Dropping Trou' at Jeff Cup

by Nicole

It all started innocent enough! A road trip for a road race. What was supposed to be Mid-Atlantic Velo Bella Team's first race of the season turned out to be a solo affair for me! With one teammate jumping ship, and another in the middle of a last-minute move, I headed down to Charlottesville, VA on my own.

Once there, I suddenly realized I had NO CLUE what to do! I had participated in one training "crit", got my butt whooped, and suddenly was about to be thrown to the wolves for a 30mile circuit for my first real race! What was I thinking?!

I met up with a gal Denise, whom I'd met a few weeks prior at the aforementioned training crit, and we headed out for a fantastic dinner in historic downtown C'ville. The weather was fabulous--a wonderfully warm early spring evening, reminiscent of a mid-summer San Diego night!

Being all too familiar with the early mornings of Triathlon race day, it was a wonderful treat to sleep in until almost 8:30, as my race wasn't to start until 12:30! I cleaned my bike, packed my things, and headed down for my usual pre-race meal of oatmeal, coffee, banana, and toast. It was cool outside, but not a cloud in the sky. A beautiful day for a ride!

I arrived at the race base camp with plenty of time to spare, registered for the Women's Cat 4 race, and met back up with Denise. We sat around and by 11 were starting to get ansy. We met another gal named Julia, who was also unattached to a team, and the three of us headed out for a 25 minute warm-up ride. By this time, the weatherman should have been hiding in shame--it was not going to be a high of 68 like he predicted. It was well over 75 degrees and it wasn't even noon! Poor Julia had a long-sleeved Under Armor jersey on and was melting. After much convincing, Julia changed into an extra jersey I had, and between me, Denise and Julia, we were quite the VB Pink site!

High noon, and 100 women were lined up on the shadeless asphalt, waiting for direction. 12:30, well past race start time, and we still had no idea. by 12:45, the nutrition I'd taken was wasted, we were all starting to run out of liquids, and the porta-potties were calling. But we didn't want to miss the 3 mile "roll out" to the start, so noone dared leave their ride. Finally at 1:15, the race director made her appearance, and we headed for the start. Once we arrived, we had 7 more minutes to wait between waves. I looked around and the girls were dropping like flies! No, not like you think--noone fainted, but there were no porta potties, and well, when you gotta go, you gotta go! Everywhere around me girls were just squatting and taking care of business! There were cops, mothers, fathers, kids, everyone around, but wow, I had never seen anything like it! It was hillarious! About this time I decided that I could no longer ignore nature's call, and so I dropped trou' with the best of them! Ahh, relief! I was now ready to race!

Or so I thought. Man, these biker chicks are FAST! We averaged 25 mpr for the first 10 mile loop. Right before the race I was told "no matter what, no matter how much it hurts, stay with the pack!" And I tried. I hung on for 1.5 loops, about 15 miles, but my heartrate was over 180 the entire time, I just couldn't hang with these monster women! So, I fell off the front pack, but we had left the rest of the field so far back, I suddenly found myself in familiar "time trial" territory, and finished the remainder of the course alone.

That is, until the last 200m of the race. I knew they were there, I could feel them creeping up on me, but I simply had nothing left. There was no way I could fend off a pack of 5 working together when I'd done 15 miles of solo rolling hills, headwinds, and one monster hill. With less than 20 feet to the finish, 3 of the 5 passed me and I squeaked in at #18.

Top 20 was my goal, I will now have a USA Cycling rank, but wow, road races are HARD! All I could think was "Thank GOD I don't have to go run a half marathon now!"

Peachy Queen

By Marian

Borrowed James Hill's car to get to the races. Actually Taryn's, but she was out of town and the Acura probably gets better gas mileage.

Landpark: 35 minute crit. I got to the course a little late (go fig), registered, changed into my superhero suit, and rolled off to do a quick warm-up and refill bottles. Didn't get much of a warm-up.

Rolled back to the start line. Found the rest of the Bellas, and it should be noted that all of them were already pinned, ready, and waiting. "Oh, hey! You guys are on my team. Can I get one of you to pin me?"

