SCE ‘mates and friends,

Masters Nationals Criterium

Louisville, KY

Saturday, August 7, 2010

The last race of my last Masters Nationals – the crit.  I’ve had a range of results in past Nationals – a 4^th place in Park City on a crit course that was a race of attrition more so than crit skills, a couple of 6^th and 7^th places, a disappointing 12^th or so at Jennerstown, the first year Masters was at Seven Springs.  I have come to approach the crit with the attitude of ‘race smart’ but be relaxed about it: a podium spot would be nice, but that’s not as strong a goal as it is for the Time Trial and Road Race which are my strong suit.  The crit was Saturday afternoon after a long hot week away from home – it is hard to maintain focus for a whole week and I was starting to really itch to be home.  Friday I had a relaxed late breakfast at Lynn’s Paradise Café (spinach omelet, biscuits and cheese grits) did some laundry, perused the Kentucky Arts and Craft Museum gift shop, checked out the crit course – a straight forward 1km rectangle with a couple of slight downhill corners next to the Ohio River -  then a pre-race tune-up ride and dinner at Palermo.

Saturday was hot again and I had to manage my nerves and patience until the 2:30 race time.  I figured Anne Marie Miller and Diane Ostenso as the main contenders, with Jane a likely candidate for the podium as well.  I knew Betty would be looking for places to attack and I expected Glenda would be capable of making a run for the podium as well.  In other words: mark Anne Marie and Diane and be patient.

Anne Marie goes hard from the start, we are single file for the entire race, she leads for the whole race, and still gets the win.  That’s the short cut version. The full story:  I get a slow start and slot behind Betty – maybe 7^th wheel.  Further back than I want. Up front, it is Anne Marie, Diane, Jane, then Glenda and a woman who is only doing the crit. I spend several laps looking for ways and places to move up – finally getting myself to 5^th or 6^th.  Somewhere in there Betty attacks but before she can get any kind of gap, Ann Marie shuts it down. Normally, I would have counter attacked, but it is clear that no one is getting clear and I lack team mates to block.  Two thirds of the way through, Anne Marie makes a big dig and the woman in front of me lets a gap open – I dig hard myself to get around her and up to Anne Marie, Diane, and Jane – sweet !  It’s the four of us, but we can’t hold the gap but at least I am fourth wheel.  I stay right there for the rest of the race.  It has been full on racing and full on mental concentration since the whistle.  On the bell lap I do all I can to hold Diane Ostenso’s wheel but I lose contact in one of the corners.  I’m  fourth wheel out of the last corner – I hesitate for a nano second to shift up and accelerate out of the turn – Anne Marie and Diane have a 3/10 second gap on Jane, who was 3^rd wheel, but I am closing hard on Jane – at the line, she holds on for third by the barest on margins.  Our timing chips give both of us the exact same time, which means it was really, really, close – but even a solid bike throw on my part wasn’t enough to get 3^rd.  Still – I am pleased as can be to have managed a podium placing, in a crit, where the race came down to crit smarts.  Should I have gone with the gearing I had and not paused to shift?  Could I have punched it before the turn instead of out of the corner?  Who knows.  A 3^rd medal and podium placing  finish, in a crit at Masters is prize enough for me.

Photo courtesy of Craig W. Dooley at Kentucky Backroads Photography.

Masters Nationals Road Race

Louisville, KY

Thursday, August 5, 2010

It’s been hard to write about Thursday’s road race.  Some of it is still a blur.  Some of it is clear as a January full moon night.  It seems to me that an athlete has only a few truly memorable races – the one where it all comes together, where you ride outside yourself, where you attack or respond on instinct, without thought. You have equally memorable races where it all falls apart,  and it is epically miserable and demoralizing.  And in between, lots of races where you reach either extreme.  I think you can only have a few truly epic, “all comes together,” “ride outside yourself,” races because they are so difficult and draining and full of soul and heart it just isn’t possible to race like that weekend after weekend.

Three years ago at Seven Springs, I had an epic race that still resonates.  That year we raced down the mountain from the resort, did some number of loops around a circuit, then climbed back up to the resort.  The circuit had what could only be called a ‘wall.’ In my race, I was dropped on that wall each time we did it, and each time, clawed my way back to the group. By the time we finished the circuit, three riders had gotten away and I was with the second group.  When we got to the final long climb up to Seven Springs, I rode as hard as I dared – clicking off all the bench marks I’d noted in previous rides, keeping it steady, staring at the glob of orange GU stuck on my stem, drawing on all the practice climbs I”d done in preparation for this race.  I ended up riding everyone from the group off my wheel and finished fourth.  I’d gone from being dropped three times and out of contention to 4^th.

