Ken Woods Results (Congrats and Thanks!)

We want to congratulate and thank everyone who showed up for Ken Woods yesterday! 35 women finished the race!! That's the largest Cat 4 field we've ever seen here in MN, so thank you for supporting the MWCMR series and women's cycling, and congratulations for finishing a race in less than ideal weather conditions!!

Now on to the results. Congratulations to Karla Kingsley (Velo Bella) for winning the race, and going home with the MWCMR leader's jersey. Maria Benson (Birchwood) was 2nd, and Amber Riopel (Alan) was 3rd. The picture here is of Karla (in her leader's jersey) and Maria...we couldn't find Amber. Here are the results from Ken Woods (please see the previous post for an explanation of the series points):

Place	First Name	Last Name	Points
1	Karla	Kingsley	100
2	Maria	Benson	95
3	Amber	Riopel	90
4	Camilla	Schmitz	85
5	Gwen	Steel	80
6	Ann	Lembezeder	75
7	Ann	Moyer	72
8	Molly	McAvoy	70
9	Ellen	Anderson	68
10	Annie	Bakken	66
11	Paula	Bohte	64
12	Sarah	Stratton	62
13	Alexandra	Kerl	60
14	Heidi	Douglass	58
15	Liz	Tredinnick	58
16	Julee	Taylor	25
17	Colleen	Gegen	25
18	Nicole	Moen	25
19	Ann	Stern	25
20	Amy	Wessman	25
21	Jodi	Billy	25
22	Linda	Stone	25
23	Sharon	Abel	25
24	Kelsey	Bakken	25
25	Michele	McVenes	25
26	Adeline	Byrne	25
27	Jessica	Wittwer	25
28	Tracy	Bergemann	25
29	Katie	Mix	25
30	Lindsey	Hillesheim	25
31	Mia	Jenneman	25
32	Karen	Snyder	25
33	Alissa	Vann	25
34	Allison	Kendall	25
35	Benita	Warns	25

Next up in the MWCMR Series...the Withrow Time Trial on May 13th. However, in the meantime, the nice people at Loon State are offering a Cat 4 Women's field for the Avon Road Race next weekend...so while it's not part of the MWCMR series, let's continue to support those races that have Cat 4 only fields!!

MWCMR points system explained

How many points do I get for each race?

It depends on how high you finish. The top finishers of a race get the most points, and all finishers get a decreasing amount of points. We want ALL of the women to feel competitive in the Series so they will keep racing, so all participants get points just for finishing. The top 15 finishers of a race get the most points, but all finishers get at least 25 points. Here's the point breakdown:

1 - 100 pts
2 - 95
3 - 90
4 - 85
5 - 80
6 - 75
7 - 72
8 - 70
9 - 68
10 - 66
11 - 64
12 - 62
13 - 60
14 - 58
15 - 58
16+ - 25

Ken Woods - first race of the MWCMR series!

Okay ladies, since the first race of the MWCMR series (Ken Woods Road Race), is almost upon us, we wanted to point out a few things:

1. Sogn Valley, the location of the race, is about 40 miles from the Twin Cities (depending on where you're coming from of course). Allow at least an hour of travel time.
2. GopherWheelmen have posted a course map, so check it out.
3. Bring warm clothes (and possibly rain gear)!
   
4. They'll line us up for the race just before 9 am...make sure you're at the start line. Just FYI, they'll be lining up a few other races at the same time.
5. Points are awarded based on your finishing position. We will try to have the MWCMR series points posted here by Sunday evening sometime. We will only be able to award points based on the results provided by the officials (for example, if the officials only provide results 5 people deep, we can only provide MWCMR results 5 people deep...we'll encourage the officials to provide as many results as possible). Remember that you only have 15 minutes AFTER the official results are posted at the race to appeal any results that you think are incorrect. After that 15-minute period, they are OFFICIAL and cannot be changed (except under the direction of the chief referee).
   
6. If you're the lucky woman who crosses the finish line first, you'll be awarded the leader's jersey after the results are official. Please go to registration to pick up the leader's jersey. The leader's jersey should be worn at the next MWCMR race which is the Withrow Time Trial on May 13th.
   
7. Have fun! And if this is your first race, send us an e-mail or post a comment and let us know how it went!

Good luck ladies!

Quick Review: Opus # 2

Thanks to the diligent efforts and hard work by the Loon State Cycling Club, the Opus series continued last night with some changes in the standard operating procedure as noted on Loon State's website and the MCF message board.

This week it was 19 women that gathered for the neutral roll-out toward the starting line. The weather was nearly perfect: mid to low 50's and sunny with very low wind. Roughly half the field were Cat 4's and half were Cat 1/2/3's. Again it was the first-ever race for at least a couple Cat 4's - Congrats!

