#wsbaracing

[youcantbuyland]

#Repost @metierseattle ・・・ Every Thursday the Metier Cycling Club participates in the Seward Park Series.  We roll out from Metier between 6:15-6:30pm, go race, then ride back to the clubhouse for victory beers. Typically back at the clubhouse by 8:30pm. Metier’s Service Manager, Ted Schwartz, will once again be defending the pink leaders jersey. Ride with us, cheer with us, then drink beers with us. 📷:@chriswilsonphoto #wsbaracing #POC #stabthebeast

[youcantbuyland]

#Repost @metierseattle ・・・ Every Thursday the Metier Cycling Club participates in the Seward Park Series.  We roll out from Metier between 6:15-6:30pm, go race, then ride back to the clubhouse for victory beers. Typically back at the clubhouse by 8:30pm. Metier’s Service Manager, Ted Schwartz, will once again be defending the pink leaders jersey. Ride with us, cheer with us, then drink beers with us. 📷:@chriswilsonphoto #wsbaracing #POC #stabthebeast

[breakawaycats]

MASON LAKE #2 EVENT: ROAD RACE HEROES: MEGAN FAY, MALLORY NOWELS, ANA-MARIA POPP STOKE LEVEL: CRANKED TO THE MAX Man, oh man. The bike racing this weekend was WYLD. God bless the race director that gives the CAT-3 women their own field. That’s what we had this weekend, OUR OWN RACE. Not a 1/2/3 race where you get scored separately. A 3’s ONLY women’s race. We’re lucky to have some solid CAT-3 teams in the PNW and I think we were all pretty stoked to battle it out on Sunday. The TSH crew had a few plans in the works. We’d wanted to try and keep the race together for the first two laps and try and get a break going in lap 3. If the break didn’t succeed, we’d hoped to form a solid lead out train for the sprint. We were feeling pretty pumped about having a plan A and plan B...AND!! Pretty pumped to try and get in a break! We had solid teams represented in Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), Bikesale, Team Thrive, and Tenspeed Hero and quite a few Oregon women that showed up to throw down (thanks for making the trip, ladies!). So lap 1, less than a mile into the race and attack goes from Emily Alexander (SCCA). I was near the front so I got out of the saddle to cover it. I catch Emily, she looks back and says “WE’VE GOT A GAP” and off we went. We hammered. We hammered some more. Then we hammered harder. Finally, we were on the back side of the course out of sight of the pack. We rolled into start of lap 2 and the race director yells “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE TEN.” Emily and I looked at each other and simultaneously yelled “FUCK YEAH”. We kept hammering. When we started lap 2, we got more into a groove taking 30-60 second pulls that still felt hard, but didn’t make me feel like I was going to die. Twelve miles later, we found ourselves starting lap 3 and director yelled “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE THIRTY”. No freaking way. At this point, we’d ridden two laps off the front and we were both starting to feel the pain of the wind and the rollers. I took over part way up a climb and I hear Emily yell to go without her, she was cooked. I knew I couldn’t solo the rest of the race, so we decided to stick together. I started taking longer pulls and before we knew it, the lead car signaled we only had a 25 second gap. Thirty miles into the 46 mile race, the peloton was in sight. Emily and I shook hands, we knew we were caught. Emily and I were happy to have the draft of the peloton...but not happy for the attacks! I stayed attached for a hot second getting dropped around the 1K sign finishing off lap 3. I spent lap 4 by myself both ecstatic about my effort and eager to get off my bike. There was an attack from Brooke Donaher (Unattached) at the end of lap three and she was able to stay away for all of lap 4, finishing 14 seconds infront of the pack. I talked to some of the ladies post race and it sounded like everyone was tired from chasing all race and teams couldn't get organized to chase Brooke down. Jasmine Soh (V.C Cascade/Slocum) took the field sprint just infront of Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) and Hillary King (Garage). Here's what our podium looked like: 1 - Brooke Donaher 2 - Jasmine Soh (V.C. Cascade/Slocum) 3 - Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) We drove home STOKED about how we raced. We hammered hard, made the break, and we worked hard in the peloton to shut down attempts to bridge. What a great day on the bike! We've got a lull in the weekend race calendar, but the good news is that Wednesday Night Worlds and Seward are back for your weekday race enjoyment. I hope to see you out there!

