Group Project: Velo Bella Takes on the San Diego Women’s Triathlon

By Whitney DeSpain
San Diego, California

On Sunday, October 19th, several Bellas met for a photo at 6:45a.m. This was right after the transition area closed, and just a few moments before the first of our group would be hitting the water. There were a few tears, but lots of hugs and reassurances. The race we’d been anticipating for 8 weeks was about to begin.

Bellas, all dressed up and ready to go!

In August, a group of us had met at a nearby Panera’s to talk about the race. This was going to be many of our teammates’ first go at a triathlon, so we wanted to make sure everyone felt supported. Over the next two months, the “veterans” and the “newbies” trained together, attending swim clinics, brick workouts, a transition clinic, and several open water swims. We had swam, biked and run our hearts out. Now it was time to race.

Wave after wave of Bellas went into the water. When they came out, they were greeted with their own cheering section- Christine, Lynn, Sandi, LaDawn, Chris, Jacky. Whitney and three of our friends from Team LUNA Chix, Chris, Darlene and Randa, were there with “Bellas Rock” signs, a megaphone and a duck quaker (it’s a LaDawn thing- don’t ask). Everyone looked SOOOOO good coming out of the water. We knew it was going to be a great race.

The cheering squad positioned themselves around the course so we could make sure no one ever felt alone. There were also signs stuck in the sand and taped to poles on the run with every single girl’s name.

San Diego Bella Vicki Jones running hard

One by one, we watched the Bellas come off the bike and begin the run. The first Bella to head down the finish line, Amy Larson, had a huge smile on her face. I screamed, “Kick it in!” as she headed down the final stretch, and boy did she ever! She passed several gals in the last 500 meters, and went on to take 2nd in her age group. At her first triathlon. It was turning into a great day.

Jackie came down the line next. This race was supporting the fight against Ovarian Cancer, and Jackie was racing in honor of her sister- a survivor. In classic Jackie style, she danced and leapt her way down the chute, and ended up with yet ANOTHER fabulous finish photo. And she managed to take 10 minutes off her time from last year!

Amy Larson and Karen Casey smile in satisfaction after finishing their first EVER triathlon

After that, every time we looked up there was someone we knew. Erin, Yvette, Laurie T., Jennie, Britt, Karen, Marlene, Deb, Deanna and Lori R. all joined Amy in completing their first triathlon. Heather, Lori S., Terri, Marilyn, Shannon, BJ, Cindy, Dawn and Vicki all returned and had GREAT performances. And Sherry and her 11-year-old daughter Kai proved that being a Bella runs in the family!

Post-Race Fun at the Party Car

After everyone had crossed the finish line, we all met at the party car. It was easy to find- big white tent, bubble machine, balloons, and LOTS of activity. There everyone was given a champagne glass filled with sparkling cider to toast to her success! It truly was a BELLATASTIC day!!!

We have to thank B&L bikes for all their support throughout this process. San Diego women couldn’t ask for a better bike store. Will Scandalis, swim coach extraordinaire taught the ladies how to swim smart in the race- thank you! Also, thank you to Team LUNA Chix for providing us with so many great products at the start and finish of our program.

The Happy Bella Family!

Raja’s Report: USA Triathlon Nationals

By Raja Lahti
San Diego, California

USA Triathlon National Championships, 2008
Hagg Lake, OR

Well, it’s done and over.. so that’s good news. No mechanicals, that’s good news. It didn’t rain, more good news (start temp was estimated at 45 degrees). And I did much better than last year, so that’s good news. Last year I was plagued with the mystery leak in my disk (turned out to be the stem). This year, new disk, no problem! Not…

On Thursday before the race I got a good ride on the course and I would even say the course & I had a little pow wow, chatted up some issues I had on the mind, and by the end of the ride we became good friends. :o) I did my feel good brick after and jetted off to go jump in a hot shower at the hotel. Upon opening the back of the car the theme to a horror movie started to play in my head. I was cursed! Disk was flat as a pancake. F#@%!!!!! Online store Team Estrogen came to my rescue. I called them up having ordered a ton of stuff from them in the past for some solid bike shop advice. They pointed the way to a local tri store called Athlete’s Lounge, where tri bikes, leather couches and napping tri geeks come together. Their mechanic was a saint and was able to patch my teeny tiny hole without having to use one of my spares or start the stretching process all over again. PHEW!

