15-17 Jun O’Fallon Grand Prix

Road Race Podium at O'Fallon Grand Prix Illinois State Road Race: Sarah Rice, Jenna Kowlaski, Jeannie Kuhajek

HOT and JELLO – those were the key words my weekend at the O’Fallon Grand Prix in O’Fallon, Illinois, not far from St. Louis. HOT being the temperatures and JELLO being my legs. The weekend started with the Illinois State Road Race Championships on Saturday, followed by race six of the Illinois Cup Criterium series on Sunday.

The O'Fallon Fire Department helped provide relief from
the hot temperatures.

The road race on Saturday took in three laps of a 20 mi course through lovely rolling countryside for a 100 km race. Temperatures during the race averaged about 100 F (37 C) – HOT! Lami and I made the 5-hour-drive down on Friday afternoon, heading out for  a ride around the road course when we arrived. JELLO – jelly for my New Zealand friends – that’s what my legs felt like. After a mammoth effort on Stage 4 at Tour of Galena the previous Sunday, plus a busy week with lots of driving during the week and perhaps a bit too much going on, the warm temps didn’t help. Saturday my legs remained uncooperative and I suffered through the race. It would seem that my suffering was well shared by others; on lap two we had whittled the bunch to five, and then, with 25 km to go, we were down to just three: me, Sarah Rice (Spider Monkey) and Jenna Kowalski (Cynergy Cycles—Missing link Coaching), who was making her way across the country with her team from her home in California to Augusta, Georgia, for the US Nationals next weekend. By the latter half of the final lap my legs were threatening to go from jello to concrete. Conscious of my lack of zap I did my best to get away to avoid a sprint, but in the end the finish came down to a drag-race sprint between me and Jenna. The effort turned out to be a touch to long for my unhappy legs and, in an exciting finale (for those watching anyway!), I took second by 0.007 s—a tire width. I think it was only my speedy PSIMET wheels that kept me moving because it definitely wasn’t my legs. Fortunately, because Jenna was visiting from out of state, second was enough to give PSIMET the Illinois State Road Race title to go alongside the state Criterium title I won two weeks prior.

Me and Jenna Kowalski trying to escape the bunch in the crit.

The following day temperatures cooled slightly to go from unbearable to just uncomfortable, averaging about 95 F (35 C). Fortunately the O’Fallon Fire Department was on the scene both days to help cool things off. I warmed up for a looong time trying to clear my legs. The effort helped and, come race time, I was feeling much improved. Several riders who had skipped the road race the day before showed up with fresh legs, so I was expecting a hard race. The 10-corner course was a great breakaway course, but despite several efforts to split things up during the 40-min race, the bunch remained together for a sprint finish. Sarah made the first move, attacking with three corners to go. Her attack caused chaos in the bunch and I nearly lost position. I fought my way back to the front just as we cleared the last corner for the sprint. All else aside, coming past the very speedy Carrie Cash-Wooten (Pedal the Cause) in a sprint is a big ask. I crossed the line for my second second place of the weekend with St. Louis rider Britta Siegel taking third.

PSIMET wheels stand out in the bunch.

Big thanks to everyone at MetroEast Cycling a great weekend of cycling and to Jane Ore for a stellar job in the feed zone to ensure I had enough water to make it through the road race. The weekend was a great chance to dust off my sprinting, which I’ve been able to mostly avoid thus far. I have a strong suspicion I’ll be needing some top-end speed at my next event, 11-race series Tour of America’s Dairyland starting Thursday.

So far this season, I’m loving my custom PSIMET wheels. If you’re also a fan of PSIMET, follow the link to https://www.missionsmallbusiness.com/, click the link for ‘Log in & Support’ and then fill in the details for PSIMET, Elgin, Illinois, to help Rob win a grant for $250,000 to grow the PSIMET business.

