By Andrea Meyers
03/25/2007

I got back from El Salvador on Wednesday and it was so cool to see that you guys were following the race. It was definitely a difficult, awesome experience and our team (and me!) are really pleased with the results. I thought I would give a race report on the week - there were a total of 8 stages, so it will be long.

We stayed at the Alburgue INDES, which is the Olympic training center in San Salvador. They provided all of our meals (beans, rice, pasta, or chicken for basically every meal) and all of our transportation. All of the teams stayed at INDES, and we all rode to the races together in a bus. Traffic in El Salvador is insane - if someone is driving too slow for your liking, you just go into oncoming traffic and pass them. Luckily we had police escorts to get to all of the races, so we just created a 3rd lane in traffic and drove around everyone. My kind of driving :)

So the first day was a one day race called the Grand Prix de Santa Ana. The race plan for today was just to sit in and get a feel for the other riders. It started at a mall and was mainly a flat stage except for about a 8 KM climb in the middle of the race. The tech guide for the race did not reflect the length of this climb and I was totally unprepared for a climb this long. I was overgeared and I got dropped toward the end of the climb, but luckily Megan Elliott came up on me with another girl and we were able to draft through the caravan and catch back on to the pack in the descent. There was a break that formed with an attack on the climb off the front, and when we went around a 180 degree turn girls attacked to try and bridge up. One girl swung into my front wheel as she accelerated, hitting my front wheel with her back wheel. This made a horrible crunching sound and she broke a few spokes and my wheel was very out of true. The transmitter on my bike was also knocked loose (chip timing device attached to the fork) and I had to reach down and grab it out of the way. There was no way I could ride like this, so I had to go back to our car and get a new front wheel. I chased back on and it didn't take too long to catch the group - my teammates went to the front and slowed things down. The breakaway stayed and the race finished on a slight incline and our team's plan was to lead out Kathleen for the finish - it was supposed to go Anna, Megan, me, Hiroko, then Kathleen. We botched the leadout so all of us placed 10-15 or so. After the race we had lunch with the mayor of Santa Ana in the courtyard of city hall - more chicken and rice.

The next day was the beginning of the stage race - it was a 4.2 K prologue that was an out and back - you went up a hill, around a roundabout, and back down. The hill wasn't very steep and you could do the entire TT in aerobars. I woke up that morning feeling like crap. My entire body hurt and I wanted to stay in bed. Kathleen was sick the second day we were there, but I told I was just tired from the day before and ignored it. I did alright in the prologue but definitely did not feel on top of my game - I was glad it was in the morning because I spent the rest of the day in bed with a fever and major stomach problems. Over the next 3 days Montezuma got his revenge on me. We knew going down there not to drink the water or even rinse your toothbrush with it, but I think that our systems were not used to the food, either.

So the next day was another point to point RR that started on the coast. It was an afternoon race, but first they took us to a restaurant at 11 for a pasta feed before the race at 2. A few of us brought our own food because Hiroko and I were both sick and the other girls wanted to be careful. My stomach was in knots the entire time but I told myself that I did not come all the way to El Salvador to do a road race and a prologue. I decided the only way I was dropping out of the race was if I could not pedal anymore and fell off my bike. This race was a day of survival for me - it was all up and down - and I remember wishing for some flat section, but there were not many. The up parts were all like the hills coming up from the Mississippi - imagine climbing up Brother's hill (but longer), descending, and immediately climbing another one (repeat many times). That is what this race was, and I stayed with the pack until we got to the 9 K climb at the end of the race that split everything up. I finished 28th, ecstatic that I finished the stage. We didn't get back to the hotel until later in the evening, and I went straight to bed, hoping I would feel better in the morning.

The next day was the longest stage - 111 K with some climbs and then a long one at the end. I woke up still with stomach problems but not feeling as worn down as the day before. At this point, Anna and Kathleen were our GC girls and they were riding and climbing extrememly well. The plan for today was for the rest of us to race as aggressively as possible to try and wear the other teams out before the long climb (18K) at the end of the stage. Megan attacked within the first 2K of the race, and we just kept the attacks coming throughout the day. Our manager wanted me to sit in at first and see how my legs felt, and I was feeling much better, so I joined in the attacks. I nearly ran down an official on a motorcycle who wasn't paying attention when I attacked at one point - that was a highlight and definitely made me feel better about my riding. The style of riding down there is different than the U.S. - these girls chill out on the flats and wait for the climbs to sort the race out, so our aggressive style definitely surprised some people. When we hit the climb, I was able to stay with the pack until about 4K to go, and I was gapped on an attack. I finished by myself again, but ecstatic about how my legs felt accelerating and on the climbs. Kathleen and Anna got 9th & 10th and Hiroko was right behind them in 16th. We were at the team car when a race official came running up half carrying Megan and her bike - her abdominal and back muscles cramped severely on the climb and she ended up pulling over on the side of the road because of the pain. They took her to a hospital (scary) and treated her for dehydration. Megan was out of the race and it took 2 days for her to feel anywhere near recovered.

