The Tiger Town Omnium (or Clemson Race) was another extremely fun and successful race weekend. We left after morning classes on Friday to go preride the course, luckily the race was only 2.5 hours away compared to our usual 5 hour drive. Unfortunately our preride was interrupted by a controlled burn on the back side of the course. This meant that we were unable to see the back hill where the longest climb was. it was still possible to ride most of the course, so we rode what we could before loading the bikes back up for the day. Saturday started early as normal, although this time the Women's A had the morning spot and the B's were set to start at 10:45. It was a weird feeling to start my warm up with almost no one around, both the men A and women A were out on course still. It had warmed up by the start and we rolled out as a group, we were neutral until the first turn. A few attacks tried to go almost immediately, but nothing stuck. I knew on this course with the large amount of climbing I was better off waiting for a field sprint, if I got away I'd probably be caught by the field on a downhill anyway. Right before the crest of the last hill I was sitting 4th. The finish was about 150m after the crest so the sprint had begun. I passed two other riders and ended up second in the B's. The ITT course was altered right before the start. It dropped from 7 miles to 4.8 miles with a big climb we hadn't ridden before in the middle. I started out as fast as I possibly could, I knew pacing was less important with the course being so short. I could see my 30 mark the whole time and caught her about half way through the race. I also caught the rider that started 1:30 in front of me with a gap closing on my minute-woman (Marie). I really enjoyed the course for this time trial, the steep climbs made it interesting and it was short enough to go all out the whole time. I pulled away a first place in the B's and was only 9 seconds off of second place in the A's. The crit was extremely technical with a shikane in the middle and two speed bumps. I'm glad it wasn't wet out or there would have been a lot of crashes. The plan was to go from the gun and I took off. I clipped both my pedals on the first lap from pedaling through corners too hot and backed off a little after that. I forced a gap in the field and Marie stayed on my wheel. The two of us were separate for a few laps before a small group caught us. That group would remain until the finish in a bunch sprint. I attacked them a few times but never manged to get away. Looking back at it, I shouldn't have attacked as much, I was already toasted for the finish and my sprint was only good enough for a 3rd place at the line. Marie was able to come away with the win. It was cool to have a course where the team could be out and around hyping it up. I can't wait for the back to back crit weekend at King next weekend.
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Attending the Tour of the Southern Highlands was a spur of the moment decision. Coach Zack suggested it to me, Meade, and Madeline one day, by that it had been decided. We were racing TOSH. The race fell during the first weekend of spring break and was non-collegiate. On Thursday morning after class we loaded up my little Camry and were off. The 4 hours on the road to Georgia were quite pleasant, we drove past plenty of farm land but also spent a good portion of the journey along a river with more kayaking shops than I thought existed. Like a race weekend with the team, we went straight to the course for pre-ride. Madeline was the only one racing the TT (it wasn't part a stage for me and Meade) so I followed in the car. Little did I know this would be part one of Laney the Soigneur (TM). Between taking a jacket, giving a bottle, yelling directions and navigating, I think I'm qualified to drive in the Pro Tour. I'm kidding but, man, I learned fast on the job. After her pre-ride we went to our host house for the weekend. We stayed with our teammate Diana's family. The Ramos's even better hosts than we could have asked for. I'm so grateful for all they did for us while we were there. I hope you one day have the honor of eating breakfast prepared by Mr. Ramos (its amazing.) After her pre-ride we went to our host house for the weekend. We stayed with our teammate Diana's family. The Ramos's even better hosts than we could have asked for. I'm so grateful for all they did for us while we were there. I hope you one day have the honor of eating breakfast prepared by Mr. Ramos (its amazing.) Friday began the Pro 1/2 races with a morning time trial and night crit. Madeline's TT start was a little after ten so we were able to catch up on some sleep before heading to the course. It was in this parking lot that the scale of this race really hit me. At that point it was just me and Madeline and our set up seemed so small and unprofessional compared to big teams that were in attendance. There were plenty of massive team tents housing