Owasco Stage Race Report - NY Bellas

by Kate Stewart

Hi Bellas!

Here's a little report of our "fun" weekend of racing in Auburn, NY at the Owasco Stage Race...A couple things to keep in mind: this was supposed to be a 3/4 race, and it was made up of a lot of 3s and several very experienced 4s. Then they combined the 1/2/3s with our race to make it "open women" - so it was a very, very tough field of 33 starters. Sue Atwood, Sue Kahler, Amy Kneale and I did our best to represent the pink and blue. From a language teacher's perspective I found it neat that there were Quebecois and German speakers in our race, and I had a little fun shooting the breeze in another language with some very pleasant racers.

First two shots of some wet rats after the time trial...look at how we're plastering our smiles on.

We found a third wet rat - this one is much more cheerful and made us
liven up a little.

Ok, so the 12 mile Time Trial....Sue A. may have been the only one
with a decent warm up, as she's good at arriving on time. As you can
see, it rained on us. A lot. Downpour actually. At points it was
hard to see. The course is very hilly and nothing like our local
club tt which is flat. Amy had a great TT and was loads of time
ahead of the rest of us - how does she do that? She's supposed to be
a hill climber??? I guess part of it was that it was a #$@$%! hilly
course. Sue K and I ended up right next to each other in our times.
Sue A (we're working on nick-names...) was not too far back.

Here's a nice shot of Sue A looking thrilled to have the photographer
poking a camera in her face before the circuit race.
The Circuit race: kinda fun, though much hillier than most of us
would have liked. It was supposed to have been a crit, but the race
organizers hadn't taken into account that the roads in town were
under construction...so this course was put in its place. I think we
did 4 laps on a 3.25 mile course, with each lap being counted for
sprinting time bonuses. The pace was very fast, which took a couple
Bellas by surprise. Amy and I did manage to stay in the pack and all
of us did stay up on the first corner where several women crashed on
the 90 degree turn on wet, slick tar. Amy I and both noted that we
fishtailed on the stuff. That corner afterward became almost
ridiculously slow. (which was fine by me) In the end, it was a pack
finish with my redeeming myself for the TT (and the road race to
come). Amy was in the next group, then Slick, then Sue A.

Here we are goofing around after the race, practicing sprinting.


SLK or Sue K or now known to us as Slick. Can you believe she's 53?!
Nice to have such genes. She trains really hard though too.
.
Silky...Slinky...Amos? We're working on those nick-names.

What some of us might decide to do instead of bike racing if we keep
getting dropped. Wonder if my electric mower will have enough power?


At the Road Race:
No, contrary to what some say, they're not sexual innuendos!! It's
supposed to be cute! Looks like an ostrich's neck!!! (BTW, my bike
is featured in Bicycling magazine - even the color!)


Ok, the Road Nightmare, I mean, "Race". Just 45 miles, but with 5
KOM climbs, with extra non-bonus hills for good measure. This race
was a major leg buster. First KOM was at 5 miles!

We all had different goals - many of us accomplished them, despite
the race being extremely challenging. One challenge was that the pace
car didn't know the route and took a left at one important corner,
when we were supposed to go right. Since I had preridden the course
a week before, and I could see the arrow on the road (duh), I yelled
to the pack to TURN RIGHT, NOT LEFT! and found myself for a brief
while at the very front on the 2nd KOM as a result of the leaders'
following the pace car. That moment was, naturally, very short lived.

Sue A said she was going to stay with the pack to the first climb,
and she did that - but then had a solo, hard-working ride. She did
get lots of encouragement from the onlookers, complements on her
fluff (not sexual comments!) and jersey, lots of "oh, la, la"s and
"go Bella!"s which surely must have helped her mental state.

Sue K finished just behind the chase pack - she had clawed her way
back onto a group of 4 I had clawed onto after the second KOM, and
continued to ride strong (dropping me) and steady on the never ending
climbs the rest of the way with a Mission in Motion rider (less than
half her age!).

I was dropped three times, managed to pull myself back onto the chase
group twice, but my legs just couldn't take the hills any longer and
watched SLK and Chelsea (MIM) ride away from me. Rode then 21 miles
alone, thinking ok, at least no one is between me and Sue K, I'll
still finish just behind them, when less than 1K to go, three women
working together caught and passed me at the finish. Such a bummer.

And then there's that damned Amy. She never got dropped from the
chase pack, rode all the hills strong, and finished with a known
impressive local hill climber (a vocal complainer and yammerer, but a
strong racer) and a group of about 6, not far back from the leaders.
I did want it recorded that I beat Amy on two of the five KOMs - that
was an accomplishment for me, even IF she wasn't trying...Amy did the
rest of us Bellas proud. This will be a good race for her confidence
for the NY Empire State Games coming up at the end of this week. (If
she didn't blow up her legs yesterday, but knowing Amy, what would
ruin most, just makes her stronger.)

In the final GC, Amy had 14th, I had 21st, Sue K had 22nd, and Sue A
had 27th out of 33 starters.

Today I want to find a masseur...

Cascade and Beyond to BC Superweek

By Jen Chapman



Wow, what an amazing ride these past 2 weeks have been. The ride started in Bend OR with the Cascade Classic Cycling Race. Normally I come into this race with the best fitness of the year but this year I had to settle for mediocre. With the removal of once criterium and the addition of another tough road race I knew this race would be a battle.
I was really disappointed with my individual result however realizing my fitness level right now I was happy to contribute to the team as a supporting rider. This allowed me to do some work early in the longer stages knowing my endurance would be a problem towards the end of each long road stage. The team really started to gel like I have not seen us do before and we actually ended up owning these races and controlling the outcome which was just incredible to be a part of. My teammate Kele Murdin was on fire at Cascade and I have personally never seen anyone ever race that hard or with so much heart and her performance during that week will inspire me for years to come.

