Amanda Miller

Dolmans Heuvelland Classic

I’m pretty tired, so hopefully this post makes a little bit of sense. It was a long, but fun weekend. I’ll try to give you an awesome recap, because it was a great race!

Friday morning we went for a short spin to loosen the legs. It was kind of gloomy and cold. No rain though, but it sure felt like it was going to rain.

Devon H. feeding the horse at the top of the hill we rode up.

In the afternoon we headed to Carcassonne to catch our flight to Brussels, Belgium. It was a short, smooth flight. We didn’t have any issues. Renis and Pete (friends of Chris), where at the airport to pick us up. They then took us to our host house in Tielt-Winge, Belgium, which just happened to be Vision1’s team house. Vision1 is the team Nicole Cooke rides for. How sweet!?!

Lauren and Megan smiling on the flight from Carcassonne, France to Brussels, Belgium.

The house was pretty sweet. Lots of bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a basement for bike storage, a decent sized kitchen, a dining room, and a sitting room. We were all super stoked to be staying in that house. The house was located about 60k from the course, but that wasn’t a problem. Of course it was raining and cold when we arrived, but that’s Belgium right?

Einat and I mimicking the statue.

Megan (leg), Lauren, and I doing our Skins promo photo. We are sending it to them in hopes of sponsorship .

Friday evening we spent getting settled in. Saturday morning we woke up, ate, breakfast, and headed towards Limburg, Holland to drive the course. It was another gloomy day in Belgium. Once we arrived in Holland, the sun started to peak out through the clouds. It was still relatively cold though. We weren’t able to drive the entire course, but drove enough of it to get our blood pumping. There were quiet a few decent hills, some tricky descents, and some nice cross-wind sections. Believe it or not, Holland isn’t flat. I actually think we climbed all the hills in Holland during the race . To make a long story, short, here’s a map and a profile of the course. It was 88km long. We did one big loop until we hit the circuit. The circuit we did 3 times.

This map shows where all the hills are. It also gives the percentages.

A cool windmill in Holland.

Holland.

Megan and Lauren hanging out in Holland.

Saturday night we cooked dinner and did some more lounging around. We also went for a short spin. It was rainy and cold when we got back to Belgium (note above picture it is sunny).

Riding in the rain in Tielt-Winge, Belgium.

Sunday morning we woke up and headed to the race. It was overcast again. The weather really couldn’t make up it’s mind the entire day. It was spit rain on us at sometimes, and then sun would come out other times. One thing I was happy about was the minimal amount of wind. Anyway, they called us to the corral (yes we started in a corral like thing). There were close to 150 riders at the start line. Lots of big teams were represented (Team DSB Bank, the women’s RaboBank team, Team Flexpoint, Leontien.Nl team, and lots of others). We started with 6 riders (+ Megan Guarnier who is currently racing for a French team and Einat Argon who is racing for Chris’s team).

We all had pretty good starting positions, for a change. The first 2k was a neutral roll out. It was a crazy experience. Girls were literally riding the bumper of the lead car. Others were riding next to the car and the official kept blowing his whistel at them. At one point, I saw a girl on the sidewalk next to me. Fun stuff. Anyway, the lead car pulled away at the base of the first climb, indicating that it was “game on!” I positioned myself at the front of the pack. Nothing too exciting happened in the first 40k of the race. The first 40k was the “big loop”. Some people attacked, but nothing stuck. I tried to cover wheels. There was a sketchy downhill coming up so I went to the very front. I didn’t want to risk anything. I bombed the downhill and actually created a gap. Didn’t really attack much, but the peloton was sure to close the gap. Funny how things work now that we are wearing our USA kits. The pack whittled down pretty fast once we started to hit the hills. I think there was about 50 riders in the front group. We hit the circuit and things got harder. DSB and Leontien attacked and countered. There were a few times some riders got a decent gap on us.

