When in doubt...ride!

FIVE NEW Sponsors! A new cycling class! A new computrainer

A physio room!

A NEW RACE!

Hello All!

December is here. Time is absolutely freakout and stress about school so hard that your hair falls out! When stressing out, remember to take a study break and think about cycling, well at least that's what i think about, maybe you do to! I hope so.

There is lots of exciting news. First off I would like to announce four new sponsors.

1) Becky Wilson Designs (Becky Wilson) Trailer Design

2) Interior Design (John Sasser) Trailer Vinyl

3) Training Peaks Sponsorship: (Jeremy Duerksen) Coaching Account + Unlimited Rider Accounts

4) Stephenson Cellars - (Dave Stephenson) Multi Year Sponsorship

Wine tasting and live band every Sat. night @ 7.30-10pm....No cover, great band, excellent wine = super awesome time!

5) Welty Health Center - Physical Therapy Room (Claudia Ness)

6) Cycling Class new for Spring '10

7) New Bottle order

8) Clothing Order - tell your parents to buy our gear!

9) NEW RACE ADDED TO COLLEGIATE SPRING CALENDER

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Through our fabulous team physio Dave Tupper, Duncan and I meet with marketing director Jeremy Duerksen of training peaks over thanksgiving break - and now we have a wicked set up with the best online training log.

We will use the training peaks to suggest basic training plans to everyone on the team, or more specialized training if you are interest. It is very easy and we are very excited about this. We will start this at christmas time.

**This is help you track your training as well as help the team leaders at training camp in march decide if the longer or shorter ride of the day is best for your training**

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Dave Stephenson is dedicated to collegiate and junior cycling community in Walla Walla. We will be working with Dave through 2011 and look forward to a great future. See more about our new sponsor here:
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With the help of Claudia Ness, director of the Welty Health Center, we all have 24hr access to BRAND NEW ultrasound machine, ice bath and Dave Tupper's computrainer (accompanied by a desktop computer generously provided by the Health Centre. This is going to be a very valuable tool.
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The new for 2010 cycling class will be run by Malcolm Dunn and myself. It will go over many things. It will be chill but legit. There will by 12-15 spots. Prereqs....a road bike and enthusiasm! We will have two class events per week. One will make use of the class' scheduled time for lecture and guest speaker. The other meeting time will be used for occasional class rides but also gives you the freedom to complete your workouts on your own time.

We will use Dave Tupper's computrainer to do power tests at the beginning of the class, as well as later throughout the year! This will show your improvements!

We will talk about: Recovery, Difference between training and exercise, improving efficiency (bike+rider=one unit), zones, periodized training, race strategy, pack riding skills, bike mechanic skills. I think this is so cool! I hope you do to! We can use training peaks for this too!

Contact Malcom Dunn (dunnm@whitman.edu)

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New Bottle Design: Should be a good vintage. Will feature a new color scheme for 2010!

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Clothing order - those who are abroad or haven't paid team dues - email Molly Blust (blustme@whitman.edu) and tell her if you plan on racing full time (due paying) and receive discounts on clothing order.
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There is a new race added to the calender - march 13-14th in Boise, Idaho. So know there are six collegiate races we are attending.

What does this mean? If you have a hella hard semester coming up and can't go to three races but want the team sponsorship - well you can come to the first three races of the year that are all during spring break!

We will be coming back to Walla Walla the following week for a training camp, then traveling to Eugene for the 2nd race weekend in Eugene (another training camp in Eugene) then up to Bellingham before coming back to school.
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Finish off the semester strong and on December 11th we will have a small team meeting

Ben

Rachel says to Light IT UP!

Don't get caught out after dark. It's DANGEROUS.

First of all, buy a light, so that if it does start to get dusky, you'll at least be able to see the pavement. If you can't see the road, you could run off it, or hit an unexpected pothole, or cross the center line - not good.

Second, plan your ride so that you get back home at least 30 minutes before sunset. You never know what'll happen on the road; you might go slower than you'd think, and flat tires are particularly common time-consumers.

Third, ALWAYS BRING YOUR CELL PHONE on rides. Again, you never know what'll happen. If you do get caught on the road after dark, you'll need to call someone.

