GamJams.net: Where Mid-Atlantic bike racers roll

10 Questions With... Sue Hefler

by David Kirkpatrick, Features Editor

In addition to a long palmares on the track and road, Australian transplant Susan Hefler coaches many of MABRA's most successful riders. Her new training facility in Herndon opens in November - more info is at www.hpcoaching.com.  

 

10 Questions With... Sue Hefler

(GamJams) 1. There's an old saw that goes "those who can, do, and those who can't do, teach."  You've had plenty of success both as a racer and as a coach.  How much of your coaching content is informed by your experience as a racer versus by what you've learned academically and through experience working as a coach.

(Sue Hefler) I have heard this saying quite often, about coaches. I think perhaps the saying should be “those who can, do it while they can” and “those who can’t do, realize that a new chapter is in the works”.  Timing dictates more than the start of a sprint. 
I think if you were to compare academics vs experience of racing (at a high level) – the experience would weigh in heavily.  But I always fall back on the science and my understanding of the body and cellular metabolism. Understanding how the energy systems work in the body in combination with actually having felt the energy systems at work, as an athlete – is key. The latest step in my development as a coach came to me from the athletes themselves. They taught me how to communicate the experience/knowledge package.  Racing the bike gave me one major ingredient – how to deal with Unknowns. I went into coaching because I reached the point in life where I wanted to teach.  I had lots of knowledge and racing experience, but how to coach isn’t written in a book. It is – but it isn’t.  The experience of working as a coach is what enabled me to reach a point where I can deliver my expertise to the athletes. Coaching is very complex work – because every individual differs not just in physiology, but also what gets an athlete to fire. The actual physiology/training part is the simplest component nowadays with all the technology available (power/ heart rate/ RPE); developing the necessary “trust” factor , being there when things go wrong, and getting an athlete ready to deliver a peak performance is what a coach has to figure out.  A lot of coaching is sports  psychology. One big factor is empathy, having been on both sides of racing, good races and not so good races. And understanding why things went wrong.

(GJ) 2. You've had particular success working with young riders and the NCVC juniors program that you work with has a bumper crop of great riders coming up.  How does working with juniors differ from working with senior and master's riders?

(SH) Great  question. Of course I too have thought a lot about this.  I would say that working with younger riders is a tremendous positive energy exchange because the “stress” load is completely different.  Younger riders don’t have the” balancing act” of senior or masters riders.  Working with the senior riders who have 3 kids and a job, many having their own business – requires an enormous juggling act just to get the training in. My concern with older riders is always the recovery part of the training equation.  The” stress load” beyond the stress of exercise alone is much greater in working with senior riders. This in turn affects the most important ingredient in sport –FOCUS. The juniors have a tremendous recovery system; they are very eager, many want to go the “pro” route, and the energy is so high.  So I would say that the success of the juniors I work with has a lot to do with them being a “junior” and having less on their plate, then a senior. When the juniors go to ride the bike – they are thinking “ride the bike”. When senior riders go to train – there can be any number of thoughts in their mind (job, relationship, a sick child, getting groceries for dinner etc …)  It isn’t that the seniors want to have this full of a schedule – but this is that timing thing I was talking about….

(GJ) 3. Unlike, say, football, where a significant majority of a coaches time is spent teaching the fundamentals of playing the game, cycling coaching tends to center on training the athlete's fitness at the expense of instruction in the playing of the game.  How do you address that?

(SH) This question I love answering – because I face it a lot.

10 Questions With... Jared Nieters

by David Kirkpatrick, Features Editor

Jared Nieters is a Cat 1 who gets to ride for his own shop's team: Haymarket Bicycles.  Jared has been a fixture on the MABRA road scene for several years, has become a contender in MABRA elite road and cross races, and regularly travels to race in NRC, USA Crits and other significant events.  The Haymarket team has hit above its weight since its inception, and continues to grow for 2010. 

