Amanda Miller

Dead Dog Classic

Saturday
The day started bright and early. I had to get up at 5:30am to make it to packet pick-up by 8:30. My race didn’t start until 10:40. Crazy ordeal. And I had to pay a $10 “late pick-up fee”, even though I preregistered online. Can someone explain this to me? Anyway, I didn’t warm up for the race, because there wasn’t anywhere to warm up. The race was 54miles and started downhill. It was neutral until we hit the base of the first downhill. Renee from Vitamin Cottage attacked from the gun. She stuck it for the next 12 miles pretty much. A few people tried to real her in solo, but eventually the pace picked up from 15mph to 20mph+ and we reeled her in at the base of the climb. When we caught her, she jumped again. This girl has some spark for sure. Eventually things split up as we made our way up a 9-mile climb. I found myself in a group with 5 others. 4 of them were members of the Colobikelaw.com team. The other solo riders, who also had no teammates in the break, was Meredith Miller of Aaron’s. Meredith took turns pushing the pace and eventually got it high enough that no one would come around her. People started popping, including myself. I was riding with a girl from the Colobikelaw.com team for a while. Then she dropped me. My legs weren’t feeling it. Not sure why. Could be the lack of training, too much hiking for class, or the fact that we were at almost 11,000feet. Yes, when we got to the top, I could see tree line. Really wish I would have brought my camera as it was the most amazing view that I’ve seen yet. Anyway, I rode to the turn around by myself and eventually got caught by two other riders on the way back down. We rolled turns and caught up to the 4th place rider. There were 4 of us in the “chase group”. I rolled a few turns, but my legs weren’t feeling it so I sat in quite a bit. The finish was on a mile long uphill. It hurt bad. Two Colobikelaw.com girls took off. The other girl in our group was a cat. 3 so there were no worries there. I finished 6th around 4minutes off the winner’s time.

Sunday
First was the criterium. It was 40minutes short. I took a flier on the first lap that lasted around 10minutes. It was a good warm-up. Eventually I got caught. I went for a few primes that were time bonuses. A Colobikelaw.com girl and Renee got off the front. No one really wanted to work to catch them. I wasn’t going to do much since I had no teammates. Anne from Vitamin Cottage and I decided to bridge up to the two riders. We caught them with 4 laps to go. All of us rolled turns until the last lap. Everyone sat up and I honestly thought we were going to get caught. The final corner came and Renee started to pick up the pace. I latched on to her wheel. Anne came around me and I grabbed on to her wheel. It came down to the final meters and I gave it my all. I thought for sure Anne had won the race. I had thrown my bike and didn’t see her do it so I wasn’t 100%. It took the officials some time to review the finish to see who won. I ended up getting the win, barely. I didn’t see the tape, but it was really close.

After the criterium was done, I got to do my favorite thing in the world – a time trial haha. The course was 5 miles downhill, a turn around, and then 5 miles back uphill. The grades weren’t steep by any means. There was some wind (there always is in Wyoming). I rode Eddy Merckx style, as always. My time was 26:51 or something like that. Meredith flew by me before the turn-around. She started 1min 30seconds behind me. I need a time trial bike for these stage racing things. Anyway, I finished 7th in the time trial, putting me in 4th place overall. The race was pretty fun. Wish there would have been more people in the field though. I also wish my legs would have felt better for the road race, but you’ll have that. Now I’m up at Pingree Park for another 2 weeks. This weekend there’s a race in Niwot. Not sure if I’m going to make it or not. Lots of stuff to do still. Thanks for stopping by and have a good week!
-A

