NorCal Cycling News – Cycling and Racing in Northern California

Editor: Brooke Miller retired at the end of the 2010 season after what she described as two poor years.  In 2007 and 2008 Miller was winning all kinds of domestic races, and putting in big finishes when racing in Europe.  Her 2008 was capped off with not one but two National Championships.  Miller provides a very personal perspective on what a championship can mean after one stops racing full time and how cycling goals can collide with real life.

Where and wehn did you win a championship?

2008 Road and Crit Championships, Irvine CA

How did the race go down?

(Honestly- would be best to read race reports… the road race was a boring race that i can’t recall well, and my abbreviated crit description will probably lose some of the action from the time it happened.)

- Cycling News: 2008 Road Race

- Cycling News: 2008 Crit

2008 Road Race: Our team kept the race together – i was supposed to be following Laura Van Guilder and Tina Pic.  Mara and Lauren attacked on the last climb and Laura and Tina went to bridge across, so i sat on them.  That brought the field back together.  It was 1k to the  last corner with a slight uphill sprint – I can’t actually remember who went first, Tina or I, but I had an awesome sprint.

2008 Crit:  SUPER exciting race.  TIBCO attacked hard and then with two laps to go set up an awesome leadout, but it was super sneaky. Our intent was to set it up, have kat caroll attack with 1 lap to go and try and have her solo to the finish. We figured we would use the leadout as a decoy.  It worked and she had a great attack that caught the field off guard but she was reeled in.  Lauren took me to the second to last corner and I knew the sprint was to the final corner.  I jumped HARD into the final corner and sprinted full gas into it.  I half expected to crash, but there were haybails and they don’t hurt when you crash into them, at least that was my logic.  I knew i had to do it to win. I beat Tina to the corner and she had to pull on her breaks and she ended up 5th or so.  It was an exciting sprint and I was euphoric.

Where did these wins stack in your list of victories?

They were career highs in hind sight. Because i had been so focused on international competition (World Championships and National Team Projects) I didn’t let myself get too excited at the time,  I had simply done my job.  It seemed like it was a step along the path to my bigger goals.  It did not sink in for about 6 months, it felt like a dream or a delusion.  It was hard for me to realize that i had won something that really was a big deal.  Because I had put these bigger goals out in front of me, i didn’t linger emotionally and didn’t get too excited.  it was only with hind-sight that it all came into focus as being a big accomplishment.  Just thinking about it now, for every race that i won, there were a hundred or so riders who wish that they won.  That level of competition is even more telling in the national championships.

In terms of where it stacks with my other race wins, it is hard to compare.  Each one is different and special for a whole host of different reasons.  I can point to the 2007 Cherry Pie Crit, a local race, that in a lot of ways had a bigger impact on me psychologically than the national championships.  But, of course, cherry pie was not very important in terms of my career.  or the indo grand prix- i took second- but my dad had collapsed and siezed before the race and was taken away in an ambulance.  my mom told me to go on and race and i did.  he made it back in time to cheer and i heard him around the halfway point.  all races are apples and oranges and so you cannot easily compare one victory to another.

Do you have any memories that stand out from before or after the race?

After the race, I saw my husband.  We had just agreed, after two years of heartache, to divorce.  He came to watch, flying out from Cleveland, after I had left a month before.  He was crying with joy for me, and I started crying too.  It is hard to even let myself remember it without being flooded with emotions.

Did you get treated different when you wore the jersey the following year?

Absolutely, and it was not always good.  I had a pretty poor season in 2009, I was finalizing a divorce in 2008, the hardest thing that I have ever been through, especially since I loved him and he loved me.  We had an amicable divorce, but I was breaking the heart of someone i loved, respected, and admired.  No matter how much i knew it was the right decision, it was painful.   It had been a two year process, and through it the bike was my safety and my escape.  I ran away from the pain on my bike.

