Reality Check

Wew...well it has been an interesting couple of days! It all started Wednesday when I really didn't know how i was even going to get to Fitchburg until about 10 minutes before we left. Fortunately Allie from Cheerwine and her team mates were extremely kind and let me hitch a ride. The drive was estimated in mapquest at 5.5 hours and it took us over 7...horrible traffic, etc. O and i found out that the Cheerwine girls could take me there but are not going back to t-town, so somehow i need to find a ride back. I then ended up finding Aimee from the Wolverine womens team and got in the dorm room with her to spend my nights. Even though Aimee is here i'm pretty much on my own because she is racing cat3 and also taking care of 2 junior boys from Canada. But it is nice to be around some local faces.

So it comes time for the Time Trail yesterday and i packed up my messenger back and hit the road for about a 15-20 min ride to the race course. This is where the reality check really comes into play. i realized that i have gone from being a "somebody" back home where i know everyone and things are easy to being a "nobody" with very few connections. I ended up going up to the Rite Aid trailer and telling the strangers there that i knew some of the guys on their team and asked if it was ok to leave my bag there. The weather was looking nasty and i went out to do a warm up because i never ended up hooking up with Aimee to get a trainer. As i was warming up the wind picked up big time and it started spitting hard rain...i headed back to the start area as it started to down pour like crazy. When i went to use my phone (to call one of my few connections to see if he could get me a trainer) it decided to not work at all...perfect! So as all these riders are under covered areas warming up i went into the hotel and tried to stretch and keep moving. This resulted in a horrible, pretty much non existent warm up. The start line brought more reality as some of the women had people holding umbrellas and there ready to take the layers of clothing, but i tried not to be intimidated. The weather calmed down and it stopped raining, leaving wet roads and a bit of a drop in temp. The starters knew the Wolverine name when i rolled to the line and announced me as "coming all the way from MI"! As i started my legs were really feeling the change in temp and the wetness, combined with a pour warm up because they felt like rocks...i thought...O man this is not good. But I pulled through and tried to remember to spin enough to not load my legs. Sarah Ullmar started 30seconds behind me and passed me toward the end and i finished up about 15 feet behind her or so. Following the TT i road back to the start line and went back to the Rite Aid trailer where i picked up my bag, wished the guys good luck and headed back to the dorms where we are staying. I tried to check the results last night but they had not been posted. This morning i was half asleep when Aimee came in to inform me that Julie from back home took 6th in the 3/4 category...then she walked back in and said i had taken 14th...i pretty much fell out of bed after i processed in information, i was not even expecting a top 20 finish. But it was true i found out as i stumbled across the hall to the guys room where they had the computer hooked up. Don't get me wrong, I would have liked to have done better, but for how i felt yesterday i was happy to be in the top 20.

It is sunny and nice this morning and I need to start getting things ready so i can take a nap, etc. in preparation for the circuit race today. The course is pretty nice other than some bad pavement and a nasty hill that i have the privilege of climbing 11 times and sprinting up for the finish...o man...hope my legs are up for this! i'm going to try and get my phone fixed today but who knows what will happen. Thanks again for all the support, i know i have people rooting for me back home!...that is enough to keep me going through anything that comes my way! I LOVE YOU ALL!

Fitchburg

Well, I have tons of stuff to write but not a lot of time, i'm using someone elses ethernet cord. Things are going alright, pretty crazy today. Just a heads up to anyone it concerns...my phone is not allowing me to call out. I did recieve a call from Renee but there is no telling weather it is going to work or not...i'm working on it. Kinda hard with no car, but hope to have it fixed in next few days.

June 28-July 2

Well i'm suppose to leave today for Fitchburg...still not entirely sure that i have a ride but we are pretty sure, so i hope it works out! i register tonight, do a short Time Trial tomorrow, do a circut race friday, a road race saturday, and a criterium sunday before returning to t-town for a few days. Everyone is talking about how hard this race is and how much climbing is involved so it should prove to be rather interesting! Not sure if i will have internet access for the weekend so it may be monday or so before you hear from me again. I LOVE YOU ALL!

Rain

Rain, Rain go away, come again some other day...if you don't I don't care, I'll ride my bike anywhere! It has been awfully wet here ever sense I returned from Rochester NY on sunday. We went for a short easy spin yesterday and got a little wet. It has actually started to dry up a little bit as of right now, it hasn't rained for about the past 2 hours and Speedy said the radar looks like we might actually get the racing in on the track tonight. So I'm hoping to go race the velodrome tonight and then I need to figure out how I'm going to get to Fitchburg and where exactly I'm going to sleep at...ummm. I'm feeling really lazy right now because I haven't been doing much of anything...but Ray said this morning a little off time would be fine, as I have a lot of racing ahead of me. Hopefully I have enough miles and training in to hold me up, I'm feeling like the last few weeks have just been too easy and I might be hurting myself more than anything, but my guess is that the next 3 weeks will test me pretty well! Well, I just heard Speedy pull into the driveway so I need to get ready for the track. Hope all is going well back home and I will continue to try and update ya all. Thanks for all your support! love, kacey