We pre-ride the course together, which is quite curvy-swervy and I get more nervous as I think about doing it in a group. I've gotten alot better at railing my bike through turns (all those trips down Wildcat certainly helps), but turns are another story when they are done as part of a group.

I can't say much about the race because it was all such a blur. As predicted though, the turns were much different as part of a group. I would try to get myself up towards the front for the turns so I could make my own fast line, but I would get swarmed and then be forced to take less than ideal lines.

On the last lap, Soni and another woman went off on a little flyer. I looked for a way out of my little box in the group so that I could help at the front if needed, but I was unable to carve out a line for myself in the group. By the time I had worked my way outside, Soni and Annon had been caught.

Towards the last turns, women started swarming. I was able to work my way back up on some women and I think I ended up in 10th. Katie placed 8th. I don't know how the rest of the women on the team did.

Zamora: Jesus, that was an adventure.

I wasn't scheduled to race until 2 and the drive was only supposed to take 1 hour and 22 minutes. I left the house early at 9ish, hoping that I would be able to watch some of the earlier races.

Three hours later, I'm on the side of the road in who-knows-where, more than a little lost, crying into the steering wheel and having a full on crisis of confidence: "Why can't I ever just get from point A to point B? Why can't I just stay on track? Why can't I focus for long enough to get where I need to go?"

Complete with analysis that getting hopelessly lost before the race was just one big ole life metaphor. Sobbing, self-doubts, "I can't do this!", "What the hell is my problem?", and I hadn't even gotten to the course yet!

At 1245ish and 3.5 hours after my departure time, I was just about to turn back for home when I spot the course. Whew!

Register, run around looking for teammates, "Will you pin me?", etc.

Good spot on the line with Soni, Katie, Julie, Ashley, and Kim. Nobody wanted to pull so the pack lagged for the first 5-6 miles. I was a little grumpy because the people who were pulling were my teammates and it appeared to me that no one else was stepping up to pull for a bit. I tried to move out of the pack to go pull, but it took me a while. When I finally get up to the front to share the load, we were within spotting distance of the hill, so the pack got a little shaken up anyway.

Good thing we reshuffled the pack, because Soni was able to come in from the wind. Soni and I chatted while we were riding in the pack and Soni gave me some words to work with on the next hill.

As we get within distance of the QOM, I position myself towards the front, on the outside, as per Soni's tips. When I decided to launch it, I put my head down and I drove it up the right hand side and when I looked back, there was no one there and the pack was waaaaaaaaay back there.
Yesssss!

When I look up, towards the hill, there was more hill than I remembered from the first lap.
Nooooo!

I looked back to the pack, fearing that they are going to swarm me any second, and to my surprise, they are still waaaaaaaaaaaay back there.

Internal monologue: "Oh, poop this really hurts! Where's the top of this silly thing? Why was this a good idea? Whoop, there it is! Where's the pack? Wow, they're still back there. How did I pull that one off?"
Yesssssssss!

I had put some time into the field but I was not about to go off on an extended flyer so I sat up and waited for the field.

Finally, the pack catches me. Ashley rolls alongside me and instigates. "I don't know about you, but now that I'm warmed up, I ready to go. Want to attack?"

Oh, yes, please!

So, third lap, I roll past her on the outside of the turn, I glance over at her and holler out to her "Now, now, now, now!" And off we went. There had been a NorCali girl dangling a bike length or two off of the front and I was a little surprised that she didn't come with us. Ashley and I drilled it, but it becomes apparent that the pack will eventually get us, so eased up a bit.

Rolled with the pack on the outside as we approached the lil' hill again. I got a little suspicious when I saw three NorCali women get themselves all lined up at the front of the pack so I moved up with them. As the tempo picked up, one of the NorCali women started struggling and she told the other two NorCalis "Work together on the hill! Suck her wheel if you have to!"

And then the two NorCali girls accelerated. I whooped back "Suck it!", probably offending at least one person in my excitement of the chase. I lined up behind the two NorCalis. The second girl was struggling to stick with her teammate, so I moved past her and got on the first girl who answered with another acceleration.

