Team Group Health rider: Karen Blankenship

Years cycling: Many

Years racing: 3

Racing disciplines: Road (cat 4*)

First interested in racing:
"I started racing because my husband was racing and I was tired of being the one chasing the kids around on the weekends. I finally said 'It's my turn!'"

Favorite thing about racing:
"I love reading an attack and not letting it get away. Oh, and I love hearing my children cheer for me."

Some of your greatest cycling achievements:
"Clipping in and out without falling, finishing my first race, finishing my first race BETWEEN the pace and follow car, sprinting for 16th place, being able to smile after a race."

Outreach activities:
"I loved being able to teach kids and adults to ride. Seeing a grown woman learn to ride a bike for the first time was a very emotional experience. I also really enjoy being a pace car for the races. You get to see the race from a totally different vantage point."

Cycling advice:
"Wet cement is slick. Slow down dummy! Racing advice, courtesy of (team member)Dani: 'Twelve hard pedal strokes will get you back on the pack.'"

Favorite race:
"Anything flat. Sequim, Silvana, Carnation. I love circuit races. They're short and good-paced. Doing the same five-mile route several times, by the third time, you've figured out where you want to attack, what other people are doing, and you can almost see the finish!"

Pastime when not cycling:
"If I weren't busy cycling I would be busy making cakes."

Team Group Health rider: Devon Simpson

Years cycling: 8

Years racing: 6

Racing disciplines: Track, road, cyclocross

First interested in cycling:
"My mom signed me up for the velokids class at Marymoor Velodrome [now Group Health Velodrome]. Got hooked. I joined a junior team and I'm still racing."

Favorite thing about racing:
"I race because it's fun, good exercise, and I get to hang out with lots of cool people."

Some of your greatest cycling achievements:
"Junior track nationals 2007 (age group 15-16): junior cyclocross nationals 2006 (age group 15-16), 6th place; woman cat 4 SCC series 2006, 4th place."

Outreach activities:
"This past year I have focused my volunteer hours at the [Group Health] Velodrome, working as a volunteer coordinator for Friday night gate duty. I also helped teach many of the introductory track classes."

Cycling advice:
"Keep pedaling."

Favorite race:
"Fort Flaglar, Steilacoom, any USGP races, Starcrossed, and any Wednesday night track."

Pastime when not cycling:
"I have no clue what I would do if I wasn't biking! "

Team Group Health rider: Kim Birgh-Pitkanen

Years cycling: 17

Years racing: 16 (on and off)

Racing disciplines: Mountain bike (expert), cyclocross (sport), road (cat 4*)

First interested in cycling:
"My first day on a mountain bike."

Favorite thing about racing:
"I've raced on and off for many years. I race to stay motivated and to keep me fit. I race for the challenge."

Some of your greatest cycling achievements:
"Winning the 2004 U.S. National 24 Hour Championship 4 Women Elite Team title. It was an amazing experience. Being on a team with Ann Knapp, Kristi Berg, and Danielle Crandall was not just inspiring but great fun. One of our riders crashed and went to the hospital for stitches on her second lap. We won the event with three riders while being chased hard by the other team down to the last lap. What an amazing feeling.

"Competing in the 2005 24 Hours of Adrenaline World Solo Championships. I completed my goal of riding for the whole 24 hours, in pouring-down rain on an extremely technical course. I was second in my age group and finished in the top 10."

Outreach activities:
"I volunteered at the [Group Health Seattle International] Bike Expo and enjoyed talking to people about the sport and about our great sponsors. I continuously try to promote women's mountain biking and biking as often as possible by leading team rides and discussing biking with women who are athletes but haven't tried biking."

Favorite discipline:
"Mountain biking because it never gets boring and you can ride all year and still have fun. Endurance races are my favorite thing right now. I'm not sure why; I just find them challenging."

Most memorable place with this sport:
I rode the Kokopelli Trail last spring from Grand Junction, Colo. to Moab, Utah. I'll always remember seeing the LaSalle Mountains and knowing our route would take us right over them."

Pastime when not cycling:
"Spending time with my 10-year-old son or working on our many house projects, skiing, koi pond, hiking."

Team Group Health rider: Lori Williams

Years cycling: 7

Years racing: 6

Racing disciplines: Road (cat 4*), track (cat 4*), cyclocross (cat 3*), mountain bike (sport)

First interested in cycling:
"I started off as a triathlete. I got a beautiful Orbea road bicycle that I fell in love with and I decided was much more fun to ride than swim in dirty water. Plus, I moved to Seattle and I knew that bicycling was big in this area."

Favorite thing about racing:
"Racing is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. I really like the community that surrounds the races, especially the cross community because it's so big and everyone cheers for everyone and they're a very friendly bunch."

Some of your greatest cycling achievements:
"This year: Upgrading to cat 3 in cyclocross. Completing Bikerpelli, a mountain bike ride from Fruita, Colo. to Moab, Utah that is a trail race. Racing eight nights of track racing without harming myself or others!"

Outreach activities:
"Helping teach three basic mountain bike skills classes for Girl Scouts and an adult mountain bike skills class."

Cycling advice:
"The best way to improve your cycling is to ride! If you're super-nutty, living someplace really inconvenient for driving but with great bike facilities is a great motivator to use your bike for transportation."

Favorite race:
"Crosstoberfest. It's down the street from my house, features a beer garden in the middle of the course and concludes with a costume relay where each of the three team members rides one lap (in costume preferably) then chugs a beer. It's a great time.

Also, Tahuya State Forest in the snow and hub deep ice-cold puddles for the Valentine's Day race in 2007. I thought there was a chemical spill when I saw all the white stuff on the ground."

Team Group Health rider: Kristen Campbell

Years cycling: 10

Years racing: 6

Racing disciplines: road (cat 3*), cyclocross (cat 2*)

First interested in cycling:
"I was a commuter until a friend convinced me to do a local crit series. Right before my first race he gave me three pieces of advice: 1) Lose the baggy mountain biker shorts, 2) Hold your line and, 3) Don't do anything unpredictable. Still rings true today."

Favorite thing about racing:
"My favorite thing about racing is the teamwork and strategy. Not wanting to be slow is what motivates me during the season."

Some of your greatest cycling achievements:
"3rd place in Adrossan Stage Race (Alberta), 5th place in Vance Creek RR, and 5th place in the Lake Washington Velo CR"

Cycling advice:
"Don't get behind me on a descent."

Favorite race:
"Wenatchee because it has the longest climb and Starcross because it has no descents."

Pastime when not cycling:
"If I wasn't busy cycling I would be the drummer in an all girl garage rock band."