Anyone want to move to Flagstaff and work on cool bike related stuff?  My brother has a webstore where he sells bicycle trailers, and he’s looking for another employee.  Check it out:

Greetings,

I have a webstore and blog dedicated to the proliferation of bike trailers all over our green earth.
With the rising price of gas and the growing interest in cycling as an alternative to automobile transportation, we’ve been experiencing very strong growth this season.

We are currently seeking a new employee to join our small team here in Flagstaff, AZ.
I was wondering if you might be willing to mention our available position on your Blog.
It seems that among your readership there is likely someone who would be interested in our social-entrepreneurial venture.

Details about our position are on the About Us section of our webstore.
Let me know if I can fill you in on any further details.
Thank you for your time and consideration.

Best Regards,

Josh Lipton
http://BikeTrailerShop.com
http://BikeTrailerBlog.com/
http://BikeTrailerBlog.com/links

1-928-226-0294
1-800-717-2596

2008 marks the FIRST TIME EVER that the University of Arizona cycling team has sent a full team of 4 women - myself, Chloe Forsman, Kathy Rakel, and Judy Jenkins - to Collegiate Road Bike Nationals.  FIRST TIME EVER.  I really should have stayed in Tucson and focused on the last week of school after missing a week to go to Gila, but would not have been any fun.  For those of you who don’t know, Collegiate Road Nats was in Ft. Collins last weekend.  We also sent a full team of 4 men - Kyle Colavito, Brian Meyer, David Glick and Matt Jones - so it was another first to have two full squads at Nationals.  Not too shabby for a “getting-better-established” collegiate team.

DAY 1 - TTT:

I rode my beautiful new TT bike hand-built here in Tucson by Andy Gilmour for the first time the day before the race.

The first time the four of us ladies rode together all at the same time was also the day before the TTT.  But practice-smactice, we got 3rd.  Smokin’.  Our men’s team came in at 10th.  We ALL had matching TT helmets provided by Giro.  So pro.

 DAY 2 - Road Race:

I think the apocalypse was coming at the start of our race at 8 in the freakin’ morning, because it was really cold and really, really windy.  The race starts out up a super steep climb, and it happened to be right into a fierce headwind.  A break of 8 riders formed immediately with me and Chloe, two Ft. Lewis riders, one Lees McRae, one Stanford, one CSU, and one school I didn’t figure out.  The girl from the mystery school soon fell off the group as we set a hard pace up the climbs and down the windy, winding descents.  Our teammate Judy said that up the first climb, it was so windy that girls were falling off their bikes and walking.  I’d like to think it’s because Chloe and I rode up the climb so fast people couldn’t even ride their bikes anymore…but whatever.

Well, there was one lady in the break who didn’t do her fair share of work all day.  Her coach at Lees McRae kept shouting at her to sit on through the feed zone, but the freakin’ peloton was barreling down on us all day, so we had to do something.  Anyways, this particular non-worker chick happened to win.  I guess that’s road racing for ya.  You can read my opinions about it in Velo News.  Thanks for making me sound like an ass, Fred.

Anyhow, I got 4th, Chloe got 2nd, which equals UA had more riders on the podium than any other school…and they are both MOUNTAIN BIKERS!  Take that Road Nationals.

The men’s race got cut short, but our boys hung in strong and Kyle and David finished with the main chase group.  Brian came in not long after, and Matt said screw-it the last time through the feed zone.

DAY 3- Crit (Sketchy-Fest):

Chloe and I kinda blew it.  We were sitting 2nd and 4th in the overall omnium, and somehow, after the end of the crit, neither of us were in the top 5 any more.   Chloe ended up 6th and I was 10th.  I attribute this to spending all day at the front fearing for my life further back in the pack.  Sketchy wheel here, sketchy wheel there, what’s a gal to do?  Sit at the front all day, that’s what a gal should do…or not.  I tried so hard to start a break, but no one let me get away or obviously Chloe, for that matter.  Then, two girls did happen to get away - since the group let them, because we all thought they were non-contenders for the overall - and they ended up taking like 3rd and 4th or something in the overall in addition to 1st and 2nd for the race.  Arghh#^%^&%&*!.

Despite sitting at the front all day pulling the pack around in circles, I did not finish at the front, nor did Chloe - although she did way better than me in the pack sprint.  There were three crashes on the last lap on each of the three finals turns, and I basically was glad to finish with my skin intact.  I got one point in a sprint prime, but other than that, I was an idiot. Oh well, live and learn.  That’s road racing for ya.

