Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don't make sense
Punk Rock Cycling

One of the coolest things about the Memorial Day race weekend is the field size, especially for the women’s races. Unfortunately, this has been the only weekend of racing in Iowa where you can find close to 50 women at the start line and we always have GREAT competition. This year proved to be the exact same.

As expected, Snake Alley was an “interesting time trial” for both the women’s cat 4 race and the women’s 1/2/3 race. You’ll have to look at our pictures if you haven’t ever seen “Snake Alley”. In the Cat 4 women’s race, we had Keri Blake back for her first race since giving birth to Bo and she did an AMAZING job. Keri had a smile on her face and did a great job finishing in 13th place. Maria started in the back of the pack but moved her way up to 18th place and then Sara, Ali and Emily were close together, finishing in 24th, 27th and 28th respectively.

In the women’s 1/2/3 race, the women from Colorado took the lead and never looked back during the 12 laps. Kelli had a good race finishing in 20th place for PRC with Keely finishing in 30th place.

If you enjoy biking and haven’t been to Snake Alley, you should really mark your calendar for next year (always the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend) and join in the fun. If not to race, even the spectators have a great time observing/yelling/heckling on the hill.

On Sunday, we were off to Muscatine for the Melon City Criterium. Luckily Emily is from Muscatine so we had a great overnight hookup with Em’s family – thanks again! Our cat 4 women strategorized before the race and had a great plan until an unfortunate crash a few laps into the race. If you’ve been following our site, you know poor Maria was stuck in the aftermath of the tangle and has several week of recovery ahead of her. Keri and Emily stopped to be with Maria while waiting for paramedics which left Ali and Sara to keep racing while doing laps around and worrying about Maria. They both finished the race with Sara taking 10th place and Ali taking 15th place.

Although nervous and sad from the crash, next it was time for Kelli and Keely to compete in the women’s 1/2/3 criterium. Thanks to Melon City organizers, they held a separate prize for the Category 3 women which landed PRC with a podium spot for the weekend. Special congrats to Kelli for getting 2nd place in the women’s Category 3 race!!

After a night at the hospital in Muscatine waiting to see Maria after surgery, Emily, Keely and Sara got up and made the drive to race in the Quad Cities Criterium in Rock Island. Keely placed 14th place in the women’s 2/3 race and in the women’s Cat 4 race, Emily had a strong 8th place finish with Sara finishing in 17th place.

Click HERE To see our pictures from the weekend.

After a great spring break trip to Tulsa, it was decided that we must go back and race Tulsa Tough. Malcolm and Tim, two of the Tulsa Tough race directors, were so nice to ride with us the entire time, Ken opened his wonderful downtown place for us, plus he invited us to come back. We couldn't turn it down!

Unfortunately Maria isn't able to make the trip, but Keely, Sara and Kelli are heading to Tulsa and racing the Saturday and Sunday criterium race. We wish them the best of luck and will be anxious for updates!

Click HERE to view race details for Tulsa Tough. Go get 'em PRC!

Pictures from the evening can be found HERE and special thanks to all of our sponsors for the great prizes, including Baby Boomers for donating the tasty cookies for the kids. They were a big hit! We hope to see you all again on Thursday, June 25th at Union Park for our next 'Race Like A Girl' event - mark your calendar!
7 Lap Men's A Scratch Race
1. Lou Waugaman
2. Jared Osterloh
3. Kris Kunze

