Snowshoe Nationals - NY Bellas’ Jano!
March 13, 2010
Fabius, New York
Saturday, March 6, 2010
(pictures courtesy of NY Bella and professional photographer,
Laura Kozlowski
(Be sure to see her “pets” section on her webpage…)
It was a delightfully sunny and balmy day, and thanks to a more than 2 foot dump of snow the week before, there was plenty of snow for the racers to actually run through. While Janet looks the relaxed sunbather in the pic above, the 10K course for the senior racers was incredibly grueling. The finishing hill was at best “pukable” and Jano’s cheering team all agreed, we would not want to do what she just did.
Almost done…just a few more steps!!!
Too pretty, eh?
LiLynn sporting the proper Bella Cheerleader Flair.
Janet’s Fan Club (this pic not by our professional, but rather a course marshall who was very excited by the bella hoopla that just came with us…)
We are so proud of her!
Binghamton Bingo Cross Race
November 16, 2009
Binghamton Bingo Cross Race - 15 November 2009
“My report” from L. Dawg Graves
About 3 weeks ago I started taking this sport a little more serious. I started pointing questions to the “pros” on strategy and specific training and all I could get was just go “balls to the wall” and hope you don’t blow up. Well easier said than done. That is a very scary place to go without a little guidance. So I had to practice this feeling and try to get used to it. Kinda like riding “crossed eyed.”
I’ve been dragging my cross friends out on Tuesdays to do these painful 30 second to 1 minute all out sprints with 1 minute easy x 12 times on a gradual uphill. We have been doing these on our road bikes and they make you want to puke especially when it’s 40 degrees out. Then skills work on Wednesday in some park for a few hours. Some really cold road rides for as long as we until we can’t feel our extremeties on the other days. On saturday we get together and do a little skills work and then some 5 min medium intervals with 5 minute rest and then some 1 minute grass sprints with 5 minutes rest and race on Sunday. Not much but it definitely kick started my confidence into cyclocross “redlining” for 45 minutes.
No more riding a cross coarse like a 50 mile road race. NO SPINNING. And to think I have spent a few years mastering the art of high RPM’s. Just throw it out the door and make those thighs burn baby. Power to the pedal. Well that’s what I keep telling myself and it’s starting to work. Plus my sprint work has helped my starts so much. I have started out in second place the last two races and finished 3rd overall. Up until my “training” started 3 weeks ago I was mid to bottom of the pack. Whoooo Hooo.
And now that I’m figuring it out, It’s quitin’ time. And soon it will be time to go back to spinning on the road bike. So I guess I am hooked on cross and will be back next season. I might even train a little before I start racing.
Final ‘cross news from NY Bellas
November 15, 2009
Katina Badass Sayers-Walker is #1 in the NY Series!
Katina finished the last race of the NY series in Delmar, NY today and managed to maintain her overall standings to the win the overall NY Series!
Bellas placing in the NY Series were:
Christina Perkins - 1st Cat 4
Jennifer Clunie - 4th Cat 4
Kate Stewart - 22nd Open Women
Sue Atwood - 33rd Open Women
LiLynn Graves - 41st Open Women
Balmy temps in the high 50s today but still muddy enough require a rack on your car afterward…
Other NY Bellas finishing strong in the Delmar Race were:
Cat 4 Women:
Christina Perkins 2nd
Jennifer Clunie 3rd
Previous news…
Podium Girl Laura Kozlowski
gets 3rd in the Ellison Park Cross Race in Rochester, NY on November 1st!
LiLynn Dawg Graves (a.k.a. L. Dog) comes in a dandy 7th place!
“I won a pint glass for being the only master woman. Ha!”
MUD CITY: NY Bellas Go Cross
October 25, 2009
Red Cross Race - hosted by the Cornell Cycling Team
Broome-Tioga Sports Center, Richford, NY
October 24, 2009
How is it cold, rainy and muddy weather still don’t prevent L Dawg from flashing her model-like smile? Must be the pink handlebar tape. In any event, it was wet, it was muddy, it was gross. But hell yes, it would have been a blast on the moto-cross track if it had been dry.
Classic Whoop-de-doo bumps!
Katina shows her winning pace. A hanging tongue helps to keep the momentum up.
Another NY Bella with great teeth (and pearls): Laura Koz.