8-10 Jun Tour of Galena

In our fourth straight full-on weekend of racing together, the Psimet women headed to Galena, Illinois, for what is quickly becoming one of the best races in the Midwest, the Tour of Galena, put on by xXx Racing. Galena is a small town of about 3500 located in the far northwest corner of Illinois. Because the area escaped glaciation during the recent ice ages, hills, valleys, bluffs and large amounts of exposed rock abound. The race organizers made full use of the varied terrain with abundant, leg-zapping hills dominating the first two days of racing. Adding extra challenge to the already testing tour, the whole weekend was insufferably hot with temps in the high 90’s (upper 30’s).

In its second year, the Tour of Galena was run as a four-stage, three-day omnium, where placement in each stage is awarded by points. The rider with the highest accumulation of points at the end of the tour is the winner. Riders choosing not to compete in all four stages can participate in any stage independent of the omnium competition.

Sharing the circuit with local traffic.

The Tour started on Friday afternoon with undoubtedly the most challenging stage, a 42 mi (70 km) circuit race – six laps of a 7 mi circuit that was either up or down with flat road, including a significant climb with a grueling two-part 15% section and semi-technical descent. Mia Moore (Les Petites Victoires) started things off early with a bold move off the front on the first lap. The heat and terrain were a bit much to go so early and we brought her back on the next lap, but not before the bunch was whittled down to just five riders – me, teammate Kelli Richter, ex-teammate Jessi Prinner (ABD), Sarah Rice (Spider Monkey) and Mia . We stuck together for another lap before I put in an attack heading into the climb. The pace shattered the group and the entire race was now solo riders dotted over the course. Approaching the climb on the next lap I could see Jessi chasing hard, 30 s back. One more big effort and I had two more laps of clear road behind, granting me a relaxed final lap and cruisey approach into the finish straight to start the tour off with a win for Psimet. Even more exciting, Kelli hunted down Jessi to take second in the stage in a close finish with Jessi claiming third.

All smiles nearing the finish in the Circuit Race.

Tired legs and all, we dragged ourselves out of bed Saturday morning to face a brutal 6 mi (10 km) time trial. The out-and-back course was rolly with a steep sweeping technical decent, up a seemingly endless 13% gradient to the turnaround for a screaming fast descent into a leg-zapping 400 m 14% climb. The team decided to take a conservative approach to the TT, opting to save our legs for the considerably longer effort of the afternoon’s road race. With time trial-specialist Jessi focused on winning the U23 National TT Champs in a few weeks, I knew from the get go that I was racing for second. And second I was with Jessi taking the win (by a full 50 s!) and Mia backing up her gutsy ride in the previous stage with third. Second was enough for me to hold onto the omnium lead heading into Stage 3. 

Coming into the finish of the Road Race solo.
Rider on the left is finishing the P1/2 Men's race.

Stage 3 Saturday afternoon (after a long hot shower and rejuvenating nap) was three laps of a 22-mile course for a smidge over 100 km—but with five substantial climbs each lap, long exposed ridges, boiling temperatures and tired legs, the course was demanding to say the least. The first lap is best summed up as conservative as we each tried to spin some life into our weary legs. On the second lap, Jessi and I escaped the bunch and battled on together, swapping turns for a full lap. Hoping that Jessi was spent from her TT effort, I did my best to push her limits on each climb. To my dismay, she matched my every effort with full composure and I soon concluded, judging from the pre-cramp twinges starting in my quads, that I was hurting myself more than her and resigned myself to trying to conserve what energy I had remaining for a sprint finish. With 5 points separating us and 6 points difference between first and second place for the stage, the tour lead rested on the outcome of the stage. Heading the final time up the steepest climb on the course, I was out of water. My legs spent, I was suffering. I stood up on the pedals to stretch my legs on the climb and, after a few pedal strokes, noticed that I couldn’t hear Jessi’s breathing. I stole a quick glance over my shoulder and saw her, two bike lengths back, head down, shoulders drooping. Seeing opportunity, I took off up the hill, re-energized by optimism. Aided by the varied terrain, I was quickly out of sight. 15 km left to race. Given Jessi’s TT skills, I didn’t let up until 200 m to go, when I was certain of victory. Jessi finished comfortably in second with Sarah just pipping Kelli on the line for third.     

