Nationals and Beyond

Alisha says: The latest adventures include traveling to Augusta, Georgia for Nationals and then meeting up with Dave in Colorado where I did some training while he attended and presented a paper at a conference in Boulder, after that we had a fun road trip through some of our favorite places on the way home to roasty toasty Tucson.

It was fun to meet up again with the team for some racing. I raced the criterium and the road race. After coming off of a rough month of May I was not particularly looking forward to the crit because I really didn't want to get dropped. It was a flat 6 corner crit that started at 8:00 pm, so for the first 20 min. we had the sun directly in our eyes on the start/finish straight and then it proceeded to quickly get dark. The good news is that my leg was cooperating and I made it through the at times sketchy race. Our youngest teammate Jackie finished 9th.

We were very lucky to have some cloud cover for the road race, it was still hot and sticky but at least we didn't have the sun beating down on us. Unfortunately we missed a break and so we had to do some work with the NOW team in order to bring it back, but I finally felt good again in a race and didn't mind doing some work. The last lap was really fun and fast. I goofed with positioning coming into the final kilometer and was to far back. I finished 17th.

I flew into Denver where Dave picked me up. We did some camping in the mountains above Boulder before Dave's conference. While Dave was attending his conference I was lucky and got to do some riding with teammate Kasey. The bad thing is that there were several large wildfires in Colorado and as a result a couple of the days the mountains were hidden behind a haze and the air was smoky, not the best for exercising in.

We road tripped home and spent a little time in some of our favorite places, Ouray, Silverton, and Durango. Our first stop was Black Canyon National Park, it is a very impressive canyon. We then did a little hike in Ouray and the whole time I couldn't stop saying how scenic it was. We camped out in the high mountains and the next morning drove into Silverton and ate breakfast at a small cafe. It was really fun because there were a couple chatty locals we visited with while eating. One local suggested we go on a mine tour so we went and toured the Old Hundred mine and learned about mining in the old days.

Jen and Kasey riding around Augusta

Crit racing

Dave brought his 29er and I had my road bike so we found this hard packed dirt road for both of us to ride.

We rode Rollins Pass to Moffat Tunnel 

Kasey was my tour guide around Boulder. We rode Sunshine Canyon, Four Mile Canyon and visited Skratch Labs.

Black Canyon National Park

Hiking around Ouray

This was part of our hike

This let to a cool waterfall

The little cafe in Silverton where we ate breakfast

All ready in our rain coats and hard hats for the mine tour

Exergy Tour

Alisha says: Wow, the Exergy Tour was the absolute coolest race I've ever participated in. Everything was so professional and we were treated amazing. Now, if only my racing would have been on form, but I've been battling an injury since Gila and this was one hard race. The start list was full of the who's who among women's professional racing all racing for $100,000.

The Prologue was a quick 2 miles in downtown Boise with the Capitol building in the background. It was beautiful weather and the atmosphere was so cool as there were people lining the entire course cheering for each rider.

Stage 1 was a flatter race through farm lands outside of Boise. It was cold and rainy for most of the race.

Stage 2 was a 10.8 mile time trial in the pouring rain. We wrapped ourselves in blankets while waiting for our start. It was a little tricky navigating the slick start ramp and twisty turns out to the main part of the course.

Stage 3 was the Queen Stage with two climbs through the mountains. Once again, it was cold but luckily the rain held off until the last part of the race. I got dropped at one point in the race and rode for a while with 2x World Champion Georgia Bronzini until a small group joined us.

Stage 4 was over before it had really even begun. Moments before the race started four jets flew right over the start line, it was so cool. About 50 meters into the race there was a big crash that I was behind and had to slow for, in the meantime the race started so fast that if you weren't connected to the train you were out of luck and your day was over. The coolest part about this day was the crowds and atmosphere, there were people all around the circuit and many were even dressed up. It was awesome.

