Upcoming Reilly Cycling Tours - Come Join Us!

I was lucky enough to be a cycling guide for Reilly Cycling Tour's France trip this year.  The timing worked out very well after IM France, and who would pass up the opportunity to hang out on Alpe D'Huez in the quaint Villard Reculas village for a week, watch the Tour de France make the double ascent up the Alpe, do some epic bike riding, eat great food, drink great wine and chat with wonderful people?  Not this chica.

This is one of the most fun cycling trips I have ever been a part of and I highly recommend joining us if you can.  There are plenty of opportunities to ride with us in 2014! 

Here's the scoop:

France 2014 Trip

The Tour de France will announce it's full route for the 2014 race on October 23rd, 2013. Once the route is out Reilly will be finalizing the ride itinerary and dates for the 2014 Tour de France Trip. All dates on the Reilly website (www.reillycyclingtours.com) are tentative until they get final word from ASO on the Tour route. The France Trip is based out of Villard Reculas on Alpe d'Huez mountain itself...the small quaint Alpine village has been their home since 2004 when Reilly was founded....they are looking forward to their 10th year at the World's biggest sporting event! If amazing cycling, equally amazing food, wine and company are something that interests you - this is the trip for you!  If you would like to come with us next July we need to hear from you so we can put you on the list...we keep our trip numbers very small and we have only a limited number of spots. Advise us by January/February if you would like us to rent you a bike.

Italy / Switzerland 2014 Trip

The Italy/Switzerland Trip which is based in the stunning Italian village of Livigno is filling fast! The trip dates may shift slightly to the early part of July and we will know those dates in the coming weeks. This Trip comprises Giro d'Italia and Tour de Suisse routes in some beautiful countryside. The Chalet, as it is in France, is very special and trips to St Moritz and the Stelvio are not to be missed! There is bike rental available for this trip also...again let us know by January/February if you would like to rent a bike. To come on the Italy/ Switzerland Trip you need to get on our list soon. Please let us know if your interested!

Go to the website: www.reillycyclingtours.com ....Follow on Twitter and 'Like Us' if you're on Facebook......it's a great way to keep up with what's going on at Reilly!

 

Reminder that knowing your equipment is SO important!!

I recently had my bicycle stolen the day before I was to race Ironman France.  Aside from the sheer devastation of the event at that moment (and race day), the aftermath of it continues to plague me in my daily training and racing.  It makes me appreciate, absolutely, the benefit of knowing your equipment inside and out.

I was lucky enough to have the good folks at Brands Cycles and Reilly Cycling Tours come to bat for me to help get me onto a new bike in relatively short time, without breaking the bank.  For that I am eternally grateful!  Now the time of adjustment, tweaking, finding the best place to store your gels, spare tire, PitStop, how to adjust this and that, etc, etc, etc. is upon me - and not quite fading into the background yet.  I am almost there, but it has taken over 3 months to get back to where I was on the previous bike.  Some time in the Faster wind tunnel has helped me too!

 

Therefore, I am absolutely bewildered why anyone would want to, of their own accord, change their setup, gear or nutrition in the days leading up to a race.  I had a really nice lady approach me the day before Ironman Canada as I was adjusting my bike (I had only had it for a day or two before I got to Canada).  She noticed I kept my disc wheel on when so many age groupers were switching out for their non-disc alternatives and asked why I chose to keep it on.  Apart from I did not think the wind would be that bad on race day (and it wasn't), I told her it was what I was most used to racing on at this point, and above all I go with what I know before I change sides last minute just because 'everyone else is doing it'.

Not only do I think I answered her correctly (thereby proving the point she was trying to make to her husband), but she thanked me many times over for calming her nerves and making her feel secure in her equipment.  I'm glad I could help! 

So, take the time to get to know your equipment up and down; it will be one less thing to think (or worry) about come race day.  Do your homework well ahead of time.  Don't get sucked into what everyone else is doing around you.  Be confident in your decisions and I bet it will show on race day!