Road Race podium: Jessi Prinner,
Jeannie Kuhajek, Sarah Rice

After a very long day on Saturday, the tour finished Sunday afternoon with a 60-min crit on a flat, 1-km course in the heart of Galena’s downtown district. With my lead in the omnium fairly secure and Kelli precariously in third, the goal for the team was to secure Kelli’s position. We decided to take an aggressive approach. Kim started things off with an excellent attack off the line. I countered and then Leah got away with Cady Chintis and Mia Moore (both Les Petite Victoires). Mia was sitting fifth in the omnium and one of two riders of threat to Kelli in the overall. She made a crafty move, slipping off the front of the break and powering away. This left Psimet to chase hard to protect Kelli’s position. As she revealed in the TT, Mia showed herself as a strong solo rider and her LPV teammates Cady and Jeannette Rho did an excellent job of interrupting our chase efforts. Eventually, not having made good progress in reeling in Mia and unsuccessful in launching Kelli, I found myself with a gap off the front and decided that a solo pursuit to neutralize Mia would be more effective. Ten laps to go. The gap was 30 s. Six laps, 26 s. I hadn’t managed to whittle away much time. I was starting to feel seriously overheated in the ridiculous temperatures and the efforts from the two previous days were wearing on me. Five laps. I could see her up the road in front of me. Four laps and I got a call the Mia had rejoined the field. Three laps. I could see the whole field in front of me now, so close yet so far. Two laps. Only 15 s to the field. One lap to go. Game over. The field picked up pace for the final sprint and disappeared from view. I had a cruisy final lap and was able to enjoy my third solo finish of the tour to take second in the stage and celebrate the omnium victory. Jessi won the bunch sprint for third in the stage, second overall, with Kelli taking fifth. The point spread between Mia and Kelli on the finish was enough to launch Mia into third overall, bumping Kelli back to fourth.



Tour of Galena Omnium podium: Sarah Rice, Mia Moore, Jeannie Kuhajek, Jessi Prinner, Kelli Richter

I have to say, xXx Racing put on an amazing tour. Huge thank yous to Lami, Wayne, Rob and Pauli for feeds during the circuit and road races. We wouldn’t have survived the heat without you guys! Thanks also to Bill Draper for some awesome photos. The casualty of the weekend was Marne who experienced a bit of trial by fire in her introduction to stage racing. The temperatures were a bit much for even experienced riders to balance to challenge of hydration and performance. Marne fell victim to dehydration and ended up celebrating the completion of her tour by passing out. Fortunately she had the good sense to wait until after she was off her bike!

Next up, Lami and I head south for the weekend for the O’Fallon Grand Prix. Hoping for cooler temps down that way…

1-3 Jun North Shore Crits plus Iowa RR

Receiving the Illionois State Crit Champion jersey.

After a full weekend of traveling and racing in the Quad Cities Friday through Monday, the week went by far too quickly and Friday arrived well before I was ready for it.  But arrive it did and with it the inaugural Lake Bluff Twilight Criterium presented by Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital. Lake Bluff is located north of Chicago on the lake front, an area often referred to as the North Shore. Since most of the racing I’ll be doing in the States is criterium racing, I better make sure everyone knows what a criterium is! For those not familiar, a criterium or ‘crit’ is a bicycle race run on a road circuit closed to traffic often near or around the central business district of a town. The circuit is usually about a mile or so long, giving fans a chance to see the riders come around every few minutes.

Early race, towards the back trying to move up.

As part of the USA CRITS Championship Series and partnered with the National Criterium Calendar Series race at Glencoe the following day, the Lake Bluff women’s race drew a top-class field of 50 riders with contingents from the top US teams. The large field and tight, windy course made positioning in the bunch difficult. Unfortunately, not being in full crit-racing mode quite yet, I didn’t head to the start line quite early enough to get a good spot and ended up on the very back row. Bad move. The consequence was that I spent the first 50 min of the 60 min race trying to move up.