10 Questions With... Jared Nieters
(Offered with 4 bonus questions for a limited time only.)

(GamJams) 1. How did you get started in road cycling and what teams did you ride for before starting your own?

(Jared Nieters) 5 years ago I found myself with some free time and started racing bikes.  My main goal that first year was to get my cat 4 upgrade so I could race Fitchburg (where most of my family is from).  I rode for Warrenton Cycling, which was the club based out of a now defunct shop in Warrenton.

(GJ) 2. What inspired the move to go from a sane and stable career as a teacher to starting a bike shop?

(JN) Teaching is stable, but most assuredly not sane.  I taught for 7 years and was ready for a change.  I decided to take a year off--what I called early retirement--and didn't really have any other plans at point.  A few months after resigning from school, the shop my good friend Curtis Prosser was managing ended up closing.  We decided to go into business together and haven't really looked back.

(GJ) 3. In what ways does the team benefit the shop?

(JN) I'm not sure there are any tangible benefits to having a team for the shop.  Generally, I feel like it's a responsibility, just part of making a positive contribution to a cycling community.  I could expound, but I'm not sure my perspective would be very popular.

(GJ) 4. The shop expanded to a second location pretty soon after opening the first.  Holding at just the two or planning to expand further?

(JN) Staffing more than one shop was difficult, and have since closed the Front Royal location.  There are talks about another shop, but nothing on paper.

(GJ) 5. I've heard horror stories about newer shops trying to get access to the leading product lines but you've gotten a full product roster in a short time.  What's the key to that?  

10 Questions With... Erin Silliman

by David Kirkpatrick, Features Editor

10 Questions With... Erin Silliman

(GamJams) 1. You've had incredible success in a short time as a cyclist.  What in your athletic background would have foretold this full frontal assault on the MABRA hierarchy?

(Erin Silliman) Full frontal assault? I know I haven't won as many races as world champion Leslie Jennings.  But, here is my background: I have played or participated in almost every sport from gymnastics to soccer, cross country, track and field, softball, basketball to field hockey.  Once I picked up field hockey in high school, I kept at it and played at American University. Post college, I picked up cycling again. I commuted to work on the Capitol Crescent Trail daily until I was "spotted" by Super Dave Osborne. I have been on a bike since I was 3 - even took off my own training wheels - and was born with a competitive spirit. My dad is a very competitive cyclist and challenged me on and off for years while I borrowed my mom's steel frame 1978 Schwinn Le Tour III. 

(GamJams) 2. Most racers don't have the facility you've shown with different disciplines.  What do you suppose is the common thread among your road, tt and crit winning efforts?

(ES) I cannot speak much for the TT - no one else showed up! Between road races and crits, I am much more a crit racer and sprinter by training this year, but I think training with the men upped my threshold and confidence enough that I was able to race hard in almost every race. I feel like I have gained a good sense of perspective on my own abilities versus my competition in MABRA, which is very beneficial in a race. I pay attention and I I am not afraid to risk the outcome of my race by trying something new - I am determined!

(GamJams) 3. Not many people who've won MABRA jerseys have also played at the MTV Music Awards.  Tell us a bit about your life off the bike.

(ES) I was born into a musical family. Both of my parents are pianists and my mom has taught piano for 30 some years. I started on the piano then switched to cello later in grade school and continued as a music major in college. Throughout high school and college I traveled to Canada, England, Germany, Austria and Prague as part of a youth symphony orchestra and I currently participate in "gigging" quartets. In 2005, I got a call to perform in Kanye West's band during his east coast tour...so I did.  My final performance with him was in NYC for the MTV show awards! (Again, that was in 2005-2006 before he started acting like a fool!) Other than that, I enjoy keeping busy.

(GamJams) 4. "Race your strengths, train your weaknesses."  We hear it all the time.  With no obvious weaknesses, where do you focus most of your training?

