Clara Kelly
Hometown
Boxford, MA (originally from Pekin, IL)
Date of Birth
23 July 1979
Category
2
Profession
Process Engineer
Years Racing
1
Hobbies
Hiking
Selected Palmares
2008 – 3rd, Fitchburg for the 3/4s
2008 – 5th at the Green Mountain Road Race
Upgrading from Cat 4 to Cat 2 in first season of racing
Personal Website
http://www.cat5tatoo.blogspot.com
in her own words
How did you spend this off-season/winter?
Getting slow. Going to grad school at night. Doing homework. Riding the trainer and dreaming about my trip to Puerto Rico. We got enough snow to go cross country skiing too.
What are your goals for 2009?
Get in some good efforts on the climbs. Avoid getting dropped in a crit.
What are your Favorite Movies/Bands/Books?
My favorite movies are the World’s Fastest Indian, Into The Wild, and Alone Across Australia. I love all the novels by Isabel Allende and Pablo Neruda’s Odes. My favorite singer is Lila Downs.
What is your Favorite Race? Why?
I liked the Ascutney hill climb because it’s the slowest race I’ve done and yet won! I loved how the guy next to me on the start line was worried he wasn’t going to go fast enough for his speedometer to register. It was pretty low key – there was a good roll out of bed vibe going on. Ok, actually that was just me that slept on the drive up, then rolled out of the car and tried to wake my legs up by running to pick up my number. Also, it’s pretty hard to get hurt when you are going 3 mph. You are not required to even wear a helmet.
When did you start racing, how and why?
I started running road races in 2002 to stay in shape, enjoy time outside, and give myself some personal goals. In 2005 I started riding with a local club to cross-train. Triathletes in the club encouraged me to race duathlon and triathlon. It took me a year to learn to swim and get the courage to take my heavy steel bike out in public but I raced several triathlons and duathlons in the fall 2006 / winter 2007. My first actual bike race was a training TT in Jan ’07 and I got dead last. The next day, I set out to set the record straight by borrowing a better bike and entering a race with hills. In 2008 I took the NEBC Intro To Racing Clinic to learn how to go around a corner and see what racing is about. Why? I love to ride my bike! – and I’ve always had a nasty competitive streak.
Who were/are your cycling mentors and/or influences?
Rebecca was my idol during the Racing Clinic after she showed us how easy it was to grab water bottles off the ground. It wasn’t easy for me! Sally was always sooo happy on the bike. My friends in Puerto Rico showed me how to ride my bike. And how important drafting is. And how much getting dropped sucks. My friend Connie in Puerto Rico introduced me to titanium bicycles and ZIPP wheels.
What was your first bike? When/how did you get it?
My first bike was a used bike I got for Christmas when I was 8. It was a bright pink bike with a banana seat and big handlebars. I had to climb on a concrete block to get on it, because I was short and it was too big.
What was your first win/best placing?
I borrowed Connie’s bike and won my first road race in Coamo, Puerto Rico. There was a field of four women and 200 men. Mass chaos. I was wearing Connie’s shoes and wasn’t used to her pedals. It took me a few tries to clip in —- so thank goodness the start of the race was a climb. I was able to grab onto the tail of guys and start working my way up.
What would you consider your finest moment on the bike?
On the Green Mountain Stage Race Crit, when I didn’t get dropped and actually finished sixth. I’m not a good crit rider, and there had been some desperate laps the first half of the race hanging onto the tail end of it with my husband screaming at me to move up.
What was your worst or most embarrassing moment on the bike?
Oh boy, so many to choose from. I don’t know if it’s the several times times I’ve fallen over in front of other strangers or when I went the wrong way down the hardest climb in Puerto Rico 3 hours into a 300km brevet (worst moment there being when I got halfway back up and realized I was going to run out of water). Or when I led the women’s field the wrong way in a duathlon. I also saw a guy from the Minuteman club in a cyclocross race with his pad ripped out and butt hanging out. I was pretty embarrassed for him!
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen on a bike ride?
A chicken ran into my wheel on a pre-sunrise training ride in Puerto Rico.
What’s the one thing you’ve done on a ride (training or race) that you will absolutely never do again?
Go the wrong way down a mountain. Or any way down the mountain without consulting the map first.
When you’re not on your bike, what do you like to do?
Go hiking.
What’s the best advice you ever got for training/racing on the bike?
The best advice I got from Brooke during the clinic. Which was to get all your stuff ready the day before.
Anything else you’d like to share?
Big thanks to my husband, Patrick, for his support of my racing and other endeavors.