CooCooCaChoo!

I’ve been of late feeling that unmistakable urge to feel the exhilaration of being a few inches away from a bunch of people all travelling blistering speeds. Fortunately for me, that means that if I wanted to, I could throw on a kit TODAY and drive over to Fremont, CA and participate in the first early bird crit of the season. Racing January 9th?!?! Shit, son!
For the same reason I don’t do cross, I will not do any early bird crits (but my mind might change next week). Why? Because I have plenty of other things that I can be doing and I’ll save my heart the trepidation of pumping at 196 bpm (my LT) for the other 7-9 months of the year.

Last year, I started off my season with an early bird crit the last weekend of January and raced close to every weekend after that until I burnt out mid- April, took a few weeks off racing, and rediscovered that passion itching at beginning of May. Thankfully, it was just in time to be working up to my peak for Nationals (end of June). Then, again by Gateway Cup (September), I was burnt out and the only things that were getting me through the rest my season were the social, coffee shop rides.
The one thing that is pretty awesome about the Early bird crits, though, is that they combine the Women’s P12 with the Men’s P12 races. So last year, as a brand new cat 2, I raced in the same race (and finished!) with current criterium national champion, Daniel Holloway, as well as many of the Trek-Livestrong boys and other local hotshots.

For when the “real” season starts, Vanderkitten has a great schedule planned including March favorites Merco Cycling Classic and NRC Redlands. Last year in the Merco GP, I was able to pull of 20th in a star-studded field including Ina Teutenberg, Evelyn Stevens, Katheryn Curi Mattis, Shelley Evans, Coryn Rivera, etc. and I’m hoping to either do better this time or help one of my teammates podium who has a better shot at ripping more legs.

I can’t wait for our team camp at the end of February when we’ll get our new kits to by JLVelo, Chamois Butt’r Eurostyle, Nuun Nutrition, Selle Smp for saddles, KENDA tires, Easton Wheels, Giro Helmets, Relegate Coffee, and others TO BE ANNOUNCED…  :D


KaBOOOM it’s gonna be a good season!

Resolution

My new year’s resolution is to blog more often than once every half a year and to eat less chocolate. Since I think it will be easier to keep the former, here’s my first post in over six months. I’m back in St. Louis for Winter Break- which has been relaxing but I’m still not a fan of snow and am ready to get back to California. The beginning of my Christmas break was spent in Kona and after spending a week in Hawaii, the nippiness of Midwest winter is ever more apparent. 

Storing enough Vitamin D to last me through the winter

Right now I’m spending a lot of time in the gym lifting weights, doing plyometrics, doing lactate threshold intervals on the indoor trainer, and sleeping. Needless to say, 3 servings of 600mg ibuprofen has been added to daily regimen of vitamins and protein shakes.

Here are some tunes helping me get through the endless indoor-training hours…

“Suck it Up/Don’t Get Fat” Playlist

1.   1.  Gronlandic Edit – Of Montreal

2. 2.  Edwrecker – DJ Feadz

3. 3.  Lisztomania (Classixx Mix) – Phoenix

4.   4.   Indie Rokkers – MGMT

5.   5.  Naïve – the Kooks

6.   6.  Pass That Dutch – Missy Elliot

I’ll be racing for Vanderkitten Racing Team for the 2011 season. The team will have a very strong 8-person squad including racers from Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland (VK 2011 Roster). In addition to skills and racing strategies I’ll learn from my future teammates, hopefully I’ll also be taught how to look tougher. I’ve gotta work on that…  GRRR

 VK represent in Hawaii <3

I’ve also decided to re-endorse the nickname Kaboom that I was given from the first ever race I participated in : (The Beginning of Kaboom). However, I want the reincarnated nickname to symbolize an explosion of power like Fabian “Spartacus” Cancellara or Thor “God of Thunder” Hushovd instead of the crash-tastic Cat 4 that I was. So don’t forget that name, folks!

