Karlo pics!!!!

new podium boy – Karlo Gordon Hood

Arrived on Saturday night at 9:08pm. He weighed in at 7lbs 4oz. and
measured 19 1/4″ long. He is healthy and doing well. Labor lasted
23 hours and was the hardest workout of my life. Had I not worked
out the entire pregnancy he definitely would have arrived via c-
section. We faced quite a few challenges during labor, but he
handled the stress beautifully. We are all now resting and getting
to know each other, which is quite wonderful. Chuck is having the
time of his life and is a very proud dad. He’s especially proud of
the fact that he was able to stay upright and watch the delivery and
(a major shock to me) he even cut the umbilical cord.

What an amazing experience!

Stacia

Ice Race.

Yeah. even though ze bella blogger thought about it… the artic temperature prevented her from doing it. As I jokingly stated at the team meeting, “you are more likely to see me online than anywhere else…”

You don’t know how TRUE this is when the temperatures drop below 25 degrees. And dammit. if anyone is tired of hearing me bitch about the weather comment here, and make my other teammatoes (SWEET TYPO!!!).. teammates post.

But anyways… what follows is Sheryl and Barb’s race reports.

And a hella huge congrats to Stacia and Chuck!!! (read below for details…)

STUDS on ice

Huge KUDOS to you anyway- at least DFL is better than my pathetic DES (didn’t even start) thanks to my lack of knowledge of studded tired. I did however win some schwag for my efforts… One of the fellas running the race had extra home made studded tires available and when he heard my sad story he let me keep the pair that had flatted me. (along with giving me a long description of how to correctly put a tube liner in..) I promised him I’d be back next year with properly prepared equipment.
Just for the record, for those of you who don’t know me and I don’t want to get a bad reputation for being a dum-dum- I had come down unprepared because Chuck Hood (stacia’s hubby and the days’ race promoter) was going to have two prepared wheels already for me. But wouldn’t you know- the new Velo Fella, little Karlo Hood, decided to join the world on Saturday night! Congrats to the new family! Way to go, Stacia! So, needless to say, the Hood family were more occupied with diapers than studded tires for Sunday’s race. I sure enjoyed Barb’s race report though. Way to Represent! Woot woot! Let’s hope for both our sakes that Maria is back next year!
-Sheryl-

With my scarf wrapped around me. Wind pants. Picture it.

Oh…well…Uh…this was definietely a race of skill and knowledge
of ice.

In the AM I went for a ‘warm up’, but by the time I packed up the
bike and drove out there I was chilled. Dear husband, who had put
Maria’s lucky tires on my wheels, set up the bike for me out at Bush
Lake. I had on all my winter cycling gear AND my parka and wind
pants, and scarf. I ‘warmed up’ on the ice for about 15 mn. Back
out on the parking lot making a dash for warmer gloves, I saw Sheryl
and her dear husband frantically changing her tires. No one told her
about the necessary tire liners, so she had flatted on the warm up.
Annoyed and cold, Sheryl and crew pack up and go home.Rats. This
means I have to rep the Bella colors, but no way I’m taking off my
coat.

The race starts with a La Maz (in honor of Stacia and Chuck) start, I
am off the line near the back. I don’t run well in sand. With a
parka. With my scarf wrapped around me. Wind pants. Picture it.

The course is constant turns. Really, it’s a fun course, but even
with the serious studs, I know I don’t have a feel for this and boy
am I s l o w. Fast forward. I started to get a bit more confident
and am catching up to a couple of women, one who is wearing a Santa
suit. Trying to be careful, and starting to have fun. Then my crit
cornering memory kicks in–bad idea. Even with studs, you can’t brake
even medium hard on ice. Down I go and lose the two women.
I “chase” at about 2-3 miles an hour. Fortunely, I am now warm,
sweating even–can you imagine? I figure out to ‘bank’ off the snow
on the edge of the ice path and start to get the hang of cornering on
ice, 3/4 of the way through this adventure. Most of the 6 or so women
have dropped out, so that means I am DFL!!! Woot Woot!!

I really don’t know how Maria does it. Go Maria!

OK, what’s next–BMX? Get my butt kicked by a 10 year old.

Give 100 degrees in Milwaukee anyday.

Barb

Cyclocross World Championships, Belgium
32nd, Dee-Dee Winfield, Elite Women

Peak Season Cyclocross #3, CA
3rd, Andi Mackie, Elite Women
1st, Kathleen Bortolussi, Women 35+

Peak Season Cyclocross, Overall Series Results
2nd, Andi Mackie, Elite Women
1st, Kathleen Bortolussi, Women 35+
1st, Betty Jordan, Women 55+

Stupor Bowl X

*squee!*

8 more days until Stupor Bowl!!!!

Those of you who knows me, knows I don’t squee often… but this is one of the funnest races of the year… and one of the best parts of winter in minneapolis…

As a cold weather pansy (ex-Oakland-er– the Richmond district in SF is wicked cold to me), I’m hoping for the 30’s and sunny… but.. who knows this time of year.

