Alison Tetrick

Here is just a taste of the ride I did today…my bike will show you the view…

It was a beautiful ride…It was from a town called Minervois in the Massif Central… We climbed up from there, over the bridge, through the town and along these gorges.  There was a cool natural bridge that we saw…

Chris told us that this climb is often used in the TdF, and it has the reputation of being a more frustrating climb then the Pyrenees since you never see the top… I wish Chris hadn’t told us that, because as we started the 1 hour climb, you never felt like you were going anywhere.  There were no mountains, no peaks, just a constant grade that meandered up a ridge line or something.  Like I said, I felt like I was riding in place. 

The views were pretty, but my legs were feeling strangely absent.  I thought back to my day yesterday…

• Proper  45 minute warm-up, check
• 15k TT, check
• Proper easy 1.5 hour cool down and easy spin, check
• Recovery drink, marginal
• Shoe Shopping with Sinead, check
• Touring Limoux by foot, check
• Fueling window recovery meal—absent until 8pm

Oops.  Didn’t recover very good yesterday.  I know better.  Oh well, it was a good lesson to remind me of the important recovery protocol.  The ride was beautiful anyway.  We ended the ride with a great dinner at an artist’s studio.  I tried to compensate by eating large portions tonight in hopes that I will be refueled for tomorrow’s race…  We are headed to Bordeaux!  As for now, I am confined to my bed to try to digest that meal and think about racing my bike tomorrow!

We heard a rumor that just 20k from Limoux resided the claimed, “biggest castle in the world”…. So, we had to go visit it.  This walled city in Carcassone, a town very close to Limoux, contains in a 900 year old wall, as we call it, a castle within a castle, a full medieval town with a huge church in it.  It was beautiful, and well worth checking out.  It sits on hill overlooking the lush countryside of the Languedoc and the distant Pyrenees Mountains.

This castle was awesome…there was lots of opportunities to get yummy treats…

And an opportunity to get a new top? I am pretty sure this a top…made from chain maille…

Before we went to the castle, we had to do some sprint/attacking drills followed by a ride in the hills.  Sinead and I decided to do our own interpretation of a “ride in the hill” in an exploratory fashion.  In our defense, we didn’t get lost…but we were chatting as we were riding along, and climbing…climbing…and climbing… After about 40 minutes of climbing, we realized that the roads were looking strangely…unfamiliar.  Where were we?  We had some great conversation…but by the time we realized where we were, turned around, and rode back to Limoux, our ‘ride in the hills” took 4 hours and 40 minutes!  Wow!  It was a great day, but a busy day at that!

At the track race, it was only my second time on a track, and only my second time getting off and on the bike.

Check out the improvement though.  Maybe the skinsuit gives me super powers.

2nd Time on a Track Bike

Chris might be take us to the track this week to do some testing.  That could be sweet.  We have a French Cup in Paris on Sunday, and another race on our way on Friday.  I don’t know any of the details except that this trip does include spending two night in Bordeaux!  I can’t wait!  I guess the race promoter wanted us to come, so he is giving us some lodging there.

Another race down for the count.  Les Pruneaux D’Agen.  Which, I don’t know what that is in English.  Basically, it was a criterium, in the town of Agen, which is about a 2.5 hour drive from Limoux.  Chris Georgas, once again our fearless leader, picked us up and took us to the race.  I don’t have a lot of directional understanding here in Limoux, but since we are so south, I figure we went somewhat north to get there. 

It was great race conditions, according to Chris.  It was raining, and cold.  It was a 70k crit.  40 laps.  That was the longest crit I had ever done.  It took us just 1 hour and 50 minutes.  There is something that is a little defeating when you look at the lap cards and you still have 33 laps to go.   With 6 girls in the race, our goal was to make it hard, fast and safe.   The course contained a hill that was about 500m in length, and a big ring climb.  A slight downhill, a hard turn over an old bridge, and then a 180 degree turn on the descent towards the start/finish.    

At the beginning of the race, we received a call up!  It was my first call up EVER (and I really hope it won’t be my last).  The announcer tried to interview us, but he couldn’t speak English.  I just told him I was happy to be there, excited, and very cold.  We attacked from the gun, and by 5 laps in, we had already created a couple of breaks that were brought back.  About 5 laps in, fellow American, Megan Guarnier and fellow USA National Development rider, Devon Haskell established a 3 women break.  The chase started, leaving myself, Lindsey Myers, and Sinead Miller with 4 other girls.  We just sat in and covered all the attacks.  One thing I learned, these girls were relentless in attacking!  We had 33 laps to go, and they attacked every lap.  All we had to do was grab a wheel and take a ride.  As the chase continued, we lapped the rest of the field—2 times!  I was trying to stay on my teammates’ wheels on the technical turns, and it was hard.  Sinead has some skills on the bike, especially since she was a pro BMX rider by 14 years old!  Even though the French girls were attacking and very motivated, they refused to work together.  Thus, the break was going to stick. 

