Velo Bella New York

Goodbye Blogger...hello to Word Press for NY Velo Bella!

2010-08-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

This is no longer the address for the NY Velo Bellas' Race Reports.

Please click here to go to the NEW Velo Bella of NY Race Report!

See you soon!

24 Hours of Hardcore

2008-06-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-21T05:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-12T06:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-21T08:54:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-07T11:46:00.000-08:00

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.

Time to come out of hiding

2008-01-30T11:25:00.000-08:00

I know what it's like looking in the mirror after a shower and you wished you had your sunglasses on. Those legs are so narly white that you can see the blood pumping through the vessels. ewe. every lump is excentuated with the florescence of the unnatural lighting we have to deal with during these dismal, gloomy months, creating even larger shadows in the hail damage we have to deal with as woman on the backs of our thighs.

Well it's time to start thinking "PINK." Get those orders in for
those sweet jerseys this year cause we're gonna have some fun. I say more fun rides in the early spring to get the blood flowing and the pink happenin' . We have a job to withhold this year. "The most fun team out there!" So lets see some action on the list se rve. I'm starting to think everyone has turned to soap opera's or daytime talk shows. Say it isn't so. I miss my girls! I don't miss my invisible friends. Here's what they look like and they're pretty darn cute:

How I Ran a Marathon With One Leg Tied Behind My Back

2007-10-30T17:55:00.000-07:00

(or: Why pain is temporary, but Jenn's stupidity is permanent)

Stories like these always start months and months before the event. I'm going to save you pain of all that and just summarize it all as: Run. run, complain, run, dog bite, healing, run, run, painful run, fast run, overconfidence, taper, pack, drive, sleep, meet parents, fight with parents, no sleep, get ready!

Sunday morning Cindy (my training buddy) and I were up and ready to go. After months of training we were ready, or not. Only one way to find out.

The nice thing about running is that there really only a few things you need to keep track of: pants, bra, shoes. That's it. Everything else is fluff. Oh poop - I needed to find my fluff. I took my shower, got into my gear, put on my fluff and started eating my bagel. I didn't even have to wear a helmet for this!

At 7:45 Cindy and I were taken to the start by our chauffeur Jim (Cindy's husband). Bill and Cindy's two daughters were left in charge of my parents. I hear they had a lovely breakfast. Meanwhile Cindy and I were making our way to the start in the chilly morning air.

The line for the portajohns was as long as always, but it was moving fast. After all the important preparations took place we found a spot in the sun to hang out and stretch until it was time to line up. We got to watch all of the other people doing their pre-race thing. Mostly we just chatted about this and that. And then we lined up. That's when I started to realize "crap I have to run 26.2 miles to get back to here."

America the Beautiful was played (Falmouth is the home of the writer) and the cannon blew. The group slowly started shuffling forward, then walked, then jogged then I crossed the line and wheeeeee.

The drumming feet on the pavement. People chatting about their goals for the run. Dodging and weaving through the crowd. We made our way out of town. I was feeling pretty good. A decent pace, but nothing really fast. At the first mile mark I was at 8:30. The perfect pace, but a little ahead of my 4:00 goal so I slowed up just a bit and kept on trucking. I've been running around 8 minute miles for most of my runs and busted out a 1:30 12-miler a couple weeks ago, but wanted to run conservatively since I didn't know the course and really just wanted to finish.

I started to warm up around mile 5 just as I was coming over the first bridge. I saw my dad standing on the side of the road, he didn't see me, I started shouting "dad, over here" and half the crowd turned to look at me. I saw my mom a bit beyond him and Bill at the top of the bridge with the camera. I tried to smile - it came out poorly. And on we ran.

I turned the corner heading north for the long stretch up to North Falmouth and concentrated on keeping pace. I figured I'd be to the 10 mile mark in no time and would start to pick up the pace then if I was feeling good. it felt great. The temperature was perfect and the scenery was gorgeous. The plan was to take a swig of my gel and grab a water as I reached each of the water stops (each 2.5 miles). Every 5 mile starting with the 10 mile mark I would take an Advil to keep any swelling down and take the edge off the pain. I got to the 10 mile mark spang on 1:30 - exactly on my 4 hour target. It felt great! I popped my pill and settled in for the next 5 miles.

About 1.5 miles outside the 10 mile water stop I was heading up a hill and something popped in my knee. I felt an awful pinching pain and couldn't put any weight on my leg. I was hopping along on my left leg trying to figure out what happened. That didn't help, so I instead tried to put weight on the leg, That worked, but I couldn't run. I walked up the hill as fast as I coule (damn slow). It started feeling better, so I tried running again. Nope. For the next few minutes I was walk, run, hopping. All of the Advils in my pocket went down the hatch. I thought about quitting for about 2 seconds and changed my mind. I figured I should go as fast as I could, no matter how slow that might be, at least until Cindy caught me. Some fellow asked if I was OK as he ran by. Of course I am, just a little setback. He nodded and moved on.

This crap continued for the next 8 miles. That first mile was bad. After that the joint go warned up again and I figured out what stride would work for me. I would speed walk up the hills if it started twinging and limp down the hills. I was OK on the flats. There weren't much of those. People were passing me, but I'm pretty used to that ;-). I was mad. I was mad that I wasn't working hard enough to sweat. I was mad that I wasn't breathing hard. But I pressed on. After a mile or two I mentally shrugged and figured, same shit different day and started to enjoy myself again. Sometime around the 19 mile mark people stopped passing me with regularity. I had found the group that was running at my current pace. I started chatting with a woman who I was jockeying with for a bit. It helped take my mind off the pain.

Just before the 20 mile mark I saw a break in the trees that opened out to a gorgeous view of the ocean. I was getting close to the end. Just a short training run to the finish and a nice shower. People started talking about food as they passed me. The group was starting to get antsy for the finish not realizing the worst is just around the corner. I came into the 21 mile feed zone and saw Cindy's girls and husband. They had been pressed into service as water buffaloes. Glenn, the youngest, looked up the road and started shouting "Hey, look, it's Jenn". I came into that zone to the cheers of "Go Jenn" "Hey Jenn" "Lookin' good Jenn". It was great. I slowed to grab my drink and Rae asked "How's it feel". "Pretty bad Rae, I blew out my knee, but I'm almost done., so no worries". "Push hard Jenn" :-).

I had started to feel better and could run up and down hills at this point, so I was starting to push the pace. And by that I mean not going any slower. At 22.5 miles I was going up lighthouse hill, the last in the course. I powered up it to the cheers of the photographers. I started passing people. They were flagging and I had all sorts of energy left from the silliness in the middle of the race. I came around the top of that hill and the view of the ocean opened up ahead of me. I picked it up a little more and used the downhill.