From the gun (er, the whistle..) the pace was strong, with some surges and attacks leading up to the sprint primes, but no breakaway attempts were successful. Going into the final sprint the group had dwindled to perhaps a dozen racers as Teresa Moriarty took 1st (FlandersCat 1), Paula Plant took 2nd (Birchwood Cat 2), and Ann Hansgate was 3rd(U of M Cat 3) according to the preliminary results. For the 2nd week in a row Annie Bakken (Birchwood) was the first Cat 4 to cross the finish line.

Only 3 more days until the first road race of the series, the Ken Woods Memorial Road Race. Line up your carpool, inspect your bike & gear, do some laundry, and plan for pasta tomorrow night. We're just getting started!

Intro to Women's Racing Clinic at The Hub

The Hub Bike Co-op is having a Spring Bike Expo this weekend, April 28-30. At 1pm on Sunday, April 30th, Alix of the Hub and Birchwood fame will be leading an "Intro to Women's Racing" clinic. Alix will be introducing racing concepts, strategy, training tips, different types of races, and how to get ready on the day of the race. The Expo is Friday 10-9PM, Saturday 9-6pm and Sunday 11-6pm. See http://thehubbikecoop.org/ for more details.

Women Who Ride cycling clinic

I've put together a cycling clinic called Women Who Ride- for beginning
recreational or fitness road riders who want to gain some confidence
and skill on their bike. We'll tackle changing flats, bike adjustments,
climbing hills, cornering, basic group riding skills, and the like.

Last year we had a small but strong turnout, this year I'd like to keep
things "rolling". Dates are May 11th (Hyland Lake Park Reserve), 16th
(Baker Park Reserve)and 23rd (Elm Creek Park Reserve), 5:30-8:30p.m. $18

If you know of anyone who may be interested PLEASE let them know. They
can call or email me at French Regional Park at (763)694-7723 or
lsundberg@... to find out more. Or check out
www.threeriversparkdistrict.org/recreation/women.cfm
for Women Who Ride, and all kinds of other cool women's programs!

Thanks,
Laurel

Durand race recap

31 women lined up for yesterday's road race at Durand!! A few women were doing their first race again...and this was a tough course for even the seasoned veterans! The women had to do two laps of the 13.5 mile course that had a lot of short steep climbs, and one large climb. Due to all of the hills, the race broke up fast and a small group got off the front, while there were a lot of other small groups working together behind the leaders. The race came down to a three-women sprint between Lieselot Decroix (Velo Bella), Jenna Zander (Cannondale), and Ann Hansgate (U of M). In the end, Hansgate was the first to cross the line, with Zander second, and Decroix 3rd.

Congratulations to all of you who did your first race...that really was a tough one and was great training for the first race of the MWCMR series next weekend! We hope to see you all at Ken Woods and we look forward to seeing who ends up in the MWCMR leader's jersey!!

Sarah

Opus Race Report

Twenty-two riders lined up for the start of the Opus criterium series in Minnetonka last night - an exciting new record in attendance, surpassing last year's opening by over 50%! The race started off at a reasonable pace but escalated quickly on the 3rd lap in anticipation for the sprint prime. It was Velo Bella, U of M, and Birchwood placing 1, 2, and 3 in the sprint prime. These three formed a breakaway immediately after the sprint prime and continued to increase the gap throughout the 4th and 5th laps. After the 7th lap it was clear the break would stick (but do you think they'd let up?? no, they kept hammering). About 12-15 women still remained in the main field, and since the sprint points on lap 6 were taken by the breakaway of 3, there was no need for the main field to sprint until the last lap...the sprint for 4th place and up. Final results of the night: (1st) Ann Hansgate (Cat 3, U of M) , (2nd) Lieselot DeCroix (Cat 2, Velo Bella) , and (3rd) Paula Plant (Cat 2, Birchwood). The field sprint included (4th) Maria Stewart (Cat 2, U of M/Velo Bella), (5th) Shana Sturla (Cat 2, Flanders), (6th) Kris Musser (Cat 3, GopherWheelmen), and Annie Bakken (Birchwood) was the top Cat 4 racer finishing 7th. Full results should be posted on Loon State's website soon. Congratulations to all of you who did your first race and/or crit last night...we know there were at least 4 or 5 of you! The first one's always the hardest, so just hang in there.

Unfortunately the remaining races of the night were canceled by police order. Stay tuned for status updates regarding next week's Opus Crit. At this point its future is uncertain.

All photos courtesy of www.skinnyski.com (check out all of the photos).