matching bikes and trainers, some even had team mechanics. Madeline wasn't even riding a TT frame and when the rain started halfway through warm up I stood next to her with an umbrella in hopes of keeping her slightly drier. Our gear couldn't hold a flame to theirs. However, she proved how little that really matters. Gear is important to a point, but strength is so much more important. Madeline ended up 4th in the TT and was sitting nicely in 2nd place for the Queen of the Mountain jersey. She even got to start the next two stages wearing it as first place for QOM was in yellow. The criterium was another whole adventure. My soigneur skills kicked into high gear when we were stuck in traffic on the way there and realized we had forgotten a few very important items for the race. (we'd forgotten the numbers) I dropped Madeline off at the race with the trainer, her bag and her bike and went back to get them. Coach Zack arrived to watch the crit and I got to see a little bit of a coach's perspective while the race was happening. I stayed by the start line to text him updates from the announcer's booth and he went to the back to the course where it would be easier to give Madeline instructions up the climb. Madeline placed 3rd in the sprint finish of the crit. Saturday hosted the circuit race. It was a short 4 mile loop with one major climb and one major decent. Meade and I raced the 4/5 category and it was run alongside the women's 3 category. The race was spread out from the start. A large gap in abilities meant many smaller groups formed. I was just off the front a group of four, continually gaining time on them up the climb and getting caught on the downhill. Looking back on it now, I probably should have stayed with them up the climb to save my energy. I got second in the sprint finish from the group I was with and 8th overall. Sunday's race was similar, but much longer. The 4/5 and 3 fields completed 3 laps of the 15 mil road race course. I stayed with the group for most of the first lap but unfortunately got gapped at the very end of the QOM climb. I rode most of the second lap with two Belmont Abbey riders and then dropped them up the QOM climb myself. I held the lead on them for the entire last lap and again finished with a solid 8th place. Racing TOSH was definitely an adventure and I honestly can't wait for next year. I got to spend some quality time with my friends and race bikes. There's nothing else I'd rather do to kick off spring break. My next race will be on March 9th at Georgia Tech The team arrived in sunny Florida after a 9 hour van ride on Thursday to kick off the collegiate road season for 2019. We went immediately to the road race course to preride and got a solid ride in with the whole team. The course was extremely flat, especially compared to the hills of East Tennessee that I’ve gotten used to. The women’s team took advantage of the dry and clear roads to practice finish lead outs where the lead out would need to happen. Friday was similar, minus the van ride. We had all the time we wanted to do openers on the road race course and to finish it off the women’s B team worked on sprints together. Saturday was a bright and early race day. Our road race (the women’s B) was on course at the same time as the Women’s A and men’s C/D but we started far enough apart that we never saw them. The race was fairly short, only two laps (26 miles.) I attacked from the whistle, and lead until the first turn. Marie and I took turns attacking throughout the first lap, one of which caused me to pull for 7 consecutive miles, not ideal, but even with what felt like a recovery pace for me no one came around me to pull through. The second lap was a little faster paced than the first, but not too intense. Things only started to heat up at the very end, when we took the final turn at 2.8 miles to go. The small hills leading in the finish kept the speeds lower but the intensity high. Meade attacked at the last minute and almost stayed away till the line. We ended up Meade 4th and me 5th, I caught a rider just at the line to grab the last podium spot. After watching the Women’s A finish and the Men’s races we suited back up for the time trials. The original plan was to race the ITT and race the TTT immediately following but after the rain started and one time trial down, we decidedly was best to save our legs for tomorrow’s crit and skip the B TTT this week. Milligan swept the podium in the women’s B ITT; Meade Plum - 1st Laney Butt - 2nd Marie Tutterow - 3rd Rachel Smith - 4th Sunday was another early morning before the crit. Our race was supposed to be on course with the Women's A but as separate fields. For safety reasons, the two packs were combined for the race but to be scored separately. I wasn't expecting much of myself going into this crit, I'd only finished a crit with the main group once in my life, let alone finished with a strong Women's A race. I surprised myself twice, once by chasing back on after getting