Hook up the U-Haul to our van and we are heading to the border for BC Superweek. Getting across the border into Canada was quite the ordeal and we all had to go into the Immigration office for a closer inspection. After it was determined we were only a minor threat to Canada we were allowed entry and headed out for a nighttime crit in the town of White Rock. Now, we had just finished Cascade on Sunday and the White Rock crit was on Monday evening after traveling for 10 hours or so? Our legs were shot and with a long tough hill on the backside of the crit course we pretty much dropped like flies except for Lieselot and Kele who finished in the pack. I am having some trouble with my hamstring so I was pretty sore and grumpy but ended up doing a bit of work despite my attitude. A day off after White Rock and we head out to Vancouver BC for the Gas Town Crit. 30,000 spectators lined the downtown streets of Vancouver for this intense race. It was the most exciting race I have ever been a part of and the crowds were incredible. The start/finish stretch was cobble and slightly uphill and all out speed every single lap. The crowds were so loud through that section that it sounded like we were riding through a tunnel of sound, I felt like adrenalin was powering me through that section each lap. The field was pretty tough and I was hanging on and trying to keep a good position most of the time but mentally I had a hard time taking such fast corners on the cobbles that I kept working to close my own gaps. Having people cheer you after your last lap while you cool down was also such a neat experience. Canada has such respect for the sport of cycling and the athletes. It would be great to see more US riders travel up to Canada to race, especially the BC Superweek Series as there is such incredible support for the racers from the community.


Our final races in Canada were the 3 days of Tour de Delta. This included a 700 meter uphill TT which was started drag race style with two riders going at the same time right next to each other. Fun to watch but painful to participate. The next event was a fast and fun evening criterium and finally a circuit race. All of these events were tough and especially so on our tired bodies. Knowing these were the last of our Velo Bella-Kona team races I wanted to give it all I had.
On the circuit race I really felt like after crossing the finish line I had nothing at all left in the tank. I tried to help Lieselot get connected to the front break of 6 riders for most of the race. The one and only hill in the circuit left me falling off the pack every lap and fighting to get reconnected only to go back to the front and continue driving hard, well as hard as I could until the hill came up again. I didn't know I had that much fight left in my legs.

Speedy

Sweet shot of Hiroko at Gastown crit

www.canadiancyclist.com

The foam finger fan club.

Foam fingers. You know the ones. The big foam hand with a single index finger raised in the #1 position. I don’t know what it is about them but I have always wanted to have one out there JUST for me. Bobbing in the air. #1, #1, #1, #1, #1. Well, this weekend at the Whistler Crankworx Canada Cup race I had an entire foam finger fan club!! It was the best! NINE purple and blue foam fingers bobbing up and down for Wendy Simms (written in glitter). It was my soopah foam finger fan club. Brought tears to my eyes (or maybe that was from the salty sweat stinging my eyes…). Either way, I have the best support crew ever.

All right enough bragging about my foam finger fan club. The race. Crankworx is a HUGE weeklong bike festival at Whistler that is mostly geared towards freeriding and downhill but this year they hosted us spandex clad XC geeks for a Canada Cup. Any race in Whistler is guaranteed to have some of the best singletrack around and this year was no different. It was the first race of the season where the terrain has justified pulling out my sweet Kona Queen Kikapu full suspension. Yeah! All of the top Canadians were still out west from Nationals and some of the US girls were up looking for UCI points so it was going to be a good race. The biggest factor was the heat. The temperature was 38C (100F for you US folks) and our race was at 1pm. Ouch. Time to double up the Cytomax.

The race started surprising mellow. Mary McConneloug (Kenda/Seven Cycles) took the early lead but noone seemed to be challenging her. I think everyone was worried about blowing up in the heat. Eventually Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain Business Objects) took over and put it into her Olympic-silver-medal-gear, so us mere mortals were left to fight for the scraps. I had a great start and went into the single track fourth behind Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain Business Objects). There wasn’t a lot of passing on the course - a trade off for the great singletrack that I was willing to accept. There was a big line of girls on the first lap but only the Xterra World Champion Melanie McQuaid (Orbea) squeeked by me and I managed to pass Sydor so, even score. The heat and singletrack started to spread us out by the second lap, so when I lawn-darted into a tree with my head, only Kiara Bisaro (Team R.A.C.E.) got by. It was my experiment at going gloveless to stay cooler - uhm I guess it failed. I jumped back on the bike but was a bit frazzled. No stars so I kept going (thanks for saving my gray matter Giro - unfortunately my Pneumo took one for the team) . The heat was starting to have an effect so I had to ride a bit more conservatively. I was drinking lots and dumping water on myself every lap (thanks to Norm & Hugh under the coveted BIG umbrella) but it wasn’t enough. I started to fade. I saw Kelli Emmett (Ford) coming for me on the last lap and managed to pull it together enough to hold her off but it wasn’t pretty. I finished 5th and went straight for the sprinkler. A dehydrated smile for my foam finger fan club and then I hit the shade.

Thanks to my team Velo Bella - Kona and all of our sponsors SRAM, Giro, Cytomax, Zeal, Easton, Sidi, San Marco, Schwalbe, Hincapie, P@zzo, Crank Brothers, Fox, Team Estrogen and Vanderkitten. Thanks to my foam finger fan club who braved the heat to cheer me on and keep me hydrated at their own expense: Norm, Alison, Jason, Catharine, Sharona, Heather, Mark, Rollin and Hugh . And thanks to my longtime sponsors Frontrunners and Helly Hansen - no thermal layers required this weekend...