6 Lap Men's B Scratch Race
1. Chuck Hilsenbeck
2. Rick Blackford
3. Jeff Osborn

5 Lap Women's Scratch Race
1. Dee Mable
2. Emily Schaapveld
3. Sara Broek

Men's A Miss-N-Out
1. Lou Waugaman
2. Lane Anderson
3. Kris Kunze

Men's B Miss-N-Out
1. Rick Blackford
2. Matt Gumm
3. Jeff Osborn

Women's Miss-N-Out
1. Keely Shannon
2. Dee Mable
3. Emily Schaapveld

1 Lap Sprint Men's A Race
1. Kris Kunze
2. Nathan Bartels
3. Steve Robinson

1 Lap Sprint Men's B Race
1. Jeff Osborn
2. Todd Toom
3. Dan Davis

1 Lap Sprint Women's Race
1. Keely Shannon
2. Sara Broek
3. Dee Mable

Points Race Men's A
1. Jared Osterloh
2. Jerome Rewerts
3. Lane Anderson

Points Race Men's B
1. Dan Davis
2. Jeff Osborn
3. Mark Stines

Points Race Women
1. Dee Mable
2. Emily Schaapveld
3. Sara Broek

It's the perfect day to race your bike! 75, sunny and GORGEOUS... can't beat that! Also, we'll be celebrating our good friend Chris Maharry's birthday plus we're having a kids race so why not join us?!?

So this is SUPER COOL... PRC let Lance Armstrong know about Maria's recent race accident and he sent her best wishes for a speedy recovery via Twitter! Thanks Lance!

If you have never taken a look at Lance's Twitter page, you should. It's the second most followed page next to Barack Obama's. Lance updates his page often and you can really follow what he's up to. Just yesterday, Lance was getting a massage and listening to Neko Case while enjoying a recovery day in Italy.

We're all thinking of you Maria and hoping you get out of Muscatine ASAP!!

PRC's 'Race Like A Girl' event, powered by Elder Corporation is THIS THURSDAY, May 28th!! Grab your bike and come out and race!!

The much anticipated Memorial Day weekend bike racing is here!

On Saturday, PRC will be racing the 27th Annual Snake Alley Criterium in Burlington. If you haven't seen or heard of Snake Alley, it's a special treat to race. They cobblestone alley consists of seven switchbacks over a distance of 275 feet with a 21% grade. Fun stuff. Check out the definition of Snake Alley in Wikipedia by clicking HERE.

On Sunday, we'll be racing the 31st Annual Melon City Criterium held at Weed Park in Muscatine and then Monday, we'll drive east to race the 43rd Annual Quad Cities Criterium located in Rock Island.

Should be a fun filled weekend! Click HERE for race details.

Most of you know that I recently got married and had a baby. Comparatively, marriage doesn’t change your life quite like having a baby does. Besides the obvious physical transformation your body goes through, having a baby really puts life into perspective. Over the long winter I thought about this upcoming racing season, how I was going to work to get the “baby weight” off. I signed up for my annual Hy-Vee tri to have motivation to get in shape. I taught spin classes all winter to keep my legs some what in riding shape. But, now as the days begin to get warmer, daylight sticks around a little longer, and my son is enjoying the outside world, it is finally time to start riding my bike again. Quite honestly finding the time to take a shower is difficult enough, so you can imagine finding the time to train for a tri and racing season. So, when I do get a chance to sneak away from work, find a sitter, and it is a beautiful sunny day, sure I want to ride but I don’t want to kill myself. Now I do have some competitive blood that makes me go pound out hills and go hard to get a good workout in, but I would rather enjoy this time with good friends on a fun ride. Seriously, who doesn’t love riding their bike with good company, on a beautiful day, and occasionally stopping to enjoy some cold beverages and good laughs? Now don’t get me wrong, I am excited for my first race, even though it is Snake Alley. I will give it all I got and may even stop dead trying to climb the switch backs. But, as the racing season is well underway, please don’t loose site of the fun and joy of riding by burying yourself into training, points, etc…ride because you love to ride and have fun doing it. What ever your idea of fun is, cycling is a great sport and you should enjoy all aspects of it.

Today's Wednesday which means it's PRC Papa John Ride in addition to Des Moines' Ride of Silence. We want to support that ride too so we're going to leave from Rasmussen Bike Shop at 5:30pm (just like every other Wednesday) and then we're going to have a "modified" Papa John Route south of town where we'll end at E. 6th and Locust for the start of the Ride of Silence.