During check in USAT had a “More Cowbell” giveaway - so yes, you can bet I will be ding-a-linging my sweet cowbell when the pro tour rolls into town next Feb (Tour of CA) for the march up to the Mt Palomar finish. Sweet! Always wanted a cowbell…

On race morning we were delighted to feel the weather warm up a bit (to the 60s). The lake, in the low 70s, was going to be a pleasure to jump in, it really is a beautiful lake.

The swim felt pretty steady. I was on a mission for feet. Bubbles, find the feet, attempt to stay there. Loose the feet, find new bubbles, new feet, and try to stay there. Repeat. I figured if I could keep finding feet I would have a decent swim split. I exited the water at 26 minutes, which was good for me (one day I’ll like swimming…). Last year at this race I achieved my first 26 min split ever, so it was nice to stay consistent at that split.

Once on the bike I felt great and let it go. According to Dave, I was 25th out of the water, so I had a few spots to make up if I wanted to try to make Worlds. I finished the first lap in just over 34 min and was on a roll. Then the second lap hit and an all too familiar pain started to radiate down my left leg. Stupid sacrum! I had been feeling this over the last 3 months and was delighted to be pain free after my last visit to Dr. Crunch (Dr.Elleraas, my chiropractor) and Gino Cinco (UCPT ART), the Miracleman. Since the course is so hilly (~3000′ climbing in 24ish miles) I backed off the big chain ring over the last couple of miles with the more pitchy climbs to give the legs a break before the dreaded run. Sacrificing some time on the bike would probably save me minutes on this run. I finished in 1:10, good. Marked improvement in my time from last year (1:13).

Then the run… oh the run. The run from hell… and back. I forgot about these hills. I mean I remembered there were hills, but I forgot how long & nasty they got. Coming round the half way point, my left leg was loosing power and push. I tried to latch on to some guys that were passing me and managed to keep my head on straight. Only 3 major climbs left on the run at this point, I could do this. I looked at the asphalt (’cause trust me, looking up at the hill was just depressing!) and tried to use the pain in my left leg as a distracted. The I looked at my heart rate. Approaching 200. Shit. I was at max and there was no avoiding the pain and lack of oxygen at that point. Coming in the final hill, I was gaining on the girl in front of me, but as we turned to go down a rather steep incline, she widened the gap. I just didn’t have the coordination to turn my left leg over any faster. I finished the run in 46 min, a marked improvement from my 49 min run last year.

I finished in 21st place with a time of 2:26. I missed the chance to go to worlds by 1 spot. You’d think that should be bad news, but really, it’s good news. I’m that much closer to qualifying that last year! As frustrating as it can be to be that close and not get it, things happen for a reason, and with the crazy competition in this age group, I truly felt like I gave it everything I had for today. That’s all you can ask for when you’re trying to sync all 3 events on one day. For a year I didn’t expect too much, I would say it was a success. If not, I can always wait until I’m 60 to qualify!

Many, many thanks to coach Peter Clode for loads of schedules that get better and better every year, Lesley Paterson for reminding me I can suffer longer and harder, Gino Cinco at UC Physical Therapy for un-tweaking me after all my muscle tweaking workouts, Chris Elleraas of Carmel Valley Chiropractic who was the first brave soul to straighten my broken body, Cassidy’s Massage Clinic for reminding me that going injury free is an option, Tri Club San Diego for being the best tri club & training group on earth, and of course, my husband Dave, who was at the finish line with a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates.

Now, you can bet I’ll be calling all the above to figure out how to un-tweak my left leg so I can start training again.

Going to Disneyland!

By Raja Lahti
San Diego, Cali

I had a change of careers in April and pretty much everything else has had to sit on the back burner until I get settled.

In May I did Wildflower Olympic and had fun. Training this year has been hampered by one thing or another, illness, work, injury, you name it. The gods are holding me back! I didn’t expect much out of Wildflower, and still came away bummed with my race. The good news, my swim was the best yet and I really was delighted with it. The bike & run, well, not so much. I ended up 9th out of about 200 or so that finished. The exciting part was the finish..

