Velo Bella :: La Gazzetta :: Race Reports Archive

October 2003

10/26/03 - Surf City #2
by Goldifly
Gasp! Water... water... I need more water!

*****
by Sarah
Great race report Goldifly! That pretty much sums it up! I'm still trying to get enough water in me a day later!

My race had some good things and some things that were the opposite of good. The best part was the start. Improving my starts has been a goal of mine, and I did well, sitting right on Rachel's wheel through the first run up. But then I had to start recovering before we even got done with the first lap! I may have been a little under the weather since the boyfriend has had a cold (bad boyfriend), and I was battling dehydration as well. At least the sickly boyfriend made it out give me water every lap (good boyfriend).

Stella and I played tag again for the whole race, although this time I had nothing in me for any attacks. Stella was just getting over a cold herself, so we traded pulls and didn't go too fast. Coming into the final stretch of pavement on bell lap, we pulled even and Stella commented "a little cat and mouse huh?" to which I replied "till the bitter end." We started drag racing along the back stretch but she edged me out coming into the corner and beat me to the line. It was an exciting finish to go with an exciting start, but everything else was just survival. Looking forward to kicking back and getting some much needed R 'n' R next weekend. UNLESS.... heh heh, I heard about some out of town races.....

Good job to the new cross racers. That was a hard first time in such heat! Bring on the mud already!!!

*****
by Gail Dirty Dozen #2
Well, I'll try, with a CROSS VIRGIN LOSES IT race report.

I showed up at the Cross clinic on Saturday. There were two tall and
alarmingly fit guys whose names I didn't catch, and Hilary (a small and alarmingly fit woman) teaching the clinic. They explained what to do. Some of it I knew already: Ride the course. Dismount and carry your bike over obstacles. No, it's not a big deal if you ride a mountain bike. They explain the rules and how the bell lap works. Okay, I can handle this.

Well, at least I could handle the dismounts. The cyclocross mount was
harder; it looked like those guys were flinging themselves onto their bikes crotch first, feet second. (Uh..... they are guys..... why doesn't that hurt them? I'm thinking.) One of them explains: Catch the seat with your thigh first, then slide your crotch onto it and clip in later. When he does it to demonstrate, it looks so smooth and seamless that you'd never notice the thigh-first part. Aaah, that explains why I
don't see guy 'cross racers hobbling around after races. ;-) I struggle with the mounts and dismounts. Carrying the bike over obstacles, I get that part.

We make big loops in the sunshine, mountdismountmountdismountmountdismount. I still don't get the dismount part. I tell the teachers I will just struggle with it and practice. Then Hilary gets me, and she will not take "No" or "I just can't" or "I'll
practice at home" for an answer. She makes me do it. I do not argue (much). 10 minutes after Hilary starts in on me, I can do the mount (although I look a little wobbly.) Okay, mountdismountmountdismount mountdismount. Take a break. Repeat. Blink. I can do this.

I went home and showed up the next day to race Women's C. I can do this. I know I can. I have not been a triathlete for years without gaining at least a little racing experience, dang it. I can do this. I will do this. I watch the men go zooming by. They look so graceful; they don't look like they're working hard. (This is a race. I know that can't be right. Right?)

Fast forward to the start of the women's race: I have politely declined to wear some loaner costume wings, antenna, wigs, et cetera, because I'm afraid I might trash them in an excess of obstacle-jumping, bike flinging enthusiasm. I will be tossing my bike on and off my back, after all. I might squish the wings, and they're not MY wings! Then I discover that many of the other Bellas are in costume. I am lacking group spirit. My bad! Okay, next time, wings it is.

The Women's A's go. We wait. The Women's B's go. We wait. Now we go. I am in back. Nearly everyone else zooms ahead of me. I am instantly parched; my legs ache; I gasp for air; I am terrified that I will be dead last. All my triathlon experience involves going at race pace on flat, smooth pavement; I'm not very experienced riding on dirt. Can you say "out of my element"? The course zigs and zags. I remember, at last, that I should be doing something about picking a line on the curves. I check the time. 1:19. I can make it for thirty minutes. That sounds ludicrous-- I'm used to riding for hours at a time, and I teach a pretty hard one-hour spin class every week-- but it's true. This was hard!

We reach the first obstacle and it belatedly dawns on me that I will have to dismount now. I did (and it was 100% harder to do it when my adrenaline was pumping in a race situation than at the clinic yesterday. HEY!!!) I went up the hill and around the course, taking other obstacles and trying not to fall nose-first or get in anyone else's way. That was easier said than done.

When the bell went off, I had just passed the announcer's stand. Okay, I'm tired, but one more lap (my third). I can do this. I CAN do this. I WILL do this. I might be last-- I'm not really sure-- but hey, in every
race,someone's gotta be the last person, right? I make the lap, making a point of planning where I will dismount and thinking carefully about the mechanics of the mount and dismount and doing okay at it. I pass the place we started. Should I stop here? There's no way out of the race course, it's all still roped off. Panic moment. Then I see Sabine in the parking lot. "Sabine, where do we end the race after the bell lap? At the start or at the announcer's stand?" She knows. It's the announcer's stand. "Thanks. GOTTA GO!"