We plan to keep the ride together so that no one gets lost and we all end up safe at the start of the Ride of Silence. Following the short Ride of Silence downtown, feel free to ride back to Rasmussen's with PRC if you leave your car there.

The Ride of Silence is just a great way to honor and pay respect for our fellow cyclists who have been injured or killed while cycling on America's public roadways. Cyclists across the nation will be participating in their own Ride of Silence along with 10 locations in Iowa that are hosting a ride. Click HERE for details on the Des Moines ride or to find an Iowa Ride Of Silence near you.

My Punk Periodical this week is a shout-out to Sara, the most-improved Punk on the team.

Sara and I had a lovely ride this past Sunday together. As I sat on her wheel, letting her take her pull into the lofty headwind, I got to thinking “HOLY SHIT, Sara has come a long way in just a few short months!” I thought back to our first outdoor ride together, which was on the same roads we ventured this weekend (Mofit Lake). If I remember right, she had a real tough first ride, bringing up the back and suffering the hills. If I were to look forward 3-4 months from that day, I probably wouldn’t believe it’s the same person! On Sunday, she rocked those hills, took her pulls, and looked like a true racer!

If I recall correctly, Sara bought her first road bike a few months before jumping on the PRC bandwagon. She knew practically nothing about cycling and I remember explaining to her the differences between a time trial/ crit/ road race. This girl trained her punk-butt off the entire winter, spending more hours on the dreaded trainer than me, and I’m sure most of the other Punks.

To this day, she never misses a group ride/ race/ team function. Her dedication to cycling, and the team, brings a fresh, fun energy to PRC. Early into her first season, she already has a handful of top finishes. In our first race together, the Spring Fling in Lawrence, KS, Sara and I were in the same group at the end. As I sprinted for the finish, I was shocked to look to my right and see Sara sprinting right along side me.

If you want to see how training and hard work can pay off, just take a look at Sara!

Pictures are now available and posted from our road race this past weekend at Finchford. We had a great time with Emily, Ali and Sara going 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Women's Category 4 race. Kelli took third place in the Women's Cat 1/2/3 race. Definitely a great day and fun roadtrip for PRC!

Mark your calendar - two weeks from today, May 28th, is our 2nd of 5 'Race Like A Girl' events powered by Elder Corporation. That's right... Head over to Union Park in Des Moines and do some cheap, week night racing!

Registration opens at 4:45 with racing starting at 5:30. $10 for guys and just $5 for girls. That's right - just $5 for women so bring your friends! We'd love to see more women on bikes!! Also, this is the perfect race for beginners with just three short races per category (Women, Men's A and Men's B). Also, bring your kids and we'll host a children's race for them to burn some energy.

New to racing and nervous? Oh, we've all been there! PRC will even hold a training session starting at 4:45. Join us on Thursday, May 28th!

When we first discovered GoGirl and their fabulous product that allows a female to pee standing up, we were somewhat beside ourselves. We had just completed a training camp and we had also just watched the Tour of California.

At camp, we were on our bikes for uncharacteristically long stretches, and among the other bazillion questions we asked about race tactics were: what to do if we have to pee?

No one had an answer.

Of course, that is, until we streamed the Tour of California and spied a guy (who shall remain nameless) whipping his junk out on the road and peeing off the side of his bike.

“Oh dear, we thought, this won’t be cool….”

In walks GoGirl (a la Twitterverse) and their female urinary device, or FUD as they to it.

“We must have one,” remarked one PRC team member. “Sign me up!” remarked another. “A whaaaa?” asked yet another.
And so it was, we contacted the kind folks at GoGirl, and they graciously sent us not one but EIGHT GoGirls. Heather was so excited, she tore hers from the package immediately and placed it on her nose, not unlike a Fraggle, from Fraggle Rock.

