Last month Anne Guzman competed in the Campeonato Nacional de Ciclismo in the Dominican Republic. The trip across the ocean netted her 3rd place among the top Dominican Elite women cyclists. She rolled through the 75 kilometers (46.60 miles) in 2:13:36.

Anne Guzman reserves the right to compete for the Dominican Republic due to her ancestry.

Race Report by Anne Guzman

On race day, at around 9:00 a.m. a few cyclists arrive, 9:30 a.m. no registration set up yet. No kidding! 10:00 a.m.- the bulk of the racers begin to show up on buses. This is by comparison a sharp contrast to the North American athlete who typically arrives to the race venue in a vehicle.

On a hot Caribbean 39 Celsius (102 Fahrenheit) I am standing around waiting while on my eating my second granola bar, followed by swallowing bananas like a “gorilla”. I then continue to look around finally eying my gels. Who eyes gels? 11:30 a.m. Yes! 11:30 a.m. and two hours later, the race starts.

“I guess I did no know what I was getting into?” I knew the women, the fast ones from my experience of racing here in 2007. They are SPRINTERS, of that about four are really strong.

While on the race course, the race progressed like this: they follow…I attack…they follow…I attack…they follow. I knew they would not counter.

The race had 9 loops of an 8 kilometers oval with a 1.5km uphill false flat on one side and 1km on the other. I had 2 choices, sit and wait for a sprint or bust my “rear” and try to tire as many as I could to have my chance. I attacked about 12 times. You can imagine that this maneuver dropped some women and by then they were only 3 of us left - me and two sprinters…all I could do was sprint. At the end of the race, I was pretty dehydrated.

I was disappointed with the racing style and it reminded me of some local races. Not all but some. For the 2009 installment I am assured that we will race with the MEN to ensure that at nationals the women stop racing in this manner! Wow! Imagine that! Sounds good to me!

I was soooo smoked after this race and even more so than after Redlands and Beaumont; however, I must remind myself that I was in the wind all day, and it was HOT.

So, overall…the racing was not great, but I left NOTHING in the tank and raced hard. That is all I could do. I would not have been happy rolling around for 2.5hrs and bunch sprinting fresh sprinters and I was happy that I left it all out there. The president of the Dominican Republic Cycling Federation (FEDOCI) followed the race and said I was for sure the strongest. He felt bad that his women did not race and just followed. But…that is racing for them, and it is what it is, right?

Racing in the Caribbean is always and experience and I hope I motivated them to become more aggressive. They told me they were not used to that and I told them to counter and start racing differently, in addition, to consider traveling to race in North America.

Maybe next year I will get the jersey. We’ll see.

On Friday, May 16 the Washington Area will host their annual Bike to Work Day with numerous activities and free T-shirts to 7,000 riders who drop by the spit stop they are registered for. You can read all about the event by clicking here.

Heidi Goldberg who races as part of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Elite team will be belting out a few tunes with her bike choir Tune Ups as part of the activities. Goldberg was recently interviewed for an article that appeared in the Washington Post Express, a daily free D.C. metro area newspaper most riders read. The article appeared in the middle portion of the “Fit” section.

You may read the full article by clicking here.

Team Kenda Tire is saddened to report that Ryan Barnett, Marketing Manager for Blue Competition Cycles; our sponsor was part of an accident on May 3. He is currently recovering at Atlanta’s Shepherd Center.

Our thoughts and prayers will be with him and his family during this time.

Send your best wishes to Ryan by clicking here.

A group of NRC Elite team members headed to the Athens, GA to participate in the USA Criterium Series. The Athens Twilight Criterium, the series opener, draws the top ranked women bicycle racers in the country and on this day over forty professional women lining up for the start of the race.

Fast forward to the heat to of the race and we find five women in zoom mode rolling into a fast moving break. At this point, Jacquelyn recalls, “I did not even know that I was in a break” until I heard the announcer say “this maybe the winning move of the night.”