Dead Dog Classic

Saturday
The day started bright and early. I had to get up at 5:30am to make it to packet pick-up by 8:30. My race didn’t start until 10:40. Crazy ordeal. And I had to pay a $10 “late pick-up fee”, even though I preregistered online. Can someone explain this to me? Anyway, I didn’t warm up for the race, because there wasn’t anywhere to warm up. The race was 54miles and started downhill. It was neutral until we hit the base of the first downhill. Renee from Vitamin Cottage attacked from the gun. She stuck it for the next 12 miles pretty much. A few people tried to real her in solo, but eventually the pace picked up from 15mph to 20mph+ and we reeled her in at the base of the climb. When we caught her, she jumped again. This girl has some spark for sure. Eventually things split up as we made our way up a 9-mile climb. I found myself in a group with 5 others. 4 of them were members of the Colobikelaw.com team. The other solo riders, who also had no teammates in the break, was Meredith Miller of Aaron’s. Meredith took turns pushing the pace and eventually got it high enough that no one would come around her. People started popping, including myself. I was riding with a girl from the Colobikelaw.com team for a while. Then she dropped me. My legs weren’t feeling it. Not sure why. Could be the lack of training, too much hiking for class, or the fact that we were at almost 11,000feet. Yes, when we got to the top, I could see tree line. Really wish I would have brought my camera as it was the most amazing view that I’ve seen yet. Anyway, I rode to the turn around by myself and eventually got caught by two other riders on the way back down. We rolled turns and caught up to the 4th place rider. There were 4 of us in the “chase group”. I rolled a few turns, but my legs weren’t feeling it so I sat in quite a bit. The finish was on a mile long uphill. It hurt bad. Two Colobikelaw.com girls took off. The other girl in our group was a cat. 3 so there were no worries there. I finished 6th around 4minutes off the winner’s time.

Sunday
First was the criterium. It was 40minutes short. I took a flier on the first lap that lasted around 10minutes. It was a good warm-up. Eventually I got caught. I went for a few primes that were time bonuses. A Colobikelaw.com girl and Renee got off the front. No one really wanted to work to catch them. I wasn’t going to do much since I had no teammates. Anne from Vitamin Cottage and I decided to bridge up to the two riders. We caught them with 4 laps to go. All of us rolled turns until the last lap. Everyone sat up and I honestly thought we were going to get caught. The final corner came and Renee started to pick up the pace. I latched on to her wheel. Anne came around me and I grabbed on to her wheel. It came down to the final meters and I gave it my all. I thought for sure Anne had won the race. I had thrown my bike and didn’t see her do it so I wasn’t 100%. It took the officials some time to review the finish to see who won. I ended up getting the win, barely. I didn’t see the tape, but it was really close.

After the criterium was done, I got to do my favorite thing in the world – a time trial haha. The course was 5 miles downhill, a turn around, and then 5 miles back uphill. The grades weren’t steep by any means. There was some wind (there always is in Wyoming). I rode Eddy Merckx style, as always. My time was 26:51 or something like that. Meredith flew by me before the turn-around. She started 1min 30seconds behind me. I need a time trial bike for these stage racing things. Anyway, I finished 7th in the time trial, putting me in 4th place overall. The race was pretty fun. Wish there would have been more people in the field though. I also wish my legs would have felt better for the road race, but you’ll have that. Now I’m up at Pingree Park for another 2 weeks. This weekend there’s a race in Niwot. Not sure if I’m going to make it or not. Lots of stuff to do still. Thanks for stopping by and have a good week!
-A

Rist Canyon Road Race

This past Saturday I participated in the Rist Canyon Road Race. I would have preferred to go to Crested Butte for the Mountain States Cup race, but I had too much studying to do and didn’t want to drive another 14hours in one weekend. The reason I didn’t want to race the Rist Canyon Road Race is because the entry fee was $70. LAME! Sure there was a lot of stuff going on at the race, we got a free t-shirt, there was pizza, etc. But I still don’t think it was worth the $70. In order to make your money back in both the Men and Women’s Pro/1/2 races, you had to place in the top 2. First place was $125 and 2nd was $75. Third dropped down to $50. Still not sure about the reasoning for the steep entry fee and lame prize list, but whatever.

The race was relatively early (9:20), but since I’m used to getting up at 6:00 every morning now, it wasn’t an issue. I hadn’t rode my road bike since the Stillwater Criterium at Nature Valley. I barely touched a bike period last week. I spent maybe a total of 2.5hours on my mountain bike. Needless to say, I was recovered…maybe. Going from 600feet to 9000feet within a matter of a day (to live there for 4 weeks) makes things interesting.

