SC State RR

There are as many perspectives on Sunday as there are people who were there. I would love to hear your perspective.

To me, it was a great TEAM day. Sure, we got 5 State Championship and there are a hundred race tales to tell.

Some of the heroes, were not on the podium. Randy McDougald finished in the main field in his first race ever for the TEAM. Mel stayed on 1.5 laps and continues to improve. Tom proved he is coming back. Hell, Wein came out in the billion degree heat just to cheer us on! Bird left his family setting at Lake Toxaway to ride and he isn't even a SC resident.......just came to help his team mates! Brian and Ray spilled their guts but settled for 9th........just wait, these guys are winners through and through. Joe sluffed off being one place out the money and in his very positive way, just looked forward to better results ahead! G and Stratton did their best in supporting roles and it was good enough to help put Cin on the podium.

Joe also pointed out the difference between the Men's Masters Team last year and this........I agree, it is huge.

Lessons were learned.

For me personally......I am not George Hincapie, Sunday was not the Paris Rubaiux, and I haven't wanted to win this since I was 13 years old. I HAVE wanted it for 5 years. I have raced hard for 5 years. My preparation was perfect.......being prepared creates confidence.

The most important thing I will take from Sunday, is that my heart was fierce. I was not reckless but neither was I afraid.......that is, afraid of failure or afraid to take a chance. In cycling, this is not something I have mastered but something I will. It felt very good on Sunday and I will hold onto that feeling.

Thanks for all your support and participation.

Oh, yes. The results are in the column on the left of this Blog.

MASTER NATS

TEAM headstrong will field a 7-8 rider team at Masters Nationals in Bend, Oregon from 8/30 to 9/4.

The TEAM comprised of Kristi Stratton, Joe Lehner, Cristina Lindsey, Christina Maddox, Samantha Smith, Emily Wood and me. We will be competing on an age level basis in a total field of 800-900 participants from all over the US.

The events include time trial, criterium and road race. Besides individual, there will tandem events.

Make no mistake, we are after one or more of the coveted STARS and STRIPES Jerseys.

Pictured is our TEAM house.

You can follow this BLOG for more news as our journey continues!

SCTAC

Linz, Teenie, Brian and I are going to be hitting a few laps for our final tuneup for State RR! Perry will be out trying to cram in a little more fitness before he says ALOHA.

Hope to see you out!

PARK THE BIKES

Thanks to Mel and Hannah, we had a wonderful party...............I love this TEAM!

Riverside TT

Linz and Perry post big PR's........nice night with some wind. Bird showed up after riding the road course.

Upgrade congratulations to Joe Lehner

Congratulations to Joe Lehner on his recent upgrade to CAT 3. On top of that, Joe has signed up to race Master Nationals in Bend, Oregon in August! Way to go Joe!!!!!!!

Sunday Team Ride

It was a great cast: Mel, Bird, Emily, Linz, Brian, Teenie, Joe, Sam, Ray, Tom, Randy, Debi Schusler, Jeni Kleckley, Jeffrey Lehner and me. We ripped off the first 18 miles to Fork Shoals at 20+MPH into a very strong wind.

After a quick pit stop at the Elementary, we hit the hills on Mc Kelvey very hard. Then at the fire station, we organized into 2 person teams and raced up Hillside Church to the stop sign at Dunklin Bridge. This produced an all out race for about 14-15 minutes. You can really hurt in 15 minutes!

We finished the course and decided to head back. Lot's of fatigue from prior days combined with a hard pace had taken it out of most of us.............I had a really good time and the training was great.

The ride was very hard!

Note: My race partner was Kleckley............she is amazingly strong and fearless. The only thing she needs is some experience....hope she got a little yesterday. Debi rode very well and Jeffrey showed a lot of strength(definitely has the Lehner genes).

Athens Twilight by Cinthia Lehner

With some bad luck last year, I came back to Athens this year for revenge. After finishing top 10 at Sunny King I hoped to repeat a good result at Athens, my favorite race ever. Everything went well. Good starting position and my legs felt strong. This is it! The start of the race is fast. I never saw the front, but luckily never the back either. Just hang on, Cinthia, after 20 minutes it will slow down. So it did, and half of the girls had been pulled at that point as well. Many crashes happened left and right, but luck was with me this year and I never kissed the pavement. With 13 laps to go, it was time to get in position. Lap by lap, I carefully moved up through the corners. 3 laps to go, I’m sitting top 10 and I did everything to hold it. The crowd is cheering so loud and I feel this huge adrenaline rush through my body. The speed gets faster and faster, and at that point my body is numb. Before I know it, we are going into the last corner and I count 7 girls in front of me. This is it! This is my chance to shine! But no. All of a sudden, I feel my rear wheel lock up and my bike starts sliding towards the barriers. Shit. Thanks to cyclocross, my right foot instantly clips out and I somehow stay upright. I try to pedal, but my crank is stuck. Immediately I jump off my bike and see my tire half way off my rear wheel. I look up, see the finish line in front of me and start running. What could have been a top 5 turned into a 25th place. Why quit though, when you have the finish line in sight? It is super frustrating, but I guess this is part of bike racing. At least I proved to myself once again, I can hang in there with the big girls, and then there is always next year....