http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=1217

Jens recorded a video assuring everyone that he's OK and will be back racing soon. Yay.

Speaking of crashes, I fell over again last night. So stupid. Got my wheel caught between two sidewalk panels. Happily, it seems my bike came out unscathed. While I was not quite so lucky, after watching George Hincapie ride four and a half tour stages with a broken collarbone - not to mention Jens' cheerful reassurances from his hospital bed - I have nothing to complain about.

Other than the loss of yet more dignity.

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Pactimo, who makes my team's kit, has sent me a couple pairs of newly designed women's shorts to try out. The past couple years, the chamois in the women's shorts has had some issues, so I'm delighted that they are trying new things and I'm happy to help vet them.

Of course, I don't wear shorts. I wear knickers. I wear knickers because I'm comfortable in knickers and I'm not comfortable in shorts. I don't wear shorts off the bike either. Form-fitting spandex is tough enough - especially in front of hyper-weight conscious cyclists - so I just took shorts off the table. One less thing to worry about.

On the other hand, the oozing and ouchy doorknob I've lately acquired on my knee won't feel so great in knickers. Hmmm.

Jens Voigt has had a bad crash in stage 16 - he hit a slight dip in the road and lost control, wheels sliding out from under him, on a very fast descent. He hit his head hard and slid out on his right side. He didn't finish the stage, but was taken directly to the hospital. Possible head trauma - he was unconscious for a while, but came around. Hospital says he can move his arms and legs. Riis says his injuries are serious.

BE OK, JENS!!! Be ok.

Story from velonews:
http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/95591/voigt-injured-in-crash

And pics - it looks bad (scroll down):
http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?EventId=88232141#

Have to say, I pretty much lost my enthusiasm for the rest of what was an exciting stage.

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Sounds like Jens is going to be OK. I'm relieved. And very sad he's out of the tour.

Here's a good story about him, even if it does read a bit too much like an obituary:
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/tdf2009/columns/story?id=4344207

Coach has me off racing for a few weeks - when I was planning my season back in January, I didn't argue too hard for Superweek. Crashing at Evanston last year and ending up in the ER to have gravel dug out of my chin [not to mention not being able to eat solid food for over a month] was all too vivid a memory. But - just like last year - when Superweek is actually happening, I WANT TO RACE.

But I'm not. And honestly, it is mentally relaxing to just pull back into base training and chill.

I wanted to go long on Saturday, so when the opportunity to ride to Wisconsin presented itself, I went for it. I rode the wheel of one of our Elite racers for four hours up the Sisters route, into Wisconsin, back down to Illinois, through the big house loop, back to HP and the return to Chicago. 125 miles [200 k!], averaging 18.5 mph [including the slow part up to HP]. I don't *think* I slowed my companion down, although 96 miles in, I cracked on a little climb. But I recovered quickly and found that even the last 10 miles on my own, I was perfectly comfortable riding 19 mph down Damen Ave. "Steady" is the way to ride long, long miles.

I love being fit. I remember riding centuries five years ago - I could complete one, but was absolutely destroyed afterwards. On Saturday, I ate a bowl of pasta, showered, and headed out to Ravinia for family time, cookies, and Beethoven.

Sunday I led the monthly Women's Development Program open ride up to HP. We had three women new to group riding, so our pace was leisurely - probably a good thing after Saturday's brevet. We ended the ride at the Evanston Grand Prix in time to get burritos and watch Natalie, Courtney, Dana and Gigi race their guts out.

Then home to watch the TdF. Stage 15 was 200 k, and I tried to imagine sprinting 8 kilometers up an 8-9% grade at the end of Saturday's ride. These are hard, hard men.

I raced the third Soldier Field Cycling Series race Wednesday evening. Not a lot of women showed up the first two weeks, so they combined the women's fields but scored the 4s separately from the 1-2-3s. Which meant a chance to race with the xXx cat 4 women!

18 women lined up - a good sized field! - 16 cat 4, including three xXxers, and two cat 3s. So I was racing one person within the larger group, but was in actuality racing a cat 4 race. And it was FUN. It was nice not to get dropped within the first 10 minutes. And it wasn't like I was a vastly superior rider - there were a number of strong girls ready to ride hard who will be cat 3s at the end of the season. [Although as Seth pointed out, he, as a cat 1, would thoroughly enjoy a cat 3 race. Point taken.]

I attacked from the line - I've been wanting to do that - and pulled the first lap. Then settled in near the front. My wheel riding, especially in the corners, was terrible at first [which helps explain why I get dropped right away in the P-1-2-3 races], but it didn't hurt me much in this race. I worked on cornering more smoothly and staying in contact with the girl ahead of me. I chased a few attacks, I attacked and got chased. I contended for two primes and lost both to the same woman [good sprinting practice]. At some point I realize that our front group has been whittled down to nine, and the other cat 3 racer is not in the bunch - unless she bridges up, I've won my race. I settle in to work for the other xXx women - ALL of whom have made the split. Including Julia in her first race ever.


A Project 5 racer attacks and Courtney is on her. I sit up a little and let them get a gap. Then two other women bridge up - one of us and three of them? Nope. I close the gap and its grupo compacto. I have to say, it felt good to be able to make that choice, instead of just reacting and suffering. I try to keep my teammates in good positions - taking pulls so they don't have to, making sure they stay with the group.

