Home You can click here to go to Michelles other News Items. LATEST REPORT - 13 March 2008 Hi there, I'm sorry it's been so long! For those of you who I haven't been in touch with I need to update you on a few things. I decided end of last year to retire from competitive cycling. Although I hate that word, and never say never, I don't see myself going back to international racing. Although I miss it incredibly, I know that it's the right decision, it will just take awhile to get used to it! I feel like I battled with my health for 2 years and in the end decided that I wasn't enjoying it anymore and to put my energy into something else. So I had a great holiday with Jo in Switzerland, went back to France, packed up my stuff and headed home with no idea what I was going to do. I was lucky enough to stumble into a great job in real estate with Sandra O'Brien at Harcourts Holmwood. I work 20 hours as Sandra's PA and did my papers last year so am now working as a buyers agent also. This has been a big change for me but I'm enjoying the challenges that it brings. I also graduated Otago Uni last year with my Post Grad Diploma in Sports Medicine so I've been working on my business and have some work in the pipeline and am also back coaching athletics and cycling and helping people with nutrition. As you may have read on Jo's page, teamkiesan will soon be shutting down and Jo will be having her own website. You can contact me at michellekiesan@gmail.com I'd like to thank everyone that had a part in my cycling career, sponsors, friends, family, teammates etc. I'm going to miss it (well parts of it), but look foward to exciting times ahead. You may see me in the coast to coast teams event one day soon... Thanks for reading and thanks for your support! Michelle Ryan and Bec's Wedding 16 Feb 2008 What an amazing day! Beautiful wedding. Click here to go to Ryan and Bec's wedding website 27 August Hi! Well, it has been awhile since I wrote, so much has happened. After a few days in Zurich I headed to Luzern where Jo is based for the season. I loved it there, I’d even go so far as to say it’s one of the most beautiful places on earth (well, that I’ve been to anyway). Her team has an apartment there where she lives with a couple of her teammates, but is often there on her own as they come and go a bit. Frappucino by the lake: the perfect way to end a ride Luzern To update you on my cycling, my season is over. Unfortunately I seem to be on that downward slide again and have had to make the decision to end the season. It’s just not worth racing when I’m like this so although it was a tough decision it really was the best thing to do. So I think I’ll be heading home pretty soon. So while I was in Switzerland I did a bit of riding and made the most of my time there as a tourist. I enjoyed just looking around Luzern seeing the sights and hanging out with Jo. One day we took a boat trip across the lake to Weggis for lunch which was really beautiful. I also went away for a few days down to the Italian part of Switzerland to check out Lugano, then headed into Italy and drove around Lake Como and had a night in Bellagio. Lugano Bellagio, Italy Then came back into Switzerland through St Moritz and a cute little ski village called Lenzerheide. So I managed to pack in a lot in a couple of weeks and went to some pretty cool places. Looking down at Lenzerheide Last week Jo and I drove to Stuttgart for a couple of days to check out the course for worlds. Was definitely a good idea for her to check it out, and I enjoyed riding it so now I will know what it’s like when she is racing there! On Friday, Jo and I drove back into France to St Amand Montrond where Jo is racing Trophee D’or now. I had originally planned to do this race so went with her anyway to keep her company and am now sitting on the train back to Limoux as I write this. It’s going to take me 10 hours to get back there, and it's only a 6 hour drive, how does that work???? Stayed to watch the stage yesterday and Jo got 2nd, she is riding so strong! Just organising my flights back to NZ at the moment. Will see those of you back in NZ soon! Michelle Tour de Charante 4th and 5th Sept Oops, it has been awhile since I wrote hasn't it? So, after Bretagne I decided it wouldn't be wise to do another tour so I stayed home and trained while most of the girls went to Limousin. Next race up was Tour de Charante, just a 2 day stage race, mostly French riders. The team was myself, Ali, Toni, Brei, Michelle and Rushlee. We drove up to Bordeaux the night before and had time to go into town for dinner and have a quick look around the city. We have decided that BikeNZ should move the base there. Stage 1 we were all pretty aggressive and Toni and Rushlee ended up getting up the road. Unfortunately there were already 5 girls up the road, then Toni and Rushlee in the next bunch, with Ali coming in next and the rest of us in the main bunch. Stage 2 the next morning was a 7km TT, Ali had an awesome ride and placed 2nd! All the girls rode really well and we had a few in the top 10 (from memory). Stage 3 in the afternoon went really well for us. Ali ended up winning it! She broke away with a Brazilian girl and attacked her and won solo! Unfortunately my efforts to do a bit of work early on resulted in me 'blowing up' up a small climb and getting dropped. Rolled in with a small group. Had a very long and hot drive back to Limoux in the van. It was still 29 degrees at 10.30pm! I'm in Zurich at the moment. Rainy Zurich. Arrived Tuesday night and it's rained steady since then. Oh, I lie. There was a small break yesterday when Mystery and I managed to head out for a couple of hours on the bike, but after an hour it started raining again and was steady/torrential rain all the way home. Had a long day of travelling to get here. Was 12 hours by the time I arrived from Limoux! My first train was delayed so I had to rebook the rest of the trip and go via Lyon. It's always interesting travelling with a bike bag and another bag, definately got a good upper body workout in. I went from Carcassonne to Montpellier, Montpellier to Lyon, Lyon to Geneva, Geneva to Bern, Bern to Zurich. Had to run a couple of times to make the train, thinking to myself why didn't I just fly? Tomorrow Jo is coming in to hang out then we'll drive back to Lucern together where I'll stay for a couple of weeks. Looking forward to hanging out and doing some good training with Jo. We are doing a local race in Basel on Sunday, then after that I am not sure what is happening as there are only limited spots for Trophee D'or and Plouay. Will keep you informed once I know what is happening. Thanks for reading. Michelle 26th July Le Tour de France dans les Pyrenees Hi there! Well, I had the most amazing day yesterday. The U23 boys, Karl, Sarah and myself all went to watch the tour in Stage 16 - the final mountain stage. We drove to just out of Laruns and biked up the final climb (Col d'Aubisque) to a spot about 5km from the top. It was incredible! To be honest, after the doping scandals I really didn't want to support the race, or have anything to do with it, but I've always wanted to go, and really wanted to see what it was like and cheer on Julz. As we were riding up the mountain we bumped into