Devon and Megan ended up dropping the other rider.  Chris told us we were racing for 3^rd, and with 3 laps to go, gave us the green light to attack.  I was chomping at the bit to attack, so I went as hard as I could and took off up the hill.  Just under 2 laps to go, I got caught.  I thought I could lead Sinead out, but the final corner was an extremely technical 180 degree corner, and it was getting very slippery out.  I knew Sinead could win the bunch sprint, so with 1 lap to go, I attacked again.  Hopefully just to draw out some of the other riders to shred their legs a little.  I jumped over the top of the hill and hammered along…my wheel slipped on turn #3, and I cautiously took the 180… I saw the 500m to the finish, and just started pretending I was doing the pursuit again.  I wanted to see how fast I could go with a high cadence.  And, crossed the line solo for the 3^rd place finish!   Sinead took 4^th, and Lindsey took 5^th!  Wow!  Team USA Femme Deveoppmente dominated the race in true fashion and style!  When the announcer said my name for the podium, it was Alison StarnES.   

The race finish was full of flowers, trophies and kisses.  Too bad it was freezing and raining.  We took some quick pictures and then Chris whisked us away for some chocolat chaude, my new favorite recovery drink for all this rainy racing.  It was a great experience, and a great race.  I am very proud of Les Americans! 

Yesterday Chris Georges took us to the outdoor track in Fiox, France.  This town is about 75k from Limoux, and has one of the most beautiful castles I have ever seen.  In the town square, a stage of the Tour de France is often completed.  What a beautiful area.

Now, I have never been on the track before.  I was a little nervous.  Apparently, you can’t stop pedalling, nor should you.  Chris set me up on the bike.  I couldn’t really figure out how to get on, and once I got rolling, I didn’t dare try to get off.  An hour later, I was ready to get off, and it was pretty funny.  Here is a video of my first attempt of dismounting a track bike..

First time getting off a track bike…

Chris set everyone up on bikes, and on my sweet ride, he put on aero bars and some aero equipment so I could practice the pursuit.  Here is the track bike that I got to use!  It is even a LOOK!

We spent all day at the track and I got to practice one time pursuit.  A pursuit is a very interesting discipline for cycling.  For women, it is 3k long, which is just 12 laps around the track.  It is an all-out effort.  You start from a stop, as you are with held by someone or a machine, you accelerate for 200m out of the saddle until you are 3-5 kph over your desired speed…then you get down in aero position and head around the track…

After our practice, Chris told us we were to be racing the track the next day!  Yikes.  Somewhere between the practice and the race, I got some sort of stomach bug, and I wasn’t feeling very well.  I was determined to race anyway, because when ever to I have a chance to be on the track!?  The cool ting about the track is that it is all very calculatable, and scientific.  Everything matters.  Which foot you start with, where you ride the line, and how you deliver each lap.  It is fascinating the science that can go into a track race.

We drove up to Foix yesterday morning for the race.  I couldn’t keep much food down, but was excited to check it out.  It is an outdoor track, and it is concrete.  Chris gave us our 1 hour warm-up protocol which is a brutal warm-up full of 115rpm openers.  Ouch, but when your event shouldn’t take over 4 minutes…you better be good and warm before you start.  Then it started raining.  Rain on a track is dangerous.  People started crashing, but we were still going to race.  Finally it was my turn to go, and I started off (my starts are very slow and need a lot of work), my holder let me go, and then as I slooooowly accelerated, he said, “mademoiselle, go go, allez?”.  I started pinning it, and thought I was about to lose what was left in my stomach.  I dialled it back to a more reasonable base and finished the laps.  For those of you who know my songs that get in my head…my track song yesterday was “Round and Round” by Ratt.  How appropriate.

It was so much fun though!  I ended up winning the pursuit, and learning a thing or two about track cycling.  I almost forgot to keep pedalling when I finished my effort, and was nervous dismounting after the race as well–I had only gotten off a track bike one before!  I may not be a trackie yet, but it was a blast.

Today we are headed to do a 70k criterium….

Sometimes I just play dumb and smile.  This has worked for me in the past, and it is even more beneficial to have this skill in Limoux, France. 