Internal monologue: "Yeah, I have one of those too."
Yesssssssss!

I look back and there's still one NorCali girl dangling off of the front of the group, but I'm not certain we'll stay out if we don't pin it. I warn the NorCali girl "Hey, they're coming for us. We better kick it!"

I look down at my legs, I look back at the field, and I look at the NorCali girl's wheel.
Internal monologue: "I just wanna play!"

Upshift, stand, drop, drop, drop. I look back and I was somehow able to put several bikelengths into her. Downshift, sit, spin, spin, spin, accelerate.
Yesssssssssss!

I look back and I am relieved to see she wasn't able to answer my acceleration because I don't know what I would have been able to pull out of my bag of tricks if she had stuck on me. So, third time around I again hit the top with time to spare. How the hell did that happen?
Yesssssssssss!

I did briefly contemplate drilling it all the way to the line. I had visions of glory, power, fame, fortune. I looked back at the field, though.
Internal monologue: "Oh, lordy, I don't know if I ate enough horsepower for breakfast."

I kept rolling, but I knew it was only a matter of time before the field got me again. Field catches me, people swarm the finish, it was all such a blur.


I don't know how all of my team did, but I do know that Soni finished 4th.
Woot woot!
I finished 11th for the day, but I was Peachy Queen (of the Mountain) for the whole rest of the day.
Woot woot!

Greenville, SC Training Series Race Reports

by Jamie France

Saturday, 3 March – For my first-ever road race, I had Cathy Boland show me the ropes. She came and stayed at Chez France in Clemson the night before, and we went up to Greenville together on Saturday morning. The day was bright and windy. We met up with Natasha Cowie at the starting line. We were three Bella jerseys in a sea of BMW, Bianchi, Defeet, and Cheerwine. There were over 50 women, all categories, 1 thru 4 racing together. The course is 35 miles (5 laps around a 7 mile relatively flat loop). The rollout was nice & ladylike due to a Marine unit that was road marching on the course in front of us. Once we got past them, I managed to hang with the pack for the first loop plus 2 miles into the 2nd loop. I got dropped on a small hill and just couldn’t recover. So I did the rest of the race (26 miles) alone, head down, fighting the wind which had picked up and was really blowing hard. I heard later that it was gusting to 35 mph! It was brutal without the protection of the pack. But I was proud that I finished… and I wasn’t last! I really can’t report much on the race since I was only in the mix for 9 miles. Cathy and Natasha finished well. They later told me about a crash in the last lap – luckily neither of them got taken down in it. Overall it was a good experience. I decided to go back the following weekend for more.

Cathy was so supportive of my first race! When we got back to my house, she planned and cooked us dinner. Her husband, Gerard, had arrived by then. We had a nice evening and then rode my local roads the next day before Cathy & Gerard returned home to Andrews, NC. It was a fabulous weekend!

Sunday, 11 March -- I did my second road race without any teammates, but on the same course. The weather was better than the previous weekend -- relatively low winds. This time there was about 30 women, again all categories racing together. Same teams in attendance. There was nothing ladylike about the start. The gals in front were off the front attacking hard from the get-go. We were strung out in a single file sprint for about a mile before we could catch the leader and form a pack. The course marshal was cruising on his motorcycle and watching us closely. He DQ’d two women early in the race for crossing the double-yellow line. They didn’t drop out, but kept racing. That caused a lot of chitter-chatter in the pack, and some of these girls from different teams weren’t so nice to each other. I tried to tune-out all their negativity. My only goal was to do better than I had the previous race, but at this point I thought to myself “there is no way I can last more than 9 miles at this pace!” However, I dug deep and hung in there for 2 laps. That same hill I got dropped on in last weekend’s race sunk me again just after completing lap 2. Yep, I got dropped at the same place. But there was no way I was going to give up. After cresting the hill, I fought my hardest to maintain the small gap between me and the pack. Then I got rescued! The guy’s race lapped me! They came up around me, I got tucked into their cradle and they basically pulled me up to the women. So I finished lap 3 firmly enveloped again in the women’s pack. Two miles later, that same hill sunk me again and I just had no power left to close the gap on my own. I cruised to the finish line alone… but again, I wasn’t last! Other women had gotten shelled before I did. I had hung in for 23 miles this time! Woo Hoo! Where’s my next race?? I’m ready!