Now, where did I put that allen wrench?  :)

5...4...3...2.... Ironman Canada race report

Ironman Canada moved to Whistler this year.  And while I did the race while it was in Penticton and loved the race there, I have to say that Whistler certainly made the shift to a different city pretty easy!!  This vibrant, active, humming city just begs you to wander around town taking in the sights, stores, restaurants and cool air.  I know this race brought some unique challenges to the Province, particularly with the closing of highway 99.  Many, many thanks to the great people of Whistler and the Province of British Columbia!

 

 

This was my first race on my new Cannondale Slice RS.  I had a few good rides on it before sending it off with Tribike Transport.  I highly recommend using this service to get your bike to an event; it is so simple and was just what I needed to take a bit of the stress away from travelling with my bike. 
I was feeling a bit tired leading into this race, but when I got to town and jumped on the bike, I was feeling good!  I'm sure the cooler temps of Whistler compared to Tucson played a big part in that.

I was lucky, once again, to have an absolutely wonderful homestay family during the race.  I am always so grateful for the kindness and generosity of the folks who open up their homes to the professional athletes! 
Race day was absolutely perfect.  Wonderful temperatures.  Plus, get a load of my personal bike transport to T1!! 

The swim was off and I stuck to the feet in front of me to pull through the swim and stay fresh.  On the way out of T1, running with my aero helmet in hand, I pulled a classic 'Lisa' move.  Slipped, fell and the pointy end of the aero helmet darn near impaled me!  I would've laughed my head off had it not actually hurt a fair bit when it happened. :)
Got onto the bike and getting the legs rolling through the first couple rollers.  This course is an honest course; very hilly, some flats and constantly challenging.  My favorite!  I was a bit disappointed to not have my legs come around fully throughout the entire bike leg; I struggled through most of the bike but managed to move up 5 places in the field.  Unfortunately I lost time to the leader and had some work to do on the run.
Because I was feeling so poorly on the bike I was thrilled to get onto the run.  I started clicking off the pace and the miles, but was still 8 minutes back from the lead so I had to keep clicking them down.  After 4-5 miles I really started to feel poorly.  Dizzy, disoriented and oddly enough I really just wanted to go to sleep!  Never had that happen before.  Seriously if I would've seen a good park bench on the course, I would've laid down to have a nap!  I was trying different options (coke, salt pills, pretzels, etc) to see if I could come right, but the best I could do was hold steady and hang onto 2nd place!!
Despite all, this is my best Ironman placing yet!  I'm so excited to see my racing improve throughout this season so far; I feel I'm on an upward trend and I have an Ironman win coming soon.  The picture below was captured perfectly by Nils Nilsen.  It's important to me because it captures the look I give my dad, who passed away in 2000, each and every time I finish a race.  Here's to you, dad - we'll win one soon!

In this race I learned a fair bit about proper hydration and electrolyte balance.  I also learned that I can push through difficult situations.  I would love to come back to Whistler next year and give it another shot!

Troix - finally!

Finally the last part of my month long trip to France. I'm trying hard to keep the stories brief, but there is so much to tell!
After IM France, Jon and I set off for a few days to drive along the Italian coast. After a few gelattos, glasses of wine and the Cinque Terre, I was starting to feel a bit better about what had happened at the race. I was also plotting out what my next race would be in an attempt to just keep looking ahead and not behind.
As we made our way from Italy back to the south of France and the Pyrennes, we got the pleasure of spending the evening with our Tucson friends, Karin and Rodger. They have a great place in the country where its beautiful and quiet. It was good to get a nice run in and great to get caught up with friends!
On to the Pyrennes. Wow. These mountains are spectacular! We were riding in Ax Troix Domaines, over to Col de Mente, Peyresourde, Aspin, and on and on, but the biggie was the ride up the Col du Tourmalet where Jon and I exchanged our wedding vows! What a spectacular climb and an even more beautiful day to do it! We had a few other travelers at the top that were more than happy to take our picture, congratulate us, and even one guy offered us some of his baggie full of  trail mix as a wedding present. I even reused one of my old race numbers, wrote 'Just Married' on the back of it, and pinned it onto Jon's back. It was hilarious!

We stayed in some great B&Bs, ate great food, drank great wine and just relaxed and took it all in.
Then came the day we watched Stage 7 of the Tour, the first mountaintop finish. Now, I've seen a few stages before and I always love taking in the sheer chaos and madness that is the Tour. It's basically a rolling circus through France!
We had a great spot at the 1k to go mark and got to see all our favorites creep on by up the hill. Great fun. How impressive are these guys to do this day in, day out, for 4 weeks? Geesh.