Then came Encinitas Sprint. I was 3rd with what I consider a crappy bike portion of the race. It wasn’t bad, but I know I should be doing better. The run was ok.. and the swim.. well, I’m not so hot for surf entry so I survived.

This past weekend was probably one of the most fun races I’ve ever done. It was the Danskin Disneyland Triathlon. That’s right, Kingdom of the Mouse, or in this case, California Adventure. The swim was in the lagoon in CA Adventure, the bike was a 2 loop course around the entire part and the run was a windy route through the park. With over 1300 competitors (all women), this was a big race.

Why did I enter? Well, when else can you take a dip in Disneyland without them giving you a life ban?!??

On check-in before the race I heard one woman say, “the water is disgusting! It’s a lagoon! There were ducks right there pooping.” Uhhh.. this is Disneyland where everything is sterile, that taste is actually chlorine and that brown water is dye so you don’t see the tracks for the boat. If only she knew what nasty water really tastes like… As you walked in the water, it was warm, you know, kinda like bath water. No wetsuits needed so I wore a tri-swim suit for the first time. Couldn’t wear my Bella kit as it’s a 2 piece. Instead a put a Bella tattoo on my arm and wore my signature hair flair. The swim was a ton of fun, but a bit of a faux-Ironman. With about 16 waves (me in wave 9)starting every 3 minutes, it was A LOT of swimming over or around people in previous waves. Next time I think I’ll actually race Elite instead of Age Group so I can get in the first wave and not have to crawl between quite so many ladies. But where else can you stroke, stroke, breathe, look at the ferris wheel, stroke, stroke, breath, look rollercoaster, stroke, stroke, breath, look Mickey…

The bike was fun, and my bike created quite a bit of attention (aka The Hornet) as there were a number of first-timers racing. I really enjoyed being able to answer questions, even got to give a fix-a-flat demo. Newby: “What are these?” Me: “These are tire levers, you really should know what they are and how to use them…”

Back to the race… so the bike was ok, still feeling a bit lacking in strength and it showed as I was unable to loose the cute chick in red on the cervelo with the disk. I should have been able to smoke her, but instead she latched on and let me take her for a ride. We leap frogged around for a bit between swim, T1, the bike & T2, but then she spanked me on the run. At least she was nice & cute!

By the time I got off the bike I was still coughing up the drink mix I managed to inhale. Note to self: don’t inhale your drink!!! The run started and I had the glugs. You know that sloshy feeling from drinking then trying to run?! After the first mile I felt better and began to relax. Unfortunately the run was almost over by that point so I just ran my way past the popcorn and cotton candy, past the store where you can flatten a penny, past the churros, around the fountain, through the western-shoot-out store front and to the finish. With one great leap for Velo Bella, I was done!

I finished 2nd in my age group behind that nice cute chick on the Cervelo, and 6th overall. Not too bad.. but I know I can do better next year…..

We had a number of Bellas attend, I’ll update this blog with a list, but CONGRATS to all, this was a fantastic race and HIGHLY recommended as a destination race.

Get the MOUSE! at Disneyland!

Danskin Disneyland Triathlon

More: continued here

Fit to be Tri’d

By Raja Lahti
San Diego, California

Let’s first define “FIT”: An athlete who is more than just a good or well prepared athlete. Being freakishly good. Having the ability to crush your competition into little bits. Being a Worlds athlete.

Or you can just say “Folsom International Triathlon”

Yeah. Pure Worlds here. I think the winners at nearly every age group were headed to World Championships at the end of the month..used this cute little race as a springboard for Worlds… and so the day went… very, very, quickly.

But before I get into the race and the more than spectacular selection of age group athletes that appeared.. let’s talk travel.

You know, that travel with the “extra” luggage. The luggage that makes your fellow air-travelers rubber neck and ask you if you’ve got “your mother-in-law” in there (seriously, someone did ask me that!).. Yes, the bike coffin.

This thing is so big it makes the lady with 9 suitcases on her way to a 4 day vacation in the Bahamas seem like a light packer.

