Whitney's UW Race Report

This past weekend, I completed my third to last (antepenultimate?) collegiate bike race weekend.  Overall it was an amazing weekend, with amazing performances by all of my teammates and the other teams. Following the style of Molly and Mackinzie, I will post my thoughts over the weekend as highlights:

• So ecstatic to have successfully descended the road race course SIX times in wetter and nastier conditions than last year (where I crashed out on the descent at 30 mph).
• Due to Molly's dad donating his rain coat to me during the race weekend, first rainy race of the season where I did not become hypothermic and have to drop out because of uncontrolled shivering on the bike. (As my teammates frequently say, I REALLY need to put on some body fat.) 
• AMAZING hip massage by my teammate, Mackinzie Stanley, that helped alleviate a lot of the hip tightness and pain that has been plaguing me for over a year now.
• Unknowingly was able to motivate Mackinzie Stanley to stick with the Men's B pack (see her blog post http://whitmancycling.blogspot.com/2013/04/mackinzies-uw-race-report.html).
• It was nice to have teammates to race with this weekend (and the previous two race weekends), despite the fact that Women's A deserves their own race. Mackinzie, Eli, Molly, and Rachel all pushed me to stick with the Men's B pack despite going completely anaerobic on multiple occasions and barely being able to continue biking.
• Awesome to watch all of my teammates crush it in the road races and criteriums with no major crashes or injuries.
• Had the opportunity to watch the Nesbit siblings (Ryan and Kristin) race at the same weekend!!!
• Amazing homestay (Don and Gail Rudee) 
• Amazing chaperone and honorary team mechanic (Justin Bannerman)
• Seeing our team rally to stay optimistic and happy despite torrential downpours.
• Seeing Rachel and Luke do modified Karoake songs with dance routines to help our Women B riders warm up for their crit!!

Overall as I read Molly's and Mackinzie's race reports saying "WOW, what a weekend", I was reminded of this quote that summarizes the weekend perfectly for me: 

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, "WOW, What a Ride!" - Unknown 

Getting ready for our awesome TTT!!

UW Race Report

Despite the extremely wet weather that the Seattle area provided us with, there were some outstanding performances and a lot of smiles.

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter (@WhitmanCycling) and Facebook (Whitman Cycling) next weekend when we go adventuring to Montana! Cross your fingers that we don't run into snow this year.


University of Washington Race

April 6-7, 2013

Road Race

• Men's A
• Luke Ogden (junior): 10th
• Alberto Santos-Davidson (sophomore): 15th
• Women's A
• Rachel Geiter (junior): 7th
• Mackinzie Stanley (freshman): 1st!!!!
• Molly Blust (senior): flatted out
• Men's B
• Whitney Griggs (senior): 16th
• Eli Robinson (sophomore): flatted out
• Women's B
• Lizzy Peterson (senior): 5th
• Becca Mellema (freshman): 9th
• Jenna Stanley (freshman): 13th
• Kristin Nesbit (freshman): 10th
• Rose Baunach (freshman): 26th
• Men's D
• Nick Davies (junior): 20th
• Cam Hancock (freshman): 17th
• Ryan Nesbit (senior, first year racing):
• Logan Thies (senior, first year racing): mechanical issues
• Adam Dawson (freshman): 11th

TTT

• Women's A: 2nd
• Men's B: 3rd
• Women's B: 5th
• Men's D: 4th

Crit

• Men's A
• Luke Ogden (junior): 6th
• Women's A
• Rachel Geiter (junior): 8th
• Mackinzie Stanley (freshman): 5th
• Men's B
• Whitney Griggs (senior): 18th
• Women's B  
• Lizzy Peterson (senior): 9th
• Jenna Stanley (freshman): 16th
• Kristin Nesbit (freshman): 13th
• Rose Baunach (freshman): 21st
• Men's D
• Nick Davies (junior):6th, took a great prime (pronounced pre-mme) win as well!
• Ryan Nesbit (senior): 7th
• Logan Thies (senior): 5th
• Adam Dawson (freshman): 15th (and this was without having any shifting abilities due to some mechanical issues!)