A shot of the peloton. That’s me at the front. Not sure what I’m doing. (Photo by cyclingfx)

On the 2nd lap of the circuit, two girls had a 30second plus lead on the main field. Their teams were doing an awesome job of controlling the race. I was very impressed. Anyway, I saw that it could be dangerous so I went to the front and helped rotate with Team Flexpoint and Megan G. Even though Megan wasn’t wearing a USA kit, we were working together. It was fun! At one point, I was dead tired. She told me to grab her wheel and she would lead me to the top of the downhill. So I did. Then I bombed the downhill with her on my wheel. We made up quiet a bit of time and whittled down the gap to 10seconds. The two riders were caught at the top of the hill.

Climbing up one of the 14 hills. (Photo by cyclingfx)

The major climb in this race was the Cauberg. It had an average grade of 10% and lasted 500meters. It hurt bad and was completely mental. There was a huge crowd lining the climb, so that added motivation. Anyway, once the two girls were caught, people tried to counter. Nothing stuck until about 1/4 way through the last lap. Leontien, Flexpoint, and DSB all had people in the break. This was a dangerous break. I wish I would have been closer to the front to go with it, but I was stuck in the peloton and couldn’t bridge up. I made a sorry attempt at one point, but my legs were toast.

Here’s a picture of my attempt (Photo by cyclingfx)

Megan G. and I tried to take some hard rotations and attack each other to get things going, but nothing worked. The 3 riders slowly pulled away from us and some how put close to 50 seconds on us by the end of the race. With 2k to go, I went to the front and started drilling it. Megan was on my wheel. I tried to close gaps of girls who had gotten away on the hill. We caught a few of them, but not the main 3. Coming into the last 1k, Megan was still on my wheel so I tried to give her a leadout. We didn’t drive the finish (bad idea on our part), and had no clue what was ahead of us or where the finish was in that matter. Megan hit the final right hand corner way too fast and way over geared. It was a tight corner that we had no idea about. She came into the corner first and definitely would have won the field sprint. Oh well, lessons learned. Not a good idea to come into a finish completley blind like we all did. Anyway, I pulled off a 22nd place. I was pleased with my result. I felt like I did a lot of work in the race and am feeling really comfortable with the peloton. I learned a lot during the race and pushed myself to extreme limits. That’s what we are here to do to – learn.

Here I am, deep inside the pain cave on one of the climbs . (Photo by cyclingfx)

We were pretty lucky with the weather for this race. The skies never opened up and poured on us, thankfully. There was a small section where the roads were soaked, but I don’t think it ever actually rained on us. There was mud on the roads and on the shoulders, so we got pretty dirty. My mountain biking skills definitely came to use during the race a few times. The roads are narrow in Holland and I had to use some technical skills a few times to keep myself on the road. It was a fun course and a fun race. Here’s a link to a recap online, along with some pictures.

The crew hanging out in the van post-race.

Sunday night we went out to dinner in Belgium. It was a good restaurant and I tried some true Belgium beer – Leffe Blond. It was mighty tasty. There were some really cool buildings in the town.

Awesome buildings in Belgium.

The best beer I’ve ever tasted.

Our flight left Monday afternoon. We arrived back in Carcassonne around 5pm. Now we are chilling in Limoux. This week is sort of a rest week. We are doing a stage race this weekend. It’s called the Tour of Burgundy. There’s a 106k road race on Saturday. Then Sunday we get to do a 22k team time trial and a 72k criterium. I’ll try to post some more updates this week. Thanks for stopping in!
-A

Day 15 Ride: 10 Hills

We attempted the 10 hills ride again today. My legs are feeling like absolute crap. So are everyone else’s (minus Devon who was killing the climbs on a bike that wasn’t hers and just coming off a plane). Must have been the time trial effort the day before. The weather was a bit chillier than it has been on previous rides, but I still rode in shorts and a jersey with a vest and arm warmers. It was a good ride though. We all had a good time enjoying the views and chatting. Einat, Lauren, and I skipped the last two hills because we were toast. Oh well. Today we are flying up to Brussells, Belgium. We are staying in Nicole Cooke’s team house this weekend…sweet!!!! The race is in Limburg, Holland. It’s an 88km point to point road race. Part of it goes over the Amstel Gold course. We climb up the famous Kuetenberg climb. It’s going to be a brutal race. Last year there were some huge names that showed up to the race. Anyway, I’ll post updates as internet access allows. Check back soon! In the mean time, here’s some photos from yesterday. Enjoy!
-A

The Pyrenees. This view never gets old!

