Montreal...oh Montreal...

So thanks to these people, I somehow survived the week of racing in Montreal. The weather wasn't so great, the culture was shocking and, well, I had my hands full on the bike every single day. I'm sure I raced harder than anyone as I spent way too much time in the wind and not protected by the draft of the peleton AND I climbed past fifty or so riders to make the front group of thirty. C'est la vie (HA!) as the French Canadians would say. First is Christina, only the best psychotherapist (soingier) in the world of pro cycling. Next is comic relief Brian (mechanic). Final, my team at the final banquet (of which scaled down version where held each night, most mandatory, after the traditional "shower" at a local school, not mandatory but highly coveted). I had TWO glasses of wine in celebration of my survival of what turned out to be easily the most challenging and stressful week of bike racing of my career!

Can't add much to further describe my time in Montreal besides UNBELIEVABLE. Looking forward to Philly!!!!!

Etiquette Lesson: Proper Passing in Portland

Oregonians take bike riding to a different level. At least that was my experience last week during the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic. Portland has the reputation for being one of the greenest and most bike-friendly cities in the US and I believe it. We received a map with bike friendly routes clearly marked and rode several of them, even right downtown. Most of the routes have bike lanes; for the most part, all are bike friendly with cars actually driving by slowly and giving the cyclists plenty of space. But by far the best aspect, now take notes here, was the bike commuter passing lane (above). Part of the bike route design is to actually allow SAFE PASSING for cyclists- go figure! There are clearly marked lanes for the cyclists, designed to guide both riders to ride straight and avoid any sort of potential collision that could be caused by the passing rider. What a concept- there are so many applications for such a principle...whether actual lines or imaginary lines are utilized. After all, other sports have a similar visual guides...swimming has lanes, track has lanes...why not cycling?! Think about it...oh wait, we do utilize an imaginary line system...I learned that in bike racing etiquette 101. I must have hit my head and forgotten.

Hey Alison, we're in New Mexico!

The 2008 Tour of the Gila was last week and left this Florida girl feeling a little out of her element! Silver City, New Mexico, host of the race, resides in what is termed "the high desert." It's basically dry, dry and more dry...oh and with mountains...and tumbleweeds! Silver City's humidity is 9%- slightly lower than the 85+% we have at home in West Palm Beach. The town itself is an eclectic potpourri of free spirits of all ages from all walks of life. The downtown area looks as though time forgot it...a lot of time forgot it! Yet the coffee shops all offer free wi-fi and Issacs (restaurant and bar) offers a quite extensive wine list. We felt a bit like we might be in the twilight zone, especially the night when we dined in town, seated next to a group of about 15 of the hugest Harley dudes I've ever seen, when one of our three Canadians asked sincerely, "are we in New Mexico?" Love ya Alison- it was actually a really good question!

The race itself consisted of five stages, 3 of which were road stages and included substantial climbing and the other two being a time trial and a crit. Aside from my sinus longing for the tropics, things went quite well for me. I finished 6th overall, was in the top 10 every day and I even won my first-ever sprint bonus on the road! The Aaron's team had a great week too with Julie finishing in 8th and Felicia in 3rd and Alison taking 2nd in two stages. This is Julie at the top of the climb on the time trial course; the finish is 4 miles downhill toward the horizon.

A special thank you goes to the pharmacist at Super Wal-Mart who helped me turn my bedroom into a sauna with the help of a $12 Vicks Vaporizer!!! And thank goodness for Vaseline (use your imagination)!!!

Aaron's WINS Twilight...again!

Super big congrats go to my teammate Rebecca Larson who rode to victory in the Athen's Twilight Criterium on Saturday night!!! We had a strong team in the racing including Meredith, Erica, Anna, Catharine Powers, myself and Rebecca and our plan was to race HARD. We sent attack after attack including several stellar moves by Rebecca until one stuck. In the finale, Rebecca was able to come around the Cheerwine rider to take the win- the third in four years for Aaron's at Athens! It was so exciting, especially since Rebecca had committed to this race in particular way back at training camp. It feels so good to see a plan come together...and it really feels good to win!!!

