Along came on Otter.....

photo: Jen Wilson and JennX at the top of Priest's Valley

Wilson, Kapp and I (JennX) headed out to Sea Otter (Monterey, CA) this past weekend to wrap the month up with the last NRC of the Spring. Altough Sea Otter was a month later, the weather was still the usual....UNPREDICATBLE. Wilson and I headed out on Friday night to guarantee a good nights sleep in the care of our wonderful host family. Morgan would join us later.

We woke up Saturday morning to mid 30 degree temps and high winds. Vowing to myself, that I would no longer race NRC's with arm warmers and knee warmers I bundled up in my best spring digs and headed for the start line. From the gun the peloton raced up the "wall" starting of the 22 laps of hell early. Just when we thought the pace couldn't get harder, the first QOM came up and destroyed the pack, all SBW girls stayed with the main peloton. Colovita initiated a break that launched from the windward side of the peloton, trapping, all the SBW girls on the wayward side. A break of 10 escaped from us consiting of Colovita, Cheerwine, Tibco and Proman, every big team there. I launched a few attacks up the "wall" trying to get a small group off the front to form and possbily get another break off the front and gain time on the main break, but the big teams reeled me back. Finally the three of us had to give up our aggressive race plans. Without the numbers, we couldn't do anything. With all most of the sprinters will the main peloton, I set a hard tempo the final lap of the climb hoping to drop a few of the big guns, but when Cheerwine saw their teammate with a group of four at the top of the "wall" (4 had fallen off the initial break of 10, making the break now at 6 riders) Cheerwine launched an attack so hard, all the SBW girls could do was hang on for dear life as what was left of the peloton stung out for a 1/2 mile.

Top finisher was JennX in 27th, Morgan 28th, Jenn Wilson 32nd. The three of us raced strong and put in a good show.

On side note, This was our last race with Jenn Wilson, our sprinter extrodinare. As she has moved on the the big pond and will continue her racing career with Vanderkitten Racing.

Ladies wearing CROCS!

I've had a few weeks to regroup and start training for the 2008 road season. I raced in Ojai to support my teammates, but was really under trained for the extreme heat and pace of the race. My teammates raced well as usual. Wheels placed 5th with an amazing sprint out of the final corner (Left: Wheels with her Seigler). JennX did a lot of work at the front and still placed 14th in a very strong field.

Morgan raced really aggressive and managed to get into a break off the front for a good portion of the race (Right: Morgan getting interviewed by VeloNews).

Morgan and I also raced at the Torrance criterium this past weekend. Morgan showed a lot of dominance at the front of the pack as usual. She was in a break away early in the race which stayed off the front for a good portion of the race. I attempted some hard attacks to get off the front and see how the legs are feeling. I'm hoping that in the next few weeks of training, I will get my fitness back in time for the TTT and NVGP.

Daily Peleton RE: GLMGP

In the Women's race Colavita/Sutter Home/Cooking Light's Tiffany Cromwell and Iona Parks Winter managed to double on the front of the field sprint taking the podium top spots with Rachel Tzinberg taking the final step. Anna Lang of Aaron's Corporate Furnishings finished for 4th with Jennifer Wilson of the strong South Bay Wheelmen elite contingent in for fifth.

Kapp Dominates Garrett Lemire and Wilson Takes 5th!!