Mile 24 is where it hit me. That mile post was in the middle of a long ,open stretch of beach. There was no shade. I could see people up ahead of me for at least a mile. There were no spectators to speak of because most people had gone to the finish to cheer people in. Those that were there has stopped cheering for people a hour ago. I was holding my pace but my brain was starting to say "stop you fool". That's when I saw Beau. There was a fellow up ahead of me who took a step and collapsed to the pavement. He got up and tried again. His right knee kept giving out. I couldn't watch it. I ran over to him to see if he was OK. He was fighting hard. I grabbed his arm to keep him from going down again and let him lean on me for a few steps. I said "stop running, try to walk first. It's only 1.5 miles, keep moving forward. Only try to run if it will support your weight." He thanked me and started moving again. We wished each other luck and kept going.

Imagine forever. That's how that last mile felt. I finally turned the corner back into town and still had .75 miles to go. I was getting antsy. When will it end? This is still not harder than a 300km. This is horrid. This is not worse than riding a 200km on the tandem in April when you're out of shape. Stupid brain stop fighting and run!

And there I was at the 26 mile marker. 0.2 miles left. I was turning the corner onto the finishing straight and the people were cheering. OK there weren't a lot, but still it was the Carrier Dome in my head. I sped up. I sped up more. I was sprinting. I could see the finish. Bill was taking my photo. They announced my name, I waved to the crowd (yeah I'm a total dork) and I slowed down because I felt bad passing the woman just ahead of me at the line. Its a race, but come on now! I crossed the line in 4:46. They draped me with my medal and my space blanket and I slowly limped out of the chute to say hi to Bill and my parents.

First aid for the knee was rendered in the form of ice pack and "walking it off". I went to the local school to get a commemorative shirt and some food. Cindy's family found me and said she was out on the course and that she wasn't last. After a bit I wandered back to the finish and started back tracking on the course. Soon we saw Cindy's pink shorts coming around the corner about a half mile out of the finish. The girls were running with her. I hopped out in the road to wait for her. We all ran together around the corner and down the finishing straight. Cindy ran the last 50 feet alone to (very loud) cheers. She crossed the line under her goal in just under 5:59!

Now I'm trying to convince her to run the Flying Pig in May!!

NY Bellas' Katina maintains series lead!

2007-10-20T11:18:00.001-07:00

CNY Bellas Katina and Sue A hurled themselves along the challenging 'cross course at Liverpool's Long Branch Park last weekend. Sporting the appropriate Bella flair (Katina has yet to add fluff to her seat tube - a must for the next race.) and sassy! attitude, our grrrrls represented us proudly.

The course was said to be a bit soft in some spots and the run-up quite the rascal of a climb, but both found themselves enjoying the twists and turns.
Sue displaying the patented "Jan-O Classic Leftie Push-and-Go technique"

Sue Post Race

Here's Katrina's winning style of remounting.

Results:
Katina 1st in Master Women, maintaining her 1st place standing in the CNY series.
Sue 6th in Open Women and coming in 7th in the series.

Katina Takes the Swandrome - Sat, Sept 29

2007-10-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

She may be humble, but our new NY Bella has style and speed. (Check out the polka-dot socks) She claims it was another tough race for her and that she was caught between two women with 4 laps to go, when her former teammate from the old MinM team did drop off, and Katina had to attack on the last half lap, managing to squeeze out a win by a few seconds. That's all you need!

Good luck in Cooperstown for race #3 in the series, and keep us posted!

Wet Weekend Bella Blues

2007-09-17T16:58:00.001-07:00

Gaetane was the only NY Bella (and only one of 5 women overall) to attempt the Colgate RR Saturday, Sept 15. She looks ready to do her thing with the Master Mens in this picture, but this might have been the last moment of sunlight.

Here she is riding away with the wind and rain blowing at her and this stretch of road was the dealbreaker. Why bother, she said, when the road was so steep and slippery from the rain that her back wheel was slipping, she lost the pack and it was just plain miserable. See below:

She's telling the goddam photographer to get the &*%$#@! photo shoot over and let her head back to the car, for Pete's sake!

In the meantime, other insane TRI-bellas were unbelieveably SWIMMING in the freaking lake! Yes, call them crazy, and I certainly do, but Sue-A and Jan-O were frolicking in the reservoir near Janet's house in 50 degree temperatures. Sure it was raining too, but they claim they were already wet.

We also thought that Nutter LiLynn was riding the notorious Midlander (seriously painfully hilly metric century which also costs $60) (and is a 2 hr drive)(and starts at 8 am) in the cold and rain, but thankfully she was swayed by Bella-pal Laurie from Ithaca, who claimed to be a fair weather rider and just felt it was a little too crummy out. Whew. Thank god someone can reign in that cycling maniac.

That's it for now - The Finger Lakes Tri is the event of the coming weekend (Sept23) and Sue Atwood and Janet Ohlsen will be representing our grrrrls there and kicking some Popo. (That's butt in German, not "police" fyi.) Wish are women good swimmin' etc!

Gaetane 7th overall woman in Skinnyman!

2007-09-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

With a 2nd in her age group and 7th woman overall, Gaetane had a great first tri this summer in Skaneateles, September 1st.

Here she is showing her form in the run - which she had to take easy due to prior injuries this summer.

And those wheels! She says that they match her bike so nicely, that she's going to have to get herself a pair if she does another triathlon...but next time she'll be sure they're firmly in place on the bike...

Attempts at Spreading Bella-dom in Germany

2007-08-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

Here I am posing in front of a nuclear plant and wind turbines (which you can't see) on a 35 K bike path that lead to Warnemünde, a seaside resort on the Baltic Sea where we hoped to swim - the ride took so long because we kept losing the route that we ended up taking the train back to Rostock. I had wanted to rent a racing bike, but that just wasn't possible, and as it was, this mountain bike cost me nearly $18 for the day to rent, much more expensive than the usual cruisers that the trainstations have to lease out.

This is me and two other German teachers, the woman in the middle is Canadian and the one who came on the ride with me. I frightened her with my outfit. (and maybe my white legs too)

This is what I want to ride next time:

And here is what the German police look like when they are preventing drunken soccer fans from getting too rowdy at the trianstation.

And you thought I'd been arrested for something like talking on my cell phone while riding, right? (There actually is a law against that, and it's a 25 Euro fine!)

steroids- just say NO plus rumors of results

2007-08-17T17:51:00.001-07:00

Well my bella friends, the blog is collecting dust and cobwebs since I came off the steroids, but I'll get to that later. For now I want to know where the reports are for those juicy rumors I've been hearing about some particular bella's. Lets just say the little sexy one with the french accent that only knows one speed—poof and she's off chasing the 'mens'. The talk on this side of town is that she kicked some serious bella booty at the Canal Classic and took 4 minutes off her 1st place time of last year. Yea baby. And then there's "semi Sue" the truck driving triathlete who claims she almost drowned but put a big hurt on the field of 90+ woman to place 3rd overall in the bike section at the Caz Tri. I hear she uses that serious trucker look of hers to intimidate her competition. Possibly a more areo dynamic life preserver and she could either leave the field in the dust with her biking and running or just really scare some folks out there. And then of course the jolly Jano "streak lightning" who crushed her field and took 1st in her age group in the triathlon. Did her son Lars really tie all the competetors running shoes together in her age group or was that just a vicious rumour. She was later tested for steriods and she is truely a sincere and honest bella after all. whew. All this action took place on Sunday, August 12. Still waiting on photos from the associated press.