[breakawaycats]

MASON LAKE #2 EVENT: ROAD RACE HEROES: MEGAN FAY, MALLORY NOWELS, ANA-MARIA POPP STOKE LEVEL: CRANKED TO THE MAX Man, oh man. The bike racing this weekend was WYLD. God bless the race director that gives the CAT-3 women their own field. That’s what we had this weekend, OUR OWN RACE. Not a 1/2/3 race where you get scored separately. A 3’s ONLY women’s race. We’re lucky to have some solid CAT-3 teams in the PNW and I think we were all pretty stoked to battle it out on Sunday. The TSH crew had a few plans in the works. We’d wanted to try and keep the race together for the first two laps and try and get a break going in lap 3. If the break didn’t succeed, we’d hoped to form a solid lead out train for the sprint. We were feeling pretty pumped about having a plan A and plan B...AND!! Pretty pumped to try and get in a break! We had solid teams represented in Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), Bikesale, Team Thrive, and Tenspeed Hero and quite a few Oregon women that showed up to throw down (thanks for making the trip, ladies!). So lap 1, less than a mile into the race and attack goes from Emily Alexander (SCCA). I was near the front so I got out of the saddle to cover it. I catch Emily, she looks back and says “WE’VE GOT A GAP” and off we went. We hammered. We hammered some more. Then we hammered harder. Finally, we were on the back side of the course out of sight of the pack. We rolled into start of lap 2 and the race director yells “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE TEN.” Emily and I looked at each other and simultaneously yelled “FUCK YEAH”. We kept hammering. When we started lap 2, we got more into a groove taking 30-60 second pulls that still felt hard, but didn’t make me feel like I was going to die. Twelve miles later, we found ourselves starting lap 3 and director yelled “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE THIRTY”. No freaking way. At this point, we’d ridden two laps off the front and we were both starting to feel the pain of the wind and the rollers. I took over part way up a climb and I hear Emily yell to go without her, she was cooked. I knew I couldn’t solo the rest of the race, so we decided to stick together. I started taking longer pulls and before we knew it, the lead car signaled we only had a 25 second gap. Thirty miles into the 46 mile race, the peloton was in sight. Emily and I shook hands, we knew we were caught. Emily and I were happy to have the draft of the peloton...but not happy for the attacks! I stayed attached for a hot second getting dropped around the 1K sign finishing off lap 3. I spent lap 4 by myself both ecstatic about my effort and eager to get off my bike. There was an attack from Brooke Donaher (Unattached) at the end of lap three and she was able to stay away for all of lap 4, finishing 14 seconds infront of the pack. I talked to some of the ladies post race and it sounded like everyone was tired from chasing all race and teams couldn't get organized to chase Brooke down. Jasmine Soh (V.C Cascade/Slocum) took the field sprint just infront of Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) and Hillary King (Garage). Here's what our podium looked like: 1 - Brooke Donaher 2 - Jasmine Soh (V.C. Cascade/Slocum) 3 - Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) We drove home STOKED about how we raced. We hammered hard, made the break, and we worked hard in the peloton to shut down attempts to bridge. What a great day on the bike! We've got a lull in the weekend race calendar, but the good news is that Wednesday Night Worlds and Seward are back for your weekday race enjoyment. I hope to see you out there!

[breakawaycats]

