Koren Does the Impossible

Held in various locations around the Illinois-Iowa border, the Memorial Day Weekend Bike Races are three of the most prestigious events in the Midwestern race calendar. A top finish in one of these events can make a season, but a clean sweep of all three signals the arrival of someone special. Lindsay graces us with a clever account of her domination at Snake Alley, Mellon City, and the Quad Cities:

"One of my goals for this season was to win Snake Alley and get some other good results at the Memorial Day weekend races before making the jump to Cat 3. It was my second stab at all of the races after some disappointing results last year because I wasn’t logging the training time. I came back stronger to start the year off (probably as a result of all the training volume of last year in preparation for the ironman…..just proof triathlons are awesome). A few months of training with the powertap, a pretty decent coach ;) and some great prerace advice/strategy really paid off this year and I nabbed the first goal of the year. Here’s a little break down of the races….

Snake Alley
I think about 20 women lined up for the race. Since I hadn’t preregistered I started near the back and when the lead women took off like bats out of hell from the gun I found myself in pretty poor position approaching “The Snake” for the first lap. A few girls went down right next to me in the first switchback, probably as a result of misjudging what gearing they’d need. I can’t blame them as I almost found myself in the same position last year, but just managed to keep it upright. After some serious wheel rubbing with one other woman throughout the first time up the shoot, I managed to get clear of the biggest groups. There were still a handful of women quite a bit up the road but my legs felt surprisingly good. Rumor has it brakes aren’t needed on the descent. I did my best but still needed to use them a little as I was still sharing the road with a few other women. At the bottom I could see the leaders still up the road and I grabbed the wheel of another woman still in front of me. We gained some ground on Kelli Mente (Punk Rock Cycling) and Sarah Huang, who were leading at that point. I don’t remember exactly, but I think going into the shoot for the 3rd lap I was able to barely pass the two leaders up and put in a bit of a gap by the top. The rest of the race was basically a time trial to the line of my second victory ever! I apologize to those who have expressed concern with my finish style but a victory is better celebrated upright and not on the ground.

Melon City
This race was more representative of what real racing should be like. I have to give mad props to the women from Punk Rock Cycling. They’re strong and they were throwing attacks like mad…great strategy since they had several women hanging in the top 10. Without any teammates in the field I really had to gamble and cover everything with hopes I could still pull off a sprint if that’s what it came to. I think the repeated attacks and subsequent efforts required in the field started to slowly shed people and string the field out. I was certainly starting to question whether I’d have it in me either for the end or to finally get an attack to stick. Finally, one of the Punk Rock girls threw a really hard attack from a ways back in the field and it was Kelli Mente, Sarah Huang and, her and myself up the road a bit. The attack must have cooked her but she got her teammate up the road and Kelli and I worked together to keep the pace up and the gap stable. Coming up the hill on the final lap I found myself in front and knew I needed to be the first wheel into the hairpin corner so I gave it one more effort. Surprisingly my legs hadn’t quit on me and I put a big enough gap between myself and the girls and took it to the line. Again, a two-hands-on-the-bars finish, but nonetheless a victory.

Quad Cities
This was another fun race and I really like this course. This time I started in the third row and spent the first lap pretty boxed in near the back. Luckily the girls at the front were pushing the pace enough that little gaps would open up near each corner and I quickly moved up to about 5th wheel by the second lap. My plan for the race was to ride in the top 6 or so, try and get on board if any breaks went otherwise throw an attack on or during the last lap and try and take it home. There were a few small attack efforts but the field quickly pulled things back and the extra effort ended up being a waste. Kelli Mente road really strong again pushing the pace and pulling the field for most of the race. At one point I was off the front with her and Sarah again. Sarah must have been feeling good because she took some great pulls (unfortunately when you’re twice her size the draft isn’t that great). It came down to the last lap with Kelli, Sarah and myself near the front again and since I didn’t know what caliber sprinters either of them were I decided to gamble and go since my legs were feeling strong. I told myself to just kill it and it’d be less than two minutes to the line. Initially I don’t think there was much of a gap but I kept hammering and checking behind me. Going into the last corner I had enough of a gap to breathe and take in what will probably be the last victory I’m going to get for a while. My 3 upgrade came in last night so now I’m ready to rock and roll with the big girls. The only major goal I’ve got is to not get dropped. Now I have teammates and next up are the Winfield races this weekend. Gotta bring my “A” game.

All in all it was a great race weekend. The races were hard, but I still got some good results. All I have to say is the women’s bike racing scene better watch out….little Sarah Huang is going to be kicking ass and taking names before she even has a drivers license."