This just in from the Opus race promoter:

Loon State Cyclists, the Minnetonka Police Department and City of Minnetonka are currently working on a solution that fits the needs of both the cyclists and the motorists in the Opus Business Park that we use for the Tuesday Night Opus Criterium Race series. We have had contact with the Chief of Police and Captain, and they are both willing to work with us to ensure sustainability of a weekly race series at the Opus location. The next step is to speak to the head of Community Development, whom is unavailable until Monday. Thus, we will not know until then what the solution will be to continue racing at Opus. We will send out a message on the status of next Tuesday's race and the remainder of the series once we have a firm plan. I thank you all for your continued patience in this manner. I am confident we will be able to come up with a solution that keeps us racing at Opus.

Kevin Schaeffer

Clarification about Opus

We've had a few questions about Opus tonight, so we thought we should post a clarification. The women's race is an "Open" race (all categories race together) and it starts at 6:25 pm tonight. Registration is from 5 pm to 6:15 pm in the Einstein Bagels parking lot. The registration line can be long, so try to be there at least a little early. And if you really want to speed things up, print out a "rider release form" and bring it along. Don't forgot your license and $10 for your entry fee! And if you haven't purchased an annual license yet, bring an extra $10 for a one-day license.

After the race, try to find some others who raced and chat about it. It can be hard sometimes because some people are cooling down, some people leave right away, and the next race starts right after the women's race. So we'll try to post some sort of a brief race report after the race.

See you at Opus!

Durand Road Race - 4/22/06

It's true: the MCF site is currently down.

In the absence of the handy race calendar that's usually accessible from the MCF site, here's a couple reminders for events that are coming up soon. I'm not sure if the links will work but give 'em a shot, it's hard to find them without being linked to the mcf board:

1. Opus Criterium, hosted by Loon State Cycling Club:
The start date is next week on Tuesday, 4/18. If you get there by 6:00 to register I think you'll be good (start time is 6:25 p.m.)

2. Durand Road Race: this is not part of the MWCMR series but that doesn't mean it's not worth going to. Personally, I really like this one. It's a fun course with a lot of rolling hills on a 13-mile loop. The women's race is 2 laps. There's one somewhat-significant hill on the back stretch ~3 miles from the start/finish line from what I recall. It's Amish country so you might have to pass a horse/buggy. Ask the official how that works with the centerline rule. I have no idea but I have to assume you're OK to pass at that point (?). I received the following email regarding it (preregistration is available and I think it's $10 cheaper compared to the day of the race):

*****
There's still time to register! Come join us for the Durand Road Race 2006, scheduled for 4/22/06. If you have not yet registered for this event the online registration will close 4/20. So move fast and register today! (If you have already registered for this year's event please disregard this message).

What else? Ken Woods Memorial Road Race on 4/29. You have to have this one on your calendar.

We'll post more updates as the dates get closer. Questions? let us know!

Clinic Recaps

Some notes on yesterday and today...

First - outstanding turnout. We couldn't be happier with the level of interest we're seeing. This is truly going to be a fun year in women's cycling! There were around 30 women that attended the classroom clinic on Saturday, and 20 women participated in Loon State's clinic today at Opus.

Second - we'll take whatever feedback you can offer to improve on either clinic for next year. Don't be shy; we take constructive criticism well, believe me.

One question from today was, "Instead of hugging the curve (shortly after the start, where the road makes an 'S') can I just ride it straight?" This would bring you into the righthand lane. The anwer is yes, you are certainly free to do that and often it's a good time/place to pass people. However - you need to be aware of riders on your right side that might expect you to follow the curve of the road that veers left. If you're doing this there should be no one on your right or you might take them out.

Speaking of which, safety considerations. Everyone did an excellent job today and we all stayed upright. Priority #1 accomplished: Stay safe. Ride assertively and even aggressively if you want to, but don't take unnecessary risks. Assume there is someone right on your wheel.

As suggested today, we'll have an informal post-race discussion after next Tuesday's Opus Crit. Feel free to stick around and ask questions about what happened or what you should have done in a given situation. Opus is nice because it's short and low-key, but a lot can happen and you'll be able to learn a lot in a short amount of time.

Again, feedback on the clinic(s) would be appreciated.

See you next week!

April 8th Clinic Agenda

Here is an approximate agenda for Saturday's Women's Beginner Racing Clinic. And just FYI, the clinic will NOT be longer than 2.5 - 3 hrs! I know the flyer says 8 am - Noon, but we will not need that much time. A continental breakfast will be provided by the Birchwood Cafe.

• Intro to MWCMR
  
• Types of races and explanations (TT's, crits, road races, circuit races, stage races, track races)
• Group-riding/racing basics described
  
• Basic racing/team tactics/rules
  
• What to expect at registration
  
• Miscellaneous: Primes, prizes, upgrades, how to contact a team and/or find other women to ride/race with, officials, race results and appealing results, etc.
• Q & A
• Velodrome tour for those who are interested