18-19 May 2013 PSIMET Fox River Omnium

 

After racing in St. Louis, Starla, Kate and I headed north to the northwest suburbs of Chicago for some training near my hometown of Crystal Lake.  On the weekend, we were joined by team captain Jenn Reither for the PSIMET Fox River Omnium. The race was a perfect opportunity to show support for two of our incredible sponsors, PSIMET custom wheels and ENZO’s Buttonhole chamois cream, embro, and chain lube. I am SO stoked to have these two awesome Chicagoland-based sponsors on board at Vanderkitten!

 

Me and Kelli Richter with Rob Curtis (PSIMET) on the start line at Fox River Grove.

 

The Omnium is a perfect pairing of two fabulous courses. Saturday the Elgin Cycling Classic covers a fast, rolling course with a fun technical slight downhill chicane, while Sunday the Fox River Grove Criterium, bearing the course description “a hill next to a ski jump”, encompasses a 450 m climb maxing out at 15% and a smooth, fast descent that meanders through a quiet residential area. PSIMET and ENZO’s have both been incredibly supportive of women’s racing, and it showed in the strong women’s fields in all six women’s races on offer for the weekend. Impressive was the number of masters women who raced both the 30+ and the open women’s races. Also noteworthy about the races was the bigger prize purse for the women’s open field relative to the men. Way to go PSIMET!

Women's Masters podium with Kelli Richter and Leah Sanda at Elgin Cycling Classic.

I tackled four races in the two days, winning both 30+ women’s races to earn the omnium jersey. The result didn’t come easily, however, with pressure from an in-form Kelli Richter (PSIMET) in all four races. It was awesome sharing the podium on Saturday with PSIMET teammies from last year, Kelli (2^nd) and Leah Sanda (3^rd). In the Open women’s races, I was joined by my Vanderkitten teammates where we took the opportunity to work on teamwork to make for an attack-filled and exciting race. Several riders, especially Sarah Rice (Spider Monkey), foiled any efforts for a breakaway, but in the sprint, Kate led out Starla to the line for a one-two finish. Watch footage of the race here.

 

Me, Kate, and Starla lining it up in the Open Women's race at Elgin.

 

Sunday, a fast start up the hill disintegrated the field. We launched Kate solo early on (which she didn’t particularly enjoy!) while Cady Chintis (LPV) showed some excellent climbing form to put in a valiant chase effort. With Kelli putting pressure on from behind, I put in an attack that saw me go solo for second while Starla and Jenn outsprinted Kelli to give Vanderkitten a one-two-three-four finish!

Kate on the attack on the hill at Fox River Grove.

Cady Chintis (LPV) chasing. 

Jenn, me, Kate, Starla and Kelli--Fox River Grove Podium.
 

Over the past three weekends of hard racing, I’m finding that I’m having to do a lot of relearning. As my fitness improves every time I get on the bike. I’m starting to be able to dig deeper and ask more of my cardiovascular system, which my intestines don’t particularly approve of. Intense efforts tend to induce a lot of GI distress, which means not much sleep after a hard race, but I’m learning that I need to eat earlier than usual before racing and that certain foods that were previously benign are best avoided when prepping to race. Importantly though, things are going in the right direction. Despite the challenges, I’m finding form, one pedal stroke at a time and getting better every day.

 

Climbing the hill at Fox River Grove.

Huge thank yous to Rob Curtis at PSIMET Wheels for the invitation to come race, to Karrie Ozyuk at Lucky Brake Cycles in Crystal Lake for hosting us for an fun evening at the shop, and to Leah & Scott Sanda and Wayne & Heidi Simon and of course my amazing parents Gene & Peggy Kuhajek for being excellent hosts. Next I head to the Quad Cities for more great racing in a perfect follow up to the Fox River Omnium with another perfect blend of flat and hills with multiple women’s races on offer each day.

In the leaders jersey, Masters womens race.