Stage 5 was a closing party rodeo, complete with bucking broncos, a mechanical bull and one of the most tender stakes I've ever had. Okay, so it really wasn't a stage but it was also awesome. It was fun to mingle with everyone while not fighting for position in the peloton. They closed the Tour by presenting each rider with a huge special edition Exergy Tour belt buckle.

 Team Presentation - Emily, Kristin, Bec, Alisha, Jen, Anna

Prologue in downtown Boise

Rainy Stage 1: We passed a school and all the kids were lining the street with flags

Dave was our team mechanic for the week. It was so fun having him along.

Signing in for Stage 4

The flyover before Stage 4 mayhem



 The team showing off our belt buckles at the rodeo

Summer

Dave says: I finished up a busy semester of classes and research at the beginning of May. Now summer is here and things are a little more laid back which is nice. We just returned from a two week road trip to Utah and Idaho. We stopped in Cedar City and visited with Alisha's family.  My parents finally sold their Cedar City house and I helped my dad move out the last of the furniture and miscellaneous items. We also went on the coldest bike ride that I have been on since moving to Tucson with morning temperatures of 37 degrees in Cedar City plus a blowing wind. Alisha bought me some cheap gloves at a gas station because I couldn't feel my hands.

We also happened to be in Cedar City (apparently the best place in the US in terms of viewing) right during an eclipse where the moon moved in front of the sun blocking it out and making it look like the burning eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings. Doug and Roberta were traveling up to SLC that same day and stopped to see it with us. Debbie also got us some "Eclipse Glasses" to look through so that we could stare directly at the sun.

The next part of the trip took us up to Boise for the Exergy Tour. On the way, we spent the night with Alisha's coach Kelly in Ogden. We also stopped to see Shoshone Falls. During peak runoff I imagine it would be close to Niagra Falls however this time of year it was impressive but not running with as much water.

Alisha raced with the Primal/Map My Ride team and I was the team mechanic. This is the biggest women's race in the US this year with a mostly international field of national (and world) champions and Olympic gold medalists and it was cool to be a part of. Everything was very professionally done and I was impressed with Boise. Up in the mountains outside of the city there are jagged cliffs, thick forests, and whitewater rivers that make you think you are somewhere in Colorado. I enjoyed working with everyone on the team and was glad that things turned out well. Many of the other big teams brought a full trailer of gear and two professional mechanics so I was definitely a bit outclassed at times. Additionally, most races involved a bit of rain at either the start or the end meaning that a lot of time was spent washing bikes.

On the way home, we stopped again in Cedar City. We planned to travel to Lake Powell for a day with Alisha's family, however their truck broke down halfway to the lake and the trip was cancelled. Instead, we spent a day in Phoenix hanging out with Christine and her girls which was fun as well. Finally, we returned to Tucson to face the triple digit summer temperatures. Utah and Idaho are great places to be this time of year but I still prefer Tucson summers over SLC winters. We rode up Mt. Lemmon yesterday with Alex and escaped the heat. I'm already starting to think about our next summer trip.

Starring Yours Truly

Alisha says: Here is the latest Primal team video by the super Chad Maurer. I feel truly grateful to be a part of this team and to all of the many people who support me. We have many wonderful sponsors included but not limited to Primal Wear, MapMyRide, BH Bikes, HED Wheels, Skratch Labs, Look Pedals, Lazer, Sidi, Smith Optics, Breeze Bars, Dash Saddles, Action Wipes, and Pro Gold.

Enjoy!

Thanks Dave! (The owner of Primal Wear)

It Worked Out Pretty Well

Alisha says: Here is an article that was posted on Podium Insight by Lynn about Sea Otter.