Come on out and play!!!! It’s wicked fun 21+ scavenger hunt race on bikes… (alcohol optional)….

brrr.argh.

Friday I biked home from work without my lights on for the first time in, what has felt like forever. It was a balmy 35 degrees F and fabulous. Had I remembered it was Critical Mass Friday, I definitely would have ridden longer… but places to go… people to see… blah blah.

As weather is in MN, that was a huge -tease-. It is all of 3 degrees right now, with a windchill of -13 degrees. I had to be outside for a little while today, and I felt my face freeze off. So, I gotta giggle in ENVY at the Californian perception of cold….and surf on over to craigslist to see if there’s any web or flash dev jobs… (oh. damn…)

and for the record… it’s gotta be in the low 20’s for snot to freeze on your face.

BUT… i’m betting this is gonna make the 2007 Chilly Chili Ice Race super fast….

Best of luck and stay warm to all those racing…

Thursday Now Trainer Night

Nikki, Leslie and I enjoyed riding together last night at Now. We did
the Spinervals “Sweating Buckets” workout.

As always, the Now folks were supportive and helpful, helping Nikki
replace a dropped chain, Leslie to get her chain moving up to the big
cookie easier, and even adjusting Nikki’s cleat placement for a more
efficient and comfy time on the bike.

We were all glad we made it over to Now for the ride. It was much
more fun to pant, sweat AND heckle Troy Jacobson in a group. BTW,
Leslie deserves MAJOR kudos – she hoofed it alllll the way to Arden
Hills from Hopkins in rush hour traffic to ride with us!!!

Cheers!
Marjie

Hoogerheide Here I come!

By Dee Dee “Grasshopper” Winfield

Jan. 15^th-20^th

So, Buck left that evening b/c his flight to head back home was pretty early on Monday. He had come in mostly for the race and it was great having him there. The following morning Rhonda and I rode some of the canals in Nommay and later toured around Metz on our way back to the Brussels airport to drop off Mark Matson.

Once we arrived at the airport Rhonda and I kind of looked at each other like, “what now?” We looked at the map and picked a place to go, I got behind the wheel, Rhonda navigating and we went. But… we had a minor change of plans b/c we couldn’t exactly find the mythic cyclocross town we were looking for: Hofstede, Belgium. Instead, we found a hotel in Aalst (at this point it was getting late) and stayed there for the night.

The following day we traveled to Oodenarde and were driving around looking for places to stay, sights to see and saw the sign for the fabled Koppenburg. We walked up to the top and looked down. It was very slippery even walking and I think we both silently decided we weren’t going to try and ride it. We went a little outside of town into Kluisberg and parked the car, unloaded our bikes (oh the car is another story in and of itself, let’s just say filled to the maximum capacity and then some) put on our riding gear and off we went.

We had no idea where we were going but ended up having a spectacular ride seeing tons of the surrounding cities and towns and enjoying having a few hills to grunt our way to the top. We drove back into a small town called Berchem where we had previously seen a Bed and Breakfast above a Butcher shop and inquired about staying there for a few days. The place was awesome and Ingrid was extremely hospitable, even going so far as to wash our stinky laundry for us and provide us with a breakfast so immense that we used it partly for lunch and dinner.

We went out for a great ride that day after finding out from Els that a bad storm was coming. We rode what is known as the Eddy Mercx route and ended with a pretty steady headwind and crosswind that frequently found us sideways on our bikes (remember the V8 commercials?) and got back just in time before the rain started.

We left for the cycling house the following day and previously planned on doing another ride in this region but the wind kept us inside on the trainers. The following day we rode along the canal systems for a leisurely ride and then Saturday to Zannebeke to take a peek at the local cross race that Erik, Ryan, and Chance were to race on later that day. Supposedly the wind had died down but you wouldn’t have known it riding out there. We took one lap around the course and were completely muddy so we headed back to town. What took a little over an hour to get there took about 35 minutes to return (this including stopping to change a flat).

Jan. 21^st Hoogerheide, NED

What a day, How do you ever know when you are going to have a good race vs. a bad race. Sometimes the legs feel great during warm up and they die, sometimes the opposite. I didn’t know what I had in store for myself this very day but it was definitely not a stellar performance. I am not sure why; not enough preparation, too much preparation, the course, my mind, my body, too much chocolate perhaps??? Who knows, but my start was off the hook horrible and it only got worse from there. I just didn’t have anything. I never gave up trying but after the first lap every attempt was futile. I was embarrassed by my performance and feeling pretty low. I was in a funk. I certainly didn’t want to leave Belgium with a feeling like this in the pit of my stomach .

I know Buck and Alex would tell me I am being too hard on myself, but I didn’t come all the way to Europe to represent you in this way. Next Sunday at the World Championships I race for my family, all of you in Velo Bella land, the United States and our sponsors. I’ve got a week to get it together.

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