30 Nov 2007
First off, I would like to apologize to NashvilleCyclist for telling him
I'd write a season re-cap over a month ago. It's kind of crazy to think
that the season has been over for more than two months. I've even
already started training for next year but I haven't really taken the
time to sit, reflect and then write about what happened last year.
2007 was a great year for me in so many ways. I signed on with Aaron's
Corp. Furnishings Pro Cycling team and I knew I had a real opportunity
to prove myself. Since I started racing on the national circuit in
2005, I felt like I had the ability to be successful at that level. I
got some great experience with Ford-Basis and Victory Brewing, but I
never made it onto the top step of the podium. Up to that point most of
my success had come out of smaller number situations, like a break-away
or a last minute flier. I busted my ass to make other teams race and to
try to put other people on my teams in good positions to win. As I was
talking to Carmen D'Aluisio at the end of 2006 I told her that I thought
I could win some races on my own. She totally fell for it and signed me
on...
The year started with racing in California. I was racing okay, but it
felt pretty similar to 2006. After the California stint of racing on
the NRC calendar, I really tried to focus on getting myself to where I
needed to be to perform better in races. I hadn't been horrible, but I
also hadn't shown what I thought I was capable of. I had just gotten my
SRM and finally started to train with it a bit. After some bad workouts
and a frustrating local NorCal race the weekend before I left for
Athens, GA, I called my coach, Mike Engleman, and asked the very
technical question, WTF? We decided I just needed to ride and not worry
about much else...
I was excited to be going to Georgia for Athens Twilight and the entire
crit series they'd organized the following week. "Twilight" was my
first NRC race in 2005 when I was still with BMW-Bianchi, and I still
haven't found another race with a better atmosphere. I felt pretty good
and kept finding myself off the front, winning primes. I kept the
pressure on after one prime to see who would want to race with me. A
group of five of us got off the front, and from that point on, I tried
to stay smart. I didn't pull anymore than I needed to and I let the two
girls who weren't on major teams take most of the primes the rest of the
race to keep them motivated to work. I knew I was in a good position
because we had two riders hanging out in the pack that could have won
the race if it all came back together. The noise was crazy, and when we
got inside five to go I knew that our break was going to make it. I
tried to attack with two to go, but the girls who had been sitting on
easily covered it. I ended up going through the last two turns in fourth
wheel. Once we made the last corner, I went as hard as I could. I came
around Iona Wynter with 10 meters to go to the line to win the first
race of my career. I have never felt so good on a bicycle. To win the
race that had been my first introduction into "big girl racing" made me
feel I had come full circle.
Nostalgia aside, I had proven to my director, my team...and most
importantly myself...that I could win a race. I went on to place 3rd in
the crit series overall and had a lot of momentum going into the Joe
Martin Stage Race. My luck continued there as my team did a fantastic
job to put me in a position to win the first and last stages, and
subsequently the overall.
The wins and results were great, but mentally I could not have asked for
a better May. When I chose to really commit myself to cycling, I made
some big life choices. I worked two jobs the fall/winter before I moved
out to California to train full time without working a normal job. I
left my family and friends in Nashville for milder weather and opened
myself up to meeting a whole new community and set of friends. Even now
that I am happily settled out here, cycling takes center stage.
Training and resting take up most of my time when I'm home and when I'm
off traveling to races for weeks at a time, I have to put any semblance
of a "normal" life on hold. There are a lot of sacrifices...To finally
win a race served as actual proof to back up what I had believed I was
capable of accomplishing. It made me feel like I wasn't crazy for
sacrificing and believing in myself. And it was a HUGE confidence
boost. I felt like I could do anything on the bike.
Luckily, in order to do some ego-control the national team sent me to
Europe to race my first international stage races in June. As soon as I
felt like I had a hold on what I needed to do to be successful in the
US, I got to see that I still had A VERY LONG WAY to go in Europe. I
got dropped almost every day in the Pyrenees and Dolomites. Somehow my
performances showed something and I got a second invitation for a
September trip. At the end of that last trip in September, I found
myself in a solo break away for most of the race, and I rode 72k by
myself to get my first European stage win. It was a great way to close
out the year and left me with a result to keep me super motivated during
the off-season.
I was lucky enough to secure a contract with Aaron's Pro Cycling team
again for next year. In addition to racing with Aaron's, I will have
the opportunity to race quite a bit with the National team in Europe.
Its a bit of a new program, but Aaron's and all our team sponsors have
been very supportive of me racing with both squads. I am going to have
an opportunity to do some fantastic racing and to gain a lot of
experience. My racing calendar for 2008 is coming together nicely, but
when I start blocking out the dates on the calendar, the schedule looks
daunting at times. I might be crazy again to think that I can handle
this much racing, but I think I can do it...and do it well.
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