MASON LAKE #2 EVENT: ROAD RACE HEROES: MEGAN FAY, MALLORY NOWELS, ANA-MARIA POPP STOKE LEVEL: CRANKED TO THE MAX Man, oh man. The bike racing this weekend was WYLD. God bless the race director that gives the CAT-3 women their own field. That’s what we had this weekend, OUR OWN RACE. Not a 1/2/3 race where you get scored separately. A 3’s ONLY women’s race. We’re lucky to have some solid CAT-3 teams in the PNW and I think we were all pretty stoked to battle it out on Sunday. The TSH crew had a few plans in the works. We’d wanted to try and keep the race together for the first two laps and try and get a break going in lap 3. If the break didn’t succeed, we’d hoped to form a solid lead out train for the sprint. We were feeling pretty pumped about having a plan A and plan B...AND!! Pretty pumped to try and get in a break! We had solid teams represented in Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), Bikesale, Team Thrive, and Tenspeed Hero and quite a few Oregon women that showed up to throw down (thanks for making the trip, ladies!). So lap 1, less than a mile into the race and attack goes from Emily Alexander (SCCA). I was near the front so I got out of the saddle to cover it. I catch Emily, she looks back and says “WE’VE GOT A GAP” and off we went. We hammered. We hammered some more. Then we hammered harder. Finally, we were on the back side of the course out of sight of the pack. We rolled into start of lap 2 and the race director yells “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE TEN.” Emily and I looked at each other and simultaneously yelled “FUCK YEAH”. We kept hammering. When we started lap 2, we got more into a groove taking 30-60 second pulls that still felt hard, but didn’t make me feel like I was going to die. Twelve miles later, we found ourselves starting lap 3 and director yelled “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE THIRTY”. No freaking way. At this point, we’d ridden two laps off the front and we were both starting to feel the pain of the wind and the rollers. I took over part way up a climb and I hear Emily yell to go without her, she was cooked. I knew I couldn’t solo the rest of the race, so we decided to stick together. I started taking longer pulls and before we knew it, the lead car signaled we only had a 25 second gap. Thirty miles into the 46 mile race, the peloton was in sight. Emily and I shook hands, we knew we were caught. Emily and I were happy to have the draft of the peloton...but not happy for the attacks! I stayed attached for a hot second getting dropped around the 1K sign finishing off lap 3. I spent lap 4 by myself both ecstatic about my effort and eager to get off my bike. There was an attack from Brooke Donaher (Unattached) at the end of lap three and she was able to stay away for all of lap 4, finishing 14 seconds infront of the pack. I talked to some of the ladies post race and it sounded like everyone was tired from chasing all race and teams couldn't get organized to chase Brooke down. Jasmine Soh (V.C Cascade/Slocum) took the field sprint just infront of Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) and Hillary King (Garage). Here's what our podium looked like: 1 - Brooke Donaher 2 - Jasmine Soh (V.C. Cascade/Slocum) 3 - Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) We drove home STOKED about how we raced. We hammered hard, made the break, and we worked hard in the peloton to shut down attempts to bridge. What a great day on the bike! We've got a lull in the weekend race calendar, but the good news is that Wednesday Night Worlds and Seward are back for your weekday race enjoyment. I hope to see you out there!

[breakawaycats]

MASON LAKE #2 EVENT: ROAD RACE HEROES: MEGAN FAY, MALLORY NOWELS, ANA-MARIA POPP STOKE LEVEL: CRANKED TO THE MAX Man, oh man. The bike racing this weekend was WYLD. God bless the race director that gives the CAT-3 women their own field. That’s what we had this weekend, OUR OWN RACE. Not a 1/2/3 race where you get scored separately. A 3’s ONLY women’s race. We’re lucky to have some solid CAT-3 teams in the PNW and I think we were all pretty stoked to battle it out on Sunday. The TSH crew had a few plans in the works. We’d wanted to try and keep the race together for the first two laps and try and get a break going in lap 3. If the break didn’t succeed, we’d hoped to form a solid lead out train for the sprint. We were feeling pretty pumped about having a plan A and plan B...AND!! Pretty pumped to try and get in a break! We had solid teams represented in Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), Bikesale, Team Thrive, and Tenspeed Hero and quite a few Oregon women that showed up to throw down (thanks for making the trip, ladies!). So lap 1, less than a mile into the race and attack goes from Emily Alexander (SCCA). I was near the front so I got out of the saddle to cover it. I catch Emily, she looks back and says “WE’VE GOT A GAP” and off we went. We hammered. We hammered some more. Then we hammered harder. Finally, we were on the back side of the course out of sight of the pack. We rolled into start of lap 2 and the race director yells “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE TEN.” Emily and I looked at each other and simultaneously yelled “FUCK YEAH”. We kept hammering. When we started lap 2, we got more into a groove taking 30-60 second pulls that still felt hard, but didn’t make me feel like I was going to die. Twelve miles later, we found ourselves starting lap 3 and director yelled “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE THIRTY”. No freaking way. At this point, we’d ridden two laps off the front and we were both starting to feel the pain of the wind and the rollers. I took over part way up a climb and I hear Emily yell to go without her, she was cooked. I knew I couldn’t solo the rest of the race, so we decided to stick together. I started taking longer pulls and before we knew it, the lead car signaled we only had a 25 second gap. Thirty miles into the 46 mile race, the peloton was in sight. Emily and I shook hands, we knew we were caught. Emily and I were happy to have the draft of the peloton...but not happy for the attacks! I stayed attached for a hot second getting dropped around the 1K sign finishing off lap 3. I spent lap 4 by myself both ecstatic about my effort and eager to get off my bike. There was an attack from Brooke Donaher (Unattached) at the end of lap three and she was able to stay away for all of lap 4, finishing 14 seconds infront of the pack. I talked to some of the ladies post race and it sounded like everyone was tired from chasing all race and teams couldn't get organized to chase Brooke down. Jasmine Soh (V.C Cascade/Slocum) took the field sprint just infront of Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) and Hillary King (Garage). Here's what our podium looked like: 1 - Brooke Donaher 2 - Jasmine Soh (V.C. Cascade/Slocum) 3 - Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) We drove home STOKED about how we raced. We hammered hard, made the break, and we worked hard in the peloton to shut down attempts to bridge. What a great day on the bike! We've got a lull in the weekend race calendar, but the good news is that Wednesday Night Worlds and Seward are back for your weekday race enjoyment. I hope to see you out there!

