Before I begin my infamous nationals photo essay, I wanted to relay a few joys that I’ve experienced during my stay on the Whitman Cycling team. First, being a part of this team has fostered a love of exercising that I never could quite grasp. I have always been very enthusiastic about horses and competitive showing, but actually working out was not something that I enjoyed nor was consistent with. But after graduating, I can tell you with all honesty that I now LOVE to workout. It’s addicting - being outside on my bike in a community of like-minded people, pushing myself up a hill, feeling the endorphins and serotonin, and sometimes going so hard you throw up your breakfast.
The team has also been my niche at Whitman. As a freshman, I wasn’t comfortable drinking and partying, so bike races became my fun weekend adventures. During those races I got to experience life with my teammates, swimming in hot springs in Montana, mooning the Men’s A field, riding fixies in a sumo suit, crying my eyes out with Molly after crashing in crits, and consoling friends when the pressures of life and school felt insurmountable. Racing builds uniquely strong bonds when you sacrifice yourselves for each other - all of the women I time trialed with have profoundly impacted my life.
Cycling has shown me that even if you feel uncomfortable, and everything feels way too hard, it doesn’t mean it’s bad. I often struggle perceiving long term goals in the shadow of short term desires. Cycling has constantly challenged me to push, suffer and take hold of long term goals in the midst of fear. Racing is hard. I don’t always enjoy it, and every second isn’t always fun. But when you cross that finish line, having given a huge part of yourself to be there; a warm feeling of accomplishment-disbelief-satisfaction washes over you, and everything was worth it. Thank you Whitman Cycling, you’ve given me life in full these past four years.
And now I’m pleased to finally provide you with a detailed, visual journey of Collegiate Nationals 2014.
This year we traveled to Richmond, Virginia, and I had no idea what to expect. We took four men: Alberto, Luke, Kevin, and Zander, and four women: Mackinzie, Fiona, Dessie, and myself (and a truckload of support: Debi, the Tuppers, and LOTS of parents). Our journey began at 3 am when we set off for a large, buzzing metropolis - the Pasco airport.
Here is our feelings upon arriving in the wee hours of the morning:
And here begins the one of many Rachel-Dessie selfies, taken in the San Francisco airport shuttle after scouting out delicious snacks, after which Dessie informed me that I think about food more than any person she’s ever met - I’ll take that as a compliment.
(We’re beautiful). The next photo explains the personalities of my fellow teammates well...
They’re all cutie pies. Here’s one of the awesome chairs that Dessie and I sat on in the San Francisco airport! Let me tell you, that place is ridiculously classy. They even had a secluded yoga room available for use.
She’s a speed goddess. Later that evening we got stuck in Newark, and it appeared that our plane was never prepared for actually flying, and thus we had no plane until the next day. However, the first thing you should know is that Alberto is magical. He got us a private jet.
Boom!! Thus, our team, Debi and two other people were the passengers on a little jet to Richmond.
We felt like high rollers. And then, when we got to Richmond at 2:30 in the morning, the Tuppers had a spread of food that involved granola, hummus and carrots, pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and pre-cream cheesed bagels. The Tuppers are also magical. Here is Dave unloading all the gear Zander’s parents found for us when we got to the hotel. Zander’s parents found us a bunch of trainers, rollers, a pump, cooler, table, and even a bike stand. They are also magical.
We got to our hotel! They even give you cookies when you check in. The Leanne Tupper left us a pound of chocolate in each of our rooms, which was a particularly lovely surprise especially for a few choice individuals on our team ...
The next day the big to-do item on the agenda was the team time trial course recon ride. It involved lots of riding down one ways the wrong way (apparently this is called “salmoning”), lots of Fiona and Rachel not making it through lights and then having everyone else wait for them, and Alberto exclaiming “I just LOVE city riding!” Before the ride Kevin spit-shined Fiona’s brand new white cleats. She was tickled.
We also discovered before the ride that half the team has fancy Shimano shoes!
I also took a moment to snap a photo of Kevin’s super impressive legs. Cause I’m a creep.
Debi and Whitney were very excited to ride behind us as support for the ride in a convertible. We are spoiled.