Albany Criterium Race Report

by Angela

The race course is a short 0.6 mile loop around a school complex. There is a slight incline then a nice downhill. I really like this course because it can be fast on the downhill. The race is formatted a bit different this year. The Cat 4 and Cat 5 races have mentors to assure safety. The mentors also gave us feedback and answered questions right after the race.

I was pretty fatiqued from Livermore Road Race but really wanted to do this race. The main goal for me in this race is to hang on to the group and finish it. I know I didn’t have the legs that day so I will just have to bear with it and get a good work out. My body was tired from lack of food the day before. Right after the Livermore Road Race, I had no appetite. It was hot all night in San Jose and I just couldn’t get a good night sleep. At one point I almost bailed out of this race and maybe just pull out when it got really bad.

I started warming up and drank a couple of electrolyte drinks. I did eat breakfast but had to force it down, I wasn’t hungry at all. I did take some gel which helped.

There was another Bella in the race and I believed we’ve met in Mt Hamilton but wasn’t sure. She was very nice and at the start, I bolted out leading the group then Kimberly told be to hang on to her wheel. I said okay. My spirit was up after that but then after several laps, lagged behind the pack. Several laps went by and the pack split a bit but I was able to chase back. The pack then were all together again. There were a couple of attacks from Metromints and at one point for some reason I was up front pushing the pace. I felt fatigued after that hard work then fell back. Still in the group and trying to move up on the corners, which was un-safe – later getting feedback from one of the mentors which was great! The suggestion was to move up in a straight away. Hydration is also important during the race, which was another stupid decision of mine not to have any drink during the 40 minute criterium. What the hell was I thinking this weekend?

The pace started to pick up and at the last 2 laps, I started to get gapped and fatigued legs just could not keep up with the pace. I saw the group head around the last corner to the finish as I rolled in to the finish.

I learned a lot from the mentors that day and I really enjoyed the race. This weekend was just full of bad decisions on my part. One good decision was to just go ahead and do the race and make the best out of it.

Overall, although the results weren’t as good as I want it to be the weekend was filled with eye-opening learning experiences from other racers, mentors and my coach. The fun part of racing is to get better through experiences in the races weekend after weekend. There is never a race where I don’t learn anything.

Livermore Road Race Report

by Angela

The Livermore course consist of mellow rolling hills. 6 miles loop and 6 times around. The temperature in this race was a scorching 115 degrees and in some area around the loop it was more. Hydration was key in this race. As my husband said, it is a race of attrition.

I read a bunch of race reports explaining the heat but little did I realize that it was more than I can handle. The race is definitely different from a pre-ride. I arrived to sign-in and get a quick warm-up around the course the opposite way. After my warm-up, I went back to the registration to visit the potty then get ready. I saw Monica and she was mentoring the junior race. She was all smiles and very nicely told me about wearing a helmet during warm-up. First of all it is not safe and I can be DQ’d if the officials see me. Duh! I felt a bit embarrassed and apologize because my brain was on my ass!

Cat 4 women was quite a big group. I think there were 40 of us. I scanned through the group and said hi to some I see around in the races. I certainly know who are the goats amongst the women who can really put a hurt in the course. Sigh! My goal was to stick with that group as far as I can and as long as I can.

Off we went…

The race started with tempo and just cruising along. The road was narrow and it is not easy to move up without sqeezing in or going in the dirt on the edge of the road. There were some that crossed the center line but a motorcade was there to warn them. It was tight and everyone wants to be in front of course, so did I. Every corner was a surge and high tempo on the inclines. The downhill was very tight because of the potholes on the right hand side in one section. It was pretty sketchy going through it. There were times where I was a bit squirly. I am getting use to my new bike and the Campi Compact and was very cautious not to drop my chain in the climb. Well, I need to break the habit of looking down to see which gears I am in. That did not help. There were times were I was just tired and hot that holding my line was a challenge but was able to adjust.

I was able to hang on with the lead group until the 4th lap. My husband was at the feed zone with water and I had a bottle each lap. There were also other people graciously helping me out with water as well which was very nice. During the 3rd lap, I started feeling very strange. My quads started to cramp and couldn’t power up standing on the short climbs so I had to settle sitting so I can hang in there. On the long stretches, the group started to go faster and faster on the corners. Right on the short climb before the stretch going back to the feed zone, I felt it! My quads was shot and I started to go back wards. I still see the group but there have approached to top of the climb. As we headed downhill, I tried to chase and get back until we get to another incline then pretty much game over. I was fatigued and hot. I started feeling very thirsty and could not wait to get back to the feed zone. I was gapped fast and will have to grind my teeth to finish.

Right before I approached the feed zone before lap 5, I was considering or planned how I am going to give up and just pack it up of the day. I really felt that I could not go any further and my quads just could not go any more! I don’t really know what happened but when I approached the feed zone to get my next bottle, I decided to just hang tough and finish this race. I saw everyone cheering for me and at the corners the marshalls were very kind to tell me to hang in there. That is pretty much what I did, tried to hang in there and finish. In the last lap, my quads felt better and I rolled to the finish. I was just glad to finish and was ready to drink more.

I learned several things in this race. First is electrolyte drinks is important. I decided to not to have any energy or electrolyte drink in this race which was a mistake. Why? The last 3 days race I did, my stomach was not happy on the third day. I wasn’t sure what the drinks will do in a hot day. Water I thought would be the best choice, then learned that it wasn’t good enough to sustain me. I also learned later that food is also important. It is common sense really...Also practice not looking down and get better in holding my line.

Thanks and appreciation to my husband who stood out there in the heat for hours to make sure I am hydrated.