Final results - Open Women:
1st - Katina Sayers-Walker
5th Laura Kozlowski
8th LiLynn Graves
Ommegang Brewery Cross, NY
October 12, 2009
Better late than ever…but the setting and these photos,
courtesy of Sue Atwood and Rebecca McCarthy, should make the lateness of the report worth it…
October 4, 2009 Cooperstown, NY
A total blast of a race - complete with beer handoffs, the course running through a circus tent, celebrity racers in the Open Women, a great live band and Nutella as prizes.
Open women had a VERY tough field, including a 19 year old junior pro who had been racing for Lip Smacker, Anna Young. Suffice it to say, she smoked the field quite handily, and then went off and did the open mens’ race and beat most of them as well.
The changing leaves in brisk central NY…it was a BITTER cold start, but by the time the open women’s race began, it was warm enough for some to race with jerseys unzipped…see the blog link below.
Sue entering the beer tent…
Buff-legged Katina rounding a corner..
So, here’s the celebrity sighting: Bicycling Magazine’s “Fitness Chick” Selene Yeager, who was no slouch. At all. Check out her blog on the race
Official results have yet to be posted, but here’s what I THINK we got:
Women 4s:
Christy Chambers - 1st
Open Women:
Katina Sayers-Walker ~5th?
Kate Stewart ~ 8th?
Sue Atwood ~ 10th?
PS. Here’s our Race Wench, Kim and assistant Eric. She “won’t” race cross. Yet.
And I couldn’t help but add this other mascot - from our “Brother Team, SCARR-Ommegang”
Here’s mud in your eye(s)!
September 28, 2009
…and in your teeth, in your ears, in your nose, and every other orifice you have..
Buck Hill CX Race
Ithaca, NY September 27, 2009
At last, “real” cross conditions in upstate NY. Cold, rainy and muddier than hell. Just what people, ahem, “want”. Not to go on and on about it, but in order to get the kits cleaned, we had to lay them on the driveway and spray each article of clothing one by one with the garden hose on full blast before we could even think of putting them into the washer.
About 16 women lined up - this was not part of the NYS series and wasn’t a race to earn points to anywhere or win big - other than bragging rights, a bagel and and apple. It started after the rain had damped the course all night and the masters had been slogging thru a light drizzle. About halfway through the first of the five laps, the rain began anew and with an increased intensity…
As in every previous race, Katina Kat-grrl dominated. Few of the women in the Open category were anywhere even close to Katina - other than the usual suspect “Ruthless” Sherman from the Corning Cycling Team. (And she’s an honorary Bella anyway.)
G. Dawg shows off her tremendous barrier hurdling form on the very first (still dry) lap.
And shows here her sheer pleasure at whipping little boys’ butts.
Katina less smiling, but on the other hand, she’s out in the front and there are no little boys to splash with mud up here.
Lastly, this was the footwear of the wise: decorative rubber boots. Now that’s what I call Functional Flair.
Results:
1st Katina Sayers-Walker
5th (?) Kate Stewart
6th (?) LL G Dawg
(results aren’t up yet, but we only care about #1!)
NY Bellas careen around a park
September 22, 2009
Clinton, NY
September 20, 2009
LiLynn Mad Dawg, Kap’n Kate, Kat-Grrl, Sue Slayer
For the first time in a long time, multiple Bellas turned up to hit the greens on an unseasonably warm Sunday morning in Clinton, NY. Totally not appropriate ‘cross weather, it was delightfully balmy and sunny. This was the first ‘cross race of the year for some, and the first ‘cross race EVER for others. (Initials are LiLynn D. Graves.)
The course was a fun mix of swoopy turns through shaded woods, open fields complete with pagoda, a sandpit of death, and a nasty steep and rooty run straight up to heaven. Enough to keep everyone content with one “special” favorite somewhere.
For the record, I think LiLynn let me beat her…not sure why, but she’s that kind of teammate, tho.
L.L.Dawg in the pit
And Sue slays the competition RIGHT HERE. Looking mighty calm by the volleyball net.
Kate finds amusement in an odd moment on the back stretch.
Our NY Cross Queen, Katina.
Newlywed (the day before!) Bella Christina Chambers rode the women 4 race earlier in the day and stayed to cheer on the open women Bellas. In her haste to get to her wedding, she forgot to pack her Velo Bella togs. Priorities, woman, please!!
