Primal Pro Women ARE making a difference!!! Clinic attendee Laura Jorgensen shares a personal victory.

We have some awesome news. I just received an e-mail from former Delray race clinic attendee, Laura Jorgensen. She has a success story that we want to share with the world. 

Laura's article means alot to me because as a cyclist and as a teacher (coach) you often wonder if what you are doing is really making a difference. You train hard and you give hours of your time to the sport of cycling with faith that what you are doing will pay off.

I owe this attitude to the inspirational Nicole Rienhart who passed away September 17th, 2000. She once said, "You have to work hard for a long time without results. And you feel like you're putting yourself into a hole, but you just have to stay focused. You have to have to have faith that if you are doing the work now, you'll get there sometime."

Thanks for reiterating my belief in faith Laura. I just love seeing our hard work and attendees hard work pay off. We just love making a difference and helping others dream big.

Laura's report:

HOW I CAME TO LOVE DAIRYLAND (even though I’m lactose-intolerant)

SOMETIME IN MARCH - I set out to conquer my first crit at Delray Twilight. I was a triathlete and when I thought about cycling I thought about crashes. Ahhhh, the CRASHES!  I mean, I love the Tour de France, but did you see the guy who flew into the barbed wire fence last year?? Nonetheless, I was persuaded when a friend told me that an awesome pro team, Primal, was going to be there to do a pre-race clinic. Surely they would teach me everything necessary to stay on two wheels! And teach they did – quite brilliantly might I add. After the race I asked Nicky, the team director, for any tidbits of advice or races that would be beneficial for a newbie “pseudo-cyclist” such as me. She told me Tour of America’s Dairyland, an 11 day cycling bonanza. I plopped that in my memory bank thinking, “Wisconsin…that’s a loooonnng way from Miami,” and went on my merry triathlete ways. As fate would have it, my knee did not follow suit, and pleaded with me to ditch the running shoes.  Eventually I succumbed, tossed the sneakers and goggles in the back of the closet and decided to dive head first into cycling.

TWO MONTHS LATER - I was hooked. The cycling bug had taken me over and I continued to follow the Primal women’s team and be inspired by their oh-so-awesomeness. Florida race season starts to fizzle in the summer so, as I evaluated my options, I remembered back to Nicky and Dairyland. I knew work wouldn’t allow me to race all 11 days, but I knew just the right person to ask which races would be the best to experience. As I began typing the email I figured there was no way Nicky would remember me and more than even more likely she would probably wonder who this crazy creeper was clogging her inbox. WRONG! She remembered me from the clinic and told me that if I went to ToAD to call her when I arrived so she could give me super-secret pro insight on the course. Ok, maybe it wasn’t super-secret, but me – Laura “done 2 crits in my life” Jorgensen call Nicky “ToAD All-Star” Wangsgard for real time advice and there is no Miss. Cleo $1.99 per minute rate?? I was floored by the generous offer, yet I didn’t protest. 

JUNE 22^nd - First and foremost, for anyone that hasn’t done ToAD or anything like it yet: DO IT! You get to play like a pro for a week and worry about nothing but riding your bike: majorly cool and fun! Plus you get a cow jersey and chocolate milk if you win a stage. That’s right, chocolate milk!! But, I digress. Back to the story. My ToAD journey began and as instructed, I gave Nicky a call. Riiinnng….. Riiiiiinnngg… There’s no way she’ll answer. WRONG AGAIN! Not only did she answer that day, but every single day I was at the race! The fields were big and the riders strong, but I had a secret weapon: NICKY!!  Every night I debriefed her on the day’s action - the things I did poorly (these were aplenty) and the things I did well and she gave me advice for the next course. Regardless of the outcome, every day I was getting oodles of experience and learning a TON. Here are a few highlights:

1: Start your sprint EARLY. Don’t wait for everyone else to initiate.

2. On the last lap, get through the corners in the top five. Bad position = bad result.

 

3. Don’t let another team’s lead-out control the pace on the last lap. If they’re going too slow, PASS THEM and never look back!

So, the million dollar question…what did all the pro advice bring me??? Two solo wins, five podiums, and enough points to upgrade to a Category 2. Meaning - fingers crossed - when Primal rolls back into South Florida for Twilight in 2014 I will be alongside them on the start line. OK – maybe more like behind the wheels one of these unbelievable superwomen hanging on for dear life, but nevertheless, a looooong way from my first crit experience back with them in March. A million thank you’s to Nicky and Primal Pro Women for all the time, advice, and priceless knowledge!!! You ladies are the best!