“Is it straight?”

A herd of sheep.

Devon and Ashley are all smiles.

Group viewing.

The top of hill number 8. It’s a steep hill, but the views are rewarding.

Day 14 Ride: Time Trial

Today we practiced our time trialing again. We also received 3 more teammates. Devon Haskell, Jo Markham, and Jerika Hutchinson all arrived this past 24hours. It was windy today, but still warm. Yesterday it rained for a little while in the morning. The roads were dry by the time we went out for our ride. Tomorrow is another hard day on the bike. Still having a great time here! Things have been a little busy so I haven’t been able to update as much. Also, I haven’t been taking as many pictures. But here are some pictures from today. Enjoy!

We’ve been working on our upper body strength. Can’t ya tell how buff we are getting?
It’s like Christmas all over again! The National team kits finally arrived!

Ok that’s all. Over and out!
-A

Cholet Pays de Loire Dames and Cite de Carcassonne

The drive to Cholet, France from Limoux was around 7 hours. A bit longer than we expected. There were 5 of us crammed into a relatively small car. Made for an interesting ride. Good times, but by the end, everyone was tired (as expected).

Limoux is near the bottom center of the map between Toulouse and Carcassonne. As you can see, we had quite the drive. That part of France is really flat by the way.

Megan brushing up on her French while Ashley helped.

Einat driving. “Hey look! I’m fast!”

Anyway, after arrive in Cholet and dropping Megan off with her new French team, we headed to our hotel which was nearby. This hotel was basically the Cofidis team’s hotel. They had 5 team cars and a huge bus outside. It was amazing. There was another big team at our hotel too, but I can’t remember the name of it. After we were settled in, we went to find food. That was quite the experience too. Eventually we ate, and made it back to our rooms to fall asleep.

Our hotel was right on the finishing stretch. My window was right at the 500meters to the finish sign. Pretty neat!

The Cofidis trailor.

I love European races. They start later in the day. This race was a French Cup race so it was huge! Our race went off at 13:00 Sunday afternoon. Before that, we had to sign in on stage. So we got introduced as the USA National Developmental team in front of a bunch of French people and teams. Unfortunately, we still do not have our USA kits. Hopefully they are here before next weekend. Anyway, we pre-rode the course a few times. The finishing straight was long. From the last corner, it was over 500meters to the finish. The finish was slightly uphill. Then it went into a sweeping right hand corner into a downhill. The downhill was fast but into a head wind. There were two round-a-bouts that were tricky, but not an issue if you were near the front. After that was a narrow right hand into an uphill. The uphill was probably 500meters long with an average grade of 5-6percent. Enough to wear on the legs for some, but not steep enough to throw it into the small ring. At the top of the hill was a sharp left hand corner into another fast downhill. There was a sharp right hand corner at the bottom of the hill into another flat section. This led into a round-a-bout into another straight away. Finally there was another right hand corner that wasn’t too tricky. This led into the final stretch. The course was 5km total. It was pretty technical and fast.

We spent a lot of time sitting around before the start of our race. We watched the pro men sign autographs, listened to some music, had some amazing laughs, etc. Our director is hilarious! We were playing “My Humps” by Black Eyed Peas on the radio before the race. On the last lap of the race, he played the song on our radios. Cracked me up!

Pre-race chamois time. We are wearing Chris’s club teams jerseys.

What’s so funny?