Haskell, Gorry (The Gaskell) Take on All Comers in Biggest Weekend of the Year

Devon recaps the experiences of Memorial Day Weekend Racing:

"Finally getting to writing a race recap (sorry its long)... let's see... Saturday started off with the Snake. Aspen and I arrived just a little late to see Lindsay's finish, but as we walked to registration, we saw her being hounded by the local reporter - a good sign (ed. there is a link to this interview below)! I was up next on the Snake... the women's open field had over 40 which is great for a women's race! I was second row which isn't too bad of a position, but I missed my clip in and was soon near the back of the pack. I made up a few spots before hitting the snake, but two riders were already off the front. I got up to the first chase pack on the downhill... and we eventually gained on the leaders and caught them after a few laps (the leader dropped her chain twice which helped our chase effort). Soon there were only 5 up front with a few laps to go... the snake was getting harder and harder, but there were a lot of great fans which helped motivate me up the hill each time. With two to go, two girls got a gap on the way up, and we took a little too long before deciding to chase and couldn't bring them back in. The finish came down to a sprint... I led the way into the homestretch and got passed right before the line for 4th - a big improvement on last year's 11th. Aspen was the last of the green goblins to race the snake. He started out in a field of over 60 riders and did a good job at holding his position into the first climb. For a while he was in a pack representing spots 10-20 or so and looking strong. After a while, I think the windy backstretch and the snake repeats started getting to him and he moved a bit back in the pack, but ended up with a solid finish at 33rd in a big and strong field!

Next day was the Melon City Criterium. We arrived early in time to see Lindsay dominate once again. She seemed to have no trouble sitting in with the leaders of her field. Then with a couple laps to go she got in a break with two others and finally crushed them on the finish! I raced a bit later and the field was almost 50 which made for a fun race! A few teams had good representation - they were able to keep the pace high and the race exciting by sending people off the front. I got in a few attacks, but nothing stuck for long. Midway through, i struggled with the heat and humiditiy, but eventually got a second wind and went for a prime (and won!). The finish was fast and I didn't get great position into the last hairpin turn, but passed a few on the home stretch for a close 5th. Next Aspen raced in a field of 80! I watched on the uphill section and he seemed to look comfortable and in great position for most of the race. At one point he dropped back, but that was apparently due to his break away attempt on the backside of the course. Unfortunately, there was no getting away from a pack of 80. Into the final climb, Aspen passed a bunch of guys going into the last turn and continued blowing by people on the last straight away for a clear top 10 finish (ended up coming in 8th!!!). So another good day for team GAG.

Finally, we ended with the quad cities crit on Monday. Again, Aspen and I watched Lindsay dominate in the women's race. Everybody else seemed to be working hard and people were constantly being dropped from the pack, but Lindsay looked quite comfortable and stayed in great position right up in the front. I was watching on the back stretch and pondering whether I should go to the finish line to watch the finish, but as I was thinking about moving, Lindsay comes around the back turn solo with a huge gap on her two chasers and the rest of the field. The outcome was clear - yay for a hat-trick! Glad you'll be moving up the categories now - watch out for the GAG women!! Aspen raced next and I watched while warming up on the trainer. The race was huge once again and it looked like a battle for position. Aspen looked comfortable the whole race and maintained his position up front for the most part. Unfortunately, he hung a little too far back on the last lap and wasn't able to ever bring out his full on sprint. Despite bad position, he still ended up #22 in a stacked 3s field - not bad for his 5th (maybe 6th?) 3's race! I raced next - the field wasn't quite as big due to an earlier 2-3 race, but still a large field with a number of stacked teams. Attacks went off from the get-go... I tried not to do too much chasing, but when the top teams had two of their strongest riders out front, I knew I had to try and catch them. Eventually I caught up and 4 others caught on - forming a group of 7... everyone had a teammate in the pack but me :( It seemed like we had a good gap, but it took a while for people to organize and keep our pace going. I kept hearing people yell out time gaps, but some were yelling 8 and 10secs while others were yelling 20-30. Eventually the announcer started chiming in and it appeared our gap was huge. Then, he went from announcing the time gap to announcing how far the pack was in front of us! I really didn't want to catch the pack because everybody else had more teammates up there, but the announcer started a prime for the first rider to catch the pack and it was clear that our group was going for it. With about 6 laps to go, we lapped the field. I ended up getting back towards the front (along with the rest of the breakaway group) and sprinted for another 4th. Overall, it was a really fun and fast race. The whole weekend was great competition and fun racing - I had a great time!