And then there’s the wheel you’re carrying on with you for fear that the baggage gorillas will damage My Precious. My wheel bag is not very subtle. It’s black with big white lettering “HED CYCLING”. And yet, every trip to the airport people ask me.. “Now what is that?” It’s a wheel. “Did you just get back from the Tour day France”. Uh… no…. (have they noticed that there are no women in the race?? Or perhaps they think I’m a representative Podium Girl… uh, ok!)

And then there’s the 4 rolls of duck tape, another roll of TSA “Inspected” tape, 6 “Fragile-Handle with Care” stickers and the multiple remaining fragments of old luggage tags that clearly define this over sized black case as mine. No two cases could possibly be alike. Just head to Oversize Luggage and see when my pet box is birthed from the extra-large baggage curtains. “That one can’t possibly be mine… there’s not enough duct tape.”

So I located my patch-work-oversize-case, grab the little pull cord and walk myself over to the rental car counter. Just like a little pet, it follow me with surprising willingness. “Yes, I rented an gas guzzling, over sized SUV, for that,” and then point to the big black thing on wheels. You know, the rental car companies must just cringe when they see “that”. I recommend the Ford Escape…. it’s small enough, yet all the seats fold down and give you more than plenty of room for your beast-box. It’ll even fit in the back standing up! To boot, you can fit your bike, wheels and all fully assembled in the back when you head off to the race.

I spent the weekend with a friend of ours that we don’t get to see that often. Fellow cyclists, she and he husband are crazy tandem mountain bikers. Yup, move out of their way.. their brake fluid is boiling….. We had a fantastic girls weekend doing nothing but talking about subjects boys really don’t want to talk about, seeing movies that boys won’t see.. and admiring the soothing affects of Beljium Budder.

Ok, back to the race. Outside of Nationals, this was the most talented group of Age Group athletes I’ve ever raced with. I don’t say raced “against” because that’s a whole different ball park… The course was fun, a chilly lake swim, rolling hills with some decent climbs on the bike and an undulating run down the twisty lake bike path.

Let’s start with our own Ashley Erickson. She races for a local sponsor, Fluid, but she’s a Bella. Really freakin’ good bella at that. I wish I could swim & run like that… she crushed her age group with a 2:17 race, placed 5th overall and is off to worlds next week. Go Ashley!

I had the race of my year. I PR’d, had a decent swim (for me…), a super bike (fastest in my crazy age group and even faster than the women’s Elite bike splits too), and my best run yet. I finished in 2:24 and was delighted (Swim:27:44, Bike 1:08:58, Run 45:06). After my mechanical issues at Nationals, all I wanted was a good race. And I got it. That race would have sent me to Worlds too if I had done that at Nationals. It felt good to know I was playing with the best, and doing fine. While I did expect that time to podium, I didn’t and was 4th. The caliber of racers was incredible.

I did the math and was excited… This is my third year owning a bike and racing. From my first Olympic race to now, it’s taken me 2 years to widdle down a measly 12 minutes. The first year I improved by 4 minutes. This year I sliced off an additional 8 minutes… so next year… hopefully I can do a sub 2:20.. now that would be nice.

Now my husband and I are off to Italy for our 3 week honeymoon. I can’t wait… it’s been a long, hard year so far and the thought of renting bikes in Italy and sporting the Bella gear in the Land of the Gods is all I can think about these days. Well, that of course would be second to my dreams of Gelato consumption…… um.. yum!

Happy Riding!
Raja

Click here for the full results: http://www.japroductions.com/fit/index.html

USAT Nats - Take 1

by Raja

I’m back…

…and I think I could sleep for week…

While I would love to report back that I came home as the W30-34 nationalchamp…. you all would know I would be hallucinating and perhaps in some serious sleep deprivation. I didn’t go to Nats to win. ‘Cause of course, I’m already a winner. If I happened to qualify for Worlds, that would have been amazing, and very very scary. But I didn’t. And I’m really ok with that! Let me explain…

Dave leaned over and looked at me with a little twinkle in his eyes, “Did you ever imagine that when you did that first Mission Bay triathlon on your, mountain bike that you would be here two and a half years later?”

