Orosi Road Race, CA
6th, Ryan Hostetter, Women 3/4
8th, Sue Lovecchio, Women 3/4
9th, Tracy Loper, Women 3/4
??, Laura Sanchez, Women 3/4

Redlands Bicycle Classic, CA
1st, Katya Baty, Public Criterium, Girls age 8

Members Only Perks

Today we having a 3 hour road clinic. 3 hours on road bikes praciticing road racing skills. This is one or the perks of membership. Coming soon, we have regular team trainings on the calendar… Details TBA.

Last Sunday we had a calendaring/training clinic. One of the most helpful things I’ve heard was use time as a measurement of training… not distance. The overarching themes were consistency and commitment. Those 2 words are intimidating naughty words to me.

I’m stoked for today’s clinic. The weather is foggy and cool. It feels like… summer at grandma’s to me.

Velo Bella Womens Track Clinic Report

From Emily Fronheiser

The track clinic March 17-18 was a huge success! Fourteen beginners were there to learn about the track life, and most of them came away certified to race on the track (with some more track time, of course). The day started out with everyone getting fit up to their bikes. Then, Cathy gave a great description of the track, history of Dick Lane Velodrome, and explained the differences between a track bike and a “regular” bike.

Once we were all informed on the etiquette of riding on the track, she set us loose to do a few laps on our own. There was a lot of screaming and pounding hearts on the first lap or two, but most of the beginners caught on quickly. Personally, I was so excited after the first lap that I had to come down off the track and get a drink and calm down. Then, I went back out and did three more laps…and came back down to get a drink. My husband got a good laugh out of this when I told him.

Cathy split us into groups, one with Amy and one with Melissa (but which one is which??). We did a few follow the leader exercises where we rode all over the track just to get comfortable with the places where you can speed up or slow down. The next drill was to demonstrate the differences in riding on the various parts of the track (sprinter’s lane, stayers line, rail, turns, etc). We rode four wide across the track and did a sort of paceline where the top rider fell behind to go to the inside lane while the other three moved up the track. It’s amazing the differences between the sprinter’s lane and the rail. It really taught us a good lesson.

Next, it was on to 200 meter sprints. In groups of 4, we rode a neutral lap and then took off at the 200 meter line. This was my absolute favorite part of the day. It was so exhilarating! The Italian Pursuit was fun, too, but it was hard to pace ourselves for all four people to keep up.

After lunch, we did some pacelining drills and then finished up the day with a Scratch Race. The two groups got to race within themselves. The first group was pretty even until the end, when Kelly shot past the pack and I followed. I finally got past her on Turns 3 and 4, and managed to win the race! I’ve never had so much fun in my life!

The second group was a different story! Sarah led out in the 2nd or 3rd lap and stayed out front until the end. There was a great sprint between a couple of the others for 2nd place, though.

All in all, we had a great day, and some of the participants had enough in their legs to train on Sunday, too, to get a little more track time in. I, on the other hand, was a little sore from Saturday and had a long drive home. I can’t wait for the next time I can get down there to ride again! It’s amazing how much more fun riding can be when you’re doing it where you’re supposed to be!