Team Standings

• Whitman came in 4th in the RR, Crit, and TTT behind PSU, WWU, and UW
•  Overall, Whitman is in 5th place behind PSU, UO, UW, and WWU
• Whitman holds 2nd place in DII schools with 468pts (behind WWU with 609 pts)

Mackinzie's UW race report

     What a race weekend..so many ups and downs (literally and figuratively). I think I’m going to adopt Molly’s strategy of just listing highlights, instead of trying to coherently connect a million different random thoughts:

•  First weekend racing in the A’s!! With all the nerves and excitement that came along with it.
• Driving around the road course and being able to enjoy the beautiful scenery in the surrounding area-mountains that shot up like cliffs, wooded hills, and twisty roads!
• Being so amped and positive the whole road race and at the same time push myself to farther limits than I have since last summer.
• Racing with a huge group of riders and seeing more about how pack and team tactics play out and observe more of the dynamics of the pack.
• Making new friends with the guys in the men’s B pack.
• I’m pretty sure that was hail that pelted us on the third time down the descent…and it rained enough during the first few laps alone that I think I would have been less wet if I had jumped into a lake. So basically I was feeling pretty badass.
• Not feeling cold the entire time I was racing (in all of the races)!!!
• Speeding down the awesome windy descent to catch back up the men’s B peloton on the fourth lap after coming close to blacking out at the top of the wall from exertion.
• Having Whitney pass me on the wall the first time up and make some comment that suddenly made it impossible for me to do anything other than grit my teeth and dig in deeper in order to keep up.
• Riding the last lap with one of the guys who dropped his chain, instead of having to solo it to the finish.
• Getting first in the road race and then not really realizing it until I spun out and back by myself on one of the side roads to cool down and I suddenly couldn’t stop smiling.
• Riding the TTT with Lizzy and Rachel, even though it meant getting back into wet bib shorts and shoes and required giving myself a major pep talk. I had so much fun and I think it’s been our best TTT yet! Lizzy was taking pulls that proved she is getting back up to speed fast and Rachel rocked it up those hills even though it’s not her strong point.
• Riding off the front of the crit for most of the last three laps, even though it didn’t really work out in the end.
• Borrowing Alberto’s huge rubber rain jacket to wear over the five layers I already had on in order to stop shivering after my crit.
• Tent City!!! Wow, what can I say…I didn’t even know tarps came in that size.
• The warm shower Saturday night (I was finally warmed to the core) and the ability to dry all my bike clothes.
• Hearing about everyone else’s adventures racing in the rain and seeing the success and smiles on faces as people came off the course, especially as they put on dry clothes and warmed up.
• As usual, the laughter, support and entertainment from everyone on the team. You all make the race weekends something I look forward to with an amazing amount of joy and enthusiasm :)
• Lastly, I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who contributes to making these weekends so awesome-all the prep work before hand, organization and helping hands during the weekend, homestays, chaperones, etc. 

     Thanks for reading

     Mackinzie

Molly's WWU Race

Once again, way too many things to write about so I'll bullet them all out:

• SUN! Unfortunately my races were too early in the day for me to wear only shorts so my leg tan line did not develop at all.
• We played four-square in the extra hour we had after the TTT was pushed back. Good thing we own a Tinker Bell ball and chalk...
• Riding the rollers in the trailer at an uphill slant. I'm not sure why riding in the trailer was so much fun... but it was.
• Making a lot of new friends with Lizzy when we alerted other teams about the delayed TTT start. So many happy faces!
• Riding two of the best/most tactical races I've had. 
• Hearing that Kristin broke off the front of her crit pack
• Listening to first year racers ask questions about tactics and communication in races
• Riding around the RR course with Debi (our AWESOME chaperone) and Mackinzie after we finished the RR
• Remembering every single weekend what a supportive and friendly community collegiate cycling fosters. A big part of the reason I love going to races every weekend is to see everyone from the other teams. 
• Our wonderful homestay family baking fish for us
• The drive back to Walla Walla from Bellingham - Debi was even joining in all of the chaos and yelling
• Eli's invention of 'Corola Crunch' & 'Kia Kiss' to the normal Slug Bug game. Luckily we finally figured out what a Corola actually was.