We were not first, but we weren’t last either:
Open women 1/2/3/4:
2nd Katina Sayers-Walker
8th Kate Stewart
9th LiLynn Graves
11th Sue Atwood
Women 4s:
1st Christina formerly known as Chambers, now Perkins
LiLynn Hits the Green Mt. Stage Race!
September 14, 2009
Labor Day Weekend, 2009
Burlington, Vt
LiLynn Dawg Graves, Ithaca, NY Bella’s Report
About the end of July I finished out my race season with all my favorite races and was ready for some R&R. Looking forward to long rides by the fire and sipping perpetuem with my buddies by the roadside. After a few weeks of that, life was getting a little depressing with no way to blow off steam from the stress of work and having no goals to motivate me. I could see myself just going home and hitting the bottle then having the ol’ thighs blow up and this was not looking pretty in my mind. I hadn’t raced for about a month and had lost interest in the long group rides for fear of being dropped.
And email went out about an invite to stay in a condo and enter the Green Mountain Stage Race. I went on line and decided that this could be my last chance to go get my butt whooped. I had been racing pretty darn good for a 53 year ol’ bag lady in the senior citizen races, so how bad could it be with the 3/4 young girls.
Well, I found out the second day pretty darn fast as I lined up and realized I could have given birth to the peleton. The first day was the time trial and I was so nervous I didn’t even notice anyone else. I ended up mid pack. After that things kinda went down the tubes. The second race was a circut race with a sprint at the 16 mile mark and there was a crash behind me. I felt someone on my rear wheel for a bit. I kept my bike upright and rode away with the group but heard a nasty crash behind us. Looked back at my wheel just to be safe and noticed my skewer was flopping in the wind. So the crash did get my skewer and undid my rear wheel. I had to pull out and and turn it 5 times before it tightened up and never could catch back on. I TT’d for a second day for 20 miles putting me almost 6 minutes behind.
Starting the 75 miler at the bottom of the list kinda sucked but who knows what could happed today. As we rolled down highway 100, I found myself hanging in the back thinking about how much I didn’t want to crash. Not something you should be dwelling on when you have a 4 hour ride with this group ahead of you. But I couldn’t shake it. The way these girls were riding was making me so nervous and for a better position at mile 16, it made no sense.
Finally we came to the turn at mile 28 and headed to Branden Pass and that’s where the girls in front poured it on. I think of myself as a pretty good climber but I was totally dying here. I was doing everything I could to just hang on. About half of the pack was spread out and strung up over the top. I had been dropped also but was passing several girls at this point although the lead pack was out of sight. After we crested the summit we were told to stay neutral because of a crash and we all caught back on with the lead pack again.
I kind of wish this hadn’t happened because the pace was blistering from then on. I just kept saying my miles were numbered and they kept looking at me like I was a complete doofus but we hit a hill about mile 58 and a few of us fell off there and then right up the road was a QOM and several more fell off. Now here is what was so frustrating for me with these women. If you’ve been dropped by the pack and you have no way of ever catching back on, why wouldn’t you want to work together to save energy and ride faster?? Well, not one of these women would work with me. I would even slow down and tell them to get on my wheel. Oh no, “you ride your own race.”
Idiots! So I would try to catch another and they would look back and race ahead. Stupid!
So you can see I was a little frustrated with the attitudes of the riders. I ended up passing two women just before the final wall because they kept looking back so much. And I rode up the wall of death effortlessly to the finish. OK, I almost fell over at the top and to let you know how fast the pace was, the front 3/4 women had faster times than the pro 1/2 women. I do have to say that this ride was pretty amazing and beautiful.
The next day was the crit in Berlington and I was not into it. My fears had taken over me like a bad case of the Slime Fu. I just pictured a crash-fest and it was making me sick to my stomach. I had to call captain Kate to tell me it would be “fun” and to just chill out. Once we got there and saw that the riders were strung out I calmed down. I signed in and went out to warm up.