Anyway, the course started going over the dams around Horsetooth Reservoir. Ouch. Then we headed up Rist Canyon, the infamous climb in the Fort Collins area. From there, we headed down stove Prairie Road to Masonville, where we did a loop and headed back over the dams. The race was 64miles long. Around 20 women lined up in the Pro/1/2 field. Things started out pretty mellow. There were a few attacks, but nothing stuck. Once we hit the climb, Colorado Bike Law set tempo. The pack started to shatter. I made it with two other girls to the top. We screamed down the decent. My maximum speed was 59.5mph. I don’t think I’ve ever gone that fast before. Fortunately, I knew the downhill and it was a pretty straight shot with plenty of time at the bottom to slow down before the left hand turn. The course back towards Masonville is almost all downhill. I was flying. Sharron Allpress came up to me and asked if I wanted to take it easy or rotate through. The Colo Bike Law girl with us wasn’t pulling through because she wanted to wait for her teammates. I asked Sharron for advice and she said we should just sit up. Soon enough, 2 other Colo Bike Law girls came up to us with another rider. The 6 of us rode together the rest of the race. I say rode, because we never got organized. Colo Bike Law had 3 riders of the 6 (all of who had no teammates in the race). No reason to rotate through. Things worked out anyway, even though I was worried about getting caught. One of the Colo Bike Law girls attacked entering the dams and stuck it. Sharron went with her for a little while. The rest of us started to rotate and caught up to her. We played cat and mouse the last few miles of the race. I stayed in good position and ended up taking the field sprint for 2nd (I guess it wasn’t really a field, since there was only 3 other girls). Here’s a map of the course. Also, I finally beat my P.R. of 51:35 up Rist. I set an interval on my power tap at the base of the climb and stopped it at the top. According to the file, we climbed it in just under 47 minutes. No wonder it hurt…

I enjoyed the course. I really appreciate all the help Sharron was to me. She’s an awesome racer and very knowledgeable (and she used to mountain bike too). Fortunately, I made my stupidly high entry fee back, plus $5. Ok I’ll stop ranting.

Sunday I went for a mountain bike ride at Bobcat Ridge. That’s a technical ride. Spent the rest of the day studying. Then I came back up to Pingree Park for another week of torture. This weekend is the Dead Dog Classic in Laramie, WY (I hate that place). Hopefully it’s a fun time. Supposed to be some hard racing, so we will see how my legs do. Have a good night!
-A

Rist Canyon Road Race

This past Saturday I participated in the Rist Canyon Road Race. I would have preferred to go to Crested Butte for the Mountain States Cup race, but I had too much studying to do and didn’t want to drive another 14hours in one weekend. The reason I didn’t want to race the Rist Canyon Road Race is because the entry fee was $70. LAME! Sure there was a lot of stuff going on at the race, we got a free t-shirt, there was pizza, etc. But I still don’t think it was worth the $70. In order to make your money back in both the Men and Women’s Pro/1/2 races, you had to place in the top 2. First place was $125 and 2nd was $75. Third dropped down to $50. Still not sure about the reasoning for the steep entry fee and lame prize list, but whatever.

The race was relatively early (9:20), but since I’m used to getting up at 6:00 every morning now, it wasn’t an issue. I hadn’t rode my road bike since the Stillwater Criterium at Nature Valley. I barely touched a bike period last week. I spent maybe a total of 2.5hours on my mountain bike. Needless to say, I was recovered…maybe. Going from 600feet to 9000feet within a matter of a day (to live there for 4 weeks) makes things interesting.