This year’s Masters Road Race had many of the same elements.  I wasn’t dropped or ever really out of contention, but I rode with the same kind of heart and instinct and determination. It rained the morning of our road race, leaving several wet spots on the course.   Before the race, the moto official warned us of a particularly slick spot on a downhill right turn early in the circuit. Sure enough, right off on the first lap, Diane Ostenso, a solid cyclo cross racer from the midwest, slid out on the that very corner.  She saved it, somehow, but I fishtail myself, in avoiding her. The moto turned around and looked hard at us – ‘like we said, the course is slippery.’  Duly noted.

At lap two, we are still all together, and Diane again slides out in the very same spot, this time going down and I came close to going down myself until I nurse my way over to the far left where it is dry.  I stay up, but in doing so,  lose contact with the field.  I chase hard, thinking my race was over, then catch back on with time to breath and regroup.

At lap 3,  Ann Marie Miller puts in a hard dig at the top of Cochran Hill – the very place she has attacked in previous races, and Arietta Clouse (the winner of the Time Trial)  responds along with Betty Tyrell and myself.  Betty and I chase hard all the way up the finish climb but cannot catch Ann Marie and Arietta.  I don’t think I’ve ever ridden that hard – I sensed, rather than saw, Ann Marie’s attack and my body reacted before my brain did.

Lap four finds me, Betty, myself, and  Glenda together with a gap on the rest of the field.    We don’t  work together well and I scold them – we must continue to work and keep racing, no one can  afford to sit on, this isn’t the time to look to someone else to put their nose into the wind.  Sure enough, I heard the Shimano support car behind us beep – as Jane, a rider from Erie – latches on.  Now there were two up the road and four of us.  Which meant one of us is not on the podium.

Lap five,  I lead up Cochran Hill and sense Betty on my right fixing to attack.  I respond,  and we fly through the sharp left at the bottom, the downhill on Lexington, another left, and make it half way up the finish climb before Glenda catches us.   So now there are three, Jane has been dropped, and it is a question of who will finish where on the podium in spots three through five.

Lap six – the bell lap arrives -  Betty attacks on a short hill half way through the lap.   I sit on Glenda for awhile, then attack – I want to be aggressive and leave nothing untried.  I know I at least had 5^th, but I want to try for third – do more than just sit on.   Glenda responds to my attack, so I sit on  – a good spot to be going into Cochran Hill.  At the top of Cochran Hill,  I attack again with all I have – and get a gap.  Through the downhill corner,  scrub off just enough speed to make it through the next left into the last climb, then I ‘just go.’  The finish climb is perfect  for me – a long steady grade which can be done in the big ring.  I catch and pass Betty at the 500 meter mark – she does not respond.  The 200 meter mark is at the top of the climb, then a soft left, and then the finish.  I don’t sense anyone on my wheel but sprint anyway, getting third by a handful of seconds.

It was…. amazing.  All the work I had done, all the instincts I’ve gained, knowing the riders I was racing with, knowing the course, trusting my training: it all came together.  Best of all, the race was the perfect combination of a great performance and a great result at a race that meant the most to me.

Photos courtesy of Craig W. Dooley at Kentucky Backroads Photography.

Velo Femme is hosting a women’s skills session tonight at 6:30PM at the Bud Harris Oval on Washington Blvd.

Michael, EJ & Donna will guide you through some skills drills and track work customized to the level of whoever shows up this evening. We won’t ask you to do anything you don’t feel comfortable with, but we may challenge you a little to try some new things on the bike!  It will be fun!!

Everyone will need to fill out a waiver, even if you did so at the womens clinic this Spring (if you recall we only had one waiver and everyone signed the back). You only  need to do this once for any Steel City Endurance event, and it’s good forever (I think).

Hope you can join us!

Suzanne

Masters Nationals Time Trial

Louisville, KY

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

It’s been a solid year for time trials this year.  Consistent, solid, good results, good practices.  So I was looking forward to the opening race.  Although I hoped for a podium, there is no guarantee that a solid performance will translate into a solid result.  It’s bike racing.  In 2009 on the same course I turned what I thought would be a top 5^th placing only to finish closer to 10^th.  I still remember looking at the results with Maryanne Holt, one of us tracing our finger down, down, further down the results until we found our names.  She won the time trial at Seven Springs, I had gotten 4^th in 2008.  Yet here we both were – nowhere near the podium.  “Well, that’s discouraging,” she said.  So it was, with her voice echoing a bit in my head, that I prepared for Tuesday.

