Champions Are Made in the Off-Season

Welcome to the off-season.

While cyclocross is in full swing, many of us are about to begin or have already started our off-season training for the '10 season.

For those of you starting indoor training, check out resources on thesufferfest web site. The video feed is down due to copyrights issues, but click here for "Spinning and Indoor Cycling" page. You'll find fun links to podcasts, play lists, videos, and other cycling resources. Hopefully this will help pass the time while sitting for countless hours on the trainer.

Build your base now so that you're successful in the Spring.

Train Hard and Stay Strong!

- Sisterhood of Dirt

Race Across The Sky: Leadville Trail 100

October 22, 2009. Mark your calendars. Buy your tickets. Because it's only being shown one evening.

Word of the documentary has been buzzing in the cycling community. The film primarily focuses on Lance Armstrong and Dave Wiens as they race to win the one of the most epic endurance mountain bike events in the United States. (Yeah, epic is the most overly used term in cycling, but it was pretty fitting for that sentence ;-)

Click here to find your nearest theater. Hopefully we'll catch a glimpse of some of our local dirt sisters like Rebecca Sauber who finished in 10:47:54.4 and earned style points by sporting her favorite shade of lipstick the entire race, Patti Schmidt-Iverson (11:16:33.2), and Cathy Bergin (11:37:33.1).

Cold Enough for Ya Yet?

Ah yes. We knew it would happen inevitably. A curtain of cold that clamps the summer door shut.

Need a little push to get out there and ride although the temps are plummeting?

Here's some motivation (and riding soundtrack) from pro rider, Kyia Anderson:

It was the only thing that could motivate me to pound the leg speed workout this a.m.....

Read more

Throw Down at the MN/WI Border

Who's taking the trophy home this year? Last year Wiscowsin grabbed the honors. Boo. Come on, Minnesota ladies: REPRESENT! Help bring that trophy home!

Border Battle Traveling Trophy

A traveling trophy has been created for the Border Battle. This trophy will be presented to either WORS or MNSCS officials for display at their events. The trophy is intended to designate which state has the fastest mountain bike racers for that year.....

Read more on the MNSCS event page

Ore To Shore

Minnesota pros, Kyia Anderson and Jenna Reinhart snagged podium spots at the Ore To Shore this past weekend. Kyia's got the recap:

Perfect weather for racing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan yesterday morning. Around 6 a.m. a good storm rolled in and wet down the course nicely and firmed up the many sand pits and loose rocky climbs. This was a real bonus as I think it helped with the iron ore dust and sped up the race times as well....

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(as told by Kyia Anderson, Cannondale, Professional Mountain Bike Racer)

Rider Profile: Janet Frank Atkinson.

One of the features of the sisterhoodofdirt blog is rider/racer profiles. For this post, we took the easy route and linked up a Q&A with Janet Frank Atkinson from Peace Coffee's newsletter, Peace Spokes.

We are looking for riders to feature. If you are willing to be profiled, or know someone who would be a great candidate, please email us.

In the mean time:

Whether it's flying down a rocky hillside on a mountain bike, mixing it up in the peloton, or pushing the limits of endurance in a triathlon, Peace Coffee Racers are there, setting the pace. From group rides to world championship events, the PCR crew has logged some serious miles, seen a few podiums, and spread the gospel of a fully-caffeinated outdoor lifestyle along the way. This month’s featured Peace Coffee Racer is Janet Atkinson, a 36-year-old sport class mountain bike racer. Read more.

Local Bikes, Bonding, Bonfire Weekend with Specialized Bicycles

UPDATE 8/7: This event will be rescheduled due to the weather. New date will be posted soon.

Specialized Bicycles, in partnership with Minnesota Off Road Cyclists (MORC), is sponsoring a woman's demo weekend event at Murphy Hanrehan Park next weekend: August 7th and 8th.

Come on out to the mountain bike trails located in Savage, MN to demo a nice fleet of rides and meet fellow dirt sisters.

Janet Frank Atkinson is teaching a clinic about core training and the importance it plays in cycling at 6:00 on Friday evening. Despite what the link states, Janet is a personal trainer, not a personal trailer. The folks at Specialized must have had single track on their minds when they created the copy...

Beer sampling (preregistration required) and bike maintenance clinics round out the weekend. Camping is also available.