Sequoia Classic Race Report

By: Ryan

Day 1: Rocky Hill TT (Exeter TT)

So this was my 4th TT and it was probably the most painful... mentally. When I signed up for this one I was the only Cat 3 registered, so I went to the race thinking that I was going to get a solid workout, but there were not going to be any other racers with me... so way less pressure, but I was still going to ride my best. Well WRONG... Trina Landry came out last minute just to get the spot behind me. I have decided that I like to be in the back so I have a little carrot up front to work for... but because I pre-registered I had to go first, yuck. So I start fairly hard but keeping a little reserved for the hill (and long way home), and in like the first 1/2 mile Trina comes FLYING around me like I was standing still.... I was a little mad at myself because I thought that I was going too slow. So I keep her close and when we hit the hill I powered around her up to the top in the front, but on the decent she again went flying around me.... bummer. I do my best to get all tucked in and railed this sketchy corner at the bottom and pass her (in the corner) and stayed in front for a bit... then once again she goes flying around me.... and literally powers away from me... out of sight. This is when I lose it mentally and sort of give up on myself. Not a good idea, but it was getting really hot out there (in the mid 80s) and I wanted to go home. So the rest of the race I pick off some of the guys that had passed me, and I did my best to make up the most amount of time on the way back and up the back side of the hill (I ended up passing like 4 guys here). I ended up finishing a few minutes from Trina but I was a bit bummed because I just got killed once again in a TT. The day ended on a great note... a wonderful lunch (a place Cathy recommended) the Wildflower cafe in downtown Exeter. It was so nice to sit in this super cute shady garden patio with some organic beer and ruben sandwhiches.... great way to end the race (and on one of my favorite beer drinking holidays)

Day 2: Visalia downtown Crit

Womens 3/4 race: This race was awesome.... and an adventure which included some mad bike handling skillz by our very own Tracy Loper (and a very poor moment in racing on my end). Well we were all super active, but I decided to conserve a bit more in this one then my last two crits to try for a finish. There were a lot of ladies out there who wanted the sprint with loads of horsepower. Tracy and Heidi did such a perfect job of attacking at the right time tiring out just the right people. Trina Landry was out here as well doing a lot of work (which is what we wanted) along with some CVC girls and some others that I can't remember... anyway we were getting lined up for the finish and Tracy digs super hard and takes a HUGE pull untl she can pull no more... then Heidi goes out and digs super deep for our last lap and I feel the group start to try and swarm around us... Tracy moves up in front to cover the swarm and I see that she is digging sooooo hard and ready to pop at any moment so I stand up and try to power around her... and I move over to go in front of her and... well.... I moved over a bit early (big oops on my part) and went on top of her front wheel. My left shoe gets clipped by her spokes in her front wheel and then her front wheel gets caught on my rear skewer and rips two spokes out of her front wheel.... and amazingly...... nobody crashes. My stomach sank and I felt so terrible... I even thought about stopping, but I did not hear her go down so I kept on the two girls that got out front of us. Honestly because this happened it may have made a slight gap between myself, the two girls in front, and the rest of the field behind... but it was so fast I think we were all together for the most part, but very strung out (like a runway model as the announcer put it..) So we hit the last corner and it is a LONG sprint to the finish... I try and shift in my drops which is usually ok for me but it did not shift just the way I wanted... so I passed one girl and I am in 2nd moving up fast on first... but we run out of road... so I got 2nd with CVC taking the win. It was really a great race, we all worked so well together, and because we wanted more, we all sign up for the next mens race.