The next day was the double day - 9 K TT in the morning, then a circuit race in the afternoon. I woke up that morning on a mission. I finally felt healthy and I was ready to drive myself into the ground. The TT was quite possibly the scariest race I have ever done. The course was open to traffic, with marshals at the turns and blocking some intersections, but when I flew around a turn onto basically Brady Street with no rolling enclosure, I wondered if I had somehow gotten off course. At first I thought that taking up the entire right lane would be safest, but then I saw a course marshal wave me towards the left lane. It is a good thing I moved over (through traffic) or I would have missed the off ramp on the left that was the next turn. At one roundabout, I had to yell at someone to make sure I was going the right way. This TT was a disaster for everyone - people took wrong turns, one of my teammates had to go around a roundabout twice because they did not close the next road to traffic. When I was riding on El Salvadorean Brady Street, I noticed one of the Guatamalan riders on the side of the road, and I thought maybe she had a mechanical or something. She had been hit by a bus. She ended up with fractures of both tibia, 1 femur fracture, and 2 rib fractures. It is hard to express how furious, sad, and scared we all were after this race, and I think the UCI is going to be taking a hard look at the race before ranking it next year.

After the TT, we had 4 hours before the circuit race, which was basically the same course as the TT but with an extra section added on. The plan was the same as the day before - Mandy and I attack like crazy and show those girls why Americans rock at crits - we can corner like no other. We had noticed that these girls took corners slower and we knew we could use that to our advantage. This was the closest thing we had to a crit and we were going to use it to our advantage. It was 5 laps of a 12 K course, and we were to wait to launch anything until the 2nd lap. The course had a lot of false flat into a killer headwind, 2 180 degree turns, some short hills (like highway overpasses), and a lot of fast corners. The first lap was uneventful except that they ran us over these crazy raised rumble strips, which knocked one of my bottles out of the cage, of course it was my Accelerade. I figured it didn't matter and I would be able to get a bottle if I needed it at some point.

At the beginning of the second lap, things were rolling pretty slow and I decided it was time to start the attack. I came up the left side of the pack but couldn't find a good wheel to launch off of, so instead I went to the front, looked around at the girls talking and drinking from their bottles, and attacked as hard as I could. Four girls bridged up to me, and a 5th joined shortly after - we went around a 180 degree turn and saw that we had a good gap on the field. There were 2 Brazillians, a Colombian, a Dutch girl from the GC leader's team, and a Swiss girl from an Italian team. We dropped one of the Brazilians within the 2nd lap, and the 4 of us rotated pretty well except the Colombian was really struggling to pull and the Dutch girl was sitting on not working since her teammate was winning GC. So basically there were 3 of us working, with the Colombian barely pulling and the Dutch girl doing nothing. Our lead was up to 2 min 40 s, but on the 4th lap we got caught in traffic because they did not block traffic in time! We had to weave through 4 lanes of traffic to make our left turn, and we instantly lost 1 min after that. The race organizer said on the radio he was going to neutralize the peloton back to 2 min 40, but then he never did. So instantly the pack had greater incentive to chase, so we had to go even harder. The lead never got below 1 min and we ended up dropping the Colombian on the last lap. Coming into the sprint, the Swiss girl was pulling, then the Brazillian, then the Dutch girl, then me. I had my choice of wheels, and I though that the Dutch girl would be the best choice since she had done nothing all day. Poor choice - the Brazilian jumped, the Dutch girl followed, and I couldn't come around either of them. So close to podium - but I will take 4th in a UCI race anyday :) The rest of my teammates finished with the peloton and it was the end of a very long day.