Fourth, DON'T TRY TO RIDE HOME IN THE DARK. On all roads, but especially on twisty ones, cars can barely see you. Reflectors help, blinking lights are good, light clothes are okay, but if you get nervous when you're riding because it's dark, you should pull over and call a friend to pick you up.

Cycle safe!
~Rachel
P.S. Thanks Mia & Ethan!!

I pretty much got my ass handed to me

John Whiting had a tough experience in Spokane this weekend.

After finishing 2nd last week in the beginners category, he tried out the men's B this week. It was 30 degrees in the early morning so he got a taste of december racing.

Enjoy!

Haha well I tried out the Men's B race and I pretty much got my ass handed to me. I started off pretty horrible in the back and then went down around one of the corners which isn't too great of an excuse considering Justin, Charles, and Michael caught up to me despite a pretty nice wipe out and flat among themselves. I can sure say those fifteen more minutes do make a difference. The course was relatively fast, but at several points was extremely bumpy, there were a ton of puddles/pot holes which were interesting, one damn root which I nailed and screwed up my front wheel, the run up was nice, and there was one basically forced puddle which got everything real nice and cold in addition to the less than desirable temperature to begin with. Although it sucks that I need to get a new wheel, the race was fun, and a definite learning experience.

Racing resumes this weekend in Walla Walla!

Parents Weekend!!

Awesome ride on friday with Eric, Saturday's ride had two huge groups, out past cottonwood and back on powerline, we spiced it up with one sign sprint and so good double pace lines as we came down from hood. Perfect day, headed over to merchants after the ride for a coffee and donut. Sugar is good

One more ride today and then back into cyclocross style....race in walla walla next weekend, below, straus prepares his pain face for the race during a training session at the stanger farm a few days back.

Alpenrose Cyclocross

This weekend was sick! Great racing conditions. Check out images at photo gallery, plus video clips on multimedia page:

Men's D : Wardog - 5th

Men's C : B_Kearns - 2nd PLACE

Zac Strode '08 - 6th

Dave Radler '08 - 11th

Men's B : Ben : 1st

Women's B : Zephyr : 3RD!!!!

http://whitmancollegecycling.terapad.com/index.cfm?fa=contentGeneric.fnilfzpclnisrmrt

Thanks again to Barb and Bob Radler for the wonderful homestay, you two rock! and we'll see you in a month or so.

Next Up: Stanger Farm / Rooks Park - Oct.31/Nov.1

Portland GP Warmup Race - Nov.8

Alumni Weekend!

Welcome all Alumni!

Our team ride today went out valley grove, massive tailwind on the way out! Bridget Humphrey '84 joined Zephyr, Molly, Philip and I for a solid ride. Be sure to check out our table at Reid Campus Center on Saturday from 1-2pm, you can check out sweet team gear for sale as well as jump on the teamsupporters listserve and get monthly / biweekly updates from the team throughout the year.

Team Rides (accomodate all rider abilities and bikes): Saturday 2pm-3pm

Sunday 10am - 11am

** Meet at Reid Campus Center**

If you need a bike - be sure to check out Allegro Cyclery - they have well priced bike retails,

the wheat fields are too good to miss this time of year!

Full info page here:

http://whitmancollegecycling.terapad.com/index.cfm?fa=contentGeneric.puvxzitykssbfebf&pageId=529756

Stanger Opens

We took off to the farm today for cyclocross practice, the course has some new elements this year with a berm turn leading into the first river crossing with a super steep run out, a shorter lap in general and a MUD pit (but that will come later!)

Ben Hayes and John Whiting had some fun practicing on some real barriers. Allegro's Justin and Mike were out, as well as host Charles so it was awesome!

Can't wait for next week.

We're Back!

We're Back! The team has been swarmed by new interest and with the help of all our returning riders, we have plenty of rides going out into the wheat fields.

Last week, the first week of school, each day featured something different, a different route and a different treat, on thursday we dropped by fast eddy's for a milkshake.

We all excited for cyclocross season to start up in the next few weeks. We also have our 2nd Annual Edison Elementary Bike safety rodeo coming up this weekend with the help of Kay Barga and her grade two class. September 27th will be the Gran Fondo Cancer ride followed by our first bike rodeo at Green Park elementary on Oct.3.

