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24 Hours of Hardcore

This morning, I feel like I got hit by a Mack truck. No, I didn't encounter a truck while out riding this weekend, but rather, I did a 24 hour mountain bike relay race over the weekend on a 5 person co-ed team. For those of you not familiar with the format, most races of these types start at 12 noon on Saturday and wrap up at 12 noon on Sunday. Most of the time, riders are fortunate enough to catch a few zzzz's between laps (unless you do it solo), but for this decaf drinking gal who was drinking high-test to stay sharp, I hardly slept. But, let's start out with the good news -- our team won the 5-person co-ed category (gotta give big kudos to my husband, Jeff, who took one of my night laps because I SUCK at riding at night), so the lack of sleep was worth it. There were no flats, no mechanicals, and everyone's light systems worked. Now, to the not so good news -- it rained for the first six hours which made the course extremely slick and let's add that there was 100% humidity after that. It wasn't until about 7 a.m. the next morning, when things starting drying out and there was over 1000 feet of climbing per lap. Whew!

We all rode 4 laps of a 9 mile course with the exception of myself who did 5 laps because of the rotation. I finished my last lap at 11:30 a.m. and because we had such a lead on the next team, I stopped and had a beer and waited for the clock to toll noon. I crossed the line at 12:01 with a beer in hand. Pretty cool.

This was a great, quality event and I would suggest this race to anyone who is interested in trying out 24 hour mountain bike racing. The accommodations were suitable, vendors were hospitable, and the people were more than personable, even at 4 a.m. when all you could hear is the sound of bull frogs.....something that's almost surreal.

Next weekend, Jeff and I are teaming up again for a 12 hour event. Let's all hope for better weather.

Bella's Clean up at Watkins Glen Duathlon

Two of our own bella's faired well in the downpour at the Watkins
Glen race track "Fly by Night dual at the Glen". Sue Atwood quietly snuk out of her house without Dave, or any other Bellas even noticing and entered this crazy run, ride, run, ride, run race. Little did she know, Kira and I went there to cheer and spotted her immediately and became her loudest fans out there. She just kept shaking her head everytime she went by but she did us proud. Even steven with the truck drivin' attitude. Watch out cause i'll plow you down if you get in my way. She brought home a trophy and check out the photo - she looks strong! I'm just so proud.


Then there was Melissa, our new Bella this year who is on her third race of her first season. She and her runner Delaney were the top womens relay team and they smoked the course. I loaned my TT helmet to Melissa and she looked like a screaming silver bullet out there on the race track. Her TT's are starting to pay off! Brought a tear to my eye to see our bella's lookin' so good out there on a real race track.


Wish you all could have seen them. I guess the first bike portion was rather nerve racking with the wet track. The race course is quite turny and hilly and was really challenging for 3 laps. The sun did try to come out and did dry up the track a bit so the riders seemed to be having a much better time the second leg. Well done bella's.

Invisible teammates support Kate and Melissa at Syracuse

With the weather threatening to blast the peleton into thin air, most of the bella's rode undercover except for the brave and fearless "Captain Killer Kate" and newest baby bella "Melissa Mad Dog."

Gaetane was spotted trying to sprint across the finish in her wheel chair during the crit. She just could not sit that one out since sprinting runs constantly through her blood. She was carried off kicking and screaming. Although I do believe she actually won the crit in that darn chair. DQ'd for too many wheels.
Jenn was doing her usual sacrificing lead outs in the crit until the price tags on her bike got all caught up in her spokes and she ended up taking out the announcer.
Sue Atwoods semi just couldn't make the turn to the hill in the road race and was never seen again until the next day after the crit. She was looking for detour signs which no one ever thought to place for her. Sorry sue.
And of course Michele "madonna" was still in the back of the sue's semi cheering us on and by the time sue arrived on Sunday, poor madonna's voice was shot and she had no more cheer left for the bella's.
This left all the cheering up to Katina with no semi to be the pace car so she had to actually run ahead of the peleton and cheer at the same time on Sunday. Good job Katina. She's good at that cross kinda stuff.
Well Sunday afternoon we realized Sue Kahler "mighty mouse" was still riding around the road race course and had missed the crit. That's Sue all right. No stopping her. She's a distance girl. She's never finished!
Kate and Melissa weren't quit sure where the cheering was coming from during the TT but that would have been Jano, Kira, and another new tri bella Pam out in the lake just doing 150 laps for fun.
Oh, and the bella riding her bike backwards taking pics of you as you felt like puking going up that really steep hill, well that was our new photographer bella Laura. She's so strong she rides backwards with no hands.