Bella sparks were definetely flying on Sunday and I could tell for sure from my point of view on the couch. Early July when I dabbled in steroid enhancement for my biking OK, so I was on prednizone for asthma, I felt like an animal and ended up tearing my calf muscle in the owasco stage race and also came down with the "kissing disease." I guess kissing all the cute boys as they came through the finish like Vana White was probably not the smartest on my part. I hope it was that dark, tall, young, totally ripped 20 something kid that gave me mono. That would be worth the 6 weeks of sleeping.

Well the lesson here is that coming down off steroids ain't pretty bellas, so just say no! Gosh, I should have been a spokes person for "Tour de France." The side effects are costly: new fat tires, wide touring saddle with springs, bananna bars to reach out over the gut, entirely new velo bella kit size XXXXL. I can still squeeze into my helmet. I am in my last week of mono and have risen from my deep sleep. I vow to get you bellas whooped into writing your reports and me loosing my load! Your results have inspired me. You go girls!

Captain Kate sent a photo of Eric in Germany in his first Time Trial. He will be sending in a report as soon as he is found. He was last spotted in Switzerland still in his drops and looking strong. We will keep you posted.

Jano our Musselman-o!

2007-07-19T06:17:00.000-07:00

Geneva, NY, July 15
Posted by Janet
Musselman 1.2 swim, 56 bike 13.1 run

Thank you girls for the congrats on my Musselman 1/2 iron. It actually was not as bad as I thought it would be! I highly recommend it - you girls could survive the mini-mussel 500 yd. swim, 15 bike 3.1 run) easy, even swim was mostly shallow and only 500 yards my husband Hans did his first tri and he is not a good swimmer. He did say it was a bit scary there were 1/2 foot waves (they have a novice wave start which is nice) Geneva is a great place and Lakeland Park ideal to hang out.

Saturday was the mini-mussel and it was fun to observe as a non-participant. Transition area is very entertaining and is
always fun to see people and how they transition from swim to bike and bike to run. There were even two 14 year old girls doing it with incredible times that would whop my butt. Every year the entrants get younger and younger and there are more of them. There was also a professional Olympic distant triathlon (0.9 swim, 26 bike 6 run) in afternoon that alone was worth the trip to watch. They are alowd to draft and in a crit like loop (8 miles) so you can watch the excitment. The transitions are FAST and put me to shame! These guys just hop out of water run to the bike shoes already in clips and off they go. There was 20,000 in prize $$ and qualifier for bejing olympics. This all took place right outside the Ramada where we were staying.

My tri start was following morning at 7am and there was concern of thunderstorms and talk of canceling swim and doing running course twice! I did not train for marathon. Luck held out and my start (first wave was old ladies and men!) with 4 minutes intervals for next 4 waves.

Two laps of a .64 mile triangle with 6 bouys (please don't let me get lost) for a 1.2 mile swim. Wetsuits aloud and boy there were rolling waves and lots of swallowed water and a few people holding on to Kayaks which were safe guarding course-these guys were great. Sun in eyes on turn-around and I saw some green caps passing me I was pink (the really good guys) I made it out in 46:00ish minutes, transition OK (yes, Kate, I did my cowboy hop onto my steed (sp?) beautifully to a gasping crowd....) course beautiful.

The thing about being in first wave you have a wee bit advantage if you are good swimmer so not many bikes left transition yet but boy did hundreds catch up and pass me the next 1/2 hour....nasty headwind last 15 miles and people were moaning *&^&*(^% FINALLY off bike onto run I got to wee, quick portabottie. Oh yes, I did not pee on the bike like a girl in front of me... "shit! that is not water but pee spraying!"

Janet waving to adoring fans.

Run was beautiful also and got mike running legs after 3 miles. Run my worse event but did OK lots of great volunteers and stops and finished with a respectable 6:50 time. there were about 600 in this event.

Lars had the best event and MOST entertaining to watch a total of 100 kids in 2 starts age 6-10 and 11-14. 6-10 year olds(25 yd shum, 2 mile bike .25 run) These kids had most fun, and there nerves disappeared once they ran around swim bouys (it is called a sh-wum instead of swim cause its very shallow) Lars age 9 was 2nd out of water and slow on transition those darn wet socks...off onto bike back second but he tossed bike oops! Off on run, forgot to take helmet off but tossed that a bit later and finished second The kids get to go through the actual finish shoot. He was very excited as I since he has some foot issues. Great shwag for kids, everyone wins and gets a real nice medal.

These 1300-plus tri-athletes are so darn nice and always giving tips, advice to anyone who will listen, much fun!

Tinman (lady)
Jano

Random Pics from Owasco Stage Race

2007-07-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

Celebrity Sightings at Owasco Stage Race

2007-07-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

June 14 & 15, 2007

Not only did we have visiting CA Bella, Liz Beneshin, we also had Pro Ana Milkowski riding (and winning the entire thing) in a Bella kit. But the best is depicted below...Kerry Litka, Team Terry and her Gal Pal Geraldine (who has been on the hands of many a famous bike racing personality - Mario Cippolini, Greg Lemonde, etc.)

The NY Bellas' mascot, Flat Eric...who now maybe has a girlfriend?

Owasco Discombogolated Better Late than Never Stage Race - July 14 & 15

2007-07-16T09:09:00.000-07:00

Report from LiLynn:
Just like the name of the race sounds, thats basically how it went for
anyone who entered.

The icing on the cake was the Auburn newspaper TT
results with our own Bella Sue Atwood averaging close to 60 miles per
hour in her time trial. We had her hidden in a duffle bag in the trunk
of my car a block away so they couldn't do a pee test. We succeeded in
gettting away clean without any testing and she held her first place
position. You know Sue, you could share.

Here she is cracking up at how she blew away the rest of the field...

Our visiting Bella Liz Beneshin from Cal took a more serious approach to the TT and spent about 2 hrs warming up on her trainer
while the NY Bellas were warming up their yapping muscles -very important for time-trialing. After making fun of my clam shell/world war 2 helmet and attaching our aero fluff we 'thought' we had 45 minutes to warm up. Got back with 10 minutes to pee and collect ourselves. NOT. I missed my start. Stuck behind some van with a bike on the back that I couldn't get past, they kept calling out my number (which I didn't even know was my number) to see if I had shown up. Gosh darnet all to heck. Missed my start. Jersey unzipped, gloves in hand, computer not set, they told me to just go. In disbelief, I asked him, "...did you say just go?" and he said, "...just go!" With tail between my legs I stuffed my gloves up my jersey and tried to zip it up while trying to clip in. Someone was taking photos of the woman 'sprinting' out of the start. I looked at him an just said "shit!"