I may be tired, but I have that much left in the tank, so I give it what I
have. The end of the story is that I placed pretty far down but had an
excellent time and I will definitely do that again. I definitely had some
equipment issues-- I have SPD pedals, and I spent way too much time trying to clip in. I could have spent that time trying to go faster! I also have pretty lousy shoes-- good for teaching a spin class, but worthless for actual riding. Ah, these issues I can definitely fix. I need bike handling skills--- I have a feeling I could have gone faster if I'd picked better lines. I need more practice mounting and dismounting. I can do that. The fitness issue is a little harder to fix, but I'll work on it. ;-)

10/26/03 - Brief East Coast Update
By Christine
I'm here in the East Coast for the next week or so representing Velo Bella racing the US team qualifiers - and eating a ton of bagels and indian food to boot! I placed 3rd both races behind the Clifs (yesterday in Wilmington, DE and earlier today in Blue Bell, PA.)

Next weekend it's more back to back racing in MA. I did briefly meet a Velo Bella teammate at the Delaware race. I think her name was Sammy? She seemed very nice. many people at both races said they knew all about us and even have been to our website.

Also, Velonews was really super about including me in their race coverage and quoting me on Velonews.com website. Yipee! Anyway, off to bed. Have a great week everyone and i'll keep you posted on next weekend's races. :christine

P.S. The weather has been great- 60-70 degrees or so.

02/26/03 - SCCXA Non Racers Perspective
By Tracie Nelson
Like maybe this cyclocross thing might be kinda fun to check out. Not to race, oh no no, this is my OFF season, my resting time, but just to see what it's all about... maybe learn a thing or two.

Learn, indeed. A month without racing having gone by, and ubsequently a month of not being able to write any race reports having gone by, I decided to compile a list, in the patented Tracie Nelson format...

WHAT I LEARNED FROM "WITNESSING" THE SCCX RACE:
1. THE RUMORS ARE TRUE:
cyclocross is a little bit silly. Sure, I guess
maybe showing up at the Velo Bella booth and having a lifesize gorilla wave "hey baby" in my direction should have clued me in, but I already knew that Laura is silly, so seeing her in a gorilla costume ready to ride a bike really didn't necessarily mean anything about the sport. The big clue, I think, was when the announcer started referring to Jessie as "Jessica Pickle! A ha Ha! I'm so funny!" and making rather blunt hints about how "I'm really disappointed that we haven't had any Surf City Streakers yet this year!" Hmmmmmm.....

2. I TOLD YOU SO:
Bella Heather (who "pinked" for this race) won the Bs. (Yeah!) Coincidentally, I also happen to know that she is hoarding about 30 tubes of Basis at home. Don't deny it! I know what you've been doing with those! It works!

3. IT'S ALL ABOUT THE LOOK (AS USUAL):
I've noticed that Stella Carey is ALWAYS wearing the "Stella Carey look". As in ALWAYS. It's sort of a deep-concentrated-pondering-the-existance-of-life-while-in-great-amounts-of-pain look. She sort of hunches over her bike and keeps her head low while peering out from underneath her helmet, like a snake. I figure that this must be her
"race face" - an intimidating countenance that she probably spends hours practicing on training rides or in front of the mirror. I think she must have it patented. I think other riders were trying to pull it off but it just made them look goofy. Then again... who doesn't look goofy in
cyclocross? Besides Laura?

4. THE CAT IN THE HAT CAME BACK:
... a non-fiction cyclocross documentary.

5. THERE ARE GOING TO BE SOME HAPPY 9TH GRADERS TOMORROW MORNING:
So I'm standing there in the water bottle passing area, and can see Sabine coming. She was hard to miss with that blue hair. I was ready to yell "Go Sabine!" but stumbled on my words as I noticed she wasn't actually racing, was she? What WAS she doing anyway? At first I thought our treasured D.S. had gone mad, and thought that she was the flower girl in a wedding, delicately tossing flower petals to either side. Much to my relief I noticed, but of course! It was candy that Sabine was tossing along the course! I think half of it's probably
still there, hiding in the grass for some 9th grade P.E. classes to find.

6. WINGS ARE THE HIP NEW THING:
We had a lot of winged Bellas today. I saw a monarch and Jenni had a beautiful set of blue feathered wings. It's cool, I was expecting to see as much. But get this. After the race I went for a spin along the coast and there was this BRIDE in full fledged bridal gear with sparkly white WINGS fixed to her back. What does it mean? Was someone having a blowout wing sale or did the woman want to be able to fly away from the commitment if necessary? Lady, I totally understand.

