Juice Plus+ Race Reports

Giro di Jersey

2008-06-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

Laura and I did the Giro di Jersey points stage race. Laura was coming around after being sick, and I was using the race as a good preparation for Fitchburg. Coming into this race I wanted to race aggressively so no one had an easy time during the race. There were three stages spread over a long weekend.
Friday was a 15K TT on a rolling course. I managed 3rd. and Laura was right there in 4th. Not bad considering that was her first road TT, and she did not use a TT bike.

Saturday was a 32 mile RR on a pretty flat course with one stair step climb in it. We did 3 laps on a 10.75 mile circuit. I planned to make the race hard on this climb, and I got away on the second lap for a while, but the field chased me down. With Laura's help, I tried the same move again, but a few of the riders were ready for the move so it did not work. The race came down to a field sprint, and Laura won! I got 4th. Laura moved up to 2nd in the overall classification, and I maintained 3rd.

Sunday was a 20 mile circuit race. It was 8 laps on a 2.5 mile circuit. The start was early (8am) which meant we all did not get a whole lot of sleep. In the beginning a launched a few attacks, but the group was ready. The group did not want to have a hard race so when riders were not attacking we were pretty much coasting. I was going to launch an attack with 1K to go, but since we were racing so slowly the group would have been rested enough to react to the move. So I decided to wait for the sprint. I wanted a clear run to the line so I lead through the last two corners, and from the last corner it was 300M to the line. That is long way to sprint, but I give it a try. Laura and another rider (Jacki Crowell) were able to come around me, but I held on for 3rd. Laura won again with a tremendous, and moved up to first overall! I maintained 3rd overall.

It was a fun race, and was good to meet Edwin Bull who manages VanDessel Sports. He raced the pro 1,2,3 race. Juice Plus was able to give a good showing on top of our VanDessel bikes!

Rachel

Liberty Classic

2008-06-23T07:23:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Juice Plus had four determined riders ready to battle the hard course, and the worlds best riders in the Liberty Classic "Philly". The team consisted of Holli, Rachel, and two guest riders: Amity, and Steph. Laura was sick, but still came to cheer us on, and Gina was not able to get away from her shift in the ER. Nonetheless, our team had a great race, and we finished it with all four starters! We all raced well, covered moves, battled for position, and finished with Steph 9th, Amity 35th, Holli 49th, and Rachel 58th. Steph would have won the U23 jersey, but only Americans were eligible for the prize. Amity stayed in the fount group the entire time, and was right there through to the end. Holli rode with pure class because she was coming down with respiratory infection which drained her of any energy. It was very impressive for her to finish, because the general rule of thumb for this race is you have to be in top form just to finish it. Hats off to Holli! I was sad to see Holli sick, but she wanted to battle to the end. So I lead out the sprint from our group, and she beat all the riders that were in our group. All in all it was a good race for Juice Plus, and we cannot wait until next year!

Thanks for reading,
Rachel

Reading Classic

2008-06-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

Hello Readers,

Today was the Reading classic, the second race of the Triple Crown. The course was 1.8 miles long with 6 turns, and very rough pavement! We had to do 14 laps (25 miles). The field, as expected, was packed with talent. Ina-Yoko Teutenberg and many other big names were there. Juice Plus was represented with Holli, Amity, Steph, and Rachel. Laura is a bit under the weather, and did not race today. Being perfectly honest, today was not our day. Our start positioning was acceptable, but as the race got going we did not position our selves well. Holli, early on, found herself too far back, and a rider a few spots in front of her could not hold on and formed a gap. The effort that Holli had to make to close the gap was enormous, and she could not quite do it today. Amity and I were pretty much with her, and in the same boat with regard to gapped riders. We were gapped off in a group just behind Holli's group. The groups we were in eventually were pulled, but it was not all a total loss. Steph finished in the main group that was just behind the breakaway. Everyone has off days from time to time. We had ours today, but there is always another race. After Reading, we went out and had a good meal. We are lifting our spirits, and prepairing for another race. The Liberty Classic is Sunday, and it is the biggest of them all.