Sincerely,

 Maura Elizabeth Cleopatra Kaboom Kinsella (yes, my rebellious 8^th grader-self chose Cleopatra as a confirmation name)

Update: NVGP and Nationals

NATURE VALLEY (6/16-6/20)

            Since the Bridge team did not send a team to Nature Valley, I joined the Rooster Composite team for the week. I was feeling really fresh for the opening TT on that Monday morning. This year aero gear was prohibited in order to curb costs and level the playing field. I was nervous to ride Eddy Mercx style because I usually have a different focus on my TT bike but it wound up being alright. The TT was a 6 mile course along the river, starting flat and then ending with a steep 5ish-minute climb. I got way too excited and went out a little too hard. Wound up finishing 55^th, which I was still pretty pleased with that extremely stacked field (For complete results). The rest of the week didn’t go as well. That night was a very technical 5 corner criterium with over 90° turns. I was positioned poorly from the start and was basically sprinting out of every corner. The next day the Cannon Falls RR was cancelled due to tornado warnings. On Friday, the nighttime criterium in the heart of Minneapolis was also fast and hard. The field was completely strung out the entire 60 minutes. Then, on Saturday, my drivetrain completely fell apart during the Menomonie RR. On the first hill about 3 miles in, my chain came off for completely no reason – I hadn’t even touched the shift levers. I had to get off my bike to put it back on and watched as the whole caravan passed me. I hoped back on my bike and time trialed my way to the field, but my chain kept skipping – in the front and back. So after about 5 minutes back in the field, I was having to work a lot harder than everyone else with my gears changing every pedal stroke. Pros around me started to tell me to go back to my car… little did they know that non-pros do not have cars. Nevertheless, I went back to the neutral support car. After about 3 minutes of trying to get a neutral bike from the car, I hopped on the new bike but after about 15 minutes of trying to catch back on, I saw the pelaton going further and further away in the distance. That’s when I realized that I was going to dig a hole right before nationals if I continued. So, I hopped in the sag vehicle and that was the end of my first attempt at a NRC race.

NATIONALS (TT – 6/24; Crit – 6/25; RR – 6/27)

Thankfully, Nationals went better than Nature Valley. After frantically taking my bike to the nearest bike shop only to find out that I had several broken links on my chain (yes, I had replaced it recently - only two weeks beforehand), I flew straight to Bend, Oregon for the USACycling Road Nationals. I had gotten speed in my legs from the fast crits at Nature Valley which put me in great form for Nationals. The time trial was on Thursday – the pinnacle of this year for me. The course was long– 40 km, with 1000 feet of climbing at the beginning, then the same 1000 feet of decent and then through a hilly circuit. Again, I kind of went a little too hard on the opening climb. I was able to recover a bit on the downhill and felt decent through the circuit. I wound up finishing 3^rd in U23 which I was pleased with.

The following day was a nighttime criterium in downtown Bend. After positioning poorly in the last row, I quickly was able to move my way to the front. I was top 10 for the first 50 minutes or so. Then with 1 to go, Brooke Miller and a few other heavy-hitters went down in front of me. I was able to go around them but I could never really catch up the front of the pelaton that had not been delayed by the crash. I still had a solid finish – 21^st overall, and 5^th in U23 (results). 

For Sunday’s RR, I was really beginning to feel all the racing I had been doing and thought I was going to have a pretty terrible race – my muscles were burning. But the first lap (of four), I felt pretty good and the pelaton stayed together. At the beginning of the second lap, there was a group of three racers off the front and impromptu-ly I decided to go hard at the front up this steep little kicker. I turned around and realized me and a TIBCO rider on my wheel had split off from the rest of the pelaton. For some unknown reason (since I was racing U23 and she was Elite), the TIBCO rider wouldn’t pull through and eventually attacked me about 10 minutes later. Because she hadn’t done any work for the past 15 mintues, she was able to catch the front break-away. However hard I tried, I never seemed to be able to make the bridge. It was cool having a motorcycle riding next to me though – giving me splits to the front group and pelaton; at one point – 50 seconds to the front, 2 minutes to the back. I couldn’t believe that I had gotten 2 minutes by myself on the pro pelaton – that was pretty stellar. I made it up the first (mile 10) of the two big, significant climbs by myself and passing through the feed zone solo (almost famous?... haha). Then, before the second climb at mile 14 (RR course map), the pelaton caught me… and I all but exploded. I was so gone by then. I wound up finishing the last two laps of the circuit race with a nice chase group of about 15 riders. The last time up that mile 14 climb, I was suffering big time but was able to hold on and eventually get 2^nd in our field sprint to take 5^th in U23 category. Although I couldn’t finish in the lead group, I was still happy with how I had raced, aggressively instead of pack-fill.  Although, hopefully next year, it’ll stick.