The next day was what we affectionately called "the downhill stage." It was not downhill by any means but compared to the crazy climbing we did all week, it was a nice change. Again, same plan - we needed a breakaway to make up time for Anna and Kathleen. Mandy and I were to go on the attack, and Anna and Kathleen would sit in and look for the right moves. Mandy and I nicknamed ourselves "suicide bunnies" from all of the attacking we were doing. The hills on this race were shorter and moderately steep, so I attacked on several of these hills (short is good for me) and I could tell the field was feeling it. Unfortunately, Anna was also feeling it - she had been up all night throwing up and came up to me in the race to tell Mandy and I to cool it because she was getting gapped on the climbs. We chilled out and came to the long descent. Just as we were near the end, I got a rear flat. Luckily I heard it go, so I pulled to the side of the road as the pack flew past me. I found out another girl on the Italian team got a front flat on the descent, flew over her handlebars, and smashed herself up pretty bad. Our mechanic was awesome and changed my wheel out pretty quickly, but I thought I was done since there was still some descending to do and the pack was flying when I flatted. My manager said, "finish strong" to me as he pulled away to catch up with the rest of the team. I went into TT mode, thinking that even if I couldn't catch the peleton, I could maybe catch riders off the back. I was by myself for what seemed like forever - the course was open to traffic since I was behind the caravan and I was riding past bulls and donkeys along the side of the road. I just prayed that I had not missed a turn and was going to end up in Honduras or someplace. I came to a climb that was on the side of a hill, and all of a sudden I could see the pack - I saw them before I even saw the caravan. I found my second (or twentieth) wind and caught up with the caravan. I moved up through the caravan, and when I passed our team car the mechanic gave me a thumbs up out the window - later he said I had the biggest grin on my face. I caught on to the pack, let my teammates know I was back, sat on for a little bit, then Mandy and I proceeded to attack again. Anna had fallen off the back and was done - she finished like 20 min behind the group. With Kathleen as our top GC rider now, we wanted to set her up for the sprint. It was going to go Mandy, me, Hiroko, then Kathleen. We were coming in with about 3 K to go and we were trying to set up for the sprint, but Kathleen was at the back of the pack. Hiroko and I were on the left side but Mandy and Kathleen came up the right - there was no way for us to get over to them. With 1 K to go, I found a wheel and went for it in the sprint and got 8th- I couldn't believe I got a second top 10. Kathleen was right behind me in 10th and Hiroko in 12th. A good showing for the Schick team, but our main concern was Anna's health. She got an IV that night due to dehydration and was still unable to eat much. I have never seen someone look so sick in my life.

The last day was the day of attrition - 55K with a 15K climb up a volcano. The average grade was 8% and the tech guide says it maxed out at 15%, but I guarantee there were sections steeper than that. Anna woke up feeling a little better and really pissed - she wanted to do something in the race. The plan for this stage was that Mandy and I were (once again) going to drive the pace as hard as possible until the climb in an effort to tire out the mountain goats in the race. We wanted to get Kathleen to the bottom of the hill as fresh as possible because she had a very good shot at top 10 GC. Before the race, our manager asked if anyone wanted to do a suicide attack from the line, and Anna promptly volunteered. She seriously attacked at 0K, bringing a Brazilian with her, forcing Cogeas (GC leader's team) to chase in nasty crosswinds for the majority of the race leading up to the climb. Mandy got points in both of the sprints. When we caught Anna, Mandy immediately attacked and when we caught the Brazilian, I attacked. I drove the pace as hard as I could into the base of the hill and promptly blew up. My job was done, and now it was time for me to make it up the damn volcano. Here is my testament to compact cranksets - everyone in the race used one, and most of us were using 34x27 on the last stage. I caught a few girls on the way up, including the obnoxious Brazilian sprinter who had been driving us crazy all week. There were some people on the climb cheering us on, and one guy ran/walked next to me and poured water on me at one point. The Cogeas team car offerred me water and beer. I choked on a gel at one point - that is one way to make climbing more difficult. I have never been so happy to cross the finish line in my life. Kathleen had an awesome day, getting 8th in the stage and 8th GC. Hiroko was right behind her in 12th, and I was our 3rd rider for the day, followed by Mandy and Anna. As soon as I crossed the line, I heard a woman call my number. Yes, I was randomly selected for dope control. I was escorted to the team car, allowed to change (while she watched) and put in the car with the stage winner, the girl who got 2nd, and Jeannie Longo. We were all chugging every liquid we possibly could so we could actually produce a sample when we got to the testing site (which happened to be the room across from mine at the training center). So for those of you interested, dope control involves listing every supplement, vitamin, and medication you have taken in the past 10 days, and then providing your "sample" with no shirt and an official watching you the entire time. This was a little nerve wracking, so of course even though I had probably drank 2 L of fluid, no sample. The officials offerred me a beer and said it would help. I am not joking- in the cooler they have for athletes being tested is beer. Since the race was over, I decided to try the local Pilsener and found it to be alright, and very helpful. We finished the day with a party at the race organizer's beach house, where there was plenty of beer, whisky, food, and dancing. It was a nice way to end the week, and the next morning we flew home. I put a few pictures up on my blog (crazybikeracer.blogspot.com) but Anna has a lot of pictures on hers (annamilkowski.blogspot.com) if you want to see more pics from the week. Our team website is up and running - http://www.targetraining.com/teamwmn.htm

So my first UCI stage race is in the books - a crazy week, but I am 1000x stronger than I was before the race. We have a couple of local races and then we head to Richmond the first weekened of April for a new NRC race. I will be out in the Midwest for Nature Valley and then back again for Downer's Grove - I am going to try to take a week and do Elk Grove the week before. I hope everything is going well for you guys out in the QC - I miss you guys a lot and hope you all have a great season. Hopefully I will see a lot of you at Downer's Grove this year!

Andrea