The rest of the girls received their GoGirls in Finchford, at Saturday’s race. Let’s just say the timing was perfect. Given the one stall that led to a very dark hole was full of men doing their business prior to our race, we were happy we had these fancy, pink little FUDs in tow.
Approximately 1.2 miles into our race, Em yells:

“Hey Ali, do you have an extra GoGirl in your jersey? I SOOO need one!”

Unfortunately, I did not.

And then, approximately, 12 miles into our race, Sara was still somewhat perplexed by the whole GoGirl thing and asked:

“So you just shove that thing down your kit and wear it on the bike? How does it stay there? I am so confused!”

We could have told you that already, what with her missed alarm, and Lightening McQueen race tactics to the start of the race and such, but I think it’s safe to say, she eventually figured it out.

I nearly fell off my bike laughing in the process.

To the fine women at GoGirl, thank you for your generous donation to our team and our overall comfort at races. Keely unfortunately, was out of town and has not yet received hers, but she thanks you most of all and will tell you why at a later date. If you are lucky.

Additional pictures are forthcoming.

The PRC chicks had a fantastic Saturday at the Finchford-Roubaix races. We didn’t think Sara was going to make it in time for the Cat 4 event (she overslept and missed the Mommy Van), but she arrived in the nick of time. We never found out how fast she drove to get there but we were happy and pumped to see her!

The Cat 4 field consisted of eight women, five of them were PRC girls, and we were set to do 25 miles. We were off to a slow start, a nice easy Saturday ride. The pack rode pretty smoothly, staying together to avoid the wind. Maria, the birthday girl, made an attack on lap two that got us moving a little faster, but we bridged up pretty quickly.

Emily made a great attack on lap four and held strong to get a first place finish. The three other riders didn’t feel the need to bridge or attack to catch up. So we went on behind. Ali, Maria and Sara were in the front of the group coming up on the finish line. Kat, from Bike Tech, and Amy, from Mercy, were closing in. Ali stayed in front and Sara swooped around Kat and pulled off a third place to Ali’s second. Maria was close behind and finished sixth. Heather had a great race! She stayed with the pack the entire time had a strong seventh place finish.

For the women’s cat 1/2/3 race (6 laps), just 6 women met at the start line. The first two laps were pretty low key until Robin Williams of Mercy and Kelli picked up the heat and created a separation in the group. Robin, Anne Meyer and Kelli worked together in a nice rotation and stayed out in front the remaining laps with Kelli taking third place in the final sprint.

Pictures to come but another successful weekend for PRC! And now, we’re ready to take on Memorial Weekend! See ya there.

Last night, the women of PRC competed in the 2nd of 5 Elkhart TT races. Elkhart is a great way to increase your fitness and speed! Elkhart TT is a pancake flat, 12 km course where participants pray for little wind and ride as hard as they can out, turn around at a cone and then as hard as they can back to the finish line. Puking is encouraged.

We'll display full results and pictures once they're available. Stay tuned.



Tomorrow, PRC is heading north and racing in the Finchford-Roubaix Road Race. Finchford is a circuit course which rolls through out the small community of Finchord, along the Cedar River. Interested in racing? Do it! Check out the details.

Tulsa Tough, presented by The Children's Hospital at Saint Francis, is a three day cycling festival designed to promote fitness and healthy lifestyles in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa Tough offers events and spectating opportunities for everyone with professional-level racing, recreational and tour rides, kids and youth activities, live music and vendors in one action packed weekend.

Looking for a family get-away? Mark your calendar as this might be your chance. Tulsa Tough dates for 2009 are Friday May 29th through Sunday May 31st. PRC will be racing in the downtown criterium races that Tulsa Tough offers. 3 intense crit courses with a total of $150,000 in cash prizes. If you don’t want to race, consider one of the non-competitive tour rides in distances of 50km, 100km and 100 miles or even just the casual 8 mile townie ride.

Visit the Tulsa Tough website for details or even write into punk@punkrockcycling.com if you have questions and we’ll be sure to find you an answer.