am waaayyyy behind on my Race Reports & Blog Posts for the 2018 season, but rather than delay posting further while I try to write a summary to catch everyone up or backdate a ton of posts, I figured I’d get something up for the here & now!
I am beyond honored (and SO EXCITED!) to have been offered a Composite Team Spot with the Amy D Foundation for the Joe Martin Stage Race, April 12-15th in Fayetteville, AR ( I mean – CLOUD NINE over here – Code Red – Swinging from the Rafters – Can’t peel this grin off my face!!!)
The Amy D. Foundation is a nonprofit organization created in honor of Amy Alison Dombroski, whose love for cycling and life touched many people around the world.
Their Road Racing Program is a developmental cycling program that provides support for driven, talented women who strive to reach the highest level of competition within the sport. The program aims to build opportunity and provide mentoring that promotes strong personal development.
Amy D Foundation – Creating Opportunities for women to pursue lofty dreams.
Learn more about the Amy D Foundation, (and how you can help support it!) at http://amydfoundation.org/
Jamie & I (& da boys, of course!) left this morning for our road trip from ATX to Fayetteville in the Van, and we’re already spoiled rotten by all of the room for bikes, gear, & luggage, crew comfort, & our mobile kitchen 😁. I’ll be staying with my Amy D Foundation teammates in host housing, & Jamie will be staying with da boys in an AirBnb nearby.
I’ll be blogging updates in the evenings along the way , and posting plenty of little road trip snippets to my Instagram Stories ( https://www.instagram.com/txpaleoracer/) and Jamie will be updating “live”-ish on our Team Tracy ATX FB Page while I’m racing, so stay tuned!
