#tshracing

MASON LAKE #2 EVENT: ROAD RACE HEROES: MEGAN FAY, MALLORY NOWELS, ANA-MARIA POPP STOKE LEVEL: CRANKED TO THE MAX Man, oh man. The bike racing this weekend was WYLD. God bless the race director that gives the CAT-3 women their own field. That’s what we had this weekend, OUR OWN RACE. Not a 1/2/3 race where you get scored separately. A 3’s ONLY women’s race. We’re lucky to have some solid CAT-3 teams in the PNW and I think we were all pretty stoked to battle it out on Sunday. The TSH crew had a few plans in the works. We’d wanted to try and keep the race together for the first two laps and try and get a break going in lap 3. If the break didn’t succeed, we’d hoped to form a solid lead out train for the sprint. We were feeling pretty pumped about having a plan A and plan B...AND!! Pretty pumped to try and get in a break! We had solid teams represented in Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), Bikesale, Team Thrive, and Tenspeed Hero and quite a few Oregon women that showed up to throw down (thanks for making the trip, ladies!). So lap 1, less than a mile into the race and attack goes from Emily Alexander (SCCA). I was near the front so I got out of the saddle to cover it. I catch Emily, she looks back and says “WE’VE GOT A GAP” and off we went. We hammered. We hammered some more. Then we hammered harder. Finally, we were on the back side of the course out of sight of the pack. We rolled into start of lap 2 and the race director yells “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE TEN.” Emily and I looked at each other and simultaneously yelled “FUCK YEAH”. We kept hammering. When we started lap 2, we got more into a groove taking 30-60 second pulls that still felt hard, but didn’t make me feel like I was going to die. Twelve miles later, we found ourselves starting lap 3 and director yelled “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE THIRTY”. No freaking way. At this point, we’d ridden two laps off the front and we were both starting to feel the pain of the wind and the rollers. I took over part way up a climb and I hear Emily yell to go without her, she was cooked. I knew I couldn’t solo the rest of the race, so we decided to stick together. I started taking longer pulls and before we knew it, the lead car signaled we only had a 25 second gap. Thirty miles into the 46 mile race, the peloton was in sight. Emily and I shook hands, we knew we were caught. Emily and I were happy to have the draft of the peloton...but not happy for the attacks! I stayed attached for a hot second getting dropped around the 1K sign finishing off lap 3. I spent lap 4 by myself both ecstatic about my effort and eager to get off my bike. There was an attack from Brooke Donaher (Unattached) at the end of lap three and she was able to stay away for all of lap 4, finishing 14 seconds infront of the pack. I talked to some of the ladies post race and it sounded like everyone was tired from chasing all race and teams couldn't get organized to chase Brooke down. Jasmine Soh (V.C Cascade/Slocum) took the field sprint just infront of Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) and Hillary King (Garage). Here's what our podium looked like: 1 - Brooke Donaher 2 - Jasmine Soh (V.C. Cascade/Slocum) 3 - Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) We drove home STOKED about how we raced. We hammered hard, made the break, and we worked hard in the peloton to shut down attempts to bridge. What a great day on the bike! We've got a lull in the weekend race calendar, but the good news is that Wednesday Night Worlds and Seward are back for your weekday race enjoyment. I hope to see you out there!