Scotty Brown! Then I met up with my friends Lachie, John and Kate who are over following the tour, so was great to catch up with them. We all had our black nz kit on, a few flags, and black vivid over most of our bodies. The boys did the haka for Julz as he came up in 'the autobus.' He was riding in the front of the group and was so stoked to see us, giving out high fives and looked pretty happy. I was so busy cheering for Julz that I totally missed Tom Boonen who was just a couple of people behind him! I was kinda hoping that maybe we would catch each others eyes and he would immediately jump off his bike and ask me to move to Monaco to live with him. Hehe. Afterwards we biked back down the hill with thousands of others and drove the 4 hours back to Limoux. We were kept entertained by Darren's Power Ballads cranking out of the stereo so it was good times. Here are a few pics Getting ready to cheer on Julz Waiting for the riders to come up The caravan comes through awhile before the riders and all the different sponsors hand out their product. It's crazy! Don't ya love the kiwi spirit Go little Sastre!!! 24th July, Tour de Bretagne I’m writing this sitting in the back of the van, driving back to Limoux, looking out the window at the torrential rain. What happened to Summer??? So the tour ended up pretty well for us, we had Toni 3rd on GC, Marina 5th and Carissa 2nd young rider. On the last day we had the tt in the morning, I just got to ride it tempo to try to save my legs so I could help out on the afternoon stage. It was a circuit race with a short climb each lap. With about 30km to go a sea of black jerseys all came to the front under Jacques instructions to light it up going into the climb and split the field up. Tammy did an awesome job driving it to the base of the climb and we were all lined up behind her. I was just hanging on for dear life. The girls kept driving it over the top and had it in the gutter. It split the field to bits and Tam and I got dropped but unfortunately the 2 front bunches came back together later on. Still, it was worth a go and I’m sure it looked pretty cool having 6 black jerseys on the front coming into the climb. Rosara (who was riding so strong for someone who has been spending more time in the library than on her bike!)) got up the road for awhile and the other girls were really aggressive, but unfortunately nothing stayed away. Afterwards we got changed on the side of the road and jumped in the van and drove until 1am. We are on the road again and have about 5 hours until we get to Limoux. So I thought I’d put some pics up of what it’s like away on tour. Not to sound like a spoiled precious princess, but it’s not as glamorous as you may think. Don’t get me wrong, I can rough it if I want to and I don’t mind getting my hands dirty (I did grow up on a farm after all) but us girls really do get rolled when it comes to accommodation at bike races. We usually stay at places like school dorms that are vacant for the summer. Actually the first place was ok (for womens racing). We had a room each, with a toilet block down the end of the hallway and the shower block a couple of floors down. The place at Brest was a bit of a joke. Toni, Carissa, Marina and I were all in one room (Marina ended up moving out as Dr Ruth had a spare bed in her room). We, (well I) ended up breaking the toilet, I just pulled the thing up to flush it and it came right off! Toni the plumber fixed it but later it constantly had water running through it and ended up not being able to flush at all. (Thank goodness for ear plugs). We only had hot water out of the bathroom sink and when Carissa went to turn the shower on she pulled the lever right off! Breakfast at this place consisted of stale white bread rolls with jam, coffee, cornflakes and milk. It pays to bring your own food. Typical French racing lunch in the local town gymnasium/hall: grated carrot, beetroot and tomato to start. Green beens, rice/pasta and some unidentifiable meat. I’m sorry I know there are so many starving people in the world who would appreciate this food, but I wish they would sometimes use a bit more imagination when it comes to our pre-race lunches! Oh how the French love their dry grated carrot and grean beans. The alternative if the food is that bad: peanut butter, honey and banana sandwiches (or rice cakes in my case). Handwashing: we did find a Laundromat for one day which was great, but the rest of the time it’s hand washing only. Despite ‘roughing it’ sometimes, we still have a great time together and always have a few laughs and I’m sure it only builds character! And we do get to see some pretty cool places. On the way up we stopped in Vannes and Jacques let us roam around this amazing town for an hour to do some shopping then took us to a creperie for lunch before our ride! I was pleasantly surprised when I found out savoury crepes are made with buckwheat so I can eat them! Next race up is Charante, 4th and 5th August, til then, training hard. Michelle 21 July Stage Win!!!! Hi! Great news, Marina won the stage today! She got in a break on the finishing circuit and sprinted them in, awesome! We all rode really well as a team, all taking turns covering moves and attacking to try to split it up on the finishing circuit. I got dropped with 2 laps to go, just had nothing left in the legs, but happy that I was able to help out a bit before I hit the wall. Tomorrow is an early start, with an 8km tt then an 80km stage in the afternoon. We are staying in Brest, on the north west coast of France. Saw a little bit of the coast in the race today, not that I could concentrate much on the scenery, but from the little glimpses I did see it looked pretty cool. Better fly, dinner time. Hi there, We found a wireless connection at the place we are staying at downstairs, so we are all very happy girls typing away on our laptops. The tour is going pretty good for us, Toni was in the break in stage 1, and Marina got in the break in stage 2. Toni is now 3rd on GC and Marina 12th. As for me, stage 1 and 2 went ok, I just tried to ride good position and was able to help out a bit. Stage 3 was not so good, my legs were pretty smashed and I ended up getting dropped up a short steep climb with about 30km to go. Today we have 95km, then tomorrow, the last day, is a TT in the morning and 80km in the afternoon. Then we will jump in the van and drive to Bordeaux, then drive the rest of the way to Limoux on Monday. The gluten free diet is going ok. I guess. I just have to be really organised with going away and take my own food and make sure I always have rice to eat because often it’s just pasta that they serve up. I miss bread the most. Mmmm bread. I pretty much had to wipe up my dribble off the table after watching Jacques dip his croissant into his coffee one morning. Not fair! I'm eating lots of rice cakes, rice crackers, rice chips, Uncle Bens 2min microwavable rice and 10min cook in a bag rice. I'm very much over rice. Better go get ready, will write more later and put some pics up. Michelle 16 July Hi, Just a very quick note as we are just about to head out the door to begin our long drive up to Bretagne. The Tour of Bretagne is 5 days long and starts on Wednesday. The team is