I don't really feel like typing up everything that has happened from my last post in.... late March and now ... so here's that time in photos

Catching up

Madera

Okay...

so Mar. 13-14 weekend was the Madera Stage Race. Saturday morning was the crit that I didn't feel great for but Lauren killed it, winning the final sprint and the two time sprints. 

Later that afternoon was the 10 mile flat TT that I was sooo prepared for. I had looked up past top times, fastest time of people racing this year, how fast I had to average, wind direction, everything. During the TT, I felt AWESOME! The first two legs of the course were tail/cross wind and a cross wind respectively. I was flying, averaging 30 mph while still under threshold: super focused mindset accompanied by great rhythm. I was definitely in it to win it. The third leg had a head/cross wind and I tried to shift into an easier gear but realized my cable had snapped and I was stuck in my 11! It was awful. My pace slowed to like 23 mph on that leg and my legs were burning, having to crank such a big gear. Then on the fourth leg, it was direct head wind with winds of 25 mph winds. It was insane. It took me 7 minutes to do that last leg which was only 1 km! I probably was doing something like 30 rpm. Ridiculous. Anyway, to my total surprise I still wound up getting 4th which put me in 4th in the GC.

Sunday (Mar. 14) was the 67 mile road race. I only had one teammate because the Aus was recovering from a broken wrist but we hurt the peloton like there were 50 of us, attacking like crazy. I had a couple of long, quality attacks but unfortunately no one came with me any of those times. I really figured I had nothing to lose but apparently I did because after the road race, I wound up 6th in the GC. But tell me… how much better is 4^th than 6^th really?

San Dimas (Mar. 19-21)

I think that I just made the largest leap I’m ever going to from the St. Louis local 3/4s scene (strong women who taught me a lot!)  to the Cali racing scene featuring top pro women in the world including HTC-Columbia, Peanut Butter & Co., TIBCO, Webcor, Colavita, etc. At the beginning of March, at Merco stage race, I leaped and managed to make it across but at San Dimas, I didn’t even come close. I’ve realized that since I’ve been out west, that I really need to work on my climbing, and after San Dimas, I have only been reassured. Friday (Mar. 19) was the uphill 3.8 mile time trial (no need for aero gear). I got 72^nd out of 91. 72^nd. The funny thing is that during the TT, I was pleased with the speed that I was averaging (about 10.5 mph on 6-8% grade) so it’s really just that I can’t fathom people going so fast up it. I have huge admiration for those damn billiegoats.

Saturday (Mar. 20) was the 8 lap 7-mile circuit race. The course was hard; the field was ridiculously strong. And I was dropped on the very first lap on the 4 minute climb! Disheartening to say the least. My legs were fried from stage racing every weekend up until. So there it was, my race – Terminated (DNF). Sunday, I cheered on the sidelines as I watched my teammates go by on the L-shaped crit. Way to go Webcor AV Bridge Team! but I did not like being on the sidelines, not racing with them. So what’s the lesson learned? In order to defy gravity, cut off a limb.

Spring Break

I went to Boulder this past week during my spring break. It was a nice break from racing, just riding for hours in the beautiful mountains. One day, I went to Boulder Indoor Cycling, where there is a 125m track angled at 45 degrees. Zack taught me how to ride the track. After about thirty minutes of being scared shitless, I was in the sprinter’s lane rippin’ it up (sorta…). Mom laughed at me when I told her I wanted a track bike L. I’m still going to work on that but after it’s been more than two weeks since I had to get my road crash replacement.

Looking to what the future brings… (to be continued)

Merco Cycling Classic

This past weekend, my team and I went to Merced, CA for the Merced Stage Race. Ange, our token Aussie, came for support since she broke her wrist and is out for a few weekends of racing. Thankfully, the team opted out of doing the TTT on Friday due to school, work, and a very jetlagged Aus. So instead we headed out Saturday bright and early. On Saturday afternoon, we had a 6-corner, flat crit in the “heart” (if you can call it that) of Merced. HTC-Columbia was there, getting ready for Redlands, along with the other top dogs: TIBCO, Peanut Butter and Co, and Webcor. The race was fast, but not as excruciating as I had expected. In the 40 lap criterium, I attacked with 25 laps to go, not afraid to put my nose in the wind, and to see what kind of “damage” I could do. Not much. I was off the front for like half a lap and then was brought back by Evelyn Stevens (HTC-Columbia).