Behind the Scenes of Aarons

A lot of work goes into the success of the Aaron's Corporate Furnishings Pro Women's Cycling Team. Mostly, my responsibility as a rider is to come prepared to race and then give it all I've got when I get there. Carmen, our director, orchestrates a symphony of logistics, staff, riders and more, much of which I probably don't even know about. I CAN tell you a few things: things generally go smoothly so Carmen ROCKS and we couldn't do it without the unbelievably generosity and hospitality of the families we call host housing.

It's this second factor that I can tell you the most about. Instead of the team staying in a hotel, eating out at restaurants for every meal and mechanics setting up shop in the parking lot, Carmen works with each race management team to secure us a family willing to host us in their home. An BOY did we get hooked up at Redlands. Last year we stayed with Carol and Dick Gentile and thank goodness we behaved ourselves because they opened up their house to us again this year. Carol and Dick are unbelievable host family, so much so that by the end of the week we were calling Carol "MOM"!!! We literally took over their house:

-Bunking in every spare bedroom and office in their house
-Setting up massage in their living room
-Cooking all sorts of strange concoctions in their kitchen
-Turning the dining room into our pantry
-Putting their laundry room to the test
-Taking over the garage for our a bike shop
-Conferencing at their dinner table well into the night

Carol and Dick are true PRO- they knew what to expect and they couldn't wait to have us back! Crazy, right? And there's more...most nights Carol prepared enough food to feed an army (and we did our best to eat it all!), they made signs for us (see the one on their garage behind us in the photo above) and put them all over their neighborhood and Dick drove them both all over every single course we raced to cheer us on at what seemed like every turn.

They were out of this world hosts and I want to thank them from the bottom of all our Aaron's hearts!!!!! Carol and Dick Gentile ROCK!

Redlands Stage 3: Sunset Loop

I love this race- the Sunset Loop is one of my favorites hands down!!! I'm so excited to race on the Sunset Loop I can't even tell you!!! The day started out overcast and chilly so I bundled up for the 30 minute ride from our host housing to the course. Once we arrived at the course we were greeted by these fellows: They are Ethan, Josh and Reed Haglund and are the sons of a host housing family who Carmen stayed with in 1997!!! I'm not sure they were even born yet then!

Tension could be felt in the thick haze that was the air around downtown Redlands. Today's race starts with a neutral section from the start line out of town to the actual Sunset Loop course and it is a battle every year. It's the most non-neutral neutral on the NRC circuit- josseling for a position in the front of the pelaton is critical as entering "the loop" in the back means you're immediately behind because it's super narrow, twisty and turny. Here we are, not racing, riding neutral up to "the loop":We are so wide across the road because we are going slightly up hill and everyone is trying to zip up the outside to move to the front. I'm third from the left with the blue arms, beside the two girls in green...probably trying to move up closer to the front.

The race this year was not unlike any other year, one by one riders were dropped as the pelaton dwindled down from the group you see above to less than twenty riders. Aaron's had a good day, especially our superwoman Meredith Miller, who AGAIN spent much of the day off the front in a break. I had a good day, not great but good and loved every minute of the Sunset Loop. I can't wait 'till Redlands next year!!!

Redlands Criterium

The Redlands crit is legendary...possibly one of the toughest stage race crits we do all year. Not only is it fast but it's also extremely technical! But today, something happened to me that has never happened: I got a call up!!! In big races, the top riders are introduced to the crowd and "called up" to the front of the field at the starting line. (I'm thrid from the left above with the blue arm warmers on the front row.) This is such a big deal to me I can't even tell you...I felt a little self-conscious when I got up there but it was pretty cool :) ......and that was where my good day ended....I must have started the race with a slow leak because I struggled for the entire race only to notice with FIVE laps to go that I had a flat tire! Fortunately Carmen confirmed that I would receive pack time because I could barely hang on the back of the field. Trying to corner on a flat is scary and I was really happy to call it a day. Rebecca and Kat shined for the Aaron's team with a fifth and sixth place finish respectively.

