The Bachelor Life

Dave says: With Alisha gone and spring break at the university, it was a surprisingly boring week in what has otherwise been an extremely busy semester. My family came to visit for the weekend and to take Daniel to a ski race. It was his first race and I think it went pretty well for him. He has a natural talent for sports that require balance and speed.

I have been chatting with Alisha regularly over Skype, however I'll let her tell you about her adventures rather than posting on her behalf. Not only can we do video, voice, and text, but we can also play games like Chinese Checkers over Skype. So far she has been beating me but I will keep trying new games until I find one that I am good at.

I also got a chance to do some road racing at the U of U Omnium. I felt a bit tired and performed terribly in the crit but was able to turn it around for the hill climb and circuit race for some ok results. I stole Alisha's carbon hoops to race on while she is gone and they are fast.

The bachelor life is definitely not my favorite. There are lots of pitfalls like not cooking for days at a time, staying up late for no apparent reason, talking out loud to myself, and wearing pajamas for most of my waking hours. So far the only good things that I've been able to do are to spend more time working on homework, to get in some MTB rides, and to somehow avoid wasting time watching TV. However, this is a small price to pay for having a wife/superstar and I am super proud of her.

San Dimas Recap

Kat and I chillin during our morning spin

The Rocktape Team- Coryn, Kat, Olivia, Alisha. This was Coryn's bright idea of what to do with the scraps of leftover rocktape.

Mara rocking the yellow jersey. She is a superstar.

I am number 910

Alisha says: The road race went well for the team, it was 8 laps of a 7 mile loop. It was a more technical course for me and had a little bit of everything in it. The Peanut Butter Gang was all over the front controlling the race. A break of four finished just in front of the field and after following Olivia up to the front right before the finish I was in the right place at the right time and finished 6th. Most importantly, Mara retained the overall lead.

The criterium was fast and furious. There were a lot of pro teams that were anxious for a big move. A very dangerous group got off the front including Ina Tetenburg. She is so fast that she escaped from the other girls in the break, won a bunch of time bonuses, and gained enough time to take the overall GC spot. It was one of those days when I wished that I had mad crit skills so I could drive it on the front like Kat, Olivia, Coryn, and Ruth (who turned themselves inside out for the team). In the end, Mara was second and I dropped to 7th after the break pulled enough time to jump ahead of me.

Alisha Third at San Dimas Uphill TT

Dave says: Alisha had an amazing result yesterday against some great riders from all the big national teams! She is having a great start to her season.

Here's the story from CyclingNews:

Mara Abbott (Peanut Butter & Co TWENT12) displayed her formidable climbing prowess to win the Glendora Chevrolet uphill time trial on Friday. Abbott road to the top of Glendora Mountain Road with a winning time of 14:31, some 16 seconds faster than runner up Evelyn Stevens (HTC-Columbia) and 19 seconds clear of her teammate Alisha Welsh in third.

"It’s exciting to see when you go to the first race with the team because you never know what is going to happen," Abbott said. "You trust your training and everything you did in the off season but it’s a relief to know that it all came together."

Abbott won the time trial in 2008 and started the day as the odds-on favourite to win the nearly six kilometre climb through the switchbacks of Glendora Mountain Road. The Boulder, native beat her previous time by 30 seconds. "Some of that might have been because it was less windy or just a faster course, not just because of training," Abbott said.

Stevens was pleased with her second place performance while racing for her new HTC-Columbia outfit. She is confident her team can pull off a winning performance by the end of this weekend. "It was a hard course but it was good competition," Stevens said. "It’s still early in the season. Any of the girls on this team are capable of winning the overall. But there is really strong competition so we will see how everyone is riding."

Abbott praised her teammate, Welsh, for her third place effort. Welsh’s result surprised some observers, but not Abbott. "We have to highlight Alisha’s ride today," she said. "There are a few people out there who realize how much talent she has but by and large there are people who've overlooked her. I am very excited to get the chance to ride with her because she’s excited about it and so talented."

Other notable performances include Robin Farina (Vera Bradley Foundation) in fourth, Carmen Small (Colavita/Baci) in fifth, Kathryn Donovan (InCycles-SCVelo) in sixth, Ina Teutenberg (HTC_Columbia) in seventh, Katharine Carroll (Peanut Butter & Company TWENTY12) in eighth, Rebecca Much (Webcor) in ninth and rounding out the top ten Courtney O’Donnell (Herbalife Lagrange).

The racing continues on Saturday, March 20 at the San Dimas Hospital Road Race held on a 12 kilometre circuit through Bonelli Park. The Pro men will take on 12 laps totalling 135 kilometres and the Pro/Elite women will complete 8 laps for a total of 70 kilometres of racing.