"Damage" done, pic taken after 1/2 lap before being completely reeled in
I recovered well after that attack and so I decided to go for a prime at about lap 15. I was 2^nd to the prime, outsprinted by TIBCO’s Megan Guarnier. After that, I led at the front for half a lap and then slowly moved back. After this dig, it was harder to recover, feeling totally gassed. I kept good position, top third of the pelaton for the rest of the time. There was massive carnage with 3 laps to go, completely stopping the field for like 15-20 minutes. We were off again, starting at 5 laps to go. It was really hard to go full gas again after stopping for so long. I wound up finishing top 20, still in the money, which was pretty cool in an 80-person field of the top women in the country and world.

Sunday was a 116 km rolling road race consisting of 3 loops. It was piled high with major attacks, especially from the Webcor pro women. HTC-Columbia’s Ina Teutenberg had the longest attack, solo, for like 50 km. That woman amazes me how strong she is, still rounding out to win the sprint at the end of the day.

The plan for the race was to make sure that a Webcor jersey, be it the Pro or development squad, was a part of every break that went off just in case it became “the” break. I had really good position most of the time, staying up at the front. I was feeling great. However, within the last 1.5 km, I heard someone behind me crash which I was glad to not be apart of but then, unexpectedly, my bike stopped moving, but I didn’t. I hit the pavement hard at like 28 mph on my back and head. It happened really slowly but then all of a sudden, I was on the ground and couldn’t get detached from my bike. The motorcycle sag vehicle stopped and helped me unclip and asked if I needed an ambulance which I declined. I rode the last 1.5 km at like 8 mph back to the Start/Finish line, heading straight for First Aid. The paramedics looked at my elbow and were really concerned by the huge chunk of flesh missing, that’s really deep (like ¾ of an inch). I started back on my bike to go to our car but my teammate pointed out that the seat stay is broken straight through. Then reality hit me. I put my sunglasses on my face to cover my pouting, so I’d look tougher and more badass, but inside I was in full panic mode. (I’m a 54 cm frame… J)

Anyway, I resisted at all costs having to go to Urgent Care but I didn’t have a choice. I went and got x-rays of my wrist and elbow. Last night, the nurse practitioner told me that my wrist was fractured and I was seriously pissed. Also, she told me that they would normally stitch up a wound as deep as mine, but since it’s a chunk actually missing, not just a deep cut, it couldn’t be sewn. So now, I just have a to cover it and wait like a month for skin to grow back over. Good news: this morning, I got a very welcomed call from the doctor who said that my wrist was actually not fractured, just badly sprained. Now, my neck and back are killing me so off to pop some Aleve.

Hoping for some good results at Madera…

Tiggetyboo!

Maura

New Season, New Team, New Plans

It's been over 6 months since I last blogged due to the hectic lifestyle of a college student. Actually no, it's really just that I've been extremely tentative about continuing my blog, not knowing if blogging was “socially acceptable” in college... and it definitely isn’t – but oh well, here it goes…

I have a new team for the 2010 race season. Since, I’ll be spending the vast majority of my year in California (which by the way is mind-blowing!), I’ve joined a team based out here – the Webcor AV Bridge Team. It's a “U23”, elite development team with strong ties to the Webcor Women’s Pro Team. 

While being out here, I've definitely noticed how much the people take a lot of things for granted. While on an everyday training ride, everywhere you turn you’re surrounded by pros and everyone here is just so nonchalant about it like it’s “normal” (!). To your right are national champions and on your left are the former/ and current world champions. For example, I didn’t find out until after the fact but apparently I was on the wheel of last year’s USAC president and current BMC team director on a group ride the other day. And just on Tuesday, while practicing for an upcoming TTT with Lauren, I saw Cadel Evans training in his rainbow colors with a BMC sag vehicle close behind.

Besides all of the all-stars here, the other thing people take for granted is the scenery – WHEW – gorgeous. Not only are these the most beautiful landscape I've ever scene but also the terrain is so much different. The climbs range anywhere from 3 to 18 miles. Some leading to the ocean, others to large farmland, others to the city.