MASON LAKE #2 EVENT: ROAD RACE HEROES: MEGAN FAY, MALLORY NOWELS, ANA-MARIA POPP STOKE LEVEL: CRANKED TO THE MAX Man, oh man. The bike racing this weekend was WYLD. God bless the race director that gives the CAT-3 women their own field. That’s what we had this weekend, OUR OWN RACE. Not a 1/2/3 race where you get scored separately. A 3’s ONLY women’s race. We’re lucky to have some solid CAT-3 teams in the PNW and I think we were all pretty stoked to battle it out on Sunday. The TSH crew had a few plans in the works. We’d wanted to try and keep the race together for the first two laps and try and get a break going in lap 3. If the break didn’t succeed, we’d hoped to form a solid lead out train for the sprint. We were feeling pretty pumped about having a plan A and plan B...AND!! Pretty pumped to try and get in a break! We had solid teams represented in Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), Bikesale, Team Thrive, and Tenspeed Hero and quite a few Oregon women that showed up to throw down (thanks for making the trip, ladies!). So lap 1, less than a mile into the race and attack goes from Emily Alexander (SCCA). I was near the front so I got out of the saddle to cover it. I catch Emily, she looks back and says “WE’VE GOT A GAP” and off we went. We hammered. We hammered some more. Then we hammered harder. Finally, we were on the back side of the course out of sight of the pack. We rolled into start of lap 2 and the race director yells “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE TEN.” Emily and I looked at each other and simultaneously yelled “FUCK YEAH”. We kept hammering. When we started lap 2, we got more into a groove taking 30-60 second pulls that still felt hard, but didn’t make me feel like I was going to die. Twelve miles later, we found ourselves starting lap 3 and director yelled “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE THIRTY”. No freaking way. At this point, we’d ridden two laps off the front and we were both starting to feel the pain of the wind and the rollers. I took over part way up a climb and I hear Emily yell to go without her, she was cooked. I knew I couldn’t solo the rest of the race, so we decided to stick together. I started taking longer pulls and before we knew it, the lead car signaled we only had a 25 second gap. Thirty miles into the 46 mile race, the peloton was in sight. Emily and I shook hands, we knew we were caught. Emily and I were happy to have the draft of the peloton...but not happy for the attacks! I stayed attached for a hot second getting dropped around the 1K sign finishing off lap 3. I spent lap 4 by myself both ecstatic about my effort and eager to get off my bike. There was an attack from Brooke Donaher (Unattached) at the end of lap three and she was able to stay away for all of lap 4, finishing 14 seconds infront of the pack. I talked to some of the ladies post race and it sounded like everyone was tired from chasing all race and teams couldn't get organized to chase Brooke down. Jasmine Soh (V.C Cascade/Slocum) took the field sprint just infront of Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) and Hillary King (Garage). Here's what our podium looked like: 1 - Brooke Donaher 2 - Jasmine Soh (V.C. Cascade/Slocum) 3 - Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) We drove home STOKED about how we raced. We hammered hard, made the break, and we worked hard in the peloton to shut down attempts to bridge. What a great day on the bike! We've got a lull in the weekend race calendar, but the good news is that Wednesday Night Worlds and Seward are back for your weekday race enjoyment. I hope to see you out there!