NORBA NATIONALS #2 RACE REPORT

Welcome to the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. We arrived
Wednesday evening for the Norba National Mountain Bike Series at Ski
Sugar in Banner Elk, NC. We stayed with Chelly Richards. She is a
Velo Bella, too. She and her boyfriend Daryl were very nice and
extremely accomodating.Thanks again for everything.

Alicia finally got to meet Kiersten Inserni and her brother Kees
from Texas. They actually stayed up and waited for her to get there.
There were instant friends.

Here is the gameplan for the weekend - Alicia is racing, Morgan is
the bike mechanic for our Pro Team, Ethan is the official prodium boy
and I am here to help out with meals, in the feed zone and whatever
else is thrown at me.

Thursday Alicia registered for her race today. It was raining on and off most of the day. We found out we had to walk the course before
Alicia officially got her race number. So Alicia and I made our way
to the chair lift. It was a interesting and scary experience for
Alicia. She has never been on a lift, plus a few times on the way up
to the top it had stopped. And to add to this it poured while we were
about half way up the mountain. Once was got to the top we were very
happy (and wet). Now we had to find the cross country course. For
some reason, we ended up not really needing to go to the top of the
mountain. That is where the downhill course started (not the cross
country course). The cool thing is that we were able to see some
downhill racers practice. We finally found the course and walked down
the rest of the way. By this point we were hungry and ready to relax
the rest of the day. Alicia was FINALLY able to get her number,
except for the fact that NOW they had her in the wrong age group. She
was registered in my age group(30-39). OOPS !

Friday. Today was a fairly low key day ( AT FIRST). Alicia rode her
bike most of the day and got a lot of stickers and stuff from
different teams. Some of our friends raced today. Melanie and Judd,
both did pretty well. Now just to make things really interesting !
Alicia decides she wants to do downhill, so she and Morgan walk the
course and then they changed her registration to the downhill race.
The race starts at 9:00 am on Saturday and that does not include the
time it takes to get to the top. I am already nervous about Alicia
racing in general. This adds another element to the nervousness of
getting her there on time and it takes about 20 minutes or so just to
get the the resort from Chelly's house. At the end of all this
planning I made the executive decision to have her race the cross
country race, anyway. I did not feel that Alicia was ready for the
downhill stuff yet.

Saturday. RACE DAY. Today started off pretty well. Alicia's race did not start until 3:00 after the pro girls had raced. The pro girls all
gave their best effort in the cross country race. Finally, it was
time for Alicia to race. Unfortunately, there were no other girls in
her age group to race against. The beginning of the race Alicia did
awesome keeping up with the older kids. She had a really rough time
with the climbing portion of the race, but she made it to the top.
Then is was all downhill from there (Pardon the pun). She only had
one crash. The bike had some mechanical issues(NO FRONT BRAKES). She
finally got to the end and her chain popped off right at the finsh
line. I was very proud of her. It was a very difficult race. She even
got an interview at the end and a 6-pack (GATORADE of course)! Alicia
was awarded a new bike for winning FIRST PLACE in her race. It was a
great bike, but it would not work for the trails she likes to ride.
We were able to get store credit at the bike shop that donated it.
She picked out an awesome pink Giro helmet and a really cool Camelbak.

Sunday. Short Track Race today. Today was the short track for the pro girls. All of the girls gave it their best effort. Congrats to
Kristen on being able to finish the race and not be pulled.
The evening was alot of fun. We had a great dinner at Chelly's house.

Monday - Trip home to unpack and get ready for the racing in Vermont. Stay tuned for the next race report. Good Times.

Wendy goes to Gastown!

by Wendy Simms


The Velo Bella - Kona road girls were in my neck of the woods so I figured I HAD to go cheer them on for at least one race of BC Superweek. I was actually hoping to race with them to learn a thing or two, but two big mountain bike races on both weekends left me with the reality check that I can't do everything. But....I am a strong spectator when it comes to crits so tour de Gastown was my destination Wednesday night - along with 30,000 other spectators.



Unfortunately the girls had some bad luck off the start with Jane and Sarah going down in the start chute when someone tipped onto them. I didn't see it but I knew it was bad when I saw two pink and blue kits walking back to the pits with at least one mangled bike (poor Jane!). Jane was out but Sarah was being set up to get right back in. The pace was crazy fast with primes being announced every couple of laps. Some big names were racing and the VB-K girls were right in there with the big guns - a few of them taking turns off the front. I couldn't tell who was who most of the time but the girls looked FAST. A few photos for you guys:

Cascade Classic

by Brent Chapman

Day 1: Kele and Hiroko make the papers!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HIROKO! Hiroko earns some QOM points!

Velo Bella-Kona riders decide to make some moves and shape the race in their direction. The plans today almost worked and Hiroko almost slipped out a top 4, but Jane and Leiselot did some good work to stay with the climbers who chased the break down with only 6k to go. Kele who was in the break had a mechanical with her nuetral supported bike and had to work hard to stay in the race after such a tough break. (Kele's Kona bike finally made it to town for the next one!)

With excitement like this its ok to be missing the Tour de France.

Great job out to Ryan Hostetter, as this is her first big NRC stage race (as a cat3!)

Stage 1 Photos

Day 2:
Velo Bella in Cyclingnews

Stage 2 Photos

Day 3:
Cascade Day 3 was a TT in the morning and a crit at night.
Stage 3 Photos


On to the downtown crit.
Velo Bella-Kona gals knew it was all or nothing and Kele had Laura Vangilder of Lipton marked for the win and that guess was c.orrect! Temp was 93 degrees!

After a fast start pace put on by webcor riders, the attacks came, and Kele went hard with Vangilder, Cury of webcor,and Ruiter of Victory. Martina of McGuire managed to jump into the break later too.