Looking forward to racing next weekend out in Winfield and having our full women's squad out in force!!"

Lindsay Koren Featured in Iowa's Oldest Newspaper

Lindsay Koren's big win at the Snake Alley Criterium was memorable enough to be the feature of an article in The Hawk Eye newspaper. The article can be read here.

Monsters of the Midway: Women Dominate, Men Make Big Moves Against Big Teams

With just a skeleton crew, the riders of Team Get A Grip Cycles managed to nearly sweep the womens categorized races and played a strong role in the men's elite category during this weekend's Monsters of the Midway Criterium in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood.

Lindsay Koren netted her first win of the season in the category four bunch sprint to the line and nearly won the inaugural category three event later in the day (video posted yesterday). Newly crowned national champion Devon Haskell continued the team's domination by dragging around the elite field until only three remained, then outsprinting her break mates for the win. Haskell would later launch another bold move in the mens category three race.

For the men, the team's chief animator was clearly Cesar Correa who made an early bridge to the lone breakaway rider John Meyers, only to see Meyers escape solo again. Alas, both Correa's early move and a late race surge by Eric Wiecek failed to bring back the winning move and the team had to be satisfied with 3 in the top 15.


The team would like to thank the University of Chicago Velo Club and the Chicago Park Service for another wonderful day in the South Side; home of Barack Obama, Indiana Jones, Louis Farrakhan, Robert Fogel, the first man-made element, and Enrico Fermi, and more Nobel Prize winners than all of the Ivy League schools combined.


Last two photos courtesy of Jason Knauff of Burnham Racing/Vitaminwater-Trek.

Koren Nearly Nets A Second Win at the University of Chicago Monsters of the Midway Criterium

Keep Turning Left

(Beware this is long. We raced a lot and I'm about to graduate so I have nothing better to do than to write race reports. Long race reports.)

Team Get A Grip Cycles made its track debut last weekend in Southern California at the San Diego and Encino velodromes. Josh and I raced in San Diego on Friday night, followed by Encino on Saturday evening, got some track time at ADT on Sunday afternoon and finished off the weekend with Josh racing in San Diego on Tuesday night.


SAN DIEGO - Friday, May 2nd
Leaving Arizona on Friday morning with carne asada burritos (yum!) in tow, we arrived in San Diego just in time for Friday night racing. Luckily people in San Diego operate on 'San Diego Time' which means a race scheduled for 6:30 will start around 7. Maybe. This was the first night of their Friday night series and the field sizes reflected this. I was the only woman there and raced with the B's and Josh raced with the A's, total field sizes of about 7-10 for both of us. I was a little more nervous than my usual pre-race nervous -- it was my first day of track racing since last October, only my 2nd time on a track in 2008 and I had never ridden on that track before. The night ended up being a blast and an awesome way to ring in the 2008 track season. The vibe in San Diego is really laid back and reminds me a lot of Kenosha (Washington Park Velodrome) except it has awesome views and ocean breezes. A little about the San Diego Velodrome, it is 333.3m with 27 degree banking in the turns. For reference our local parking lot, I mean velodrome, Northbrook is 382m with 17 degree banks and is so memorable the announcers had a hard time figuring out the nearest track to Chicago. To Northbrook's credit, the surface is great, it's open all the time for training, the turnout for Thursday night racing is usually great and the racers are awesome. Also where else in the country will you have 17 year cicadas land on your chain when you line up for a race? Perhaps if Chicago gets the Olympics we will have a world class, INDOOR velodrome ... sigh ... one can dream.

We started the night off with a motor paced warm-up and then moved on to a Miss-n-Out. I did pretty well in this race and made it to the final 3 and got 2nd in the final sprint. I quickly learned which two guys I needed to watch that night. The next race was a Win-n-Out, my least favorite of the mass start events. Places are determined by winning laps, so the first contested lap the winner wins the race, the 2nd is for 2nd place, etc. I thought I could go for 2nd but found myself sitting fourth wheel when the pace picked up on the 1st place lap and then stupidly led out a guy for 3rd place so I had to settle for 4th. Blah finish for a blah race. The final race of the night was a 24 lap Prime Race, which is not an 'official' race. The organizers in San Diego are trying to entice people to race on Fridays by offering a lot of primes. So basically this race was a mix of a Scratch Race and a Tempo (where each lap is contested, 1st person gets 2 points, 2nd gets 1 point) but instead of points, the lap winners got $2 and $1 respectively. I usually see primes as a great way to tire out people and so will sit in and save myself for the finish. Pretty early on in our race 2 guys got off the front and won probably 17 of the 24 laps. Those of us in the pack slowly reeled them in, I never felt nervous about catching them and just wanted to position myself well for the final sprint. Well we caught them with 3 or 4 laps to go and then everyone just sat up! Ack! One of the guys in the break was on my 'guys to watch' list and he got 2 laps of rest well the rest of us just pulled him around. What a mistake! In retrospect I should have just killed it after we caught them, but instead we pulled around the eventual winner. Live and learn. I think I ended up getting 2nd in the B's Omnium. Josh did pretty well in the A's. His competition included former multi-time World Champion and British National Champion Shaun Wallace.