MASON LAKE #2 EVENT: ROAD RACE HEROES: MEGAN FAY, MALLORY NOWELS, ANA-MARIA POPP STOKE LEVEL: CRANKED TO THE MAX Man, oh man. The bike racing this weekend was WYLD. God bless the race director that gives the CAT-3 women their own field. That’s what we had this weekend, OUR OWN RACE. Not a 1/2/3 race where you get scored separately. A 3’s ONLY women’s race. We’re lucky to have some solid CAT-3 teams in the PNW and I think we were all pretty stoked to battle it out on Sunday. The TSH crew had a few plans in the works. We’d wanted to try and keep the race together for the first two laps and try and get a break going in lap 3. If the break didn’t succeed, we’d hoped to form a solid lead out train for the sprint. We were feeling pretty pumped about having a plan A and plan B...AND!! Pretty pumped to try and get in a break! We had solid teams represented in Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), Bikesale, Team Thrive, and Tenspeed Hero and quite a few Oregon women that showed up to throw down (thanks for making the trip, ladies!). So lap 1, less than a mile into the race and attack goes from Emily Alexander (SCCA). I was near the front so I got out of the saddle to cover it. I catch Emily, she looks back and says “WE’VE GOT A GAP” and off we went. We hammered. We hammered some more. Then we hammered harder. Finally, we were on the back side of the course out of sight of the pack. We rolled into start of lap 2 and the race director yells “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE TEN.” Emily and I looked at each other and simultaneously yelled “FUCK YEAH”. We kept hammering. When we started lap 2, we got more into a groove taking 30-60 second pulls that still felt hard, but didn’t make me feel like I was going to die. Twelve miles later, we found ourselves starting lap 3 and director yelled “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE THIRTY”. No freaking way. At this point, we’d ridden two laps off the front and we were both starting to feel the pain of the wind and the rollers. I took over part way up a climb and I hear Emily yell to go without her, she was cooked. I knew I couldn’t solo the rest of the race, so we decided to stick together. I started taking longer pulls and before we knew it, the lead car signaled we only had a 25 second gap. Thirty miles into the 46 mile race, the peloton was in sight. Emily and I shook hands, we knew we were caught. Emily and I were happy to have the draft of the peloton...but not happy for the attacks! I stayed attached for a hot second getting dropped around the 1K sign finishing off lap 3. I spent lap 4 by myself both ecstatic about my effort and eager to get off my bike. There was an attack from Brooke Donaher (Unattached) at the end of lap three and she was able to stay away for all of lap 4, finishing 14 seconds infront of the pack. I talked to some of the ladies post race and it sounded like everyone was tired from chasing all race and teams couldn't get organized to chase Brooke down. Jasmine Soh (V.C Cascade/Slocum) took the field sprint just infront of Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) and Hillary King (Garage). Here's what our podium looked like: 1 - Brooke Donaher 2 - Jasmine Soh (V.C. Cascade/Slocum) 3 - Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) We drove home STOKED about how we raced. We hammered hard, made the break, and we worked hard in the peloton to shut down attempts to bridge. What a great day on the bike! We've got a lull in the weekend race calendar, but the good news is that Wednesday Night Worlds and Seward are back for your weekday race enjoyment. I hope to see you out there!

MASON LAKE #2 EVENT: ROAD RACE HEROES: MEGAN FAY, MALLORY NOWELS, ANA-MARIA POPP STOKE LEVEL: CRANKED TO THE MAX Man, oh man. The bike racing this weekend was WYLD. God bless the race director that gives the CAT-3 women their own field. That’s what we had this weekend, OUR OWN RACE. Not a 1/2/3 race where you get scored separately. A 3’s ONLY women’s race. We’re lucky to have some solid CAT-3 teams in the PNW and I think we were all pretty stoked to battle it out on Sunday. The TSH crew had a few plans in the works. We’d wanted to try and keep the race together for the first two laps and try and get a break going in lap 3. If the break didn’t succeed, we’d hoped to form a solid lead out train for the sprint. We were feeling pretty pumped about having a plan A and plan B...AND!! Pretty pumped to try and get in a break! We had solid teams represented in Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), Bikesale, Team Thrive, and Tenspeed Hero and quite a few Oregon women that showed up to throw down (thanks for making the trip, ladies!). So lap 1, less than a mile into the race and attack goes from Emily Alexander (SCCA). I was near the front so I got out of the saddle to cover it. I catch Emily, she looks back and says “WE’VE GOT A GAP” and off we went. We hammered. We hammered some more. Then we hammered harder. Finally, we were on the back side of the course out of sight of the pack. We rolled into start of lap 2 and the race director yells “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE TEN.” Emily and I looked at each other and simultaneously yelled “FUCK YEAH”. We kept hammering. When we started lap 2, we got more into a groove taking 30-60 second pulls that still felt hard, but didn’t make me feel like I was going to die. Twelve miles later, we found ourselves starting lap 3 and director yelled “YOU’VE GOT A MINUTE THIRTY”. No freaking way. At this point, we’d ridden two laps off the front and we were both starting to feel the pain of the wind and the rollers. I took over part way up a climb and I hear Emily yell to go without her, she was cooked. I knew I couldn’t solo the rest of the race, so we decided to stick together. I started taking longer pulls and before we knew it, the lead car signaled we only had a 25 second gap. Thirty miles into the 46 mile race, the peloton was in sight. Emily and I shook hands, we knew we were caught. Emily and I were happy to have the draft of the peloton...but not happy for the attacks! I stayed attached for a hot second getting dropped around the 1K sign finishing off lap 3. I spent lap 4 by myself both ecstatic about my effort and eager to get off my bike. There was an attack from Brooke Donaher (Unattached) at the end of lap three and she was able to stay away for all of lap 4, finishing 14 seconds infront of the pack. I talked to some of the ladies post race and it sounded like everyone was tired from chasing all race and teams couldn't get organized to chase Brooke down. Jasmine Soh (V.C Cascade/Slocum) took the field sprint just infront of Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) and Hillary King (Garage). Here's what our podium looked like: 1 - Brooke Donaher 2 - Jasmine Soh (V.C. Cascade/Slocum) 3 - Jamie Vanbeek (Bikesale) We drove home STOKED about how we raced. We hammered hard, made the break, and we worked hard in the peloton to shut down attempts to bridge. What a great day on the bike! We've got a lull in the weekend race calendar, but the good news is that Wednesday Night Worlds and Seward are back for your weekday race enjoyment. I hope to see you out there!