The gap was immediate with Kele taking Prime after Prime after prime! Until 2 laps to go when Van Gilder heard the $500 prime being called out and she took off dropping the group of 5 in the break away. Kele saved it up and in the sprint took second place!

The rest of gals made it in the peloton. Ryan our Cat 3 racer suffered from an early gap by another rider that was formed and was pulled part way through the race but looked great! She is really feeling the race now after 4 events.

Cyclingnews Story

Stage 4 Photos

Day 4:
Well, not sure about the papers, but Kele, Amber Rais of Webcor, and Martina of Mcguire slipped away on Lap 3 of 4 to hold the field off for up to 2 minutes all the way to the finish.

On the last climb with about 5k to go, Kele was gapped but hung on to the end to finish 3rd only seconds off first won by Rais.

Great job Kele!

Jen C had to drop out on the second lap due to a pain in her leg that we were concerned could be a muscle tear or problem with a tendon.

The rest of the ladies pulled in together with the field sprint, Lieselot thinks this is her best sprint yet!

Cyclingnews Story

Stage 5 Photos

Back in the Saddle (to find out that I’d never really been in it)

By Chelly Richards

Dark Mountain, Wilkesboro NC, July 9, 2006

Grad school and I didn’t mix very well. I don’t regret getting my masters degree, but I sure was bitter all the way through. School gets in the way of the better things in life and that just seems wrong to me. The last race I did was my first crit about 2 years ago. It monsooned, I was dropped in the first lap, and then I crashed. Looking back, I see that I was about 10 lbs overweight, probably depressed, and definitely not riding enough.

Now, fast forward to the present. Two months ago, I did two very wonderful things – I graduated and I moved to the North Carolina mountains. The first time I rode up the hill to my house it took me 24 minutes. Last week, it took me 16! I decided it was time to pick up where I left off – racing mtb in the beginner class – and entered the next race just down the mountains from us on some of the best trails I’ve ever ridden in Wilkesboro, NC.

I got there early, suited up in my Velo Bella kit, and started my warm-up routine - which I made up as I went along. I was plenty warm and still spinning around the field when I noticed my race all lined up at the start. I rode up the line with about 1 minute to spare. I said hi to everyone and we were off.

The race started by circling around a grassy field before going up a steep hill and into the woods. Almost immediately off the line, I realized that I would need to pass the girls in front of me and that made me feel good. After I got around them, I was riding behind the two girls in front. I wasn’t hurting at all and so I felt even better. I decided to hold my position and pass them on the climbs in the woods – since climbing’s my new thing, you know.

We hit the steep climb into the woods and I make the rookiest mistake I have ever EVER seen (and I’ve been riding for 3 years now). I shift, look down to make sure, and I’m in my big ring! I shift down quick and drop my chain. Okay…I hop off quick to fix it and find that the chain is not only dropped it’s…twisted and tangled? The mess on my bike looked like only magic would have caused it. Had one of my competitors hexed me?

I didn’t know what to do. The race cost me $50 so I wasn’t about to pull out before I even made it to the trail.

The 40+ category passed me before I got help and they started 2 minutes after us. Darrell wasn’t anywhere in sight and my chain wasn’t budging. Finally, some other guys there to watch their girlfriends decided to help me (even though, it was technically not legal). They decided that they needed to take my right crankarm completely off my bike and one guy went to get his tools. Then Darrell ran up and wiggled it back and forth until the chain came free. Minutes went by and about 4 of us were covered in grease before I was off again.

I decided I had to at least catch one of my competitors. I caught three of them and it felt so good! The second one I caught on some double track right next to an aid station and the guy standing there got a picture of it. (Gotta get that one.) The third one I caught in a section of the course that was also used for the downhill race. For the first time in my life I felt like I could race. I could pass people and then jump away from them to make sure they didn’t try to pass me back. Before, racing for me had been about not getting lapped by the men’s race! I ended up in third place, ten minutes behind first and seven behind second. I think I could have been up there with them.

We’ll see! Next race is in two weeks!

Cougar Crit Prom Women/Men Race Report

by Lula

Yes, you did read it right.
It was a combined field: PRO 1/2 MEN & PRO 1/2/3 WOMEN; isn't it lovely?!

Winner: OLDS, SHELLEY
Second: LYONS, BRENDA
Third: MARPLE, STACY

My Placing: 6th

First of all, when I showed up at the Infineon Raceway I saw right away the "Kona-Schwalbe" tent and I knew where my first stop would be.

After a "little" chat with Jed and the guys I went to registration and there I learned that there were only 6 women registered: 4 Proman, 1 Webcor and me :) And I said: Grrrrrreat! Meaning, no surprise here as even Casey once said: I "choose the races that do not have enough racers to count for upgrading points". Oh well...

Anyways, at my car getting ready Yana (Proman) told me that they delayed our race about 1/2hr and no point warming up now. Then, she came once again and said that and we would start right after the Pro 1/2 Men field - so I stopped warming up AGAIN. Later, she came again, with more bad news, saying that we would start with the Pro Men field @ 4:15PM. I laughed...

I decided to rear that myself and at registration I did also learned that our field had grown from 6 to 12, including Kendra Wenzel and Brenda Lyons (Victory). Yeahhhh!!! I was happy because the reason I chose this race was because I wanted to have a hard/fast pace race and last year lots of great racers appeared. And this year I got more, I would race with the Pro 1/2 Men. God has really been leasing my prayers.

At that point, I was almost feeling like recruiting more riders around to make up the 20 racers needed for upgrading points - Hey, you! Do you have a road bike? Let's ride! But wait a minute, since we raced with the guys we did have more than 20 racers, right?!

