Fremont Criterium, CA
3rd, Natasha Perry, Women Pro/1/2
8th, Erika Donald, Women Pro/1/2
13th, Tracie Nelson, Women Pro/1/2
14th, Linda Locke, Women Pro/1/2
11th, Angela Aldrich, Women 3
14th, Soni Andreini Poulsen, Women 3

Leesville Gap Road Race, CA
5th, Monica Neilson, Women 1/2/3
11th, Meredith Obendorfer, Women 4
2nd, Julie Porter, Women 40-44
1st, Andi Mackie, Women 45-49

More Natasha in the News

June 23-28

WTF?

You’re going to have to read the New York blog here to find out.

A week of racing in Winthrop

by Erika

School’s Out for Summer!!!

While my teammates were pre-riding in Park City, I was closing up my classroom as students left on the last day of school. This is a bittersweet day—but, admittedly, mostly sweet! Taking days off during the last week of school is a big no no, so I was not able to join everyone for the NORBA in Park City, but there were races the next two weekends in Winthrop, Washington. This is a beatiful town in the Methow Valley nestled in the North Cascades and the trails there are buff, fast, and super fun, so my husband and I arranged to stay the week!

The first weekend was a stage race. This was my new Kona Lisa Supreme’s maiden race, and I was soooo excited to race it! There were 22 women in the 1/2/3s and some really fast gals from the Seattle/Portland area.

The TT was a hilly 10 miles. I don’t think my bike was adjusted quite right because I could not find a comfortable and powerful position in the aero bars. I finished 9th—not that great, but I’ll take it! Time trials are so painful!

The crit was in downtown Twisp—population 1,000. Rough roads—four left hand turns—headwind on the backside. After racing in the Walla Walla crit and DNFing, I was really nervous about doing another crit. After a few laps, I made it into a break of five—Suz Weldon and Lise Grace from Wines of Washington, Leah Stralka from Byrnes Invent, Allison Beall from Ti Cycles, and me. I knew these ladies were fast and I would have to work hard to hang on. The cool part was hearing my husband’s whole team cheering for me each lap and the racer who must have been pulled from the crit yelling, “Go Vello Bella!” The two Wines of Washington ladies took turns attacking off the front while the rest of us covered their attacks. With two laps to go, Suz Weldon took off and got a gap we could not bridge. On the last lap, I was telling myself that 5th place with these ladies is pretty darn good and I would be happy with that, so I sat at the back of the line. On the backside, one our friends was standing on a corner yelling at me to get to the front before the next turn. So—without thinking—I just did it. I sprinted to the front of the line, took the inside around the turn, hammered up the hill without shifting, made the last turn, and sprinted for home. I kept expecting someone to pass me before the finish, but no one did!!!! I have never felt so proud of a second place finish. Here is the sprint:

The road race on Sunday was 71 miles, and I was so keyed up after the crit, I did not sleep too well. Leg cramps during the night didn’t help much, either. I woke up on Sunday feeling like I had been hit by a truck. The race went pretty well until my bottle got dropped in the feed zone—bummer. After that, I just held on the best I could and tried to avoid cramping on every hill. I finished 8th in the road race for a 5th place in the GC.

I woke up Monday morning with very sore legs and a knee that didn’t want to bend, so we had a couple days of easy riding to try to recover for the mountain bike race coming up on Saturday. As much as I love my new road bike, I could not wait to put it away and spend quality time with my mountain bike. Again—the riding here is phenomenal!!

We got in some great rides and rested plenty before the the Methow Cycle & Sport Mountain Challenge—an Indie Series race put on by Mark Peterson at Kona. I think there were six women in the pro/open class and it was a fast start! Kristy Berg and I went out hard and left behind the rest of the field. Kristy is a great technical rider and she got away from me in the steeper sections of the course. I came in second without any crashes or mechanicals which is always a bonus! Here is a pic of our “podium”. (Awards were a little late, so the other ladies must have gone home.) The braver podium finishers stood on the picnic table. Knowing me, I would have fallen off…

Mark from Kona even gave a plug for Vanderkitten while I was up there!

Thanks for reading!

