Susanne Delaney
Hometown
Portsmouth, NH (originally Dover, NH)
Date of Birth
1 August 1971
Category
2
Profession
Operations Officer, Department of State
Years Racing/Year Started
1990 – Collegiate (raced 2 years). Started up again in 2005
Hobbies
Languages – Spanish/Portuguese; Race Director for the Smuttynose Brewing Co. Portsmouth Criterium (2009 will be our 5th year!)
Selected Palmares
2008 – 18th, Crystal City Crit (VA) – NRC race; 18th, RFK Crit (DC)
2007 – 10th, RFK Crit (DC)
2006 – 2nd, Concord Crit (cat 3) – NH Crit CHampionships; 2nd Auburn RR
2005 – 1st, Saco Bay Crit (cat 4)
Personal Website
Portsmouth Criterium: http://www.portsmouthcrit.com
in her own words
How did you spend this off-season/winter?
Skate skiing, cross/core training, running and riding cross bike quite a bit in January/February on the road.
What are your goals for 2009?
Top 10/20 in NRC Criterium(s), win a local crit, and finish respectively at Fitchburg Stage Race.
What are your Favorite Movies/Bands/Books?
“Slumdog Millionaire” is now my favorite movie!
What is your Favorite Race? Why?
The Portsmouth Criterium of course! I have been promoting it for 5 years now and it’s my home town race!
When did you start racing, how and why?
Back in college because I didn’t make the soccer tryouts (sick). Went to UNH Cycling meeting. Raced for couple of years then took off the next 14 years before getting back into it in 2005.
Who were/are your cycling mentors and/or influences?
Amazing current and past NEBC Elite women teammates; local riders including Robbie King and Ryan Fleming, and old and newer UNH Cycling Team members – I ride with these guys the most. And most supportive, my boyfriend Tim Young, who always listens and rubs my legs when they ache.
What was your first bike? When/how did you get it?
My “Macaroni” aka Marinoni that I had custom made for me while working at Durham Bike Shop in Durham NH (college days). It was purple, green and white, loved that steel frame!
What was your first win/best placing?
10th at RFK Criterium (Washington, D.C.) June 2007
What would you consider your finest moment on the bike?
Exeter Criterium June 2008 – teammate Sally Annis and I put on a great show, just the two of us attacking and countering, really pushing the pace. Sally ended up 3rd!
What was your worst or most embarrassing moment on the bike?
Losing Sally’s wheel at Concord Crit last August 2008 – Sally had killed herself to get me to the finish line. A rider from another team squeezed me out causing me to hit my pedal on the hill. I should have fought harder.
What’s the one thing you’ve done on a ride (training or race) that you will absolutely never do again?
Ride over the Sagamore Bridge aka “singing bridge” in Portsmouth NH – On an early morning in late August 2004, I broke my collarbone while riding my bike over this old, run down, rusty, metal, grated bridge. There was dew on the bridge. I was out of work for 3 weeks!
When you’re not on your bike, what do you like to do?
Hang out with friends, relax in my pajamas, and enjoy my latest breakfast ritual on the weekends: pumpkin, blueberry, walnut buckwheat waffles with fresh berries and NH made maple syrup – and don’t forget the bottomless cup of coffee!
What’s the best advice you ever got for training/racing on the bike?
If you are too tired or run down to train/race DON’T! Listen to your body! And….when climbing, don’t strangle the handlebars. Save all that energy for the climb itself and loosen your grip on the bars.
Anything else you’d like to share?
I would also like to thank my family for their ongoing support! Mom, Dad, Cathleen, David, Ray and Brian – They may think I am crazy, but they love me unconditionally and cheer really loud at the local races – even if my Mom’s eyes are only half open (she is not as scared watching me as she used to be, right Mom?)