Anyhow, at the race, the pace started easy for a couple seconds and then.....it was a battle to save your life! Fast, fast, fast. There were about 25-30 of us, including the guys. The race had no primes and only 2 real turns: it starts with a small right/left on a descend, a short straight line, a U turn to the right (just like Fremont Crit), and big straight line with a HUGE cross wind pushing everyone into the wall, and 1 big right turn back to the start/finish line. A fast and very technical track.

The guys went up front and pushed the pace and we all followed. Attacks and counter attacks later, and I got dropped; just like Jed said it would happen; I wished I had warmed up..... Well, that was my warm up. I waited for another rider and, Yana again. We worked together to bridge back and the official told us there were more people dropped behind us, including some guys, and we could have a neutral lap and wait for them and the peloton. We kept a steady pace and this time, when the peloton came I knew I had to stay on. There was one group of 2 guys off the front and right after a second/chase group of 8 racers with 5 gals in it, the same group I was dropped before, and this time I knew that the 6th place had to be mine.

For the last 45' I worked hard moving back and forth in the peloton but found myself quite often at the back. The guys would pull hard and since they couldn't drop us they would get frustrated. hahaha. Well, our group broke again and this time I was still on and a couple laps later, before the last lap, we lapped the other riders and one of the lapped riders from Proman helped Shelly by pulling her and us into the last long right turn and slowed down in front of some of us opening a small gap in front of a couple of us and I ended up with 2 guys 3 other women. At the last turn, and 200 meters to the finish line, I jumped and sprinted to 6th place.

At the end, I was happy when some of the guys came to me and congratulated me for my performance; weird; but it looks like the announcer kept saying that "Velo-Bella Luciana Vecchi a Cat 3 is looking good and strong in this insanely fast peloton".

I still think the "look good" part is because I'm a Bella!

And, a HUGE thanks for the Jed and the guys at "Kona-Schwalbe" tent who feed me and fixed my bike. You're all awesome!!!!!

Deer Valley NORBA report

by Wendy

The band is gettin’ back together!

It’s been 2 months since I have raced with my teammates so I was giddy about catching up with everyone at the Park City NORBA. Alex organized us, his mom Judy fed us and Jed & Jessie kept our sweet Kona Kula Lisa’s dialed. We stayed in a swank condo at the base of the hill which was amazing - HUGE thanks to Arleen Jouras! Although we got booted from the $2.4 million penthouse (the owner saw 6 bikes in the entrance), the first floor was still the nicest place I had ever stayed. Jed is still going off about the 3 headed shower in his bathroom. Five star. Just like Kona’s duck-eating-champagne-drinking Matt Madeson.

The XC crew had fun pre-riding the twisty course on Friday although the thin air was noticeable to us that live a few blocks from the beach. We cursed our mountain goat teammates Noel and Kristin who complained that “there wasn’t much climbing on this course”. I would continue to curse them every lap of the race on Saturday. After our pre-ride we watched Allie rip down the hill to 9th in the Super D on the Velo Bella Kona Dawg that had just been built up that day.

XC: Warming up in the hot midday sun is never great but its even worse when the start of your race gets delayed, three times. Its even crappier when you have timed your food intake to perfection and your empty stomach is suddenly starving. At times like these, you just have to abandon your “script” and deal with it. Everyone is in the same boat.

The start of the XC race was a bit of a gong show – a few hundred meters before 68 girls had to funnel into single file. I had a solid start but a lot of the other girls got caught behind a crash (or two...). I settled into climbing up the BIG opening hill at my own pace, worrying that the altitude might blow me up if I went out too hard. A blur of pink and blue passed me as Kristin rocketed ahead when the climb opened up. And then she was gone.

I should have made a push at the top to get ahead into the single track but I didn’t and got caught behind a couple of slower riders who obviously didn’t race BMX when they were kids. The downhill was really fun twisty singletrack but almost impossible to pass. Eventually I caught up to Kristin only to be passed by her again on the switchback climb. This time I was prepared and had enough time (and breath) to cheer her on. Lap two played out the same way but Kristin was still flying up the hills and picking up speed on the downhill so by the third lap I couldn’t catch up to her! We ended up 11th and 12th. Yeah Kristin! Both Kristin and Noel later admitted (a bit sheepishly) that there was in fact a fair amount of climbing on that course. No shit!

Kids race: The entire Velo Bella- Kona team was helping out with the kids race as they ripped around the course. There were crashes, laughter, tears, big smiles, totally chaos and a medal for everyone.

Short track: The short track course wasn’t much to write home about. Not very many features and really short so the bottlenecks at the start were pretty damaging. I got squeezed into the boards early on, and then tried to go wide but got my bar end caught in the tape. I know, I know, serves me right for running a flat bar with bar ends, geeky XC racer…..I played catch up for most of the race, picking people off but then dropped my chain on the bumpy descent and had to stop so I was pulled at 17th position. I was a bit pissed off at first because I was feeling pretty good but when I saw that Kristin was still going strong I stopped feeling sorry for myself and started cheering her on. She looked focused and strong pulling in for 11th place.

The coolest part of the short track race was that the team got to unveil the new Hincapie skinsuits! We all looked and felt fast in the super “toit” one piece (as Jen Tilley would say).

Thanks to Alex, Jed, Judy and Jessie for taking such great care of us this weekend. It was a lot of fun and the blueberry pancakes rocked! Thanks to Arleen for getting us hooked up with such a sweet condo on the hill. And thanks to our sponsors for providing us with such great rides and gear: Kona, SRAM, Easton, Schwalbe, Fox, San Marco, ZEAL, Vanderkitten, SIDI, Hincapie. Last but not least thanks to my long time sponsors Helly Hansen and Frontrunners

Fruition

by Tina

Fruition

Fitting title I think.