All those abroad, we are looking forward to you coming back, but remember that there may be some super quick freshman to contend with!

Ride on.

Ben

boy oh

Hello, world!!!

You know, most of the time, when you ride, you learn something. Sometimes you eat it major in a crit, and you figure, maybe I won't pull that stunt again. Sometimes you don't eat during a cold as balls race, and bonk so hard you almost cry, and you learn to do the nom nom nom more during races. But sometimes, you just remember something that you forgot for a while. That's what happened to me today.

For me, it's been the summertime blues. I'm workin and workin to make that money so I can give it to Whitman. With all the working, and the racing, I'm pooped. Heck, I played bump at my workplace (the beach) with a group of 10-year-old kids, and my calves were sore for four days. FOUR!! And so the last couple weeks, I've been slumping on the bike. I'd look at my fire engine red maching, and I wouldn't want anything to do with it. No yearning to clean it's shiny gears, no itching to thrash it out on the roads, no stokage to race it. Noo!

So after a couple weeks of barely riding, I begin to look at the bike, and it starts to look attractive again. Am I wearing beer goggles? Is the 9 of a bike I'm looking at now really a 4 that I'm going to regret riding the morning after? Nope. It is only the bike that I really knew. The bike as it has been the last couple weeks has been a poisoned bike that needed nothing more than some rest to be cured.

And so today, I remembered the exhilarating flow into my legs. My riding company helped my memory. There was the Whitman Team founder:



And our own kendi thomas. You all know how she looks, but for our dear audience outside of Whitman...



And this one:



So we rode like the wind for a couple hours. After, I tried to figure what was so terrific about the ride, and I think the thing was, I had rose-colored glasses on, instead of beer-goggles.

I hope everyone's Rudy's are tinting the world well while they ride their bikes.

Nature Valley!

By Kendi "OMG stage racing" Thomas

Based on the Omnium at Collegiate Nationals, I have the incredible opportunity to race for the Ryan Collegiate All-Stars Team at Nature Valley Grand Prix. The Ryan team is made up of 7 collegiate riders from all over the country and half the women who have ridden for the team have received pro contracts. It's cool. Really cool. We get the celeb treatment, for sure. For example, yesterday we went to a St. Paul Saints baseball game, decked out in gear, with our bikes and handed out trading cards (yeah I said TRADING CARDS) and Nature Valley bars. A few of us even got to ride around the field after first inning behind the Saints' mascot, the pig, on a 4-wheeler (I don't know either) and wave at the crowd. Then this morning Sinead Miller (Division I Criterium Champ and Marian College student) and I did a few radio interviews on the phone. Tomorrow we're even doing a television interview! Hopefully I will erase any goofy smiles that I may or may not have had in previous interviews. The great part is, though, that I get to wear my Whitman jersey with Ryan shorts. So I'll be representing the team!

So I'm in Minneapolis right now, sitting at our director's house, playing scrabble, cuddling with the first standard poodle I've ever met (it's not shaved or anything, don't worry) and hoping to GOD that I don't disappoint my soon-arriving family by being pulled from the race. I'm feeling good though. We prerode the TT course a few hours ago, which is the first stage of six. Then tomorrow night is the first crit in Uptown St. Paul. Should be exciting! I'll be twittering and blogging on my own blog, so be sure to cheer from afar!