It's Race Season Already!

Two weekends ago, my team and I rode to Fremont where an Early Bird Crit was taking place. When I got there, I learned that for Early Birds, they combine the Womens and Mens Pro, 1,2.  I just about peed my pants. While I was registering for the race, none other than Daniel Halloway was registering next to me for the SAME race. Also present were Charlie Avis of Trek-Livestrong and a few other BIG names, not to mention a few Pro women. "I'm dead meat," I thought to myself, wondering how long I’d be able to stay in the 60-minute criterium. The crit was pretty much your basic flat, 4-corner crit with some serious winds. To my surprise, I stayed in the whole time!  We averaged something like 29.5 mph and I was sustaining a constant 200 bpm, (max is 216) for the whole time. It was a lot of fun! It’s funny how the dynamic of racing with men is so much different. Some of them really hate you for being in their race and don’t believe you are fit enough, while others really hate you if you are ahead of them and keep trying to prove their “physical superiorness”, and then I guess a few just don’t really care.

Anyways, this last weekend was my first “real” race of the season – Cherry Pie Crit in Napa. Tibco had a really strong team there, setting up the sprint for Brooke Miller, which they did well. Then, my teammate, Lauren, got second which was awesome! It was an aggressive, technical race with a hill followed by a complete 180 degree turn which was slowww and then downhill and some corners and through a chicane. It was saweeet to be racing next to all of these amazing women. 

These races have definitely put me in a different perspective than I had all last year - now finding myself more on the defensive than offensive. Hopefully, throughout the year, I’ll be able to change that and throw some good jabs in. I already feel a lot stronger since I’ve been training in California. This is also the first time that I’ve trained in the winter, since I started last February 28, 2009 with my very first race Froze Toes.

In addition to racing on the Webcor Bridge Team, I'll be racing for SCU so that I can compete in collegiate nationals in Madison, WI May 7-9. I’ve heard that collegiate racing is a lot of fun without the “stodginess” of regular road racing so I'm hoping for a good time.  I’m definitely going to be focusing much more on USAC races which I think will develop me more as a racer.

Well, off to training camp in Menlo Park for the weekend.

Tata,

Maura

P.s. I have decided to change my blog’s title from having anything to do with the nickname “Kaboom” because I don’t think that the Women’s P,1,2 peloton will appreciate having a “Kaboom” in their race :D 

Panic Attacks and Nationals

I’ve just had my wisdom teeth removed three hours ago. I cannot eat, drink, or talk for the moment so I decided to write a blog. Laziness is to be blamed for over a month sans blogging so Percocet is to be thanked for this one…
Since I just remembered this, I had my very first real panic attack (!) due to “Laughing Gas” also known as Nitrous Oxide so I made them change it to pure oxygen, which is probably the only reason why I am still alive. Anyway… For those of you who don’t want to feel the wind off the pelaton, see every move and attack, and basically bonk, DO NOT READ this entry.

The last week in June, I went to a Junior Development Camp in Wisconsin with a few of my Mesa teammates. Camp rolled off to a rocky start because I had forgotten all of the releases that my parents had signed and was threatened to be sent home. One Kinkos trip and what I thought was a panic attack then (I now know better) later, I was being introduced to the staff facilitating the camp. The next day felt harder than it seemed to for everyone else. I later realized that my front brakes had been rubbing (and yes, I had checked them before I had ridden but the brakes were loose). Also the scariest moment in my entire 18 years, 1 month, and 2 days of living happened on the first day. While on a descent I looked down at my odometer and saw 55 mph. AHHH! Scary enough going that fast but when I looked up from my odometer, I saw that I was going through a gravel patch on the rode so I took a deep breath, almost swerved out but thankfully managed to keep the rubber between me and pavement. The rest of the week was filled with speeches, individual time trials for USACycling field tests, long group rides, nasty cafeteria food, and sleep. All in all, it was good week.