myself, Rosara, Tammy, Toni, Carissa and Marina. Jacques, Sarah and Spud are coming away with us for this trip. Had a good week here in Limoux, watched an amazing fireworks display on Bastille Day here. We all stood on the bridge and watched it, was pretty awesome. No doubt our luxury accommodation will not have wireless so I'll report back in after the tour. Michelle Limoux Hi there, I'm back in Limoux, home to 10,000 over 70 year olds and about 20 NZ cyclists and staff. The small southern French town is known for its Blanquette, questionable coffee in the town square, crazy dirty dogs, great bread, Tuesday night markets in the summer and amazing roads to train on. The contrast between America and Southern France is incredible, but I love both places. We rode the 'St Polycarpe recovery loop' today, it's so beautiful here this time of the year. I'm just sitting on the couch now watching the finish of Stage 2 of the Tour, great to watch, but it's just not the same without Phil and Paul commentating. I thought I’d make the most of my 5 hour stopover in Frankfurt and write a report, so here it is. It was pretty sad to leave the States as I had such a great time there, but I’m really looking forward to getting back into racing in France. Without going into too much detail, I found out a couple of weeks ago that I have an intolerance to gluten and wheat so am now on a totally gluten and wheat free diet. So it’s not an ‘allergy’ as such, but an intolerance, which means that it is limiting my body’s ability to absorb iron and other nutrients, which is why I get run down when I shouldn't. I’m going to try it for 6 weeks and see how I feel. I was pretty gutted when I found out, as I am a bit of a carb addict and was sooooo looking forward to the French patisseries. It's been ok in the States cause I can cook my own food and there are so many gluten/wheat free products around. I know it’s going to be a lot harder in France, especially when we are on the road, but I’ll do my best. Here is a brief recap of my time in the states: 90 days 11 states 26 days of racing 10 plane trips ? coffee shops visited 90 Powerbars consumed before I found out about my gluten/wheat intolerance unknown miles of van time 1 Waffle House experience 1 crash (mountain biking) Things I’m gonna miss about America: My teammates and the friends I have made during my stay Training in Colorado Springs, riding around Garden of the Gods to Manitou Springs and riding around the Broadmoor area. Jeff’s cooking Regis and Kelly Country Music Radio Stations and Country Music TV (Really, I have developed quite a taste for country music) Whole Foods Sammy’s Organics on 8th Street Core Power Yoga Frappucinos and Chai Lattes My last ride in the States for the year - Garden of the Gods 30th June I'm reading a really interesting book at the moment, so thought I'd share some of it with you. It's by Morgan Spurlock, the guy who ate only McDonald's for a month and made a movie about it called 'Supersize Me.' "The United States is the fattest nation on earth. 65% of American adults are overweight; 30% are obese. We've taught our kids to be fat too. In the last 20 years, the rate of obesity has doubled in children and tripled in adolescents and teens". "In 1970 there were around 70,000 fast-food establishments in the country. In 2001, there were 186,000. In 1968 McDonald's operated about 1000 restaurants, today it has about 31,000 worldwide". "In the early days, a soda at Burger King was 12 ounces. That's now called a 'small' soda. A medium is 20 ounces and a large is 32. A super size soda at McDonald's was 42 ounces. The Double Gulp at your local 7-eleven comes in a bucket the size of a wastepaper basket, which holds 64 ounces of soda - half a gallon! Depending on how much ice you put in it, that's 600-800 calories. And it contains the equivalent of 48 teaspoons of sugar. It's liquid diabetes! Who needs to drink a half-gallon of soda at one time? No-body that's who. But we buy it - because the offer seems like a great deal". The following figures are not really a suprise to me after my travels down south during the South East Crit Series this year: Obesity is the highest in Alabama (28.4%) and lowest in Colorado (16%). Here's the problem folks: 27 June Hi! Well I'm not going to write too much about the racing at Nature Valley, it didn’t go too well. I didn’t feel good at all and my results show that! The crits were really tough, the road races not so bad. I was able to help out a bit in the road stages and had the role of bottle girl so had lots of trips back to the car to fill up for the girls as it was really hot. We had Felicia finish up in 5th on GC but unfortunately Carmen and Kristin both had mechanicals on the last day which cost them their GC. It was my last race with the team and so sad saying bye to the girls. It’s been such a great experience racing with them. They made me feel so welcome and we had a blast together. They work so well together as a team and have a great time doing it which is so important. It is disappointing that my racing hasn’t been going how I hoped but I guess it’s going to take longer to get back to where I want to be after last year. Patience! The girls ploy to find me an American to marry so I could stay longer than my 3 month tourist visa was unsuccessful so unfortunately I’m going to have to take off before the 9th of July. Will write more soon, thanks for reading The team after the downtown Minneapolis Crit Relaxing after the tour Filling up with bottles 13 June Oh the fun never ends… What is it with me and airports at the moment! I arrived with heaps of time to spare and got dropped off at the US Airways terminal. Go to check in and the lady is like, we don’t fly to Denver. So I showed her my ticket which clearly said US Airways. After awhile she figured out that it was a US Airways flight but operated by United, but they didn’t put that on the ticket. So I have to go down one level and get on a bus to the next terminal. Waited waaayyyy too long for the bus outside and lugged my bags and bike on much to the amusement of onlookers. People are always so intrigued as to what I have inside that big black bag. Got dropped off at the other end of the terminal, couldn’t find a trolley so managed to drag one bag on each side of me and one on my shoulder. Got up the escalator, checked in and paid $100 to get my bike on. Luckily made the flight as I was told it was delayed half an hour, but when I got through security found out it was delayed 2 hours as the plane hadn’t left Pittsburg yet. That 2 hours turned into 3, which turned into 5, which then turned into 6. Crawled into bed at 1.30am which was really 3.30am. Anyway, New York was fun. I went riding in Central Park and on the cycle path down to Battery Park. Went on the Staton Island ferry to check out the awesome view. Had a look around Soho and did a bit of shopping, just a little bit. It’s a cool place to visit and so much happening but there’s no place like home. I’m back in Colorado Springs for a few days before heading up to Minnesotta for the Nature Valley 5 day stage race. This will be my last race for Aaron’s, I will be sad to leave them. Then I’ll have a couple of weeks back in Colorado before heading to France. Jo is back in Colorado