I had a chance to catch the brief coverage of the Amgen Tour of California women’s criterium the other weekend. As I was watching, it occurred to me that 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of the race that ignited my passion for cycling- the 1984 Summer Olympics Women’s Road Race.

The women’s road race in the Los Angeles games was the first women’s cycling event to be featured at an Olympics and the home team did not disappoint. The battle to the finish between Connie Carpenter and Rebecca Twigg was awesome. Check it out HERE: (Carpenter’s on the far left side of the screen)

Twenty five years later, I’m still in awe of Carpenter’s talent but my focus of late has been on the woman who finished 6th in that race- French rider Jeannie Longo. Anyone with even a remote interest in women’s cycling should know her name. Her palmarès are too numerous to list here- “Google” her and see what I mean-but it’s the relatively recent developments in her career that have me enthralled. More specifically the fact that, at the age of 50, she’s still a professional competitive cyclist! And I’m not talking about an occasional Masters race. Longo qualified for and rode in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, taking 4th in the time trial (2 sec. behind the bronze medalist) and 24th out of 62 finishers in the road race. Her finishing time in the road race was just 33 sec. off that of the gold medalist.

It’s obvious that Longo has some supreme genetic gifts that allow her to perform at such an elite level. However, anyone who’s every trained to be a competitive athlete knows that it takes more than genetics to be your best. Preparing to enter my first season of racing (at age 44) I find the fact that Longo has been doing this for so many years both astonishing and inspiring. Will my results ever be anywhere near hers? Not in my wildest dreams! Does it really matter? Nope. What Longo’s story has done is shown me that I can never use age as an excuse for poor performance. I’m pretty sure that’s a valuable lesson for all of us. After all there’s only one Benjamin Button. The rest of us will get older each year.

Now go Google Jeannie Longo!

Let me start by saying that the American Birkebeiner is the hardest race I have ever done. With an estimated 7500 skiers this year, single digit lows, 50k, and 5,000ft of climbing, it is no easy task. I know that some of you readers have done Chequamagon, so imagine doing it backwards, in the cold, on snow, with two sticks on your feet. What’s more is that local half Ironman and cyclocross racer, Tony Nichols and Race Across America world record holder, Nathan Bartels agree that this race is at the top of the list of gut-wrenching, lung crushing, anaerobic hell races. That being said, after having a couple days to recover, I plan to sign up for my third Birke next year.

So that you can get a better picture of what me, Nathan, Tony, Kristin, Jane, Jason, Brian, Kim, and Tom all went through on Saturday, I would like to take you all through my day:

Friday. Seven hour drive to Cable, Wisconsin. Head straight to Telemark Lodge to pick up race packet, bib number, and swag from the expo. Change clothes in car and do a 30 minute pre-race ski. Brrr…it cold and my fingers hurt. Great…at this point I am giddy with excitement because the temperature forecast for race start in the morning is 9 degrees. After the ski, I head to our host housing to unwind, grab dinner at a place called Mooselips, and give the skis once last brush before the race. I planned to be asleep by 9:30, but I was down to the last 30 pages of Memoirs of a Geisha, so I didn’t crash until 11:00pm.

Saturday. 6:20am wake-up call. Make a pot of coffee. Eat of bowl of oatmeal. Change into race attire and then head to the shuttle buses. I am surprised to see that the outside temp is 16 degrees. They were wrong! Normally, I would be pleasantly surprised, but I feared that I overdressed and had the wrong wax on my skis. The bus takes us to the lodge, but we still need to walk about a half-mile to the race start. At the start, there is a big heated tent. I head straight to it to change into my ski boots. Just as I walk through the entrance, a clump of snow falls from the roof, straight down my neck. Awesome. That is just what I needed while I was cold and nervous. When I leave the tent, sure enough, snow falls again, this time on my head. Are you kidding me?!