The start of 2009 had two things that set the stage for a bad season. I had serious asthma and because I was in the out of competition drug testing program, I could not use any inhalers, even when I was training.  It took me four months before I received approval from USADA to use treatments.  As a result my winter training was horrible and i suffered badly.  The second thing that happened was that I no longer needed my bike as a way to run form my emotions.  The bike held a different role for me, it was business and 100% goal driven.  i still trained just as hard, although not effectively since i could not breathe, but there was something different.

Well – now that i had the jersey, everyone was watching me and expecting me to always win.  The problem was my health and emotions were not even keel.  The most humiliating moment on my bike was finishing red lantern in a flat stage i was supposed to win out in qatar while wearing the Stars and Stripes.  I had not been able to sleep at night with my asthma, and my racing reflected that, but i could not hide from people watching the race when i was wearing that jersey.

 

I’d like to think our inspirational Natz stories are making the NorCal riders climb to higher and higher heights, but really the NorCal contingen is just kicking ass. Performances so fare have been strong…

• 1st Men 13-14 Road Race – Robbie Farrens
• 1st Men 13-14 Time Trial – Jack Maddux
• 2nd Men 13-14 Time Trial - Adrien Costa
• 2nd Women U23 TT - Jerika Hutchinson
• 3rd Mens Elite TT – Jesse Moore
• 3rd Mens U23 TT – Eamon Lucas
• 5th Women’s Elite TT – Ali Starnes
• 5th Womens U23 TT - Maura Kinsella
• 5th Men 13-14 RR - Adrien Costa

Also…looks like our winter interloper, Pascale Schnider, won the Swiss championship.

 

Editor: James Mattis is a long time NorCal racer having been part of such seminal programs as Chris Horner’s Webcor year, and the current amateur powerhouse California-Giant Strawberries. Mattis holds down a full time Silicon Valley job while riding at the highest level.  Below is the story of his 2008 road race victory in Irvine, California.

Where and when did you win your Stars and bars?

2008 Elite Road Race in Irvine, CA.

How did it go down?

Large break of 20 went about 3 laps (out of 7-8 I can’t remember) into the race. From that break, first there was a four rider break with two of my team mates in it (Jesse Moore and Steve Reaney) that stayed away for a lap and forced some of the stronger riders in the race to chase.  I attacked after that and brought my team mate Andy Jacques-Maynes, and veteran Thurlow Rodgers with us.  We held the remainder of the break at 60-90 seconds for the last lap and a half. Andy & I took turns attacking Thurlow in the final 2 k of the race, with Thurlow finally unable to follow at the base of the short climb to the finish with 600 m to go. Soloed to win by 8 seconds, with Andy in 2nd. Steve sprinted for 4th, Jesse 7th or 8th I think. We also took the bunch sprint with Ken Hansen for 16th or so.

Where does it stack in you list of victories?

Probably the biggest win of my career, though I did win a race in Belgium which is pretty big too (even though it was just a little Kermesse, winning a European race is not very common for US riders).

Any memories that stand out after winning?

I remember most of the race quite clearly. I guess one of the most interesting post race anecdotes was about Thurlow Rodgers. He came up to congratulate me as I was waiting for drug control and noted that he had a pretty good day today himself, but not quite as good a day as he had about 25 years ago in another important road race (the 1984 Olympic Road Race in nearby Mission Viejo where he took 6th and Alexi Grewal won).

Did you get any perks from your victory?

Not much changed really. I thought the jersey would insure a nice call up at some of the more important races (particularly Nevada City), and it just didn’t seem to help. I did get a ton of congratulations from riders at my first big race following Nationals (Tour of Utah).

 

Ed. Note: In 2004 Webcor was still a regional NorCal team with a few promising riders.  Karen Brems (1994 World TT Champion) saw a familiar spark in Christine Thorburn and helped prepare her for the 2004 Time Trial.  T-Mobile was the dominant player in women’s cycling at the time and they fully expected to stack the podium with riders like Dede Demet and Kristin Armstrong.  Thorburn, Brems, and Thorburns eventual husband, Ted Huang, had other plans….

Where and when did you win?