And this is after the Beaumont RR- Redlands

So, as you can see, Beaumont went well!!! Aaron's definately raced hard and strong in this road race through the California town of Beaumont and it's surrounding foothills. Each of the four laps left the front group smaller and smaller as we would crest the top of the main climb with about thirteen riders. Meredith spent the majority of the race off the front, in a small break first then solo! Remarkably she still had enough left to help Julie and I bring Kat to line for the WIN!!! It was a great day, the team was awesome and boy winning sure is fun!

Redlands Stage 1: Beaumont

Today's stage was a 68 mile trek through and around the outskirts of Beaumont, California. We did four laps of a course that included flats and climbing on each lap. We drove the course yesterday and from the van, it seemed quite narrow and technical in places especially on the climbing sections yet our hopes were high for a big day. I wasn't as nervous today because I am part of the best team hands down. We are here in Beaumont to make our mark and I'm anxious, not nervous, about the magnitude of challenges we may face together today. I believe in my teammates and so this will be fun for sure. Here are Kat and I doing our best to relax before the race. I love these girls and I have plenty more to tell you about Beaumont.....later.....

Redlands School Visit

A BIG part of what we do as professional cyclists for the Aaron's Corporate Furnishings Womens Pro Cycling Team is visit elementary schools to teach the children about bicycle safety. The day before the Redlands Bicycle Classic started we all visit the Reche Canyon Elementary School. A croud of first through sixth graders gathered to learn about bike safety and our lives as professional cyclists. We aren't professional speakers but we do all thoroughly enjoy the time with the kids!

Redlands Here We Come!

I'm at the Redlands Bicycle Classic, one of the longest-running stage races in the United States. This race is also typically the first big test of the year and often the biggest thing since sliced bread in my early season! I am here with the Aaron's squad of Meredith Miller, Kat Carroll, Rebecca Larson, Allison Testerote and Julie Beverege along with our mechanic Jon, sougnier (translation: care giver) Mike and the most fearless of all leaders, our director Carmen. Day one we rode together to spin the flight out of our legs and I got this great shot of Kat's technique! We checked out the time trial course and also rode VERY EASY up the Sunset Loop climb...then scooted back to our host house (Carol and Dick Gentille).

THIS IS A TEST!

Pam and I took Todd's Honda Element, a.k.a. The Elephant, and headed up to the Space Coast for the first official Time Trial AND Team Time Trial of the year. Todd had to work this particular Saturday, which never happens, so he wasn't able to join the Girls for a little TT fun but we assured him we could handle it on our own.

TEST #1: I left the house at 5am in The Elephant to go pick up Pam for the day and noticed my cell phone battery was drained. I must have forgotten to charge it but that's ok, Pam will have her phone, right? RIGHT buuuuut I was a little surprised when I arrived to pick her up to her telling me that Todd had been trying to call me...to tell me that I had accidentally packed HIS cycling shoes, not mine! Oops...so we loaded her bike and bags and drove back to my house to swap the shoes...oh and grab my cell phone charger. (Yeah, I've done this before!)

TEST #2: Did you bring the directions? Yeah, uh no, they're on my desk at home! Grab those when you get your shoes...

TEST #3: We did actually arrive, about 30 minutes later than projected, but without any wrong turns. The directions were good, at least! So a quick pick up of race numbers, stop off at the port-o-potty and it's time to get ready to race. We decided to pump up the race wheels and discs since, of all things, that would be our biggest challenge of the day. We did it...not easily and not without a little stress, but we did it!

Then, presto- chango girls in skin suits head out to warm up. And I'm ready and Pam's ready...the 2 of us are doing the individual 20k time trial...It's time for the final step...

TEST #4: ...change the wheels...thank goodness Pam had taught me well years ago so this one was no problem! I did it and we were ready to go.