Actually no. It hadn’t even occurred to me.

My road in triathlon to date has been short and fun. I’ve now had 1 year of coached training, so you won’t hear me complaining about my perceived “lack” of performance at Nationals this year. I managed to miraculously slice 4 minutes of my swim time. I couldn’t have been happier.

The bike didn’t go as I’d hoped, but that was my own fault. A newbie error. I was hell bent on using the disk. Was it a head game? Having the disk gave me confidence? Setting up in transition prior to the start I had noticed the disk loosing tire pressure. Down from 130 PSI to 80 in about 10 minutes. No holes, tire looked good, I pumped it up again to give it another test. Pumped to 150 PSI. (Which takes a feat of strength for me since that’s far more than I weigh!). In the rush to get everyone out to close transition, I felt the tire, maybe a little lower, but not nearly as bad as before, tightened all the valves and left. If I got out of the water and the pressure was significantly lower, I’d just change my wheel prior to leaving transition. If it felt pretty solid, the leak wasn’t that bad.

In a nut shell, I think I shot myself when I didn’t change the wheel. I’m usually very solid on the bike. Steady. Aggressive. Fast. This time the bike felt squirrelly on the downhills and squishy on the uphills. With about 1500′ of climbing and almost continuous turns, my legs were toasted and my time was slower than it should have been. I asked someone on course if my bad wheel looked low, “no, well yes, but not flat” was the response I got. That’s about how it felt. It definitely wasn’t so low I couldn’t ride. But I found I was riding very conservatively on the downhills & corners. No risks. Within the first 2 miles of the ride I passed the first crash victim. Even Nats isn’t immune to crashes.

When I racked my bike and hit the first of 7 hills on the run, I knew my chances of qualifying for Worlds was done. I got kind of excited…

You see, Dave & I got married in May. Since then I have been training like a mad woman. Honeymoon? That would have to wait until after training. If I qualified for Worlds, that’s an entire summer of training and the first week of our honeymoon spend racing in Europe. As exciting as that may have been.. I haven’t really been in the sport long enough to know what I’m really doing. So now that Worlds wasn’t going to be an option… all I can think about is how great Italy is going to be in the fall… and we can take the road bikes and ride where ever we want in Italy…

So while I was suffering like a beast on the run, it occurred I had a lot to be happy about. Breaking my back/pelvis 8 years ago had made me a stronger person. Who knows if I’d even be racing triathlon or cycling if it hadn’t had been for that accident. I really was just excited to be doing something extraordinary.

Some things I learned:
1. Jim was right.
2. Starbucks coffee is better than their danishes.
3. Starbucks sandwiches are better than their coffee.
4. It doesn’t pay to be stubborn.
5. Got a lot of training left to do!
6. Bellas ROCK! Ashley Erickson did GREAT! placing 10th in her age group.
Nikki Shue also did great in her crazy age group!

Happy Racing!

Danskin & Redondo Bella Style!

by Raja

I’ll take that Oh La La with a side of Kona!

Swim till you’re weazing

Ride till it burns

Run till you wanna puke

Don’t forget to wipe the boogies before the photo op…

I think the phrases “You Go Girl!” and “Girl Power” took on a whole new meaning at the Danskin Women’s Triathlon. If you’ve ever heard Sally Edwards speak - to too would be clamoring away powered and ready to race. I actually wanted to swim by the time she was done giving us the “You’re Fabulous” cheer. Amazing…

Not that I did very well in the swim… but I know how to ride a bike.. and kinda know how to run up hills…kinda sorta…I just fake it really well ;o)

I won my age group at the Danskin Women’s Triathlon in Los Angeles and was 4th overall out of nearly 700 women. I’m good with that.

Is it ok to be completely and totally surprised when you’ve just done well??

REDONDO BEACH TRIATHLON - What a cute little tri-thingy!

It’s a swimmer’s race, so I just wanted to get the swim practice. It was actually one of the nicest ocean/ beach start swims I’ve been to. The water was crisp & refreshing.. and clean! The waves were coming, but at least after last year’s Los Angeles Tri experience.. it was manageable.