I know most of the women in my group – Anne Marie Miller, Betty Tyrell, Margaret Thompson – and know that they consistently turn in faster times than I do,  which means that I would have to have a spectacularly good day and they would have to have a spectacularly bad day for me to be faster.  And frankly, if I did win the time trial because one of them punctured or lost a shoe or had cross winds or rain while I had sunshine and still weather – my result would always have an asterisk in my own mind.  They are simply faster than me.  So I figured a 3^rd, 4^th or 5^th place spot was reasonable.

We had an early start time – not my favorite, being so not a morning person, but better than an afternoon start with a forecast of hot and humid.  The course was out and back – two lanes of highway set aside for us, fully exposed to sun and wind, with a big climb right out of the gate.  I had ridden the course on Monday and decided that the opening climb was long and steep enough to merit the small ring.  It also meant the final mile was one long fast downhill, so I could also tell myself that the race was really 11 miles, not 12.4.

The time trial is all about ritual and I have the ritual down.  Get to the venue, ride to the start to check the ‘official’ time, find the start house, confirm the finish, and gauge how far I am from the start.  Then get the bike ready, get me ready, get the bike checked, get the helmet checked, clomp into the start house, start my watch at my one minute woman, get settled and clipped, breath in/breath out, and when the final 5 seconds have beeped down, GO !!!

I had hoped to have a rabbit, but the woman who started ahead of me, the eventual winner, was never in my sights.  But rabbit or no rabbit, the race is executed the same: pedal smoothly in the hardest gear you can; count to one hundred, over and over; don’t look back; don’t panic if someone passes you; don’t think.  And so it went: I got to the 11 mile mark, crested the rise, and went as fast as I could in my biggest gear making myself as flat and small as I could.  I crossed the line at :32:46, good for 5^th.  I was a bit surprised by that time – I had thought I might be closer to :31:46, but I can’t think of where I could make up a whole minute.  It was still a satisfying ride – and I was happy to be on the podium.  A great start to the week!

Photos courtesy of Craig W. Dooley at Kentucky Backroads Photography.

Smith Dairy Milk Race

Orrville, OH

August 15, 2010

Steel City Endurance team members Doug Riegner and Mike Quigley headed out to Ohio for the Smith’s Dairy Milk Race. Here is the race report straight from Quigley himself:

It was a hot and windy day, and the course was relatively flat with only one minor climb at about the halfway point. Doug took to the front immediately putting in work and keeping the pace high. Throughout the day people would try again and again to go off the front and Doug just kept pulling them back. On laps 2, 3, and 4, Doug and I stayed at the front to keep the race fast. On lap 3 I pulled a few guys back that were trying to break free of the group. Doug did the Lion’s share of this by far, however. Because the course was flat and windy, most of the peloton was able to hang together to the end. Once again Doug took to the front pulling the peloton for about a half mile by himself.

As we neared the finish and a guy jumped early. We grabbed his wheel, Doug caught his breath, and that got us close to the final climb before the sprint. Everything went according to plan as Doug once again grabbed the lead and took a monster pull up the hill to keep the race fast and under control. Once up the hill the sprint started and I managed to pull out the win.

It is nice when everything goes according to plan.

It was a big weekend for team Steel City, as team members competed in 3 separate races!

Stacie Truszkowski and Pam Milavec finished out the ABRA series in Rowlesburg, WV on Saturday at JR’s challenging Appalachia Visited road race. Stacie took 3rd and Pam Milavec 4th overall in the Women’s Cat 4 series!

Final ABRA standings here.

Mike Quigley won the Smith Dairy Milk Race in Orrvile, OH on Sunday, adding to his sizzling streak of successes this season!

Greg Flood, EJ Hubstenberger, and Jim Mock represented the team in the Mens 3/4 category in Tour de Millersburg in Millersburg, Ohio. The team performed well in a field of 94 starters. Greg laid down the fastest TT of the group, finishing top half, EJ finishing 34th in the crit, and Jim and EJ worked together to finish solidly in the top half of the road race.

