Early Season NRC
March 12, 2006
The NRC season has begun with the long swing through California.
Kele’s been babbling about them.
Check out her report on the McClane Pacific
and her reports from the fields of the Central Valley Classic
Mclane Pacific Report: Kele Murdin
March 8, 2006
The McClane Pacific Criterium began the women’s NRC road season, with a bang! The first 3 laps of the race allowed everyone to quickly remember the pain that is racing, as each lap offered significant cash primes. After which, with so many fresh legs and multiple attacks, were quickly responded to by our Velo Bella-Kona riders, keeping things together for our phenom-sprinter Nicole! Kele was able to snatch a little $Cha-Ching$ prime mid way through the race, just moments before a front flat in an attack where she took out three-quarters of the field. Jen Chapman noted that these frames have a remarkably smooth ride and she found out they can really take a hit when she rolled over Kele in a crash, the bike came out without a scratch! Super Climber Jane Z credits the bikes awesome responsiveness and snap as being a huge part of her best finish EVER in a NRC crit!
The end of the race came down to a pack sprint, after much hard work from the entire Velo Bella-Kona squad. Nicole snerfed her way into the top 10, to finish our first Velo Bella-Kona race with style, and pain written all over her face!!
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Sunday’s race offered a 3 lap 24 mile loop of mildly rolling, yet quite windy farmland (a nice way of saying stinky). The race has a huge onslaught of attacks early, covered by our speedy and smallest member Jen Joynt. The aggression continued throughout the 72 miles, and Velo Bella-Kona was well represented throughout. Again, our riders rose to the occasion and fought hard in the enormous winds, and fast course. Seeing as most our riders are sub-110 lbs, it was a tough day…Hiroko dug deep to stay protected, what a champ!
Jen Chapman unfortunately got tangled up in a crash on the second lap, but with after some stitches and pain killers, the report is the bike is fine. Oh yea, so is Jen (minus that elbow bone chip that is still on the road and the hematoma riding on her tailbone, preventing her from sitting…otherwise Peachy).
All in all, a fabulous weekend! We rode with pride and confidence on our pimped out Queen Zing carbon Kona frames, and I have a feeling this season will be spectacular. The potential of each rider goes far beyond our expectations, and with Nicole in the driver’s seat, anything is possible. The chemistry of our new team is off to a great start, and the positive energy from our support staff is stellar…So “Bring it!!”, we’re ready!
And one time, when I was at Velo Bella – Kona Pro MTB Camp…
March 6, 2006
Camp was on this weekend for the all new Velo Bella-Kona MTB team. Clickyclicky here to read Alex’s report from camp.
Training Camp Photos
Bella Photo Shoot Fun
Update on Jen Chapman
March 6, 2006
We had a couple crashes this weekend at Mclane Pacific races as was predicted in early races.
Jen Chapman was taken away to the hospital after being in a pretty bad pile up on Sundays road race. Good news is that the X-rays are all good and shes just a little banged up with a chipped elbow. She says she will be back in a couple of weeks and says thanks for the nice thoughts and phone calls!
Latest will be updated soon with more info on the weekends events!
Brent Chapman
VB Road Team Manager
March 4-5
March 5, 2006
McLane Pacific-Downtown Grand Prix, CA
8th, Nicole Freedman, Women 1/2/Pro
30th, Jennifer Joynt, Women 1/2/Pro
47th, Jennifer Chapman, Women 1/2/Pro
48th, Jane Ziegler, Women 1/2/Pro
54th, Hiroko Shimada, Women 1/2/Pro
McLane Pacific-Foothills Road Race, CA
7th, Monica Neilson, Women 1/2/Pro
??, Jen Joynt, Women 1/2/Pro
??, Kele Murdin, Women 1/2/Pro
??, Hiroka Shimada, Women 1/2/Pro
??, Nicole Freedman, Women 1/2/Pro
??, Andi Smith, Women 1/2/Pro
17th, Sue Lovecchio, Women 3/4
18th, Luciana Vecchi, Women 3/4
22nd, Heidi Horton, Women 3/4
??, Sabine Dukes, Women 3/4
??, Soni Andreini Poulsen, Women 3/4
Texas Mtb Championships #3: Warda
1st, Kiersten Inserni, Women 11-12
Weekend Wrap Up 26-27
March 1, 2006
The Tiny Texan led the charge this weekend as she completed her first duathlon AND her first road race. And won. Check out proud poppa’s story here.
Bellas showed up for the Central Coast MTB #2 in all categories. Kathleen Bortloussi is in a tight battle in the Pro/Expert women category as she finishes in 2nd this week. New bella, Ryan Hostetter, completed her first expert race. LAURA did a mountain bike race and didn’t even tell me and now she’s in trouble. And Katy Kintz came back for her 3rd race, so I think that makes her a racer girl now.
Roadie girls headed back down to the Central Valley for the sunny happy Senlling race and the icky rainy Merced Crit. Kelekelebobella rode smooth in the rain for a 3rd place finish in the crit. It was a great warm up for next weekend’s NRC opener, McClane. Big news is that the Cat 4 women’s field sold out and a second field was added. Numbers were high for all women’s categories. Women’s racing in NorCal is so hot right now. Check out Kele’s report on the road race and the crit and JJ’s enchilada revenge.
Of course, the coolest news of the weekend was that some of the Kona team bikes have arrived and they are swank. 
RESULTS
RACE PICS