The race. 9:05. I have ten minutes. While I am in the waiting block, the announcer recognizes two men from Nicaragua who are there to race. The average low temp there is 75 degrees and today was the first time they have ever seen snow. Wow, they were in for a treat. The clock is ticking…it is almost 9:15am. I’m nervous, but I feel good. 3..2…1….we’re off! The beginning is fairly flat, so you have a few kilometers to warm up. But soon enough, a sharp left hand turn points you straight up hill, or should I say mountain. I am not convinced there is anything this steep in Iowa. Once you make it to the top of the hill, you look out over the horizon to see nothing but hills. From this point, there is not another flat section for at least another 2 1/2 hours. I get to the second feed station and decide it is time to take my first Gu pack. Go figure, it’s cold, really cold. Have you every had to chew the Gu? Seriously, it would barely come out of the pack and I had to chew it to get it down! Finally, I give up, leaving $.30 worth of Gu in the pack and move on. The hills continue. We finally hit peak elevation at 1,730ft, go down hill for a short while, only to come back up again. I managed to perfect the art of “chicken walking” because the hills were so steep and my skis were slow (because I didn’t have the right wax on), there was no gliding to be done. Finally, at 46k, we leave the woods and ski the last 4k to the finish in Hayward on a lake…straight into a head wind! In Tony’s words, “Is this a sick joke?” Some spectators on the side were offering up shots of Jager…tempting…but there is a good chance I would have thrown up. I decided to take what was left of me and hammer through the lake, passing skiers left and right. I hit some congestion coming off the lake, pulled to the side a fought my way through. I hit Main Street (which was covered with snow to the finish) and put it in the big ring. I am so depleted at this point that I am starting to shake, struggling to keep form. I almost biff it, but safe myself from a fall thanks to my left hamstring. The finish line is in sight. I am feeling a bit delusional and nauseous, but somehow, I manage to keep form and cruise into the finish. Ahh….it’s over. I start to get my composure back just in time to see Nathan there at the finish line waiting for me, holding a half eaten pecan roll.

I managed to finish in 3hr 46mins, knocking off 31 minutes from last year’s time. Jane was out to get me and she did…by 5 minutes. I’m okay with that. Considering we have had no snow since January and I trained the last three weeks on roller skies, coming in 5 minutes behind her on a race that long with considerable less training is pretty darn good. While I am racing, I wonder why people do this race year after year. Considering I will sign up for my third race next year, I’m learning that it is because it’s addicting. If you enjoy pushing your body to the limit and want to challenge your fitness level….come join us next year. I promise you will love it!

Last Friday, five lovely ladies of PRC took JJ Bailey, the lucky winner (or buyer) of the Valentine Ebay date, out for a night on the town. JJ chose Miyabi 9 and I don’t think any of us girls could’ve been happier. The date went well; no awkward silences like normal first dates :) and JJ sure knew how to show us a good time. (The date may have turned me into a sushi addict, though, which is not good being that I’m a poor college student.)

JJ claimed the PRC girls were not like the typical girls he takes on dates that don’t eat a lot, which in turn make him look like a pig. We “mowed down” (as he put it) our sushi, unlike any other chicks; and when the last piece sat on the tray, Sara happily “mowed it down.” What can we say - we're athletes- we can eat a lot :)

9 rolls later JJ pulled out his checkbook and wrote PRC a big fat check, not for $340 but for $500! A BIG thanks to JJ from PRC for this contribution to the team! It will help tremendously with entry fee’s and travel expenses.

After sushi, the crew headed to the Piano Bar next door for drinks. (not me of course, being that I’m slightly underage) Overall, the date was a lot of fun!

Note to reader: JJ is not a creeper that bought this date with PRC just for one night on the town with a few sexy cyclists. He bought the date in hopes of furthering the team and helping with some financial burden.

THANKS FOR SUPPORTING US JJ!

Okay, yah we've got snow and no, most of us aren't packing up our bikes (actually only Greg's boys at Rassy's are doing that, not the people actually going) and heading toward Phoenix. We had that little teaser of spring, you know when you pulled out your riding gear, the kids bikes, pumped up all the tires and just knew that spring was here (as if you're new to town and never lived through an Iowa winter). Well, guess what... We got another 8 inches of snow and more to come soon. This is Des Moines Hell Yes!

One of my best indoor training rides this year was with my friend Jason Steirman and I plan on coercing him into Volume II. Here's what we did, and I suggest you try it or at least modifying it to fit your needs and time available - the most key ingredient is a riding companion that is as competitive as you.