Exciting news from Coach Suzanne Atkinson:

With the partnership of Pro Bikes, LLC and Team in Training, I’m announcing the formation of a new women’s team in Pittsburgh, “Velo Femme.” All interested women are welcome to be on the team and I hope you accept.
As you know the Steel City Endurance Women’s Team was started as a grass roots group of women who were “curious” about racing their bikes. Well, that team is “full to the gills” right now, but I want to continue to encourange and support women who are intersted in learning about racing and competing on their bike in any form…road, cyclocross, mountain biking, charity riding, etc. The team has been hosting a women’s racing clinic every Spring, and now I would like to to support women in their next step of discovery.
Basically, I want and need to have a place for women to “belong” so that they can continue to pursue their curiosity about racing without making the time or financial commitments to being on a race team. The current sponsored team has limited funding and I can only offer spots to a limited number of people. I want to have a pathway for women to follow which may start with an association with Team in Training and discovery of the enjoyment of bike riding and racing, to joining team to learn more about racing, and finally participating on a competitive race team.

By starting a new team with a developmental focus, I believe I can meet the needs of more women in the area.
Here are some details:

• The team will accept any woman who is curious and intersted in racing and learning about racing without any prior experience required
• The team will be non-sponsored financially (meaning members will pay all of their own expenses), but we will take advantage of the large group association with the Steel City Endurance Racing Team to put in group orders for clothing, bikes, parts, etc through our shop sponsor Pro Bikes
• Women on the team will have an opportunity to be considered for the current women’s team which will now become the womens “elite” team. This will depend on team funds, committment to racing and race performance.
• Team members will pay annual dues  (approximately $20/year) and pay for their own jerseys (approximately $50) with additional kit items optional
• A USAC racing license is optional, but will be required if entering more than 3 races USAC races with “Velo Femme”, otherwise a 1 day license can be bought when needed. (annual license $60)
• The team will have it’s own unique design and colors to differentiate it from the existing Steel City/Pro Bikes team

Please email me with any questions!
Thanks,

Suzanne

Zoar Road Race

Cat 3-4

Zoar, OH

August 8, 2010

By EJ Hubstenberger III

Doug, Mike, Jim, and I ventured to the Zoar road race on 8.8.2010 with a good core group of riders for the CAT 3-4 race.  It was to be 4 laps or 40 mile race which had some nice flat sections and two climbs, of which the last climb was about 3 miles from the finish and would eventually, decide the final selection for that day’s race.  The race started off pretty tame and a lone rider did attack on the first climb of lap 1, but was quickly brought back into the group by a hard effort put forth by myself and a few other riders from Stark velo and Freddie Fu. At the top of that climb, John Cotter of Freddie Fu and Mike shot out of the group like a cannonball and got a pretty sizeable gap before being joined by a few other riders in the second breakaway attempt of the day.  They were eventually also brought back into the group mid way through the first lap.

On lap 2, Mike Mihalik of Freddie Fu and another rider attacked on the first climb and got away until the start of the last flat section before the second climb. A rider from MVC and I attacked the group and bridged to Mike and the other rider.  I was feeling pretty good at that point, but the MVC rider blew up in the break and Mike barely had enough time to recover from his attack. We managed to stay away until part way up the final climb when the groupetto caught us.

Lap 3 was pretty uneventful as the pace slowed to about a crawl, as everyone was waiting for the attacks to come on the fourth and final lap on the climbs.  Racing when it is slow like that lends itself to be prone to crashes, since people are more apt to not pay attention as close as they would be if the pace was high.

Lap four, the final lap, was pretty much as expected.  The pace was quickened and there were a few attacks on the first climb, but the group pretty much managed to stay together until the base of the final climb. I have to give Doug mad props as he put in a monster pull to keep the pace high and deliver the rest of his teammates in good shape to the base of the final climb.  The pace was high on the last climb and then there was “the crash.”  It appeared that a rider stood up abruptly and threw his bike back into the front wheel of the rider right behind him causing about 10 or so riders to go down in a heap of tangled bodies and bikes. The SCE riders all managed to avoid that nonsense, and so the fast decent to the finish started.

The group was now split into 20 or so riders and as we approached the finish it was getting a little sketchy, so I saw an opening on the left hand side of the road and went for it just as the sprint started.  Mike was sprinting like a man possessed and managed to nab second place.  I came across the line in ninth place and Jim was seventeenth.

All in all, I feel that the team had a plan, and worked well to achieve it by getting all of us home safe and place riders in the top ten of the race.  I did overhear a few riders talking about the race afterwards and to quote them, “Man that Steel City team from Pittsburgh was all over that race. It seemed like they were the only ones that wanted to race today”

ENOUGH SAID……………………………………

Full race results here.