NorCal Cycling News – Cycling and Racing in Northern California

Lindsay Myers has moved quickly through the cycling world.  She started out her pro career with Webcor last year but an early season injury set back her ambitions.  Going into 2011 she refocused her efforts and had a fantastic early season in Europe.  She’s one of our NorCal picks to light up the Philly Women’s Liberty Classic and Nature Valley Grand Prix the next two weeks.

Tell us about how last year unfolded – you were picked up by a great team (Webcor), got injured, and then the team folded at the end of the year.  That is a lot to handle as a first year pro!

Going into 2010, I was so excited to be on Webcor.  I was psyched to be working with such accomplished and professional women.  I crashed at Redlands on the first lap of the first stage, maybe 5k after I made a stupid attack–pretty bad start with my first professional team.  I was able to start riding the trainer pretty soon after and made it back for Joe Martin.  I wasn’t really fit enough again to really help the team until Nationals and Cascade–the last race on the calendar and when we were told that the team was going to fold at the end of the year.

I went back to school in the Fall, took 20 credits each quarter, and applied to Physical Therapy school for the following year.

What were the advantages of joining a major women’s program like Webcor?

What I really appreciated about Webcor last year were the women I was able to learn from.  I spent a lot of time training with Katheryn Mattis and having her as a mentor that year was huge.  At Nature Valley I shared a host house with Amber Neben and really grew to admire and respect her more than I already had as a World Champion.

How is your year shaping up now?

I am on a new team from the East Coast this year, Danbury Audi.  We had a good run at Redlands and we’re focusing mostly on some of the big races on the East Coast, Philly and Nature Valley.

In NorCal, the club from my hometown, Chico Corsa, was generous enough to help me out with regional races.  They’re a great group of extremely supportive people and it’s awesome to be a part of that still.

And your breakout ride at Redlands got you some extra attention…

Early in the year, I was invited to race a stage race in the Czech Republic with the National Team.  After Redlands, there were some roster changes and they needed another rider for the whole Spring block.  So I headed over earlier to do a stage race in Holland and several one days.

I’ve got a pretty sweet gig going.

And one of those “one days” just happened to be La Fleche!

Whoa!  Fleche was so awesome.  The women’s race is held at the same time as the men’s, so the crowds are huge.  Attrition was the name of the game for that race as there were quite a few climbs before we actually got to the Huy.  We went up the Huy twice, the second time was the finish.  I didn’t notice it too much at the time, but it was SO loud going up the Huy with people cheering. I remember trying to yell at a girl moving backwards to move over and not even being able to hear myself yell.

The first time up the Huy pretty much made the selection, it was only about 30k from there with one short climb.  We were working that day for Kristin McGrath, who pulled off 10th.

It was such a great experience, definitely one of the greatest I’ve had in cycling.

Following your one day races you pulled out the biggest result yet at Gracia-Orlova winning the Best Young Rider competition.

Gracia was awesome.  I didn’t know I had that in me.  Chilling in the gutter for 3 hours every day in Holland I think paid off.  The race definitely catered to me more with the first stage finishing up an 8k climb and the second stage finishing on a steep, cobbled kicker after four pretty serious climbs.  I was trying not to be too negative, but I was fully anticipating moving down in GC going into the 26k flat and windy TT.  I went the hardest I’ve ever gone in a TT and moved up three spots in GC and got young rider.  The last stage was cold, wet and pretty uneventful.  My teammates did an awesome job of covering moves and giving me a wheel to follow.

The Czech Republic was interesting.  I don’t think I’ll ever go back there for tourism.

When you say the Czech Republic is interesting do you mean interesting like the Mona Lisa or interesting like Euro pro hair gel?

Interesting like stage one starting on what we were pretty sure was a nuclear power plant on the border of Poland and Czech Republic, like the absence of fresh produce, like getting stare downs from the passengers of any car that passed us while training.  We had just come from cycling enthusiastic countries like Holland and Belgium, I don’t think Czech knew what to do with us.

Like a lot of elite women you came into the sport relatively late, when did cycling enter the picture?

My Dad was awesome in that he introduced me to the more non competitive outdoor sports like backcountry skiing, backpacking, running, cycling and mountain biking.  I didn’t really run with cycling until my freshman year of college when I got hooked up with Team Swift and Laura Charameda.

I swam a little when I was younger and was a pretty serious flag football player in high school.  I actually got a small college scholarship for flag football.

I had know idea there was even flag football scholarships!  Did you play old school grid iron style?

Yea!  I was the defense captain one year.  I didn’t take it nearly as seriously as some of the girls, it was a lot of fun.  I wasn’t that good, my best friend’s Dad was the coach, so maybe it was just nepotism…

Laura Charameda is a an old school pro! That must have come in handy as you have progressed through the ranks and moved up to racing in Europe.

One of the things that Laura really emphasized and has always stuck with me is doing something to be part of the race, not just pack fodder.  She mentored the first crit I did a couple years ago at Merco.  After the race she said we had nothing to talk about because I didn’t do anything.  Laura taught me how to be a bike racer–I’m really fortunate she has taken time take me under her wing the last couple years.

It feels like you have packed a lot into a short amount of time this year, what have you got left on your agenda?

I’m still trying to swing both school and racing.  For the rest of this season I want to help my team (Danbury Audi) get some good finishes at the races coming up that are typically sprint finishes, then focus on U23 Nationals and Cascade.

2012 is a long ways away.  I want to be racing for a strong team and be continuing towards Physical Therapy school.  I also want to come home to NorCal sometime soon and let my parents know that I love them.

Time to think on your feat! Who is funnier Hernando or Beth Newell?

Definitely a duo that require each other.

WRONG! – It’s Beth unless Hernando’s underwear is too tight

IF THEY WERE SESAME STREET CHARACTERS WHO WOULD THEY BE?

I never watched Sesame Street much when I was younger, so I had to consult Wikipedia for a list of characters.

Hernando:  Count von Count–[The Count is number-obsessed, and craves counting with a single-focused passion. He has lavender-fleece skin, bat-shaped ears, a flat black hairpiece, a red spade tongue, and wears caped formal wear. Nelson based the Count's character and exaggerated European accent on Bela Lugosi's Count Dracula. An "impressive crack of thunder and flash of lightening", along with his trademark laugh, accompany his counting]

Beth:  Zoe–[Introduced to increase the number of strong female characters on Sesame Street, Zoe is "simultaneously dainty and strong, practical and impulsive".  She loves dancing and ballet, and usually wears a bright tutu]