PHOTOS BY KURT JAMBRETZ www.actionimages.cc
Elk Grove, Illinois: 1.7 mile, flat neighborhood loop with 2 pretty wide 180 degree turns, for 1 hour and 33 minutes. The weather was hot. 37 women on the line. The purse was something big. The flyer, and the website said $15,000. The official at the starting line said $11,000. It paid 20 deep, onward ho. Cheerwine, Express Copy, ValueAct Capital, Target Training, Kenda Tire, Hub Racing, and a bunch of solo acts.
Cheerwine ruled the day. A crash on the last lap left the field less top heavy (mainly from people getting caught behind it) while coming down the final stretch. We were missing a few good contenders like Leigh Valletti of Target Training, Lara Kroepsch of Team Lipton, and some of the Kenda Tire Team. I managed 19th place, just inside the money, but it felt weird to have the field all mixed up, and not really racing with leadouts all over the place. Cheerwine was the main team doing a leadout. ValueAct Capital had lost Taitt Soto to a mechanical at 5 laps to go (at which point there were no more free laps from the wheel pit), which was ridiculous, since there was still so much time, and distance (5 x 1.7 miles) left in the bike race. They really should have had free laps until 3 to go, with such long laps. Anyway, the eventful part of the day was the drug test afterwards. I was chosen as a random rider to get tested. The only other reason they test you, is if you WON. It was so hot that I could not give the doping agents enough of a sample. So I got to wait around, drink some water, and keep trying, and trying....finally they had what they needed. Whew. What fun.
Elk Grove, Illinois: 1.7 mile, flat neighborhood loop with 2 pretty wide 180 degree turns, for 1 hour and 33 minutes. The weather was hot. 37 women on the line. The purse was something big. The flyer, and the website said $15,000. The official at the starting line said $11,000. It paid 20 deep, onward ho. Cheerwine, Express Copy, ValueAct Capital, Target Training, Kenda Tire, Hub Racing, and a bunch of solo acts.
Cheerwine ruled the day. A crash on the last lap left the field less top heavy (mainly from people getting caught behind it) while coming down the final stretch. We were missing a few good contenders like Leigh Valletti of Target Training, Lara Kroepsch of Team Lipton, and some of the Kenda Tire Team. I managed 19th place, just inside the money, but it felt weird to have the field all mixed up, and not really racing with leadouts all over the place. Cheerwine was the main team doing a leadout. ValueAct Capital had lost Taitt Soto to a mechanical at 5 laps to go (at which point there were no more free laps from the wheel pit), which was ridiculous, since there was still so much time, and distance (5 x 1.7 miles) left in the bike race. They really should have had free laps until 3 to go, with such long laps. Anyway, the eventful part of the day was the drug test afterwards. I was chosen as a random rider to get tested. The only other reason they test you, is if you WON. It was so hot that I could not give the doping agents enough of a sample. So I got to wait around, drink some water, and keep trying, and trying....finally they had what they needed. Whew. What fun.
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