for a few weeks also, so it will be great to hang out with her and have a training partner. Riding up 6th Avenue to Central Park Riding in Central Park View of Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry 10 June, Liberty Classic, Philadelphia Hi from New York City! I'm here for just a couple of nights before I head back to Colorado. Looking foward to riding around Central Park, exploring the city and doing some shopping of course! So, to the racing. Philly is a wicked race, I did it 3 years ago, my first season racing overseas and watched it from the sidelines last year as I was sick, so was very excited to race it again. I was racing with Jazz Apple/NZ national team with Jo, Rushlee Buchanan, Malindi Maclean and Lauren Webb. There were only 6 spots per team so I couldn't race with Aaron's, although I missed the girls it was great to race with Jo and the other kiwi girs! The race pretty much stayed together and ended in a big bunch sprint with Jo getting 4th! Still an awesome result, but would’ve been nice to see her on the podium. She felt great all race and was always climbing right at the front. I had a pretty good race considering I'd been feeling pretty tired all week. Tried to ride good position and felt pretty good on ‘the wall’. Unfortunately was a little too far back coming into the finish and a crash happened next to me which sent me further back and I didn’t have the legs to move up by then, finished nearer the back of the front bunch. Rushlee had a great ride and finished 19th. It was such a cool atmosphere racing with that many people watching. The crowds on the wall were insane! Here are some pics that our friend Zui took at the race. Jo and I before the start of the race. "The Wall" Coming over the top of 'The Wall' The finish The trip to Philly Well, what a drama to get here. I stayed the previous night in Boulder with my friend Sharyon and drove to Denver from there, got there in plenty of time (unlike my last trip). Checked in and got charged 80US for my bike, damn, should’ve said it was a massage table. Found out my flight had been delayed 2 hours. Went to the gate just to check things out and there was this huge line of people. So walked back to get a coffee. On my way back saw my flight was now delayed 4 hours. Sat down for awhile then figured out there were 2 flights to Philly and that everyone in the line was probably trying to get on the earlier one. So walked all the way back to the gate but didn’t have the energy to stand in the que that wasn’t moving so just sat there watching it all. The earlier flight started to board and mine wasn’t for another 3 hours so headed back to the food area to get a burrito and buy a book. Was about to get my burrito when I heard an urgent call for people on my flight to go to the gate asap. Damn! Power walked back to the gate and found out they were boarding now as there was a gap in the weather. Was looking forward to watching the movie but our headsets didn’t work, just the row I was in of course. Landed in Philly 3 hours later and sat in the plane for 1 hour and 53 minutes waiting for a gate. There was a huge backlog of planes and no gates for us to come into! My rice cake and cookie supply was dwindling fast and I was dreaming of burritos. They put up some entertainment on the tv but of course my row had no sound, it was like some kind of torture. My laptop battery had died so I couldn’t watch any Srubs or Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes. Had to put up with the usual people talking loud on their cell phones. There’s always at least a couple on every flight. Note: No, the whole plane doesn’t wanna hear what your pet name is for your husband and what your plans are for this week and we really don’t need to know how your holiday in Colorado went and what you got up to. I don’t care! Talk quietly! Have some manners! Jeez. Finally we started moving again and got to the gate, got out as quick as I could and stopped at the first food place I found. Got a chicken ceasar wrap which would have been ok if it wasn’t for the 6 day old lettuce they put in there. Got my bags and headed outside to wait for my ride. Finally got to bed at midnight. Not impressed. 5 June, Mt Hood Stage Race, Oregon Wow what a great tour. The team rode awesome and we had a great time. Carmen and Chris were fantastic at taking care of things, we were especially grateful for Chris’s help as he was racing too and was always there to take care of our bikes and help out. We stayed with Jennifer who was in charge of all the volunteers for the race. What an incredible lady. She came home one night after a long, hot day working in the feed zones and organising her volunteers and still had the energy to go for a run! When not racing, we kept ourselves entertained by watching various Disney movies belonging to Jennifer’s daughters. Jump In and High School Musical were among the favourites. Unfortunately we ran out of time to watch the sing along version, Kat, maybe you can get a copy for the next race?? We started the 6 day tour with a 3mile prologue. It started with a short uphill, followed by a slight downhill and finished with a short climb. Not much to report here, rode out, raced, coughed up our lungs afterwards, rode home, cooked dinner and went to bed. What can I say about stage 2? Well, it was a slow, long, hot, and kinda boring 84 miles (apart from the climb). Carmen had given us the talk earlier to prepare us for a potentially slow stage and to be patient as there was a lot of tough racing coming up. We did a few laps of a relatively flat circuit, with one climb each lap. The girls did a great job of looking after Felicia on the climb and she was able to take a controlling lead in the QOM competition. Stage 3 was 66 miles and a lot more exciting. We did 3.5 laps of a circuit that was pretty much a long gradual climb on one side, and a long gradual descent on the other half. On the 2nd lap Carmen had a great attack which forced VAC (in yellow) to chase. This was followed by a perfectly timed attack by Kristin. There was some chasing for awhile, but no one was able to get up to her. Kristin rode amazingly and stayed out there on her own until just a few km to go on the final climb. As she was caught Kat attacked with Felicia on her wheel and they were able to get a gap with Kat taking the win and the yellow jersey! Awesome work. Stage 4 was an 18.5 mile time trial. A tough course with a couple of climbs. Leah Goldstein had a superb ride and won the TT and took over the yellow jersey. Our plan for Stage 5 (the mountain stage) was to make the race as hard as possible to force Leah to chase and hopefully get the yellow jersey back. To Leah’s credit she did an awesome job at covering our attacks. We made it hard from the first climb 8miles in. Kristin, Felicia and Leah got in a break and both had a great race with Felicia winning the stage solo, but not enough time to take the yellow. The final stage was a downtown crit. Felicia tried her best to get away but Leah wasn’t letting her go anywhere. Kat got away and was joined by Katie Mactier with Kat taking the win! All in all, a great tour for Aaron’s!! I was happy with my race, I'm definately improving with every race that I do. I was bottle girl, so had lots of trips back to the car to fill up for the girls as it was super hot the whole time. The mountain stage on day 5 was probably one of the hardest races I've done. It was nasty! My job was to set tempo on the first climb 8miles in. I went for as long as I could, then let Carmen take over. Got dropped but got back on the descent. Climb 2 I got dropped with a few km to go, but got back on the descent. When the girls attacked with about 40miles to go it was all over for me. Wow it was a long way to the finish. By final day I was pretty much good for nothing, but I'm sure once I recover I'll be all good for Philly. Michelle Felicia, Leah, Felicia and Kristin after Stage 5 Mt Hood Riding the TT course 2 June Brutal. That's all I have to say. Check out the profile and results I'll write more when I'm in a better condition. 