The Ring of Fire

The Ring of Fire is a criterium that is put on by Velosports Racing every other Wedesday during the spring and summer. The series is held at the mellowdrome in Asheville, a 500m (roughly 1/3 mile) former stock car track that has been converted into a cycling facility. Through the first three events, Amy has had some excellent results, finishing 3rd, 2nd, and 2nd in the women's C division. I've raced in the C division, masters, and B division over the first part of the season. Below are some photos of the April 28 Ring of Fire.

The women race with the guys at the Ring of Fire. Above, Amy gets her game face on prior to the 20-lap C race.

Keeping pace in the 40-lap B race.

Amy tucked in on the left.

Amy winding up for a sprint with the XY crowd.

Ready to start my first masters race.

Amy riding strong with the field.

Hanging on in the 30-lap masters race at 29mph.

Valdese Triathlon 2010

Amy competed in our hometown triathlon Saturday for the second year in succession. Hoping to improve on her time from last year, and with a goal of placing in her age group, she arrived at the pool Saturday morning with no shoulder dislocations, collarbone breaks, sinus infections (mostly), colds, mechanical problems, etc. Amy was coming off a second-place finish at Wednesday's Ring of Fire in Asheville (finishing ahead of your truly), so the snap had returned to her legs at just the right time. The unseasonably warm April morning set the stage for a good day for competition, further raising the odds that Amy would meet her goals for year.

One cannot go fast without first looking good. Amy prepares her SpokesWomen Syndicate/Performance Bicycle Racing kit for the biking/running leg. Her dominant women's racing team has two professional triathletes on the roster, giving it a multi-sport flavor.

Amy's band students felt that she should paint her nails black for the tri, so black they were.

Pushing off at the start of the swimming leg.

Able to use both arms this year, Amy took 1 minute, 34 seconds off of her 2009 swim time, finishing the 250m, 10-lap leg in 6minutes, 12 seconds.

Leaving the rain-forest climate of Valdese's indoor pool, Amy was glad to be heading to the transition area in upper-60s temperatures, instead of last year's upper-40s.


The 9-mile bike leg skirts the base of the eastern-most section of the South Mountains, making it a loop of endless short, steep hills.

Heading in to the transition area after completing the bike leg in 31 minutes, 46 seconds, the 4th-best time among the 83 females competitors, and nearly 3-minutes faster than last year.

Two legs down and one to go, Amy sets out for the run.

Amy completes the 5k running leg in 24 minutes, 59 seconds, the 11th-fastest female time. She trimmed 14 seconds off from 2009.

The photo says it all! Consistent improvement in all three disciplines netted Amy an overall time of 1 hour, 5 minutes, 23 seconds. In addition, she met both of her goals, finishing 3rd in the female 30-34 division and improving on her 2009 time by 6 minutes, 31 seconds. Her time placed her 11th overall among all 83 female finishers, an jump from her 2009 placing of 18th. I enjoyed not getting my heart rate anywhere near its maximum training threshold and working out only my camera shutter-finger.

We'll be heading down to Athens, Ga next weekend for the Athens Twilight race weekend, a big date on the national race calendar.

Rock Hill Classic Road Race

Historic Brattonsville, SC, was the locale for Saturday's race, which was part of the Rock Hill Classic weekend omnium. Not being able to attend Friday night's sprints or Sunday's criterium, we targeted Saturday's road race for our weekend fun. It was a tall order, however, with the 47-mile loop representing the longest race on the calendar for the year. Having to train around jobs and kids means being better prepared for shorter events, so our expectations were modest. But, we looked forward to great weather and teammates to race with.


With their kits finally arrived, the Performance Bicycle Racing team was a presence across the women's fields for the weekend. Developmental team members Amy, Shannon Parrish (l) , and Erica Chard (c) lined up for the women's cat 4 event.


The 47-mile course consisted of unrelenting rolling hills that were never very steep, but went on seemingly forever. This resulted in most of the races getting split up, usually during the first section of really challenging, back-to-back climbs around mile 15. At this point, Amy got separated from the field and chased solo for around 10 miles. Her long, steady effort paid off, and she limited her losses until she caught on with another racer. The duo worked together until her cohort began to wobble, eventually stopping and laying down in the road, in tears due to the extreme effort. Amy stopped, helped her to her feet, and told her that if she could push out a 9-lb baby after 26 hours of labor, the other racer could finish the race. She got the other racer back on the bike and continued the chase. She eventually caught on with another group and rode in to the finish, with enough gas left in the tank to lead out a sprint to the finish line. Amy finished 25th among the Cat 4 women. Overall, the pink ladies stamped their foot on the field for the weekend, with the elite team winning both the women's cat 1-2-3 road race and the queen of the mountains competition. Their strong performance led the team to also take first and second place for the overall weekend series.