July went by, nothing too exciting. Sooo NATIONALS were awesome! We arrived the Saturday before my first race. Bend, Oregon is one of the prettiest places I’ve been to. It would have been even more enjoyable if it wasn’t having record high temperatures in the mid 90s that week, especially since our host house didn’t have air conditioning! Who’s ever heard of such a thing?
My road race was Wednesday, time trial Friday, and crit Sunday.
The night before my RR I went to bed at 8:30, but then I woke up at 10:30 and couldn’t go back to bed for at least 3 hours. I did everything to try and go back to bed; I went outside where it was cooler and laid on the ground looking up at the magnificent stars which were completely untainted by light pollution. I went back to bed; when I woke up I realized I had left my phone outside. I raced out but the automatic sprinklers beat me to it. It wouldn’t turn on but I am a seasoned pro with phone water damage so I took the parts apart and put it into a bowl of uncooked rice. Half a day later, my phone had resurrected and is in perfect working condition. Oh yeah the race…
The race was 84 km consisting of three 17-mile circuits. The road race was rolling for the first 10 miles. Then there was climb of a couple miles at a steady grade of 7%. At mile 14, there was a beast that gobbled up riders one by one and shredding their legs. It was about 150 meters of 15% elevation and then it continued for about another mile and a half at 6-7%. Everyone was out of the saddle for the steepest part of the climb but the most torturous part of the climb was that it kept continuing. I sat down as the lactic acid built in my legs and lost all of the oxygen from my lungs.
There weren’t any real attacks the first 2 laps but the pace was pretty high so people were being dropped, especially on the Mile 14 Beast. On the third lap, Coryn Rivera attacked. Three girls went with her followed by a group of three more and then there was me in the third chasing group. My group worked well together and caught up to the second chase group. Then the Beast 14 struck again and the pack was separated. I crossed the finish line by myself for 6th place, 1:22 min behind Coryn who won with a solo attack. It was a tough race.

I was strongly considering not doing the 24k time trial because I don’t have a TT bike and I haven’t practiced with aero bars or in that position at all. But I figured what the heck and I would do it as a tempo ride plus I had already paid for it. I threw on Johnathon’s spare aero bars and Matt Pence’s wicked hot (but apparently more aero with all that tape covering the ventilation holes) aero helmet and took off. Thirty seconds in I passed my 30 second girl and I kept picking girls off which felt good! So I turned it into a little more than “just a tempo ride” and I started to race. The 12k out was uphill. At the turn around I had already passed four girls but I can’t turn worth anything so I went 2mph around the turnaround and had to start up again from scratch. On the way back, I caught two more girls and then sprinted in for the finish. To my (and everyone else’s too) surprise, I got on the podium with 5th place!

It was 97 degrees while I did my tt. Matt Pence, Matt Fickinger, Ethan, and I went tubing in the river that went through Bend after our TTs. The water was 45 degrees (I made that up but I’m sure it must be close) and felt splendid.

When I arrived at the crit course on Sunday, I realized that both the tubular tires on my new aero Eastons were flat and I couldn’t pump them up. I took them to Shimano neutral support who helped me. Better late than never, I got on the course to warm up and did a couple of hard efforts and felt peachy. At the gun, Jackie from Kenda hit it hot and was off the front. She was chased down but I wanted to keep the pace high. I attacked a few times. I was pulled back but the pelaton was getting smaller and smaller. I didn’t want the race to come down to a field sprint because I know some of the girls in the chase group are crazy strong sprinters with thighs like Cav’s. No one really wanted to pull and I wanted to break the group apart so as I was pulling at 26.5 mph, I attacked (yes, I know off the front was stupid, but I felt great!). Again this attack didn’t particularly stick but I heard some heavy huffing and puffing behind me. Katie from ISCorp countered so Jackie (Kenda), Cynthia (Hincapie), and I made a four person breakaway which stuck till the end. We gained half a minute on the chasing pelaton. The breakaway worked well together and kept the pace high around 23-24 mph. I was first around the final corner but the sprint was way too long at about 400 meters. I tried but I’m not that powerful yet. Jackie and Katie came around me right before the line. That was a huge bummer but it’s my first year racing so I guess a National Championship is a little much to ask for. It was an extremely fun race and I felt great.

I mounted the podium for the second time that week and received my 3rd place medal (which looks EXACTLY the same as my 5th place medal so I was peeved – they should look different or at least put the place on the medal!).

I was then abducted by USADA officials, shown to a bathroom, and handed a cup where my privacy was invaded.

The End.