GORGE ROUBAIX EVENT: ROAD RACE HEROES: MEGAN FAY, MALLORY NOWELS STOKE LEVEL: MEDIUM Do you love scenic roads, steady climbing, and gravel grinding?? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then this race is for YOU. The women’s CAT 1/2/3 race was 48 miles with about 4,200 feet of climbing. The race starts on pavement in the outskirts of The Dalles, climbing up to Rowena on Hwy 30 and descending into the town of Mosier. Then you get to climb again! The longer climb is 5.2 miles, 2.8 of which are gravel. You reach the top of Dry Creek road, hit the pavement and start descending back towards Mosier so you can start it all over again. Even though I’m not a strong climber, I’ve come to this race two years in a row just because it’s so kick ass. So let’s talk about how the race unfolded. Conditions were windy. W-I-N-D-Y. Not much happened before we hit the first climb up to Rowena. We hit the climb with the foot on the gas. I'd say I was about mid pack at the started the climb. Halfway up, things began to unravel wth a small separation that quickly grew into a large separation as about 7-8 women powered up the climb away from us. A couple positive take always on getting dropped: Megan and I were together!!! We got dropped at the same time as Heidi Wood!!! (It should be noted that Heidi promptly dropped us and finished well ahead...but still!!! Hung on as long as Heidi!!!) Megan and I spent the rest of the race battling the head and cross winds and working together. We hit the climbs at a good clip and most importantly kept the rubber side down the whole race. I'm not sure how the rest of the race played out. Looking at the results everyone rolled in solo (except for Megan and I!!) and I believe there were two ladies that got blown off their bikes due to cross winds (both finished). Crazy conditions out there in the Gorge! Here's what the women's podium looked like: 1 - Serena Bishop Gordon (LIV | Giant Co-Factory) 2 - Annick Chalier (Fast Fun Nice Racing Team) 3 - Clara Honsinger (Team S&M) This weekend, we'll be racing at Mason Lake in a CAT 3 WOMENS ONLY FIELD!!! So stoked!!!

Locally, next week will be Mason Lake #1, but a few of us are heading south to Oregon in hopes of some fun climbing and sunshine at the Gorge Roubaix! So many great opportunities! Get out there and race your bike!

Next week we’ll head south for the Independence Valley Road Race. Throughout the week, I’ll be contemplating how to lose 10 pounds in 5 days and how to get really good at climbing. I’ll let you know how it goes. See you next week!

Well, the season has officially begun. We’ll see ya out there next week!