15:00 warm up (this is where you set the stage, set your companion up to understand your rules and maybe bait the sucker a bit -- you'll benefit from the challenge, trust me)
10x :15 sprints :45 recovery
5:00 easy
10x 1:00 sprints 1:30 recovery
5:00 easy
2x [20 (40), 40 (20), 60 (60), 1:30 (1:30), 60 (60), 40 (20), 20 (40)]
() is recovery
3x 2:00 hard, 4:00 easy (this is not race pace and not anaerobic but solid hard effort)
5:00 warm down

What I will do differently next time: Bait Jason a little less, have more hydration available and go to the pet shop and buy one of those lizard heat lamps to shine on me so I can pretend I'm in Phoenix like the boys in black (perhaps I'll get lucky and get a tan as well).

What?! Six weeks until our first race!

Holy moly…where did the time go? It seems like it was just yesterday that I decided to kick back and relax after what seemed to be a never ending season of racing in 2008. It was just brought to my attention last week that the Kent Park road race is in six weeks. I can’t believe the season is about to start. So, the question is, am I ready?


I am going to be honest. I have spent the last three months skiing, running, swimming, riding, and rock climbing. Comparatively, a very small portion of that training has been on the bike. In addition to that, most of it has been unstructured. Last year, I spent hours on the trainer and attempted some brutally cold rides outside (my fingers and toes will never forgive me). I feel like I spent so much time on the trainer, stressing about getting better, that by the time March came, I was burned out. So, this year, I decided to try something new…just have fun.

Now, I respect that many of you enjoy your hours of training on the bike, really I do. It’s just not for me. Rock climbing has done wonders for my strength, flexibility and agility. Skiing has challenged my whole body fitness and will transfer over to the bike quite well. Running, well, I’m just a runner, what can I say? Swimming has been a great alternative when it is freezing cold outside. I have been spending some time on the bike each week simply for muscle memory and maintaining some bike fitness. That being said, with the warm temps these past couple of weeks, I rode outside a lot and loved it! I was excited to be on the bike and I felt strong. Had I spent hours in mental anguish on the trainer or stressing about not getting enough riding in, believe me I would not have enjoyed the rides as much as I did. Cheers for that warm February weather to give us all a break from our seasonal affective disorders.

So, back to the question, am I ready? Will my new approach to training have prepared me for Kent Park? Is the competition more ready than I am? Honestly…I don’t know. But what I do know is that I am excited to be on my bike and excited to race. Will I win the Cat 4? Most likely not. Will I come in DFL? I hope not. Will I have fun? Most definitely.

See ya in six weeks!

EDITOR'S NOTE: This post was originally published as Kelli's Punk Periodical. Oops. My Bad. But hopefully you all know that Kelli would have never spent her winter doing such a variety of cross training. Rather, Kelli just ingested a series of complex performance enhancing drugs.

tow _ _ _ _ _ stop
back _ _ _ _ walk
some _ _ _ self
cotton _ _ _ _ spin
sword _ _ _ _ mate



Think you know? Leave your answer in the comments. Thanks for playing!

The girls of PUNK ROCK CYCLING are looking for that special valentine! With the upcoming race season just around the corner, this may be the last chance the girls on PRC will have to go out on the town and have a ripping good time. Just one problem… we need a date.

If you win this auction, the girls of PUNK ROCK CYCLING will treat you to a fabulous evening of food and drinks. Anywhere you want. Any day you want.

Each girl on PRC has a challenging calendar of races coming up, and those races can get expensive. With entry fees, travel costs, hotels, etc each girl on PRC will spend anywhere from $2000 to $3000 dollars through the year on bike racing. This is why the money from this auction will go towards the team’s costs that they have through the year.

Place your bid now for a wicked fun evening with the girls of PUNK ROCK CYCLING!
PLACE YOUR E-BAY BID HERE!!

This past Sunday I raced my first race of the winter. The City of the Lakes Loppet is a 35K urban cross country ski race that winds through the parks and across the lakes of Minneapolis, finishing on Hennepin Ave in Uptown.