(ES) In the end, my weakness' this year have turned out to be time trialing and climbing. I got off to a tough start this year battling knee injuries and chronic back issues. I worked really hard starting in January to develop a base again after spending months really feeling uncomfortable and hating my bike. Even though I trained every weekend on hellacious hills, I felt like I was miles behind everyone in my training and that's when I decided to start doing the speed/threshold training rides with the men.  While that greatly improved my threshold and sprinting abilities, I trained for crits and raced mostly crits and thus I never trained in the wind and on my own this year. Thankfully, I only had to do a couple of races that relied on time trialing and solo efforts, but in a nutshell, everything started as a weakness for me and I elected to train for crits since crits are mostly the type of racing that I do.

(GamJams) 5. You're one of the women who's not afraid to mix it up and train and race with guys.  How is riding with women different than riding with men?

(ES) Riding with women (my teammates) allows me to know and understand their strengths and weaknesses and how we can race together as a team. Riding with men was something special!  The fear of getting dropped, or the desire to prove my strength to the men, clicked the switch on so that I would bust my butt that much more. Men or women who are stronger than me will push me to train harder no matter what. This year I ended up doing many workouts and training rides with men during the racing season because it better prepared me for the few NRC races that I did.  Not only did it help me get stronger, but I learned a lot about the finesse and tactics of racing. 

(GamJams) 6. When your fitness and talent allow you to race at such a high level with so little experience, what have you done to be able to survive among much more experienced racers?

(ES) I have learned a lot about how I race as an individual this year which kept me smart (most of the time) in the saddle. Knowing your own strengths and weaknesses and where you need to be and when was crucial for me this year. That combined with knowing my competition helped me improve as the season went on.

(GamJams) 7. With 3 MABRA jerseys securely in your possession, what are your goals for 2010?

(ES) I would love to expand my resume to include more NRC races. Next year I hope to race a few more NRC crits as well as a few of the bigger stage races and see how I turn up. I had so much fun doing them this season, even when I got lapped by Laura Van Gilder and Tina Pic. I want to be finishing with them next year!

(GamJams) 8. GJ: What's the best quick advice you can give to women coming out of other sports and into cycling?

(ES) 1. Join the purple team, 2. Race into shape. Many women and men from other athletic backgrounds feel under prepared for racing and embarrassed to do their first race. Trust yourself and understand that your athleticism will surprise you. My advice is to get your feet wet and get addicted! :)

(GamJams) 9. You had a pretty good year, but the most important win, the one I know you really had your heart set on, eluded you.  What are you going to do to ensure a win at Lost River next year?

(ES) That was by far the most enjoyable race this year! I'm going to spend a lot more time at the Barn and hopefully on my bike in general. This year was my first full season, start to finish, and I hope to keep healthy and continue without injury.

(GamJams) 10. Finish the following statement: "In 12 months I'd like to be..."

(ES) A happy, healthy, pro racer!

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Photo courtesy of Linc Brookes.

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David Kirkpatrick is a Features Editor with GamJams who races for NCVC. He is enjoying growing fame through his blog Flamenco Chuckwagon, and as promoter of the lauded Lost River Classic.

10 Questions With... Martin Austermuhle

by David Kirkpatrick, Features Editor

10 Questions With... Martin Austermuhle

(GamJams) 1. Most new or would be racers meet some people who are on a team or wander into a group ride and get hooked up with a team that way.  You guys seem to have decided you wanted to race and then built a team to race on.  What was the motivation for starting out on your own rather than just joining an existing team?

(Martin Austermuhle) Well, the team actually formed from a 40-mile Sunday ride put on by The Bike Rack, a store in Logan Circle. A good chunk of the team's current members met on the ride during the winter of 2007, and it was only in early 2008 that we decided to form a race team. I don't know that any of the other guys had been looking at any established teams, so the team naturally came together because we all recognized that we mutually liked riding and wanted to take it to the next level. We also had some great support and guidance from Chuck and Wayne, who own the store, and Josh Simmonds, a local cycling legend himself. Seth, a friend of the store and leader of the Sunday ride, was another inspiring force in the decision to form the team.