Greenville, SC Training Series Race Reports

From Jamie France

Saturday, 3 March – For my first-ever road race, I had Cathy Boland show me the ropes. She came and stayed at Chez France in Clemson the night before, and we went up to Greenville together on Saturday morning. The day was bright and windy. We met up with Natasha Cowie at the starting line. We were three Bella jerseys in a sea of BMW, Bianchi, Defeet, and Cheerwine. There were over 50 women, all categories, 1 thru 4 racing together. The course is 35 miles (5 laps around a 7 mile relatively flat loop). The rollout was nice & ladylike due to a Marine unit that was road marching on the course in front of us. Once we got past them, I managed to hang with the pack for the first loop plus 2 miles into the 2nd loop. I got dropped on a small hill and just couldn’t recover. So I did the rest of the race (26 miles) alone, head down, fighting the wind which had picked up and was really blowing hard. I heard later that it was gusting to 35 mph! It was brutal without the protection of the pack. But I was proud that I finished… and I wasn’t last! I really can’t report much on the race since I was only in the mix for 9 miles. Cathy and Natasha finished well. They later told me about a crash in the last lap – luckily neither of them got taken down in it. Overall it was a good experience. I decided to go back the following weekend for more.
Cathy was so supportive of my first race! When we got back to my house, she planned and cooked us dinner. Her husband, Gerard, had arrived by then. We had a nice evening and then rode my local roads the next day before Cathy & Gerard returned home to Andrews, NC. It was a fabulous weekend!
Sunday, 11 March — I did my second road race without any teammates, but on the same course. The weather was better than the previous weekend — relatively low winds. This time there was about 30 women, again all categories racing together. Same teams in attendance. There was nothing ladylike about the start. The gals in front were off the front attacking hard from the get-go. We were strung out in a single file sprint for about a mile before we could catch the leader and form a pack. The course marshal was cruising on his motorcycle and watching us closely. He DQ’d two women early in the race for crossing the double-yellow line. They didn’t drop out, but kept racing. That caused a lot of chitter-chatter in the pack, and some of these girls from different teams weren’t so nice to each other. I tried to tune-out all their negativity. My only goal was to do better than I had the previous race, but at this point I thought to myself “there is no way I can last more than 9 miles at this pace!” However, I dug deep and hung in there for 2 laps. That same hill I got dropped on in last weekend’s race sunk me again just after completing lap 2. Yep, I got dropped at the same place. But there was no way I was going to give up. After cresting the hill, I fought my hardest to maintain the small gap between me and the pack. Then I got rescued! The guy’s race lapped me! They came up around me, I got tucked into their cradle and they basically pulled me up to the women. So I finished lap 3 firmly enveloped again in the women’s pack. Two miles later, that same hill sunk me again and I just had no power left to close the gap on my own. I cruised to the finish line alone… but again, I wasn’t last! Other women had gotten shelled before I did. I had hung in for 23 miles this time! Woo Hoo! Where’s my next race?? I’m ready!

Jamie and Cathy still smiling after the race – must be all the Jittery Joe’s coffee they were selling near the finish line.

Tuesday night OUCH.

NOW hosted another kickass Tuesday night ride.

On the first ride, we did a relatively mellow loop in Saint Paul (high street bridge, lilydale, mendota, and river road back)… and this last week, we ended up on the Lake Pahlen, Indian Mounds, Shepard Road loop. That loop is my nemesis. It hurts. It always hurts. It especially hurts when you’ve got a wicked headwind… after you hauled ass out to the shop against the same wicked headwind. ouch.

It was mostly a great ride. When we rode through the Minnesota Wild hockey crowd, and we met one of my Top Ten Peeves in the Midwest: Cops that do -NOT- know how to direct traffic. Look– it is really hard to hear you when I’ve go my helmet on, and the wind is blowing had, and there’s tons of cars around. So… if you make a gesture like you are waving us through, -that- is what someone gonna respond to. I’m just saying.

Guy on the red Cannondale with disc brakes handled that situation way way better than I would have. Do we have a bail fund in case one gets arrested while on a group ride? Mostly joking…

Ugh. Sorry… I’m horrible with names. I’m bad with faces (Tracy at NOW looks way different in his wintery bike gear), but I kickass at drooling over YOUR hot bike.

anyways, it was great to have good company on a killer ride.

Peachy Queen

By Marian

Borrowed James Hill’s car to get to the races. Actually Taryn’s, but she was out of town and the Acura probably gets better gas mileage.

Landpark: 35 minute crit. I got to the course a little late (go fig), registered, changed into my superhero suit, and rolled off to do a quick warm-up and refill bottles. Didn’t get much of a warm-up.

Rolled back to the start line. Found the rest of the Bellas, and it should be noted that all of them were already pinned, ready, and waiting. “Oh, hey! You guys are on my team. Can I get one of you to pin me?”

We pre-ride the course together, which is quite curvy-swervy and I get more nervous as I think about doing it in a group. I’ve gotten alot better at railing my bike through turns (all those trips down Wildcat certainly helps), but turns are another story when they are done as part of a group.