Our race was 16 laps, 80km. 178 women started the race. I started in probably the 10th row. They didn’t do call-ups or line up by numbers. I was in the 2nd row from the line but everyone rode backwards on the course to the start line and parked in front of the start line. Crap! The first lap I sprinted to pass as many people as I could in the shortest amount of time. I made my way to the top 15 by the time we reached the 2nd downhill. Thank goodness! There were lots of crashes on the first lap. Unfortunately, my teammate Ashley went down. Her bike was broken and she couldn’t finish the race. She is fine though. This crash split the field into a few huge groups. I was in the front 60-70 riders. There was another crash on lap 2 that took down my teammate Lauren. Fortunately she was able to get back up and race.

I spent a lot of time covering attacks and being in breaks. That was my mission for the race. We have a small team, so it’s not like we could do much in the way of team tactics. It was more for the experience of being at the front. I felt confident in the front of the peloton. I was bumping shoulders and hips during the race. I was even being aggressive for position and staying on wheels rather than letting people bump me off. At one point in the race (I think 5 laps to go), I was in a break that had 20 seconds on the field. The attack happened at the right time and everything. We lapped 2 huge groups of riders, which should have caused some confusion and chaos back in the main field. However, miscommunication and disorganization led to us getting caught. I don’t understand the racing here at all, but oh well. On lap 2 to go, a break of 3 riders rolled off the front. No one seemed to concerned. Eventually, fellow American Megan Guarnier bridged to the other 3. She ended up taking 2nd place in the sprint – AWESOME WORK! I had nothing left at the end of the race and didn’t contest the field sprint in our group. Not sure what my overall place was, something like 58th. I am learning and getting more comfortable with the field, so I was happy about my race.

Today we went to the castle in Carcassonne. We took the train there. It was a pretty cool experience. Lots to see. However, we didn’t have much time. Had to get back in time for a dinner with Chris and his guests. Good food by the way. I tried rabbit for the first time. It was very interesting. Anyway, here’s some pictures from the castle. Enjoy!

Lauren on the train to Carcassonne.

The pigeon that almost decked me in the head. They were everywhere!

Einat standing in front of the toilet you had to pay to use.

I can be a tough girl too!

The castle from the distance.

The guy in the window jumped out and scared Lauren as I was taking this picture. It was hilarious!

Lauren, Einat, and I being tourists and getting our picture taken.

Me posing. No the guy didn’t jump out and scare me. He was gone by the time we got back.

Looking down into Carcassonne.

Some cool paintings on a building on the walk back to the train station.

Ok that’s all for now. Sprints tomorrow. Check back for updates then. Bonne nuit!
-A

Day 10 Ride

Sorry for the short update. Today was pretty uneventful. We went to the market this morning, but I didn’t take any pictures. No exciting experiences other than accidentally bumping into a woman and saying “Merci” instead of “Pardon”. Opps.

After the market, we took the short drive to Carcassonne to visit the local bike shop. A few of us needed to pick up some things. We also stopped in and visited the director of the Tour de l’Aude. For those of you who don’t know, that race is essentially the women’s Tour de France. So it was awesome to meet her. She was trying to talk Chris into signing us up for the race. Pretty funny. Of course she was talking in French, so I really didn’t know what she was saying. But that’s what Chris and Ashley told us.

After that, we went back to Limoux for an easy spin. It was windy today, but still relatively warm. Even though it was cooler than previous days, I was wearing shorts and a jersey with a base layer.

The crew headed back towards town.

So I didn’t do a good job taking pictures today. I’ll try to make up for it this weekend. Tomorrow we leave for Cholet. It’s a 5 hour drive. The race is on Sunday. It’s a 5km flat race in town. Pretty much a longer crit. Should be hard. The field is supposed to be bigger than last weekend. It’s a French Cup race so I’m sure it will draw some big names and teams…ouch! The race is 80km total. Anyway, I’ll update as internet access allows. At the latest, check back Sunday night for a brief re-cap. Until next time!
-A

P.S. I added more photos to my last post from the ice cream eating interval Enjoy!