dropped at the line and again by being there for the finish. Our team was very successful, with Madeline going up the road and then lapping the field. I wasn't in a good place to sprint out of the final bend, but still had a very strong race. The next race will be at Auburn University on February 23-24. My first semester of college is now done and wrapped. Phew. When I moved into Hart Hall at the end of August, time seemed to move in slow motion, classes were interesting but every day felt the same. That all changed when I met my new family, the cycling team. Having a dedicated group of people that love the same sport I love has been amazing. Soon it was time for cyclocross and the real training began. As days grew shorter, hours on the trainer increased, but I was never alone. The lobby at the end of the hall became the home of our trainers and we suffered together. I started looking forward to Tuesday and Wednesday practices on the course behind the bike house where every week I could strive to go faster (and hold out a little longer before getting lapped). As 'cross races only took place on Saturdays, it left Sundays open for long training rides. After church it became habit to go get the mountain bikes and climb pinnacle. If you had told me I'd be riding my mountain bike 9 miles uphill on the road to go climb another 5 up the trail, I'd have called you crazy. But with the encouragement (and helpful pushing) of my teammates, I did it. It took a while to get there, but finally making it to the fire tower only made me want to do it again. Of course, college wouldn't be complete without the late nights, both studying and cleaning bikes. And the race days were fantastic. I'd never been in fields this big or this strong before. With race days comes plenty of van time. I promise, if you think you've come up with all the ways to sleep in the van, the Milligan Cycling Team can show you at least two more. I've learned that teammates are the secret sauce of collegiate cycling. Like I said previously, they're my new family and I'd do pretty much anything for any of them. I know they'd be there for me and I'm there for them. The team had a great season, we ended up as SECCC team champs with Keith winning the men's series and Madeline winning the women's series. I'm extremely proud of both my performance and the team's performance. I'm looking forward to road season and next semester. I'm sure it will be just as fun and road has the added benefit of no mud to clean up after. I’ve officially caught the cross fever again. I took last season off for injury and wasn’t looking forward to this season. In fact, I hadn’t decided if I was racing or not until the week before the first race (Union). After the first two races, I upgraded from collegiate B’s to collegiate A’s and finished the last three races as an A. Every week was difficult, each race felt harder than the last. Georgia Tech’s race was fast, I finished at the back. Warren Wilson’s race was full of mud, we were down in a bowl that was slowly filling with rain. Wanting to race even more, I went with Zack and Madeline to Hendersonville and raced the 3/4.
We arrived in Louisville a couple days before the race, giving time Wednesday to pre ride and get settled (and take my physics exam at the team house while my class took it at school). The pre ride went well, I had enough time to do two laps and rerun a few difficult sections. Thursday morning I woke up full of nerves, I was ready and excited to race. My warm-up wasn’t as good as I would have liked, I had a complication with the rollers and ended up with a bruised and scraped knee (Rollers: 1, Laney: 0). By the time I was at the line the fall was out of my head. It’s intimidating to roll up to a start line with the knowledge that almost all 45 people there are much better at ‘cross that I am. I tried not to let that get into my head too much and rode my own race. The start was wicked fast, in fact, the leaders set the fastest lap time out of all the races so far on course. I started to feel my knee on the second lap, at the top of every left pedal stroke there was a stabbing pain. I passed who I could and mostly got passed back by the same riders. In the end, I started in 43rd position and finished 43rd position. I rode the best race I could, and I'm proud of that. I had the best support system around me possible, and I gave it my all. I'm so thankful to have been a member of the cross team this year, I'm going to miss the little family we've become. I can’t wait for next year and improving even more than I did this season. |
AuthorHi I'm Laney! I'm a freshman at Milligan College studying Mechanical Engineering and Multimedia Journalism while racing my bike on the road and cyclocross teams. I'm honored to have been blessed by God with these amazing opportunities and can't wait to tell you my stories. Check back here often to see what I've been up to. Archives
March 2019
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