Here is our feelings upon arriving in the wee hours of the morning:
And here begins the one of many Rachel-Dessie selfies, taken in the San Francisco airport shuttle after scouting out delicious snacks, after which Dessie informed me that I think about food more than any person she’s ever met - I’ll take that as a compliment.
(We’re beautiful). The next photo explains the personalities of my fellow teammates well...
They’re all cutie pies. Here’s one of the awesome chairs that Dessie and I sat on in the San Francisco airport! Let me tell you, that place is ridiculously classy. They even had a secluded yoga room available for use.
She’s a speed goddess. Later that evening we got stuck in Newark, and it appeared that our plane was never prepared for actually flying, and thus we had no plane until the next day. However, the first thing you should know is that Alberto is magical. He got us a private jet.
Boom!! Thus, our team, Debi and two other people were the passengers on a little jet to Richmond.
We felt like high rollers. And then, when we got to Richmond at 2:30 in the morning, the Tuppers had a spread of food that involved granola, hummus and carrots, pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and pre-cream cheesed bagels. The Tuppers are also magical. Here is Dave unloading all the gear Zander’s parents found for us when we got to the hotel. Zander’s parents found us a bunch of trainers, rollers, a pump, cooler, table, and even a bike stand. They are also magical.
We got to our hotel! They even give you cookies when you check in. The Leanne Tupper left us a pound of chocolate in each of our rooms, which was a particularly lovely surprise especially for a few choice individuals on our team ...
The next day the big to-do item on the agenda was the team time trial course recon ride. It involved lots of riding down one ways the wrong way (apparently this is called “salmoning”), lots of Fiona and Rachel not making it through lights and then having everyone else wait for them, and Alberto exclaiming “I just LOVE city riding!” Before the ride Kevin spit-shined Fiona’s brand new white cleats. She was tickled.
We also discovered before the ride that half the team has fancy Shimano shoes!
I also took a moment to snap a photo of Kevin’s super impressive legs. Cause I’m a creep.
Debi and Whitney were very excited to ride behind us as support for the ride in a convertible. We are spoiled.
After the recon ride we went to get registered - and I found friends! Check out Sam Waples from WWU in his matching ensemble of Audi kit and red watch. Sam killed it in the road race on Sunday! His watch is probably magical.
Check out this racer from Virginia’s calf tattoos!
(I did ask for consent first!) Whitman then proceeded to explore the town for grub and enjoy beautiful Richmond, which is actually a fantastic city and you should totally visit.
The city is full of really neat buildings that have a lengthy history. Everything’s older than in Oregon/Washington.
We then ran into friends from the University of Idaho! Check out Alexis’ attempt at also doing TTT recon with fellow teammate Nick.
It didn’t work very well. Now dear reader, you shall experience a jump ahead to the next day, after the TTT. This is how we all felt.
But some of us did homework instead ... That night the women’s team got pretty bronze medals for the TTT and thus we dressed up nice. I was wanting to go as the colors of the rainbow but Fiona and Dessie vetoed that idea.
That night Zander and I played with grapes.
It was fun. On saturday we got to race in the crit, which I had a blast in. This year I’ve been riding a lot more, so I felt pretty fit and comfortable, physically and emotionally. Here’s how Nick from U of I felt after the crit.
In the men’s division II race there were some guys that were just ANIMALS. It was fun to watch, but also sad cause every lap a few more guys would get popped off the back and get pulled that lap (Dessie and I were cheering on the hill were said popping-off occured). Check out this sexy Duke fan that I happened to spy during the crit - he had fantastic chest hair.
Here’s a shout out to an awesome big brother, Thaddaeus. The guy came up for the weekend to support Dessie! He’s pretty funny too. And has a great beard. It’s probably magical.
That night we got driven to the awards ceremony (cause you aren’t supposed to use your legs unless you’re racing), and Alberto got his hands on the convertible Saab. Dessie was fine with it:
She got 3rd in the crit her first year racing for the team! I’m so proud of her, and I teared up at the ceremony partly due to all the dramatic olympic music they were playing. And now here’s Whitney’s reaction to Alberto driving the convertible.
Afterwards we went and ate a lovely dinner made for us by my parents, Dave and Eileen, and Luke’s parents, Herbie and Sheila. It was amazing. They are probably magical.