Wish us luck,
Rachel

Leigh High Classic

2008-06-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

Well, we are here in Kutztown, Pa, staying the week for racing the Triple Crown Races. The first one was Tuesday, June 3, in Allentown. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, however, by 11am it was already getting hot and humid for racing a criterium against the fastest women racers in the world... Ina Teutenburg and Kristen Armstrong to name a few. We have had no team manager this week, so we have had to adjust our usual "preparation for the races", which makes it a little more stressful. We brought on two guest riders for this week of the Triple Crown... Amity Elliot from Virginia, and Steph Roorer from Vancouver, Canada. Gina, our other teammate, will only be racing with us for the Liberty Classic on Sunday. Lehigh Classic was the hardest and fastest race we have done this year. It started from the gun... head down, pedals powering through...pushing, bumping the entire race. Laura took on every attack that tried to get away. She held off for a portion of the race, while Cheerwine and us tried to keep the pace slowed down to assure Laura's break would stick. Eventually, other teams, like Colavita, who had Tina Pic in my group, were consistently chasing and attacking to bring the front group back. That kept the race so FAST. I felt like I was motorpacing the entire race.Then it was two laps to go, and I forced my legs to attack to keep the pace high so Laura could stay safe in the front and not get swarmed at the last minute by other riders. Only 33 riders finished this race out of about 90 girls.. That should tell you something about how difficult the race. Laura finished 10th, Steph finished 20th, and I finished 19th. We as a team are pleased with our performance for Lehigh. We are looking forward to Reading Classic on Thursday and one of my favorite races, Liberty Classic on Sunday.

Until then....Holli

Upcoming Races

2008-05-31T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hello Readers,

Our team has some big races coming up! The first race we are doing is Sunday. It is the CSC Invitational in Arlington VA. The race is a 1K course with 5 turns, and we will be doing 50 laps. There will be some big teams there. Including the all powerful High Road Team. It will be a great experience. Next up will be the Allentown (PA)classic on Tuesday, Reading (PA) Thursday, and the big race is Sunday, Philly! We are taking on a couple guest riders for the races in PA. We have Amity Elliot, who will be racing CSC through Philly with us, and we have Steph Roorda who is a Canadian rider. She will be joining us for the PA races. So our complete team is Holli, Gina, Laura, Rachel, Amity, and Steph. It is going to be a fun week of races, and probably some of the hardest we will do all year. Wish us luck, and check back for updates on how the races went!

Rachel

BOA Wilmington Grand Prix

2008-05-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

The Wilmington Grand Prix NRC crit was a success that we had been gunning for. For those who have never seen the course, it is 8/10ths of a mile long and has 4 corners with one of them being very tight and goes from two lanes down to just one through the last corner. The start finish stretch is uphill, and back stretch is downhill. There were rough patches of pavement, some cobblestone and brick, and man hole covers located in the corners. It was a race that could have been dangerous, but no one went down. Now on to the details of the race!
The race started at 3pm and we had to race 30 miles (37 laps). There were about 60 women at the start line, and there were 3 of us (Holli, Laura, Rachel). Gina was still recovering from her crash in Speed Week, so she could not come. On the first lap I launch an attack to get things going, and from there I launch a few more and got away with an Advil and a Kelly Benefits rider. We get a good gap, but the Advil rider was told to sit up, and that meant the end of our breakaway. Once we were swallowed up by the group, I set the temp on the front. I manage to keep the race pretty single file until Jenn McRae and Laura Van Guilder attack. This causes me to finally crack, but we put a rider into the breakaway (Laura). Holli did a great job getting Laura into the break. She rode right behind Laura then eased off the pedals to give Laura a gap. By this point Laura was gone and there was nothing the peleton could do about it, and she bridged up to Van Guilder and McRae. Laura got a flat early on in the breakaway, but recovered and hung well and worked hard in the breakaway. Bill did a super fast wheel change and a very fast shove back into the race. Meanwhile, in the main group, Holli was sitting in and keeping her legs fresh in case the breakaway did not succeed. I ease up and get lapped by the field, and with three laps to go I had to take another hard pull to keep the breakaway from lapping us. We did not want them to lap us because the Advil rider (Jenn McRae) had five teammates in the main group. A successful lapping would have meant an increased chance that McRae would have won. In the last lap the three breakaway riders try various tactics on one another in order to win the sprint, but Laura is a very experienced track rider, and knew what to do. She let Van Guilder and McRae start the sprint, then Laura comes charging past them in the last 100 meters to take a convincing win! Holli was 4th in the group sprint which put her 7th overall in the race. I finish 30th. The race was a team success, and we were able to dictate the pace from start to finish. We are excited for Laura's win, and I feel very proud to be a part of something so great. Our first NRC victory!
Next weekend we have 3 races. On the 24th is Bike Jam/Kelly Cup, on the 25th is Hub Racing's RFK crit, and on the 26th is the Tour of Summerville. We are looking to have more success there. In Wilmington we showed that we are capable of being up there, and we are going to race hard and smart to net some more victories. Gina will be joining us again. She has been able to get back on the bike and train. We are glad to have our 4th teammate back at the races with us!
Check back soon to read our director's take (Bill) on the Wilmington race.

