friday ramdlings
Points Racing last nite at the Hellyer'Drome
I guess DHolla gave ShelleyO a personal tutuorial on how to dismantle an A/B field in an 80 lapper, sprints every 5. They took one out of the field and then the new Elite Crit Champ gave leadout to Olds for the rest of the sprints.
She won.
Good prep for her as she makes her bid for a jersey next month down at LA during the Elite Nationals. It's been a long, long season for the girl ... but, i think she's ready for the top step. you gotta be hungry for it. you gotta sacrifice. you gotta realize ~ it's easier than you think to just go out there and race. no pressure, no nervousness ... only the race. deep breath, and get on it.
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More News of the PROMAN -
Looks like LaLaLloyd is going to put wood to the dirt again. Last year, every one in NorCal who saw her raging the scene knew that she had the fire again. And, after a very good '07 road season, it looks like DS Nikki C is going to put together enough support to see Rachel through to a Cross season on a national scale.
honestly, of all the US women crossers i've seen in the past 3 years - only Lloyd has the pure strength and technical ability to beat Compton. And if KC is frozen over this year ... like it most likely will be ... it's a race that Lloyd will win.
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v
iva la 'Vuelta!
After a bunch of field sprint days that saw Oscar the Great winning 3 stages against the pure-breds ... the next few days promise some action for the fans. Tomorrow is a bizzaro 52k time trial that descends the entirety of its route. huh?
talk about slapping the wee spanish climbers in the kneecaps.
It's a stage for a TT specialist to take the jersey. Good chance it will be Denny Menchov being the GC leader after tomorrow ... but there are also the likes of Disco's Devolder, Lotto's Evans (crazy double up from the TdF ... sheesh), and Cofidis' Chavanel (French TT champ).
But taking the jersey in the TT will make for some hard riding for the leader's team the following 2 stages. There are some serious bits of uphill that will likely see the abandoning of a few sprinters looking to prepare for the World Championships later this month. With the Vuelta stages rarely above 115miles in length (something i heartily approve of), the sprinters will look to leave Spain and get in longer, more specific days of training to sharpen teeth for that 260k sufferfest in Germany.
Friere has to be the favorite at this point to win a (gasp) 4th Rainbow Jersey.
But, that's if he wasn't hurt in today's massive pile-up with a K to go. Apparently only a handful of riders escaped the carnage and Zabel was finally able to win a Grand Tour stage again ... after all these year - even though Disco's Davis tried to influence the judges with a raising of the hands ... it's mine!
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TRACK Championships this weekend
Sabine and I will be there Saturday for the action. She might do a race, or two ... but i'll be out to snap pictures all day long and cheer my lungs dry.
can't wait!
14 comments:
Oh, wait...does that mean no beginner session tomorrow?
Shyte.
doh!
next weekend! i'll be there assisting in my training to become a supervisor.
come out and play, mon amie!
Congratulation Shelly,
I asked her 3 weeks ago while she was racing the Bs- she said because she hadn't won yet.
She won the Bs last week now the As.
Panda, always good to refer to the Hellyer calendar before planning a visit. We may try to make the session on the 15th; Ms. Chatterbox needs to complete her third, I am up for more pain, and we have one of Ms C's teammates/friends who wants to give it a go. With OV out there perhaps Ms C will be enticed again (last week she only went because she heard Pab and OV were coming ;-) ).
exactly.
learning how to win is just as important as the training benefits of riding with people faster than you.
some would say it's more important ... someone like me, for instance.
it sort of goes back to the upgrade dilemna. if a rider upgrades too soon, they'll be sitting at the back of races in their new category, learning only how to suffer and stay on wheels.
which is good and necessary sometimes.
however, before that - i'm a believer that a rider should learn how to win. When you are one of the strongest riders in a field, it is actually quite difficult to win ... if all the other riders know it and mark you.
learning how to win in those circumstances makes you a MUCH better overall racer, in my opinion. it's about learning how to read races, learning how to decide on the best tactics quickly and efficiently, learning how to take advantage of what the race gives you.
also, i think waiting to upgrade gives a rider opportunity to experiment with other ways of racing than what they may be used to in garnerning their past results. sprinters can experiment with attacking and threshold work, and attacking riders can experiment with sprint positioning and tactics, etc.
personally, i wish we had more riders in the A, p1/2 category at Hellyer. however, i don't think it's good to force riders into that realm when their a) not physically ready yet; or b) don't have the experience yet at how to win races in a number of different scenarios.
sometimes those two elements overlap, but more often they do not.
ah, good to hear - hope to see you and the Mrs. out there, Rick.
Done and done! I've scratched it out this weekend and put it in pen for next Saturday. Mr. Man is in pencil.
Thanks for the link, CR. I'd gone to the site to research and missed it there...bookmarking the link now!
lalalloyd. boy, she's sure fun to watch race cross.
she makes it look so effortless.
she's like a ballerina, dancing through the course.
sometimes i try to follow her steps while she's lapping me...
I always thought Rachel was one of the more talented races out there, but she only a season or two of good support. She had good ride with Gary Fisher, then they pulled it from her. We got her to race a cross season at SyCip with the modest funds we had and me cobbling a bike and quite a few parts for her. It was the best exposure we got until Mr Funke rolled along... I would say they provided similar levels of exposure for us.
Rachel ended up getting 10th for us at CX worlds. I was sad to see her retire for lack of support, but glad she found the fire again.
Rachel's full potential is still untaped. she has matured as a person and as a rider, Not too many people really know Rachel, while aggresive on the bike, she is a smart, caring, gal with a voice like a song bird. I will support rachel for as long as she is interested in racing. Our no pressure and seemingly casual policy works for her and she is having fun. No fun = no racing for Rachel. its a shame to see an athlete not be able to reach their goals through lack of support.
Thanks for the PROMAN props
see you in Hell this weekend
Awesome job Shelley! Can't wait 'till Nationals!
go VB go...we will be there with you in spirit...
i'll miss the fun this weekend, but i'll go around in circles with y'all next saturday...!
That's great news Rachel will race nationally. Watching the women's races here last year and following the national scene I felt like there were 2 riders I wanted to see contest the bigger events--Shelley's ride at CX Nats showed why she was the other.
And Barbarella's comin' back, too.
I hope the World's team is stacked with NorCal riders.
So psyched for CX.
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