Got it together, but no other women were out there. All by myself... don't wanna be... All by myself, anymore. Sure enough, here comes some pro woman terrorist on a red fast bike, like a whirlwind. That woke me up. I chased her until she was so nano tiny I couldn't see her anymore. Then the turn around. Fun, fun, fun, I got to see all my Bellas. First Sue A rippin it up at just under 60 miles per hour. Then my mate, Kate Stewart, then Sue Kahler, then the well warmed up Liz from Cal. I was passed of course by two more woman but tried to stay close all the way back to the finish. Sue Atwood with her speed of almost 60 mph didn't even see me waiting at the finish as she was passing all the traffic. This is a comfortable pace for her being a semi truck driver. Puts her right in the zone. Ruler of the road. Then came Kate, Sue K and Liz. We were ready to go chill with Flat Eric.

Another 30 minute delay for the crit. NOT. Kate and I are signing in with our street clothes on and the woman says, "you know the women's race is starting on time." Oh shit! Here we go again. Kate and I are running through alleys trying to get to the car to get changed so we can get a little warm up and pee. Although I opted to pee in the alley and a postal woman came walking through with her hands full of mail and I jumped up from behind a truck and she dropped her mail so I had to go
back and help her pick it up. A Bella good deed moment. Kate and I stripped down in the parking lot in down town Auburn. No one was impressed. Then we headed out for our warm up. We were warning women hanging out in cars that the race was on time. yikes.

The open women lined up and Gaetane showed up with hubby to cheer us on and of course our main cheerleader 'Madonna' as always was there belting out the motivational cheers. It was so exciting to be lined up with such awesome women riders. I looked around me and wished I had a camera to take pictures of me lined up to ride a crit with these girls. Not the crit itself. Just the start line. That was my moment of glory. My goal for the whole weekend was to ride with the big girls, (not talking butts) the pros, for as long as I could hold on, 2 minutes... 1 minute... Well I hung on for 2 laps and learned so much. I watched every move they made but the pace was above and beyond any level I could ride for 25 minutes straight. Liz and Kate (my mate) hung in there the entire time. You two rock. The rest of us Bellas were lapped 1 time but hung in there and golly gee, we did not get pulled.

Kate used up all her legs for the weekend hanging with the big girls that night and she is my hero. I got to cheer her on when she lapped me. Thats the fun part of being in the back. Sue A and I got to ride the rest of the crit together and at one part heard some church bells. We almost bagged it and went to church to pray for our slow sorry asses. But we figured we had a duty to hold on to our places in this race and that we did. We motivated each other the entire time and finished strong and together.

The road race started late. REALLY. They even switched the order so the women started even later. It was great. We rolled out very fast, of course, because these girls' easy pace is my race pace and about 1 mile into it made a wrong turn. yup. I went the right way and was in the lead. So I waited for everyone to regroup. Where was the camera dammit! Well we rode down Rockefeller along the lake to the first hill which I wasn't even thinking would be a factor. Forgot who I was riding with. This was their first attempt to drop people and it only dropped the baby cat 4's.

Me and Sue. All by ourselves.... don't wanna be.... All by ourselves, anymore. Sue's optimism was at a 10 at that point. I'm like, sure sue, we can catch them. Thinking she must be in serious oxygen debt. So we started working together and we actually were doing pretty good but not catching them. Finally she said to me, "we're not going to catch them." I said, "no Sue, we've been dumped." So we decided to have a fun day and not blow up but try to stay in the race. It's hard when there's no one around. You just start riding like its a fun ride and forget to race pace. We did a lot of that. Sometimes that makes you more tired than having people around to keep you focused. We finally made it to Moravia and we were getting mixed signals from the marshals but went the correct way. whew. Started up Dresserville and I started feeling good. Before we headed back down to the highway Sue was feeling a little wasted and told me to go ahead. Bad idea because 2 minutes later it started hailing and down pouring and I was a little freaked about riding on the highway. Made it to Murphy hill and it was so wet and greasy that my rear tire was slipping so I had to 'tiptoe' up it. Going at a snail pace made my butt cheeks a perfect target for the horse flies. Between trying not to slip and slapping my ass it was quite a site for sore eyes. Once out of the trees the flies split and I was ready to ride hard again.

Everything was going just fine but then I suddenly started thinking I had been on this road for a long time and didn't really recognize anything. My mind started racing. I started slowing down looking back to see if Sue was coming. Though I should go back to see if she was even on this road. Started sweating. I don't even sweat. Started sweating more. Started thinking I might get shot. (Looked a little like Wellsville, where I grew up, they shoot at any moving target) Then I decided I would
ride forward and pick up a highway and find the course again. I had it all figured out and then I came to a little rise in the road, just over the rise were these stupid little arrows, 3 inches long, the official markers for the course and voilà, I was still in the race. So now I had to get my head back together and pound it out again up the last big hill and then the turn on Baptist. I got to the turn and yelled to the corner marshal to wake up from his nap in his car as I made my turn that I knew about from a previous race. I yelled "Thank you, I got it!" "Don't get up on my account." Now to the finish. I only had the 3 hail mary's is what the catholic girls call those hills, but I'm sorry, I know that's not what you are saying when you get to them girls. Actually there are 4 and my mate Kate and I call them, more appropriately the 4 f@#$%^*. And thats just what they are at that point in the race.

The best part of the day was coming to the finish and having Sue K's Bella Fella orchestrate a cheering squad of about 20 people as I came through. In my mind the pros were way behind me by the sound of the cheering. Sue A came in right behind me so I think we hammered those pros Sue! I never saw them, did you? Sue Kahler, alias "Mighty Mouse" had the ride of her life on her home turf and faired very well in the end. Liz came in a little after and Kate behind her. Sue and I did our important job of picking up the rear as we were the brave cat 4 babies that dared to enter. All in all the Bellas had a topsy, turvy day and we all traded places a little but ended up with big smiles on our faces and celebrated with Flat Eric at the end of the day that we all survived without injuries and just some tired, worn out bodies. But still in awe of Super Sue's TT time.

Utica, NY area Tour de France Prologue Time Trial, July 7

2007-07-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

Report from "M like Madonna"

Sue represented the Bellas in Utica last weekend for a Mohawk Valley Celebration of the Opening Prologue Event in the Tour de France.

Sue Atwood is the grrrrreatest!

2007-07-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

NY Bella Linda Tersegno wins 2 BRONZE medals at National Senior Games, Louisville, KY

2007-07-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

Linda's report of the National Senior Games, Louisville, KY June 23-28, 2007:
I had no idea what to expect in Louisville and feel like I did really well!! I finished 8th out of 23 riders in the 5K TT, 4th through 7th places were close, I was out from the winner by about 35 seconds though. The 10 K time trial I moved up one spot to 7th place. Both earned ribbons anyway. Very nice courses in a closed park.