Thanks for reading,
Rachel

Athens Twilight Criterium

2008-04-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Our team just had their first race together complete as a team! We did the first race of the USA Crit series. The course was about 1 km long, traditional four corner criterium with one slight rise on the course. The race was 40 laps long (25 miles), and it was hard! It was probably the hardest race of the series.
My plan was to survive the first half of the race because it would probably be the hardest part. The big teams would most likely string out the peleton to get rid of the stragglers and reduce the field size as much as possible. There were moments of extreme pain and suffering, but I hung on and got into a groove. Also, I was just trying to get my legs going for the rest of Speed Week. The last two laps were the hardest I have ever raced. It was completely single file. I was able to manage a top 20 spot. I am happy with this because this my first hard race of the season! All in all our team had a good learning experience, and hope to keep improving throughout the week.
Next race is Tuesday in Beaufort, SC. and from there it is full on racing until next Sunday!! Wish us luck!

Holli

Tyson's Corner Curcuit Race

2008-04-07T10:54:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Damp and cold was the name of the game for Suday's Curcuit Race. The course was 1.2 miles and featured a long up hill drag (about 500+ meters), and a long drag down. The race was 60 minutes long. The race started off pretty fast, but not a blistering pace. After about 20 minutes of racing, I cover a fast acceleration up the long hill, and I work with the rider who accelerated, but she dropped off the next time up the hill. I proceeded to do 2 laps or so by myself. Then a counter group of 4 came up to me, and we worked together for the next 10+ minutes, but we were having a hard time keeping our paceline smooth so we were caught. I tried one more little acceleration, but the peleton was having non of that. We finished up a few more laps and then on the bell lap the swarming started to happen a bit. I had to move up the outside with very little draft and then I started my sprint without any lead out, but managed 4th in the women 1/2 category. It was a good day out, and my legs were strong.

Thanks for reading,
Rachel

Jefferson Cup RR

2008-03-31T11:57:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

I have done the Jeff Cup for the 4th year in a row, and this year was the fastest with the strongest field of competitors. There were about 50 women in my category, and many were fast! I was not expecting a whole lot from my legs during the race because I was doing a pretty intense block of training leading right into the race. I was able, after a few unsuccessful attacks, to place 7th. There were a few surprises during the race. The first was when Andrea Dvorak of Colavita Racing, and I nailed it on the longest climb of a 4 lap curcuit (40 mi. total), and some riders were able to come with the acceleration, followed by the whole field! I was hoping for a breakaway with Andrea, not the whole field coming along to! The next came from Laura of Team Tripower. She launched the fastest acceleration on the hill during the 2nd lap, and had us all gasping for breath. She got 2nd in the field sprint as well! I knew she was in good shape, but I was not expecting an acceleration that hard from her. She raced a great race.
Next up I will be doing a few more local races before our team kicks off the season in Jacksonville, Florida, and then onto the USA crits series!

Rachel

Racing!

2008-03-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I have now gotten the first races of the season under my belt! I had fun, and had a successful weekend. I traveled with my friend, and fellow racer Amity Elliot. Our trip started off a little late, and after a few direction boo boos we did not arrive at the motel until about 1 am. We had to wake up at 6:30am for the race on Saturday. The motel was a little seedy. For example, after I waded through the crack heads, a drunk guy kept asking me for a metal clothes hanger, but we survived. So, now onto the races.
Saturday was a 30 minute crit on a .5 mi. circuit with rough pavement surface (press and seal). I checked in and got an ok warmup in, but had to set tempo and launch extra attacks during the race to get my legs going. With about 3.5 laps to go a rider from a team called Tripower (Sally) launched a very good attack, and I was quick to be on it. I looked back and saw we had a gap. I helped maintain the gap for the rest of the laps and then pulled off beside her to have a side by side sprint. I was able to take the sprint which gave me a win in my first race of the season. My friend, Amity, was super strong during the race, but got boxed in for the field sprint. She raced some of the 30+ mens race later in the day to get some extra workout in her legs.
Sunday was a 40K TT...well it ended up being around 41.5K. The course was pretty much an out and back course with a tailwind out and a headwind back. Due to a few more direction errors, we arrived late at the TT course, so we only got in about 15 min. warmup, but despite this my legs started off fine. I got my heart rate right up at LT and was able to hold it. It came to 92% of my max sprinting heart rate . I was able to win the TT by 1.5min. I felt good through the TT, and was able to keep a very steady pace with my heart rate only varying a few beats a minute. It was a fun weekend, and I cannot wait to race again.