Making ground, moving up in the bunch.

The only place to gain position on the narrow, 1.25-km course was along the start/finish straight, a head-wind, slightly uphill bit of road. My race consisted of sprinting full-gas along this straight, moving past five or six riders and then falling back four or five spots only to repeat the process the next lap, ever so slowly inching my way forward. After 25 laps of this, I could finally begin to see some road rather than just riders in front of me.  I was feeling pretty gassed from my effort and, with only 5 laps left to go, fighting hard to keep the position I had worked so hard to gain.

Sometime in the early part of the race, while I was way in the back oblivious to what was happening up front, three riders escaped the bunch and, although they never gained more than a 30-s lead, excellent teamwork aided by the windy course, meant that the break remained out of sight and survived to claim the podium spots. Devon Gorry (NOW and Novartis for MS) took the win with Liza Rachetto (Primal/MapMyRide) second and Kaitlin Antonneau (Exergy TWENTY12) third. I didn’t have much sprint left after sprinting so many times already, and the finish straight felt like it went on forever. In the end, I finish a very hard-earned fifteenth.

Grabbing a drink during the Glencoe Grand Prix.

Saturday afternoon, racing returned to the North Shore with the Glencoe Grand Prix. Glencoe is one of the best races in the Midwest, with an amazing job by race organizer Jon Knouse for five-year history of the race. I missed this one last year due to illness so was keen to have a good race. Although the field was just as classy with most of the same riders and the racing a bit more aggressive, I started with heaps better position than the previous afternoon and, with the wider course offering more opportunity for movement in the field, I was able to actually contribute to the race rather than just struggling for position as I had the previous day. 

Showing off my new jersey and medal.

In the end, despite a much better race on my part, my result was only moderately better as I crossed the line in twelfth. The bunch finish was won by the ever-amazing Laura Van Gilder (Mellow Mushroom) followed by Erica Allar (RideClean) and Christina Gokey-Smith (NOW and Novartis for MS). Although not the finish I was hoping for, twelfth was enough to put me as the top-placed Illinois-based rider, earning me the Illinois Cat 1/2 State Crit Champion title. Sweet!

Me and Brian checking out the view
over the MS River Valley north
of Sherrill.

Immediately following podium presentations, Brian and I hopped in the car and drove across the state back to Iowa for the HHS Debate Road Race early the following morning. We dragged ourselves out of bed for the early start, feeling completely exhausted from a very full couple of weeks. The race was on a gorgeous 10-mile rolling circuit outside of the small town Sherrill Iowa, just north of Dubuque. Unfortunately, due to lack of promotion, only a small field turned out of the race. Despite feeling exhausted, I was able to win the women’s race. Did I mention that I was the only woman racing? That probably made the win a bit easy. Just a note, anyone looking for a great road race in preparation for Tour of Galena next year, put this one on your calendar.

Next up, this weekend I rejoin my Psimet teammates to tackle the Tour of Galena, a four-stage omnium starting with a challenging circuit race on Friday afternoon.

26-28 May Quad Cities Weekend



Snake Alley Women's Podium: Jeannie Kuhajek (Psimet),
Kaitlin Antonneau (Exergy TWENTY 12), Emma Bast (Speedfix)

The Psimet women tackled a huge challenge this past weekend: five races in three days at the Quad Cities Criterium weekend. The goal for the weekend was to push our limits, both physically and mentally, and to grow as a team. And we did just that and more.

Snake Alley

The weekend started on Saturday with the infamous Snake Alley. Snake Alley, located in Burlington, Iowa, is once recognized as “the crookedest street in the world.” The road was constructed in 1894 to link the downtown business district and the neighborhood shopping area of the region. Bricks were laid at an angle to allow horses better footing as they descended. The street was completed in 1898 and was later named for its resemblance to a snake winding its way down the hill. Snake Alley is a one-way street, with all traffic heading downhill—except for one day each year when cyclists tackle the uphill climb.