Coming around for the last lap, I'm thinking I want to get up front and lead out. I'm second to last into corner 2&3, and see one of the Cuttin' Crew girls touch wheels and go down. I get around the crash but I've missed my chance to lead out, so I sit on the back and let my teammates battle it out. Courtney wins!! Julia takes fourth and Dana sixth! I'm DELIGHTED that we all finished so strong. [And very happy that the Cuttin' Crew girl who went down was not seriously injured.]

Then! Christian Vande Velde's father hands out our prizes! I gush about CVV to JVV like a total spaz. It was so cool!


Thanks to Nikki Cyp for the awesome photos!

Spinning Drills. In July. Sigh.

Got my powertap back finally and continue to post record numbers. So there's that.

Not much to say about UWW RR. Its a beautiful course and is put on with obvious love and care. Last year I won the cat 4 race from a two person breakaway - beating women who were arguably stronger climbers than I. Quite a triumph.

This year I drove up early with a teammate racing in that category. I enjoyed watching the race - attrition on the hill whittled their field down to six who sprinted together. Then I rode the course twice to warm up.

There were eight women in the P123 field - the tall woman, Heidi, from Masters Nationals was one, and it was delightful to see her again. I'd also raced with Diane before, a 50+ climber who had just won her crit at Masters Nationals the day before. I knew Diane would be a leg-breaker.

We started, rode to the hill, shifted into our small chainrings and very politely climbed up as a group. At the top, Diane attacked. And I thought "That is so smart! I am ON that." But my legs simply didn't move fast enough. I couldn't make them. I got a little gapped. Diane took a long look back, the expression on her face saying "Aren't you coming??" But I was off.

I chased for a lap, the gap growing from 10 seconds to 30 before someone attacked and took them out of my sight.

And that was that.

I talked it over with my coach - my inability to quickly accelerate uphill has spit me out the back of most of my races this year - and we're changing my training to address this weakness specifically.

In other news, I just lost my partner for the two person TT next Sunday - a discipline that I can actually do well in. Arg.

Masters Nationals Road Race has been one of my big target races for this year. I've been building up to it, trying to peak -- and while I feel like I haven't quite gotten there, I've been delighted at the leaps in fitness I made by riding Blue Mounds. It was such great training: since then my climbing has improved and I finished the Fitness Check TT in a time that still makes me giddy with glee.

I drove down to Louisville, KY on Saturday. I picked up my registration packet and then went to the race course, stopping only for a couple liters of water. It was hot and humid but also bright and clear and the park the race is in was gorgeous. I rode the course a couple times, trying to get the turns down -- as much as possible with the roads open to cars. It is a GREAT course - winding and rolling with a couple longish climbs.

My race was at 10:30 am on Sunday. I got there early, before the first races went off at 8 am, to ride the course one more time - this time closed to traffic. There were two sharp turns that worried me, both downhill. I've come a long way since the crashes last year sent me into a blind panic in the corners, but I'm still not 100%. I wanted to be as prepared as possible.

It was hot. I warmed up and tried to stay hydrated. The 40-44 age group had the largest field with 25 women starting [or as the announcer claimed at the line: "almost 30!"] It was fast from the whistle - so many talented, tough women. And as I'd feared, the cornering was a huge weakness for me. I would get just a little gapped and have to work extra hard to catch back on, then we'd hit another and I'd get a little gapped again. I wasn't the only one - and I wasn't the worst one - but when someone put in a big uphill attack on the third lap, the elastic broke.

At first there were four of us, but we kept picking up other shelled riders and by the second to last lap, there were eight or so in our group. A Priority Health girl and I ended up doing the bulk of the work in the last laps. By then, I knew who could climb, who NOT to get behind in the corners, and whose wheel to grab on the descents. A very tall woman attacked off the front mid-way through the last lap and we let her go - we knew we'd catch her at the twisty hill, and we did. I put in a big dig on that hill and hurt a couple women in our group. Priority Health and I let the tall girl take us down the hill and onto the flat. Glancing behind, I could see another rider chasing hard. We started up the final climb into the finish and dropped tall girl. I sat behind Priority Health, and the unattached chaser sat behind me. At 200 meters, I attacked and while I felt like I was pedaling through molasses, I picked up speed and Priority Health could not respond. The unattached rider, however, could. She came around me at 50 meters and I had nothing left. She 'won' our group and I crossed the line next in 13th place. I felt good that despite working super hard for the entire race, I had enough left to contend for the finish.

It was such a fun race - and so hard. If I can improve my cornering and descending skills, I'll finish with the front group next year. A good goal.

Stray thoughts:
- oh my god my HED stingers are AWESOME!!! They take five pounds off my bike and they practically float. Another rider asked me if I liked them and for a moment all I could do was cackle.

- can't blame the other riders for thinking me a bit odd for wearing cool weather knickers in the 85+ degree heat. I didn't really think about it until I got a number of comments. The knickers make me feel more comfortable and that's one less thing to worry about in a race. And its no worse than Tati sporting wool year-round.

- driving for hours after a hard race is its own challenge.

- this race was so well-run. So many people putting so much time and effort and it really paid off. Thank you!

- the announcer mentioned that there was a film crew there making a commercial for USA Cycling that will play on Versus during le tour. There's a miniscule chance that I will be in it! Wooo!