Anyway, the course started going over the dams around Horsetooth Reservoir. Ouch. Then we headed up Rist Canyon, the infamous climb in the Fort Collins area. From there, we headed down stove Prairie Road to Masonville, where we did a loop and headed back over the dams. The race was 64miles long. Around 20 women lined up in the Pro/1/2 field. Things started out pretty mellow. There were a few attacks, but nothing stuck. Once we hit the climb, Colorado Bike Law set tempo. The pack started to shatter. I made it with two other girls to the top. We screamed down the decent. My maximum speed was 59.5mph. I don’t think I’ve ever gone that fast before. Fortunately, I knew the downhill and it was a pretty straight shot with plenty of time at the bottom to slow down before the left hand turn. The course back towards Masonville is almost all downhill. I was flying. Sharron Allpress came up to me and asked if I wanted to take it easy or rotate through. The Colo Bike Law girl with us wasn’t pulling through because she wanted to wait for her teammates. I asked Sharron for advice and she said we should just sit up. Soon enough, 2 other Colo Bike Law girls came up to us with another rider. The 6 of us rode together the rest of the race. I say rode, because we never got organized. Colo Bike Law had 3 riders of the 6 (all of who had no teammates in the race). No reason to rotate through. Things worked out anyway, even though I was worried about getting caught. One of the Colo Bike Law girls attacked entering the dams and stuck it. Sharron went with her for a little while. The rest of us started to rotate and caught up to her. We played cat and mouse the last few miles of the race. I stayed in good position and ended up taking the field sprint for 2nd (I guess it wasn’t really a field, since there was only 3 other girls). Here’s a map of the course. Also, I finally beat my P.R. of 51:35 up Rist. I set an interval on my power tap at the base of the climb and stopped it at the top. According to the file, we climbed it in just under 47 minutes. No wonder it hurt…

I enjoyed the course. I really appreciate all the help Sharron was to me. She’s an awesome racer and very knowledgeable (and she used to mountain bike too). Fortunately, I made my stupidly high entry fee back, plus $5. Ok I’ll stop ranting.

Sunday I went for a mountain bike ride at Bobcat Ridge. That’s a technical ride. Spent the rest of the day studying. Then I came back up to Pingree Park for another week of torture. This weekend is the Dead Dog Classic in Laramie, WY (I hate that place). Hopefully it’s a fun time. Supposed to be some hard racing, so we will see how my legs do. Have a good night!
-A

Where am I?

John asked a good question.

I’m at a 4-week summer class in Pingree Park. It’s required for my major, so there’s no getting out of it. We learn a lot of trees, shrubs, grasses, animals, measurements, etc. Pingree Park is located about 50 miles west of Fort Collins. It sits at about 9000feet. Find out more information here.

My living arrangements.

My bed.
Passing time.

One of many moose that live out here.

And of course, amazing views!

That’s all for now. Dinner time!
-A

Where am I?

John asked a good question.

I’m at a 4-week summer class in Pingree Park. It’s required for my major, so there’s no getting out of it. We learn a lot of trees, shrubs, grasses, animals, measurements, etc. Pingree Park is located about 50 miles west of Fort Collins. It sits at about 9000feet. Find out more information here.

My living arrangements.

My bed.
Passing time.

One of many moose that live out here.

And of course, amazing views!

That’s all for now. Dinner time!
-A

Nature Valley Grand Prix Day 5: Stillwater Criterium

Warming up for this stage, my legs had nothing. I barely had any energy to pedal on the trainer. The course was somewhat similar to snake alley. We started going uphill. Then it leveled out some and there was another short riser. The rest of the course was pretty much downhill. There were some technical corners, but nothing too sketchy. Coming into the stage today, I was feeling a bit disappointed, but wasn’t really thinking about it too much.

Anyway, the race took off and people were popping left and right on the hill. There was a crash, but I managed my way around it. Eventually I found myself in the 2nd chase group. Kristin Armstrong was way off the front, and there was 6 or so riders in a chase group. I was in a group of 8 or so riders. I pushed the pace a few times up the hill, but otherwise sat in the group. With one lap to go, we caught the first chase group. Now we were racing for 2nd place. I came in to the final corner before the hill pretty far back. But my legs had nothing so I just gave it my all to get up that hill. I finished 12th. My best finish of the whole week. I was pretty excited.

Overall I finished 25th in the GC, 3rd in the Best Amateur, and 6th Best Young Rider. The Ryan’s team had an awesome race. We finished 6th in the GC and had 5 of the 6 riders finish the race. Everyone had an awesome race.

As far as the whole experience – it was awesome. The girls on the team were great and we all got along. The opportunity was excellent. I learned a ton! I also learned a lot about myself – riding styles, etc. Thanks to everyone who made it happen!

