University of Oregon Race Report

Hey All,

We just got back last night from our first collegiate cycling race of the season! With midterms keeping several students in Walla Walla, we had a small but mighty group of 10 racers and were lucky enough to have Robert Street chaperone for us. Thanks so much for all the cheering, going on a chocolate milk run, and bringing your car for the weekend! We would also like to thank our two homestays (Judy Abel & Leila Snow) for letting us invade your homes over the weekend. We really appreciate it!

Here is a quick synopsis of race results. We will be having racers post about their own experiences periodically throughout the week, so keep an eye out for that as well as photos from the race!

Don't forget that you can follow us on Twitter (@WhitmanCycling) during the race weekends for live updates! You can also follow us on Facebook (Whitman Cycling).

Love,
Molly

University of Oregon Collegiate Race

March 2-3, 2013

Road Race:

      Men A: This was the first Men's A race for both of these guys!
            Alberto Santos-Davidson (sophomore): 11th
            Luke Ogden (junior): 15th 
      Women B:
            Molly Blust (senior): 2nd
      Women C:
             Mackinzie Stanley (freshman, first year racing road): 2nd
             Becca Mellema (freshman), Arika Wieneke (sophomore), and Laura Neff (sophomore), all first year racers, completed their first bike race! And what a first race - there was a long, tough, twisting climb right in the middle of the course. 
      Men D: 
             Kevin Wallin (freshman): 1st
             Nick Davies (junior) completed his first collegiate race since taking a year off! We are so happy to have him back!
TTT:
     Men A: 2nd
     Men B: 6th
     Women B: 2nd
     Women C: 5th
Crit:
     Men A: 
            Alberto crashed about 10 minutes into the crit - he (and his bike) are ok. But he looked super comfortable in the pack those 10 minutes and will be right in the thick of things once he's back on his bike! Luke got a lot of practice riding with the A's in the peloton and is going to be in the thick of the the sprints once he gets his shifting fixed :)
     Men B:
            Whitney Griggs (senior) completed his first race in the Mens B field and craftily avoided a crash that took down a large portion of the peloton.
     Women B:
            Molly: 3rd
     Women C:
            Mackinzie: 1st (solo break!)
            Becca: 13th
            Laura: 18th
     Men D: 
            Kevin: 4th
            Nick: 23rd


       
              

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

Alberto's California Summer

12 hours after I turned in my final paper I was on a plane back home.  I got to Berkeley and turned around two days later to go to....a bike race!  What a surprise!  However, this wasn’t a race I was participating in.  I was going down to the High School Mountain Bike State Championships with my high school team.  I was going to help them out and also help the league put on the races.  I had a blast that weekend and spent most of it on my mountain bike.  I had been missing dirt riding after all the road in Walla Walla.  I was stocked to get dirty again!  I also met Mackinzie who will be going to Whitman this year and is planning on joining the team!!! YAY!!!  I believe she finished in the top 5 of the girls Varsity race!  She’s fast!

helping at Stat Champs

After that first weekend I rode my bike a ton and started getting back into shape for the summer part of my season.  I did a race down by Monterey in the 3/4 combined category and got my butt kicked.  Turns out the racing is a bit faster down here... I ended up going off the back and then throwing up.  Not good.  I decided to pull out and get in better shape before I raced again.

Fast forward a month and I was on the line for a Cat. 4 crit.  I was in a bad position on the final lap and ended up mid pack.  While the result wasn’t good I was happy with how I felt.  The next week I was at another crit and managed to finish 7th.  I’m really happy with this result because there were 48 people in the field and I produced a good final sprint (not my strength).  The final straight was probably around 300 meters long.  I came out of the final turn around 10th passed a few people and didn’t get passed by anyone!  This is one of the first times where I’ve done ok in a sprint so I’m happy with the modest 7th.

Menlo Park GP

A weekend after that I was toeing the line at the Albany Crit.  The race is about half a mile from my house and goes around my old high school!  This was my priority race for the summer and I was hoping to get a good result.  The course was a very tight 4 corner crit with a slight incline.  The finish line was on a slight descent as was the last corner.  It was going to be a hairy finish.  I got a bit distracted and ended up having to start at the very back.  Not good for a tight course like this.  As soon as we started we were strung out.  Hardly ever more then 2 or 3 wide.  There were around 60 people in the race so I needed to move up a lot!  It took me two laps to get to the top 20 or so and I stayed there for the rest of the race.  The rest of the race was just trying to conserve energy (being as close to the front as possible without doing much work).  I took one pull and followed a couple of attacks but that was it.  With 3 laps to go it stated getting pretty fast and nasty.  I fought for my place and managed to be in the top 10 with half a lap to go.  There was a solid attack on the back straight and I jumped without thinking about it.  Around 6th through the second to last turn.  Moved up a bit on the short downhill straight.  Came out of the final (downhill) turn in 4th place FLYING.  I was probably going 2mph faster than everyone else.  I then sprinted with everything I had and moved up to 2nd place using my momentum.  The guy who attacked with half a lap to go was still in front of me and I was catching him!  Unfortunately he still got to the line before me.  It’s frustrating to be so close to a win but I am still very happy with second in a big race like that.

2nd place!

Tired but happy

After the Albany Crit my racing was done for the summer but I continued to ride my bike a lot.  I had almost forgotten how amazing the roads and trails in the Bay Area are.  There’s and abundance of tight single track, flowy descents, brutal climbs and breathtaking views.  I explored new corners of the area I call home and found a few new favorite roads.  All in all it was a great summer of riding and racing!

Flume Trail in Tahoe with Dad

This past June, Charlie Walker (longtime Whitman Cycling supporter, parent of a Whitman alumn, cycling enthusiast), ran an "Ironman" length event in Annecy France. According to Charlie, he "made it within regulation, but my time of nearly 17 hours surely left the community in no doubt of where my loyalties reside!" 


Awesome job, Charlie! Thanks for your submission and your never-ending support of the team!

Charlie running the marathon portion of the event.