Beaufort Crit

Last night was the second race in the Southeast Crit Series. Nikki and Iona flew in to join the squad this week. We weren't super offensive, it was more just being attentive on the front and that worked out well as moves were covered and finally one move contained Tina in it that was trying to stick. It was Tina with Rebecca Larson (Aarons) and Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) so that gave the peloton pause as 3 big teams were represented. The hesitation was enough to get them a little space and from there the 3 teams monitored to see who would try to bridge across, just to be ready to go with a move and make sure numbers were always in our favour. The race was pretty mellow overall. In the final laps, the speed picked up a bit and the gap was coming down, but the trio managed to get to the line before the field did and Tina got the upper hand over Laura and then Rebecca.

The goal was to get the win and start moving riders into the overall lead as well as placing in the top 5 overall.

We poached on the Cheerwine train and tried to get as many of us over the line in the top 10 as possible, which worked out. So we have Tina now first in the overall, as well as Tiff in the best young rider jersey.


We also had a chance to get a picture of the mens podium, where Kyle Wamsley took second. From what we could see of the mens race, the boys worked well together and set up the train at the front with Davide, Luca, Anibal rotating on the front protecting Sebastian and Kyle. It worked out perfectly, as Seba took 4th and Kyle's second place was very close, he sprinted on the right side whereas Hilton Clarke of Toyota sprinted left and as it happened, the left side worked out better.

Athen's Twilight Crit!!!!!!!!!!

Athen's Twilight well what can I say.... CRAZY to say the least and the first crit in the US crit series, also known as speed week!

The squad for Athen's was Tina, Shontell, Tiffany, and guest rider Sam Schnider who also rode with us in Redlands. Shontell, Tiffany and Jack flew in to Atlanta on the day of the race after avoiding storms then finally landing collecting baggage hit traffic then finally arrived at the race 45 mins before the start meet up with Sam and Tina and ready to roll!!!!

Collage town the sun is setting and it was party time, they had the standard call up's everybody pushing for front row start then 3-2-1 goooooooo! Preme on the next lap! great way to warm up and get going it felt like there were preme's almost every lap and as it got darker the crowd grew larger and the atmosphere was builing and it was insane. Tina covered a number of things early then Shontell got across in a break and it was a perfect break all the strong teams were represented and Shontell has a good finish so we were happy but coming around for the mid-way 5 deep preme a crash happened in the break-away and Shontell went down!! That break was brought back then counters went and Tiffany got into a break of 5 girls and the field almost sat up at that point and the gap grew eventually getting half a lap on the field once again each of the strong teams were represented and as the laps counted down and more and more premes were thrown at us then at one point confusion happened as 3 girls who crashed a number of laps previous were put into the break and then nobody knew what was going on then the break kept working through and tried to ignore they were there however they raced hard got the count downs the race went super quick and one-lap to go the action started in the break with Catherine Cheatley (cheerwine) attacking with two corners to go with Rebecca Larson (Aarons) on her wheel and Tiffany was right there next however Tiffany was caught off guard and Larson and Cheatley were off sprinting and Tiffany tried to hold on but ended up 5th then Tina took out the bunch sprint on the flood light lit crazy streets of Athen's Georgia!

The result was ok for the team however we always like to get onto the podium, lesson were learnt, lungs were opened, craziness was achieved on the short 1km 4 corner course and it was lots of fun with an amazing atmosphere!!!

Now the girls have two days rest to chill at Tina's house as we say goodbye to Sam and Say hello to Iona and Nikki in a couple of days for the next race of Speedweek, Beaufort, SC in the deep south!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Until next time keep it rubber side down!

P.S sorry for the lack of photo's we were a bit slack with the camera however next time promise to have plenty more!!!!

Next up........

Tour of the Gila, New Mexico
featuring: Andrea and Kristin

Conditions: dry, windy, altitude
Terrain: Muy hilly











South East Criterium Series, all over the South
featuring: Tina, Shontelle, Tiffany, Nikki & Iona

Conditions: hot, humid, sweltering
Terrain: flat and bumpy

Sea Otter 2008 Races

This was Dotsie on the podium after winning the road race. It was on dead chip and seal road with some punchy climbs and descents and she toughed it out until the end, after an acceleration by Tiffany up the final 2.4 mile climb back to the Laguna Seca circuit, Dotsie launched an attack and stayed off to get the win.




The next day was the Laguna Seca circuit race. There were Queen of the Mountain sprints as well as Sprinter points sprints throughout the race in addition to going for the race win. We weren't concerned with any of those except to be aware of when they were coming to watch for accelerations and possible gaps forming in the bunch. After a few breaks forming and then getting re-absorbed because the combination wasn't right, a group finally got a gap that contained a member from almost every team racing. This made for a bit of a pause in the main field as the gap grew and teams were sizing up their representatives in the break versus the other teams'. We were happy with our representation as we had Dotsie and Tiffany in there and they were climbing very well.

Our only concern was that Cheerwine had managed to get 3 in there and one of them was Laura Van Gilder who would be tough to outsprint if she made it to the end. Fortunately, she was struggling a bit on the climb so our director got Tiffany to go harder over the climb and that succeeded in having Laura and a few others drop off. The breakaway group of 10 riders were now in 2 groups of 5. Then Tiffany later accelerated away from her group while Dotsie stayed in watching for a reaction from the others - NONE! Tiffany continued to build her lead and we got word that we could now chase the faltering third group of that breakaway....which meant that we already had the win locked up with Tiff, Dotsie was in the next group of 4 and if we caught the next group after that we had a shot to set Tina up for sprinting for 7th place.....so Iona drilled it on the front for 2 laps and caught the group on the last lap, then Nikki and Tina finished off the job by Tina taking the field sprint and Nikki a few spots behind her.


Happy team riders and staff

Monterey's 17 Mile Drive

Beautiful ride.

Seals and Sea Lions,


and one VERY friendly human-savvy squirrel.




As Dots said, he probably said to his buddies years ago "you guys go on and stick with foraging for the acorns and stuff, I'm gonna just kick it right here on 17 mile.....with the humans....i'll be eating Luna bars or some such"

Training in Monterey

So, this is the scenery that Tiffany and Iona have to put up with while training in Monterey. This is the best part of being on the road for the sport. There are places you get to go to that are simply stunning and you make a mental note of the places you really liked. These are a few snaps from the house we are staying in which is near the Laguna Seca raceway.
We took a few laps around the course yesterday. The festival is set to start today, we could see all the tents and stalls being set up with all the best names in the bike industry. We had a little visit with the Jamis Bikes staff at their location within the festival.
Today Tina, Dotsie and Nikki get in to join us. Then the racing begins tomorrow and finishes on the Laguna Seca circuit on Saturday.

Monterey and Sea Otter

Beautiful drive up to Monterey. We arrive at the host housing and WHO-AH as Dre would say. The house, sorry, mansion, is up for sale for some millions (i won't say how many) and we have it to ourselves for the week. Crazy. As we were driving into the sanctuary where all these types of houses are situated, Tiff remarked that we could just about do a training ride on the grounds.

Pictures to follow, but we are chilling and enjoying the scenery until race time. On the roster for this weekend: Tina! Back from Europe, Nikki, Dotsie, Iona and Tiffany.