Well we were all there for the big stage race in one way or another but it was Kate and Melissa who did us proud girls. If you notice in the photos who Kate is holding off most of the crit, it was one of our own. Ain't that sweet. So Kate had a good Crit and she looks mean.
Melissa held her own. It was her first race, first stage race, first everything and she hung in there all by her lonesome.
Great job you two!

Our new mascot

Hi, I just want to introduce myself. I'm Velobella, the mascot of the bella's and I just love my pink fluff. I just love being part of this team. My favorite workouts are the sprints across the wooden floors in my mom's house to attack the pink fluff on her bike. Yea, that's my favorite. Sometimes I just like to lie around and chew on it. Pink fluff is cool.
Here's my mom in Hollenbecks race.

THE OFFICIAL VELO BELLA CYCLIST CODE OF CONDUCT

Completely stolen from The Guiver/Flavill Enterprise

1. Image and style shall be your primary concern. When suffering, one must focus first on maintaining a cool, even composure, and second on performance. Winning races is an added talent, and only counts if said velo bella cyclist wins with appropriate style.

2. You shall NEVER, under any circumstances, wear plain black spandex shorts or any team kit containing non-prominent Velo Bella Logo's.

3. The Socks must extend no less than 2cm below the main bulge of your calf muscle, and shall never extend further than 1cm past the primary calf muscle bulge. All socks shall be pink in colour with prominent logo placement.

4. Cycling shoes must be of pink colour only!
-in certain circumstances, other colours, such as world
cup stripes are perfectly acceptable and encouraged.
-Red shoes are NOT ENDORSED by this group.

5. If pink cycling shoes are not available where you reside, pink booties with prominent logos shall always be worn.

6. You're bike frame must contain more than 3 colours, and must always fit tastefully with your wheel selection.

7. Zipp's are to be used as training wheels ONLY. You shall race only on pink Lightweights and occasionally pink Bora's if no lightweights are accessible.

8. Ridiculously stylish eye wear is to be worn at all time without exception. Along with pink fluff and pearls.

9. In most circumstances, hair shall be kept tied back with pink or blue girly stuff, and matching helmet shall be worn (again with prominent logo placement). Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES shall a clashing helmet colour be worn with your velo bella kit.

10. In several cases, it is deemed acceptable to have short hair. In this event, hair shall be neatly slicked back in maximum velo bella-styling, and helmet shall be worn with fluff attached. Stylish sport eyewear shall be worn at all times while exercising this option.

11. A prominent line where your kit ends and where your tan begins is essential to your image. Artificial tanning is banned, the tan shall reflect the level of training commitment.

12. All podium shots (pictures) shall be taken with the velo bella-rider wearing team kit and appropriately matching casual velo bella shoes (such as flip flops). Socks shall remain within the guidelines above. The rider is expected to display an appropriate amount of cleavage (if available) while receiving kisses/trophy.

13. The seat shall ALWAYS be pink along with the handlebar tape, and must be made in Italy or France.
- Exceptions to this rule are seats or handlebar tape
containing the following colours: Blue,
Olympic Gold, French flag colour combo.

14. You shall not, under any circumstances, acknowledge the presence of a cyclist riding a bike costing less than $4000 USD in a public place. This could be severely detrimental to your image.

15. Legs will be SHAVED year-round. ABSOLUTELY NO EXCEPTIONS. In some cases, certain hair removal creams endorsed by succesful bella's are deemed to be acceptable.

16. A rider will ALWAYS have liniment applied to her legs before appearing in public.

17. Facial hair will be restricted to one or two hairs, and even this is discouraged. Moustaches are EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED.
The only exception to the facial hair shall be very SHORT sideburns--these are acceptable at the discretion of Kate or a similar authority figure, on a case-by-case basis.

18. Pink ceramic bearings shall be used at all time on both training and race bikes.

19. Any physical activity, other than cycling, is STRONGLY DISCOURAGED. This includes any form of work or housecleaning and their derivatives (this includes mowing).

20. You shall never rearrange your package while riding. Adjustments regarding seating/hanging comfort are to be done in private in order to preserve image. ***Disregard***

21. In a circumstance where any cyclist ever displays aggression or disrespect towards you, you shall ride up uncomfortably close to them and slap them in the face with your team issue gloves. (Which must be pink/blue/black)


22. In the event a motorist disturbs your ride, you shall proceed to ride up beside the car, form a clenched fist and bang the trunk of the car while doing your best attempt to sound irritated in French. Wild arm/head are strongly encouraged to enhance the apparent rage. Sometimes crying really loud helps.

