19-20 May PSIMET Omnium

The women of PSIMET Racing: Katie Isermann, Leah Herman Sanda,
Kimberly Gialdini, Kelli Richter, Marne Smiley and Jeannie Kuhajek

Winning is a great way for a new team to start things off, and that’s exactly what the PSIMET women did this past weekend in the Fox River Grove Omnium, our first weekend of racing together. The Omnium consisted of paired races on Saturday and Sunday, with omnium points up for grabs on intermediate sprints in each race as well as on the finish line both days.

Warming up together before Fox River Grove. Leah,
Marne, Kelli, Kimberly, Katie, Jeannie

I arrived from New Zealand on Monday, so had the week to shake off jet lag and adjust to the warm temperatures. The weekend graced us with beautiful (albeit HOT!) weather. Saturday’s course, the Elgin Cycling Classic, was set in the picturesque surroundings of Lords Park and featured an exciting sweeping downhill into a tricky chicane corner heading into the start/finish straight. The six of us, Katie, Kim, Kelli, Leah, Marne and myself, met up before the race and I got to meet my new teammates. Right away I got a sense of the positive energy and enthusiasm of the team.

PSIMET wheels on the start line at Elgin.

The race got under way and, after about 15 min, I started to doubt whether I had enough fitness to make it through my first US race! Lots of aggressive riding from the bunch—multiple attacks and counter-attacks—made for an exciting start to the race. Erin Woloszyn (Village – Virdigris) put in the first attack of the day only minutes into the race, but it was my teammate from last year Jessi Prinner (ABD) who made the decisive move. Jessi’s escape came about midway through the race.

The Norge Ski Jump at the top
of the hill at Fox River Grove.
The jump was built in 1905.

With ABD’s change in colours from last year, I didn’t initially recognise her kit—even though we had talked before the race. As a result, my response to her attack was slow and the bridge took some effort. But I eventually joined her and, mainly through Jessi’s efforts, we remained off the front for the rest of the race, with my PSIMET teammates patrolling the bunch from behind to prevent any other riders from bridging up to us. I was able to claim both points sprints and finished second on the line to take the early lead in the omnium competition. Jessi took the win and Cathy Frampton (Project 5) won the bunch sprint for third. Excellent teamwork between PSIMET riders Kelli and Leah meant a very narrow miss of the third sport for the team. But in impressive fashion, PSIMET grabbed the next 4 spots.

Jessi (in ABD's new kit) and me
climbing the hill together.

To complement the relatively flat course on Saturday, Sunday’s race was the Fox River Grove criterium, a 1.8 km loop with a 450 m climb, complete with a 15% section. Again, an attack by Erin on the first climb initiated a response from Jessi. Not keen to let Jessi go anywhere by herself, I was immediately on her wheel and once again Jessi and I were off on our own. With two laps to go, I got away and was able to solo to the line, securing the win and the overall omnium victory. Jessi stayed away to finish second, and PSIMET teammate Kimberly took the bunch sprint for third following attacks by Kelli and Marne on the hill that helped shattered the bunch.

Podium at Fox River Grove: Jessi,
Jeannie (in omnium winner's
jersey) and Kimberly

What a great way to kick things off! PSIMET and Rhythm Racing put on an incredible event with well-run races, exciting courses, fabulous weather and some great racing from the Chicagoland women. Lots more racing coming up and I’m looking forward to catching up with many more friends. This coming weekend, Memorial Day in the US, the PSIMET women head to the Quad Cities, 3 hours’ drive southwest of Chicago, for three solid days of racing starting with Snake Alley on Saturday.

Heading into the finish at Fox River Grove.

PSIMET Racing Team



While my Soul Star Racing teammates and Tasman Wheelers clubmates make preparations for Round 3 of the Benchmark Elite Cycling Series in Christchurch on 19 May, I’ve just arrived in the US where I’ll be racing with the Chicago-based PSIMET Racing Team for the next several months. After four days of settling in and shaking off jetlag, my US race schedule begins this weekend with the PSIMET-sponsored Fox River Grove Omnium, a two-day event comprising a fast, flat crit in Elgin on Saturday followed by Fox River Grove on Sunday, featuring the notorious ski jump hill climb. The climb will be perfect prep for the even more gruelling climb planned for next weekend at Snake Alley. More about that next week! This week is all about getting back into racing.


Gluten-free PSIMET Racing cupcakes, compliments of
Kimberly. Looking forward to sampling these this weekend!

 The lead-up to my US season has been fraught with unwelcome challenges: eight weeks of illness to start off the year, promptly followed by an additional eight weeks of injury after a collision with a courier van. All up, the year so far has been lots of rehab, plenty of pain and limited riding for the past 4 months. On the bright side, I’m hoping the early-season downtime will leave me feeling fresh later in the season. Fortunately my body has made good progress toward healing over the past few weeks and, although a bit underdone, I’m starting to feel some confidence that I may be able to just about pull off a reasonable level of form. These first couple weeks will be the real test—and painful, no doubt!

More about the team. PSIMET is a custom wheel company based in Elgin IL, near Chicago. PSIMET owner / operator Rob Curtis builds high-quality, custom-made bicycle wheels to meet the specific requirements of individual riders. Together with ENZO’s Buttonhole mastermind Wayne Simon, Rob has put together a team of amazing women to form the PSIMET Racing Women’s Team.

The women of PSIMET Racing are Katie Isermann, Kelli Richter, Kimberly Gialdini, Leah Herman Sanda, Marne Smiley and myself. The team has made a great start to the season with several podiums already. With our custom PSIMET race wheels, we are assured some awesome finishes over the season. We tackle our first race together this weekend at Elgin. My race schedule for the first half of my trip is below. Lots of (hopefully exciting) race reports to come over the next few months so stay tuned. To ensure you don’t miss any, type your email address into ‘Follow by email’ to get updated whenever I post.

Me in my new PSIMET Racing kit, team GIANT bicycle
and custom PSIMET training wheels.

Racing schedule through June:

19-20 May           Fox River Grove Omnium             Elgin / Fox River Grove IL

26 May                 Snake Alley Criterium                     Burlington IA

27 May                 Melon City Criterium                      Muscatine IA

28 May                 Quad Cities Criterium                     Rock Island IL

1 Jun                      Lake Bluff Twilight Crit                   Lake Bluff IL

2 Jun                      Glencoe Grand Prix                         Glencoe IL

8-10 Jun               Tour of Galena                                  Galena IL

15-17 Jun             O’Fallon Grand Prix                         O’Fallon IL

21 Jun – 1 Jul      Tour of America’s Dairyland        WI (various)