Thanks for reading,
Rachel

Finally A Group Ride and Riding Partner

2008-02-18T07:02:00.000-08:00

I finally did a group ride (my first for the season). I drove the 60 miles to Charlottesville to make it to the 10am group ride. It had been two years since I did one of the group rides in this area. The rides are bigger and faster now! It is amazing. The group rides have gone from 15 or so to 25+ riders. I bet more will come as spring approaches. During the group ride I got many efforts in and some good paceline work. The highlight, though, of the day was meeting a rider named Amity (rides for the Van Dessel factory VA team). She was the only girl, not including me, that was able to hang on for awhile to the very strong UVA guys. Amity was taking monster pulls during the paceline work. In fact, I believe she was pulling the hardest! I instantly thought to myself "Yes, a new training partner!", and we became just that, training partners. We rode together the next day in the mountains on Skyline Drive.
Amity is a tough character, and has a very easy going personality. She drove 45 miles to ride with me Sunday! During her normal training week she will wake up at 4am or so and ride 3 hours to work in the dark and 3 hours back from work in the dark...over a mountain each way, and yes she has had her battery operated light go out on her before! She does this ride a few times a week, and still has enough energy to do the group ride on Saturdays! She is something special, and she is going to be very strong this season!

Thanks for reading,
Rachel

Stupid In The Wind

2008-02-10T17:36:00.000-08:00

At first I had a hard time deciding if todays ride was brave or stupid. In hind sight, the ride was stupid dangerous. Weather.com stated (through a wind advisory) that winds would be 25-35 mph sustained and occasional gusts around 50 mph. The word "occasionally" is in the eye of the beholder, each to their own. I believe that every few seconds is not occasional, that is frequent. My ride was supposed to be 6 hours, but I "only" went 5 hrs 20min. Some of the gusts blew me around so hard that I got a full adrenaline pump, and got rather scared, yet I remained stupid by continuing the ride. I had to go around fallen trees, a few trees were close to falling on me, and I was almost blown into the gutter many times. When I set off, my grandmother was not too worried because she thought I would try the ride for about an hour then come back and ride on my stationary trainer. When I got back and told her what I did she seemed surprised to see me alive!
I am up for a recovery week. It will be nice to not ride as much as I have the past few weeks. It is a time to recharge the batteries for another block of training, and get some of my college work done.
Check out cyclingnews.com to see my teammate, Lozza, results in the Australian track national championships. She won the scratch race, and got a couple of 5th places in other track events!!! She is incredibly fast, and I can't wait until she comes to the states.

Rachel

Training and Training Some More!

2008-02-03T17:14:00.000-08:00

I have been training up a storm getting ready for the 2008 season! Today was my longest day of the week. It was an endurance ride of 6 hours (90mi.) which capped off another 20+ hour week. I do not exactly live on "flat" terrain. The longest flat stretch of road that I can ride is about a 1.5 mile and slightly downhill. So going down and up, down and up can get tiring after awhile considering I do not coast (unless I'm cornering). My coach, Aidan Charles, has really helped me alot in giving me proper training. I have improved so much since I have had him as my coach.

On the other side of training, the Super Bowl (or as I like to call it Super Bowel...well alot of chips and dips are consumed). So anyway the Super Bowl weekend brings out many "interesting" people on the roads before the game. During todays ride I had to stop and get some water at a convenient store, and while I was in there a guy who looked like he had seen better days was buying beer. That is fine except when he was reaching for his wallet his hands were shaking up a storm, his eyes were glazed over, and he could not communicate in complete sentences...not that he ever could. The cashier did not even blink when she sold him the beer. My thought was to get the hell out of there before this guy could figure out how to turn his car on and start driving. Other than that I only had to use my middle finger once. I live in an area where one "rotten egg" lurks among the rest. Meaning, many of the drivers on the road do not cause me harm, but there are occasional ones that believe that they should be the only ones on the road.

Thanks for reading,
Rachel

I am getting old!

2008-02-03T10:44:00.000-08:00

Okay. I did my first 100 miler yesterday in oh, let's just say it's been a while. By mile 85, my shoulder was absolutley killing me. What is wrong with me? My left knee started to get a twinge. My hips were hurting b/c they were so stiff and tight. Maybe it's b/c of the cold weather. Or maybe I am just getting closer to the geriatric field. Okay , i think I might be a littel harsh on myself. Anway, my quads hurt so bad. I know I did more intensity this week.. but MAN! I couldn't even climb those little incline hills that I am really the most powerful. So, as I write you today, my back hurts now. Low back.. It's actually been hurting for a while, so if anyone has any advice on helping with a tight, stiff, frozen low back..I do encourage comments. ..Holli