23. Training is based solely on feel while racing is be guided by sensations and instinct. A real Bella cyclist never gives in to scientific training methods.

25. ALL BIKES shall feature personalized nameplates next to ones home town located on the top-tube within 10 cm seat-tube ON ONE SIDE ONLY.

26. Pedals MUST be either Speedplay, Time, or Look. No other pedals are to be considered and ANY form of Shimano product is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. If one is found possessing Shimano pedals, title of Bella cyclist will be stripped immediately.

27. Coffee is a necessity and as such must be consumed strong (ie. espresso) on a patio in Italy in full kit, it shall be drunk black. Sugar is STRONGLY FROWNED UPON. The only milk present shall appear frothed on top (if at all). Of course Baileys is considered an cream full of nutrients and should be used as a post ride recovery drink.

28. All pre and post-race activity will be conducted under a gazebo (this includes massage, interviews, and looking fantastic) leaving one in reasonable distance of the NY-sun to top up your enviable tanlines or pose for photo’s.

29. Post-race, you must be utterly tied to your mobile phone, making endless calls to your incredibly attractive euro-boyfriend or important executives from modelling agencies. This will be done under the protection of the post race gazebo.

30. ABSOLUTELY NO FORM of seatbag, frame pump, mud guard or mirror shall come within 2 meters of the bike.

31. Team bikes will be built up so that they violate the UCI weight limit, in order that weights might be attached to the frame to demonstrate its superiority and lightness.

32. Pink bar tape shall be kept in pristine pink condition and NEVER extend further than 3cm past the hoods (exception during spring classics, where standard bar tape wrapping is allowed). This state shall be achieved either through daily cleansing or frequent replacement. These jobs will NEVER be performed by the cyclist as you must maintain your image.

33. Motivational music during training MUST consist of Alanis Morisset, or deep-trance hard-style london techno hereby known as Chomba Wamba. NO EXCEPTIONS.

34. Nothing short of a pink fluff (manufactured by Micheals, joan fabrics) will be used. The only exception is special blue or black fluff which can be preferable in some situations (such as jen our tomboy) where colour coordination is key. Ex. black cage with pink/blue team kit.

35. A pearl necklace is STRONGLY recommended for mountain races, stage races and citizen races.

36. While soloing in for a victory, you will ensure your jersey is fully zipped and straight, so all title sponsors are clearly visible. You will then smile and flex arms while pointing skywards. The projection of ones fatigue is EXPLICITLY FORBIDDEN in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.

37. When appearing in a photo spread for sponsor’s products, one shall appear either fully nude or in full Armani little black dresses. Smiling is prohibited in these instances.

39. And lastly, make sure you notice every other woman out there riding against you, drooling over the fact that you are on the most fun team with the coolest looking kit! Bella's rock.

Bikers turn winter triathletes

The tug hill "triathlon" or tourathon as it was originally named was quite a show. It was a classical style ski race on back country trails- no set track. There was orienteering involved at several intersections with an arrow hidden in the woods somewhere. You were lucky if you could find it within a few minutes. Usually it took a group consensus before you had the confidence to progress forward to what you hoped was the course toward the finish. Since it had rained all week prior to the race we got to swim in sections across creeks flowing through the track.

Kate, Jano, Gaetane, and I all skied in this wonderful, bizarre, race through the wildness. 2k into the race I said it was just like skiing in the state forest on a really crappy day. Something I had been doing all year so I felt right at home which put me at ease. I felt like I was dancing across the fallen debris from the trees and not having a hint of track to guide my ski. Kate and I got to ski together for most of the race which was really fun. We ended up 1st and 2nd woman in the 25k race. Gaetane of course kicked some booty in the 13k with just one lung working that day and won her race. Her other lung stayed at home just like the doc told her.

Jano had a "good time" but was very glad for the race to over with because out of the 4 of us she was the only one not using the weapon of mass destruction for kick. It was a bitch to find a wax that day but good ol grip tape came through for the 3 of us. Jano basically had to pole her way around the 25k course. She has bionic arms now to prove it.

Kate told my she hated me when she came through. Isn't that really mean of her. I laughed. but then she said, Not really but maybe a little right now. Then she hugged me. She's my really good friend.

Here's some pics of us puking as we come through the finish.