Day 9 Ride: 10 Hills + 1 extra interval

Today we rode the “10 hills” ride. This ride is brutal. It starts off with 5 mellow climbs, ranging anywhere from 2 to 5km in length. Number 6 we do standing up the entire climb. Pain! Number 7 was steep, but 8 kicked my butt. It was incredibly steep and long. Lots of false tops. It was a huge mental game getting up it. Hill number 9 was hard because your legs were toast by then. It was 3km long, but relatively gradual. Hill number 10 was just brutal. It’s a 600-700meter climb with a constant 16% grade. I was never able to sit down and could barely keep pedaling forward. There were a few times I actually thought I would roll backwards. Needless to say, I was happy to be done with the ride. Ended up with just under 100km in 3hrs 50mins. Good times. Ok, now the fun part…pictures!

Einat is always smiling.

A crazy train of some sort of caterpillars. Gross! These things were all over one of the roads (dead and alive).

Smile!

In the “pain cave”.

Megan looking at the scenery.

The top of hill 10 looking into Limoux. You can’t really tell how steep it is though.

Tomorrow is market day. Then we will go for an easy spin in the afternoon. Saturday we had to Cholet for our 2nd race here on Sunday. Thanks for reading!
-A

UPDATE
Tonight we did the 11th interval. We went searching for crepes, but found that the store was closed. So instead, we went to a cafe and got some ice cream. Ok, not some…a lot! It was good fun. Lots of laughing involved. That’s something I’ve noticed about here – not many people laugh, or smile for that matter. So we did enough laughing for the entire town of Limoux in one night Here’s some pictures. Good times were had…and now my abs hurt. Sorry if some are blurry…I was laughing to hard to take them.

Deliciousness

Oh yes. (Picture stolen from Megan G.)

Megan giving the thumbs up and Lauren waiting to devour.

Einat and I ate the whole things by ourselves. Ok…maybe not really. (Picture stolen from Megan G.)

Gone in 60 seconds. Ok…maybe more like 6 minutes. But we definitely ate it fast!

No comment.

Ok. Bonne nuit!

Day 8 Ride: Time Trial

Wow, I could really get used to this place. It’s been so nice. Sunny, warm (20Cish), not windy, beautiful scenery, the whole works! Anyway, we finally did some walking around the town. It’s pretty cool. Here’s some pictures from the day. In the afternoon, we did a 15km individual time trial. It felt good. Afterwards, we spun around and enjoyed the day. Ok, now for the good part

The above 3 photos are from an old church we went into near the town square.

Some ducks enjoying the clear water in the river.

Fly fishing.
A statue in a nearby town we went through on our ride. It’s of a young kid who was shot in a war. Apparently he was one of the drummer boys and was only 12 when he died. Sad story.

A view of the villages in the valley.

Ok tomorrow is a long day. We are doing the 10hills ride again. Should be brutal. Check back for updates!
-A

Day 7 Ride: Sprint Practice

This morning we woke up and went to the butchers. It was a very interesting experience. They cut the meat right in front of us. Fortunately for me, the woman taking care of us spoke English. But she was helpful and tried to teach me the French names of the meat I was getting. Then we went to a store that sold fresh produce. It’s a big thing here, which is good because I like fresh produce.

Mmmm…fruit!

After we got our shopping done, we sat around some until it was time to ride. We headed out around 13:00. It was a beautiful day – sunny and warm (20C). Nothing to special about the ride. Awesome views, as always. We did some sprint workouts, which were fun. That’s about it for today.

A picture of the valley from the climb we did.