Additional info listed on the link below:

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:31425.2193760915/rid:1a957278b9a28f93c83adf6834e0cfe4

Sign up with Corrie Berrigan via email at coriemtbiker@yahoo.com

24/9

Sending positive vibes to the MN women racing 24/9 this weekend:

12-Hour Women Solo
Rebecca Sauber

12-Hour Duo Open
Sara Bisso of Coed Team: Who's Watching the Baby

Casey Ellis of Coed Team: Worst Honeymoon Ever

12-Hour Duo
Beckie Alexender and Kristi Olson

12-Hour 3-4 Person Women's Team
Team: Boxes Up Ladies
Nicole Wolf
Kim Wapola
Dana Buddenbaum
Julie Denning

Big Weekend of Races

This weekend is chocked full of many dirt races to choose from.

July 11, WEMS Levis/Trow 100
July 11, Fallen Oak Duathlon at Hillside City Park in Elk River, MN
July 12, MNSCS Memorial Classic in Red Wing, MN.......fun single track and the Stairway to Heaven awaits you ;-)

Pick one! Or come on out, spectate, and cheer on your fellow dirt sisters.

WORS Firecracker Race Recap

Lots of Minnesota women headed over to Wisconsin to race in the WORS Firecracker.

Kyia provides her race recap:

I felt great off the line, a rider from Ontario took the lead and then around the next turn I went to the front. I didn't think it was an attack, just going to the front. I did a few turns on the pedals and looked back to see at least 10 bike lengths to the group! Hmmm, not what I was expecting. What is someone to do when they have the lead, GOOOOOOOO!! So I did....

Read more
(as told by Kyia Anderson, Cannondale, Professional Mountain Bike Racer)

Bluff Rider's Charge Recap (MNSCS)

There are two courses in the Minnesota series where I gave up last year. This happens to be one of those problem places where I just didn't think I could continue on. I fell down in some mud and was just generally tired so I quit.

Fast forward to this year where I am not willing to just quit. Now I am not going to lie and say those thoughts don't pass through my head during parts of the ride but the difference this year is that I refuse to act on them. Heading up the hill the second time I was questioning why I actually paid money to do this???

Read more
(as told by Desta Meyer, Silver Cycling, Sport class)

Trail Run. Mountain Bike. Trail Run.

Looking for a dirt duel?

Check out the Fallen Oak Duathlon at Hillside City Park in Elk River, MN on Saturday, July 11.

Link to PDF of flyer.

There's a couple categories to choose from: Go solo or team up with a buddy (one person runs the trail; the other completes the biking portion).

The trail is a blast. And the SWAG is always pretty sweet.

Wooly Mammath Race, WI

Being it a big week of training I decided against the WORS Cup and instead focused on two leg wrecker sessions on Friday and a Time Trial on Saturday, Intervals early a.m. Sunday and now it looks like a good 3 hour ride in the rain again!

The Wooly Mamoth MTB race in St. Croix Falls, WI fit perfectly for the timed Time Trial on the training schedule so we packed up the car Saturday morning and headed over to western WI for a noon race start....

Read more
(as told by Kyia Anderson, Cannondale, Professional Mountain Bike Racer)

John Muir Race Recap

Saturday was my first endurance race of the year. I did a 6 hour race at John Muir in the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest of WI. Going into it I was really nervous because of my race performance the last two weeks but things turned out much better than anticipated.

I didn't really know what to expect of the course because I've only ridden there once and couldn't really remember the trail. It was fun and fast with some good, short little hills and some fun windy, singletrack....

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(as told by Valerie Dosland, unattached, Sport class)

Dirt Spanker Recap (MNSCS)

The Dirt Spanker was my third race sport race this year. Same objectives as always were met. My brother has told me that now my goals needs to be upgraded from finishing, not being last, and not crashing.... So I suppose now I need to work on pushing through and finishing not last in my age group. In my defense, there are some really strong riders racing sport in the 19-34 age group. This is after all about progress not perfection........

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(as told by Desta Meyer, Silver Cycling, Sport class)

WORS Trek Big Ring Classic Race Recap

Ahhhh! Another fun race at Nine Mile Forest. Made great memories there last summer, and now we've got some new ones.

You wouldn't think it was June. Temps in the 40s on race day. Looking back at the race pics (I wore my fleece lined foul weather jersey and fleece lined tights!), you'd think we were racing in the middle of November.....

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(as told by Janet Frank Atkinson, Peace Coffee Racing, Sport class)

Afton Alps Race Recap

I spied both new and familiar faces as I toed the line with the women’s sport field.

There was Kristen “Koz” Kosloske (who would race to fifth in her age group), and fresh sport racer, Jordan Horner (third in age group) standing together, quietly starring ahead watching as the mens waves cleared one-by-one in age groups.

Beckie Alexander (third in age group) and Janna Krawczyk (first overall) soon rolled up, rounding out the women’s field to eighteen racers strong.......

Read more
(as told by Janet Frank Atkinson, Peace Coffee Racing, Sport class)