Rochester NY

Buckle up and HANG ON...the germans definitely drive like germans...very fast! We must have averaged at least 90to95mph...and forget about slowing down for any turn, but it did cut down on the travel time! Don't worry mom...i wore my seat belt the whole time! O...I should mention we had to swing by "Speedys" to pick up my bike and while getting it out of the shed a bee started stinging my face...as i ran flailing out of the shed i threw Speedys keys and it took a good 10-15 min. to find them (real good, a guy i hardly know is helping me out big time and i lose his keys...it gets better) Anyhow the destination was Rochester NY for the twilight critirium. The course was awesome and very fun to ride! The womens field must have been at least 50-60 girls and full of pro teams and big names. It was difficult not knowing a lot about the riders because it was hard to determine what attacks to chase or let go. I probably did too much work in the beginning until i decided i had better chill out if i wanted to finish. In the end there was a break of 3 women that i really should have been with, but i ended up taking 4th in the pack sprint and so 7th overall. Top 5 would have been great, but that will just have to wait i guess. The mens pro race after us was crazy fast and awesome to watch! In the mean time i ended up deciding to come back to t-town today because i couldn't get a ride to the Rhode Island crit in time for my race. Speedy and Josh from the Rite Aid team were kind enough to allow me to stay last night with them at the Crown Plaza and then drive me back today. Funny thing is when i got all my stuff out of the Germans car, i was all ready to roll over to the hotel and...darn...where the heck did i put the key to the Germans rental car? Bad luck with the key thing yesterday...ended up searching for 15-20min before finally finding them! Anyhow now i'm back at t-town and staying at Speedys house, which is just a few minutes from the t-town track! I gotta go get the rest of my belongings from the apartment and pick up some food now, so take care everyone!

June 24-25 Plan

Good Morning. Getting ready to leave the apartments for a night. I'm planning to travel with the 2 germans to Rochester, NY this morning to race in a twilight crit there tonight. Then we stay the night there and go to a crit in Rhode Island on Sunday before coming back to the apartment. Bummer that last nights races got cancelled at the track due to a storm rolling in, I was really looking forward to seeing how good the women here were. I may still get a chance to do their training races on Tue...hopfully! Anyhow I need to get ready now so I'll write about what happens the first chance I get.

Thur riding

Well i survived, did about an hour warm up with the 2 germans and then hit the training crit they run across the street from the Velodrome!...was able to hang on the whole time. Basically like the Tue. stoney ride but easier because the group was so big and you could just sit in without doing much work at all. Road the track for a little after that...not as fun as ours back home but it is nice. A storm has just rolled in and right now there is about a dozen of us sitting around on the floor in the apartment chatting. The germans, a spike guy, an australian, and some kids from Texas. The breeze the storm has brought feels amazing after the sticky hotness of today...no air conditioning here. O i forgot to mention there is a train track right by us and about every hour we get a wake up call...guess we will get used to it! Can't complain, just chilling out and riding bikes, eating food, and the Germans have even supplied some quality beverages...recovery carbs that is. I'm tired so i'll write more tomorrow. I LOVE YOU ALL! All your support and words of encouragement really mean a lot and i'm sure that will keep me going!

Topton

Topton is a little, and i mean very little town near trexlertown. Apparently the velodrome has bought or rented some property here and many of the out of town riders are housed here in this apartment complex where i am staying. 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a living room and a kitchen is the set up. Lots of cyclist with bikes everywhere, endless piles of bags, clothes, wheels, tires, etc. Guys with biker tan lines on computer staying in touch or just laying around in bed or on the couch when not on the bike. It is hot and muggy here right now, but actually quite relaxing. Yesterday's ride was an easy spin out after the long car ride and was very enjoyable as the evening breeze rolled in and you could hear nothing but the wheels spinning on the road in a gorgeous farmland area. Today's plans are to ride in a local training crit this evening and then maybe hit the track for a while. Well i'm off to be a bike bum...a nap is sounding really good right about now and i'm going to go lay down!

My plans...

Alright, with one days notice i have decided to leave town and travel with my bike. i left yesterday morning with the Pro Spike track team who brought me to PA. This weeknd i will race at the t-town velodrome in PA. Next week i catch a ride to Massachusetts to ride the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic June28-July2. Back to PA after that and over to Seven Springs where i will race road nationals July 6-8. Following that i hop on a plane to WI to race at the Internationl Cycling Classic "Superweek" July 9-17. Next after that is to head home and train hard on the track to prepare for nationals! This is going to be awesome!