Mercy Cycling Team – Elite Women

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

Race report from our riders taking part in the annual Queen City Criteriums in Springfield MO

Saturdays Race
Donning the new PINK Mercy kits, Pam, Jennifer and Michelle had a plan: get first, second and third. The course was technical and well designed and with the rain we realized that the best place to attack was on the start finish stretch since it was a hill and the longest section. For the first prime Jennifer took off; however Molly rocketed past, grabbed the money and ran. Pam followed her with Michelle racing to catch. Inching closer Molly stepped on the gas and opened the gap. Rejoining Jennifer and one other racer, the race calmed. Then Jennifer attacked speeding up the road and a few laps later Michelle jumped to join her and off they rode. Afterward Pam said she tried everything to attack Molly but she would counter and then took a risk in the last brick laid corner to take the win. Michelle and Jenn finished third and fourth. Time to wring out the new kits and get a refreshing recovery drink- Snapple!

Sundays Race

With the sun shining and our legs a little stiff from the wet race the night before we were ready to try out the plan a second time. The Queen City course was short and technically only had two corners, the first and last since the others were sweepers; plus, there was a downhill on one side and a slight uphill on the start finish stretch. So we had the same plan, attack! We didn’t want the same situation as Saturday so each time Molly closed the gap the others would shut it down and counter attack. Taking all three primes, we felt more confident for the final sprint. Molly had a few other racers who helped pull so she didn’t have to do all the work but she did 75% probably. After attacking nearly every lap we came down to the final three laps and waited. But perhaps everyone got a chance to recover except Pam on the front of the lead out. Jumping first in that last corner on the inside was the way to win and Molly beat us to it. Jen shot out from behind the group and took second followed by Michelle. Pam hung on after leading the last laps an placed fifth. Well that didn’t go according to plan; we tried to rehash what we could have done differently and decided that we did what we should have done. We’ll get another chance in a few weeks.

For the omnium Jen took third and Michelle second.

Race Reports Hinton, Jensen, Rhoades

Last weekend, Pam Hinton rode in the infamous Leadville 100 MTB Race in Leadville CO. With the entire 100 miles ABOVE 9000ft, this has always been the most difficult bicycle race in the country.

This afternoon, Pam made contact with us… she’s alive... In a field of over 1000 athletes (mostly Male as noted by Pam), she finished in a time of 11 Hours and 11 Minutes with a final placing of 484th !! What a fantastic result.

Pam commented that “this was by far the hardest bike race I’ve ever done. But, I’m going back next year—knowing the course and getting more comfortable on my mountain bike—especially the crazy descents—will make a difference“.

She also noted that lining up beside the one and only Lance Armstrong was certainly a highlight for her trip into the Rocky Mountains.

Great Ride Pam !!

Race Reports Hinton

Pam Hinton - Mercy Elite Women’s Team and an associate professor of nutritional sciences at MU, has co-authored something of a wake-up call in the February 2008 issue of the journal Clinical and Experimental Metabolism.

Check out her fascinating article HERE

Training Hinton

Pam Hinton just recently got the ‘all clear’ from her doctors to return to full time competitive bike racing. And in her first big test in almost a year, Pam stormed home to a fine solo victory at the prestigious Joe Martin NRC event in Fayetteville, AR.

Stage 1 was the traditional road race with 2 ascents of the infamous ‘Wall’. At the end of the stage, Pam rode home alone and crossed the line over 5 minutes ahead of the chasing riders.

Stage 2 was the Devils Den Uphill Time Trial. Pam had to settle for 4th with a time just 18 seconds behind the stage winner Katja Heinicke from Dallas TX.

Going in to the final Stage 3 criterium, Pam has a comfortable 5:30 lead. All going well, Pam should come out as the overall winner of the 2008 Joe Martin winner.

Stay tuned for updates as we get them…

In the Women Professional Cat 1/2 event, Michelle Jeanson from Lawrence KS is representing Mercy Cycling. We are still awaiting ‘official’ results to be published, so please hold tight until the results arrive…

Race Reports Hinton, Jensen

by Pamela Hinton

Here’s race report from the weekend …   I was second in the 10 mile TT on
Saturday.  We went out into a stiff headwind and had a nice tailwind on the way back.  I finished nearly 2 minutes behind Bri Kovak.  Her time was good enough for a top 15 in the Pro1,2 Men!

Todays road race course was TOUGH.  We did 3 x 20-mile laps with lots and lots of climbing.  It was Bri, Carrie, and Chris from Team Revolution, Molly from Mesa and me. Molly and I formed an alliance against the Revolution Powerhouse.  It was full throttle from the get go.  Bri drilled the pace up the first climb out of town and then they started attacking Molly and I to get a break established.  Molly got off with Bri, so I sat with Carrie and Chris.  At the start of the third lap, we got word that Molly was alone and only 3 minutes ahead of us.  Carrie and Chris tried to pick up the pace, but were fading.  I knew I had to attack them well before the last KOM, which was followed by a long descent to the down-hill sprint finish.  With about 10 miles to go, I surprised them and somehow managed to stay away for third.

I ended up with 2nd place overall.  It was a long, hard day, but good to be back racing again (ed. Yes, It Is Great To Have You Back Racing Again, We Missed You!!).

No knitting today.

Uncategorized Hinton