Bounced checks

So back home in New England, it's been a not too shabby first few weekends of racing.
First up was the Tour of Connecticut, a little stage race that looked to not be too hard, but then all of the New England elite squads showed up with full teams. Long story short, it went well, I ended up 17th and the road race was hard.
And I almost forgot to mention how much 5 hour training rides suck when they're in 49 degree steady rain instead of 75 degree sun.
And back to the racing... last weekend was the Auburn, ME weekend. All was looking good until none other than New England (and what's more, NEW HAMPSHIRE) homeboy Ted King, fresh off his first Grand Tour last week when he finished the Giro right in the middle of the field, decided to gate crash our little race.
Tactics were pretty straightforward: be in the break, so when Teddy bridges up you're already up in the break. I was in a few promising moves that didn't stick, but missed the move of the day. While covering stuff, I ended up at the front at the top of the main climb when Ted decided to start playing. Myself and one other guy managed to get onto his wheel before he clicked it into Real Legit Pro Gear (several clicks up from the dreaded Pro Gear that signifies that upshift the pros make that amateurs can't follow). And then the two of us held on for dear life as he just brought it up to 35... for a long time. And then 45+ on a little downhill. We brought the break from not in sight to about 50m back in maybe 4-5 minutes. So after this downhill there's one really short tough kicker, 30 seconds of pain, and Ted notifies us we'll need to give 'er up this kicker to get to the break. Both of us sort of swallow some vomit and get ready. Somehow we held his wheel up the kicker and around the chicane at the top. At this point, we've caught 2 guys (including Ted's brother, Robbie) just behind the break who were bridging up, and are probably 15 meters behind the break. Ted just keeps accelerating up to the group with Robbie and the rest of us can't go harder (on the flat). We got dropped (after the hill, on the flat) and watched the King brothers ride up the break and start rotating, we chased for a short while before blowing sky high. I ended up in the main field, took about an hour to recover and when moved up from last wheel I realized there were now 15+ guys up the road and just rode tempo at the front to get the race finished up with. Ted and Robbie rode away from the break and finished something like 3.5 minutes ahead of 3rd place. So that is my story of the Ted King Express and how I'd like to be able to ride it but it's actually too fast for me. It's like trying to play with the school star in gym class but he smashes you into the pain locker and locks you in there, so you're suffering in the locker room before the game even starts.
The next day in the crit I was in a 3 man break for about half the race, then was dropped from the break, then was off the front with a teammate from 7 to go (he got 3rd, I was 5th). So even though we salvaged the situation that was the second time in two days my enthusiasm wrote a check my legs couldn't cash. Lessons learned (?) and lots more good racing to be had this summer.

So Colin Gibson and I headed down to Enumclaw on our way home for summer this past weekend. Gibson threw shit down! Winning the Cat 3 men's TT, only six seconds off the course record, then broke away in the crit, even though there weren't any semitrucks to follow and then won the two up sprint for the victory and a stranglehold on the omnium points, here are a few highlights.

He made the poster shot!
http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/


No idea what is going on here:
http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2009/Enumclaw/RR/3/pages/94AD7154esr.htm


Suffering in the road race:
http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2009/Enumclaw/RR/P12/pages/94AD6966esr.htm


Ian crane taking a break:
http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2009/Enumclaw/RR/P12/pages/94AD7041esr.htm

Gravel...yummm!

Wenatchee and finals

So this is a short post because really, I'm just avoiding a final paper that's due in 5 hours. It may or may not have much to do with bike racing.
Some of us went to race the Wenatchee omnium this past weekend. According to vet of the race Mr. B. Chaddock it was boatloads of fun so some of us who either

A) didn't have much work for finals at this point or
B) were unrealistic about their abilities or willingness to do lots of work either at the race or this (Monday) morning after the race before their 4pm due date

decided to go.

The four of us (Ben, Andy, Kendi, and myself Duncan) packed ourselves, our gear, and 6 bikes into Andy's frequently-used car and headed out from Walla Walla for the final race (sort of) of the collegiate season.
Some of the highlights have nothing to do whatsoever with bike racing and they include:

107.3 FM: The Yakima Valley's PARTY STATION.
Given, we were listening in on a Friday night but STILL, absolutely awesome music, mostly hip-hop mashups and remixes. Actually it's really good right now as well (11 AM on a Monday morning), live streaming found here. I still can't believe there is a radio station devoted to this, especially in Yakima of all places.

Other cool things:
The grocery store. We found some screaming deals on both consumables and entertainment (DVD's).

Very nice glass beer mugs and T-shirts for every registered racer.

Dusty's burgers. They may be many times more expensive than Mac-Do but a medium fries and double bacon cheeseburger was more than enough food and tasted many times better. I need at least twice that many hamburger patties at a normal fast food place to satiate my hunger after a road race as beastly as the Wenatchee course.

Our hosts (the Valaas family) were awesome, thanks so much for welcoming us in and breaking in to the neighbor's house to find us some comfy floor space.

The races were fun too, someone else will probably write up a report and I need to get back to my other essay but suffice to say it was hot, the crit under the lights was awesome, the road race was BRUTAL, Ian McKissick is a lot faster than me in a time trial, and all of us need a little break from racing.

