Project 5 Racing

Pascale Petro, Mitch Pietkos, & Cathy Frampton

American Bike Racing (ABR) puts on some nice events – it’s like a picnic with friends. Well, at least when the weather cooperates. Sunday wasn’t quite picnic weather – not even close. Pascale and I arrived at the race site, shivering as we shuttled to/from the registration building. We hopped on the trainers positioning ourselves so that the wind would batter us just a little bit less. Then we got to spinning to warm up. I rolled to the line first and sat for a good few minutes – feeling the cold filter in just a bit.

5-4-3-2-1 – and I was off. TT’s are a different kind of racing from the crits and road races I enjoy. I looked to my left and right kind of searching for that competitor to make a move – but there wasn’t anyone there. Just my breathing and my bike – oh, and the wind. For the next 30 min or so I fought all of them. Not sure which one won the battle, but I’m still standing and coming back for another round!

The parking lot is the place to be after these TT’s – by bike, foot, or car, most everyone rolls by so you get a chance to catch up. Pascale rolled in after her race – grinning ear-to-ear (she’s coming back!). Mitch joined us. Albertos, Verdigris, ABD – and so on… Unfortunately the socializing was cut short as the warnings that 75mph winds, 1/4″ hail, and lightning was 20 min away. Maybe we’ll get that picnic in at the next TT?

(Pictured here: Beth Christiansen, Elise Kikis, Sandra Samman, Leah Sanda, Francine Haas, Cathy Frampton, Sue Semaszczuk and Kelli Richter)

A gentle breeze… that might be the best description of the impact I had on the 35th Joe Martin Stage Race (JM) this year. 7 other women racers from the Chicago area took the 10hr+ drive to Fayetteville, Arkansas, more than doubling our presence from last year. Fayetteville at this time of year is a nice diversion from the cold, windy, and rainy – oh, and flat – conditions of home.

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JD, Tim Sullivan and “Monster” Mike Byrnes hooked up on April 29th to take part in the annual Easter Ride. Good weather, smooth roads and a group of 5 other strong riders made for a perfect day on the bike. The ride was capped off with a post ride meal of egg salad sandwiches and protein drinks, mmmmmmm Is it to soon to start planning for the 2013 ride???

Once again on October 8, 2011, Project 5 Racing and Chicago Winter Bike Swap will host a ride for all area women’s racers and enthusiasts. At 9:00 am, from Twin Lakes Park (150 W. 59th St) on 59th Street just west of Cass Ave in Westmont, we will head out to the trails and roads of the west suburbs for a conversive, enjoyable 30 or so mile ride before returning to the park for some further chatting and lunch. Pull on your team jersey and bibs, grab your bike and helmet, and come along…
Get the Flyer: Here

This was my second year heading out to Iowa for the trifecta of crit racing on Memorial Day Week-end: Snake Alley (Burlington, IA), Melon City (Muscatine, IA), and Quad Cities (Rock Island, IL). For the women this year, they had W2/3 races each day in addition to the cat 4 and W1/2/3 races. The distance of the W2/3 races was significantly shorter than the W1/2/3 – but for me, with the vacation mindset in place, the shorter distances were perfect.

Snake Alley: Head to You Tube and check out videos of Snake Alley – a brick paved, narrow, steep, multi-switchback climb followed by a swooping downhill – repeat often. This race is a personal challenge for each competitor. The tactics are simple – get up the climb faster than your rivals and be efficient in the downhill. I started on the front line, headed to the snake, and then tried to be as consistent as possible with each of the 6 laps. While on lap 1 I was definitely not the fastest up the snake, on each subsequent lap, I passed a racer or two. All in all ok.

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Traveling with local competitors over 500 miles away from Chicago to race, changes the dynamics a bit so that, for a short while, while in the midst of this far-away town, you are sort of like temporary teammates – at least that is what I felt on the trip to the Joe Martin stage race with XXX’ers, Tamara Fraser and Sandra Samman and SpiderMonkey’s Vanessa Buccella. We each had our goals - and together we helped each other try to achieve them. Here’s a brief recount of my races in the W40+ category…

Time trial – 2.5 mi uphill, average 6.8% grade. I LOVE TT’s – not! But I am learning to like them a bit – just a little bit. I went as aero as I could - TT helmet (thanks, P2), skinsuit, no gloves, and booties – with the elfy toes tucked in. I started in the big chainring, hammering as hard as I could the 0.5 mi flattish section. Then I started dropping the gears rather quickly once I hit the grade change.  Solid effort finishing in just under 12 min about 30 sec behind the top two finishers in my group.
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Hell is not hot – it is cold, rainy, windy, with a bit of haily snow thrown in. Oh, not to mention mud and slick roads.

Shawn raced the 4′s first with Lance helping in the feed zone. Conditions at start of his race: 45-48F, drizzle, wind out of west 15-20mph. Final 25K Conditions: 35-38F, blowin 20-30mph and gusting much higher out of the west. And it would only get worse as the day went on. As a result, other races were cut short leaving Shawn as the only P5 racer to complete the full 100k scheduled.

Survival became the new goal at Leland – not the placing on the scorecard. Shawn helped out a fellow racer with some food during the race. Shawn recounted, “The fellow racer came up afterwards and said good riding with you while we did, and thank you for the support out there. That made my day. He finished, and not last! And that’s why this is the best sport on the planet and why we do it. If we can get a result from time to time that’s a bonus. For the conditions we battled and endured at Flatlandia’s Leland Kermesse; everyone who turned a lap out there on Saturday deserves a Jens Factor badge because that’s exactly what it took.” ‘Nuff said.

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Ladies – Join us for a 30 mile ride in the west suburbs followed by a picnic style lunch. Don your finest riding garb, your team kit, grab your bike and let’s roll! We’ll head out at 9:00 from Twin Lakes Park on 59th St. just west of Cass Avenue in Westmont. Easy access from the Metra as well. More details on the flier found here: click me.

I expected a day filled with rain, thunder, and lightning – but no, blue skies, heat, and humidity were piled on! Great day for racing.

The W3/4′s race had almost 50 racers on the start line – what a terrific showing! Some of the top talent from Wisconsin was down as well as a few unknowns from other states. The race started at a fast clip, with P5 stringing out the field for a few laps. After a couple of attacks, the contenders at the front of the pack were consistent – and would eventually line up as the top 10 finishers. The race remained exciting, though, with many attacks from the many teams represented. When the organizers put us on the longer, PRO course, next year, those team tactics will have much more impact to the race. So cool to see the Kenda team swooping up the inside. On another lap, Cuttin’Crew chasing down a break. P5 being the break that they had to chase, while I sat in. That’s fun racing. 

Unfortunately one of our top Chicago competitors crashed bad at turn 3 about 3/4 way through the race. The race was neutralized for a few laps at that point on the course as well as stopped/started to allow the ambulance to clear the course. I don’t think the start/stop had an impact on the race results - however, what did impact each of us was knowing that a friend was hurt. Our well-wishes go out to her.

The finish of the race was a series of attacks with the strongest riders finding the right lines to position themselves before hitting the final corner and taking it across the finish line. As I was behind them, learning a new lesson, it was so cool to see how easily they could move to get a clean line and surge forward. Tuck that away for next season.