I must say, I was somewhat dreading this race for one reason…the cold. Last year, when I did this race, it was bitter cold. Now, with cross country skiing, you warm up immediately, even if it is freezing out, which makes it the ultimate winter sport. However, there is just about 10-15 minutes from the time you leave the warm lodge that you have been waiting in to the sound of the gun going off that you have to suffer in the cold. This year was a blessing. With it being 48 degrees on Saturday in Minneapolis and a high of 35 degrees on Sunday, conditions were refreshing for a ski race.

Now, what made this race even more exciting this year, was that fellow Rasmussen superstar Tony Nichols joined the fun, as well as our own Sweet Jane and her beau Jason. We also had the pleasure of skiing with our main man Tom Wilton who grooms our ski trails at Big Creek, which made it possible to do this race in the first place (Thanks Tom!). And to top it off, although I am sure there were more Iowa folk, Iowa City cycling comrades Kim and Brian Eppen put their skis to the test too.

So, how did we all do? Nathan was still standing when he finished, so he did better than last year. Tony stayed on Nathan’s tail, so I think he was happy with his finish. I didn’t see Kim, Brian, or Tom after the race, so I’m not sure how it went for them. Jane and Jason were feeling wiped at the end, but enjoyed their first time doing the race and finished well. I didn’t fall once, compared to the at least 15 falls last year and jumped over 100 spots in my overall ranking from last year.

And, for those of you who are wondering, yes…I did beat Jane, but not by much. We will meet again at the Birkie on February 21, so in the meantime, I am praying for more snow so that she doesn’t put me in the hurt box. :)

As I sat at the registration table for Cranksgiving 2008, I was introduced to a bevy of folks, most of which whose names I cannot recall. There are two people however, whom I will not soon forget. Their names are Rick and Paige Gerjets. According to my elder teammates, Paige and her dad Rick have been following the PRC website for some time, and her father Rick is a frequent commenter. Yet neither he nor his 13 year old daughter Paige had never met the team, so for this year’s Cranksgiving, Rick braved the elements and drove Paige all the way to Des Moines from Cedar Rapids.

Paige’s early interest and enthusiasm for cycling are one of the reasons why I am thrilled to be a part of PRC. It is not the training rides, the racing, the parties, the bikes, the uniforms that excite me most. It is the idea of spreading like a bad case of the flu, the sport of cycling, in particular to women.

The sort of passion that Paige already clearly exhibits took years and years to cultivate within me. I was at a complete loss for female mentors, and for many years it was largely fear that kept me from jumping in to cycling on a broader scale/level. The idea that this could be completely averted or fast tracked and that….gasp, and then be very, very afraid…that I might even be seen as some sort of mentor for another cyclist is just plain exciting.

I wish that when I was thirteen, that my parents had recognized in my riding (and crashing) that there could be something that could grow from my passion, and if they had, I wish that there could have been a team of like-minded women yelling words of encouragement, and better yet, riding along beside me.

To Rick: You should be commended for recognizing and then encouraging your daughter in her passion. I am sure there were other things you wished to be doing in the midst of that snowstorm, but there you were, with a big ole smile.

To Paige: You go girl, ride on! And I promise you this…we WILL ride together at some point this season. If only I can catch you!

We'd like to welcome our newest sponsor for the 2009 season, Papa John's pizza. Simply put- we may think we're all hardcore bike racers worried about our strength to weight ratios and optimal power output... but in truth, we ride so we can eat good food. AND WOW! Have you had a Papa John's pizza lately? Holy yum-yum Batman! It is good stuff!

So in celebration of our new relationship with Papa Johns we'd like to make a little game for all of you PRC fans. Below we've listed the names for 10 Papa John's speciality pizzas. Now it's up to you to figure out which pizza best describes a member of PRC.

Is Chris the SPICY ITALIAN or is she the SICILIAN CLASSIC.
Is Keely GARDEN FRESH or is she more of a SMOKEHOUSE BACON & HAM?

Take your best shot. Have fun.

THE WORKS
THE MEATS
SPICY ITALIAN
GARDEN FRESH
TUSCAN SIX CHEESE
BBQ CHICKEN & BACON
HAWAIIAN BBQ CHICKEN
SMOKEHOUSE BACON & HAM
PAPA'S WHITE PIZZA
ITALIAN MEATS TRIO