ENCINO - Saturday, May 3rd
Next up was Encino (LA) and the So Cal Cup #2 - Long Rider Endurance Omnium on May 3rd. Oh yeah endurance events, my kind of racing. The schedule called for 3 races but unfortunately all fields only did 2 races due to time constraints. I guess getting a 3 race endurance omnium done in 4 hours with nine separate fields was a little ambitious, but the attempt was much appreciated! I was pleasantly surprised to find out my field would have 13 women, which is, as crazy as it sounds, a great field size for women's track racing. I scoped out my competition and asked my LA friends, Jack and Megan (Swarm!) who to keep an eye on. The obvious answer was Becky Lang, who is racing for the Home Depot Center (ADT), was and still is the series leader and who's teammates include Catherine Fiedler and Cassandra Holman. Yes, watch her, most definitely. Megan also told me to watch "the girl on the Teschner". And of course, Cathy Keeley, California State Master's Champion in a number of events.

The night started out with a 10km Points Race. Encino is a 250m track so our race was 40 laps with points every 10 laps (awarded 5, 3, 2, 1). The race was pretty typical in that the pace the first few laps was pretty moderate until someone attacked a few laps in. Here's where my memory gets a little fuzzy. I think a few people were off the front and I was part of the group chasing them down. And then at some point with about 4 laps to go before the points I looked back and saw I had created a gap of about 20m. This is when it becomes awesome to be the racer that no one knows, they had no idea what I was capable of and no one seemed too into chasing me down. And Megan also blocked for me! What an awesome friend! So I just hammered it for the remaining laps and got 5 points. Awesome! I thought to myself, "there is no way they're going to let that happen again". Well, low and behold I found myself off the front again with 4-5 laps to go for the 2nd round of points. This is not exactly where I wanted to be with that many laps to go. There was a pretty steady headwind coming out of turn 4 all the way into turn 1 and I started really feeling it with about 1 lap to go, but I tried my best to ignore my legs and just pedaled. Back in the pack, Becky Lang was having absolutely nothing to do with the pack's lolly-gagging and caught me with less than a lap to go. So I got 3 points there. One of my problems with Point's Races is keeping track of other people's points. I knew I would place as long as I got points but I had no idea who was getting 2nd-4th behind me. I ended up taking 4th in the final two sprints and ended up getting 3rd in the race. After the Point's Race everyone seemed a little more loose and I met "the girl on the Teschner". Her name is Shane and that was her 3rd track night ever. Wow, is she strong.

Susie Avchen, me, Becky Lang eyeing me from below, Cathy Keeley.

Our next race was a 5km Scratch Race. I put myself in the back, right on Becky's wheel. After a few laps, I started thinking that she most certainly had a better jump than I (she's a sprinter after all) so perhaps being at the back of the pack was not the best place for me. I caught her talking to Shane and figured they were going to try something. Sure enough a lap later coming out of turn 2, Becky, Shane and another woman surprised the field and got a bit of a gap. Luckily it only lasted for a lap or so. The rest of the race was not very memorable, at least to me a week later writing this. Megan ended up picking up the pace in the front for the remaining 5ish laps. I was second wheel and while I was really happy she blocked for me in an earlier race, there was absolutely no way I was going to let myself take over her spot in the front. With about 2 laps to go I pulled up a little, not wanting to get boxed in. Soon after that Becky, Cathy and Susie came around and I knew that was it. I caught on their wheels and tried to get around Susie for 3rd place, but ended up 4th in a pretty tight 1st-4th finish. I'm pretty happy with my finish in the omnium but kind of kicking myself because had I earned one more point in one of the races I would have been in a 3-way tie for 2nd and two more points would have put me in solo 2nd place. But that's all moot really, I had such an awesome time racing at Encino with a really great field. I'll be heading back there for sure.

