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

This fabulous post was written by one of our awesome bella volunteers ~ Sabine is the cofounder of Velo Bella and if you like this report, you can thank her with brownies and beer.