Tour del Sol

Alisha says:Dave and I went to St. George to race Tour Del Sol this past weekend. It was a small, but talented women's field with a good chance to get some more racing in. After the 12 mile relatively flat time trial I was in second place. Coleen from Vegas had a strong time trial and was up almost a minute on the rest of the field. Once again I am being taught that each second counts as third (Julie) was only one second behind me.

The criterium was scheduled for later that afternoon. As we were driving to the location, there was a serious storm coming in: sideway wind, huge tumbleweeds blowing across the freeway, dark clouds that dropped rain and then hail. Although the storm didn't last that long the organizers were already pressed for time and because the officials trailer almost blew over they canceled all of the crits for the afternoon.

The next day was the road race around Gunlock and because of daylight savings time it felt like the race started extra early. It was cold and super windy. There is this one hill called "the wall" that split the race into small groups. Nicole Evans and I made it over the top and teamed up to make a break. We were eventually caught by two Colavita Vegas girls 20 miles later after a long descent. We then turned into a crazy cross/head wind for the rest of the race that really demotivated anyone from trying to get away. Chances looked slim for making up the minute that we needed to on Coleen. The race ended at the top of a rise and I was able to kick it in for the win!

Arley

Alisha says: Meet Arley, my new niece. My brother and sister-in-law were so blessed that through adoption they were able to have Arlee become a part of our family. They have faced countless challenges and I am so happy for them. She was born a little early on Feb. 18 and had to stay at the hospital until she could drink a bottle but they got to bring her home last week. She is a very cute baby with lots of brown hair.

Merco

(Shelley, Alisha, Olivia, Kat, Kristin A., Coryn, Kristin M.)

(Alisha drives it up the final climb)

(Kristin running the pre-race meeting)

Alisha says: This weekend I traveled to Merced, California for my first race with my new team Peanut Butter & Co. / TWENTY12. When I arrived at the airport in San Francisco, Kristin Armstrong was there to meet me. Ya, it's going to be amazing to have an Olympic Gold Medalist and World Champ directing the team. She knows so much that it's incredible.

We drove to Merced and met up with the team for dinner. It was my first opportunity to meet most of the girls in real life and they are super cool. Stage 1 was a crit on a course short enough that we did 40 laps. With HTC-Columbia there to rile things up, it was a fast race from start to finish. With three laps to go there was a crash that stopped the race for 20 minutes. We then re-started with five laps to go. It was full gas from then on. The team was able to set Shelley up well and she sprinted for second.

The next day was the road race. It is cool being on a team because you have a plan to execute and teammates to work with. It was a fast race right from the start and everyone on the team worked really well together. I drove it up the last climb and then pulled into the group. However, there was a crash right in front of me that I just escaped near the end. Fortunately, the team led Shelley out well for the final sprint. In the end, it turned out to be a great weekend for the team and I'm very excited for what's ahead this season.

Every Second Counts

The 2010 Callville Bay Podium holds up their styrofoam checks

(note: new team jerseys to arrive this week)

The crit was fast and the field was often strung out

Alisha chats with the announcer post-race

Dave plays "balloon attack" with Brodie which turned out to be a big hit

Alisha says: After watching weeks of the Olympics where almost all of the races came down to tenths of a second that is exactly what my first race of 2010 came down to. I opened my cycling season with the regional Callville Bay Classic Stage Race in the Vegas area. The first stage was an uphill time trial. I distinctively remember one point in the time trial where I told myself that every second counts as I put in a final effort towards the finish line. I was so anxious waiting for the results. When they were finally posted I was in first but second place had the same time and third and fourth were only three seconds behind.

Saturday's forcast called for rain and that is exactly what we got. The road race was pretty uneventful and there weren't many attacks. Most of the time I was just focused on not shivering because I was so cold. We were informed that the finish was changed via follow car with the guy yelling out the window only a couple of miles before the finish due to a crash at the original finish. So, anyway, before I even knew it we were sprinting and I was still going hard when people around me sat up, so we crossed the finish and I didn't even know it. I was 8th, but everyone got the same time so the general classification stayed the same.

Sunday's crit was the most fun race of the weekend. The race was active and the pace kept high. The pack came in together and I was 9th. Super sprinter Nikki took the top spot in the crit. There were some time bonuses for the top three spots but it didn't change up the top 5 in the GC. I was very excited to have won my first stage race to start the season on a good note.

A BIG thanks to Dave for tagging along and taking care of me. He didn't get to race because his group did an extra stage on Thursday that he couldn't miss school for so he came along as driver/mechanic/car packer/cheerer. Also another BIG thanks to my Aunt Lorrie and Uncle Robert who let us stay at their house and kept us fueled with lots and lots of yummy good food. They are great!!!