(GJ) 2. District Velocity seems to be a pretty tight group.  Is it a case of effective selection of new team members or is the cohesion developed after people join the team?

(MA) The majority of the team's members met on the Sunday ride and had been riding together for months before we showed up in the same kit to our first race. Because of that, the cohesion that we now have as a team was established long before we formally ended up as a team. Since then, most of the team's riders have started on the Sunday ride or come as recommendation from friends of ours. We don't do any type of personality testing, but we do want to see that potential members are committed to the community that produced the team and still serves as our foundation. Once they've ridden with us a few times and come to a team dinner, we get to know them and they get to know what we're about. Because of the organic way the team has come together, we're all both teammates and friends. I don't only respect the guys and girls I race with as athletes, but also because I've gotten a chance to know them as people.

(GJ) 3. A continuing theme of this season is people who break though with a big result and then stay hot for a while.  Certainly you had a nasty streak going this summer.  But in the case of your team, you seem to have developed the ability to pass the mojo to whomever is next in line for it.  How?

10 Questions With... Matt Cooke

by David Kirkpatrick, Features Editor

10 Questions With... Matt Cooke

(GamJams) 1. You've been racing in the pro ranks for several years.  How did you first make the leap to the pros?

(Matt Cooke) During the 2006 season all I could think about was trying to become a pro.  I had a long and actually really good season.  I started by doing a UCI stage race in Mexico.  I was only a cat 2 but I rode so well.  Then I came back to DC and raced with the Kelly Benefits elite team.  I pretty much just had a good season, very consistent.  Winning Nationals and Green Mountain and my ride at Univest were the highlights.

(GJ) 2. After a couple of years with two of the bigger teams in the country (Navigators and HealthNet), you've spent this year on a smaller team.  What are the positives and negatives of big versus small team and vice versa?

(MC) Going back to a smaller team is different because the budget is smaller, the equipment might not be as cutting edge, and we missed out on some of the bigger races.  That said Ride Clean presented by Patentit.com has been really fun.  We have had great support at races, travel is taken care of by the team, and we have done just about all the big races I would like to have done.  The one big advantage is that being on a smaller team is that I go into races with more of a potential winner’s attitude.  For whatever reason being on such strong teams like Health Net and Navigators I sort of felt over-shadowed by the long time pros.  I don't feel that way anymore, but at the time it was pretty intimidating.

(GJ) 3. You joined Navigators after winning the 2006 Elite Nationals.  Is it a case of the big teams sort of standing at the finish line with contracts for the top few guys to sign, or was that result a link in a longer chain of events that led to that contract?

10 Questions With... Blair Berbert

by David Kirkpatrick, Features Editor

10 Questions With... Blair Berbert
(now with 6 Bonus Questions!)

(GamJams) 1. You fit into the general "college grad with a day job who races as an amateur" bin, yet you've progressed quickly and reached a point where most people who throw a leg over will never see.  How do you do it?
 
(Blair Berbert) There are probably two major factors here. One, I was a rower at Georgetown, and was racing at a pretty high level there. That meant I came to cycling with a lot of residual fitness, but also just with my head in place for a lot of training. It (training/racing) was really my thing in school, so it really just came naturally to me to keep going in that direction.
 
The second factor is that I don't have a lot of other commitments in my life right now besides my bike and my team. So comparing me to folks with a lot more on their plate is not really fair. Also, you don't see a lot of guys in their early 20s racing super heavily in MABRA - I think the main reason for this is that a lot of people spend the years right after they get out of school establishing their careers and/or doing the early-20s thing. That's just not my priority now.
 
So, short answer to your question is: I came into the sport already knowing how to go hard (though not knowing how to race), and I have few demands on my time, so I ride my bike a whole lot.
 