I can’t say much about the race because it was all such a blur. As predicted though, the turns were much different as part of a group. I would try to get myself up towards the front for the turns so I could make my own fast line, but I would get swarmed and then be forced to take less than ideal lines.

On the last lap, Soni and another woman went off on a little flyer. I looked for a way out of my little box in the group so that I could help at the front if needed, but I was unable to carve out a line for myself in the group. By the time I had worked my way outside, Soni and Annon had been caught.

Towards the last turns, women started swarming. I was able to work my way back up on some women and I think I ended up in 10th. Katie placed 8th. I don’t know how the rest of the women on the team did.

Zamora: Jesus, that was an adventure.

I wasn’t scheduled to race until 2 and the drive was only supposed to take 1 hour and 22 minutes. I left the house early at 9ish, hoping that I would be able to watch some of the earlier races.

Three hours later, I’m on the side of the road in who-knows-where, more than a little lost, crying into the steering wheel and having a full on crisis of confidence: “Why can’t I ever just get from point A to point B? Why can’t I just stay on track? Why can’t I focus for long enough to get where I need to go?”

Complete with analysis that getting hopelessly lost before the race was just one big ole life metaphor. Sobbing, self-doubts, “I can’t do this!”, “What the hell is my problem?”, and I hadn’t even gotten to the course yet!

At 1245ish and 3.5 hours after my departure time, I was just about to turn back for home when I spot the course. Whew!

Register, run around looking for teammates, “Will you pin me?”, etc.

Good spot on the line with Soni, Katie, Julie, Ashley, and Kim. Nobody wanted to pull so the pack lagged for the first 5-6 miles. I was a little grumpy because the people who were pulling were my teammates and it appeared to me that no one else was stepping up to pull for a bit. I tried to move out of the pack to go pull, but it took me a while. When I finally get up to the front to share the load, we were within spotting distance of the hill, so the pack got a little shaken up anyway.

Good thing we reshuffled the pack, because Soni was able to come in from the wind. Soni and I chatted while we were riding in the pack and Soni gave me some words to work with on the next hill.

As we get within distance of the QOM, I position myself towards the front, on the outside, as per Soni’s tips. When I decided to launch it, I put my head down and I drove it up the right hand side and when I looked back, there was no one there and the pack was waaaaaaaaay back there.
Yesssss!

When I look up, towards the hill, there was more hill than I remembered from the first lap.
Nooooo!

I looked back to the pack, fearing that they are going to swarm me any second, and to my surprise, they are still waaaaaaaaaaaay back there.

Internal monologue: “Oh, poop this really hurts! Where’s the top of this silly thing? Why was this a good idea? Whoop, there it is! Where’s the pack? Wow, they’re still back there. How did I pull that one off?”
Yesssssssss!

I had put some time into the field but I was not about to go off on an extended flyer so I sat up and waited for the field.

Finally, the pack catches me. Ashley rolls alongside me and instigates. “I don’t know about you, but now that I’m warmed up, I ready to go. Want to attack?”

Oh, yes, please!

So, third lap, I roll past her on the outside of the turn, I glance over at her and holler out to her “Now, now, now, now!” And off we went. There had been a NorCali girl dangling a bike length or two off of the front and I was a little surprised that she didn’t come with us. Ashley and I drilled it, but it becomes apparent that the pack will eventually get us, so eased up a bit.

Rolled with the pack on the outside as we approached the lil’ hill again. I got a little suspicious when I saw three NorCali women get themselves all lined up at the front of the pack so I moved up with them. As the tempo picked up, one of the NorCali women started struggling and she told the other two NorCalis “Work together on the hill! Suck her wheel if you have to!”

And then the two NorCali girls accelerated. I whooped back “Suck it!”, probably offending at least one person in my excitement of the chase. I lined up behind the two NorCalis. The second girl was struggling to stick with her teammate, so I moved past her and got on the first girl who answered with another acceleration.

Internal monologue: “Yeah, I have one of those too.”
Yesssssssss!

I look back and there’s still one NorCali girl dangling off of the front of the group, but I’m not certain we’ll stay out if we don’t pin it. I warn the NorCali girl “Hey, they’re coming for us. We better kick it!”

