Amanda Miller

Fitchburg, Utah, etc.

Sorry for the lack of post. After Fitchburg, I was super busy and didn’t find the time or energy to finish my race recaps.

Our guest rider, Evelyn Stevens, maintained her lead on the last day of Fitchburg. It was a criterium, so all we really had to do was make sure major threats didn’t go up the road. We controlled the race pretty well and it came down to a sprint finish. It was really awesome to be working for the yellow jersey. After Fitchburg was over, I fly back to Colorado. I hadn’t been “home” for a month. It was nice to be back in town and not living out of a suit case. The first week I was back, I worked everyday. Time to play catch up .

The second week I spent in Snowbird, Utah at the Specialized Dealer Show. I got to see all the new 2010 product. It’s pretty freakin’ awesome! Specialized really stepped it up this year (not that they were lacking, but 2010 is going to knock your socks off).

Also, I am now riding a 2010 Specialized Amira prototype frame. It is sweet! The Amira is essentially going to be the women’s Tarmac. Super stiff and light weight. I’ll write about it more another day.

While in Utah, I attended classes. When I wasn’t in class, I was riding, of course. I rode the Amira one day while I was there. Being at a ski resort, our riding options were pretty limited. So one day I headed 14km down the mountain, turned around, and rode back up. I kept going passed where I started and went until the road ended at a campground. Snowbird sits at around 8500feet. Not sure what I climbed up to, but the views were AMAZING! I spent a majority of my time riding the mountain bike trails. Why? Well, I needed a break from the road bike and the trails weren’t as limited as the road riding. One day I spent some time exploring the high country. This little taste of mountain biking is making me want to hop on the mountain bike again SOON! I demoed at 2010 S-Works Era (comparable to the Epic) – amazing bike. I also rode the new S-Works 29er. Sweet ride, but 29er’s aren’t for me. I do like the new SRAM XX groupo though! Here’s some pictures, because my words won’t do any justice (not that pictures really will either…but I’ll try ).

My ride for the week – 2009 S-Works Safire. I raced this bike a few times last fall. Super fun bike!

Ah…the views! I wanna go up there! And yes, I found a way!

Looking back down the valley at the resort.

Most of the trails I rode were double track or fire roads, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun or a work out!
The view from the pass I rode up on my exploring day. Breath taking!

Ya…all smiles!

The tunnel I came out of.

So where am I now? I am in Bend, Oregon at the Cascade Cycling Classic. I’ll be here until August 1st. Elite Road Nationals is also here in Bend. I’ll try to post race re-caps as often as possible. As for now, here’s a few pictures of Oregon.

It’s pretty here too.

The newest addition to Black Betty…Miss Piggy.

And that’s a wrap. Check back for race reports soon! Good night!
-A

Fitchburg Road Race (Stage 3)

Today’s stage was a 105km road race. It was 6 laps of an 18km loop. We started and finished in different places. The start was downhill, and the rest of the lap was essentially all downhill until the last 2km climb up to the finish. The sun was out, and it was a beautiful day minus the wind. Things were relatively calm throughout the race. We (LipSmacker) tried to be aggressive and threw down some attacks to make other teams work. Coming into today’s stage, our rider Evelyn Stevens was 1st place by 1 second over Team Type 1’s Alison Powers. So we definitely had our work cut out for us. None of the breaks were sticking due to the nature of the course and the wind. With 2 laps to go, Toni got off the front with 3 other riders. This group quickly gained quite a bit of time on us. At one point, they had 2 minutes. Sweet! There was a bit of mis-communication that happened about who was in the break. The lead rider in the break was 1:22 down in G.C. At the top of the climb on the last lap, 8 riders put a gap on the rest of the field. By this point, the field wasn’t any bigger than 40 riders. The 8 rider group included some key G.C. riders, including Evelyn. She was the only LipSmacker rider though, so Jessica, Anne, and I pushed the pace to close the gap. Anne was 10 seconds down on 1st place G.C. coming into today’s stage. Once we finally made contact, we realized the group had caught 3 of the 4 riders from the break. Andrea Dvorak of Colavita was still up the road. She was the rider 1:22 back from the lead in G.C. So Jessica, Toni, and I went to the front and drilled it to decrease the gap. Once we hit the final 2km to the finish, we could see the rider up the road. I had started to fade a ways before the 2km sign. Fortunately, Anne and Evelyn were still in the group. I lost contact once we hit the climb and just rode in. Evelyn pulled off 2nd place!! Andrea Dvorak won the stage. Not sure of the final time gap that she had on the field though. Anne place in the top 10 as well. I haven’t seen final results yet. But Evelyn is still in the yellow jersey, and won a 5 second time bonus for 2nd place in the stage. Sweet!! This has been an awesome race for us as a team. It’s really cool to be able to do all this team work and see results. Tomorrow is a 25mile criterium, roughly an hour long. More to come afterwards!! Thanks for reading! Bonne nuit!
-A