Granted, I did take four years of French in high school, but that has only caused me to know just enough to be dangerous.  Albeit, it has assisted in the finding of important places, the boulangeries, the patisseries,  and the bon marche.  Looking for breakfast in the hotel—petite dejeuner.  Parfait!  The phrases I am going to need to get familiarized with is the metric system.  Is 10⁰C arm warmers or a winter jacket?  Is a 100k ride a recovery ride or is it a century? 

In the farmer market, I couldn’t help but purchase some eggplant—one of my favorite foods.  Also available there was live chickens and rabbits, if you so desired.

I got my hair cut the other day by a woman who didn’t speak any English.  I explained to her in my rough French that I studied French for quatre ans dans l’ecole, but was having difficulty remembering it.  She said that it was ok, because she had studied anglais par sept ans dans l’ecole and couldn’t remember much either.  We made a great pair, and I left the salon with a great haircut as well.  However, I don’t like change—especially when it comes to my hair, so I opted to tell her that I only wanted her to epointez le bas, and that I loved my cheveux longue.   This was one circumstance I was not going to smile and play dumb in—I was going to get a good haircut,—especially when it comes to my hair, nd not leave the salon without it.  I loved that experience because it was a situation that forced me to speak French and explain myself.

I went shopping at the farmer’s market as well, and  I even found I dress that I absolutely had to have.  When the man said I would be “tres belle” in it, and that it would fit me “parfait”  He continued to rattle on and on, and what other option did I have, but to play dumb and smile?  And, of course purchase the dress.

Thanks to Bob Cullinan for a little blurb about my racing in the Marin Independent Journal!

Bob is the best because he supports women’s cycling, and has an awesome website that is a great source for a personal tough on the cycling news and events.  Check out his site at www.cycleto.com!  The cool thing is, that he gets to travel around and “cover” all of these races.  It is a rough life, I know.  I have been trying to convince him that he needs to come to Limoux to check out the riding here, but his “work” has been taking him elsewhere–Belgium, Paris-Roubaix…etc…

Check out his short excerpt on my racing in France HERE

Also, I am looking forward to a visitor tomorrow!  THE Linda Jackson will be coming to Limoux, and I can’t wait to see her.  She is the president and founder of Team TIBCO, and legendary cyclist.  I can’t wait to see LJ!

I found this picture of me racing at RvG.  As you can see, it was strung out Holland Style.  Ouch. 

All right, time to get on my bike for a little sprinting and attacking drills with Chris Georges.  It will be good to get back on my bike after the licking from Holland.

Nothing could have prepared me for this race today, except this race.  However, now that the race is over all I want to do is go back and try again.  If there was a rewind button, I would utilize it now. 

Ronde van Gelderland, UCI 1.2.  This race was a big deal.  With a

World Cup next week, anyone who is anyone in cycling was at this race.  If you took that French Cup race and multiplied it by 3, and then added gusting wind, and sprinkled it with the best talent in the world, shook it up, threw in some salt, bitters and lemon rinds, a few development riders,  several World Champions, and multiples of Olympians, then served it over rocks with frozen dust cubes, you would get Ronde van Gelderland.

Things that were cool about this race:

1)      I had never raced in Holland. 

2)      I had never raced with over 200 women

3)      When you signed in before the race, the announcer called out your name/team/country over the loud speaker across the whole stadium. “Alison Starnes, Etats Unis, United States, Flemish, USA Femmes Developpment, more Dutch”

4)      There was a 7k neutral roll out, and I was in the front for the first 200 meters.  I only saw the front a few times after that. 

5)      The USA National team was there, and some of my TIBCO teammates were there.  I liked having matching bikes with some women in the peleton.

6)      I realized that Rabbobank sponsors a lot of teams, and must really like cycling.

7)      I have never seen so many fit women in one place.  The amount of nice legs was kinda scary.

8)      They provided us with showers after the race.

9)      I got to ride on the World Champion Judith Arnt’s wheel as we were chasing.  I just kept looking at those stripes…wanting to be like her someday.

10)   Chris yelling into the radio for me to move to the front, “Alison, get to the front, you have to trust the wheel in front of you, and there are a lot of wheels in front of you…the further up front you are, the less wheels”

I know I was just saying how crazy it is that I am here, but I need to be a little hard on myself.  Absolutely nothing could have prepared me for this race, but I should have risked it more.  People warned me about the winds, people warned me about the huge fields, and people told me to get good position.  But I wasn’t that worried.  I was nervous, but I didn’t know what to expect.  Holy Cow.  Position is key.

