New York State Time Trial Championships, NY
August 17, 2008
New York State Time Trial Championships, NY
1st, Sue Atwood, Women 40-44
2nd, Sue Kahler, Women 50-54
4th, LiLynn Graves, Women 4
2nd, Kate Stewart, Elite Women
Suisun Criterium, CA
August 17, 2008
Suisun Criterium, CA
18th, Katie Norton, Women 1/2/3
photo courtesy Paul Doran
Winters Road Race, CA
August 16, 2008
Winters Road Race, CA
11th, Andrea Atkins, Women 3
22nd, Sherri Lehman, Women 4
The Bobcat of New Hampshire New England Track Championship, NH
August 13, 2008
The Bobcat of New Hampshire New England Track Championship, NH
1st, Ivy Luhrs, Wom13
CNY Bellas Kick Popo
August 11, 2008
Cazenovia Tri and The Great Race Team Tri, Aug 10, 2008
“Isn’t Sue the cutest little thing?”
The CNY Bellas were out in full force this weekend – Kate, Sue K, LiLynn, (looking bubble-headed at the top) Kim, Linda and LIsa all were on Great Race Teams while Jan-O and Sue A worked their fannies off at the Cazenovia Triathlon.
It was an unexpectedly nice day after days and days of drenching rain – though the post race party at the Great Race was a bit of a mud field. In any event, the Bella Power was ever present as we were among the many winning teams: (Ok, there are a LOT of categories – but there were a total of 239 teams in the Long race and 335 teams in the Short race.)
- LiLynn and her team won the Women’s 40-49 Team Long race.
- Sue Kahler and her team won the Couples 40 + Team Long race.
- Linda and her team won the Women’s 40-49 Team Short race.
- Lisa and her team came in 2nd in the Mixed 40+ Short race.
- Kim and her team won in the Women 40+ Kayak short race.
- Kate’s team kindof stank, but I did tie for 1st woman in the bike leg of the long course.
Highlights of the day:
- Kate’s disk wheel that she’d recently bought used blew out the tire during the warmup, thank god. BAM!
- We were not given beer without a bracelet indicating that we were “of age” – so we got a trooper friend to get us beers.
- LiLynn bunny-hopped the speed bump, getting a “Settle down!” from a volunteer. (I later learned that one of the top teams was DQ’ed for this very maneuver, so Miss LiLynn was very lucky!)
The guys passing me out the lake road were so fast I didn’t have a prayer of catching on and the ones I went by were too slow. After the turn I was all alone and starting to fade when Marko Shenstoni came flying by on his hot wheels that he stole from Ernie. He looked really cool as he disappeared into the distance and then came a few others so I had to shake it off because the race was happening. I saw a woman fly by drafting off some guy. Way out of my fitness level today. Then came two more women and a bunch of guys. The women were killing me on the hills but then I would catch them on the backside. I was getting so mad at myself because I wasn’t tired, I just hadn’t been riding hills hard since my injury and I didn’t know what to do to get more out of my pedal stroke. Then we had a long downhill and I passed both girls. We hit some hills again and I dropped back. Felt like a yo yo. Well finally after the last little hills I decided I had only one thing going for me and that was gravity so I put the hammer down and dropped both of them just as we turned onto the final stretch. They couldn’t hang on and I could see Kate finishing ahead of me just as I bunny hopped the speed bump.
I was disappointed in my split time but I don’t know if I could have done any better with my lack of riding this year. 9 weeks of nothing but fine wine and allot of whine. It was so fun to be out there pushing myself and being a part of this great cycling community. I’ve really missed it this summer. Everyone did great and looked so good in their velo bella kits! Oh, and my womens team won the long race overall!
Thank god their EPO arrived on time. Obviously mine didn’t.
and now showing off her prize:
And now to Jan-O’s official Report:
The initial forecast was thunder and hail which was a little disturbing. The gods of triathlon however persuaded whatever god to break the clouds into perfect cool, cloudy conditions which this Swede appreciates. Sue Atwood Bella did the sprint and I the Intermediate (swim .9 mile, bike 24.8, run 6.1) . There were only 20 women in my race, so I had a lot of guys (70-or so) all around me. The swim went perfect for me with less folks in the wave and I did it in about 30 minutes I think 35 out of 87 overall…not bad for 51!
and now a nice BUTT SHOT:
Of course, I had tons of guys pass on the bike but I d OK with 16.9 mph on hilly course. My run was good for me at just over an hour…1:02 something….for 6.1 miler. The contenders were great runners though so I lost a lot there but still did well at 3:05. First in age group, but tough competition overall. Sue had a great time improving her swim. Oh yes, I had the nicest complement form a pro-ish girl passsing me on bike that from behind (the butt? legs?) that she thought I was some 18 year old (coming up behind me on bike)until she saw the age number on my leg! This is nice after being asked in the mall the other day if I was Lars’ grandmother…!
Jano and her running pals post race – son Lars with crutches.
Esparto Individual Time Trial, CA
August 10, 2008
Esparto Individual Time Trial, CA
2nd, April Hamlin, Women 4
Hines Park Time Trial, MI
August 10, 2008
Hines Park Time Trial, MI
2nd, Dianna Rose, Women 1/2/3
BTR Criterium, MI
August 9, 2008
BTR Criterium, MI
1st, Monica Tory, Women 4
Carrera de San Rafael, CA
August 9, 2008
Carrera de San Rafael, CA
12th, Ryan Hostetter, Women 1/2/3
20th, Sarah Kerlin, Women 1/2/3
21st, April Hamlin, Women 3/4
26th, Katie Norton, Women 3/4
Classic Mud Bath: Highland Forest Race – NY
August 4, 2008
One of the nicest benefits of off-road racing is the difference in sponsors and their mellowness…free organic beer! That just doesn’t seem to happen at stuffy road races. As you can see, it was a complete mud bath as we expected after several days of thunderstorms. Highland Forest is rarely ever “dry” but this was as bad as ever.
That’s Katina’s shoe. Miraculous that we could even clip back into the pedals carrying around all that crap. Here she is in her muddy glory:
We did three laps of 5.8 miles of varying degrees of mud – some thick and glue-like, some enormous puddles of soupy wet mud, some so clingy to the tires that you just spin and spin, some where pine needles would stick to what’s on your tires to make for cabbage-sized clumps stuck in your brakes, lots of off- canter wet roots to make you throw yourself off the bike…you get the picture. I chose, for once, to ride it more conservatively than I would when it’s dry, and only did one gentle endo. There was also a new section which was completely unrideable (I talked to a semi-pro who said he ran it all 5 of the laps he did, so there you have it – one of his laps was a mistaken extra, unfortunate to do more of that crap than necessary.) So you had to push your bike up and down these steep, thickly mudded, off-canter trails with prickers all along the sides, your shoes not getting any purchase in the greasy stuff. Just the thing you want to do three times..
So, as expected, there were just three women doing the expert race, Katina, me and a third who I didn’t know. Also as expected, Katina kicked my ass by more than 8 minutes on the 3 lap course, as she should. I got 2nd, which is ok by me.
Not a very flattering picture of either of us below. (My jersey is clean because I rode for the Sprockids in one of their jerseys.) The weather sure looks nice here, doesn’t it?