Jacquelyn Crowell who also doubles as a collegiate rider for the University of Florida finds herself with fast company such as Rebecca Larson (Aaron’s Pro Women’s Cycling), Catherine Cheatley (Cheerwine), Jennifer Wilson (Vanderkitten) and Tiffany Cromwell (Colavita/Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light). In our conversation, she tells me that “the race was all about positioning” and she adds that “this was the perfect race tune up for the collegiate nationals”.

Jacquelyn ended our conversation by describing that she felt finishing 4th provided her with the confidence that she will do well in the upcoming 2008 USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships scheduled for May 9-11 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO.

Other News Reports: VeloNews and CyclingNews

The NRC Elite and NRC Developmental women racing in the Southeast Women’s Cycling series report great first quarter results. With races completed through Friday, April 18 Team Kenda Tire occupy multiple spots within the top ten. See below for a quick summary:

NRC Elite
Jacquelyn Crowell –4th
Lee Farabaugh – 6th

NRC Development Team
Andrea Wilson – 1st
Molly Freeman – 3rd

Do the test and become aware of riders on the roads. Although this is a foreign campaign the purpose of the message is universal – “keep and eye out while we ensure you can see us.”

The NRC and NRC Development teams were back in action on Saturday, March 15 by entering the Spokes for Strokes Hoover Criterium held in Hoover, AL. The ladies delivered an impressive performance and had fun doing it (of course!).

Andrea sends a big THANK YOU to the promoters of the Southeast Women’s Cycling Series for a well-organized race. The race featured a great course, tons of primes, equal prize money for the top 3 in each of the men’s and women’s races, women category 3/4 and Pro/1/2/3 races separated by enough time to rest and recover! You guys ROCK! Any women reading this- try to get down here to race- they’re doing great things for women’s cycling I rode in both races…

Women 3/4 Race by Andrea Wilson

My strategy going in to the 3/4 race was to be as aggressive as possible. I attacked a small (but tiring) hill several times during the 25 minute race. It was also sprinkling and windy, so I would accelerate down the hill on the back side of the course to a wide, sweeping corner. Some of the other riders didn’t feel comfortable with the moisture on the road and the speed of the corner. Those tactics thinned the field out to 5 of us.

We rode out the last half of the race together. I should have been able to make a top 3 finish, but when it came time to sprint, I totally spaced! I took the last turn too wide and fell back a little, then started my sprint waaaay too late! I was able to eek out a 4th- Lucky, because Gina Tolbert, who is also strong enough to lay waste to most of the group we were with, was sprinting with me & I got 5th!

If anything, it was a good tune-up for the 1/2/3 race. Betsy, a regional rider rode in the race as well. She’s getting into the learning curve of criterium riding (kind of like me at about this time last year!) and finished a lap down, but I bet once she has a few more under her belt, she’ll be right up in the mix!

Women Pro 1/2/3 Race by Andrea Wilson

This was my first race where I was able to work with some teammates! I lined up with Lee Farabaugh and Molly Freeman as well as a very strong field of Pro/1/2/3 women - including Rebecca Larson from Aaron’s Pro Cycling. The wind had picked up as the day warmed and the sun came out (people were flying kites near the course!) From the start, I rode conservatively. I hung out near the middle/back of the pack and let other people cover attacks. Not far into the race, Rebecca attacked into the brutal headwind of the finishing stretch of the course. She got off of the front with one other girl. They put a 5-10 sec gap on the field by the time they were on the back side of the course, and the other girl dropped off of Rebecca’s wheel to return to the pack.