A year ago and 15 pounds heavier, I decidedI was going to do my first bike race. Not just any bike race, but a 4-stage stage race in the mountains surrounding Missoula, Montana. The Ecology Classic used to attract top pros from around the country including T-Mobile, Saturn,HealthNet, and Navigators.

I have a stubborn streak. I finished that race – and repeatedly got my rear end handed to me, to the tune of being over an hour and 10 minutes down on GC, and still showed up the next stage. The first road stage I was dropped after about 15 minutes without even seeing the first hill and rode the 3+ hours alone. The circuit and criteriums had some great photos of the field lapping me, but if you really look at it right, it looks like I'm on a mad breakaway. Or at least that's how I remember it!

I decided then and there that I would be back – and that would not happen again. In the fall, I hit the gym. In January, I joined up with some AWESOME chics called the Velo Bellas and hired a coach. I meant business.

This past weekend (July 1-2), I was out to prove it. The first stage was a time trial. Fellow Bella Renee' Coppock couldn't make it and loaned me her tri-spoke wheels and time trial helmet. My smashing new Bella skinsuit had arrived just the Wednesday before (very lovely I might add) and I'd actually been in the aero bars more than once in the past 6 months!

My goal was to average 21 mph.The course was rolling with some good hills right off the bat. I knew that I needed to power over those and each strong pedal stroke would take off time. I felt good. Really good. And was determined to not be passed.

I passed one rider about 1 mile into the race. Yikes. After the turnaround, a Ticycles/Avanti rider did pass me, but then backed off it seemed. I came back around her, and she came back around me. Okay. That was enough. I passed her again and that was the end of that.

The last part of the course is deceiving in that you think you should be climbing so you hold back a little bit. It does have some rollers, but trends downhill, so I kicked inthe turbos and finished at exactly 21 mph with a time of 42:58. A solid 4th place finish (about 5 seconds out of 3rd) and over 11 minutes off my time from last year!

The second stage was a short 27 mile road race that afternoon. Mostly rollers with a couple good climbs to break things up. It was hot and we were a little worn down from the morning, so we literally lollygagged to the first turnaround. A few of us intentionally would take turns at the front and back the pace off. Which unfortunately, allowed a few girls who had missed the start to catch up with us.

The women (1, 2, 3 and 4) rode with the juniors (all 3 of them). One of them in particular is pretty serious (and actually rode up with me to the race), so I knew he was pretty motivated to drop the rest of the juniors early. But his coach had told him to not pull. HA! Zoe Smith (Velo Bella to be) told him, "If you're going to ride withthe b*@$#*es you're going to be our b*@$#."

He actually thought that was cool and spent most of the race riding tempo at the front. Allison Beall, a very tough Pro/Cat 1 rider in the northwest was Zoe's toughest competition in the 1/2/3 race and our little junior knew it. He set out to set Zoe up for an attack up the first decisive climb. She went, but Allison went too. And then Allison countered and that was that. The shattered field then soldiered on with only three 4's left upfront, which included me.

We kept taking pulls, hit a climb and one of them fell off the back. It was down to two of us, and I was pretty whooped. I told Zana (Starbucks Cycling Team) I was about to drop down into my bottom gear to spin up the climb and thought she'd go around for me to grab her wheel. Instead I gapped her – enough so that I didn't wait for her at the top to finish the last couple miles of flat road before the uphill finish. She was a tough cookie(must have been a Frappucino shot) and started catching me, so I sat up and we worked together until the last climb.

Again, without a whole lot left in the legs, I dropped it down thinking she'd go around. But again, I gapped her and she was gone for good. It wast hen I realized, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to win a stage. Oh my gosh!!!" I had the biggest goofiest smile on my face as I stood over the top of the climb. Once up top, there were these littleroller "whoop-dee-doos" that made you feel like a prairie dog popping up out of your hole.

There's the finish, and then you didn't see it, and then oh, there's the finish, and then you'd drop again. And then finally, there's the finish. WOOHOOOO!!! I'd won my first stage/race ever!

On Sunday, we had the Bitterroot Valley RR – a 50+ mile "climbers course" – which never sounds good to me. I now sit in 2nd on GC and am trying to preserve it. And I know who to look out for. Here's hoping Zana (who's 3rd on GC) didn't have her Venti Double Espresso Latte with Peppermint and Power.

I'm still feeling pretty tanked from Saturday since I had put in a heck of an effort. But I consoled myself with the fact that so had most of the others. It was an omnium race and there were a few additional riders just doing this stage with fresh legs – a couple of them pretty good climbers – that I had a feeling would start slewing us by ripping our legs off on the climbs.

I didn't make it that far. We were on a false flat "shake and bake"section that just felt awful. My heart rate was through the roof, my legs were jello and suddenly I started feeling like a caboose that's come loose from the train and there's nothing you can do. I limited my losses and eyed Miss Ticycles/Avanti (4th on GC) up the road on the next climb. I kept trying to bridge up, sat off of her wheel for about 200 yards and she never turned around or let up to work together.

That made no sense to me. So I finished the stage alone. There was a heartbreaker of a hill on the 2-loop circuit called the "El Capitan Loop". The feed zone was at the base and then it switch-backed up from there. The finish was a true uphill finish complete with ridiculously steep grade where I can barely keep my bike upright. I yell "PUSH!" to a friend on the side who just looked at me all puzzled like. She's like "Yeah – you pushit!" and I said "NO – YOU – PUSH!" It was pretty funny.