The road race was really a circuit race course. Very winding, up/downhill (scary!) 2.4 miles loop on a pretty park road. I had never raced this type of course so I stayed near the front due to 4 bad crashes we witnessed in Mike's race. I really had doubts about doing the 40K event at all. But it was fun really! I placed third with a photo sprint finish. The same happened in the 20K road race on the same course, but not with such a close finish. We had lapped riders from another age group and they were at the finish line area with 3 of us and it was too crowded.

It must have been the jersey that helped!!

Final results for Linda:
Bronze in the 20K RR
Bronze in the 40K RR
8th in the 5K Time Trial
7th in the 10K Time Trial
Congrats, Linda!!

Owasco Flyer - June 24

2007-06-25T14:14:00.001-07:00

LiLynn's steriod induced Report:

It was a dark and stormy night. Well actually it was a beautiful sunny morning with temps around 70 at 9:30am as the beautiful bella babes were conversing with the new bella baby getting her prepped for her first race as a bella. This took at least a half an hour of warm up. First we had to attach the pink fluff to her end of the tandem and then doll up her hair with the blue hair dye and finally find a pair of bike shorts that would stay up for at least 2 hrs.

The bella team was ready for action once again - out for a great time, maybe even some great results. The race started with over 200 riders of all abilities (very scary), all at once following a pace "car" through town.
I could not believe they chose to have a semi truck as a pace car with our own bella, Sue Attwood driving. over the speaker I kept hearing, "stay up near the front bella's, 10-4 good buddy" - totally freakin me out. Always good to know your pace car driver though.

But just before the hill the back of the semi opened up and there was Madonna again with her microphone cheering us on saying "..keep up the cadence, babes. ..You're lookin good..." Well I almost fell off my bike at that point and the rest of the peleton is wondering if this was just a bella affair or what.

Well I had been having some asthma issues all week and still suffering and had to back off so I lost sight of the semi but saw
Gaetane hammering up with the mens trying to stay on the wheel of the ironman triathlete woman and wait, there was Kate with the mens too! Kate was a total animal in heat, going for the ironman.

Woman on a mission. pedal to the metal. Kinda had that psycho look in her eyes. Even Gaetane backed off. I bade farewell to my mates and set into a pace I could manage to breathe without fainting. If I had a wheel to ride I was fine and on the hills I practiced Child bearing breathing with lots of concentration and a high cadence I could get up the hills but had a hard time on the flats. Very frustrated. Suddenly lost my wheels to ride for a few miles after ditching a couple woman on the last big hill.

Out of nowhere came mighty mouse Sue Kahler.

Whoopie! She instantly became coach and we were off. She put me on her wheel and we road several miles together on the gradual downhill flying like the wind. This little thing "sue" was belting out orders to me left and right. Cracking me up. I didn't dare have an asthma attack. We hit a hill and I did a goober shift while stressing about the tracter mowing the hay field off to the side as the wind blew towards me anticipating my poor lungs rebelling when I blew my chain off.

Jenn came up behind me and I had that chain on in record time and we sprinted up before I had to breath that hay in. Off to my right I see Jano dripping wet running up the hill. She had just swam accross Owasco lake to come see us finish. Crazy triathlete bellas. Well we were doing everything we could to try to catch Jano. Streak lightning. As we came into the the last roller to the finish I was distracted by this woman whose car was pulling out in front of me with the marshal almost on her hood and the woman yelling at her that she had road rights too. I actually almost stopped to punch her out but figured i'd
leave that up to the semi truck driver.

All in all the bella's had a great showing. Only the visible Bella's made the standings but the bella's overall 'in my mind' fared very well in the standings and looked good too. If you only could have seen Sue driving that semi!

I will be making a comeback. Since the race I have been put on steroids for my asthma issues these past few weeks so watch out world. LiLynn is on steroids! Photo to prove it.

Results:
Ellie Bayles (new bella!) and her dad were 3rd in the tandem division.
Lylynn 2nd Women 50+
Sue 1st Women 50+ (There were a LOT of 50+ women!)
Kate 2nd woman overall

NY Bellas Tri-ing - Green Lakes Triathlon Report - Jano

2007-06-21T15:16:00.000-07:00

Ok...it was a perfect day weather-wise and with 275 folks showing up to get wet, hot and pooped. The biggest decision was wet suit or no wetsuit? I know Sue was trying to decide since water was warm and very calm until people start thrashing and struggling for a spot (which can be very intimidating.) Sue can tell you how the swim went for her.

No wetsuit for me. I somehow was put into the first wave of very svelt, muscle-ly handsome guys (and gals!) so I tried to seed myself accordingly for survival. I opted to be on the outside middle which fast became a muddled crowded squisshy mess for about 5 minutes with several hesitant swimmers looking up out of water (NOT a good idea in a beginning swim race) managed to weasle out into calmer surroundings and pushed forward...God this swim seems longer than couple years ago!

Finally on land to the bike yeah! Best part. T1 was good and off I went a little disorientated and veered off onto grassy part side of road (remember Lance in ! the tour a few years ago?) crap. managed to regain control (thanks to MTB experience!) back on road and zoom on nice flat course for about 8 miles. Being in first wave you end up biking with a billion pro-ish bikers passing you like nuthin'. No worries, mostly guys (I think) ride good averaged 20mph which is great for me (no drafting aloud) ) until the hill. Crap. Survived.

On to run my weakness but managed to run with a great young gal who we pushed together and chatted about pleasant things (Her mom who was a couple years younger than me was doing race also!) yeah..finish! Got first in age group (50-54) which is first for me but very close with a couple other ladies. So Sue did GREAT for first tri and soon will kick butts after a little work on the swim! The times of the first several winners were amazing and can't imagine how they do it!

LiLynn's Report: NY Senior Games and Lake Fest Races - June 9 & 10, 2007

2007-06-11T16:51:00.000-07:00

It was me, my bella babe team and only 3 Mission in Motion girls. [Editor's note: LyLynn is making fun of the rest of us NY Bellas being slugs - her "team" at the races she competes in is unfortunately invisible, since she is the sole NY Bella to race every freaking weekend...] I knew if we worked hard and you guys pulled me all the way, we might have a chance. My legs were pretty wasted from chasing down Mighty Mouse Sue [Kahler] and lightning bolt Linda [Tersegno] all day on Saturday.

On Saturday I held a close fourth in the 5k and worked even harder in the 10k beating the 3rd place woman but Carla showed up and kicked booty taking second in the 10k time trial knocking me right back into 4th. I rode like I blubbering idiot in the road race trying to beat Carla on the first loop, only to find out she had been sitting on my wheel. oops, forgot to look back. Then she toasted and sizzled me on the flats with a group of guys like I deserved and took second in the road race. I got to ride a third time trial for third place.