Time was coming to an end for Jon's trip and we had to say goodbyes for another week or so while I continued on to the Alpes to ride as a guide for Reilly Cycling Tours. These are a great group of people and you shouldn't pass the opportunity to ride on one of their tours to France, Italy, Switzerland or even Ireland! Stories from that week of touring to come. Keep in mind I'm still riding a borrowed bike through all of this....! :)  All this climbing is helping me choose my next race venue...

 

Part deux

So, I set off for Nice to do IM France, which was my target 'A' race for the first half of the season.  France is one of those places I absolutely fell in love with when I visited 3 years ago and I was glad to be back and racing there.  All things going well; all the luggage made it safely, we were settled into the hotel room not too far from the race site, jet lag wasn't really an issue and we were off to preview the bike course. 

I always drive and/or ride the bike course of every race I do.  Especially this bike course, as it is hilly and has a few technical spots to take note of.  We drove the majority of the course and I hopped out at one spot to get a good hour or so ride in - up the longest climbing portion.  Everything was feeling good - the bike legs were ready to do some racing!  It's a gorgeous bike course to boot so that makes for some inspirational riding.
The day before the race I had a few things to get done before sitting 'feet up' for the remainder of the day: ride the run course, swim, press conference, pro meeting.  So, first thing I get up and walk down to do my bike ride.  Only I discover the worst possible thing imaginable:  my Cannondale Slice had been stolen.  Utter disbelief and and castastrophe!  I ran out to where I could were get cell service and call my coach Jimmy.  I also called the race director for help.  Leaving voicemails for both, I crumple to the pavement in tears.  All that work, all those hours spent adjusting and working on my bike had just been ripped from me.  But, I couldn't let that stop me from racing.  I had to pull myself together, find a bike and prepare for a race I was going to do 24 short hours from now.
Yves the race director was so very kind and called me back quickly; he was looking into a few options for a loaner bike and we planned to meet a few hours later at the race expo.  Not wanting to get too off schedule, I jumped on my fiance's bike (which was waaay too big for me), put on his shoes (which were also waaaaay too big for me) and off I rode sobbing and sniffling. 
I met Yves an hour later to discuss bike options.  Two of the french female pros offered up their own spare bikes (thanks Jeanne and Delphine!) and Nicolas, a local Cannondale rep, offered up his own Evo as well.  Not feeling right by using a competitor's bike, I graciously accepted Nicolas's offer and made my way to the press conference and then pro meeting.
The next 6 hours were spent tweaking Nicolas's bike to get it as close to fitting me as possible.  This is not an easy task when you're in a foreign country, your time is limited and many places are closed in France on Saturdays.  But, a new stem, new seatpost, new cleats, new bento box and a borrowed saddle later and I had exactly 15 minutes to jump on the bike and call it good before it needed to be racked.  What a day; off to eat and to bed.
Race morning was a funny scene; walking to the race start at 5am, the mixture of triathletes and late-night partiers finally heading home was a fun clash of lifestyles!  The transition area is a very looooong one, so if you ever do this race be sure to give yourself plenty of time to get to the swim start.  I was working my way through a log jam of people heading out of transition, spotted Mary Beth Ellis buzzing her way through (it helps when you're a little one like she is), so I tucked in right behind her yelling out 'Pardon!' 'Pardon!'.  Once we get to the swim start on the rocky beach that is in Nice, we all realized that the swim course wasn't clearly marked.  This would be my one complaint about the race - the swim marker buoys need to be bigger and color-coded.  I found someone who spoke English to discuss the course, then talked some more with the rest of the pros in the water, only moments before the race start.  With confusion still abounding, I decided to simply follow the pack.
A less than spectacular swim and I was out on the bike course.  I could tell pretty quickly that there was a bit of discomfort riding a slightly bigger bike, especially on the flats and downhill portions of the course, but the Evo climbed like a champ!  A perfectly wonderful bike, but just simply not my beloved Slice.  I left quite a bit of time on that bike course that I fully intend to get back next time I race there!
The run.  I was down by a fair bit of time when I got off the bike and had a bit of lower back/glute pain, but I set off on the run determined to have a solid finish to the day.  The run is flat - very flat - and it sends the racers back and forth along the Promenade de Anglais.  I managed to run a solid 3:02, passing one other female, to capture 4th place. 