We came to play.

Race report by Kendi "the brains of the Whitman Cycling Team" Thomas

We set out (half of us in a plane, the other half in a car) on Tuesday night for Boise. Through the generosity of Ethan's dad, we had a whole office building to ourselves. Unfortunately, the only business we attended to was sleeping. And we tried that, but Colin kept stealing our blankets, crying "But I'm coooooollllldddd!" We awoke Wednesday morning, consumed at least a small child's weight in egg and scone at Big City Coffee in Boise, rode in Xtreme Wind Wyoming, and I single-handedly won the Stateline Sprint Omnium. We finally arrived in Fort Collins around dinner time.



Thursday was logistics day. We got up early to drive the road race course and preride the Masonville loops. Everyone felt good about their openers, though we could all feel the altitude. It's so dry in Colorado! The rest of the day was spent lounging around, picking up race packets, and getting massages by our very own masseuse, Dave "Magic Fingers" Tupper.



The DII Womens race started at 8am (ouch!) so we got up painfully early. The first thing we heard about the weather was courtesy of my coach Kent Menzel, "See my eyes? I'm not crying! It's just REALLY windy outside!" Greeeaaat. Yesterday there was absolutely no wind! When we got to the course, we quickly realized there was no stopping these hurricane-like winds. Someone mentioned something about 40mph gusts. Things were blowing everywhere, papers, numbers, small animals. I tried not to get gusted on the rollers. My bike was practically riding away from me.
The race was hard. This year they ran the course the opposite direction, starting with a real live neutral (opposed to a GIANT climb in the first 5 minutes last year). I think everyone expected the race to break up, but because of the wind things stayed together pretty much the whole time. All four of us were there almost the whole time, which is always great. Tons of climbing/tons of fun (ahem). We descended into the finish with a huge head/crosswind and I got 6th, Mia 15th, Emily 13th (who managed to crash 1 and a half times AND finish top 15!!) and Roxy 21st. I was a little upset about how the finish played out, but happy that we all finished so well. And my friend Rita (from Depauw) got 2nd!



The whole team after the road race.


Saturday: Another early morning. (Come on, crits at 8am??? I'm pretty sure that's illegal in at least 3 states.) We were all excited, especially after our sweet showing at the conference crit. Now that the road race was over, there was a definite change in energy, everyone was super fired up instead of super stressed. That is a stressful road race. Especially when you're on a flat road going 5 mph as hard as you can, trying to hold your bike straight. (Apparently many others weren't as concerned as I about riding in a straight line.) Anyway, we had completely forgotten about the previous day's stressors and totally focused on what was to come. We decided early on we wanted to have fun, try and control the race, get the leadout, and the win. Though these were our goals, I don't think any of us expected to accomplish them all so brilliantly. We were active the whole race, all four of us. I had planned to be conservative, but 10 minutes in found myself off the front, winning a prime. Okay, there was no turning back. All of us attacked at least once and I got 3 primes (I think?) and Mia got 1! I really thought (maybe more like hoped) that Rita (the brains of Depauw Cycling) and I would have stayed off. But the course wasn't nearly technical enough. When it came around to 2 laps to go, it was no problem getting people to let us have the leadout. Mia went to the front, set a good pace, then a faster pace, then a blistering fast pace (I can't say for sure, but I'd say there were three, at least four girls crying on the side of the road after being dropped by this maniacal leadout) delivering me into the final corner first wheel. I knew from the primes that I had sat in for, it would be way too hard to come around someone sprinting for the finish. So, I lead it out, HARD, and prayed (and I don't pray) that I wouldn't get second this time around. I soon realized no one was passing me. I was...winning? I was going to win?! I WON!!! Finally. I was so happy that I threw up my left hand to celebrate, which I NEVER take off the handlebars. Maybe I was having a body spasm, it's hard to tell from the photos. Afterward, all I could think about was how WELL we rode the race together. I could never thank Mia more for what she sacrificed for me. Mia is a badass sprinter herself! She could have done really well in the sprint, but instead she gave it all to me, which is the ultimate compliment. And Roxy got 6th, too! Unfortunately, in an incredible streak of bad luck, Emily got crashed out on the second to last corner. As a team, we could not have ridden a better race. In the wise words of Dave Towle, "Whitman College has a high cycling IQ." We could all sleep well tonight (maybe except for Emily, who had a nice raspberry on her hip).


