Hub Racing News

we are frequently asked, "what is success for the team at
any given race?" well, this is pro racing, so normally,
success is making the money placings. Liberty is different.
its the biggest, baddest race in the world and for all but
a few of the peleton, success is just showing up and having
the guts to take on the manayunk wall. a look through the
final results and you will see the great names that arent
in the top 10 or even on the placings at all. only half of
the riders would finish the race, and only half of them
with the front group.

Ina Teutenberg of Team Columbia-Highroad would win the
race, with Ruth Corset of Jazz Apple Cycling taking the
queen of the mountains.

the hub racers:

liz leyden crashed on lap 1 coming off the decent of
strawberry hill. a support mechanic crossed the road with a
bike and nailed her into an orange barrel. she's ok, a
little bruised and a bandaged hand, but you dont get up
after a crash at 50mph. you go get lunch.

arley kemmerer just didnt have the legs today that she had
last year. she understands though. racing is fickle, and
legs even more so. sometimes you just arent going to have
your best day. and you need your best day to finish
liberty. arley made it over the wall the first time
through, and then came off the back as the speed carried
the peleton up strawberry.

sheba farrin had the legs over the manayunk wall, and
climbed the first couple of laps with the peleton before
getting gapped on the fall from the wall as the peleton hit
around 65mph. she gathered with a good group of compatriots
and chased until they pulled her group just out of the time
limit at the end of 3 laps.

josie giddens road strong, working with to help keep her
teammates stay in the hunt. on lap 3, she dangled off the
back on manayunk. she chased back through the caravan. got
within 10 feet of the field, and then came off again on
strawberry hill. the effort ended her day and she couldnt
continue.

amy mcguire was aces all day, climbing near the front,
staying with the speed on kelly drive, and fighting the
wind on ben franklin. she'd climb the wall with the peleton
4 times. but near the top of the last time up, she could no
longer follow the group up the 17% grade. she was able to
ride out the race for a 72nd place, one of the last riders
to make the time cut and get a result.

sally annis stuck with it for the full 4 laps, never
faltering on the climbs and racing comfortably on the
brutally fast decents. she had the power in the headwind
sections, and the speed in the tailwinds. she came off of
lemon hill the final time and as she made the turn onto ben
franklin for the finishing stretch, found herself in
position to score in the placings. swarmed by the final
sprint, as riders gasped for that final breath, sally stood
and sprinted with the very best riders on the day. but the
torture of the race had taken its toll, and sally had no
sprint remaining. she finished 37th, just 2 places out of
the money.

A great day of racing for the hub women. but now its behind
us. time to recover and time to look forward. we race
nature vally starting on wednesday and the women need to be
able to go strong for 5 straight days. thats nothing
though. in july, we'll race for 4 days at fitchburg and
then 14 at superweek. pro racing. time to go make some
money.