The bike is a speed bump. 6 miles. Better hurry. Especially if you’re a sucky swimmer like I am.

The run is 2 miles, winding in and around the Redondo Beach Pier. Basically it’s a test of getting up to speed after every corner. It was fun though… (at least until you had to run past the greezy fish stand….blaaahhhhh …)

I ended up winning my age group and placing 3rd or 4th overall. Neily Mathias, my coach’s wife, won hers too! (Except she’s a wicked swimmer) I’m pretty sure Neily won the entire race. Last time I checked, she was 2nd.. but I’m pretty sure the girl who “won” missed a bike lap… otherwise her bike split beat most of the men …. and that girl can ride. I’m suspicious.. . oh well…. I hope she had didn’t miss a lap and kicked everyone’s a$$ on the bike…..

Both races were a ton of fun.. and I recommend them to both seasoned triathletes and newbies!

Now.. on to Nationals at the end of the month…. gulp….

Bulldawg’n - March 3 Race Review

by Raja Lahti

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fiesta Island TT

by Kathleen

They’d been talking on the radio for days about the big storm heading our way: the system from northern California is moving south, we’re gonna get slammed. Now, I’ve only lived in San Diego for a few months, but I’ve realized that you only have to live here, oh say, a few days before you get kinda soft on the weather front, so I actually started wondering if I was going to go out and do this race.

But I woke up Sunday morning to just a little drizzle and figured I could live with that. Apparently, most of the other women signed up could not, since the women’s field shrunk considerably from the pre-registration list. But, the Bellas showed up!

I met up with Julia and Raja at registration, got our numbers and went off to set up the trainers. As we warmed up, we chatted with people who came by and got some stories from men who’d been among the early starters and were already done. We heard about some slippery corners and strong winds and I was thinking maybe Julia would still let me eat the post-race donuts she’d brought if I just sat on my trainer for another hour.

But our time got closer, we got warmer, and the drizzle eased up, so we headed off to the start line. The person before me didn’t show up, so I tried to talk the timers into letting me start early and pretending that I didn’t get the extra 30 seconds. I tried telling them that I could really use those seconds and if they gave them to me I promised I’d come to the next race in better shape…..to no avail.

They laughed – all except that one guy who thinks you might be serious despite the fact that you are clearly cracking yourself up (if no one else!) and gives you that stern look…..and you kind of want to smack him upside the head….but I digress.

Once out there, I found that the sand that had washed into the road was a much bigger problem than any slick corners (corners, as it turned out, were just fine). I could hear the sand in my gears every time I shifted and tried to stop thinking about the hours I’d spent cleaning my bike the day before! And, for Fiesta Island, which is one of those places that sometimes manages to have a headwind in all directions, the winds were pretty calm on most of the loop.

I passed a couple of women and a few geezers, got passed by plenty of boys and made my way around the loop a couple more times. I’d say my biggest problem on the day was my lack of concentration: spent some time thinking about a paper I need to write, followed by “Kathleen, pay attention!,” then some thinking about the donuts that were waiting at the end, followed by “Kathleen, would you f*&$ing concentrate,” then some time wondering if I’d actually get in some extra miles after this race despite being covered in sandy mud or if I’d pursue another favorite activity (drinking coffee and reading the New York Times), followed by “crap, I forgot to pay attention again.” You get the idea (for evidence, there is a photo of me smiling on the course – there is no way that I’d be smiling during a TT unless I was thinking about donuts!).

So, goal for next race in this series: focus. Other than the lack of concentration (or, more likely, because of it), I had fun out there. And now I am motivated to do the next one and do better. Julia and I had been bantering all week about taking this race as one to “establish our baselines” (entertaining ourselves with all kinds of ways to translate that phrase)…..and I think I covered that.
I also established my flair baseline (I had none) and will have lots of room to improve for next time!

Bellas made a great showing: Julia got first in the 20-29 women and Raja got first in the 30-39 women (despite starting 2 minutes late!). And, I got to meet Whitney who I believe was the first San Diego Bella, so that was cool too. All in all, a fun morning and a good start to the series.

More Fiesta TT pics here

Boulevard and the Winds from Hell

By Raja

NIPPILY!!!!

