Skills Clinic & Mock Crit!

Since our first planned race of the year, Cherry Pie, was cancelled, we decided to put on a skills clinic and mock criterium this weekend to prep the new riders for the somewhat complicated race format. A criterium seems to be one of those things that, no matter how many times it is verbally explained, it is a bit unclear as to what exactly you are supposed to do until you actually witness or race in one. Sprints in the middle of a race? Does it mean anything to win the prime laps? It's a time-based race but there are lap cards? What?? I don't get it... We successfully (I think I can use that word without getting in too much trouble) cleared that mystery up for the 10 new riders that showed up today (they had to come out at 9:30am on the Sunday of a three day weekend so I would say that is a great turnout!). The skills practice held before the crit included shoulder bumping, cornering, holding each other's hands (perfect for Valentines Day season), and crossing wheels. Check out the photos below!

Logan testing his flexibility and balance during the water bottle pick-up drill.

Cam reaching for a water bottle.

Arika is DOWN. But everything is ok, because she's giving us a thumbs up!

Arika and Laura

Start line of the women's mock crit. Please take a moment to notice how many girls there are in this picture. And all but one of them are new to the team! The majority of the Women's C field is going to be made up of Whitman riders!

Mackinzie & Rachel in the break.

Jenna & Kristin learning that drafting makes riding in the wind a lot easier.

Laura looking pro in the drops.

Start line of the men's mock crit.

Look forward to race reports beginning the weekend of March 2-3 when we attend our first collegiate race hosted by the University of Oregon in Eugene!

Here Comes Race Season...

25 DAYS UNTIL OUR FIRST COLLEGIATE RACE!

It always surprises me how fast the race season sneaks up. One minute I’m thinking about base miles and how I will get some time on the bike over winter break. Then I blink and realize that I need to start thinking about travel arrangements, riding intervals, and making that Taylor Swift cd that will be playing in the car to race weekends more times than not.

The fast moving approach to the race season also means that team activities and excitement pick up. Here is a quick recap of what we have been up to!

• Lizzy and I went on a wild goose chase for a bathroom in Milton-Freewater that included locked outdoor restrooms, a convenience store, a shoe store that we never found, and finally ended inside of a bar that we decided would be a great place to start a bar fight.

• The team has started meeting every Tuesday night. We are covering topics such as nutrition, what you need to carry in your saddlebag, and race format. Once we get into the race season we will use this time to go over questions from the weekend, reflect on the races, and track goals.

• We had a team movie night featuring my future husband Andy Schleck in the documentary, “The Road Uphill.”

• Team photos were taken last Friday. A big thanks to Whitman’s photographer, Greg Lehman! We will make sure to send out the team photos when we receive them.

Cam and I looking super pro after team photos.

• Alberto has been the driving force behind our ever-growing Saturday morning ride. We had 13 riders out last Saturday and the weather wasn’t even nice! And since I can’t seem to go on any group ride without causing problems, I decided to flat my front tire. AND I didn't even have to change it because my teammates are awesome. I just watched them and took pictures.

Cam keeping warm.

First year riders, Jenna and Kristin (we have so many new women!!!!)

Alberto changing my tire with Whitney supervising.

Expect to see more blog posts as we get closer to race season!

Love,
Molly