31 May, Mt Hood Stage Race Oregon Hi there, just a quick note to say that results are up on cyclingnews.com and Official Tour Website Things are going really well for the team, we had an awesome day today. We did 3 and a half laps of a circuit for a total of 66miles. We started at the bottom of a long gradual climb and finished at the top the 4th time. Carmen had the first attack on lap 2 and forced VAC (in yellow) to chase, then Kristin countered and stayed away until 2km to go. What a ride! She was amazing! Katie Mactier was in yellow and was forced to chase as her teammates were dropped up the climb. Kat and Felicia countered as Kristin was caught and got a small gap, with Kat taking the win and Felicia 2nd and now Kat is in yellow! We are also 1st and 2nd in QOM and 1st team. I'm starting to feel much better on the climbs and happy with the way things are progressing. We have an 18mile TT tomorrow and then the big mountain stage on Saturday, followed by a crit on Sunday. 23 May Hey there, I'm sitting here watching the rain bucket down outside. Unfortunately I got caught out in the storm this morning. Well, it was only the last 20 minutes but it was a cold 20 minutes. I tried to ignore the thunder by turning up my ipod louder, but the lightning, hail and numb fingers and toes were a little harder to ignore. I rode the last couple of kms in the same gear cause my fingers were frozen! The temperature dropped about 10 degrees celsius in a couple of minutes! My legs that had just done a tough power session were not happy that I had to hammer it home. Things have been going well here, training is going really good. 2 of my teammates, Catherine and Carmen who live in Boulder and Denver came to stay for a night last week and we did a great ride together up here. Then we did an awesome ride together in the mountains on Sunday up in Boulder. I just bought an SRM so it's been really interesting looking at my power data from training and racing. Great toy to have. I've been pretty busy with uni work and just handed in my final assignment for the semester which is a good feeling, just the exam to go now. I'm here til Monday when I leave for Mt Hood stage race in Oregon. It's season finale time in America. Grey's Anatomy, The Bachelor, American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, Desperate Housewives, ER, The Office, Scrubs have all ended for the season, how am I going to cope! Yesterday I had a rest day so went to check out Seven Falls in the Cheyenne Canyon, close to Jeff's house. I walked up the steps (very slowly) to the top which was a pretty cool view. Here are a couple of pics. Riding with Catherine and Carmen through Garden of the Gods 13 May 2007, Joe Martin Stage Race, Arkansas Click here for results and pics of the tour. Pic of me in the time trial. Pic of Kat winning crit and Sarah 3rd. Kristin, Felicia, Me, Sarah, Catherine, Kat & Carmen with Mary Michael (our host's daughter) Final Podium Stage Four (1 hour criterium) Stage and Tour Win!!!! Aaron's had another great day today. Kat won the crit and Sarah was 2nd after a wicked performance by all the girls today. So Kat ended up winning the tour overall, and we were 3rd team overall. Awesome effort. My race wasn't so good, I got dropped after about 20 minutes. It was a tough course, had a tough climb in it and a fast downhill. My legs were pretty tired, I was really disappointed not to be able to finish in the bunch and help the team out. I started seeing stars when I got dropped, guess that means I was going pretty hard? But looking back, I am happy with how my form is coming along and where I am compared to this time last year! It's so great to race with such a strong team and I feel like it's been great for my form and my confidence being able to help out and has really made me lift my game. We are back at the house now relaxing and will go out for dinner tonight. Have to leave the house at 5 in the morning to catch my flight back to Colorado, that's gonna hurt me! I have 2 weeks back in Colorado Springs now then head to Oregon for the Mt Hood Stage Race. Thanks for reading. Stage Three (2.5mile uphill Time Trial) Back in Yellow! Kat is back in Yellow! She had a wicked TT and gained enough time back to be in yellow for the final stage tomorrow morning - a downtown criterium. She has a small time buffer which means that if it finishes in a bunch sprint, no one can take the lead off her with time bonuses. We will be working hard to keep it together. My TT wasn't fantastic, nothing out of the ordinary for me! But I don't think it was too bad, haven't seen results yet. Time for a massage then sleep. Good night! Stage 2 (68 miles) Plenty of action today. We were all really good at covering moves and trying to keep things together for a bunch kick. Any break that went had 1 or 2 Aaron's riders in it to make sure no one who is a threat for the TT got up the road. Carmen punctured on a climb early on so I dropped back to help her up again. Unfortunately with about 10km to go Kat broke a spoke so Kristin and Carmen dropped back, then I did to help them with the final pull to get back on the bunch. We didn't have anyone on the podium today but at least everyone in the bunch with no major dramas. Kat lost the yellow to Laura Van Gilder as she got a time bonus in the final sprint. Hopefully she can get it back in the 2.5 mile up hill TT this afternoon. Stage One (64 miles) Win For Aaron's!!!! My team mate Kat won the first stage of the tour! It came down to a big bunch sprint and she took the win over Laura Van Gilder and Leigh Hobson of Cheerwine. We all did an awesome job today, kept the pace high at the finish and Sarah led Kat into the final corner to set her up for the sprint. A French rider Elodie Touffet got away on the climb and everyone let her go as I don't think they realised who she is and how strong she is. Anyway, later on I was called up to the front with Catherine and then Carmen to join in the rotation with a few Cheerwine and Webcor riders. We worked hard and eventually caught Elodie with 10miles or so to go then tried to set it up for the finish. Very exciting to see Kat on the podium again. She's riding awesome. 