Tracy, Heidi, & I all jump into the mens 4 and master 35+ cat 4 race. It was a hoot! We all worked hard and Heidi honestly looked so comfortable in this race, and she toughed it out near the front for 75% of the race! Tracey dug deep once again and did her best to stick out all the surging and I ended up staying just about the entire race and had to make a decision..... do I really want to be in here for the last few laps with the mens 4's? So I decided to take a flyer, attack the field and get out with 10 laps to go (and/or until I blew up) . It was a good decision too beause there ended up being crashes after I left the race with one guy going to the hospital... whew... exciting day for the Bella's.

We all had a great time and got in some solid training time with the boyz... then we stayed to watch Mary's race but I will let Mary do her race report... (and I am just tired and lazy now). Mary is such an awesome force... a trooper in every sense of the word..

Land Park Crit

March 17, 2007
Sacramento, CA

by Denise

It was an awesome, sunny morning in Sacramento for this race. It was more like a circuit course, than a crit, in my opinion. I liked the turns/corners and wished for more.

Soni, Angela, Marian, Katie and I were the team with numbers. This was my first NorCal race, so I did not recognize the other teams or faces.....I wasn't sure who was going to do what. This was Marian's first criterium and she did so terrriifc....nothing like my first crit experience! :-)

Bellas stayed in front and we covered every move and picked up the pace a few times. There were 7 preems. Marian took an awesome pull with 5 laps left, getting us into a great position. Soni launched a hard-ass attack on the last lap and Bellas were in tow. She peeled off, then Angela pulled hard and then I pulled through the last turns towards the finish, with Katie on my wheel. SWOOP! Katie blows by me, like I had cement in my tires.

I did not stick around to see who placed where (I had a 3 hour drive home), but we did a terrific team work, had fun and we rode safe.

There was 1 accident that we know of, involving 2 girls, but we have no idea what happened to them. The turns went pretty well, atleast from where we were at.

Hey......I didn't get glittered! No wonder I petered out the last few feet.

Marian's Take:

I got to the course a little late (go fig), registered, changed into my superhero suit, and rolled off to do a quick warm-up and refill bottles. Didn't get much of a warm-up.

Rolled back to the start line. Found the rest of the Bellas, and it should be noted that all of them were already pinned, ready, and waiting. "Oh, hey! You guys are on my team. Can I get one of you to pin me?"

We pre-ride the course together, which is quite curvy-swervy and I get more nervous as I think about doing it in a group. I've gotten alot better at railing my bike through turns (all those trips down Wildcat certainly helps), but turns are another story when they are done as part of a group.

I can't say much about the race because it was all such a blur. As predicted though, the turns were much different as part of a group. I would try to get myself up towards the front for the turns so I could make my own fast line, but I would get swarmed and then be forced to take less than ideal lines.

On the last lap, Soni and another woman went off on a little flyer. I looked for a way out of my little box in the group so that I could help at the front if needed, but I was unable to carve out a line for myself in the group. By the time I had worked my way outside, Soni and Annon had been caught.

Towards the last turns, women started swarming. I was able to work my way back up on some women and I think I ended up in 10th. Katie placed 8th. I don't know how the rest of the women on the team did.

Velo Bella - Kona Pro MTB is BACK!

The Velo Bella - Kona Pro MTB team is already racing and they haven't even attended camp yet. Shannon Gibson produced fantastic results in Tucson at the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo sponsored by Kona. Natasha Cowie joins the team this year after being nominated by her peers in Tenessee to represent them on the professional circuit. This is her first race report...

By Natasha Cowie

Quarry Racing: SERC #1, Reddick, Florida

Racing ON and IN quarries, that is. Not actually racing the quarries themselves.

Having spent eons training on the frigid, forbidding plateaus of Tennessee, I welcomed the opportunity to improve my (nonexistent) tan with the first Southeast Regional Championship (SERC) series mountain bike race in Reddick, Florida. Some desperate yearning for sunshine and beaches causes everyone to start driving 98 mph as soon as they hit the Florida line. Note to anyone traveling to Florida: free road maps and citrus juice at the welcome center. Also lots of sand and palm trees everywhere.

