Soul Star Racing

After kicking off my New Zealand summer season with an exciting weekend at the Armstrong Festival of Cycling in early December, including grabbing the QOM in the road race and scoring an awesome solo win in the criterium, I’ve had a rather quiet season. To balance out the lack of blog-worthy news, I have two exciting announcements.

Leading the bunch through Corner 1 in
Tour de Vineyards Stage 1

First, a bit about my season so far. The final week of 2011 I get off to a good start in the Tour de Vineyards, placing fourth in the opening prologue and winning the bunch sprint for second in Stage 1. Then, a latent sinus infection swamped my immune system and I was forced to abandon the tour after Stage 2. Essentially, in addition to a general complete lack of energy, congestion in my head made it difficult to stand without feeling dizzy—not such a ideal state for riding a bicycle.

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Early attempt to escape from the bunch at
Elite Roads Champs.

Eight days later, unsure as to how recovered I was, I headed down to the Elite Road Champs in Christchurch. Buoyed by the excitement of riding a ‘new’ bike (Brian and I decided to swap frames, his Specialized SL2 being a bit lighter than my aero-frame Litespeed), I went in with a positive outlook.  But seven times up “the hill”—a 1.5 km climb with an average gradient of 7.5%, up to 13.4% in places—was not something my body was keen on quite yet. I finished thirteeth in a disappointing and unremarkable performance. But, I did finish, a not so unremarkable feat given the successive cramping of every single muscle in my legs each time up the hill.

Feeling pretty worn out, still periodically dizzy and with lots of congestion in my head, I set training aside to focus on re-establishing some equilibrium in my body. After about 6 weeks, I was gradually feeling better and decided to start back doing some formal training again. Unfortunately, I encountered a slight stumbling block when I collided with a van that pulled out in front of me on my way to work. My bike took the brunt of the impact with the van, which was substantial given the damage to the frame and fork, while I did battle with the road. I landed hard on my right side/back. Cleared of any fractures or organ damage, I’m still working through exact issues. I am, however, extremely fortunate to come away with only minor injuries so fingers crossed.

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Holly sporting SSR kit

Now for the exciting bit. Team announcements! I’m happy to announce for 2012 my involvement with two women’s cycling teams. Over the NZ winter, I’ll head to the US where I’ll join the Chicago-based PSIMET Racing women’s team. Stay tuned for more about PSIMET Racing closer to May. While in NZ, I’ll be racing with the nearly formed Soul Star Racing (SSR). We’re planning to kick things off next weekend with our debut at the Oceania Road Champs in Queenstown.       

The SSR team is packed with talent with riders Serena Sheridan, Aimee Burns, Gabby Vermunt, Kat Jones, myself, and junior development rider Holly Edmondson. Headed by Team Manager Glenn Te Raki, SSR is a registered domestic trade team, I believe one of only two women’s team to be registered in NZ. Awesome progress for women's racing in NZ and we're hoping that SSR will help stimulate the emergence of lots more women's teams. We’re working on our official race schedule, to be announced soon, with racing planned for the next four weekends.

To help the team meet the costs of racing, we’re trying out a Team Membership Club. Membership is open to anyone who wants to join and there are two membership options, “pro” and “supporter”. The Pro option ($250) includes an SSR team jersey (your choice of pink or blue) and the Supporter option ($120) includes an SSR team polo. If anyone is interested a lesser (or greater) membership, I’m sure Glenn is open to discussion. All funds will go toward rider development and racing costs. Any proceeds beyond the expenses of the team will go to St Johns Ambulance. For more information about the SSR team, visit the Soul Star Racing Facebook Page. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Soul-Star-Racing-NZ-womens-cycling-team-SSR/347928735231222