Strong Showing for Velo Bella-Kona Mud-Squad in the Mid-Atlantic

By Melanie "Wrong Way" Swartz

Strong Showing for Velo Bella-Kona Mud-Squad in the Mid-Atlantic

Saturday was one of the hottest days of the Mid-Atlantic series with temps in the 70s and sunny.

Power was the name of the game at the Lower Allen Classic in Harrisburg, PA with a course that was predominantly grass with quite a few tacky off-camber turns, one sandpit traversed twice, and a long uphill gravel-asphalt mix road finish all handled perfectly with our fantastic Easton Circuit tubular wheels. Diedre's power prevailed as she steadily put time between herself and 2nd place, further securing her position as the Mid-Atlantic series leader.

"Wrong Way" Swartz rode-hard to try to regain places she lost after a tumble in the sand-pit on the first lap, but regaining contact with the top-5 meant she lost a few more spots to a very respectable 9th place finish. Junior rider, Stephanie White, had a strong start but suffered a mechanical. Winfield, 1st. Swartz, 9th.

Sunday was a very different day with cool temps, rain, and lots of mud at Thompson Park in Jamesburg, NJ. The Velo Bella-Kona east coast squad showed why they are called the Mudders as they finished four in the top eight. The team relied on their experience and the flawless SRAM shifting to get around in the muddy conditions. For each racer, persevance and patience was the key since the conditions weren't suited for speed like the day before. Winfield and Swartz rounded out the podium for 2nd and 3rd, Milkowski and White close behind in 6th, 8th respectively.

This weekend the east coast squad heads south to North Carolina for the North Carolina Grand-Prix UCI C2 double header in Hendersonville, NC, while most of the team congregates on the west coast for the final two rounds of the US Grand Prix of Cylcocross sponsored by the always awesome Crank Brothers. Thanks Christina (and Lance)!

A few articles in the mass media highlighted our sucess:

Saturday's race:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=cross/2006/nov06/lower_allen06
http://www.velonews.com/race/cyc/articles/11188.0.html
http://spokepost.com/

Sunday's race:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=cross/2006/nov06/highland06