QOM Welsh – “it worked out pretty good”

Posted on 21. Apr, 2012 by lyne in race

Stage 2 of the Sea Otter Classic stage race brought the hilly road stage which culminates on a 1-mile uphill slog to the finish. Going into the 47-mile stage, climber Alisha Welsh (Primal/MapMyRide) had her eye on the two QOM sprints as well as a good finish. She delivered on her goal, taking top points and finishing fifth on the stage. Yellow jersey Alison Powers (Now and Novartis) solo’ed to the win followed by her teammate Olivia Dillon and Lauren Rowney (Specialized-lululemon).
“I wanted to give it a go so first time up, it worked out pretty good. So then I had a little bit of pressure to try and get the second and it worked out pretty good again so I’m really happy that I was able to get those two things out, that was one of our goals for today. That was excellent.” Welsh told podiuminsight after the race.

Alisha Welsh (Primal/MapMyRide) goes for the QOM points

See more photos in the gallery.

The field stayed together on the first two laps around the 7.7-mile Ford Ord loop, with all attacks quickly neutralized. Then Dillon went up the road. Welsh was looking to get into the right counter-move.

“Olivia was off solo and then, there was some attacks going off. Exergy was doing some attacks, Vanderkitten was doing some attacks and it was just a matter of getting the right people up the road. I was trying to cover and get into moves but nobody was letting me go anywhere, so eventually the rubber band snapped and a couple got up the road.” Welsh explained. “From there, I had to come up with a different plan, there were a couple of individuals who were trying to figure out if we should work together.”

Then Rowney made her move. “Lauren Rowney is super strong, she took some good pulls on the front. At the feedzone hill, I out a big dig in and me, Alison and Lauren got off the front and then you were pretty much on your own trying to bridge or catch up.”
They ended up catching the break but at that point, it was every woman for herself on the final push to the finish.

“It was pretty tough.” Welsh said of the final climb. “You have a couple of miles in your legs. During the rest of the stage, you felt you had a little bit of a breeze but you started going up, it stops, you just feel your face radiate heat, you’re just hanging on until the end.”

As for what’s next for Welsh in the two final stages, it all depends what happens on the time trial on Saturday afternoon. The TT course is one loop of the road race stage.
Welsh concluded, “This will be the first test of a longer time trial. San Dimas is uphill, Redlands is uphill, first time on the real time trial bike so we’ll see.”

Sea Otter

Alisha says: Last weekend I traveled to California and raced Sea Otter at and around the Laguna Seca Raceway with my Primal/MapMyRide teammates. There is a lot going on at this event and that is what makes it really cool. There is a big expo that many of our sponsors attended and had booths set up as well as a ton of mountain bike and road bike events happening non stop for four days.

In addition to racing we got in some great sponsor time spending a lot of it in the Primal tent. We were treated to have Allen Lim and Biju Thomas cook us most of our meals from their Skratch Labs food truck. If you are an athlete and want some awesome recipes you should check out their cookbook The Feed Zone. We also visited BH Bikes, posed in masks and moustaches at Sidi and went on a nice media ride along the beautiful 17 mile drive in Carmel.

When we weren't visiting with sponsors we were racing! The stage race consisted of a crit, road race, time trail, and circuit race.  The highlight was going after the queen of the mountain points in the road and circuit races. I was able to collect enough points to win the Queen of the Mountain competition. The bummer was that I had to miss podium in order to head to the airport to catch my flight that I ended up missing anyway. I was able to get on a later flight and Emily stood in for me on the podium so I guess everything worked out.

 Going for QOM Points

 Media Ride

 Visiting Sidi

 Visiting BH

Racing

Emily filling in for me on the Podium

I Love My Parents!

Alisha says: Finally after living in Tucson for over a year and a half my parents were able to make it down for a short visit! I was so excited to have them come and see where we live, the streets I train on, the beautiful desert scenery, and so many other aspects of the place I now call home. I was hoping for some exciting wildlife to show up in the backyard but besides the regular quail, rabbit and lizards we haven't seen anything too crazy for a while. It was fun to just be able to hang out with them and have them all to myself for a day. They even took me to Costco where I stocked up on our favorite Costco items.

We went and ate dinner by the University at Gentle Ben's

We went to the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple. This actor was walking around before it started and it looked like a good photo opportunity.