Back to our bella ride on Sunday. As you all remember our Mission in Motion opponets looked fresh out of day care. not a hint of a wrinkle and still carrying a little baby fat. How could this possibly be? A tough day for the Bellas. We'll I'll have to admit that ignorance is total bliss not knowing it was Chelsey (cat3) and Charlsey and ???. Thank god you girls were there. [ha] It was like poetry in motion. But every time we made a really beautiful move, they were right there.

When we turned up the hill in Marathon, you guys all sprinted up with the pack and I got totally dropped. I was the last rider with one pudge guy zig zagging up behind. My legs were shot. All of a sudden Kate yelled back to me to get my ass in gear and Amanda yelled "pain is your friend". Gaetane didn't even notice because she was chasing down the mens. [Gaetane's accent inserted here for those of you who don't understand how French Canadians spell.] Jenn started blocking everyone and Sue was just very focused. I think I even saw Madonna yelling to me to get it together. I decided I didn't want to time trial for 15-16 miles so I put my head down and started hammering. Started passing some mens and then looked up and those MM girls were real close so just kept punching it and it sort of flattened out. I was real close so dropped it in my big chain ring and caught on to my bella's and we hammered over the top and down the hill with the MM girls hot on our tails. From that moment on it was the two baby MM girls and the bella's looking for big mens to ride behind and the rest of the race the baby
MM's stayed right on my wheel but I had the best draft right behind the big strong tall boy. With 2 miles to go there was 6 mens and the bella's with the 2 baby MM's in hot pursuit when out of the corner of my eye I notice that Chelsey had sprinted up the first hill with some mens off to the side and got away. None of you guys even saw that. You idiots! Were you all brain dead? I needed you there.

We'll I certainly had no sprint left in my old tired legs. Pain may be my friend but I draw the line. I did put the hammer down though and powered as hard as I could because Charlsey had also noticed and tried to drop me. Now I was pissed. I blew by her and hammered down the other side then pedaled as hard to the finish as I possible could, looked up and I was
closing the gap on Chelsey but not enough road left to catch her. I sprinted to the finish and you all catch me and held me up as I puked. Just kidding. Thanks for another great race girls!
[Above the Senior Games Old Fart Bellas and some of the mens - those are some impressive 50+ grrls!]

Syracuse Race Weekend - a Bella success! May 26 & 27

2007-05-28T18:43:00.001-07:00

It was a busy weekend - NY Bellas Jenn, Sue A, LiLynn and Kate took part in the omnium event known as The Syracuse Race Weekend this Memorial holiday - Bella Gaetane also raced the crit, and Michelle was there to support the team and, of course, J-Bird. Meanwhile, Jano raced the new Navarino Road Race and got 2nd in her category - "lots of plaques"
Many of the Bellas of NY enjoyed a raucous spaghetti and wine dinner to stoke up on carbos and ease the anxiety of the first stage race of the year. Saturday's start was at a civilized 11:00 am (while Jano's was at a beastly 8:00 am!) and LiLynn and I managed to arrive to Song Mountain Ski Hill at a very unusually early time for me. (Didn't hurt that LiLynn was grinding her coffee at 5:30. I could hear her being quiet.) We got a moment to pose for pictures, as you can see here.
The road race was 30 miles for the Cat 4s and 60 for the 1-2-3s with a 10 minute gap between the fields. My group (Kate) left first and knowing that I'd only ridden 60 miles once this year so far, my goals were not high: I wanted to not be last, and I also wanted to not have the 4s catch me. I managed to accomplish both (aim low, and you'll succeed!) though, I was just 2nd to last. If the race had been shorter, I would have been better off, because my first climb up Oak Hill had me in a much better spot. My second climb was a success only because the gruppetto I was riding with actually waited for me at the top, for which I was immensely grateful. The rest for me was a matter of dealing with the wind and the pace set by Margaret Thompson, a 53+ national champion time trialist who was driving us like cattle to get going. I hobbled pitifully up the last horrid climb, happy to see my pal Jano cheering me on at the top after finishing her own race at another location.
The other three Bellas had better than "just not last" finishes in their race - (well, Jenn had the same placing as I did..) LiLynn and Sue were within 7 seconds of each other and were not too many minutes behind the leaders. They had a group to ride with though there was a moment of exasperation when an unnecessarily paranoid racer kept trying to shake LiLynn off her wheel on a climb when our Bella was perfectly willing to work together.

Part II was the Inner Harbor One Mile Time Trial. A painfully short loop that was on city streets as well as a paved walking path and after a chance to get air off a ramp through a parking lot and around a tight turn back onto the road. What a hoot! Both Sue and LiLynn report riding "brain dead" and being not completely cognizant of the area. Nonetheless this tactic seemed to work for them, possibly after Jenn's powerful ride and her tips on how to take the jerky turns on the course. Jenn's previous life as a down hill ski racer provided us with the secret weapon to extra speed. All the Bellas were within 2 seconds of each other! This was very helpful in the overall GC standings and moved Jenn from 22nd up to 9th place!

Finally the crit was our last chance to move up - The Syracuse Crit is the best for crit-haters, those new to criteriums, and anyone afraid of potential crashes. Unfortunately, even a mellow course can have its hazards, as the road was very broken up and Sue found herself edged against the curb on the short climb and she experienced her first race crash. Thankfully it wasn't one that caused her a lot of physical injury, though she broke her saddle and was very disappointed not to have the opportunity to work in a pack finish, where she would surely have been if it hadn't been for one overzealous cornerer in her group. LiLynn did have terrific success in her first crit, and finished in 5th place, bringing her up to 6th overall. Jenn's endurance trained legs just didn't have it for the speedwork of the crit but thanks to her sprinting skills during the one mile TT, her overall placing was 12th while Sue's was 13th of a field of 23, not too shabby!
In the women's 1-2-3 crit, we were happy not to have the Austrailian national champion and T-Mobile team member racing that event - Gaetane unsurprisingly won not only a prime for a tire, but was 3rd. She loves crits. I was satisfied with 8th and was able to move up to 9th overall in the GC.
Here's a shot of Michelle at the Inner Harbor, hoping to race as soon as her PT gives her the green light. Thanks for reading and 'till next time...

Sterling Road Race Report - Ivy from Maine

2007-05-28T18:37:00.000-07:00

News from Ivy in Maine:

The weekend started out with Susan and I traveling from Maine to a friends house in Southwestern Mass, they have offered to help me out with a place to stay if I am doing any races in that are relatively close by. It was so nice when we got there too, as my friends Jean & Doug had dinner all prepared for us. They know I love pasta, so Jean had made a wonderful sauce and some yummy cheesy breads to knosh along with that.

We had a wonderful evening conversing and gossiping, lol!

The next day we drove up to Sterling for the Race.