I felt good, so, with Lee on my wheel, I went for the bridge, and no one else followed. We kept the hammer down to get away from the pack. Rebecca had all intentions of not helping out once the break was established, but she kept sprinting for primes then dropping back and sucking the wheels of Lee and I. We were getting tired in the wind, and we were a little peeved. I noticed how eager Rebecca was to get primes, so I thought of a quick deal - I told her she could take all of the remaining ones uncontested if she’d actually work to help us stay away (we were wavering at around a 40-50 second gap based on what people in the crowd were yelling). It worked, and she started trading pulls (of course, the next prime was for $100 cash, but, tempted as I was, I held up my end of the bargain…)

Molly worked for Lee and I back in the pack - everyone said she did a great job of covering attacks then slowing back down! It’s awesome to have a friend back there instead of a bunch of people wanting to chase you down! Lee, Rebecca, and I worked hard until we were about to lap the field. At that point, we relaxed a little with about 5 laps to go. Lee was awesome and let me stop working & stay on her wheel so I could rest for the sprint. When it came time, she did her best to lead me out, but Rebecca made a slightly early jump. Being a pro, she’s very fast! I actually did gain ground on her, and think that if the finish line had been 10 yards further away, I could have caught her… but I’m pretty stoked with the results anyway!

The month of March began with huge successes for both the Elite and Regional Teams while racing the weekend of March 1 and 2. Kim Potter of our Southeast Team repeated her previous weeks win in a Greenville, SC criterium. Kim is leading the Greenville Training Series.

Jackie Crowell has been smashing the collegiate competition and delivered wins on both days.

Our NRC Developmental team saw some action in local racing with Andrea Wilson nailing a road race in Arkansas, while Krystal Lacy-McNutt raced her way to 5th in a Columbus, OH criterium.

A number of our NRC Elite riders have been flexing their muscles with the likes of Lee Farabaugh and Jackie Kurth assembling solid racing in the Georgia Cup Albany Stage Race. Jackie’s General Classification (GC) was 3rd place and Lee’s was 5th.

Out west, Yukie Nakamura and Amy McGuire competed in a criterium/road race weekend in Merced County, CA. Yukie’s efforts resulted in a pack finish while Amy posted a 13th in Sunday’s road race against a group of heavy hitters in early season competition in CA.

Canadian, Anne Guzman took 3rd in the General Classification at the Yuma Stage Race in Arizona.

Andrea Myers had an exciting time at the Bethel Criterium taking 3rd overall in a field sprint.

In the Midwest, Sherry Downing kicks up some mud by placing 4th in the 30+ age group of a mountain bike event.

The Tour of California debuted with the newest addition to the National Racing Calendar (NRC), the Amgen Tour of California Women’s Criterium. The race used portions of the Stage 1 men’s finishing circuit in Santa Rosa for the course. The Women’s Criterium is the newest addition to the 2008 Amgen Tour of California professional road cycling race, with riders competing for more than $10,000 in prizes. The race drew over 80 riders. Team Kenda Tire is extremely proud to have been part of that experience with the participation of Yukie Nakumura.

Here’s how Yukie summarized it:

# of women entered: 87

# of women finished: 67?

# of kilometers in the course: 2

# of corners in the course: 4

# of botdots in the course: millions!!

# of days I didn’t ride the bike before the race: 2 days in a row

# of hours sleeping per night since Wednesday, 2/7: 4

# of days I was on my feet all day: 4 days in a row (2 days in high heels).

# of my bib: 69

# of my attack: 0 what!?!?

# of bridge efforts: 2

# of minutes in this race: 60

# of articles I have been writing for 2008 AToC: 8

# of pictures I have taken so far: 1091

# of my placing: 16

# of dollar amount for my placing: 170

# of interviews I have done: 7

# of interviews I have to do tomorrow: at least 4 (1 with Paolo Bettini,1 with Tom Boonen).

Off the saddle Yukie reports for the Japanese media.

Believe it or not there is still a considerable disparity between the UCI minimum prize money for men and women. As a consequence, Georgia Gould has put forth a petition requesting that the UCI show leadership and mandate equal prize money for the top five men and women based on Article 3 of the UCI Constitution which states, “The UCI will carry out its activities in compliance with the principles of: a) equality between all the members and all the athletes, license-holders and officials, without racial, political, religious, or other discrimination.”

Show your support and sign the petition here.