Fitchburg Circuit Race (Stage 2)

Today’s stage was a 55km circuit race. Our race was 11 laps of the 5km (3.1mi) circuit. The course wasn’t too technical. It seemed like most of it was downhill, except for the finish. The finish was a pretty significant hill. The first 100meters of the hill were big-ringable. Then it flattened out some. The last 200meters were pretty steap and not as big-ringable. Our goal for the day was to move Evelyn up in the G.C. Coming into the stage she was 4 seconds down from the lead. We were very aggressive throughout the race. All of us attacked. The lead group was whittled down to 54 riders by the end. We started with 113 riders. No attacks were able to stay on this course. The wind and the downhill were too big of a factor. On the last lap, Jeannie Longo pushed the pace over the hill and a small group got off the front. Evelyn was in it. It didn’t stick, as ValueAct and some other riders pulled it back. We caught them on the straight-away before the right hand turn up the hill. I was sitting 4th wheel and as I passed Evelyn, told her to hop on. Colavita’s Tina Pic jumped hard at the base of the hill. I was 2nd, but there was no way I could close that gap. I gave it my all until I could barely turn over the pedals. I hit the 200meter sign and didn’t think anyone was going to come around me. I tried to dig deep but had nothing left. Soon enough, I saw Evelyn and Jen McRae coming around me, along with quite a few other riders. Evelyn got 3rd, taking a 3 second time bonus. Also, the lead 3 riders had a gap on the rest of the field, and the officials gave them a 2 second gap. This gave Evelyn 5 seconds ahead of the leader. So now she is in the yellow jersey. AWESOME! Anne is still 3rd, just 10 seconds down. I came across the line for 13th place and moved up in G.C. to 19th. We have 4 riders in the top 10 now. Everyone rode super well today. We came in with a plan and goal, executed it perfectly, and walked away with our desired results . Tomorrow is a big day. We are all going to have to race hard and smart. It’s a 67 mile road race. Until then!! Thanks for reading!
-A

Fitchburg TT (Stage 1)

We woke up to thunder showers this morning. It’s been raining off an on since we arrived yesterday afternoon. Still haven’t seen the sun. My start time for the TT wasn’t until 1:40pm. We headed off to the course just before 11:00am. By the time we got there, the rain had stopped and the pavement was dry. Sweet! It sprinkled off and on while I was warming up, but nothing significant. About 20minutes before my start, fog started to move in. It was pretty thick! Visibility was really bad – maybe 200meters or so. I got in a pretty good warm up (or so I thought). I was on the rollers for 45minutes and felt that my legs were loosened up. I headed to the start pretty early (7 minutes) just in case. I didn’t want to show up with 15 seconds to spare like Nature Valley. Stood around, got my bike checked, and soon enough I was being held on the ramp for the start. Off I went. The course was rolling. Everything was big-ringable. The hills weren’t steep by any means, just gradual. There were some pretty fast downhill sections. The pavement was rough in spots. Most of the course was blocked by the wind from the trees. It was a beautiful course, even though I couldn’t see much of it. We drove it last night so I knew what it looked like without the fog J. I never found my rhythm during the TT. I couldn’t get comfortable. I forgot to tilt my saddle up a little and kept sliding way forward on it. But I just couldn’t find the right gear to push. My mind was all over the place. I kept thinking about the course, dodging potholes and rough sections, thinking about how I couldn’t get into the rhythm. I was focused on my breathing, but couldn’t push my legs hard enough. I never felt the burn. Anyway, I finished with a 21:02:91 in 21st place. We put 4 of our 8 riders in the top 11…SWEET! Our guest rider Evelyn Stevens, finished 2nd just 4 seconds off Alison Powers lead. Anne finished 3rd, Carla 7th, and Jessica 11th. This is super awesome. We are all excited to race the next 3 days. There’s no internet at our host house, so I’ll try and hop into a coffee shop with updates. If not, I’ll be keeping a journal on my computer and upload this later. Thanks for reading!

-A