Monday, March 24, 2008

Webster Roubaix Road Race

This past weekend was the Webster-Roubaix Road Race. It was a 68 mile race over a 10 mile course with a 3 mile section on a dirt road. I did the women pro, 1, 2, 3’s and we raced with the masters 35+. We had about 15 women in our race and 35 men. I felt great and was very excited to get out and test my legs.
The start was neutral until the last rider was off the dirt, which was about 2 miles from the start line. Once we got the go ahead to race the men picked up the speed. I felt great. I was about mid field and was just getting sucked along in the draft. I was in the field for the entire lap and my legs felt good. When we turned onto the dirt one of the first riders slid out and most of the group was slowed down. I was not ready for this and wasn’t able to bridge back up to the main field. There was a group of riders just in front of me but I was unable to close the gap. Once I had turned back onto the pavement they had already picked up the speed. I was with another girl but we didn’t work well together and I could see the group slowly pull away from us.
During this lap my little group grew to about 10 riders, but we still weren’t working together. I did a hard pull through the front and ended up just dangling off the front by maybe 40 meters. I held my gap for about 3 miles but let up after my feed on the dirt section when I saw the gap had closed down. When I got back into the group we were finally able to get a steady pace line going and I was content to just stay in the group.
For the next 3 laps our little group stayed together. I had given up the hope of catching the group in front of us and had turned my thoughts to how I was going to work the sprint out. Our group consisted of 5 women, myself, two ladies from Team Naples Cylery and two from Herbal life, along with 3 master 35+ men. I knew all the women and have been racing with them since we were all category 4’s. I didn’t know how the sprint would go down but I was excited for it.
We were still together with 3 laps to go. Then I started trying to conserve more energy and let my legs recover. This lap went without anything exciting happen. On our sixth lap we lost 2 women. They were teammates so the race was down to me and the two Herbal Life riders.
Half way through the last lap we got caught by the pro men. We were passed by the field and the official in the follow car told us to not mix in with the other field. They were going relatively slow so the official allowed us to sit on the back. About 3 miles from the finish the pros picked up the speed and one of the ladies popped off the back. About a half mile later myself and my remaining completion dropped. As we made the right turn onto the dirt I slowed up and let her pull. I could tell she wanted to be on my wheel but I didn’t want to pull through. About 100 meters away from the finish I could just see the start/finish banner. I kept waiting until about 50 meters away then I drilled it. I nearly crashed while sprinting on the dirt but I help it upright and won the sprint. I ended up 8th overall.
It was a great race and I was really happy with my result. I’m continuing to improve from race to race and hope to get my first win of the season in the near future.

Ciao,

Ashlyn






Thursday, March 20, 2008

Updates

This weekend is the Webster Roubaix Road Race. It is one of my favorite road races in Florida. The 10 mile course has a 3 mile dirt section. With the women pro,1,2,3's racing with the men 35+, it promises to be an exciting race this year. This week has had good weather so I'm hoping for it to hold out for us and not rain. I'll have a full report on how everything went after the race on Saturday.

Only 12 weeks until the Junior Cycling Camp I am going to! Is it going to be a blast. I'm really looking forward to a full week of a camp totally devoted to cycling.

I'm totally stoked to play my guitar this week. I just got a capo and I'm going to try and learn "Realize" by Colbie Caillat. I really enjoy playing my guitar and now, I find, that it takes up a lot of my free time.

Ciao,

Ashlyn

Monday, March 10, 2008

OIA Time Trial #2

After being postponed for 2 weeks, because of bad weather, we were finally able to do the TT by the Orlando International Airport. The weather was good, the wind was ideal, and my legs felt great. After a solid warm up I was ready to go. My 30 second girl was Michelle Blake ( a close friend of mine ). Three minutes before my start two of the junior boys finished. I had my dad on the stop watch to see what there times were. If I wanted to beat them I would have to ride a 16:30. Finally I was at the line to start. Then I was off. My legs felt a little tired at first but then I got into my zone and was just motoring along. I caught my 30 second girl and could see my 1 minute man just ahead of me. It made me go a little faster. I was feeling pretty good. Right after the turn-around I caught my 1 minute man and could see about 5-6 riders in the distance. I had a tail/cross wind on the way back and I felt like I was flying. I soon caught all but 1 rider that I could see. I could see the finish, it was at the top of a little "hill" after an underpass. I was going all out. My time was 17:28. I won the womens category and finished around 20th out of 58 riders. It wasn't my goal time but for my first TT of the year it was pretty solid.
The laugh of the day was in the middle of a water bottle fight that Michelle and I were watching between JP and Jos. Long story short it ended with Jos stealing Michelle's bottle right as she took a drink. When she started laughing the water went out her nose and all over Jos who just happened to be in the line of fire. The laughs that followed got all of our sides hurting.

Thanks for reading,

Ciao,

Ashlyn

Friday, March 07, 2008

First Post

Hey everyone,

Well this is my first blog post. I'll keep the site up to date with all the latest and greatest on whats going on, races, big rides, news, all that jazz.

ciao,

Ashlyn