Right now, I’m living at 9000ft. It’s going to be an experience. A moose just came running by our cabin. My body is really run down from the drive yesterday and the whole stage racing thing. So I’m hitting the sack early tonight. I’ll try to post pictures at some point. Internet access is limited. Thanks for reading!
-A

Nature Valley Grand Prix Day 5: Stillwater Criterium

Warming up for this stage, my legs had nothing. I barely had any energy to pedal on the trainer. The course was somewhat similar to snake alley. We started going uphill. Then it leveled out some and there was another short riser. The rest of the course was pretty much downhill. There were some technical corners, but nothing too sketchy. Coming into the stage today, I was feeling a bit disappointed, but wasn’t really thinking about it too much.

Anyway, the race took off and people were popping left and right on the hill. There was a crash, but I managed my way around it. Eventually I found myself in the 2nd chase group. Kristin Armstrong was way off the front, and there was 6 or so riders in a chase group. I was in a group of 8 or so riders. I pushed the pace a few times up the hill, but otherwise sat in the group. With one lap to go, we caught the first chase group. Now we were racing for 2nd place. I came in to the final corner before the hill pretty far back. But my legs had nothing so I just gave it my all to get up that hill. I finished 12th. My best finish of the whole week. I was pretty excited.

Overall I finished 25th in the GC, 3rd in the Best Amateur, and 6th Best Young Rider. The Ryan’s team had an awesome race. We finished 6th in the GC and had 5 of the 6 riders finish the race. Everyone had an awesome race.

As far as the whole experience – it was awesome. The girls on the team were great and we all got along. The opportunity was excellent. I learned a ton! I also learned a lot about myself – riding styles, etc. Thanks to everyone who made it happen!

Right now, I’m living at 9000ft. It’s going to be an experience. A moose just came running by our cabin. My body is really run down from the drive yesterday and the whole stage racing thing. So I’m hitting the sack early tonight. I’ll try to post pictures at some point. Internet access is limited. Thanks for reading!
-A

Nature Valley Grand Prix Day 4: Mankato Road Race

A long day in the saddle – almost 92miles to be exact. It took us 3hours and 50minutes. Not sure what that ends up for an average speed, but I can definitely say I’ve never ridden over 90miles in that amount of time. It was windy today. The course was pretty flat, with some rollers towards the end. I’ve been learning a lot, but still haven’t been able to maintain my position. I found myself dangling off the back in hard crosswind sections. Fortunately I stuck with it and made it to the final circuit with the back. We did 4 circuits. There’s a huge hill in the circuit. The first time up the hill, the field shattered. I got caught behind so many people. Wish I would have known the course a little better so I could have moved up, but it happens. I stuck with the second group. Kristin Armstrong broke away, and won. I think she had some other riders with her, but beat them in the sprint. As far as the actual road race part, it was hard at times but easy most of it. I drank 5 bottles of water/Nuun drink. I was pretty happy with that. My goal was to drink lots of water for the race. Especially since the race on Thursday I only drank 1.5 bottles for 67miles. Anyway, everyone finished the road race with the leaders on the Ryan’s team. We are holding our own, for sure. Tomorrow is a brutal criterium. Then it’s back to Colorado. Not sure when I’ll be updating next. Depends on internet access. Thanks for stopping in and I’ll try to post pictures/more thorough updates when I find time. Until then, keep pedaling and stay away from the flooding (such a horrible thing and I hope everyone makes it out alright). Good night!
-A

Nature Valley Grand Prix Day 3: Minneapolis Downtown Classic

After the time trial, we had lots of time to recover and prepare for our next race, which was off at 6:45 that evening. The skies opened up right before the race and made the course wet. Fortunately, things dried as we sat on the starting line 30minutes prior to our start. Not sure why everyone lined up so early, but whatever. I had a good starting spot. I was able to ride in the “pack” and hold good position. Better than the first criterium. The course was fun, and fast. We averaged over 26mph. The race was 25laps. Yada yada yada…the race went on. Nothing to exciting from my view. But, 5 of the 6 riders on my team finished with the field. And we’ve all stayed upright thus far. Sorry it’s short, but I need to get going to bed. Thanks for stopping by!
-A