When we arrived in Sterling, it was a nice warm day temps in the low seventies, and all though I felt a bit cool at first I was able to done my gorgeous Bella skinsuit for the race. I've gotten so many positive comments about how kewl our team kit looks :o).

Our race was to go off at a 11:25 so I had plenty of time to warm up and make my usual multiple visits to the bathroom, and give anything not to be so nervous before Road races...they seem to work on my nerves more than Crits & time trials do.

Our race went off right on time. We had a neutral 15mph - 2 mile escort by the local police. When we climbed the hill to the start finish area we started to pick up the pace. The hill sent shivers through my body as I knew the next time we climbed this thing someone would be attacking, I was right on that mark, and there was going to be three laps of this thing for us Cat 4's.

The first lap we started to sort things out and I finally got myself placed towards the front to get away from this woman that was making my crazy with her squirrelly riding. We started the descent at the top of the course and group wanted to coast down the hill, but I wanted to start making this a race, so I got on front and inspired the group to start hammering over the rollers so we could string things out and make the yellow line rule more livable.

Other than that, the first lap was uneventful till we made the last turn for the climb for lap '2' where one of the women from International bike made an animalistic attack that shattered the field and made me the, non-climber, sink in my shoes, so it was time to hold on and limit my losses.

I lost about 150 yards to the two women that were in the front, but I started to gather up a string of riders and we worked....with some wonderful help from Amy Moralez from 'Team Wooly Mammouth' & Amy Wong of 'Harvard University' to reel in the breakaway that had escaped. I also used my speed & descending skills to shake off anymore passengers that might be with us and we settled into a group of 12 riders.

I was getting angry at some of the women because they were coasting down hills (racing negatively) where we needed to be pedaling down hill chasing after the two escapees, so I motivated them to do so as we sped over the rollers making our way to the bottom of the course. And when we got to the highway, the lowest portion of this RR, we set up for the right turn where I came hammering around at full bore, and about a half mile later with some help from Amy M, Amy W, and Bonnie Fletcher, I made the final surge to catch the last survivor of the breakaway - we had reeled them in :o).

Then I knew it was time for me to take it easy and ride conservatively. So we reached the last turn and it was time to climb the hill for the 'third lap'. We made our ascent of the hill pretty fast again and so I made this planned, yes planned, holding back on the hill for myself as I knew I could bring them back once we got going again. I gave them 50 yards distance, and I took it easy. It was easier for me to give them the distance than burning myself out trying to stay with the front runners on the climb.

I got my wattage cottage in gear and with the SRAM neutral support car blowing its horn behind me, I caught the group and we made the descent once more. This time the group worked a bit more with one another which made me happier and we rolled down the hill and over the rolly parts of the course once more and down to the highway where we rolled along at a decent tempo and everybody started to sort themselves out as best they could for the finish.

We made the last turn with Amy Moralez leading going around the bend, then the climbers in the group started doing their damage, I went as fast as I could up the hill trying to match them as we dropped two riders off the group, but I started to slip back and it wound up being me and my old teammate from last year, Tracy Clemons, fighting to stay in the top ten. I came across the line in tenth place, but, for me, it was the best thing that could happen because I had held on and represented myself well in a Road Race which is not something I did very well last year - most times I got dropped totally. So I was very happy and it showed this 46 year old lady that her hard work over the winter had paid off....and it's early in the season so things should only get better :o).

Hollenbeck's Race - Virgil, NY May 6, 2007

2007-05-06T15:19:00.000-07:00

While Bellas Carolyn and Jan-o were kicking butt running the 10 mile Mountain Goat, other CNY Bellas road raced just a bit more than that today for the 22 miler near Greek Peak Ski Center. The payoffs of doing this early race are as you can see from the pics, fun with friends, and amazing and enormous cookies from the Ithaca Bakery. (oh, yeah, and decent apples too) We were joined by a tri-geek (she was actually very nice) named Kira, from LiLynn's neck of the woods, who was a very "strong girl". So after a painful warmup climb and a quick group pee (and no, that isn't a CNY Bella tradition), we were off.

This reporter did the men's 35+ race, opting out of doing two loops with the 1-2-3 women, knowing at this state of the game I'd surely be riding at least one full loop, if not more, by myself and in the wind. Briefly, my race was uneventful, fun, I wasn't last, and I had a group of guys to work with, so it was a good choice.
Now the real racers: according to the grrrrls, things started out respectably gently until the hill, where naturally, things changed. LiLynn was surprised to be feeling as good as she did, considering she'd done an unexpected 50 mile adventure ride yesterday, and she decided maybe she was more of a hill climber than she had thought. Things broke up pretty seriously, and Sue and Jenn were in differing places on the climb.

LiLynn found herself in no-woman's land for a lot of the race, faster on the hill than her bella sisters, but not fast enough to be up with the bigger guns. With "the wall" behind them, the group with Sue did manage to catch up to LiLynn, who'd been tt-ing into the wind, and they got a little pace line going, but predictably, there was one woman who sat on their wheels and refused to pull, despite LiLynn's questioning, if "she knew how to work?" The group clawed their way up the final, cruel climb, and our Bellas had a great finish, though as expected, the non-worker nipped Sue at the line. (Boy, do I hate that!) Jenn came in not too much longer and was buoyed by our hoots and cheers as she grumpily chugged up the hill - to the crowd's pleasure, she hung on the brakes for a second just before crossing the finish line and neatly did a hint of a wheelie as she lifted her front wheel for effect across the line.
Final results, Lilynn 11th, Sue A. 12th, Jenn 19th. Way to go, grrrrls!

Ivy (Maine Bella) Wins Seacoast TT

2007-05-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

Our friend of the NY Bellas, Ivy Luhrs, had a stellar day last week - here's her report:

I'm very happy to say that I won my age group in the Seacoast Time Trial today....I was also the fastest woman over all. It was a 12.8 mile rolling course with a slight, but ever present, breeze/light wind. Temperatures were in the High 50's low 60's which was a huge comfort when compared to what we have been having around these parts lately. Sue and I had to get up at 4:30am to eat a bit, pack up little red truck, and get ready for the drive down to Kennebunkport. Registration opened at 7:00am and then there was a riders meeting at 7:45 to discuss the road, traffic, course conditions/traffic issues.

My start time was at 8:30, so I had to get a wiggle on and give my bike it's shake down cruise to make sure all was well mechanically with it. I literally had just finished putting it together on Thursday having just got the special brake levers I needed. But after a brief cruise with it, I dubbed it AOK and proceeded to set it up on my kinetic trainer so I could get warmed up properly. Time went by fast and before I knew it was time to roll.

Susan was standing right at the start line with me and she handed me a warmed up hammer gel to down just before I got ready to start. She had the package stuck in her bra so it would flow out real easy, giggle, tasted like a gooey raspberry pie, then it got washed down with Gatorade lemon/lime Endurance formula....ah the fuel of Champions .