With teammate Brian Morrison just prior to the start.

The Cat 5s set out at a relatively fast pace for such a long race, covering the first 15 miles at an average speed of over 25mph. Not being well-suited to hilly efforts, I also got separated from the field around mile 15, and finished 31st while working with other stragglers along the route. An inglorious result, but the hard race was rewarding in the effort, and the beautiful weather made for a great day to be out on the bike.

Uwharrie Wheelmen Road Race

Amy and I headed to New London on Saturday to race in the Uwharrie Wheelemen Road Race. Conveniently located at least an hour or more from everywhere else, the course was in the rolling farmland just north of Albemarle.

The Category 5 racers tend to be the figurative roosters of the bunch, often going off as the first races of the day. I was still bundled up for our 9am start. Fortunately for Amy, her race started after lunch, allowing her to enjoy the first-day-of-spring temps that ended up in the mid-70s.

With their kits still yet to come in, the Performance Bicycle Racing women went stealth with unmarked, white-and-black kits.

Ready to roll at the start line.

The course consisted of a 6.6-mile circuit through the cattle farms and cotton fields that populate the area. The rolling terrain was deceptively tough and made for a selective race. The Cat 5 35+ race was a 4-lap contest of around 26.5 miles. With bad legs from moving furniture the day before, I soloed in behind the field in 21st place.

As was the case in her first race of the season, Amy had to race in a Women's Open field, meaning that she toed the start line with all categories, including pros. With four teammates in the field with a pre-race strategy to make the race hard, a tough effort lay ahead. The field stayed together on the first of the five-lap event. However, on the second lap, the Performance Bicycle Racing women put their plan into action and sent two up the road. The breakaway sent the speed soaring, and the field quickly splintered into ones and twos, as seen in the picture of Amy above. The PBR plan worked to near-perfection, yielding a 2nd-place podium finish and 3 of the top 5 spots.

This hill was the nastiest of the course, boasting a 15% grade.

Amy hit the finish line 19th. Despite being part of the carnage, she worked together with another racer to put together a strong effort in a very tough race. The nearly 2-hour effort will pay dividends.

Next up, a couple of weekends off followed by the Rock Hill Classic and the Valdese Triathlon.

Greenville Spring Training Series Finale

Sunday was the final event in the Greenville Spring Training Series, held again at Donaldson Center. This would mark my second road race of the season, and it would be Amy's debut for the year after many weeks of recovery from her collarbone break. However, we were both feeling good with improving fitness from our training programs, and we appeared to have no residual damage from yesterday's 5k.

My Cat 5 35+ race again consisted of 3 laps around the 7-mile Donaldson Center circuit. Another hard week of training paid off, as I was able to stay near the front of the field for the hour-long contest, despite the pace averaging 3mph faster than last week's race. However, as we approached the end of the race, I was very aware that I had no idea what to do or when to do it to contest what was shaping up to be a bunch sprint. Sitting near the front, I tried to size things up in preparation for the move that would accelerate the pack for the final move. A rider surged past me, and I grabbed his wheel, hoping he would pull me and the pack toward the line. Unfortunately, he went a bit too early, and when the field made their final acceleration around 200 meters from the line, I had nothing left, coming across in 17th position. Regardless, I was very happy to be both a factor in the race and in the mix right to the line.

The women's race started just four minutes behind our race, so Amy and I were both racing on the course at the same time. Amy's race started strangely before the gun even sounded. Often, women race in an 'open' category, meaning that they race directors lump all 4 categories of women into one race, resulting in less experienced racers competing against the most experienced. Typically, when enough are registered, they break out the Cat 4 (novice) racers so that they can compete against each other on a more level playing field. However, yesterday, they didn't make such a distinction, and all women lined up together. The director asked the field at the start line if they would like to split the field up, but the question was not heard by everyone, and so the race went off as an 'open' field. Needless to say, with the more experienced racers in the field, the riders set off from the line at a blistering pace. Issue #1.

Issue #2 happened soon afterward. Amy was near her maximum effort, but hanging with the brisk and experienced field. But, thinking that she would be racing against her own category (which had their own race in every other one of the series to that point), we had decided to change her gear cassette on her bike to one that was considerably lighter, but higher (harder) geared. With the gearing more difficult than we anticipated, she was struggling to shift to a gear that she could manage, and she dropped her chain while climbing the steepest hill on the first lap, requiring her to get off her bike and put it back on. Fortunately, she made a quick repair and caught on with another woman who was off the back of the main field. They organized and began to work together to chase.