2004 US Elite National TT Championships (also 2004 US Olympic Trials)

How did it go down?

Christine Thorburn: I felt I had given it everything in the TT, and it helped having Karen Brems (my director and mentor) talking in my radio with encouragement and Kim Boester getting me to sprint the final 100m from the road cheering me on.  As Ted notes, I was

Ted Huang: One of the early riders to race the time trial (no history of doing the national TT and thus not seeded later) and thus Christine was on the edge of her seat as all of the favorite riders (all on T-Mobile) finished, each falling short of Christine’s time.

Christine Thorburn: Actually, I went for a cool-down ride with Kim because I knew it would drive me crazy to sit there waiting, and if I didn’t win, I had to be ready for the road race in 2 days for my second chance of making the Olympic team.

Where does it stack in your list of victories?

Absolutely, the best.

Do you have any memories that stand from the race?

I remember the surprised look the national team coach (and then T-Mobile Team Director) gave me when he saw that I had a proper TT bike and gear before starting the race (they had no idea I had prepped specifically for this event), and I remember riding back from my cool-down ride with Kim B and seeing Karen B jumping up and down as we approached and slowly realizing that I had accomplished my goal of qualifying for the Olympics by winning that time trial!  I remember waking up the next morning still with a grin plastered across my face.  I still have a small framed photo of me standing on top of the podium that day with all T-Mobile women surrounding me with the most genuine of smiles across my face.

Were you treated differently when raced with the jersey the following year?

After coming back from the Olympics and finishing 4th there in the TT, I was no longer an underdog.  I was treated with more respect but also with more expectation for results.  Since I won the TT and not the road race, I had limited opportunities to wear the TT champ skin suit, but everyone knew what that championship had brought me in qualifying for the Olympics.  It was noticeable when racing in Europe for the first time.

Elite men and women cyclists will be lining up in Augusta Georgia to battle it out for various US Championship titles this week. In order to get our local folks psyched up to race and watch so we will interview as many champs produced in NorCal as we can get our hands on.   The first in this series is with Katheryn Curi Mattis who retired last year after a daring break in the Wold Championship road race.  Curi Mattis served as a faithful lieutenant for man of the top women cyclists of the last ten years including Jeanson, Thorburn, and Armstrong.  Despite being in a support role Curi-Mattis was hard and opportunistic racer that busted out several huge wins including a US National Championship in 2005.

Where and when did you win?

2005, Park City, UT, US Elite Women’s Nationals Road Race

How did it go down?
See the attachment for the original race report. [ed note: I'm including at the bottom of this interview for everybody to dig into.

Where does it stack in your list of victories?
Definitely up there next to winning the 2008 Geelong World Cup, a stage at the 2010 Tour de L’Aude and the numerous stage race and race victories I have helped my teammates with.

What do you remember going into the race?
I remember before the race feeling this odd calmness (yet also very excited at the same time), as if I knew I had done all the preparation I could leading into the race and all I had to do was go out and race hard and smart.

Were you treated differently when raced with the jersey the following year?
A bit but my challenge was I had really bad accident in February the following year that took me almost all year to recover from. It was hard for me to be wearing the stars and stripes and not feel like I was myself and able to represent it to the best of my ability.

Original Race Report from Katheryn’s 2005 Victory

The US riders of Webcor would tackle a 75 mile course at altitude, competing for the honor of wearing the Stars and Stripes jersey for the next year. The winner would also earn herself an automatic spot on the World’s team.

Having scoped out the course on Monday, the riders knew that the 15 mile stretch leading the riders out to a 23.2 mile loop, that they would do twice, and then come back on would most likely be the crucial part of the race. The loop itself was almost completely flat yet the 15 mile stretch contained some challenging climbs. It wasn’t necessarily the steepness of the climbs (averaged about 5%) or the length (longest at about 3k) but the fact that the pace up them could be very fast and hard coming back into the finish. Also, coming from sea level the 7,000+ altitude had the team wondering how they would feel when the pace got high. Read the rest of this entry »