Velo Bella :: Patrons :: Our Outreach

Velo Bella in the Community
Sponsorship funds and products will be used to fund the following events and activities:

Distribute free or discounted team clothing and products to junior riders
Distribute product and prizes at Elementary School rodeos
Pay for USCF and NCNCA memberships
Entry fees for junior racers
Entry fees for top placing racers
Product and prize incentives at century rides
Entry fees, product and other costs for Regional/National event racers
Race mentoring to novice racers
Coaching, safety and mechanical workshops
Annual donations to cycling related foundation

Visit our Velo Bella Outreach gallery, and read a sampling of Velo Bella's outreach efforts to date:

02/01/04 - Georgia Belle-as Organize Race Clinic
Cathy Boland organized a southern style race clinic for our Georgia Belles. Seven (7) Women attended the FREE session and seemed to have a good ol time. BIG BELLA THANKS to clinic instructors, Kelli Rogan and Esther Davis, for volunteering and to the rest of the gals for showing up and learning stuff.

06/01/03- Velo Bellas Volunteer at Beginners
Mountain Bike Clinic
Alyson, Janet and Sabine joined professional mountain biker and bella, Shelly Whisenhant, as ride leaders at the Women's Mountain Bike Summit held at Wilder Ranch. About 30 women attended the friendly, informative clinic designed to encourage women to get out and ride. Velo Bellas helped lead and sweep rides as well as make the day fun and informative.

02/22/03 - Velo Bella Volunteers at Bayview School
Bike Rodeo
Velo Bellas Laura, Shelly and Alyson spent the afternoon adjusting helmets, fixing bikes, sending kids through obstacle courses, teaching bicycle safety and even gave away water bottles and a BMX bike (donated by local shops and Velo Club Monterey). This rodeo was the first of a series of Elementary School Bicycle Rodeos that Velo Bella participates in each year.

02/01/03 - Velo Bella participates in High School
Mountain Bike Camp
Velo Bella sent volunteers and junior riders to the 1st Annual Calfornia High School League Moutnain Bike camp. The Nor Cal High School League was organized to provide a well defined race season for junior racers and to promote the formation of teams at public high schools. The camp was the first time the students were able to get togther before the season to learn about bicycle maintenance, fit, skills, safety and nutrition. The camp was a huge success as it sold out within weeks of offering. More information on the league can be found here.

10/01/02 - Velo Bella Sponsors Beginner Racers
In an effort to entice more women to the sport of cyclocross, Velo Bella
sponsors the newly created "C" category for women at the popular Surf City Cyclocross Series. Velo Bella will provide the prizes for overall series winners and promote the series on the Velo Bella website. Prizes will come from sponsorhship products and products donated by Velo Bella members. In addition, Velo Bella is sponsoring a points contest called "The Dirty Dozen."

09/21/02 - Volunteered at Foothill School Rodeo
Our Morgan Hill chapter assisted the Monterey Velo Club in their outreach efforts to support safe cycling for kids.

A big thank you to the VCMers who turned out to help at the Foothill School Rodeo on Saturday: Bob Shanteau, Scott Calley and his daughter Katie, and of course Mike Nicholson who has taken the lead in organizing VCM's participation in these events. He takes care of all the details, not the least of which is arranging for a new bicycle to be given to some lucky kid courtesy of VCM.

A very special thank you goes to the Velo Bellas and in particular Jenny Udall, from the Morgan Hill chapter. The Monterey-based Bellas were racing this weekend and couldn't make it, but Jenny volunteered to drive down from Gilroy to help the kids and show the colors. She was big hit with the kids, and a big help to all of us. It was a very cool thing to do.

Thank you everyone!

Steve Blum

06/08/02 - Velo Bella helps out at Women's Only Weekend
Alyson Lowrey made the 8-hour drive to volunteer at Big Bear's popular Women's Only Weekend. The Big Bear event is designed to teach women mountain biking skills and introduce them to the sport of cross country and downhill racing. Clinics are led by top female racers such as Leigh Donovan. Alyson led the junior clinic on Saturday and cheered on first-time racers on Sunday.

05/15/02 - Donated T-Shirts and Water Bottles to the Womens Category 3, 4, 5 Road Bicycle Racing Series
This series is organized to increase involvement and awareness of womens racing in Northern California.

04/02 - Instituted the 2002 Velo Bella Points Scramble.
This season-long contest allows all Velo Bella members to accumulate points which they can redeem for prizes and a season end raffle. This contest awards all Velo Bella members, not just racers, as it provides for points for races, centuries, volunteer events, upgrading in race category. Extra points are available to any member who completes their first race or century. This contest is open to anyone who owns a Velo Bella jersey and participants will be able to keep track of their progress through weekly updated results on the website.

04/06/02 - Volunteered at La Mesa School Bicycle Rodeo
Velo Bellas spent the afternoon adjusting helmets, fixing bikes, sending kids through obstacle courses, teaching bicycle safety and even gave away water bottles and a BMX bike (donated by local shops and Velo Club Monterey).

Dear Mike & All Velo Volunteer Members,

La Mesa School's bicycle rodeo was a complete success! We had 73 students, which included 8 pre-schoolers attend our rodeo. I wish I could personally thank each one of you, for doing such an awesome job.

Thank you for your support and commitment to keeping our community's children safe when they ride their bicycles.

Mahalo & Aloha,

Ken Shen #154
Police School Resource Officer
Lead Explorer Advisor Post #257

03/21-24/02 - Volunteered at Sea Otter Classic
Information Booth
In addition to helping thousands of Sea Otter participants find what they needed, Velo Bella used the centralized space to promote the club, sell T-Shirts and pass out water bottles.

03/02 - Donated Water Bottles to Central Coast Spring Mountain Bike Series
All top beginner, sport and expert women finishers in the series received Velo Bella water bottle as part of series prizes.

02/02 - Worked with Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital on "Exercise Challenge 2002"
Velo Bella will be featured in this campaign as a resource to women looking for exercise opportunities. Velo Bella has donated water bottles as prize incentives for participants.