Finding our Form.

Cascade ended up being a race for finding our form. Which was good and bad, and I’ll take it. With out a lot of detail, Cascade was tough for us. We lost our GC rider on the first day to a broken wrist (get well soon Melissa). This race was perfect for her abilities. Plus a great tune up for Nationals, (it actually was a great tune up for the whole team). Crashing is part of racing but sometimes can be so hard to deal with. A lot of hard racing and Cascade over the team was looking to Nationals. Which started four days from the end of Cascade. Nationals also happened to be in Bend, Oregon. The combo of hard racing and some rest was PERFECT for Alice as she road to a 9th in the Road race. When you look at who was racing, Alice finished higher than any other PRO rider in the Northwest. On top of that!!! She works a full time job and was on her feet all day the day before the road race. Congrats on an awesome RIDE PENNINGTON!!!!
Here are the top 10 from Elite Road Nationals for the Pro Women.

Time License Bib Team
1 90 Meredith Miller 02:52:15.30 143575 48 Team Tibco
2 85 Christina Ruiter 02:52:22.00 194905 64 Value Act Capital
3 80 Kristen LaSasso 02:52:22.40 151408 86 Mellow Mushroom
4 75 Kori Seehafer 02:52:35.10 77841 68 Team Type 1
5 70 Katharine Carroll 02:52:49.50 212327 16 TIBCO
6 65 Evelyn Stevens 02:52:49.80 272861 72 CRCA-Radical Media
7 60 Mara Abbott 02:52:52.50 198735 2 Team Columbia-htc
8 55 Alison Powers 02:53:06.40 98704 57 Team Type 1
9 50 Alice Pennington 02:53:06.60 150685 84 Veloforma
10 45 Kristin Sanders 02:53:08.90 193955 66 Value Act Capital

Now that’s a tuff crowd to hang with.

For Christina Smith, she also used Cascade and Nationals to fine tune her crit form. Shortly after Nationals she travel to North Carolina to race in the Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium. Christina raced her typical aggressive racing style, being active in all breaks but none stuck. It came down to a Field sprint where she finished 5th and her first NRC podium for this year. The next day she upped it by one and finished 4th at the Hanes Park Classic making it two NRC Podiums in two days!!

Women - Pro
Place Points Name Time License Bib Team
1 90 Brooke Miller 0:54:47.8 196453 6 Team Tibco
2 85 Tina Pic 0:54:48.1 41951 14 Colavita Sutter Home P/b Cookin
3 80 Theresa Cliff-Ryan 0:54:48.2 231296 64 Verducci/breakaway Racing
4 75 Laura Van Gilder 0:54:48.3 36345 26 Mellow Mushroom
5 70 Christina Smith 0:54:48.5 217750 72 Veloforma
6 0 Joanne KIESANOWSKI 0:54:48.5 2 Team Tibco
7 60 Erica Allar 0:54:49.1 174914 48 Bmw-bianchi
8 55 Jennifer McRae 0:54:49.2 55232 11 Team Type 1
9 0 Joelle NUMAINVILLE 0:54:49.4 41 Team Kenda
10 0 Cath CHEATLEY 0:54:49.8 19 Colavita Sutter Home P/b Cookin

Women - Pro
Place Points Name Time License Bib Team
1 90 Brooke Miller 47:12.0 196453 323 Team TIBCO
2 85 Theresa Cliff-Ryan 47:12.1 231296 418 Verducci/Breakaway Racing
3 80 Laura Van Gilder 47:12.5 36345 362 C3 Sollay
4 75 Christina Smith 47:12.6 217750 123 Veloforma
5 70 Tina Pic 47:13.1 41951 376 Colavita Sutterhome p/b Cooking

Things are looking good for Christina, as this weekend is Criterium Nationals in Downers Grove. She has really good form so the sky is the limit!! Stay tuned for more results. We are all rooting for you Barn Diva!!!

For me travel time is over for a while, time to hang out on the deck. If you want to know where I am going to spend the next few weekends it gonna be hanging out and re-charging before Vegas, Interbike, Cross Vegas and US Criterium Finals. Wow that's a mouth full.

Thanks for reading.