Anyway I grunted it out over the line, not 5 minutes behind the last rider from the group, which did make me feel better.And since omniums are based on points, and Miss Ticycles/Avanti dropped out after the first lap, I preserved my podium finish with a3rd Place Overall.

My good friend Jane won it all, with Zana swapping spots with me for 2nd. Supposedly, she and one of the threes would get dropped and bridge back to the front group like 4 times, just during the first time around. I need to find out what drink does that!

Zoe ended up taking 2nd in the 1/2/3s which is awesome since she just upgraded two races ago from the 4s. All in all, I would say this has been a very successful start to bike racing. Going from dead last (and then some) last year, to winning a stage and taking a podium. I love it. And I'm coming back next year with even more to prove.

There's only four more road races this year on the Montana scene: the State RR, Criterium and Time Trial Championships and the Big Sky State Games RR.

Thanks for reading and cheering on us newbies. It does make all the difference in the world.

Leesville Gap and CCCX

by Angela

Doug (my hubby) and I woke up at 4am so we can get up to Williams early enough to register. We arrived early and registered immediately.

I registered in the Womens 4 category and almost decided to switch to Womens 35-39. I found out that there was no one registered in that category but decided to go with Womens 4.

This road race was a tough one! It wasn't as warm as I expected. It was very bumpy about half way then it smoothes out after the second major climb. I got gapped pretty much on the first big sustained climb and kept on going on my own.

I pulled for many miles earlier on before the climb and powered through the bumps and potholes pulling the group. My quads were a bit filled with lactic acid. There was one feedzone at mile 50. I got one bottle and then realized they gave me a used bottle...the water tasted nasty but at that point, I'll drink anything!

I still had half a bottle left from my two bottles. It was lonely out there by myself and was really bummed to not have a group to work with specially in the flats. It would have been nice! The road went on and on and on then finally...the finish. T

his was really a good training race...

CCCX Mountain Bike Series
I wanted to test myself and see how well I recovered from the road race.

I woke up, prepared and once again off to another adventure with Doug. We got there pretty early but saw some riders getting ready to pre-ride the course which is a smart idea. I got ready and drank and drank.

My bike is old and does not have a water cage. I don't have a bladder so I drank like a fish before the race. I packed up 2 goos as my liquid.

I found out that my gears doesn't work and I have to really push hard with my thumb to get it half working. I tried to remember certain bad spots like the steep little pitch from the road to the dirt.

The race started and I hung behind Lori and another racer - third spot. I didn't bolt like I did lasttime...when we hit the short steep bank, Lori got off the bike and racers behind her got around her. I was now on second spot.

I was passed by two other racers, one on turns where I was conservative and another on the steep bank...I was enjoying myself in the course and really had a great time. Julie cheered on my last lap and talked to her for a bit after the race. I definitely plan on doing the whole series next year. Thanks to the people who work hard and their support on putting this race together.

Vacaville

by Lula

When I read that Vacaville Crit W 1/2/3 would be the Nor Cal/Nevada Championship Crit I didn't give too much attention. Honestly, now that I think about it, I didn't give it attention at all; not even what it deserved to have.

I just wanted to go to a crit and get beat up; get so tired that I couldn't talk afterwards at least for 5 minutes. And by now, knowing me, you know how tired I need to be to shut up.

Before leaving home, my husband told us, Leislot, who stayed with us for the weekend, and I that we need to approach the bike races like Golfers and we need to focus on playing/racing against the course and not the opponents. Well, that little overpass was killing me each time and the racers were not helping me recovery when I needed so, I sure confess that, the course won.

All I can say is that I got my prayers answered. I did not finish the race and on 6 laps to go they pulled us out. And I was happy. For once, I was working really hard from the begining; no sitting in allowed, no spinning time, no joking around, no "how many kids you have".."do you work" questions. And I loved it. Each and every minute of it.

Jana and I worked together for 4 laps to bridge back to the group and my HR was 195-198 the wholetime. I was in heaven.... dreaming that I was working hard and at this time, I was.

As the race was unfolding in front of me, literally, as I couldn't move up, I saw all these women stopping the race. They would just stop riding and go to the side lines all over the course. All Cat 2s, experienced racers, I don't wanna name them, but great racers who have beat me up all year around. I wasns't happy to see them stopping, I was just amazed that they were too working as hard as they could and not sitting on the back and waiting for the last lap to sprint.

When I was forced to stop the race, I went straight to my car speachless. Yeahhhh!!! It took me a couple of minutes to realize what had just happened and I went back to cheer for Monica and Lisalot who looked so great in the peloton, making the race look so easy and my efforts so silly. But hey, they are awasome racers and I was glad I had them around afterwards to tell me that I am "doing the right thing racing with the strong riders" even if it means not placing cuz "it will make you (me) stronger".

So, Davis here we go! W 1/2/3 for more suffering and realization .... deep....

Davis Crit

by Angela

I was ready for this race. Hydrated, had a really good warm up. I rode around the course several times and mentally prepared for the left hand turns.

Unfortunately, I made 2 mistakes.

First, I came in the start line late - meaning I was not in the front. When I went around the course, I thought I had time but when I got back - all the ladies had front position, I was at the back.

Second mistake, when the race started I clicked on my pedal thinking I was clicked on but realized I wasn't. Pedaled through but then had to look down to see my cleats....seeing the group gapping. So at the first corner, I was already gapped. I chased and chased. As soon as I caught on and was behind another rider, she then gapped so I had to try to go around her but a corner was coming up. I was gapped again it was just a nightmare to chase the group.

There was so much lactic acid on my quads and I was just maxed out. I got pulled out of the race. The course wasn't that difficult. I was drooling to be in the pack.

So, I got pulled out of the race by the official - but got a chance to do a little salsa dance for everyone before pulling out. Oh well!