Asphalt Green Cycling Team

Ride and Dine with Team Specialized-Lululemon: My Evening with the Ladies of the S-L Team

***see bottom for picture captions***

It’s no mystery, I’m a BIG fan of women’s professional cycling, and an even bigger fan of the @velociosports (Specialized-Lululemon) racing team. Evie Stevens got her start, as a lot of you know, right here in NYC racing in the same CRCA (Century Road Club Association) races that I have been competing in for the last three years. She is the quintessential ‘Cinderella’ story of someone who picked up a bike and found that they had a hidden talent — a talent and ability that was laying dormant all that time.

Now me, on the other hand, I don’t have that ‘hidden’ talent for cycling. Look, I get by for sure…and I have always been ‘athletic’ and an ‘athlete’ at heart, but for me, it wasn’t enough to just pick up a bike and BAM I was fast. Oh no…hah…I was slow…painfully, painfully slow, and compared to most people I still am. I have to work hard and train hard just to keep up with the girls in my field, and it feels like sometimes the work is never ending. My best friend, Sarah, visited me and on multiple occasions was like, “What the hell are you doing? How do you stay motivated?” Well, honestly…I stay motivated because of these ladies up above. In women’s cycling the life of a professional rider is not easy. Many have full-time jobs and are forced to train around those jobs and race because they can’t make enough money to pay the bills. I can’t help but admire the struggle and determination that it has taken each and every one of them to realize their dream of being a professional cyclist. 

Do I think I will be a professional cyclist, you ask?! HECK NO! Hah, I know my limitations, but it’s still fun getting out there and pushing my body to limits that I never thought possible, and to see the return on that sweat-laden investment, and to see myself improve…even if it’s only incremental. It has honestly been one of the most challenging, yet empowering, athletic journeys that I have taken in my life…and wow has it changed me and my life for the better.

One of the cool things about the ride and happy hour with the Lulu ladies as our shared love of our Specialized Women’s Amira bikes! It as so funny to have them look down at my bike and be like, “Hey! We have the same bike.” I know they are probably encouraged to say it, but every single one of them, without prompting said the same thing that I have been thinking since I was given this bike in April — “Don’t you love it? It’s honestly the best bike I’ve ever ridden!” And I wholeheartedly have to agree. I don’t buy in to a lot of the marketing hype on bikes, but the Amira is a bike that you have to ride to believe. Specialized didn’t make a ‘women’s bike’…they made a badass fast as hell women’s race machine. The bike is so responsive and so stiff that merely a shift of your hips shoots the bike in the direction that you want to go. Climbing is where it REALLY stands out for me — as a self-proclaimed non-climber — as when I stand on this bike it just shoots forward effortlessly. There is never any backward motion or lost effort on this bike…it’s just truly amazing. It was going to take a lot to get me to sway my allegiance from my previous race bike, and ever since getting on the Amira I haven’t looked back a single time or wished I had my old bike back. So…hats off to Specialized for not just shrinking and pinking, or only making a relaxed geometry bike…they’ve done it all! 

We are now mid-season here in the Northeast and there are a lot of races still yet to come. I’m ‘rebooting’ my season a bit and taking a fresh approach to my training…I’ve even added in some *gasp* RUNNING to my schedule, and to my surprise—although some days my legs hurt like a mother—I’m able to push through that pain to the other side…the stronger side. This could also have a lot to do with my newly acquired purchase of the “Roll Recovery” device…it’s like a rollerblade/torture machine that digs in so hard to my legs it almost makes me want to cry, but I’ll be damned if that thing doesn’t work like a charm and render my legs from useless trunks to fully-functioning limbs. I highly recommend checking them out, as I don’t normally swear by a product, but this one I do.

Another great by-product of this event was the launch of our women’s ride series — in partnership with Bicycle Habitat and Specialized Women — myself and Emily Samstag will be leading women’s rides in Central Park and Prospect Park every Friday morning at 6 am. They featured a lot about this ride, and a little about me in their new “Strong Legs” blog series. Check it out here, and you can learn a little about what motivates me and why I’m so stoked to be involved in doing my SMALL empower and motivate women to get on bikes. Want to join for our women’s ride? Join our FB group to keep up to date on the times/meeting locations here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/139989382863081/

Anyways, the season is wearing onward…there is much to look forward to, and much to focus on. I just found out from my good friend, Danielle Kosecki, that I’ve been invited to tag along on her adventure to Idaho to hang out with Rebecca Rusch and learn how to mountain bike at Reba’s Ride Camp. This is a dream come true for me, even as a dedicated roadie. Not only is Rebecca Rusch one of the baddest ladies on a bike, but she is an inspiration for the way that she promotes and supports women’s cycling. I imagine that I will not only come back with a lot of bumps and bruises from all the sweet single-track I will be learning to shred and AMAZING stories and pictures…but I will come back inspired and motivated to tackle the rest of the race season. 

Alright, I digress…a HUGE thank you to the ladies of Specialized-Lululemon, Specialized and Bicycle Habitat for making this ride and greet event happen. With over 70 women in attendance it was TRULY a site to see us parade through the park in the after work hours…so much so that a child watching the mass of us ride turned to his mom and said, “Mommy, look at all the bikers…and they’re all girls!” That alone was worth it all! 

Thanks guys and stay tuned for more adventures!

Picture Captions (top to bottom, L to R):

(1) Despite our excessive enthusiasm, Kristy let us get thisclose to the girls for a pic (!)

(2) It’s embarrassing how happy this picture makes us.

(3) Cops were cracking down on red-light runners in CP, but over 70 lovely ladies managed to ride hassle-free.

(4) Me and Ally Stacher — Amira buddies! 

(5) Spats for everyone! Great for making Skratch Labs rice cakes. Ally Bars, too!

(6) The ladies paused before pushing off while Tayler showed off her handy flat-fixing skills.

(7) Tayler gets spatted up thanks to Asphalt Green Cycling Team sponsor, Product of GIR!

(8) Riding through Times Square—the one place on earth bright enough to mute our high-viz kits.

I get asked ALL the time about #WhyIRide and why I dedicate so much of my time to this sport. This weekend alone was answer enough. I may not have had the most stellar results if you looked on the results board — I believe 2 last place finishes and 1 second to last place. But, as you can tell by these pictures, a HUGE amount of fun was had with some pretty spectacular ladies. I can’t say enough how much they mean to me and how much fun I had racing my @specializedwmn #Amira this weekend.

My teammates nabbed some wins, I attacked off the front, and contested for the Sprinter’s jersey in Prospect Park…and occasionally I was hurting so bad I wanted to puke, but hey…the best part is the celebration, smiles, hugs, and friendship afterwards. 

I can’t say enough about my NYC cycling community except THANK YOU for a great weekend, and I’m looking forward to many more!