Natural history lesson (sorry, I am finishing a natural resources degree in May and I am a DWEEB about this stuff): 50-60 million years ago, a warm, shallow sea covered what is now Florida. The calcium-rich shells from ocean critters piled up, and were eventually compacted by pressure, forming limestone and coquina (incompletely cemented limestone that still contains the original shells). Central Florida forests look primeval. Enormous live oaks (salt- and drought-tolerant trees that can live for centuries) and saw palmettos lined the course.

Lined up at the start, I felt like one of those strange cave creatures that spend their entire lives in darkness. Sun! Heat! Humidity! Lush tropical forests!! It didn’t help that about three-quarters of the pack were happily tan, citrus-juice-fueled Florida ladies.

The technical bizarreness of the course hit us from the start. Half a mile in we swooped over an off-camber dip and up a wall of a climb, and things only got tougher as we wound around the quarry, along narrow ledges past greenish pools of stagnant water. I kept expecting to see an alligator stretched across the trail, but there were only a couple of snakes. I spent lots of time sprinting up reeeally steep hills with my bike on my back. I like my Sidis very much; they’re nice and stiff on the bike but they sure helped on those stupid hill run-ups. And they improve my badass factor no matter how slow I’m going. Which is always a positive thing.

Damn. I’ve been racing a while, but I sure learned a lot last weekend. Among other things, I learned:

1. Never, ever let your 17-year-old semipro brother advise you about energy drink:water proportions. I spent two and a half hours drinking syrup. Thank you brother.

2. If you average 4.5 cups of (outrageously expensive) coffee a day, do NOT go without coffee on race day. I am now saving pennies to buy a nice, portable French press.

3. Don’t crash on fossiliferous limestone. Just don’t. It’s bad.

I felt good physically, but admittedly I’m kind of a spaz on technical stuff. I’m happier on mountains than on power courses, but that made Florida awesome practice for me. I finished sixth, behind some amazing women who are very tan (if we were ranked by tans I would have been dead last). I didn’t actually meet any Velo Bellas there, although a wonderful person standing by the race course cheered, “Go Bellas!” as I passed. Unfortunately I never managed to find her after the race to say thanks.

Cardio Vascular Carnage

by Tracie

Quotes from CVC so far:

Mary: You're not dropping out of this race.
Me: But... but...
Mary: You're not fucking dropping out of this race.
Me: Do you have any idea how much I hate you right now?
Mary: Do you think I give a shit?


Mary: Would you rather have sex with that lizard tattoo guy or that facial tattoos guy?
Me: You mean David Clinger???
Mary: Yes.
Me: EEEEEEEWWWWWW!!!


Courtenay: I found a pair of men's tighty wighties in my hotel bathroom.
Me: Tighty Wighties? Ugh. Gross.


Heidi: How did your tt go?
Me: I felt slow. I'm going back to the house now.
Heidi: OK. There's ice cream in the freezer. (this is at 10am)

Need to read more? Check out the no sugar added long version here

Bulldawg'n - March 3 Race Review

by Raja Lahti

You ever have one of those weekends when one side of yourself
says, "I really shouldn't be doing this. Really." And the other side
say, "What the hell, do it. Really." During the week sometime I
developed this cute little upper sinus/respiratory thang. You know
the kind that makes your nose raw, your throat raw, and everyone
takes a step back from you cause you may just have the plague.
Needless to say it all looks & sounds much worse than I felt. I felt
remarkably good. My sinus suck all the time.. now's no difference.
Big deal... Sound like Ass..as I was reminded. Ok, I really do sound
pretty bad.

Saturday morning I drive out to Oceanside for the Bulldog Road Race
with fellow Bella, Stacy Bruner. "You ok?". "Let's go before I change
my mind." I was stoked to see so many VBellas come to the race. A
good group where everybody had somebody they could team-up with
ability wise. Stacy Bruner, Whitney DeSpain, Jess Motyl, Helena
Prieto, Stacy Schlocker... .cough cough.. and me. I didnt' see any
others.. but there may have been. I recognized some of the other
women from Boulevard. Then we're approached by a woman with legs to
my ears "One of you isn't by any chance Raa-jaa?". "Yes, that would
be me." :-D So it turns out that all our Bellalicious- Velo-Happiness
is spreading and one of the new galas inquiring into Velo Bella-Kona
San Diego and I got to put a face to a new soon-to-be-or- already-is-
member, Beth Callahan I'm telling you.. the kit's addicting!