Later that night at the banquet.



TEAM TIME TRIAL. 38 degrees and raining: ideal team time trialing weather. Today we were not the first to ride, so we lounged around for a while. It's hard to say lounge when it's freezing and you realize you forgot gloves, leg warmers, and your number. But, I'd say we accomplished it alright. Warm-up. Time to start. 1 minute....30 seconds...check my tires (good time to check tires)...man that tire feels soft....Mia, feel this tire....Mia: Oh my god....Colin: Nothing you can do about it now. GO!!! Best time trial we've ridden together all year. Good thing too, because turns out, it was the first one we WON all year!!! By a minute!!! We couldn't have been happier. It will probably be impossible to ever simulate this amount of happiness. Picture the happiest thing you've ever seen, and quadrupletriplemilliondouble it.




And that's a good place to end. HAPPY. That's what this weekend could be summed up with. That is what collegiate cycling is all about, and no better way to end it than on such a successful note. But, even if we hadn't won, even if I hadn't won, even if those things hadn't happened, I still would have loved every minute of it.

(Special thanks to Tracey Neill who kindly offered us (very last minute!) a place to stay in Boise on the way back!)

Camel Hair Rocks

This past week the team and I took off the Fort Collins, Colorado once again for Collegiate Road Nationals. Glenn Silver and David Tupper returned as chaperones after a two year hiatus, reviving the atmosphere of the historical 2005 and 2006 national champion teams. In our prerace meeting last week we set some pretty high goals for ourselves, and now looking back, we meet almost every single one. Kendi went 6^th in the road race and cleaned up in the criterium with 3 prim sprints and the victory, taking her to 2^nd in the Women’s Omnium. All the girls finished in the top 20 in the road race and on Sunday decimated the field by over 1 minute in the Team Time Trial, despite numerous small hiccups along the way. Duncan attacked the main group and finished 9^th in the road race, with Colin and Nick sprinting in out for 15 and 17^th, getting three in the top 20! The guys did a ton of work to control the race in the criterium and I went 2^nd in the bunch sprint for 4^th. I really wanted to win the bunch sprint and I think it probably came down to the line I chose in the final corner. Nick and Duncan also came through in the top 25 after Nick did a great lead out. On Sunday, we kept it all very professional. I am really proud of our intensity all the way through the weekend and with the TTT last, we really did a great effort. Everyone did the maximum and we averaged over 28 mph for the 37 minutes. I felt quite good and since I didn’t contribute on Friday, I knew I had to do a big job. It was really fun to drive the pace at the front as we passed the Mesa State team, with our follow motor bike and a few other cars trailing closely. In the final two miles I went to the front and gave everything I could give. Once we got the finish in sight, Nick finished off a wicked long pull (which took us over the penultimate hill), I dug deep and delivered the guys to 600 metres to go. I knew we had given everything and left it all on the road, I came across the line smiling and laughing as I’d seen the three of them, Colin, Duncan and Nick, line up three abreast and charge up the 150 metre finishing climb together. At only 19 seconds behind Furman University, only 7 behind Princeton, both of which have pro riders, we took 3^rd and claimed the unofficial men’s D2 Omnium, with 3^rd place in the road race and 2^nd in the criterium. Wow, I can’t believe this. The women’s team donated 265 points while the men’s side gave 235 to account to a 500 point total, absolute and utter domination, winning by 100 points! Everyone on the team, including our three chaperones: Zac Strode, Glenn Silver and David Tupper equally contributed to our success and should wear those stars and bars jerseys with great pride. Hell of a weekend. Let’s do it again next year!

We need to sign the flag and retire it. This weekend was a lot of firsts, and few lasts for our single senior, Nick Littman.

Women’s Team:

- Team Time Trial National Champions

- Women’s Team Omnium Champions

- National Criterium Champion – Kendi Thomas

Men’s Team:

- Team Time Trial - 3^rd

- Men’s Team Omnium Champions

- Criterium – 4^th – Ben Chaddock

Team Omnium – 3x National Champions