(GJ) 2. How did you get started in cycling and when did you figure out “hey, I might be pretty good at this?”
 
(BB) When I got out of school, I had been rowing for 8 years, the last 3 of which had been at a very high level with some very good coaches and with some incredibly talented and dedicated athletes. One of my team- and class-mates went up to Boston to try and make the National Team (which he did, twice), and I thought about going with him, but decided that I was just too mentally burnt on crew. I figured I would get a bike to stay in shape, basically just dabble and work out for fitness. That lasted all of about a month before I got bored of training below my capacity, although it did end up taking me another 9 mos. of off and on training to fully "de-burn" myself from crew. As far as the "A-ha" moment goes, I think I am still having those at each step along the way - my first win was big of course, but then winning again as a 3, then doing well at Gila as a 2, then starting to finally learn how to race my bike (instead of just going hard) this year...all steps that had to be taken before I could move on to the next one. There was never any real definite moment to me as I was coming into a new sport from a pretty high level in another sport - I would say that there was a lot more frustration at times when I wasn't living up to my unrealistic expectations of how well I should be doing in cycling.
 
(GJ) 3. What were your goals when you started cycling?  Were you already thinking about racing at an elite level or was it more of a “let’s give this a try and see where it goes” type of deal.
 
(BB) Honestly, I was that jackass with the brand new USCF license saying he wanted to turn pro. Now I'm just that jackass 20-something with a Cat 1 USCF license saying he wants to turn pro. I would say that I had "unrealistic" expectations from day one - the side effect, both fortunate and unfortunate, of basically coming from being the equivalent of a Cat 1 or 2 in crew to being a 5 in cycling who doesn't know his ass from his elbow. On the downside, I got frustrated often because I was never doing as well as I thought I should, and a lot of my early victories I didn't celebrate as much as I should have, simply because I was too focused on the next step (still am). On the upside, it helps a lot to never be satisfied, as corny as it sounds.
 
(GJ) 4. What’s your current overarching goal in cycling?  Pro contract, win an NRC event? 
 

10 Questions With... Jim Patton

[Jim Patton is perhaps the best-known non-racer in the regional racing community. Whether in light blue polo shirt with the requisite stopwatch and clipboard, or in zebra stripes on a BMW moto, Jim is usually nearby on game day. Currently on the USAC Board of Directors, Jim is running for USCF's Eastern Trustee position this year - one of only three USCF positions available nationwide. Here, Features Editor David Kirkpatrick gets Jim's take on the state of regional racing, how USAC could improve, and where NOT to pin a number.]

10 Questions With... Jim Patton

(GamJams) 1. When and how did you get involved in cycling?  Did you start on the riding side or did you start as an official?

(Jim Patton) I wandered into Mann’s Brothers Bicycles in the summer of 1977 after discovering that my old bike was really too small for me.  I’d shifted from running, which I always hated, to cycling for exercise.  And I had the bug.  Through Mann’s Brothers, I discovered a Century ride promoted by the Atlantic Bike Club.  The ride merged into weekend rides and by the next spring I was racing in Brookdale Park and the rest of the New Jersey Veteran race circuit.  I also helped my new club, ABC, with promoting a couple of minor events.

I was transferred from New Jersey to Maryland in 1980.  My first job was teaching at the Naval Academy where I helped found the US Naval Academy Cycling Team.  I continued to race and helped NCVC as the promoter of the National Capital Open and the Greenbelt weekly training series for Larry Black’s College Park Bicycles.  

It wasn’t until I was transferred to Crystal City, VA, that the “official” thoughts crossed my mind.  My new job, working on Torpedoes for the Navy, kept me on the road about 50% of the time.  I discovered that traveling for business and trying to race just wasn’t a great plan – but I did race twice in San Diego!  I was a junior official by late in 1983.  Since I was never a really good racer, I probably wasn’t missed too much on the other side of the start line.

