Boise cyclist Kristin Armstrong just keeps adding winner's jerseys to her wardrobe.
Armstrong won the women's elite road race title Saturday at the USA Cycling National Festival in Champion, Pa. Just two days earlier, she earned the winner's jersey by claiming her second straight time trial national championship.
She won Saturday's 82-mile road race in a sprint to the finish. Her time of 4 hours, 8 minutes and 23 seconds was one second faster than Christine Thorburn of Sunnyvale, Calif., and Amber Neben of Irvine, Calif. Thorburn took second in a photo finish.
Armstrong said she could never have expected to win both the road race and time trial in the same year.
"There are so many variables," Armstrong said. "I was hoping to win the time trials, but I was racing with a team of 10 gals in the road race and I would have been happy to see any of them win the jersey."
Kimberly Baldwin of Boulder, Colo., was the last cyclist to win the road race and time trial in the same year. Baldwin, who finished fifth in Saturday's road race, won both in 2001.
"In cycling, it's not too often that one person wins both," Armstrong said. "I had a really strong team behind me, but I also had a little bit of luck."
Part of that luck was a course that set up really well for her, with plenty of climbing.
"Imagine going up Bogus three times," Armstrong said. "My legs are still throbbing (several hours after the race)."
Armstrong also won the national road race championship in 2004, the same year that she finished eighth in the road race at the Summer Olympics in Athens.
Next up for Armstrong is the Cascade Classic, a four-day race in Bend, Ore., that begins Thursday.
After that, it's the Twilight Criterium in Downtown Boise on July 22.
Armstrong said she just talked two more of her teammates into joining her in Boise, so she now will have a team of four racers. She said there's strength in numbers and the addition of two more teammates can only help.
"I'll try my best," Armstrong said. "It is a hometown crowd."
Armstrong won the women's elite road race title Saturday at the USA Cycling National Festival in Champion, Pa. Just two days earlier, she earned the winner's jersey by claiming her second straight time trial national championship.
She won Saturday's 82-mile road race in a sprint to the finish. Her time of 4 hours, 8 minutes and 23 seconds was one second faster than Christine Thorburn of Sunnyvale, Calif., and Amber Neben of Irvine, Calif. Thorburn took second in a photo finish.
Armstrong said she could never have expected to win both the road race and time trial in the same year.
"There are so many variables," Armstrong said. "I was hoping to win the time trials, but I was racing with a team of 10 gals in the road race and I would have been happy to see any of them win the jersey."
Kimberly Baldwin of Boulder, Colo., was the last cyclist to win the road race and time trial in the same year. Baldwin, who finished fifth in Saturday's road race, won both in 2001.
"In cycling, it's not too often that one person wins both," Armstrong said. "I had a really strong team behind me, but I also had a little bit of luck."
Part of that luck was a course that set up really well for her, with plenty of climbing.
"Imagine going up Bogus three times," Armstrong said. "My legs are still throbbing (several hours after the race)."
Armstrong also won the national road race championship in 2004, the same year that she finished eighth in the road race at the Summer Olympics in Athens.
Next up for Armstrong is the Cascade Classic, a four-day race in Bend, Ore., that begins Thursday.
After that, it's the Twilight Criterium in Downtown Boise on July 22.
Armstrong said she just talked two more of her teammates into joining her in Boise, so she now will have a team of four racers. She said there's strength in numbers and the addition of two more teammates can only help.
"I'll try my best," Armstrong said. "It is a hometown crowd."