I should mention that our teammates Judy and Kathy who have done no more than 2 crits each in their lives both did great!  Kathy beat me in the pack sprint, and Judy had a blast.  They were both incredible out there.  The men’s race was also a sketchy fest, and Kyle went down in the crash that warranted the officials stopping the entire race and having to restart.  Yikes.  Kyle was totally fine - thankfully, since I couldn’t handle any more road rash on him after the gnarly Bisbee crash he went down in - and the boys all managed to stay upright for the rest of the race.  None of the buggers finished in the top 50 though, so we didn’t get any points for the overall team omnium.  Despite that, UA finished 6th!!!!!! in the overall omnium against the big established cycling schools.  Not too shabby for a first time with a full squad.  Look out next year.

A big thanks also to Neil Stewart who served as our race director, mechanic, van-driver, bike-builder, sponsorship getter, and just about everything else.  We really appreciate all of your help, Neil!!

We celebrated our just-off-the-podium overall finish with cinnamon rolls.

Otherwise know as Mel goes to Tour of the Gila.

Day 1: Crashes, crashes, and more crashes.  I guess it makes sense, everyone has to get used to each other in the pack, but geez, three of them should have included me!  Good thing that mountain biker in me knows how to stop fast.  I’ve never ridden in a pack larger than 20, so getting used to a pack of 70 was definitely a learning experience.  For the first half of the race, I couldn’t figure out how to get to the front, but towards the end of the day I started to figure out to hold my place.  I sucked up the climb to Mogollon unfortunately, but still finished mid-way through the pack.  At least I kept the rubber side down.

Day 2: I made the selection with the front group on the climb out of Pinos Altos.  It was a blast flying through the crazy corners and turns up there.  The descent down the Sapillo was incredible, and despite almost following a wheel over the edge, I held it together with the best ladies out there.  Through the valley to Mimbres, the poor Value Act team had to do all of the work to defend Leah Goldstein in the leader’s jersey.  I commented after the race that I felt bad for them and wanted to help out, but I was assured me it is their job and that the whole point is to attack them and take the jersey.  I still felt bad…I’ll probably make a terrible road racer.  Oh well, I got 15th.

Day 3: TT.  Say no more.  I put aero bars on my road bike, but did not comply with the UCI rules, so I had to take them off.  I did have a disc, a TT helmet, and shoe covers though, so I didn’t look half bad out there.  I even passed some people…well, I also got passed by one or two , but who’s counting?

Day 4: The crit.  Amazing.  So much fun.  I will never be able to do a crit with less than fifty women in it ever again.  That was a blast.  I was the only girl in my hoods the whole day…silly mountain biker, but I still finished right up there in 16th.

Day 5: I almost got dropped before we even left town.  That fifth day up at 6,000 feet and lots of miles seemed to catch up with me a bit.  After the pee break in the middle of a neighborhood - WTF?? - there was attack after attack after attack all the way to the base of the Sapillo climb.  At the bottom, the front group took off, and I did not make the selection.  I ended up in the second chase group with a bunch of ladies who didn’t feel like working…save one or two.  I wanted to beg them to please help the little amateur not lose too much time on the last day, but instead I just did some work and got my outsprinted to the finish.  Whatever.

GC: 22nd.  Not too shabby for my first NRC.  Now that I have done my first NRC stage race, I’m pretty sure I’m hooked.  I still truly belong to the knobby tire crowd, but I think I could get used to these epic stage races.

It was great to have my teammate Heather out there all week and she finished 26th in the GC.  My teammate Luisa came out also, but since she had finished an Iron Man with a time good enough to qualify for Kona in Hawaii only two weeks prior, she only made it through the first day.  Since I can’t run or swim really, I pretty much think she is a badass.  Kyle toughed it out and finished the race despite dealing with some serious road rash and a concussion from a bad crash at La Vuelta de Bisbee.  He managed to avoid the terrible crash in the 1’s on the last day which has left one rider paralyzed.  I hope the poor guy comes through.

I’m at Collegiate Road Bike Nats in Ft. Collins right now.  Our ladies team just got 3rd in the TTT.  The first time we ever road together all at the same time was yesterday.  The first time I ever rode my TT bike was yesterday.  We pretty much rule, but I’ll save that for another post.