Cycling Nationals

Middle: Shelley - Alisha, Kat, Lauren, Coryn, Mara, Sinead

Alisha says: The team had some amazing results at nationals in Bend, Oregon. Shelley won the crit and then Mara and Shelley pulled off the 1-2 in the road race. Coryn added another couple of national jerseys to her resume and everyone worked really hard. It is such an opportunity to be on a team with these girls!!

My personal experience at nationals left me with much to be desired as I felt as though my form was a little off or something, I'm not quite sure what it was but it wasn't the greatest week of racing for me. I competed in the time trial and the road race. My time trial was okay, I finished 18th. It was a long 35 kilometers.

I was excited for the road race as the team had a plan that we were confident in and I was ready to help out. The race was just under 70 miles on a circuit that we did four times. At the beginning of the second lap something happened a couple of riders in front of me and there was a chain reaction of brake jamming and people changing their lines. Unfortunately I ended up getting tangled up with a Colavita rider and we both went down. My right thigh took the entire impact. I jumped up and checked my bike and myself out, remounted and proceeded to chase back with the aide of the nice shot of adrenaline I had just got. I made it back in time for the Peanut Butter girls to line it up at the front and start driving the pace. I slotted in behind Mara and the team started rotating through. At the end of the second lap I knew I was in trouble. I hung on for the third lap until we hit the climb again and then I ended up in a chase group that finished a couple of minutes off the winner. I wasn't very happy about it and was so disappointed. Alas, Bend is such a fun place and we were hosted by a super cute family whose house had the most beautiful view from their deck.