COLD & NIPPILY.

Bittie, nippily, dark winds from somewhere other than San Diego. We don’t do cold. We don’t do wind. Well unless of course you tell us we’re racing and then you’re talking bid-ness.

Headwinds, ok. Crosswinds, ok. But head-cross-flip-cross-headwinds?!? If the mens Pro field wasn’t so beautifully decked in spandex.. I might not have been smiling so much. Gotta love men in tights. This is a notoriously nasty early season road race. This year, the hills were easy compared to the wind. Especially if you were caught by yourself. With just under 4000′ of climbing… the chances of being caught by yourself or with a small group were high since the climbing tends to string out the field. But we had such a lovely bunch of Bellas, and so pretty!!!

The cast:
Julia “Uhlie la la” Uhlendorf
Rhonda “Rrrrrrrr” Geisler
“Happy Happy Joy” Joy Muehlenbein
Shannon “I’m Game” Werner
Julie “Goodie Got it” Goodwin
Raja “La-Hottie” Lahti

I have to say, these women ROCK. Rhonda and I had done the race last year, but for everyone else, this was their first road race. The night prior we all got together for some spaghetti dinner at Efrat Veidman’s place for some confidence building and road racing chat. We’re going to miss Efrat, she’s moving back to Israel in 2 weeks. She’s been an amazing cycling resource for us San Diego Bellas. I am a sad bella….

Registration/Check-In was a mess and by the time I got out of there I had just enough time to gather my flair and start stripping. Warming up on the trainers was going to take too long to set up, so we all hopped on and started riding in circles for a brief warm up. The race started and by mile 2 we were careening down the road at 30-40 mph. Holy-frijoles Batman!! I have wings! Juls (Uhlie) was perfectly placed up in the front of the peloton. Her technical skills and descending abilities are wicked and she worked her way up to perfection. 11 miles in, the fun’s over and the hills start. I felt surprisingly good and was able to stay with the lead group when the pack split. At mile 19 the front pack split again and a group of women were able to rip our legs off and separate off the front. By this time I’m cursing myself and just trying to stay out of the wind. Gotta love those race wheels… freakin’ kites! (They did however save my little rear on the wicked decent)

At the top of the final climb I hear from behind “Lets organize ladies!”. Always nice to hear. We immediately grouped with as many we could find and rotated ourselves all over the next 13 miles or so to the start of the climbing on the 2nd loop. By now we had picked up some women left behind by our lead ladies. Our mini-peloton was looking good at about 8+ riders. We were descending as fast as our little 11 cogs could take us. My speedometer said 42mph. Once again when the climbing started the group fractured and 5 of us we left. On the second climb I looked behind and was surprised to see there were only 3 of us left. The wind was whipping around from all directions with gusts to 20-30 mph. The three of us worked together and rotated our way up the hill. With about 100 meters to go, I was at my turn in front and decided to test the 2 ladies I was with.

If I picked it up, would they stay with me? So I went. I had no explosive energy left so I figured if I was going to beat these women, I’d better out climb them. With everything I had left I finished the race in 16th place. I was stoked, last year I was 26th in perfect weather. This year I felt I had improved a ton and my strength was greatly improved from last year. I finally felt like I rode a smart, strong ride.

Juls and Rhonda were not too far behind and both looked and if their eyes were lasers… well, I’d have been toast! “That wind is f***** up!”. Yup. Juls, you too said it girl. Not 30 seconds later.. “Wow, that was fun!” Joy came running up in her running shoes. Mechanical problems sidelined her to 1 lap where she just gathered the running shoes and ran to the finish. Behind Rhonda came Shannon & Julie, both finishing their first road race in tough conditions.

It was soooo great to have the Bellas there. Last year I was a lone bella. This year everyone had a great time, everyone rode safe, and most of the bellas (other than Rhonda & myself) were virgin road racers. Whitney, the UCSB rider who finished behind me, and some other women immediately started asking about Velo Bella-Kona. It’s great to share the energy and to see that the people around us can tell - we’re having fun!.

SWEET!!!

Happy Riding!!
Raja

So Cal Racing Action Here

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