(GJ) 2. What exactly does a Trustee of USA Cycling do?  

(JP) The Trustee job, as I see it, is to stay as close to the riders and promoters as possible and understand what they need.  This close contact goes well beyond my local area; I spend considerable time attending Local Association meetings and visiting events up and down the east coast. Our primary responsibility is maintaining and updating the rulebook.  Rules that seem crystal clear to me sometimes aren’t understood by the riders and promoters.  By listening to the riders, local and regional officials, and promoters, I can recommend the best possible rule changes to the 14 other USCF Trustees.

I’ve also been on the USA Cycling Board of Directors since 2004.  The Directors actually set policy for USA Cycling and monitor the budget.  My close contact with our local and regional people helps me shape my position on what the direction of USA Cycling should be.

(GJ) 3. What's the one area in which USA Cycling could most effectively improve its service to cyclists?

10 Questions With... Larry Byvik, on the 540Cycling Development Series

[In July and August of this year, Larry Byvik and his squad introduce the 540Cycling Development Series. GamJams Features Editor David Kirkpatrick gently grills Larry about the series, his team, and how to get Cat 4s to work as a team.]

10 Questions With... Larry Byvik, on the 540Cycling Development Series

(GamJams) 1. I love your team name. Tell me about the origins of 540Cycling and what other names you tossed around before picking the right one?
(Larry Byvik) 540 Cycling is a small group of bike racers located along the fringes of Northern Virginia. At the core, we love to ride and race bicycles and our goal with 540 Cycling is to build a strong, structured club that outlasts the direct participation of its founders – like an NCVC or Artemis.

Although we've heard lots of guesses, the name 540Cycling actually comes from our 540 area code. We've all been involved with teams in the past and were looking to create something that focused more on developing local racing opportunities that matches the makeup of our riders. We love the local racing scene and want to see it grow – both in events and racers.

Our goal with the 540Cycling Development Series is to have fun and bring new folks to cycling. Several of us have been racing and training for 20+ years and are a bit  dismayed by what seems to be a lack of stewardship toward new and younger riders.  When I was young, we trained and raced with the old guys who weren't shy about teaching you how to ride – the little details like bending your elbows, pedaling round, being smooth on the bike –  we want to teach what we know about the art of riding and racing.

(GJ) 2. What made you decide to put on a race series?

(LB) When we sat down to think about what type of event to host, one of our members mentioned the possibility of creating a race series. At the time, there were a lot of discussions on the MABRA list about the lack of racing for Cat 4's and 5's. We thought a development series offering races for new and local racers would be a unique format that might attract newer racers and create plenty of opportunities for riders to get upgrade points or the mass starts in a series of events catered just to them.

(GJ) 3. What were the most difficult things to overcome in getting the series started?

(LB) The biggest challenge so far has probably been convincing ourselves that we aren't crazy for trying to run three races in three weeks! Seriously, though, everything is coming together quite smoothly. Our venue authorities at Vint Hill just outside Warrenton, Virginia have been cooperative and enthusiastic, volunteers are available and ready and the businesses around the course appears to be excited for the series.

(GJ) 4. What do you see as the biggest obstacles to people getting involved in competitive bike racing?

10 Questions With... Saul Raisin, on Raisin Hope at Reston Town Center Grand Prix

In 2008, our friends at Evolution Cycling began a partnership with Raisin Hope through the vaunted Reston Town Center Grand Prix. The program raised over $2K for Saul's foundation, through a raffle and direct donations. The partnership continues in 2009. This year, through Raisin Hope, Evo will specifically be benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project and those service men and women who have suffered brain and spinal cord injuries.

How can you get involved?

1. Make a donation when you register for the Reston Town Center online.
2. Enter the raffle at the event, with a chance to win one of many prizes (including the new GamJams socks)
3. Donate some merchandise or services to the growing list of raffle prizes. Mitch Ferro is your man.