This race was clearly not as I had planned, but I am forever grateful for those who immediately chipped in to help me get to the start line!  I will return to this course because of its location and challenging bike course and I will finally get to see how fast I can go here.  I highly recommend this race to anyone thinking of doing it; just keep a close eye on your bike at all times!
Nicolas at Cannondale was so very kind to let me keep his bike for the next 10 days while Jon and I toured and rode in the Pyrennes mountains.  How amazing is that? 
Next up...Pyrennes and Alpe riding. And Le Tour!

Race Updates: l'une de troix (1 of 3)

Where to begin? Lets start with my recent prep for IM France with racing (at least that was the plan) St. Croix 70.3. It is a chore to get to this race and can be expensive, but it is quite the legendary course, so you have to give it a try. All things were going well on my arrival: bike arrived in one piece, settled into my awesome homestay, preview the Beast and the bike course, both by car and by bike. Weather was hot and humid, as expected, but nice. What a beautiful area!
The night before the race brought a deluge of rain. And rain. And rain. Each passing minute I heard it continue, I felt badly for the crews that were out earlier in the day cleaning the gravel from the roads.
Race morning comes and as we drive to the start, we see the washouts from the storm. It wasn't good. I saw folks trying to ride their bikes to the start and crashing in the several-inch-thick muck of mud, gravel and chunky angular rock. Not what you want to see along a course you're about to race on. We get to the race site, inform staff of the conditions, and Jon offered to shovel a path through the mess, but to no avail.
Off we go on the swim, and with a bonehead move on my part in swimming past a turn buoy, my swim was less than stellar. This is no shocker to me, so on we go to the bike, arguably what I was most excited to tackle.
About 7-8 miles in and after grinding through and dodging the same debris we saw driving in, I flat from nicking a sharp piece of rock in a section of road that was washed out. Already knowing I was pretty far back from the lead girls because of my swim, I was less than pleased. I barely fixed the large gash in the tire, got back on my way, and 1/2 mile up the road, POW! There it went again. I carry enough to fix at least 2 flats, but there was no fixing this one. Counting the tire that was ruined from riding the course the day before, I blew through 3 tires in less than a day. Race over. Start walking. Get lucky and throw the bike in the back of a local's truck and try to avoid swearing out loud while I'm driven back to transition.
On the way back I see the absolute carnage of flats happening and see even more disappointed racers back in transition. Not exactly what any of us were hoping for in this destination race, and knowing I needed a good race effort before heading to IM France, I immediately start looking for another half to do in the next week or so and try to figure out the cheapest way to get there. 70.3 Florida, here I come!
Before I segway to that, I will say that the St. Croix race is one that I would actually like to do one day. But, at this point I would classify it as a high risk race because of the time and cost to get there and the likelihood that weather could be a factor. If you do it, make a vacation out of it and don't just go for the race itself. That way if disaster strikes during the race, at least you're there on vacation!

 

70.3 Florida: this report will be as short as my experience with the whole thing.
Mail bike to Florida earlier in the week to try to save some money from the airlines ripping us off to fly bikes. Work all day Friday until red eye flight leaves for Orlando. Arrive Orlando at 6am Saturday. Find race site. Run. Find bike shop. Put bike together. Ride. Register. Pro meeting. Eat. Bed. Race. Have a great bike/run split that gets me into 5th. Pack bike. Awards. Fly home. Get up and to work first thing Monday morning.

 

There you have it.  I enjoyed this race and the course. Well run and organized; apparently folks thought it was hot during the race, but don't ask me, I live in Tucson. If you can't fry an egg on the pavement, it ain't hot! :)

 

Next up, Part Deux. Wedding vows and  IM France. Stay tuned...

Almost time to head to France!!

Lots of packing and getting many things organized for LJ Design and the crew to do while I'm away.  Oh yeah, and I still owe everyone a race report from 70.3 Florida.  I'm working on it! :)  Training (well now it's tapering) is going well for IM France; it should be a good show.