The next day was the road race, and I actually really enjoyed myself. The laps, loads of corners, and cobbles made it feel like a cyclocross course. Here’s another Dessie-Rachel selfie after our race while watching our boys suffer in the sun. Alberto had his best road race of the season which was fantastic as he’s been plagued with knee problems all year.
Check out this racer from Virginia’s calf tattoos!
(I did ask for consent first!) Whitman then proceeded to explore the town for grub and enjoy beautiful Richmond, which is actually a fantastic city and you should totally visit.
The city is full of really neat buildings that have a lengthy history. Everything’s older than in Oregon/Washington.
We then ran into friends from the University of Idaho! Check out Alexis’ attempt at also doing TTT recon with fellow teammate Nick.
It didn’t work very well. Now dear reader, you shall experience a jump ahead to the next day, after the TTT. This is how we all felt.
But some of us did homework instead ... That night the women’s team got pretty bronze medals for the TTT and thus we dressed up nice. I was wanting to go as the colors of the rainbow but Fiona and Dessie vetoed that idea.
That night Zander and I played with grapes.
It was fun. On saturday we got to race in the crit, which I had a blast in. This year I’ve been riding a lot more, so I felt pretty fit and comfortable, physically and emotionally. Here’s how Nick from U of I felt after the crit.
In the men’s division II race there were some guys that were just ANIMALS. It was fun to watch, but also sad cause every lap a few more guys would get popped off the back and get pulled that lap (Dessie and I were cheering on the hill were said popping-off occured). Check out this sexy Duke fan that I happened to spy during the crit - he had fantastic chest hair.
Here’s a shout out to an awesome big brother, Thaddaeus. The guy came up for the weekend to support Dessie! He’s pretty funny too. And has a great beard. It’s probably magical.
That night we got driven to the awards ceremony (cause you aren’t supposed to use your legs unless you’re racing), and Alberto got his hands on the convertible Saab. Dessie was fine with it:
She got 3rd in the crit her first year racing for the team! I’m so proud of her, and I teared up at the ceremony partly due to all the dramatic olympic music they were playing. And now here’s Whitney’s reaction to Alberto driving the convertible.
Afterwards we went and ate a lovely dinner made for us by my parents, Dave and Eileen, and Luke’s parents, Herbie and Sheila. It was amazing. They are probably magical.
The next day was the road race, and I actually really enjoyed myself. The laps, loads of corners, and cobbles made it feel like a cyclocross course. Here’s another Dessie-Rachel selfie after our race while watching our boys suffer in the sun. Alberto had his best road race of the season which was fantastic as he’s been plagued with knee problems all year.
When we got back to the hotel we were pretty tired. In comes lots of Kevin photos - first Kevin making a funny face:
Kevin wearing my clothes:
Kevin getting really into wearing my clothes:
Kevin making the final selection of my orange shorts for the evening.
Zander wanted to wear my clothes too.
He looked pretty good, and retained his nickname “cutie pie”. After dinner Luke and I found a coconut water truck! Luke used to be obsessed with the stuff, he’d drink one after every bike race.
And just to keep the theme going, a final Dessie-Rachel selfie after all the racing had been done.
The next morning at 4 am, I got to hang out with the lovely Mark from Oregon State University at the airport! We were pretty tired ... but wearing the same awesome nationals shirts!
That was pretty long. Hopefully my array of somewhat tasteful and somewhat funny photos was entertaining and you were able to taste a bit of nationals in every shot. It was such a pleasure and privilege to go. My warmest thanks goes out to all of the individuals that made this happen!
THE END.
Kevin wearing my clothes:
Kevin getting really into wearing my clothes:
Kevin making the final selection of my orange shorts for the evening.
Zander wanted to wear my clothes too.
He looked pretty good, and retained his nickname “cutie pie”. After dinner Luke and I found a coconut water truck! Luke used to be obsessed with the stuff, he’d drink one after every bike race.
And just to keep the theme going, a final Dessie-Rachel selfie after all the racing had been done.
The next morning at 4 am, I got to hang out with the lovely Mark from Oregon State University at the airport! We were pretty tired ... but wearing the same awesome nationals shirts!
That was pretty long. Hopefully my array of somewhat tasteful and somewhat funny photos was entertaining and you were able to taste a bit of nationals in every shot. It was such a pleasure and privilege to go. My warmest thanks goes out to all of the individuals that made this happen!
THE END.
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