As we roll up to the line to start the TT our record against the tasks of the day to get us here to the starting line is 2-2...speaking for myself, I can say all of that was forgotten and I looked forward to around twently-eight minutes of suffering, better knows as the Time Trial, my favorite event in cycling. Weird, but true. Pam starts right after me. The wind was strong, which is normal in Florida, but I felt good and as I crossed the line, I was happy. Pam crossed shortly after me and, based on her full-time Mommy job and 20 miles per week of training, I'd say she too had a stellar ride. Next up: Team Time Trial...and we're the only girl team!

More than anything, though, for me, it was a fabulous day with my best friend and that's what I remember more about this day. As far as I'm concerned, we got a 100%...100% of FUN that is!

Burrito Boy

Congrats to my Honey Bunny...he is the lucky winner of a year's supply of Chipolte burritos!!! REALLY- Todd won 52 Chipolte burritos in a register to win contest at the grand opening of the store by our house. They couldn't have chosen a better winner as Todd already eats burritos almost every single day and most of them are Chipolte...only down side for the company is that they might notice a significant drop in revenues during the time Todd uses his freebies. What are the chance, right? Apparently, pretty good! Nice going Burrito Boy!!!

WE WIN!

The day before the Tour of California crit, Carmen had us race the Norland Corporate Criterium as our first chance to the season to practice our leadout. Of course the main objective was to win the race but we wanted to do so by properly executing a leadout. Several pro teams had a presence in the race, although the field wasn't more than 25 riders. The Colavita girls were quite active, attacking over and over again but our Aaron's foursome of me, Meredith, Erica and Anna, shut them all down. In the end, we organize our leadout with me going first, followed by Meredith and finally Anna delivering Erica through the last corner. As you can see, Erica easily dusted the comptition and Anna even rolled in for fourth! Nice!!!

The Hansley Brothers, performing LIVE and in concert in Gainesville

Doesn't it sound like these guys would be the next N'Sync? The Hansley Brothers, Matt and Seth Hansley, actually aren't a boy band. They are bike racers...but it sounds good, right! Matt's on the left, Todd in the middle and Seth on the right. They're lined up for the Pro-1-2 criterium in Gainesville, FL, our first local race weekend of the year. Unfortunately none of the three pulled of the W but we all agreed that it was good to have the first one under our belts.

Rebecca and I did the women's race and we pulled out a fantastic uphill sprint to take the race for Aarons. The women's field was HUGE for local race, include ANOTHER Hansley, little sister Christianne, and about 35 other women. Rebecca and I attacked a ton but the field seemed bent on chasing only us. With about 7 laps to go, I took control, riding tempo on the front, protecting Rebecca until it was time for her to sprint. Rebecca made me feel good after the race as she said, "I had to win the sprint; you did your job so I had to do mine!" I love racing with teammates and Rebecca is one of the best, a true pro. Here we are after the race and picking up our prize money! Next stop...Chipolte...and who's there too...none other than the Hansleys!

Here Ya Go, ERICA!

LOVE YA - MEAN IT! Sorry Meredith but Erica made me do it...and this is, although entirely too short, really priceless! To everyone else, I would like to introduce to you Erica Allar and her back up dancer, Meredith Miller. Tour of California was our first NRC team race of the year and, well, let's say, everyone really came out of their shells!!!

(NOTE: If you know how to turn this the right way, please leave me a comment, otherwise, sorry you had to turn your head to the left to appreciate this all-to-short exhibition.)

Meet the Nico-MONSTER

This is my Christmas present to Todd last year. I picked him out myself and thought he was a good choice because he had big ears that made him cuter than all the other little Boxers...well, like they say about puppies with big feet, the same apparently holds true for big ears...he grew from an adorable 8 pounder into over ten times that in just one year! We named him Nico, after the Belgian cyclist Nico Matan. Today he's easily pushing 100 pounds...and always on the edge of out of control...hense, the Nico-MONSTER! But, of course, we love him!

