Mercy Cycling Team – Elite Women

Rider Journal

Au contraire… with the exception of pumpkin seeds, which I haven’t had since Halloween, I get some of these pretty frequently. Check out the list. Are you trying any of these? Want some recipes?

Team News Food

Watch out. Gloves may keep hands clean, but if you forget, you might end up with a greasy face.

Riding to work today on the Waterford, which has an internal hub, but functions like a singlespeed, and a bolt had come a little loose, allowing the chain too much slack. I went over a bump and the chain came off. Normally, this is no big deal, but without a derailleur and sans crescent wrench it, my commute to work suddenly looked like a walk with a lot of stuff to carry. Fortunately – I thought – I was by a busy Burger King and street and looking girly in a skirt and boots. Surely someone would at least stop and ask if I was ok when they noticed me poking at the chain. However, I must have looked like I had it under control because NO ONE stopped.

“For crying out loud!” I thought as cars and even trucks went in and out of the restaurant. Then I spied a 2×4 jutting out from a nearby light pole. I hung my bike from the saddle and tried to figure out how to get that chain back on the rear cog. I finally resorted to brute force and by rotating the cranks backwards while pulling the chain towards me as hard as I could, the chain returned to its proper position and I continued on my way.

Upon arriving at work and catching the glance of a grade student across the hall, I went and checked my face in the bathroom. Sure enough, grease on my face, hands and forearms. I guess I forgot it was on my gloves and in the course of getting my bags off my back got it everywhere.

Lesson learned….always carry your fix-it bag, even if it is only 7 minutes to work. Oh, and if you’re really cool, you’ll keep some little ‘fix-it’ gloves in your bag so you don’t sully your fashionable mitts.

Team News Brown, Commuting

Hinton, Rhoades and Jensen finish up breakfast and the morning meeting.

The women of Mercy Cycling 2009 met this weekend in Fort Smith, Arkansas to spend a couple of days getting to know each other better and put in some fair weather hours on the road, including a Sunday afternoon trip up Mt. Gaylor.

This year’s line-up brings back Michelle Jensen, Jennifer (Herrell) Rhoades and Pamela Hinton. Rumor has it that Melissa Cox will be joining the squad later in the season and Nebraska’s Sydney Brown and Iowa’s Lindsay Wetzel round out the team for this season.

The team finalized its calendar and will kick it off with a full squad at Hillsboro-Roubaix, April 4th. Other season highlights include the Joe Martin Stage Race, Tulsa Tough, Masters Nationals, Tour of Kansas City and the Gateway Cup.

Mercy riders will also be spotted at various other races with Wetzel and Brown covering the northern region and Hinton, Jensen, Rhoades and Cox laying it down in the south.  For more information about the team, contact Hector Mendoza at hector.mendoza@mercy.net.

Team News Brown, Cox, Hinton, Jensen, Rhoades, Wetzel