The start of a time trial is always tuff as it takes the body time to settle in and get used to the effort, it would be especially tuff on this day because of length of the race which would make it a virtual sprint. It took me some time to settle in, but then I got going. About a 1/4 of the way into the course I caught my minute man (yes a boy) so that made me feel things are going well today and I soon passed him and drove on. I was not familiar with the course so I had to pay special attention and watch for course marshals and turn markers so I could anticipate the turns before I got to them....no problems, all went well :o).

Before I knew it I was up on Route 9 making the run for home when I was pulling so hard on the top of my time trial bars I knocked the front derailleur into the small chain ring (this was the second time I had done this) so I cursed like a stable girl....then quickly put it back into the big ring and announced a mental note; (note to self)...keep your F-ing hands off the top of time trial bars...lest yee shift the bike without wanting said event to occur! LOL!

But, no matter, 'mental notes in hand' aching arms and all, I made it across the line in 33:20 a minute and half ahead of my closest competitor :o).

This was such a special victory for me after just getting off antibiotics just two days ago. I had been fighting a nasty sinus infection that happened after a nasty cold I had gotten just after the Crit in Rhode Island on April 7th.

So here I go,

This was the first bout of a sixteen race series, (But It's best of your eight time trials) So I need to ride at least eight races to make it count, and to accumulate enough points to possibly win a Aegis Carbon Fiber Bike Frame at the end of September.

Wish me luck :o)

Early Season Riding?

2007-04-09T18:01:00.000-07:00

This, the second week in April, finds upstate NY in a cold snap once again. Only the really intrepid have been riding, as the intense winds, temps in the 20s and spotty snowstorms with icy flakes driving horizontally into one's face, it's just not really motivating...The local xc skiing is non-existant, however, an hour north of Syracuse is the land of never ending snow. There we've enjoyed even as late as this week absolutely fabulous skiing, which doesn't exactly mimic the routine we need on the bike, but is still not too shabby for one's cardio fitness.

Outside NY, some Nearly NY Bellas HAVE been brave enough to test their winter training: Ivy Luhrs a Maine Bella made the trek to Ninigret Park in Rhode Island for the Chris Hinds Memorial Criterium. She came in a respectable 12th place.

She writes:
There was supposed to be a separate Cat 4 race, which would have been more to my liking at this time of year... but because of the low turnout it was an "open event". As you can see I was mired in a Team International Bike Sandwich. Was hard to try get away with so many women on one team working to cover any breakaways, on what was a cold, windy, and very tight course with lots of turns. With so many teammates on hand, Team International was trying to launch as many riders they could off the front, so there was one attack after another. All I could do was try to keep them in check without using too much of my own energy, was difficult task to say the least

I think I did a good job considering it's only the second time I've ridden with 'people' this year, LOL! The regular weekly rides here in my area of Maine won't start for another couple weeks, then I'll really be able to get my legs fully back online. I've trained pretty much alone all winter. I feel I did my best, this being an open race and the first of my season... and there was at least four cat 2's making this girl work very hard. I never wouldn't have been able to hang with them last year, so I feel I'm finally improving.., yippee! So, here I go...my next race will be at the Turtle Pond Circuit Race in Loudon NH, on April 21st.

Good job, Ivy, looking forward to hearing about your next race and hopefully some of the NY Bellas will be closer to the competition than riding with fenders in the slushy, sandy, salty, rainy, ...well, whatever.

Winter Training and Speed Skating Bellas!

2007-03-10T11:06:00.000-08:00

It's been a wildly changeable winter, we've got degrees today in the 40s, while it was below zero yesterday morning. The Bellas have had to be creative this winter in maintaining some semblance of fitness. We had the most sickeningly mild winter until about February, when the central NY area got seriously dumped on; north of Syracuse, Oswego made the national news receiving 10-12 feet in a few days.

So, here riding on the road through the winter is not a realistic option: some Bellas run or snowshoe, some go to the ack, cough, gym, lots of us cross-country ski, and now several NY Bellas are speedskating!

Jenn coaches kids at the Iceplex in Morrisville, NY - hopefully she'll race too one of these days. There, in Morrisville, Jan-o and Sue A are completely hooked on ice. How couldn't you be with Apolo as such an appealing representative?

I went to Cleveland for the Short Track Nationals and got to see Apolo, and other top US skaters show the rest of us hacks how it's really done. So small is this sport that all the best were there and they're on the same ice as the "age class" and "masters" skaters, although the zamboni seems to take more care in giving them quality ice than for us. In any event, I tried my best to do Syracuse proud, and was lucky to have gotten 2nd place overall. Considering that there were 10 women in the 40-49 age group, which in terms of cycling, that would be pretty thin, in speed skating, that's a decent masters' women field. Over the three days of competition, you pretty much live in the hockey rink, which due to the amazing elite skaters, was surprisingly tolerable.

Here's one of the few shots of my particular races that I don't hate, though it still isn't too pretty. This is the A final of the 500 and we are duking it out for 2nd place; the 1st place woman is, erm..a bit ahead of us. Kim, in the middle, could be given honorary Bella status with her tiger style.

Ok, I can't help but put this one in too - this is in the 3000 - 27 laps - should take around 6 minutes or so to do. This is the one race I "almost won" - I stepped on a block on the last corner and went down just as I was "making my move". Oh, well.

Next post will be less self-centered! Promise!

NY Bellas Bond at Highland Forest

2007-03-03T15:29:00.000-08:00

Jenn, Sue, Janet, Rae
Kate, LiLynn, Sue

A group of 7 NY Bellas and a few potential Bellas, including a Junior, met up in the Hills of Fabius, NY to play in the snow, exchange work horror stories, eat spicy vegetarian chili, cornbread, Bill Stiteler's famous, fabulous raspberry brownies, blueberry cake with whipped cream, sundry other sweets and pound down beers. (Actually 3 beers were had among the entire group, and there was no pounding down to speak of.)

Carolyn

This is Jan-o on her big 5-0. Many of NY Bellas are in the highly desirable age group of 50+...

The upcoming cycling season holds a variety of goals for the NY Bellas: a first triathlon, a longer triathlon, working on consistency, getting stronger thru in base miles, improving time trialing, going back to Paris to do the Paris-Brest-Paris randonneur ride and just not letting age and outside distractions prevent us from having fun on the bike and with the greatest group of sporty women around.

Elsa (a Burnese Bella), Sue, Sue, Janet

To the left are some Bella ski racers at the Try-it classical cross country ski race in Winona on Tug Hill. Kate, LiLynn and Gaetane did the 25 K race and all came home with coffee mugs to show for their skiing skills.

Jano and Kate

So, we're hoping to stay in some sort of shape for the coming cycling season, although, winter is "THE" sport season for some of us, especially now that more Bellas are taking up speed skating*!

*see next post!

2007-02-25T11:05:00.000-08:00

Bella blogs for this region coming soon.