Focus Raja.. back to racing.. just a little Bella-detour. ..

For everyone else in the group, this was their first Road Race.. most
of the women I know from Triathlon.. so this was a great first road
race for the newbies. The race started in usual fashion. Slow, easy,
nice little group ride. A couple little surges up some small rollers.
Then WHAAMO! We hit the one and only significant hill at 10.5%
grade.. it instantly grabs your attention and rips your lungs out.
The field goes nuts. Five girls get off the front, one of which is a
multiple Bulldog winner, another is Amanda Felder. She looks like a
bigger Samantha McGlone. (Sam's so small it doesn't take much to be
bigger). For all those that have never heard of Sam.. she's Ironman
70.3 World Champion. So Amanda is one fit, beautiful.. and nice..
athlete. Gezeummm Raja.. focus!

So by the time we get down and head back the chase group is about 10
of us. At this point I'm finding it difficult to breath and the fire
in my throat is not pacified by any of my drink mix. Just then Stacy
comes to my rescue and joyfully says "Hello", turns to me with a
smile and jumps in front of me and begins to pull the train. I've
been trying to get Stacy to race with me but our timing has always
been off. I learned that if Stacy gets pissed and the words "I'm done
with this" come out of her mouth.. hold on to your hats &
glasses.. 'cause she's about to rip everyones legs off.

A DeWalt Racing girl and I had been rotating, but now I was in need
of help. So Stacy the Goddess shows up. Feeling good, she hammered it
for as long as she could - for about 8 miles before she got some help
from another team. There are some attacks and I have no idea how, but
I managed to jump to the break. The DeWalt girl is just pounding it
down. I hug her wheel as if death himself is chasing me down with his
hands on my throat. Finally she signals she's done. I try to pull
again and just have nothing left. Then at that moment Joe appears.
He's passing us and somehow I muster the energy to find his wheel and
the small group latches on. We pass a straggler from the lead group.
DeWalt girl has recovered and in the last mile passes Joe and I jump
on her wheel. We take the left to the finish area. Then out of
nowhere.. confusion.

The man that was supposed to direct us to the finish shoot just
stands there and watched us pass him.. instead of take the right. As
this race is located in a military base, anyone who's ever been on a
base knows that random acts of driveways is common.. so we didn't
know where the finishing shoot was. "Uh, guys, COME BACK, TURN
AROUND." comes the yell from behind. All 5 of us left in front yell a
simultaneous F***!! and each us flips a U-ie and thus finish in
reverse order... oh well... it was a fun race anyway. I was 8th
overall and won my division. I was still happy.. it's just amazing
the adrenaline that rushes around and captures you in a moment of
competitive drive.

Yeah - and no pics.. none of us brought a camera.... and all the
fellas that came were out racing as well... so I'll have to find
links from the race photographer. .

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to the doc I go... get me some better meds...
cause tomorra is Fiesta Island TT.. which I paid for.. so I'm racing!

Congrats to all the Bellas racing Bulldog!!
FEMALE 30-34 1 275 3593 RAJA LAHTI 30 5 1:21:57
FEMALE 30-34 2 295 3705 STACY BRUNER 30 5 1:22:51
FEMALE 30-34 4 319 3471 STACY SCHLOCKER 30 5 1:24:26
FEMALE ATHENA 1 368 3081 WHITNEY DESPAIN 5 1:27:14
FEMALE 30-34 5 401 3252 HELENA PRIETO 30 5 1:29:14
FEMALE 25-29 7 404 3788 JESSICA MOTYL 27 5 1:29:26

new bella to be:
FEMALE 35-39 4 365 3044 ELIZABETH J CALLAHAN 38 5 1:27:10