10 May 2007 We are in Fayetteville, Arkansas, resting up for the tour beginning tomorrow. Went out and rode the uphill TT course this morning. We are staying in a huge house with a lovely family with 4 children. I'm always amazed how people let a bunch of crazy cycling chics into their homes when they are already so busy. I have a queen bed all to myself so I'm happy! Michelle 8th May 2007 Hey ya'all Well, the crit series is all done and we are now in Nashville, Tennessee, Kat's hometown. It is really beautiful here, they live just out of the city, the ride we went on yesterday was incredible. I was in desperate need of a rest day today, and while I did enjoy the downtime I was disappointed not to get another ride in here and go exploring on my bike. The rest of the series went great for the team. We had Kat finish up 3rd overall, finished 3rd team overall, and Sarah, Catherine and Kat all had turns on the podium. My form was a bit up and down, had good days and bad days. I would've liked to have been able to help the girls out more, when I could I'd help out with covering moves but don't quite have the form yet to be working my butt off at the front of the race and doing leadouts. Feeling pretty tired as the intensity was a bit more than I'm used to day after day, but I have a few days to recover before we start Joe Martin Stage Race on Friday. I'm looking forward to doing some road racing! So I've had a pretty good tour of the South so far. After Spartanburg SC, we headed back to Atlanta for a night, then drove to Anniston, Alabama. Next day was Decatur, Alabama, then we drove to Nashville. Decatur was interesting to say the least. We turned up at our hotel at about 10pm to find a hip-hop-style wedding reception in full swing. Needless to say I was right at home with the hip hop crankin' but didn't quite fit in with the wedding guests.... We dumped our bags and decided we were too hungry to sleep so the girls took me out for my first Waffle House experience. After a tasty pecan and choc chip waffle and engaging conversation with the delightful waitress oozing southern charm we headed back to the hotel where the wedding was dying down. Rode for an easy hour the next day, I guess everyone was either at church or still in bed recovering from the wedding, it was like riding through a ghost town. After an hour of unsuccessfully riding around searching for a coffee shop we headed back to the hotel. 3 hours before the race we went out in search for food. The best we could do was Tony's Country Cooking. Yep it was pretty much how it sounds. I won't be going back there in a hurry. Anyway, we were very happy to arrive in Nashville and to have some nice home cooked healthy meals again. Last night we went out Honky Tonkin in downtown Nashville. My dreams of becoming a super star line dancer were shattered when the line dancing bar we wanted to go to was closed. We settled for another bar with a live band, but we were all pretty tired so shut it down before apparently the line dancing got into full swing. Another time maybe.... Will report in after Joe Martin.. Consistently Inconsistent Hey, It's been a full on few days. I am now in Spartanburg, South Carolina. We are hanging out in a coffee shop as we have a couple of hours to kill before the start of our race. Since I wrote last we raced on Tuesday night in Beaufort, SC, Wednesday in Walterboro, SC and Thursday in Greenwood, SC. Definately getting a good tour of the South. Didn't have a great race in Beaufort, just found the pace so fast and got dropped. Walterboro was much better, I was able to ride nearer the front and help out a bit. Then last night in Greenwood I didn't have a good one. My pattern seems to be one good day, one bad, one good etc etc. Jeff said well you have to expect some inconsistency since you haven't raced much and at least you're consistently inconsistent! For anyone who thinks cycling is easy and I'm over here on a holiday please read on.... Tuesday was a crazy day. We were supposed to have a 4 hour drive from Atlanta to Beaufort. We left at 9am and arrived at 5pm. Got stuck in a huge traffic jam and oh my gosh it was so hot. Quickly checked into the hotel and rode our bikes to the supermarket to buy some pre race food. Came back, scoffed down a sandwhich, got changed and rode to the start. Catherine had a great race and got 3rd, but we had to wait for the men to finish until they would do the women's podium. The races started 2 hours late (about 8.15pm), something to do with a barge having a collision with a bridge, so they had to shut down roads and change the course. By the time we were done racing all the cafe's were no longer serving food, luckily we got into the VIP area and got some nutritious southern post-race food. We finally got to bed at 1am. Rob, a friend of the family drove up from Florida to see me race, he came on the craziest, most stressful day, really it's not normally that bad Rob! Most mornings we get up, ride for an hour, drive to the next place, get some lunch, then get ready for the next crit. It's fun, but very tiring! Tonight we race at 6.30pm then have a few hours of driving to get back to Atlanta, will be a late one for sure. Hoping for a good race today as I'm on my 'good day' so look out! Michelle 1st May 2007 Hey there! I'm in a coffee shop somewhere in Atlanta. We are here just until tomorrow then we leave to do a crit in Beaufort, South Carolina. I'll just write very quick reports from the 2 crits we have done. Athens Twilight Crit, 28th April Wow, what a crazy race! We started at 7.45pm just as it was starting to get dark. The start is so important, it's vital to be near the front or you will spend so long chasing to get up the front. I didn't get a great start position and was in a world of hurt the whole race. I struggled with the fast pace and found it hard to move up. My team was awesome, they were going for primes and getting in breaks the whole race. Kat got in a break of 4 riders and ended up smashing them at the finish! I finished in the main bunch, happy to make it to the end with the main field! The crowd there was incredible. It was Saturday night, students everywhere, bars open, people screaming, drunk people stumbling around. Pretty out of it experience to race at an event like that! We ended up staying to watch the men's race as Kat's presentation wasn't until after the men. Their race was nuts, there was a huge crash and they had to stop the race and start it again. Got home just after midnight, very ready for bed. Roswell Crit, 29th April I felt so much better today. Athens was definately a nasty one to start with. Was actually able to help out a bit which was great. We had to cover moves and make sure nothing got away without an Aaron's rider in it. By the end the bunch was back together and Cheerwine (courtesy of Cath Cheatley) were on the front driving it. Sarah had a wicked sprint and just got 2nd to Tina Pic. Kat was up there too for 4th place and held onto the leaders jersey for the series. Big things to come for the team this year for sure... Click here for pic of me on www.cyclingnews.com We now have 6 crits in 6 days, then will drive to Nashville, Kat's hometown for a couple of nights on the way to Joe Martin Stage Race in Arkansas. Thanks for reading. Michelle 24th April It's Snowing!!! Wow, how crazy is this weather, yesterday I was out riding in the sun, it got to nearly 20 degrees, last night a storm came through and it's windy and raining and snowed a little