We started the race, and everyone is jockeying for position.  Girls are going through lawns, sidewalks, and bike paths to try to get to the front.  Of course the course is closed, but we are blasting through these towns at 30mph doing the whole turnabout thing, and medians…It was wild.  With a field that big, I couldn’t see anything, but we all would be winding our way on these roads and I was just lucky to follow the wheel in front of me.  Believe me, there were a lot of wheels in front me.  All of a sudden, we would split, and twist around a turnabout, and meet back on the other side.  Completely wild.  Sprinting out of the corners, and trying to move forward the whole time.  I flew up the sidewalks to get back to the front, and I use that term loosely.  I might have been in the top 50. 

Then we took a right turn.   The road was the width of the Mill Valley bike path.  The wind was howling from the side.  Guttered.  Echelon.  I am on someone wheel, and I am feeling absolutely no draft.  Crap.  Is that what “beware the Holland side wind” means?  Then we take another turn.  The wind whips from another direction.  The road gets narrower.  The peleton is stretched out probably 3k.  That is a really long snake winding down this skinny road.  I am just trying to find some sort of draft, and none is to be found.  And then it happened, a huge crash.  A Cervelo Test Team is down and unconscious.  Bikes are everywhere.  The peleton splinters.  The top 75 or so keep trucking at record speeds, and the shattered groups behind desperately look for shelter.  There is none to be found, and absolutely nothing to be done.  We chase, but it is futile.   Two of my teammates went down.  

There wasn’t anything selective in this race, like a huge climb or anything really that technical.  However, the next time someone tells you to beware the Holland wind—believe them.  When the final group entered the final 30k circuit finish in downtown, there were fewer than 30 girls still there.  30 out of over 200!  I wasn’t there, and I was upset—I wanted another chance.  I felt so unprepared for the circumstances that took place.  Was the race hard?  Yes and No.  It was hard, but the mistakes I made made it not because my race ended too soon.  I approached the positioning as important, but not DO or DIE.  You can’t be cowardly out there.  You have to go for the front, desperately, scratch and claw your way up there or you will not survive.  I sure didn’t do that today.  Next time I hope I will, but I am afraid that it might take two or three more times to really have it sink in.  I want another chance, but will have to wait.  That was so brutal out there.  Wow.  I don’t think I understood how important it was for me to be in good position.  I get away with such bad habits in domestic races, but I am strong and get away with it.  Andrew, the US National team director gave me some good tips afterwards.  He told me that you take what I have, and then put me in that race, and there is 100 other girls with my strength there.  I believe him.  I’ll be back, and I will respect the wind.  I will destroy myself to get in position.  I will not rely on my strength to allow me to get back up there later, because like today, it was too late.

Bad Position = No Position

On the brighter side, last year at this time, NorCal criteriums scared me.  Yeah right.  They make this thing look like a latte brunch ride with chocolate croissant in your jersey pocket.  I will get smarter and stronger.  Cycling isn’t just about brute strength, I am learning.  There are tactics and skills involved, that aren’t just corning and descending.  Next year, I will give those girls a run for their money.  Until then, I need to practice, practice, practice, which is hard for me.  I want to learn now, and I want to be better now, but this will take time—or so I am told.

Back to Limoux, which sounds safe and wonderful now.

Home Sweet Home Limoux.

We were incognito today since the US National team was there, we couldn’t have too many USA National team members there, so we road for Canada Trust.  This is Lyndsey and me getting nervous before the race, showing off our new kits.  We had no idea what was about to hit us.

It was a picturesque day today.  I continually have to remind myself that I am living in South France, racing my bike.  We were leaving for Holland today, and needed to get a 2-3 hour ride in before we left.  Yesterday we had our weekly time trial, which is a 15k flat to rolling terrain course.  My legs were pretty shot from the TT, and needed a couple of tempo climbs today to shake out the legs. 

As we climbed up our second hill, I just had to survey the valley.  What an amazing place!  The valley is perfectly landscaped with just the right shades of colors.  Everything has its place.  The plots of grass, to the acres of safflowers, and rolling hills of the ancient vineyards are all coordinated expertly.  Along one horizon were the sparkling Pyrenees, freshly dusted with a new layer of snow.  Yet along the other horizon was this mysterious mountain that almost has a comical look to it as its shape doesn’t match the uniform of its surroundings.  Its edges are rough and unperfected, and it takes the immaculate landscape and adds an impressionistic addition.  It is Magic Mountain, and the locals told us that two Celtic elves built the mountain 600 years ago.  The purpose of the mountain was to block the clouds that accumulate from the Mediterranean Sea, and the thunderheads that billow off the Pyrenees.    With the presence of this whimsical mountain, Limoux would remain constantly sunny and have optimum weather, and this has held constant even through today.  I looked at that odd mountain with a new appreciation for its slight disruption of the uniformity.   