I look down at my legs, I look back at the field, and I look at the NorCali girl’s wheel.
Internal monologue: “I just wanna play!”

Upshift, stand, drop, drop, drop. I look back and I was somehow able to put several bikelengths into her. Downshift, sit, spin, spin, spin, accelerate.
Yesssssssssss!

I look back and I am relieved to see she wasn’t able to answer my acceleration because I don’t know what I would have been able to pull out of my bag of tricks if she had stuck on me. So, third time around I again hit the top with time to spare. How the hell did that happen?
Yesssssssssss!

I did briefly contemplate drilling it all the way to the line. I had visions of glory, power, fame, fortune. I looked back at the field, though.
Internal monologue: “Oh, lordy, I don’t know if I ate enough horsepower for breakfast.”

I kept rolling, but I knew it was only a matter of time before the field got me again. Field catches me, people swarm the finish, it was all such a blur.

I don’t know how all of my team did, but I do know that Soni finished 4th.
Woot woot!
I finished 11th for the day, but I was Peachy Queen (of the Mountain) for the whole rest of the day.
Woot woot!

Greenville, SC Training Series Race Reports

Sequoia Classic Race Report

By: Ryan

Day 1: Rocky Hill TT (Exeter TT)

So this was my 4th TT and it was probably the most painful… mentally. When I signed up for this one I was the only Cat 3 registered, so I went to the race thinking that I was going to get a solid workout, but there were not going to be any other racers with me… so way less pressure, but I was still going to ride my best. Well WRONG… Trina Landry came out last minute just to get the spot behind me. I have decided that I like to be in the back so I have a little carrot up front to work for… but because I pre-registered I had to go first, yuck. So I start fairly hard but keeping a little reserved for the hill (and long way home), and in like the first 1/2 mile Trina comes FLYING around me like I was standing still…. I was a little mad at myself because I thought that I was going too slow. So I keep her close and when we hit the hill I powered around her up to the top in the front, but on the decent she again went flying around me…. bummer. I do my best to get all tucked in and railed this sketchy corner at the bottom and pass her (in the corner) and stayed in front for a bit… then once again she goes flying around me…. and literally powers away from me… out of sight. This is when I lose it mentally and sort of give up on myself. Not a good idea, but it was getting really hot out there (in the mid 80s) and I wanted to go home. So the rest of the race I pick off some of the guys that had passed me, and I did my best to make up the most amount of time on the way back and up the back side of the hill (I ended up passing like 4 guys here). I ended up finishing a few minutes from Trina but I was a bit bummed because I just got killed once again in a TT. The day ended on a great note… a wonderful lunch (a place Cathy recommended) the Wildflower cafe in downtown Exeter. It was so nice to sit in this super cute shady garden patio with some organic beer and ruben sandwhiches…. great way to end the race (and on one of my favorite beer drinking holidays)

Day 2: Visalia downtown Crit

Womens 3/4 race: This race was awesome…. and an adventure which included some mad bike handling skillz by our very own Tracy Loper (and a very poor moment in racing on my end). Well we were all super active, but I decided to conserve a bit more in this one then my last two crits to try for a finish. There were a lot of ladies out there who wanted the sprint with loads of horsepower. Tracy and Heidi did such a perfect job of attacking at the right time tiring out just the right people. Trina Landry was out here as well doing a lot of work (which is what we wanted) along with some CVC girls and some others that I can’t remember… anyway we were getting lined up for the finish and Tracy digs super hard and takes a HUGE pull untl she can pull no more… then Heidi goes out and digs super deep for our last lap and I feel the group start to try and swarm around us… Tracy moves up in front to cover the swarm and I see that she is digging sooooo hard and ready to pop at any moment so I stand up and try to power around her… and I move over to go in front of her and… well…. I moved over a bit early (big oops on my part) and went on top of her front wheel. My left shoe gets clipped by her spokes in her front wheel and then her front wheel gets caught on my rear skewer and rips two spokes out of her front wheel…. and amazingly…… nobody crashes. My stomach sank and I felt so terrible… I even thought about stopping, but I did not hear her go down so I kept on the two girls that got out front of us. Honestly because this happened it may have made a slight gap between myself, the two girls in front, and the rest of the field behind… but it was so fast I think we were all together for the most part, but very strung out (like a runway model as the announcer put it..) So we hit the last corner and it is a LONG sprint to the finish… I try and shift in my drops which is usually ok for me but it did not shift just the way I wanted… so I passed one girl and I am in 2nd moving up fast on first… but we run out of road… so I got 2nd with CVC taking the win. It was really a great race, we all worked so well together, and because we wanted more, we all sign up for the next mens race.