this morning. It's about 1 degree (34) now, but according to Yahoo weather feels like -6 (21) due to the wind chill. Brrrrrr. I just finished what was quite possibly the hardest, most painful windtrainer session I have ever done. I had some lactate threshold/power testing done up in Denver last week and the guy gave Jeff permission to start working me hard. So he is. It's great though, I love it. I also saw the doctor here that I saw last year when I was sick and he was really happy with the progress I have made since I last saw him. It's great to feel good again and have the all clear to really be able to push myself hard without worrying that I'm going to self-destruct or something. I'm off on Thursday to Atlanta where I will race the South East Criterium Series. We do 8 crits in 9 days, starting with the Athens Twilight Criterium on 28th April (yes we race in the dark). I've heard some horror stories about this crit - 'it's sooooo crazy,' 'if you start near the back you will never move up and spend the whole race trying to hang on,' 'just pray it's not raining', 'there are potholes and grates on the road that you won't see until you're sliding out over them', 'normally a drunk guy will wander onto the course at some stage.' Sounds like good fun! Not sure how much net access I will have but will try to keep you updated. Results should be up on www.cyclingnews.com. After the crits we drive to Arkansas to race the Joe Martin Stage Race, which is 3 days of racing. It will be a pretty full on couple of weeks with a lot of driving as well as the racing, but I'm really looking forward to it. The days here just seem to fly by. Of course there is training, cooking/eating, trips to the supermarket to buy more food, massaging vitamin E into my scars 3 x a day, watching the Food Network and Discovery Health Channel take up a bit of my day, study, (I'm doing an assignment to hand in before I leave on Thursday), shoulder rehab, core exercises, msn and skype time, a bit of surfing the net. Yep, I'm pretty good at keeping myself busy and filling in the days. Ok, time for food, thanks for reading. Have a great ANZAC day :) Michelle 23rd April This is Cheyenne Mountain which Jeff lives near the bottom of. Oh, sorry, this is not Jeff’s house, (although his house is very nice, it's just not quite this big). Interesting piece of info about Cheyenne Mountain… Up until last year inside this mountain was an underground combat operations centre known as NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command). The centre, which was opened in 1966, was staffed by 1,100 people, and was set up to monitor the skies for threats such as missiles, aircraft and space objects. The centre had enough food, water and fuel for the centre to be self sufficient for 30 days in the event of an attack. Inside the mountain are 15 buildings, 12 of which are 3 stories tall and set out on 4.5 acres. A dining facility, medical facility with dental office, pharmacy and a two-bed ward; two physical fitness centers with exercise equipment and sauna; a small base exchange, chapel, and barber shop are all located within the complex. So while doing some research on the net for this (clearly I have too much spare time), I came across this piece of info about the mountain…”The centre at Cheyenne Mountain was built with the knowledge that it would be a primary target for a nuclear attack, and it is perhaps the most fortified large underground installation in the world. The centre was designed to withstand up to a 30 megaton blast within 1 nautical mile. But with the power and accuracy of more modern weapons, U.S. Army Capt, Jeff Dean concedes, it’s questionable whether we would be able to survive a direct hit from an intercontinental ballistic missile.” Hmmmmm They moved the NORAD operations centre to nearby Peterson Air Force Base last year because they believe that they no longer need to be concerned about an intercontinental nuclear missile attack. Phew! (and because the commander of NORAD works from Peterson Air Force Base and got sick of driving back and forth). The centre in the mountain is on ‘warm standby’ and can be ‘reactivated’ if needed. Pretty interesting huh? Well, something different from the usual race reports! 19th April Not a bad training ground aye! Training on the dirt roads is good fun. 16 April, Sea Otter Classic & Santa Cruz Criterium Well, interesting race to have as my first one. The race was held on the Laguna Seca Raceway, close to Monterey. This event is huge, there are mountain bike races, bmx, downhill, various categories of road races, people everywhere it’s pretty crazy. The course is a 2.2 mile circuit (22 laps, 80km) consisting of a climb that kicks up pretty steep at the top, a wicked descent named ‘The Corkscrew’, another small rise then sweeping bends into the finish. Anyway, there had been a bit of rain earlier on, but when we were warming up it was coming out ok, overcast, not too hot, not too cold. We had Catherine and Carmen going for sprint points and Felicia going for Queen of the Mountains as she won that last year. We were all riding really well as a team, I helped out Felicia on the first QOM and felt not too bad going up the hill, and tried to hover as close to the front as I could. It had been raining lightly since the start of the race, but after about 8 laps or so the downpour came, oh my gosh it was nasty. There were honestly rivers of mud flowing down parts of the track, the rain hurt soooo much on the descent, it was crazy. It got pretty cold, was under 10 degrees for sure and being soaking wet didn’t help. Being a raceway the surface is obviously pretty smooth so it felt like we were riding on ice going down the corkscrew. I took it very cautiously, not wanting to risk crashing and doing my shoulder again. They ended up cancelling the race after about 12 laps. The crazy thing is, they didn’t announce 1 lap to go, they just called it as the group went across the finish line and decided the winner would be the girl that had happened to cross the line first! Without telling anyone! Who does that? Random! So of course all the teams protested and the organisers said ok no prize money at all then. But that was bad for us as we were leading QOM and coming 2nd and 3rd in sprints, plus had a couple of girls in the ‘top 10.’ So I guess they just keep all the prize money? Very lame. Anyway, we all bundled in the van shivering, got changed and turned the heater on full and waited for Carmen to do her drug test, then headed back to our host housing (who by the way were a lovely family). It’s pretty cool getting to stay with families while we are away racing, we got pretty spoiled with the mom fussing over us and baking us cookies and brownies mmmm. Nice to experience suburban America. Early on in the race before the rain, I'm in the 2nd row. Photo: Rob Jones www.velonews.com Ouchhhhh, isn't cycling fun! Santa Cruz Criterium, 30 laps, 0.9mile circuit. Today was a good day, we woke to blue skies and it was reasonably warm. We all met at Carmen’s (the director) house and rode to the course. It was a local crit, but there were some girls who came to race that were at the race yesterday. Our plan was to ‘make em work for it’ and ‘blow the field to bits’. Our girls were really active at the front, taking turns attacking and getting in moves, I was feeling pretty good, just a bit unsure where I am with my form so wasn’t getting too excited about getting in any moves. The pace was fast and hardly let up the whole race. I kept fairly close to the front and had an attack with about 3 to go but got chased down, then we tried to organise things for a lead out for the finish. We kinda messed it up and didn’t have everyone at the front, but it was a messy sprint with a sharp right turn, then a bit of a hill, and the finish line along a bit further. Kat and Sarah were up the front and looked after themselves and had a fantastic sprint and took 1st and 2nd! The rest of us finished in the bunch which had only about half the field left by that stage. I was really happy with my race, it was hard, but I felt good and happy that I rode well in such a fast race like that with not much racing in my legs yet. After the race it was a quick warm down then back to the car to pack up my bike and off to the airport. I’m really happy on the team, they are a great bunch of girls and we all get along really well and get so well looked after. Really looking forward to the rest of the season. Jeff was in San Francisco on business so came to watch me race and we flew back to Denver together. I'm back in Colorado Springs now, it's great to be back here. The weather is still pretty cool here, was about 12 degrees today and windy but I didn't care cause the scenerey was amazing! Next up is the South East Criterium Series starting on 28th April, 7 crits in 7 days. Then we drive to Arkansas for the Joe Martin Stage Race which starts on 11th May. Thanks for reading. 11th April. Arrived in the states Hi from California! I arrived yesterday after a pretty good and uneventful flight. Got a grilling at immigration from a guy who seemed pretty interested and amused that I came over to race my bike for no money and that I am 26 and not married. I guess it's his job to be nosey. I'm staying with the director of the team Carmen and her husband Chris. They have a really cool house in the country, kinda close to Santa Cruz. I'll be here until Thursday when I go to the host family's house to stay with the rest of the team. We race on Saturday, then a local crit on Sunday. Rode the new bike today, love it, feels really good. We are riding the Specialised Sworks Ruby. Will take a bit to get used to SRAM as I have only ever used Shimano, but I quite like it already. My brakes are round the wrong way which was interesting to ride today but they are going to swap that over for me which I'm happy about! I got a heap more gear as well it's crazy (but great) and so many Power Bars (which is also great but I will come back 10kg heavier if I eat them all). Will report in after the race. Michelle 9th April 2007 Hi there, Just a very quick note as I am leaving today for the states. Nearly all packed up and ready to go. It's mum's birthday today so we are just heading out for breakfast which will be nice. I'm healing up well after the crash, my shoulder is getting better every day (so unfortunately can't use that as an excuse for not hanging out the washing anymore), I only had to take a couple of days off the bike which is great. Got the stitches out of my knee on Saturday, oh man it's such an ugly knee :( The weather has started to pack in here so it must be time for me to go.... My first race is this Saturday - Sea Otter Classic, Monterey, California. I'm staying with the director of the team for the first week, then will head back to Colorado Springs to stay with Jeff for 10 days before heading down south for the South East Criterium Series. I've put up my races on schedule page. Will report in soon... Michelle 31 March 2007, Le Race, Christchurch - Akaroa OUCH. I crashed out on the last descent into Akaroa yesterday. I was going round a corner and slid out on some gravel. Was coming 2nd at that stage, the girl leading was Carla Ryan who is the Australian TT champ. A few guys I was with stopped to help me out and were such a great help. I popped my shoulder out so had my arm above my head for about 2 and a half hours before someone could put it back in. Had to wait for an ambulance, then the rescue helicopter came over and took me back to Christchurch. The medics said I could try to put it back in myself, but if they do it and damage something they will get in big trouble so I decided to wait and get it done properly as I wasn't sure how bad it was. They ended up knocking me out to get the shoulder back in which I was stoked about as it wouldn't have been pretty if I was awake! Also got a few stitches in my knee. Apart from that just generally pretty sore today and the usual bruises and road rash. I was so disappointed, but happy with my form and the way I was climbing. I definately surprised myself. Will hopefully be back on the bike in the next couple of days. Michelle 26 March 2007, Grape Ride, Blenheim First win of the season!! I'm very happy to write that I won the Grape Ride up in Blenheim on Saturday! It was a 100km race around one of the most stunning parts of New Zealand. The race split up on the hills just out of Picton after about 45km, and by the end there were 3 women left in the front group of guys. The finish was pretty dodgy, finishing with about 300m of twisting, skinny little road that leads into a vineyard. I knew that I wanted to be first woman going into that so somehow pushed my way through the middle of the bunch and stayed there until the finish! Results are up on www.graperide.co.nz and hopefully pictures soon. Next ride up is Le Race. It's super hilly so will be interesting to see how I go. The climbing form is not quite there yet, but starting to come along well. Tired Michelle post race... photo courtesy of Marlborough Express. Michelle 13 March 2007, Tour of Wellington Hi there, Jo and I arrived home feeling very tired on Sunday night after a hard 5 days of racing around the Wellington/Wairarapa region. This tour was my first major race back since May of last year. I was pretty happy with how I rode considering the amount of time I've had off. We rode a crit on the first day, 100km road stage next day, then a 120km road stage, then a 125km HILLY road stage, and finished with a TT and crit on the Sunday. I wasn't riding that great in the hills, I just struggled with the pace, I guess no matter how hard you train, you can only get that type of fitness by racing. Jo rode well, she was 4th in the first crit, and 2nd in one of the road stages. She is down in Invercargill now at track nats for the week, then is back for one night, then heads to Colorado for 3 nights, then to Switzerland to meet up with her team. Phew! Poor thing, she doesnt know if she's coming or going! At least I am here for another few weeks before I head off to the states on the 9th of April. I'll be doing Grape Ride and Le Race here and a few other local races before I head off. Not much work on til I leave, just trying to get ahead on my study so I don't have to do so much when I'm away. I've finally got around to putting some wedding pics up! There are a few different ones on Jo's page too. Thanks for reading. Michelle
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