It was just one of those days where everything was running so smoothly.  As we climbed, we could hear the jingling of the sheep bells as they were running into their pens for breakfast.  The historic towns beginning their rumblings of waking up, and a group of six girls, just riding through the cobbles and the streets completed the picture.   

This time last year, I was racing the Sea Otter Classic as a Category 3.  And now—I am in Europe racing my bike!  This is all so crazy.  I am so happy to be here, and this is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

On Sunday morning, we made the trek from Limoux to Pujol.  It was about a 2.5 hour drive, and we made quite a sight cruising down the French highways with a 1975 Euro Van without power steering, and a follow car with a blazing sticker “USA Femmes Developpement”.  If the French were not intimidated by us before, they definitely were now. 

Pujol is a beautiful place set in the country side with a medieval town square on top of a hill overlooking the farmlands and valley below.  The Hotel des Chenes was set back right on the race course, and when we arrived, it was welcoming and quaint with the last couple kilometers of Paris-Roubaix on the big screen.  It was raining, and we needed to preview the circuit.  Chris rode with us to show us all the places we needed to ensure to have good position and all the right lines to take on the corners.  After the ride, we had dinner at a great restaurant that was inside this old medieval town.  It was amazing to view the valley between the arches of the church. 

 Race morning was seamless.  Not only did the hotel provide us with a great breakfast with strong  ‘café’ and chocolat, but also warm croissants.  The race was a Coupe de France, and called Pris de la ville de Pujols , which in English is a French Cup, and the Pujol Grand Prix.  Since we were only about 1k from the start, we could roll out from the hotel and sign in for my first French Coupe race, the Grand Prix of Pujol.  It was a 15k circuit that we would complete 5 times.  The finish was on a pretty steady climb, about 2k long, but the last 1k was above 10%.  With our team director’s guidance, we had a superb position in the staging of the race, about 10 minutes before the start.

 I looked around, my knees shaking and my heart racing and tried to convince myself this was just like any other Velo Promo race.   Not quite.  I saw some World Championship stripes a multiple time French national champion, five Olympic appearances, several medals, and besides Jeannie Longo,–I saw 134 other women as well.   The kits over here are even brighter and more outlandish then in the states.  Hot pink, neon orange, and fluorescent bikes were everywhere.  I suddenly felt very tall, and very blonde.  

The race started, and when they start the race, they start racing.  It hurt as I tried to continue to accelerate through the pack only to maintain position, if not lose ground.  A twisty wet descent caused the field to stretch out over 1k long.  The roads were lined with fans cheering, and the peleton was fidgety.  On the first lap, I took note of a dog running alongside the peleton.  On the second lap, the dog took out 4 riders.  This is crazy! Chris told us to have good position on the climb, my interpretation might have been a little different then is meaning, but on lap 2 I led the climb up the hill as hard as I could.  It shattered the peleton, and they counter attacked my effort, and I was able to jump on a wheel and end up in the break.  Down the twisty descent, and back through the countryside, back through the town and back up to Pujol.  Every time up the climb, the peleton was strung out and people would attack over the top to further initiate breaks and other attacks.  One thing I did learn, the French like to go hard up the hills.  

At one point, a girl wanted to get by me in the peleton, and she first tried to grab my hip, and then she grabbed the back of my saddle.  I didn’t know what else to do but just pedal faster to get her off of me.  That worked.  The look on my face would have been priceless.  With 15k to go, our group of about 50 was seeing a myriad of action.  Countless attacks, bridges, and things were getting intense.  I was jumping on wheels left and right.  On the final climb, we had a USA rider, Devon Haskal, off the front trying to bridge up to a group of 3 women.  My job was just to sit in and jump on anyone trying to bridge up to her.  It was beautiful.  Devon finished 4^th,, only about 5 meters from the front group of the peleton!  I was in the top 20 at the end of the climb—with a same time finish as Jeannie Longo. I was 14th!   Mission accomplished! 

It was unbelievable.  I was so happy to not only “survive” my first European race, but to “race” my first European race.  We even got some prize money!  They had us on the stage to announce that we were there, and gave us food, flowers, and a lot of kisses.  Once again, I felt very blonde and very tall, just a little more capable then 2 hours prior.