From Velo News Article:
Women
In the women’s race, with a field of about 50, Team Tibco and South Bay Wheelmen started firing attacks by the third lap. By lap six, though, Colavita-Sutter Home took over, and Cromwell and Jamaican national road champion Wynter Parks broke away with Morgan Kapp (South Bay Wheelmen).
In the field, Tibco and ValueAct Capital pushed the pace, but the break gained as much as a 90-second gap.
Having two riders in a break was obviously a good situation for Colavita-Sutter Home, but team director Jack Seehafer said that the presence of Kapp in the break added an important unknown.
“I didn’t know her, so that was a little stressful. As always, with an unknown racer, you just never know, so you’ve gotta give her credit,” he said. “I had to be wary of it, and tried to use her the best we could.”
Cromwell said she and Wynter Parks worked well with Kapp. “We were happy to have her there because we both felt strong, and we were happy we had two in the break. We just tried to work together and get time on the bunch behind us.”
Wynter Parks concurred. “I didn’t know exactly how strong she is, but I have heard her name in a few of the races because we’ve been in California for a while now … she was pedaling well, so she was just being smart,” she said.
“I just worked with them,” said Kapp, who is a second-grade teacher and a category-2 racer. “They’re really strong riders … it was tough. They were great to work with, and then they did what they had to do at the end.”
By lap 17, it became apparent that Cromwell was still fresh and strong enough to ride a faster pace than the three could ride together. “I sort of rode away on a hill, and Jack said to keep going, so I did … I just decided to keep on going as hard as I could,” she said.
When Cromwell rode away from Wynter Parks and Kapp, the two continued to work together, but then Wynter Parks knew she had to make a break.
“It’s just that Tiffany was very strong on the hills,” she explained. “It just got to the point where she was just that much stronger, and she was causing a gap because Morgan was the one that was on her, and I was just sitting on Morgan when we were on the backside of the course, so I just let her roll. Morgan couldn’t react [when Cromwell attacked] and then I sat with her.”
With just a few laps to go, Wynter Parks got word over her radio that the pack was bearing down, and so she attacked and left Kapp behind to be absorbed by the field.
“It wasn’t so much that I wanted to attack Morgan, because I was quite happy to go with her and sprint her, but I just knew in the radio that the pack was coming. So I had to go. As it was, I had to work hard to stay ahead of the pack … [Morgan] did well, and she raced fair … she obviously is strong, so kudos to her.”
With Kapp back in the field, there was a bunch sprint for third, and Rachel Tzinberg, racing alone for Bicycle John’s, made the most of the situation.
“I just had to sit in and wait and see,” she said of the majority of the race. With the three women out front, she said, “I knew I didn’t have the leg power to bridge … [but] I was feeling pretty good on the climbs, so I waited to see what I could come up with in the finish … I knew I wanted to jump before the final corner … and it paid off.”

JennX racing weekend report

While, Neva is off recovering, Morgan and Kristen training, Jen Wilson in Redlands and Becky on here way home from her success at track worlds, I opted to enjoy race training for the weekend.

Saturday morning I got up early and headed out to Piru for Uncle Tren's 40K TT. The turn out was great and I got to test out my bike, legs and position in my first 40K of the season. I managed a 1:03:45 or so. Official results are still not posted, but I am happy with my time. After a 10 minute warm down, I race home, showered, changed, went out for a mani & pedi then returned home for a quick nap, before heading out to Encino for a bit of track racing. It was a great turn out at the velodeome and many of you were there. I was happy to see all the South Bay support considering this was my first track race in a year. The women's field was about 10 big and included Julia Cross, whom I was honored to race with. I was savvy enough to place 2nd in the scratch race, 1st in the miss-n-out and 2nd in the unknown distance for 2nd in the omnium overall. Thanks for all of you who came out and supported the Encino Velodrome. It's home court for my track training and they take as good of care of me as all of you do in Carson. Next up OJAI!!!!!

Kelli Jones Joins SBW Pro Women

Kelli Jones (center) is hard to miss with her 5'10"

Kelli Jones is a good friend to many in the So Cal peleton and will be joining the SBW Pro women for the 2008 season. Kelli's strength on the bike, goals of riding at the national level, and her team dynamics made a perfect fit with the pro women's team.



Kelli is an accomplished person all around. Kelli swam in college, started riding in 2006 as a Cat 4, and won a National Championship jersey for the 30-34 time trial in 2007. Kelli rides full time while being a full-time Paralegal in the District Attorney's Office in San Diego. Kelli is currently a Cat 2 on the road and track and in 2007 won (3) SCNCA Championship titles in 2007 including the state crit title, (2) CBR State titles, and the U.S National Master TT Championship (30-34).



Neva Day recounted her most memorable Kelli Jones moment: "Kelli and I started together as Cat 4's in 2006. She rode for Paramount and I was SBW. I had a slow leak in my rear tire and bad legs at San Marcos and was OTB. It looked pretty dismal until I heard a voice behind me say "get on" and literally a freight train of Kelli Jones was motoring up behind me. She dragged me around that course for at least 3 laps so I could finish and said it was payback for the work I had done all season. I knew from that race that Kelli was not only a powerhouse but a person that you could count on. " Day added, "Her win at National's last year was really incredible, she just keeps getting faster and faster in her TT."