Jane's new wheels

Since Jane's entrance into the bike racing world two weeks ago, we identified several items on her road bike that were due for an upgrade to make her more competitive. We were looking at putting a few hundred dollars here and there with the help of britton over at volker bike shop

However, take the amount we were going to put in for upgrades, plus the money from selling her old bike, we could get a new bike with our team discount for only a couple hundred more...an easy decision.
This will give her a nice platform to grow on. Get a lighter wheelset down the line and you have a decent race bike for pretty cheap.

2009 ventura race femme

last weekends races

A little late on the update from last weekend. this weekends races got snowed out so i've got some time to catch up.

Spring fling last saturday was good. Had a big field starting, about 35 riders. The prime lap got moved back to lap 6 so there was some time to settle in before the speed picked up. Was feeling good, managing to stay with pack. Was out of contention on the prime lap. was maybe just a few spots out of scoring points. But this time I didn't make the mistake of sitting in and letting a gap form between me and the lead group. with about 3 laps to go the wheel i was riding on started struggling, i sat there for a second thinking he could close the gap that had just formed but he never did. Went around for about 1/2 lap waiting for one of the 3-4 guys I was with to attempt to bridge. that never came so i decided i had to go. Definetly burned a match on that effort which left me trying to recover for the last lap. There were riders all over the place at that point, with myself hanging on the back of the front 10. Final lap came in and tried to put in an effort but still couldn't make up any positions. Finished at the back of the front group. Good learning experience and still gaining fitness.
The highlight of saturday was watching Joe in the older cat 5 group take 3rd place. He came around the last corner in the lead of a 2 man breakaway. He later said he knew he couldn't sprint with those guys so that was his only chance. The guy who was sucking his wheel got first and another rider just nicked him for second. Still very exciting though!

Sunday was the final of the perry dam series. Team Colavita/Parisi definetly did some damage! Dan Oldehoeft won the cat 5 open series, Britton K. won the cat 3 series, Brad Williams won the cat 4 series (eventhough they didn't recognize it). In the first race of the series, brad won the overall but somehow got scored in the back of the cat 3's, not winning the cat 4's which is what he did. Long story short, they tried to correct the situation but some other riders threw fits so they decided to leave it alone. Brad, only scoring points for 2 of the 3 races was able to take 3rd place for the series eventhough he deserved 1st.
Jane racing in her second race in the beginner cat 4, took first and managed to take the 1st place overall series having only raced in 2 of the 3 races. So now she's hooked and we've got her officially registerd with usa cycling as a team rider, got her a kit, and managed to sell her road bike on friday with a new race bike coming in this week. Watch for good things to come from her! She could be a very competitive cat3/4 racer.
so in my race we had myself with Steve, Joe, and the new rider Phil for team Colavita. I was feeling really good about this race. I knew starting that my biggest competition would be this guy I knew from dental school. He graduated last year and is apparently a rediculous athlete. First lap around was tame, came to the hill for the mountain goat points and we all stayed together until the last moment. The guy I knew from school sprinted it out and he took first and I grabbed second. The next 2 laps were fairly relaxed, take it easy, try to stay out of the wind and conserve energy for the final hill. I still had Joe and Steve with me who were offering themselves to help me win. Problem was that there really wasn't much they could do. No matter what happened it would come down to the final hill between me and the other guy. In retrospect steve or joe could have launched an attack by themselves and made the other guy chase him down to try to burn up his energy. Well, final hill and the other guy takes off. I'm right on his wheel, seeing if he's going to tire out. We get to the final 50 meters and I'm cooked. I look back and don't see anyone so I sit down and spin it out for second. Racing only 2 races I took 3rd for the series. It was however, the beginner cat 5's. Should have raced open 5's but saving $50 by racing in the beginners was something I had to do.

long day on bike

legs feel tired. just got done with 3.5 hours in the saddle. ended up somewhere near 45 miles. Stopped at about 35 miles and met up with brad, matt and steve for the hill drill workout. Grabbed a quick snickers and protein bar at the hen house while waiting for them to get suited up. Was only able to complete 3 laps of the hill circuit, legs were fading fast, plus the rain started to fall and I wanted to get home. The ride back was cold and wet.
Have to present at the midwest dental conference tomorrow which translates to 4 straight hours of standing up. I needed to get a good ride in before the weekend. Friday will be cold and saturday colder with rain, maybe snow. Probably not going to race spring fling on saturday, but we have the bazaar road race in kansas on sunday. Sunny with high of 55, and 50 miles of pain. should be good though. Not sure how my body will handle the long distance. I'm going to skip the regular cat 5 race (30 miles) and race the 4/5's with the rest of my team. If i'm going to drive that far i might as well ride the longer race. I'll let you know how things go.

Spring fling / Perry Dam

Was looking to improve on my performance in the spring fling crit from last weekend. The pace seemed up a bit from last week...must have been Matt and John cranking it out up front. Matt by the way has won every cat 5 race he's entered this season. I think he's making the jump to cat 4 for next weekends races. Anyway, during prime lap halfway through, i didn't chase with the front of the group and pretty much fell back thinking I could get back on. Well that never happened and spent the remaining laps with a group of 4 or so. Sooner or later I end up in contention at the finish line. Still improving fitness and learning at the same time.

Decided to go out to the perry dam race on sunday, talked Jane into coming out there as well to race in her first race. Rolled out and the group pretty much stayed together until we came around to the hill. People started dropping off pretty quick. Came across the line in third and picked up the last of the points. Tried to sit in for the rest of the race until the final hill at the end. Was able to finish the race in 3rd passing another rider with about 30 feet to go.

Jane mangaged to take all the points in her catergory and come out with the win. We may have to get her official with the team now!

Dan Oldehoeft took the mountain points and the win in the Cat 5 race. Got to watch a bit of the Cat 3's and 4's before we had to take off. Brad Williams totally dropped the field on the prime lap of the 4's. That guy can climb like goat. I think he's leading the points for the perry dam series. Britton is holding strong in cat 3. He's somewhere in the top in overall points (maybe 3rd). Glad to see everyone with Team Colavita/Parisi Coffee doing so well. We've got a strong group of riders and for a first year team we will do some damage this year. Watch out for our cat 4 group, with Dan Oldehoeft and Matt upgrading, we'll have a bunch of great riders to get some wins.

First race in the books!

Had my first race of the spring fling crit series in Lawrence, KS. Overall I'd say the day went fairly well. I didn't crash and I didn't go off the back in the first couple laps which was my goal. Had a little bit of pre race jitters.....still trying to find a good warm up routine, figure out when and what I need to eat and drink pre race so I can just go when the race starts. Started the race with my teammate Steve V. We were the only 2 Colavita racers in our Cat 5 group. First couple laps were fairly fast and chaotic. A couple riders attacked right from the gun which had everyone strung out all over the place. Finally bridged up with the leaders and tried to settle in. A few riders were already falling off, although I don't feel like the pace was that high. Spent the good portion of the short race moving up and down through the main group, trying to stay near the front. Felt really comforatble through all the corners, I guess my crazy motorcycle background prepared me for tight corners in a pack. On the last 2 laps the pace started to slow up, and I found myself in the front with a couple guys fighting for my wheel. This went on for about a lap and a half and I was never able to get out of the wind as everyone was content to stay back. 1/2 lap to go and people started breaking and I just didn't have the legs to stay up. Took the last corner trailing the leading group of 5 or so and was laboring pretty good. Got passed by a few more in the final stretch and pretty much coasted through the finish line. Ended up not scoring any points for the race. Still have a lot to learn and need to work on sprinting. Looking forward to next week though.