In the meantime, take a few minutes to learn more about Saul Raisin and Raisin Hope through the following 10 Questions.

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10 Questions With... Saul Raisin, on Raisin Hope at Reston Town Center Grand Prix

(GamJams) 1. What was the biggest difference in your training from when you raced as an amateur to your career as a pro with Credit Agricole?
(Saul Raisin) Your first year as a pro you do Zero Training during the season. All you do is race and rest.  My first year pro I did over 80 days of professional racing.  I only had maybe two weeks all year I could use for actual training.  When you have a ten day stage fallowed by a Classic five days later, three days is not enough to train because one day is traveling to the race. Only the team leaders have time to train because they pick out their schedule. I had some say in my racing program but not a lot. The biggest adjustment for American cyclists moving to Europe is learning to adapt to their culture and way of life.

(GJ) 2. Who do you think has a tougher time of it - American cyclists racing in Europe, or the European Formula 1 drivers having a go at NASCAR?
(SR): That’s easy, - American cyclists racing in Europe because we all know Formula 1 is a heck of a lot harder than driving a NASCAR oval.  I have been to Formula 1 races like the GP of Monaco. They push the cars at 200+mph down city streets. It is intense.

(GJ) 3. After a big crash, how do you get over the fear of crashing again? What advice would you give to amateur racers who lose their nerve after hitting the pavement?
(SR): There is a famous saying: “SH*T happens”. And it does… Everyone is going to crash something or fall one time in their life. If they are scared about crashing a bike they should be more scared to crash their car.  The number one cause for Traumatic Brain Injuries are falls. Not falling off your bike but falling off your feet.  When you crash you learn more about yourself and your limits as a person.  Make the most of it.  Sometimes it’s good to just take a good look in the mirror and say “I am really messed up”.

(GJ) 4. Which has been more difficult for you - being a pro cyclist, or being an ex-pro cyclist?
(SR): Being a brain injury survivor. When you have a brain injury you are held under a microscope and everything you do is watched over to help discover the person you were before. I lost all my social etiquette, could not read facial expressions. You have to relearn it all if you’re not blessed to get it back.

10 Questions With... Evelyn Egizi, on MABRA Women's Racing

(ed: This is the first in a new series on GamJams.net called "10 Questions With". Its purpose is to give us some insight into a side of local racing we might not have seen before, and allow us to get to know some of the folks who toil mightily on our behalf. If you have suggestions for future "10 Questions With" interviews, nominate them by email.

This interview is with Evelyn Egizi, Team Director for Artemis and inveterate champion of women's racing in the area. Get Evelyn's perspective on the state of women in the sport today and yesteryear, the skinny on how the MABRA Women's Race Series works, and whether men or women cyclists shave their legs more frequently. Consume heartily.)

(GamJams) 1. What is the MABRA Women's Race Series and when did it begin?
(Evelyn Egizi) The ORIGINAL Women's Race Series was developed and implemented in MABRA (formerly known as "D-20") by Linda Mack (now current owner of Silver Cycles in Silver Spring).  I think that we can safely say that Linda had vision for women and clearly is a respected Elder of women's cycling. Linda set the stage and foundation for the women's series.  With her vast networking within the cycling community, she was able to inspire an energetic, enthusiastic woman (Gerri Moriarity) in New England to start a women's series there.  The outcome and success was phenomenal.  At some point, our other respected "Elder", Tracy Lea, came on board to join forces, and the Cycling Made Real Series (CMR) was born.  The purpose of the National Series is to spread our success.  Linda was lucky(??) enough to find me to pass the series torch onto.  I've been organizing it for the past 8-9 years.

(gj) 2. Other than D-20, do you know how many other districts are participating?
(ee) I think that it's safe to say that MABRA (the Mid-Atlantic region) has one of the most comprehensive women's series of all.  It certainly has longevity over the rest!  Like California, we have a very concentrated area of cyclists.  Now, if we'd only have their weather...