RACE REPORTS
International Liberty Classic
June 8, 2008
Philadelphia, PA
by Jen McRae
Team Advil ChapStick sprinter JenMcRae takes 4th place from the 2008 Liberty Classic's international field.
'Hey Team, the following is my race report that I wanted to share - Thanks to everyone who supported us there and in getting there!'
The RESULTS
1 Chantal Beltman (Ned) Team High Road - Wo 2.28.52 (37.36km/h)
2 Brooke Miller (USA) Team Tibco 0.06
3 Ina Teutenberg (Ger) Team High Road - Women
4 Jen Mcrae (USA) Team Advil/Chapstik
5 Regina Schleicher (Ger) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung
6 Tina Pic (USA) Colavita/Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light
7 Joanne Kiesanowski (NZl) Team Tibco
8 Shelley Olds (USA) Proman Racing
9 Steph Roorda (Can) Juice Plus+ Women's Cycling Team
10 Erica Allar (USA) Aaron's Women's Professional Cycling Team
THE RACE
There’s a great magic about racing in the Liberty Classic, better known as ‘Philly’, that makes it one of my favorite events of the year. It’s one of the few opportunities to race in the U.S. with an international field with many of the world’s best cyclists and a guaranteed fast action finishing sprint.
GETTING THERE
It was a crazy week leading in to big goal weekend: Huge efforts were made in arranging childcare, rehab appointments to speed recovery from a crash in Tulsa the previous weekend, racing the usual Thursday night criterium with the guys with extremely bad legs the night before leaving. I arrived in Philly on Friday feeling extremely focused. With all that goes in to my ability to be on the start line in good form, I couldn’t be any more on a mission at this race. What normally seals the deal in the pre-race mental regime is how the openers go on the day before – check. Always a plus! My teammates and I did our openers up the wall and along the riverfront bike path – same drill as last year. The legs and the Heart Rate were right on. The thrusday night race that felt so bad did it’s job getting the junk out. Advil did it’s job with the leftover discomforts from the crash.
THE TEAM
Having a strong team in Philly is a great advantage to anyone believing they will contest the sprint. Only a couple weeks prior to the race, our teammate Anna Milkowski was off the roster due to a broken fibula. We had to reshuffle the roster and solidify the team - personally, I ended up with not only one, but 2 great teams supporting me – The team of riders & staff: Sue Palmer, Sarah Tillitson, Brenda Lyons, Laura Bowles, Natalie Klemko, Tim Chien and Scott Warren. The home support team: Bill, Noreen, Juli, and Fern (Chann’s parents, our friend and neighbor) –who shared responsibility for my 2 daughters for race weekend. These are great people who make these opportunities even possible.
RACE DAY
Advil-ChapStick arrived in Philly looking to improve upon last years 5th place. Our team plan was to focus on conserving my energy throughout the race so that I would have my best effort saved for the finish. It worked extremely well. On race day, with the hot and humid conditions, many riders complained of discomfort. Training and racing in Austin, I didn’t have any problems. I started with an icepack on my chest and back and threw them off after the first lap. I climbed the wall each time knowing we just clicked off another lap before the finish.
LAPS 1-3
The first 2 laps my team delivered me perfectly to the base of Manayunk wall in the top 10 positions. I had room to drift on the climb and stay relaxed. Saving the ‘go hard’ climbing efforts for the final 2 laps. Going in to the wall on the 3rd lap I maintained close proximity to sprinters expecting a hard effort over the top to close in on Mara Abbot. I followed their wheels and just over the final 200 meters, a group of 9 formed a chase group including everyone I should have been with, Ina, Laura Van Gilder and Brooke Miller. I was a little to comfortable those last 200 meters and found myself in a chase group. The chase group caught just before lemon hill. Lucky Me! I’m thankful because I should not have been so relaxed at the top of Manayunk. I saw them gaining a few meters on me and I just stayed with the girls around me – I won’t do that again –
FINAL LAP
On the 4th ascent of Manayunk I psyched myself up to go as hard as possible and hang with the front girls so as not to risk missing an opportunity to race for the win. I did it, I was right behind the High Road and Cheerwine trains on the wall and stayed with them. I stayed in the stomping ground of the sprinters for the rest of the race. With about 6 miles to the finish line, I just had my best ‘go fast’ tunes playing in my head & stayed relaxed. In to the final round a bout around logans circle, 1 k to go, I was in about 10th position. Brooke was right there too – funny, same scenario as last year. She seemed content to hide out there, but I wanted to move up, I moved around up the left side staying tight and found myself easily on 3rd wheel, then Brooke appears in front of me for a few seconds and then goes hard at 300 meters – my instinct said ‘yeah – it’s time to go’ so I went with her, when I pulled out at 200 meters, I pulled out in the headwind side, made some ground, but not quite enough to pass. I should have passed on the right but I was overlapped on her left so I just retained that line. Just as least year, it was an exhilarating sprint, surreal, time stopped, silence fell in those final 200 meters. I thought I had podium but Ina just nipped us at the line. This is the best race to be a part of. 4th, not a podium finish, but in this field it represents one the best results of my career.
Tour of Somerville Criterium
Somerville. New Jersey
Race report by Natalie Klemko
Riders: Heather Labance, Reem Jishi, Natalie Klemko and Kirsten Robbins
Every Memorial Day the Advil-ChapStick women head out to Somerville, NJ to compete in the Tour of Somerville. The temperature was high and the sun was shining--a perfect day for a bike race. The streets were lined with people having picnics, lots of music, and a lot of enthused fans which always makes for a great race.
After filling our water bottles with Nuun, we approached the start line with 80 other women ready to race. The race was only 20 miles, which is relatively short, but that meant the speed of it would be full throttle. All four Advil girls patrolled the front of the field anticipating a breakaway. Unfortunately, the Colavita and Cheerwine teams had more riders than us and were able to control the race by keeping the field together. The fast pace of the race and the previous two days of racing wore on our legs. Kirsten and Natalie narrowly avoided a crash with one lap to go as everybody was trying to quickly move forward in the field. Reem made a great effort at the end to bring Heather to the front of the group so she could sprint for the finish. Heather was able to finish in the top 30. It was great having Heather's family at the race supporting and watching us. What a fun way to spend Memorial Day.
RFK Criterium
Washington, DC
Race Report by Reem Jishi
After a restful night in Baltimore, Heather, Natalie and I packed up our bikes and headed the 30 miles south to DC to race in the RFK Criterium. Unfortunately, we had to leave behind our teammate Anna who was taking some forced rest time due to a broken leg.
As you may have guessed from the name, the race took place on the speedway at RFK Stadium. The stadium served as a dramatic background for a fun and fast race. Similar to the race yesterday, the field was a good mix of pro racers and strong regional riders. The host team Hub Racing and several of the other DC teams kept things interesting with a series of attacks. Heather, Natalie and I took turns covering, but in the end nothing stayed away and with 2 laps to go, we were setting up for the field sprint.
With just over 1 lap to go, there was a nasty crash that took out some riders - fortunately this time, all of the Advil-ChapStick riders were out of the danger zone. We all finished safely in the field. After the race, we handed out Advil samples to the various bandaged riders - they were all very thankful!
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