Tracy, Heidi, & I all jump into the mens 4 and master 35+ cat 4 race. It was a hoot! We all worked hard and Heidi honestly looked so comfortable in this race, and she toughed it out near the front for 75% of the race! Tracey dug deep once again and did her best to stick out all the surging and I ended up staying just about the entire race and had to make a decision….. do I really want to be in here for the last few laps with the mens 4’s? So I decided to take a flyer, attack the field and get out with 10 laps to go (and/or until I blew up) . It was a good decision too beause there ended up being crashes after I left the race with one guy going to the hospital… whew… exciting day for the Bella’s.

We all had a great time and got in some solid training time with the boyz… then we stayed to watch Mary’s race but I will let Mary do her race report… (and I am just tired and lazy now). Mary is such an awesome force… a trooper in every sense of the word..

Land Park Crit

March 17, 2007
Sacramento, CA

by Denise

It was an awesome, sunny morning in Sacramento for this race. It was more like a circuit course, than a crit, in my opinion. I liked the turns/corners and wished for more.

Soni, Angela, Marian, Katie and I were the team with numbers. This was my first NorCal race, so I did not recognize the other teams or faces…..I wasn’t sure who was going to do what. This was Marian’s first criterium and she did so terrriifc….nothing like my first crit experience!

Bellas stayed in front and we covered every move and picked up the pace a few times. There were 7 preems. Marian took an awesome pull with 5 laps left, getting us into a great position. Soni launched a hard-ass attack on the last lap and Bellas were in tow. She peeled off, then Angela pulled hard and then I pulled through the last turns towards the finish, with Katie on my wheel. SWOOP! Katie blows by me, like I had cement in my tires.

I did not stick around to see who placed where (I had a 3 hour drive home), but we did a terrific team work, had fun and we rode safe.

There was 1 accident that we know of, involving 2 girls, but we have no idea what happened to them. The turns went pretty well, atleast from where we were at.

Hey……I didn’t get glittered! No wonder I petered out the last few feet.

Marian’s Take:

I got to the course a little late (go fig), registered, changed into my superhero suit, and rolled off to do a quick warm-up and refill bottles. Didn’t get much of a warm-up.

Rolled back to the start line. Found the rest of the Bellas, and it should be noted that all of them were already pinned, ready, and waiting. “Oh, hey! You guys are on my team. Can I get one of you to pin me?”

We pre-ride the course together, which is quite curvy-swervy and I get more nervous as I think about doing it in a group. I’ve gotten alot better at railing my bike through turns (all those trips down Wildcat certainly helps), but turns are another story when they are done as part of a group.

I can’t say much about the race because it was all such a blur. As predicted though, the turns were much different as part of a group. I would try to get myself up towards the front for the turns so I could make my own fast line, but I would get swarmed and then be forced to take less than ideal lines.

On the last lap, Soni and another woman went off on a little flyer. I looked for a way out of my little box in the group so that I could help at the front if needed, but I was unable to carve out a line for myself in the group. By the time I had worked my way outside, Soni and Annon had been caught.

Towards the last turns, women started swarming. I was able to work my way back up on some women and I think I ended up in 10th. Katie placed 8th. I don’t know how the rest of the women on the team did.

TBF MTB #3, Chanoko, CA
3rd, Yvette Crockell, Sport Women 40-49
1st, Renee Ridgley, Expert Women 20-29

TBF MTB Series Championship, Chanoko, CA
1st, Yvette Crockell, Sport Women 40-49
1st, Renee Ridgely, Expert Women 20-29

Keyesville Classic MTB Race, Keyesville, CA
1st, Jen Sec, Expert Women 30+

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