A Very Brief Wrap-Up For Josh
Since Josh is currently out of the country drinking wine and watching the Giro live, I can't transcribe for him. Needless to say he did really well at Encino racing in the 1/2 field with 11 other guys. Being a sprinter he obviously doesn't get as giddy as I do for the endurance events but he still does them, and races really well. He finished the night in a tie for 4th in the Omnium. His field had some strong racers, Kit Karzen, Danny Heeley and Travis Smith, to name a few. Kit Karzen (overall series leader), Josh, Danny Heeley (series sprint leader)

I think, rather I know, his proudest moment of our trip was in San Diego on Tuesday night. The night was pure sprinting events: 200m TTs, Match Sprints, a Keirin, and a Chariot Race. Josh ended up placing 1st in the A's Omnium for the night! By far the best of our results for the weekend.

Once Again Barnacles Ruin A Break: The Vernon Hills Grand Prix

The team would like to thank the town of Vernon Hills and the RDS Cycling Team for once again hosting an excellent event just outside of Chicago. Only two of our riders, Chip Gray and Chad Chenoweth, made the event, but both of them raced with the aggression and strong tactics that are the hallmarks of Team Get A Grip Cycles. According to Chad, the move of the day was foiled from within:

"The Vernon Hills course is pretty flat, but there was enough of a wind to make things interesting. The plan was for me to be as aggressive as possible and for Chip to hang back and wait for a sprint. If either of us got into a good position, then the other would work for him by blocking, leading out, etc. Things were pretty much on from the start with a pretty high pace and lots of attacks. I attacked early in the race and drew out a rider from Trek-Vitawater and one from ABD. We worked well together, but it was just too early and we only lasted about one lap. After that it took me a little while to recover, but Chip was there to patrol the front in the meantime. With about ten or fifteen minutes to go the front of the field really started to get ragged and was splitting apart. Chip and I both found ourselves caught in the middle. We each did a big turn for the other and ended up making the split of about ten riders. I went straight to the front and did as much work as I could hoping to keep Chip as fresh as possible, and I believe he took a few turns also. In the end however, the split was just a little too big and there were too many guys trying to sit on. We got caught with about 2.5 or 3 to go. After that I was totally smoked and finished off the back. I think Chip ended up with a pack finish.

If anyone read the XXX race report, the writer had a good point that if XXX had not been attacking the break constantly we might have stayed away. I don't think anyone was strong enough at that point to stay away in a small group of 2 or 3. On the other hand, there WERE passengers so the best scenario would have been for one of us to go with one of those attacks. I just didn't have the legs, maybe next time."

Photo of the break courtesy of JK and Burnham Racing's Trek/Vitaminwater cycling team.

Winona Lake Recap

More results for Get A Grip!

Saturday Road Race

Men’s ¾ - 4^th
A break of two got away and Aspen continued to work hard through the gusty winds and dropping temperatures while the field slowly dwindled to about 7 people. Some quick legs got him second in the "field sprint" for a 4^th place finish overall. Well done!

Women’s Open - 1^st and 3^rd
The first half of the first lap crawled along behind the juniors’ race. Some strict yellow line rules and gusty winds made it tough to break up the group. After a quick team chat we (Devon and Lindsay) decided it was time to split. We jumped and started to put a gap on the field. Tracy from Texas Roadhouse came with us and the field strung out as some others tried to catch up. Devon gave me a little extra help but eventually we got the break to stick solid and start putting time on the field. Just before the start/finish line going into the last lap Devon flatted but the race had to go on. Tracy and I continued to work together…meanwhile, Devon managed to not only find a random spare wheel, and have it pumped up, but also rework her way back through the patchy field and rejoin us just before the finish. I attacked. Texas Roadhouse pulled it back and kept firing to drop me. Devon executed the finish perfectly and came around her for the win at the line! Awesome and fun race (it’s great to have such strong teammates ;)

Sunday Crit
Women’s Open - 2^nd
A few things went off the front early on but nothing was really sticking until Texas Roadhouse went. Since I was poorly positioned when she went and didn't grab a wheel I decided to wait since it was still early in the race. Then, the bell rang for a prime and I found myself in good position to take it, so I decided to make use of the sprint for the prize. The effort put a sizable gap between myself and the field so I kept going on up to the leader. After a lap or two we were joined by another strong rider (a fellow triathlete!) and the three of us got a great rotation going and managed to lap the field in the last lap. I positioned myself well for the sprint but then misshifted, so just barely missed the wheel of the TR woman, and fell a little short at the line giving me 2^nd, and a prime for the day. Great weekend!

Great results because Jon was with us in spirit.