Reunited

SBW Pro Women are finally reunited and will be heading into June as a full team. Becky, Christen, and Neva came off of track season in March and took some down time to R&R and build their road legs. That placed all of the racing pressures on Jennifer Reither, Morgan Kapp, and Jennifer Wilson over February, March, and April. The three winter road riders raced strong and placed well and their success attributed to Jennifer Wilson being asked to ride for the NRC Vanderkitten team after a strong showing at Redlands. Just as the rumor of the loss was heard, another rider Kelli Jones decided to come back into racing and was immediately rostered to fill the Jennifer Wilson position. The track riders and Kelli all agreed that the end of May would be the "be back strong and fit" date to go into a challenging June, July, and August schedule.

Working hard to meet that deadline, Christen King used Chuck Pontius as a prep race with Morgan Kapp. Christen working the peleton hard finally secured a break with two other riders and with a lap to go decided to try a solo break and was successful as she crossed the line solo for the win. Morgan's help working the field also allowed the win.

Following up with that podium was a 2nd place finish at Barrio Logan. The team minus JennX was in a field of 48 and Morgan worked the front the entire race with some strong attempts of launching some attacks but to no avail. Neva attempted a break with Helen's but missing her top end put her back into the field. With about 20 minutes to go Quinny repositioned herself to the front with Morgan and just started working it and even secured a prime. Helen's launched with 1 to go and Quinny was in chase and a perfect move by Morgan gave Quiny a leadout on the backside for the sprint and 2nd place finish.

The Cinco De Mayo weekend ended with the San Luis Rey Road Race with a 5th and 6th place by Morgan and JennX. The team minus Quinny raced the 5 lap 58 mile 4000' course. With 15 minutes to race start Neva's derailleur had a snaf-u with a wheel change and in 6 minutes she changed pedals, frames, wheels, cassettes, and bottles just to make the start with a completely different set-up then she had prepared- good work! The race started slow and Kelli and Christen decided they would work the front and give JennX and Morgan a reprieve since they would be needed at the end. Neva joined them at the end of the first lap and she and Christen took over the 2nd lap. The field was very content with SBW doing all of the work. Christen attacked on the back side and Morgan countered and then JennX. SBW working and attacking went on for the five laps and eventually it went down to a field sprint where due to positioning Morgan and X had to really scrap out the spring and placed an excellent 5th and 6th. Also a shout out to Julia Cross and her family, Terry King, Dicky, and Morgan's family for feed at SLR!

Having the team come back together is great and in two weeks of being re-united we have a 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th and June is still 4 weeks away when we said we would be in full force. Next up is State Road Race Championships in Bakersfield Christen, JennX, Kelli, and Morgan are prepping for the weekend.