Snake Alley: the view from the top

Snake Alley is 84 m long (about a block) and has 5 switchbacks in an 18 m climb with an average gradient of 21 percent. Being the hill lovers that they are (NOT), our sprinters Leah and Katie, joined by Marne still in her first few weeks of racing on the road, tackled the Women’s 2/3 race, six laps of the fifteen block course, while Kelli, Kim and Jeannie took on the Pro/1/2/3 twelve lapper. The weather was reasonable in the morning for the 2/3 race, but by afternoon, temps for the Pro/1/2/3 race were ridiculously hot, heading towards triple digits (35-38 °C).

Last year, Snake Alley was my first race in the US. Sleep-deprived and jet-lagged, my performance was a bit subpar. This year, allowing a bit more time to recover from travel paid off. I got off to a good start off the line and led the field the first time up the climb.  The front of the field quickly whittled to five by the second climb and by about the fourth lap we were down to two, me and US National Masters Crit champion Debbie Milne (Absolute Racing). To add another level of challenge to the race, I completely underestimated the temperatures, and not even halfway through the race, I was out of water and suffering miserably in the heat.

I think Debbie was suffering too—which pretty reasonable because she attacked every single time up the hill!—because the next lap, along the flat part of the course, I had my head down following Debbie’s wheel, trying to will my body temperature back down, we took a wrong turn off the course. I know. How do you take a wrong turn on a criterium course? Well, we did. Debbie was following the route of a couple of riders on the course in front of us. Turns out those riders were warming up and weren’t supposed to be on the course. They turned off onto a side road when they saw us coming. And we followed. Fortunately I realised immediately and turned around quickly. But the detour was enough to allow two riders to sneak in front and take the lead. Debbie took longer to turn around and she spent to rest of the race chasing, finishing 5^th. I put in a big effort and caught the two new leaders before the next climb. One lap later we were back down to two and had a new riding companion, super talented young pro rider Kaitlin Antonneau (Exergy TWENTY 12).

Kelli entering the bottom of the snake.

My body temperature was now through the roof. One lap to go, last climb up the hill, I tried to push it to drop Kaitlin but the heat prevailed at thwarting my effort. I back off at the top and let Kaitlin lead down the hill and along the flat. Coming into the last corner for the sprint, I was feeling confident about the win, but when Kaitlin jumped out of the corner to start the sprint, my overheated motor was slow to respond and she got a good gap on me. I made up ground in the finishing straight, but the deficit was too big. But second I will take on a course like that! Teammate Kelli enjoyed her first experience with the snake, finishing 14^th and I suspect ready to come back next year for a top 10 result. Kim wasn’t feeling well and got off to a slow start. Her passion for the course prevailed and despite little cooperation from her body, she hung in there to finish an admirable 18^th. The podium was Antonneau (1^st), me (2^nd) and Emma Bast (Speedfix, 3^rd).

Melon City

Sunday morning the team headed an hour north to Muscatine Iowa for the Melon City Criterium. The course was a one-mile circuit with a fast decent complete with speed bump (judder bar) at the bottom, sharp uphill gradient, and two 90-degree turns at the top. The course circumnavigated a lovely park with statues of wild animals—elephants, deer, moose bison—variously dotted throughout terrain.

Both Sunday and Monday the whole team tackled two races each day, with the Women’s 2/3 race in the morning and the Pro/1/2/3 in the afternoon. Temps were pleasant for the morning race on Sunday but headed skyward once gain by afternoon. We used the races on Sunday to each work on individual challenges and to work out tiredness in our legs from the snake. The morning’s race was fast and exciting, with lots of aggressive riding from the field. In the last few laps, Marne helped me chase down a dangerous break and it was all together heading into the final climb. I attacked hard to push the pace up the hill, but my effort was a wee bit early as I started fading near the top. Around the final corner, 50 m to go, a felt Emilie Flanigan (Midwest Cycling Community) at my hip, bearing down and oozing determination for the win. After a difficult few months, I too was determined and pushed hard to keep the lead. She veered in close as we stood to sprint, shoulder to shoulder. Unfortunately for me the contact knocked me off balance. To avoid crashing, I quickly sat down to steady myself. Having  lost my acceleration, I was lucky to take 3^rd while Emilie and Mia Loquai sprinted past for the top two spots. Teammate Kim was not far behind in 9^th.

