Monday, April 30, 2012

Our ladies have it!

The early season has been the best yet for the Chick-fil-a/Excelerator Sports ladies!  We've been to a variety of races all over the state and the results have been fantastic.

After Tour del Sol, Heather Smith repeated her success with a win at the Wildcat Rally road race.  At the same event, LOTOJA winner Keri Gibson also took her category with a nice sprint.  We also had a great showing at East Canyon with 5 of our ladies racing.  Rachelle Lyle, who is transitioning from triathlon, performed great in her road racing debut.  The same weekend, Joan Meiners took 8th at the ultra competitive Sea Otter Classic in California. 

The winning ways continued this past weekend at the Tax Day Circuit Race in Idaho.  Heather took the surprise win in the Cat 4 women with teammate Heidi Moser also doing well. 

Coming up we have the Antelope Island Classic and then on to Bear Lake.  Watch for our ladies to continue tearing it up!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Tour del Sol

This past weekend Payton Nishikawa, Heather Smith and I went racing in St. George at the Tour del Sol.  The event kicks off the UCA season and we were met with a mixed bag of weather and our results could be described the same way.

The 2 day, 3 stage race started with a 12 mile time trial in perfect St. George conditions...sunshine, warm temps and no wind.  Payton and Heather put in solid efforts and I was able to knock almost 5 minutes off of last year's time.

After some lunch and a little rest we made our way up to the old airport for the afternoon criterium.  The wind was howling.  It was blowing across the bluff at 40 mph wreaking havoc on the peloton.  Heather kept in contention in the 15 rider Cat 4 Women. 

In the Cat 3 Men, Payton and I kept it competitive.  My first Cat 3 race was eye opening for sure.  The wind made the long south bound straight away a tactical nightmare.  With 5 laps to go, I was pushed into the rocks and took a good 100 yards to get back on the concrete.  Once back on, the wind blew me back into the rocks and I was dead last.  As the group rounded the turn they lit it up with the wind.  At that point I was dropped.  I tried desperately to get back on but with the wind it just didn't happen.  Payton however, stayed in there.  He looked strong among the 37 Cat 3's and sprinted with the group.

Sunday was the road race.  This course is challenging starting and finishing at Gunlock Resevoir taking in the loop that includes the infamous "wall" and the Utah Hill for the Cat 3's.  I didn't fair so well.  I woke up very tired and made it to the wall before being dropped like a bad habit ending my first Cat 3 race with a DNF.  Payton stayed with it though and represented well.  The best finish of the day however went to Heather.  She rocked it taking 4th in the day and moving up to third overall on GC!!  It was great weekend for Heather which saw continual improvement for the weekend, proof that never giving up can pay big dividends!