Issue #3. After chasing for almost 20 miles, the twosome had caught another pair of chasers and was halfway around their final, 4th lap (the Cat 4s had to race four laps instead of three due to racing as an open category) when Amy's rear tire punctured. At this point, she felt like this:

No number of tales of other cyclists' racing misfortunes can take away the frustration of having to sit at the side of the road, waiting for race support to transport you back to the start area as a non-finisher. Despite our mock bike-throwing picture above (I probably would have actually thrown my bike), Amy was gracious amidst her bad luck and took things in stride, choosing instead to focus on the many positives from the day, which really did outweigh the negatives: being able to survive a nuclear blast of a start with very fast, experienced riders; having the patience to quickly fix a mechanical in the throes of a race; and having the skills to help lead a long chase effort. So even though we each came away with different results, we both felt positive about the start to the season and of what lies ahead for 2010.

Special thanks to Eddie Helton for the four photos above. For more pictures of the Greenville Spring Training Series, please visit his website.

Chase for Cupid's Arrow 5k

Photo courtesy of Kelly Kropiwnicki Harmon

Amy and I ran in the Chase for Cupid's Arrow 5k on Saturday, which is held right next door to Valdese in Rutherford College. It was the second time we've run the race, which was postponed this year due to snow. The course is generally flat and unremarkable, save for a nasty 1/2 mile climb that occurs at mile 1. We finished around 25 minute, 46 seconds, essentially equalling our times from last year despite trying to conserve our legs and energy for the following day's bike racing. Nevertheless, Amy's time was good enough for second overall female, while I finished in 25:47 for second in my age group.

Kick-starting the Road Season

Amy and I headed in opposite directions this past weekend to ring in the new road racing season. After a seemingly never-ending winter of snow, then snow, then wind, then rain, then snow, we were both glad to get outdoors and do something purposeful on our bikes besides toiling away on our trainers.

I did my first road race of the season on Sunday, racing in the Greenville (SC) spring training series. The 21-mile circuit race traversed a rolling, 7-mile loop around Donaldson Center, a technology and aviation campus south of Greenville. Conditions were about as good as it was going to get for this year, with the air cold (but not as cold as it has been), windy (but not as windy as it has been), and nothing falling out of the sky. Starting my first full season of road racing, I raced in the Category 5 35+ division along with 20-some-odd others. I was pleased that my first winter of structured training is paying off, as I was able to stay with the field for almost the entire race. If you've read my posts from last year, you will know that this is a dramatic improvement over what used to inevitably end up as solo rides. The field took a more relaxed start to the race, in contrast to what typically happens in a criterium, in which the field jumps from the start as if shot from a cannon. By the second lap, things began to ramp up, and I made the first big selection as the field accelerated through the roller hills on the back part of the course. On the final lap, I responded to an attack, which, although unsuccessful, got me to the front of the field in about 3rd or 4th position. However, just as the field was accelerating up a hill, the rider in front of me inexplicably stopped pedaling and started to coast. I got caught out behind him as the field sped by. By this point, the field was winding up for the closing miles, and I was unable to catch back on for the finish. However, this may have been for the best, as there was a crash in the field about 200m from the finish. Although I finished 17th, it was good start to the year and an excellent gauge for my early-season fitness.

Amy headed to Chapel Hill for the weekend to rendezvous with her new teammates on the Performance Racing Team. The training camp was the first for the fledgling squad and gave them a chance to meet and greet and get in lots of miles. The primary sponsor of the team, Performance Bike, rolled out the red carpet for the team and provided support for the camp. The team is comprised of two squads, an elite-level squad that will focus on larger regional and national events, and a developmental squad (on which Amy is a member) that will focus on local and regional events. The team has drawn talent from several areas of the southeast, particularly the Asheville area, Chapel Hill, and Atlanta. Both squads were on hand for the weekend. After gathering Friday evening, the team set out Saturday for a long training ride, and the spirited pace of the ride indicated that the team intends on being an immediate presence in women's racing. Sunday's riding consisted of a charity ride to benefit the victims of Haiti. Before dispersing for the weekend, the team recovered from the weekend's riding with a session with internationally recognized yoga expert Sage Rountree. Interspersed throughout the weekend were meetings about the organization of the team and of the sponsorship support by Performance.

Amy's first race of the season is coming this Sunday, also at Donaldson Center, and I will be hitting the pavement for the event as well.