We lined up again a few hours later, each of us determined to further push our limits. Perhaps because of the heat (again nearing 100), the afternoon’s race was less exciting than the morning’s.  With one of her signature blazing attacks, Debbie Milne (Absolute Racing) escaped and soloed to the win, nearly catching the field.  Kelli and Kim both showed some guts off the front, Kelli putting in an attack and Kim bridging to a break. Heading into the start/finish with two laps to go, Debbie, still solo off the front, was threatening to catch the back of the bunch. Rather than allow the catch, the announcer eliminated a lap from the race and we were given the bell for one lap to go. Caught off-guard, I quickly moved into better position, but ended up boxed in on the final climb. Things opened up near the top and I was picking up spots around the final turn. Then, Emma Bast (Speedfix) slid out directly in front of me. I grabbed my brakes to avoid going over top of her. Meanwhile, several riders sped past over the finish line. Fortunately I stayed upright, redirected my bike and salvaged 9^th over the line. Kim had a stellar race, pushing several personal boundaries, and finished right behind in 11^th.

Quad Cities

Leah taking over on the front in the Quad Cities W2/3.

Me getting cleaned up after crashing.

Back across to the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, Monday we headed to Rock Island Illinois for the Quad Cities Criterium, one of the longest running cycle races in the country. The flat, fast, three-quarter mile hourglass-shaped course just one block from the Mississippi River features ten corners with brick crosswalks throughout. We awoke to cooler temperatures—which was a relief—but the source of the cool down was rain—not a relief. With the combination of slippery pavement and slick bricks, the morning’s race turned into a crash feast, claiming half team.

In impressive fashion, Psimet was in control off the line with Leah and I putting in turns at the front to drive the pace and keep things safe. A crash early on took out Kim, and then, in the final lap, Leah and I went down. Marne, Kelli and Katie did an awesome job to stay upright, with Marne finishing 9^th, Leah 13^th and me 14^th. The casualty of the day was Leah’s bike. Her crash took her over top of another rider. While she escaped more than a few scrapes and bruises, she totaled the right shifter lever on her bike and was out for the rest of the day.


Psimet one the start line for the Quad Cities Pro1/2/3: Kim, Jeannie, leah

View of the race with the Mississippi River in the background.

The afternoon brought sunshine and as the pavement dried blazing hot temperatures returned. The team started the afternoon, one down with Leah on the sidelines, slightly unnerved from the morning. Nevertheless, we turned it into our best team showing of the weekend. We lost Kim early on, dropping off the pace as she struggled with a sore shoulder from the morning’s contact with the road. Over the first three-quarters of the race, Marne, Kelli and I each put in big efforts off the front in promising breaks or patrolling the front to keep anyone from chasing down our teammate up the road. With seven laps to go, Marne punctured and was unable to regain the peloton. Kelli’s break was caught and former teammate Jessi Prinner (ABD) and Debbie Milne (Absolute Racing) escaped to take first and second. The bunch seemed fairly exhausted from the active race (I know I was!) and Kiwi Hayley Giddens (ISCorp) slipped off the front. Kelli went to the front and hammered it to try to bring her back to give me a chance at third, but the race, and in fact the weekend, had taken its toll and Kelli and I both faded towards the end, finishing 19^th and 10^th, respectively. Not the result we wanted, but teamwork-wise, a stellar race and a definitely high point on which to end the weekend!

Kelli solo off the front in the Quad Cities Pro1/2/3.

Next up, the Lake Bluff Twilight Criterium on Friday night and the Glencoe Grand Prix on Saturday.