Day 5 Team Camp

Our last day at training camp was a sunshine filled beauty! You should know that we've been situated right on the beach all this time. Here's a shot of our home for the weekend, which doubled as bike build central. I think somewhere around 25 bikes were built here during camp by our uber mechanic John with some help from SRAM's Paul and Chad. Rebecca and I posed for a quick snap shot in front of one magnificent scene. there's not much beach here as the coastline is all rock but it was certainly beautiful. So after the quick photo, Micah, our team's General Manager, wisked us off to the airport....and so we were on our way home.

Day 4 Team Camp

On the four day, there was sun!!! So I don't have a lot of shots because we did quite a bit of riding super-model style....meaning we rode in 2-by-2 fashion showing off our Specialized Ruby S-Works bikes, SRAM groupos and Hincapie clothing :) Plug Plug Plug! Anyway, other than riding, we did a lot of what you see here...this became known as "study hall" as at one point there were no less than nine laptops on line, cyclist pecking way at its keys. Everything from homework to research data entry to BLOGGING got done in study hall. Erica finishes some Spanish homework, Catherine graded some homework, I blogged and emails from all the laptops flew literally all over the world from our little "study hall!"

Apparently, I had the heat turned up too high last night because Kat's hair looked like this when she work up- my hair cannot do this!

Day 3 Team Camp

Today was possibly the most important day of our team camp so far. Although we woke up to a pouring windy rainstorm, our spirits were high as we loaded into the Aaron's van for the short drive over the mountains and to Specialized World Headquarters in Morgan Hill, CA. On the agenda at Specialized was a behind-the-scenes tour of the facility, a meeting with the Brand Manager of the Designs 4 Women (by which the Aaron's Team is fully sponsored) and, the highlight of the day, the World Championship Specialized employee LUNCH RIDE!

So, we unloaded the vans and headed to the front door. in our Hincapie "Sunday Best" team attire. This is Kat Carroll- wearing HIGH (sort of) HEELS! Never seen that before!

So here are a few shots of the facility...we visited the helmet research and development lab where we saw a first hand demonstration test of the very helmet the Aaron's team will be wearing. It was quite dramatic as we witnessed a 3-G-force impact, through which our helmet would have successfully protected the rider. Impressive!

You might not know this but Specialized makes the best water bottles on the market, hands down. They basically make water bottles for everybody else! Here's part of the process, where the do the artwork, and it includes a series of UV lights to help dry the ink. Everywhere you looked in this area of the facility were boxes and boxes filled with water bottles!

We also saw some top-secret departments at Specializes where a "no-photography" rule was enforced...from shot is our fearless leader Director Sportif Carmen DeLuisio sliding down a fire pole from a secret department to the bike-build shop. Also, we met this guy hard at work asleep on a stack of wheel bags!

This is Mario Cippolini's bike post-crash from an impact with a barrier. Unbelievable King Mario walked away unscathed but some of the tubing on this bike was severely compromised and buckled from the impact of the barricade. This is clearly a monument of stature for Specicalized as it represents the purpose of their hard work. Again, this place is impressive...these are the people who make the technology of cycling happen.

Our tour ends in the Marketing Department where Catherine Powers finds herself a new set of go-go boots, which we were told, could easily equipped with cleats! Eron Chorney inspired us all with an explanation of what the Designs 4Women brand is all about. We are now the women of Specialized...we represent strong, smart and athletic women of cycling. It is our mission to continue to reach out to the next generation of cyclist, no matter what age or "stage of the game"...we'll be looking for women who love cycling just like we do and we can't wait to help them find their way to the best line of women's cycling products in the world: Specialized D4W.

Oh, and we did head out with a few brave soles on the Lunch Ride-it was possibly the worst weather I've ever witnessed from my saddle but fun nonetheless. Felicia says "we won" meaning the Aaron's women beat the Specialized employees. She says the finish line was "back there where we were in front" and hey, I'm going with that!!!!!!!