7. CYCLOCROSS:
AN ARTFORM? ever noticed how the men As just sort of glide on and off their bikes? what the hell? I was looking in the bushes for judges holding up artistic merit scores on white cards, but couldn't find them.

8. ME? CYCLOCROSS?
Okay. So there were a lot of people who tried to get me to race today. I said No Way, Jose, cyclocross is NUTS. After sweating up a storm from standing at the side of the race course I thought Geez, Louise, I'm never doing this. When I got home the first thing I did was get online and checked to see when the next Surf City is. I've gotta start practicing my dismounts.

9. I LOVE THIS TEAM!
After the Bella Bash I knew for sure that VB is the kickinest team out there. But man oh man!

10/13/03 - Re. Where are the cross reports?
by Sarah Kerlin
Vegas sounds fun, if I wrote my race report like the Vegas report I'd tell you how all those guys looked running up the hill... but I wasn't actually looking, I was doing a proper warm up for once!

The women's A race was missing a few usual suspects, with the races in the Northwest going on. Velo Bella was very well represented as usual, even Shelly came out for a guest apperance as our water girl! We tried to put her on a bike but she wouldn't have it.

The course was hilly and it was hot, so my plan was to not blow up. Rachel rode away on lap 1, with me trailing in 2nd. I heard from the announcer that the Kelly team (Stella and Dorothy) was on my heels, and I just rode steady and by lap 3 Stella had caught up and
Dorothy faded a little. We traded taking the lead a few times, and I noticed that Stella had some speed on me on the downhill, which proved to be good info for later.

Of course Stella yelled at me to run faster up that big ol' hill, but since no one was going to catch us I ignored her and took it easy. So for a few laps I jumped in front on the pavement climb to hold her up on the run up, then led until she passed somewhere later on the course. But with one lap to go, I let her lead the whole lap until the final stretch of pavement before we hit the dirt, leading to the big downhill. (Hey, I finally developed some roadie tactics!) With me leading into the final downhill and funky twists and turns till the finishing stretch, I was able to pull ahead just a bit and win the sprint. So I ended up 2nd, Stella was 3rd and her teammate Dorothy was 4th.

That was a brutal race so early in the season, with all the steep hills. Good job to all the Bellas! See everyone next weekend! Let's here how Christine did up north....

10/13/03 - Racing Stumptown - Tacoma & Portland
by Christine Vardaros
Hi Bellas!
The racing last weekend was brutal! Lots of rain and mud. I placed 7th on Saturday and 6th on Sunday. Most of the big stars showed up for the event including Alison Dunlap who won both events. Ann Grande (or should i say Ann Knapp since she recently married Dale Knapp) was a close 2nd place behind Alison. The two of them had rather large gaps on the rest of the field in both races.

To summarize Saturday's course, it was about 10-min long and included a 1-full-minute runup from hell - deep sand the whole steep way up! And after each runup, it took me about 5 minutes to get clipped into my pedals again. If I would have had Goldie's wings, I would have just flown up the runup. Maybe Iwill ask her to borrow
them for a future race.

And Sunday's course was sooooooooooo muddy that I had a great opportunity to perfect my graceful slides in the mud - by about my 7th attempt. Considering I spent most of my time sliding around, I'm shocked to have finished so well. I will definitely be equipped with mud tires for the next muddy event.

Even though I didn't win the races, I did have a huge cheering section. Many people up north recognized the Velo Bella kit. Even the woman who registered me told me that she loved the Velo Bella Team even though she doesn't follow cycling.

I look forward to seeing you all this weekend at the CA race, then
for the following 2 weekends, I will be out racing on the East Coast
for the UCI events.

10/13/03 - First Surf City
by Goldi Skeel
Honey, you can have my wings! They sure didn't help me on Sunday at the Surf City race. The run-up in Aptos was also brutal. I remember stopping at the bottom of the big Shady hill with Michelle (Giant Strawberry) and just trying to focus on breathing. (I know, I know, it is supposed to be a RACE...) She and I were egging each other on: "You go first. NO. You go first."

The C race started out after a majority of the A/B women had completed their first lap. All the C's took off and headed up the pavement. I had my first experience with trying to jump a curb on my new cross bike. It wasn't bad. I actually made it over the curb! I rounded the corner and began my dismount (memories of the wall ahead looming before me). As I looked up, I watched the entire women's C field fall backwards down the hillside. I think I finally understand what battling for position really means. I think I might
try it in my next race.

For the next 30 minutes I guess you could say that I raced. I remember hearing lots of cheers from other Bellas on the course, my family and friends. Rachel Lloyd passed me. TWICE! I figured it was a blessing because I didn't have to complete a fourth lap. I got DFL, but was very pleased with myself for completing the race and successfully riding the technical downhill section without unclipping. Oh. And since my Podium Boy was out of town, I dorked out and wore my camelback during the race. Why haven't I done that before?

All in all, the race was awfully fun!

Ciao! Ciao!