I lined up in a good position knowing my time in this race was going to be limited but was hoping maybe there was a secret crit rider hiding deep inside of me somewhere and it was just waiting to explode any second. Time was running out and when the horn went off my inner crit rider must have hid deeper within. I couldn’t get into my cleat for the longest time and ended up in the worst position and barely was hanging on. This lasted for 4 laps and then I chased from about 6 feet back for a couple more and then I was loosing them. I was riding as hard as I possibly could. I thought I was going to pass out every lap I did and then I heard “one lap to go.” I’m thinking, no way did we just do 25 laps, or maybe I did pass out while I was riding. So we finished and I was the first one up the hill but some girl came flying by. I was very confused, and then they pulled us over to the side. We were being lapped and were done! ya h!!!! Happiest moment of my life!!!! I had finished the GMSR! Because we made it enough laps we still got a finishing time because 3 gals had sprinted off the front from the start and were starting to lap everyone. Little by little most of the field was pulled.
I came home to western NY with mixed feelings and decided I better enter the last road race of the season, the Apple Fest. I just wanted to race with my buddies and have a good time. I went there and didn’t care about winning but just wanted to ride hard and finish hard. I followed the two lead women the entire way and it seemed they didn’t really care either. We were just having a good hard ride. Even won some money! I’ve been sleeping since.
2009 Skinnyman Tri - Skaneateles, NY
September 6, 2009
Labor Day weekend!
Last race of the year for most of us…Skaneateles, NY:
The most beautiful lake I’ve ever swum in…I’ve wanted for two years to do a tri, and the Skinnyman Tri is THE one that has lured me into this foolish sport, because the lake is so beautiful and clean. So after a winter of pool swimming, and reacquainting myself with “running” the weekend and 4:45 am, Saturday morning finally arrived.
Perfect temperature: air temps were to rise to the mid 70s, and the water was said to be around 72º. I didn’t even notice the temperature of the water, it was so perfect.
Here I am looking cheery while attempting to get into my sausage casing.
And these are some of the 750 participants that day waiting like cattle to be herded up to the starting area.
So, this was my 2nd ever tri, and I was not sure about how the swim would go, since I had been told of the potential for being bopped in the nose by flailing arms and legs. While the water was lovely, and I was able to follow lots of bubbles and came upon feet facing upward of those racers doing the back stroke to rest, there were more than a couple times that people seemed more aggressive than necessary, especially on the buoy corners. I eventually found myself swimming among other capped racers, which was an encouraging sign that I had improved my speed over the previous tri’s swim leg.
On the bike, I had agonized over which bike to bring: TT or road. Road bike has much better gearing for the hills. I’d practiced the course on both, but really just couldn’t tell. Well, I found I never got out of the big ring, despite the hills, so in hind sight, I should have brought the TT to hammer better on the flats and descents. Still had a time that I was ok with and I managed to pick off quite a few ahead of me.
The run, however was completely unfun, slow-legged, and too full bladder did not make a happy combination. I counted the number who passed me as well as those *I* passed, and the former was greater than the latter, unfortunately. Still, I got it done and crossed the finish line to get 3rd in my age group.
Here’s NY Bella Kim, “you’ll notice the gleeful expression I am sporting as evidence of my pure enjoyment and nearness to Nirvana.” Well, she smoked the guy in red, Nirvana or not!
Here’s Ace (who’d been fasting for Ramadan the last few days - and who had especially excellent run and swim legs.) (Note to self: don’t eat during the days, only the nights before the race…)
Post race pose with Bella Tatoo and Bella Kristin and her pink flair crate. Kristin was the only Bella with the guts this year to do the “I’m all that” category - the Tri, and the next day 3 more races - one swim, one hill climb and one running race.
Bella Jano, Sunday morning before the Escape from the Judge 1 mile swim race. She’s Swedish and refused to wear a wetsuit, the nut!
SO, results of the CNY Bellas:
Skinnyman Tri
Women 25-29:
Ace El Yacoubi 4th place
Kristin Mullally 17th place
Women 35-39
Kim Behrman 17th place
Women 45-49
Kate Stewart 3rd
Mary Jo Kiggins 17th
Escape from the Judge Swim:
Women 25-29
Kristin Mullally 5th
Women 50-54
Janet Ohlsen 4th
Coon Hill Grind Hill Climb:
Women 25-29
Kristen Mullally 3rd
“I’m All That” Weekend Overall Competition
Women 25-29
Kristen Mullally 3rd
Windham Mountain Race, Catskills, NY
August 18, 2009
Katina Sayers-Walker
on the podum!!
So, there is good news and bad news — the good news is that I WON!