[breakawaycats]

INDEPENDENCE VALLEY ROAD RACE

EVENT: ROAD RACE HEROES: MEGAN FAY, MALLORY NOWELS STOKE LEVEL: MEDIUM

In the race flyer, this course was described as “one of the most anticipated spring classics in the Northwest.” The course is a 20 mile loop with a little bit of everything. There are two “shorter” climbs, some rollers, and a long stretch through the valley. With two climbs per lap and a long section of flat in the valley, we knew we’d be either working our asses off to stay attached on the climbs or (more likely) working our asses off trying to chase back on during the valley section. To summarize: get ready to go hard, and then go harder.

There was a solid mix of Oregon and Washington racers in attendance this Saturday. Twenty-three women showed up to race in the CAT ½/3 field.

Since I’ve upgraded to CAT 3, I’ve really struggled with pushing through the discomfort during a race. Here’s the thing, I love working hard. In training, the tough workouts during the week where I just feel completely shattered at the end are my favorite workouts. But for some reason when I’m actually racing, I really struggle mentally with pushing through that discomfort. So a big goal of mine this Saturday was to push through that discomfort until I truly couldn’t go any harder.

I tried to section it off as 6 4-4.5 minute intervals. My strategy was to think of each climb as a 4-4.5 minute interval and then try and get as much rest as possible between each effort. For the first two climbs, the strategy totally worked! I was beyond stoked to find myself attached to the pack at the finish of lap one. When we approached the first climb of lap 2 (Mental Interval #3), I was motivated and ready to go for interval #3. Turns out I didn’t have the legs to hold on to the pack for that third climb, but I got dropped because of my climbing abilities, not because I wasn’t mentally in the game trying my hardest. Anyway, I made it about ¾ of the way up the climb before getting shelled. I had a buddy, Emily Ball (Hagens Berman - EY Society) with me at the top of the climb. We worked to catch Megan and then the three of us worked together to finish the race.

I chatted with a few of the girls post-race to hear how the rest of the race went. Lap 3 had an attack up the first climb by Cara Machacek (KR) and once the pack caught her, Heidi Franz (KR) followed up with a counter attack with Anghard Porteous (Bicycle Attorney) following. Looks like there was a chase group of five a couple minutes behind and then a second chase group of six a couple minutes behind chase group #1. Piecing the story together with the results, there was a sprint for 1-2 and 3-4 while 5-7 rolled in solo. Chase group #2 also had a sprint finish securing places 8-13. The rest of the pack more or less came in solo. In summary, everyone worked their asses off trying to stay attached on the climbs or worked their asses of trying to chase back on. WAY TO HUSTLE, ladies. Here’s how the women’s podium shaped up:

1 - Anghard Porteous (Bicycle Attorney) 2 - Heidi Franz (Keller Rohrback Cycling) 3 - Nicole Pressprich (Audi)

Locally, next week will be Mason Lake #1, but a few of us are heading south to Oregon in hopes of some fun climbing and sunshine at the Gorge Roubaix! So many great opportunities! Get out there and race your bike!