The RR and Crit were definitely two of the most fun and tactical races I have ever ridden, so I wanted to write a short blurb about each one. If you don't want to read about race stuff you should skip down to the pictures :)

RR: Part of the goal of this weekend was to get Mackinzie the rest of the points she needed for an upgrade to the women's A category since I finished earning my points the weekend before. For the road race I was hoping Mackinzie would be able to get off the front of the pack. On the start of the 3rd/last lap, our lead group had dwindled down to 4 riders. Mackinzie picked up the pace and the PSU girl dropped off the back and a gap started forming between the CWU rider I was sitting behind and Mackinzie. As soon as Mackinzie was off the front, I realized that she would easily be able to make 1st. All I had to do was sit on CWU's wheel (thanks, Alexa :D) since I definitely wasn't going to chase my teammate down. Since Alexa pulled most of the lap I was feeling pretty good by the time we hit the final big hill about 2-3K from the finish. Berto and Arika were on the side of the hill and as I passed by with Alexa, Berto yelled something to the effect of, "Mackinzie has 3 minutes on you! ATTACK! ATTACK!" I tend to trust Berto on most things, so I jumped, ended up gapping Alexa, and came in 2nd to Mackinzie. Perfect :)

Crit: Once again, we wanted to get Mackinzie maximum points. Lizzy, Mackinzie, and I were all together in the lead group which included 2 PSU riders, Alexa, Andi (UI), a UW rider, and perhaps some other people that I can't seem to recall right now. It was awesome to have the 'Whitman Train' in full force. I got the 'crit holeshot' again - I've decided that in order for me to be able to take corners well in a crit it helps to lead part or all of the first lap so that I can take the corners like I want. Lizzy took multiple pulls on the front and I am so happy that she is back and looking strong! Mackinzie and I pulled next to each other at one point in the race to talk strategy and a few laps later broke off the front - not quite as we had originally intended, but it ended up working out because we were able to stay off the front for the last 4ish laps of the race and Mackinzie crossed the line in first again. We secured her the rest of her upgrade points! I LOVE racing with teammates so much. It's weekends like these that remind me how much of a team sport cycling really is and how great it is to work for and rely on your teammates.

Warming up for the RR (PHOTO CREDIT: Debi Toews)

Four-Square! (PHOTO CREDIT: Debi Toews)

Mackinzie and I off the front in the crit. (PHOTO CREDIT: PSU Cycling)

Mackinzie and I after we finished the crit (PHOTO CREDIT: Debi Toews)

WWU Race Report

Whitman Cycling had a great race weekend and after riding through snow and slush last year in Bellingham, being able to hang out at staging in the SUN was great!

Check out the below links for more results:
Full Results
USAC Weekly Race Report (our conference is NWCCC; check out the last paragraph for some familiar names)

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter (@WhitmanCycling) and Facebook (Whitman Cycling)!

We will be racing in Seattle this upcoming weekend with a large group!

Western Washington University Race Report

March 30-31, 2013

Road Race

• Men's A
• Luke Ogden (junior): 12th
• Alberto Santos-Davidson (sophomore): Berto got back into racing after suffering from a cracked rib early in the season.
• Eli Robinson (sophomore)
• Women's A
• Rachel Geiter (junior): 5th
• Men's B
• Whitney Griggs (senior): 17th
• Women's B
• Mackinzie Stanley (freshman): 1st
• Molly Blust (senior): 2nd
• Jenna Stanley (freshman): 11th
• Kristin Nesbit (freshman): 12th
• Rose Baunach (freshman): 14th
• Men's C
• Kevin Wallin (freshman): 5th
• Men's D
• Nick Davies (junior): 14th
• Cam Hancock (freshman): 18th

TTT

• Men's A: 5th
• Women's A: 2nd
• Men's B: 6th
• Women's B: 4th

Crit

• Men's A
• Luke Ogden (junior): 16th
• Alberto Santos-Davidson (sophomore): 19th
• Women's A
• Rachel Geiter (junior): 4th
• Women's B - you may notice that the placings for the crit are EXACTLY the same as the RR. Nope, this isn't a mistake - we are just very consistent.
• Mackinzie Stanley (freshman): 1st
• Molly Blust (senior): 2nd
• Jenna Stanley (freshman): 11th
• Kristin Nesbit (freshman): 12th
• Rose Baunach (freshman): 14th
• Men's C
• Kevin Wallin (freshman): 4th
• Men's D
• Nick Davies (junior): 10th
• Cam Hancock (freshman): 14th

Team Standings:

• Whitman was 5th in the RR out of 18 teams, coming in behind PSU, UW, WWU, CWU
• Whitman was 4th in the Crit out of 18 teams, coming in behind PSU, WWU, & UW
• Team Omnium: Right now Whitman is in 5th place behind PSU, UO, UW, & WWU. Team Omnium standings are through the WWU TTT. We passed OSU in the team omnium rankings!!! Whitman still sits in 2nd for D2 schools with 372 pts (behind WWU with 486)