CNY Bellas Kick Popo
August 11, 2008 · Print This Article
Cazenovia Tri and The Great Race Team Tri, Aug 10, 2008
“Isn’t Sue the cutest little thing?”
The CNY Bellas were out in full force this weekend – Kate, Sue K, LiLynn, (looking bubble-headed at the top) Kim, Linda and LIsa all were on Great Race Teams while Jan-O and Sue A worked their fannies off at the Cazenovia Triathlon.
It was an unexpectedly nice day after days and days of drenching rain – though the post race party at the Great Race was a bit of a mud field. In any event, the Bella Power was ever present as we were among the many winning teams: (Ok, there are a LOT of categories – but there were a total of 239 teams in the Long race and 335 teams in the Short race.)
- LiLynn and her team won the Women’s 40-49 Team Long race.
- Sue Kahler and her team won the Couples 40 + Team Long race.
- Linda and her team won the Women’s 40-49 Team Short race.
- Lisa and her team came in 2nd in the Mixed 40+ Short race.
- Kim and her team won in the Women 40+ Kayak short race.
- Kate’s team kindof stank, but I did tie for 1st woman in the bike leg of the long course.
Highlights of the day:
- Kate’s disk wheel that she’d recently bought used blew out the tire during the warmup, thank god. BAM!
- We were not given beer without a bracelet indicating that we were “of age” – so we got a trooper friend to get us beers.
- LiLynn bunny-hopped the speed bump, getting a “Settle down!” from a volunteer. (I later learned that one of the top teams was DQ’ed for this very maneuver, so Miss LiLynn was very lucky!)
The guys passing me out the lake road were so fast I didn’t have a prayer of catching on and the ones I went by were too slow. After the turn I was all alone and starting to fade when Marko Shenstoni came flying by on his hot wheels that he stole from Ernie. He looked really cool as he disappeared into the distance and then came a few others so I had to shake it off because the race was happening. I saw a woman fly by drafting off some guy. Way out of my fitness level today. Then came two more women and a bunch of guys. The women were killing me on the hills but then I would catch them on the backside. I was getting so mad at myself because I wasn’t tired, I just hadn’t been riding hills hard since my injury and I didn’t know what to do to get more out of my pedal stroke. Then we had a long downhill and I passed both girls. We hit some hills again and I dropped back. Felt like a yo yo. Well finally after the last little hills I decided I had only one thing going for me and that was gravity so I put the hammer down and dropped both of them just as we turned onto the final stretch. They couldn’t hang on and I could see Kate finishing ahead of me just as I bunny hopped the speed bump.
I was disappointed in my split time but I don’t know if I could have done any better with my lack of riding this year. 9 weeks of nothing but fine wine and allot of whine. It was so fun to be out there pushing myself and being a part of this great cycling community. I’ve really missed it this summer. Everyone did great and looked so good in their velo bella kits! Oh, and my womens team won the long race overall!
Thank god their EPO arrived on time. Obviously mine didn’t.
and now showing off her prize:
And now to Jan-O’s official Report:
The initial forecast was thunder and hail which was a little disturbing. The gods of triathlon however persuaded whatever god to break the clouds into perfect cool, cloudy conditions which this Swede appreciates. Sue Atwood Bella did the sprint and I the Intermediate (swim .9 mile, bike 24.8, run 6.1) . There were only 20 women in my race, so I had a lot of guys (70-or so) all around me. The swim went perfect for me with less folks in the wave and I did it in about 30 minutes I think 35 out of 87 overall…not bad for 51!
and now a nice BUTT SHOT:
Of course, I had tons of guys pass on the bike but I d OK with 16.9 mph on hilly course. My run was good for me at just over an hour…1:02 something….for 6.1 miler. The contenders were great runners though so I lost a lot there but still did well at 3:05. First in age group, but tough competition overall. Sue had a great time improving her swim. Oh yes, I had the nicest complement form a pro-ish girl passsing me on bike that from behind (the butt? legs?) that she thought I was some 18 year old (coming up behind me on bike)until she saw the age number on my leg! This is nice after being asked in the mall the other day if I was Lars’ grandmother…!
Jano and her running pals post race – son Lars with crutches.
This fabulous post was written by one of our awesome bella volunteers ~ To change this standard text, you have to enter some information about your self in the Dashboard -> Users -> Your Profile box.
Excellent name, and Excellent Sport! haha!