This weekend we race again on Sunday. It’s in Cholet, which is about 5 hours from Limoux. Should be a good time. That’s all for now!
-A

Day 6 Ride: Almond Gathering

Today was a mellow day. We just rode around the country side, exploring and eating almonds. We were going to go to Carcassonne to see a famous castle, but all of us were too tired from the race to walk around. So we will go another day and check it out. It was fun today. We stopped and picked almonds off of almond trees and just enjoyed the sunshine and warm weather. Good times. Nothing too interesting going on today. We are going to the super market later for our weekly trip. Here’s some pictures from the day. Enjoy!

Colorful shutters near Chris’s hotel.

The river that runs through Limoux.

An almond tree. So pretty

So pretty! The Pyrenees in the horizon over some grape fields.

Posing by the mountains.

The grape vines are like corn fields in Iowa.

There are small towns everywhere. And they are all beautiful.

The water is clear, not murky like it looks in this picture.

A picture from a building in a wine farm.

Another pretty mountain shot.

Almond tree with the Pyrenees on the horizon.

Pink flowers of the almond tree.

We ate some of the almonds from the trees and used a rock to crack them open. Cave women

The train that runs through town.

An old church in Limoux.

Another river shot.

Ok that’s all for now. More pictures and updates to come. Thanks for reading
-A

Day 5 Race: Grand Prix de Chambéry

My first race in Europe was quite the experience. Chris, our director, made things very stress free so that was good. We all kitted up and put on our radios and headed out for a warm-up lap. The course was only 8km long and took about 20minutes to ride. The weather wasn’t ideal when we first woke up, but by the time 13:30 roller around, the sun was out and it was almost perfect. There was a slight headwind on the downhill section, but not a huge deal.

Clouds looming in the hills. It didn’t rain, but felt like it was going to.

There were quite a few teams represented in the race. Jeannie Longo was there. Team Bigla and Team ESGL 93 were two of the big UCI teams with full squads. The race started off tamer than I was expecting. I made sure to get to the front fast though, especially since the downhill was first. I was nervous being in a big unfamiliar peloton, but did a decent job at keeping my position. I got a gap on the first lap going around some corners, but just kept my effort low so I didn’t wear myself out. No one really chased. This put me at the front of the pack for the first time up the hill. I was able to stay up at the front the first lap. Nothing exciting happened until the 3rd lap. Some girls attacked and got a gap. There were 5 in the front group. I latched on to Jeannie Longo’s wheel along with another girl. We spent a little bit of time trying to catch up with the first 5, but finally made contact. The group was strong and the two biggest teams were represented. By the end of the first lap, we had 40 seconds on the field. Sweet! My teammates were doing some blocking, along with the other teams. I took some pulls, but tried not to work too hard. I was dying on the hill. Almost every lap up it with the break I would get gapped off and have to chase back on down the hill. It was tiring. I held on with the break until the last lap. I got gapped again and couldn’t close the gap because they were attacking the crap out of each other. I put it in TT mode and rode the rest of the lap alone. There were two girls ahead of me about 50meters, but I couldn’t close the gap. I was toast. Anyway, I pulled off an 8th place out of a field of 70 starters. It was an awesome experience and I can’t wait until the next race to learn some more. Here’s the results from the top 10.

1 VZESNIAUSKAITE Modesta Bigla Cycling Team Uci 2:08:16
2 CANTELE Noemie Bigla Cycling Team Uci 0:00:00
3 BRÄNDLI Nicole Bigla Cycling Team Uci 0:00:00
4 LONGO CIPRELLI Jeannie A S Palais Sport Alpex 0:00:00
5 CREUX Sophie Esgl 93 – G S D Gestion 0:00:00
6 MAJERUS Christine Esgl 93 – G S D Gestion 0:00:38
7 MUFFAT Alexia Chambéry Cyclisme Compétition 0:01:08
8 MILLER Amanda U S A 0:01:14
9 BAUD Stephanie Asptt Dijon 0:05:24
10 BIDEAU Sandrine Esgl 93 – G S D Gestion

On the way back, Tom-Tom (the GPS), took us on some back roads. Talk about awesome scenery! Here’s some photos.

That’s all I have right now. Thanks for stopping in!
-A