Owasco Flyer – June 24

LiLynn’s steriod induced Report:

It was a dark and stormy night. Well actually it was a beautiful sunny morning with temps around 70 at 9:30am as the beautiful bella babes were conversing with the new bella baby getting her prepped for her first race as a bella. This took at least a half an hour of warm up. First we had to attach the pink fluff to her end of the tandem and then doll up her hair with the blue hair dye and finally find a pair of bike shorts that would stay up for at least 2 hrs.

The bella team was ready for action once again – out for a great time, maybe even some great results. The race started with over 200 riders of all abilities (very scary), all at once following a pace “car” through town.
I could not believe they chose to have a semi truck as a pace car with our own bella, Sue Attwood driving. over the speaker I kept hearing, “stay up near the front bella’s, 10-4 good buddy” – totally freakin me out. Always good to know your pace car driver though.

But just before the hill the back of the semi opened up and there was Madonna again with her microphone cheering us on saying “..keep up the cadence, babes. ..You’re lookin good…” Well I almost fell off my bike at that point and the rest of the peleton is wondering if this was just a bella affair or what.

Well I had been having some asthma issues all week and still suffering and had to back off so I lost sight of the semi but saw
Gaetane hammering up with the mens trying to stay on the wheel of the ironman triathlete woman and wait, there was Kate with the mens too! Kate was a total animal in heat, going for the ironman.

Woman on a mission. pedal to the metal. Kinda had that psycho look in her eyes. Even Gaetane backed off. I bade farewell to my mates and set into a pace I could manage to breathe without fainting. If I had a wheel to ride I was fine and on the hills I practiced Child bearing breathing with lots of concentration and a high cadence I could get up the hills but had a hard time on the flats. Very frustrated. Suddenly lost my wheels to ride for a few miles after ditching a couple woman on the last big hill.

Out of nowhere came mighty mouse Sue Kahler.

Whoopie! She instantly became coach and we were off. She put me on her wheel and we road several miles together on the gradual downhill flying like the wind. This little thing “sue” was belting out orders to me left and right. Cracking me up. I didn’t dare have an asthma attack. We hit a hill and I did a goober shift while stressing about the tracter mowing the hay field off to the side as the wind blew towards me anticipating my poor lungs rebelling when I blew my chain off.

Jenn came up behind me and I had that chain on in record time and we sprinted up before I had to breath that hay in. Off to my right I see Jano dripping wet running up the hill. She had just swam accross Owasco lake to come see us finish. Crazy triathlete bellas. Well we were doing everything we could to try to catch Jano. Streak lightning. As we came into the the last roller to the finish I was distracted by this woman whose car was pulling out in front of me with the marshal almost on her hood and the woman yelling at her that she had road rights too. I actually almost stopped to punch her out but figured i’d
leave that up to the semi truck driver.

All in all the bella’s had a great showing. Only the visible Bella’s made the standings but the bella’s overall ‘in my mind’ fared very well in the standings and looked good too. If you only could have seen Sue driving that semi!

I will be making a comeback. Since the race I have been put on steroids for my asthma issues these past few weeks so watch out world. LiLynn is on steroids! Photo to prove it.

Results:
Ellie Bayles (new bella!) and her dad were 3rd in the tandem division.
Lylynn 2nd Women 50+
Sue 1st Women 50+ (There were a LOT of 50+ women!)
Kate 2nd woman overall

My Podium Shot

by Denise

So, I decided to make the 2.5 hour drive to do this criterium in Stockton and had a kick-ass time…..I got 2nd place. The course was great, it was nice’n warm, and there were plenty of Port o’Johns, which is a plus in my race book. An EMC gal and I agreed to work together on the last 2 laps, so we could place–which we did.

I quickly realized that if you race in the front of the group, the announcers will call out your name on most every lap, which makes you feel like a rock star. Since, I had no other teammates in this race, I was able to move about pretty easily, with no other worries, except keeping myself safe and riding smart.

Here’s a recap of how dang famous, for 40-minutes, I really was:

“Denise Ramirez of Velo Bella is out of the saddle chasing down
Webcor.”

“Velo Bella is charging around this corner.”

“Velo Bella was nipped at the line for this preem.”

Photo Courtesy of Steven Woo
“Here comes EMC and Velo Bella for the sprint finish! Velo Bella is
coming along side and is she going to get it?! EMC takes the win, with
Velo Bella second, and Team X taking the third spot!”

So with that, EMC gal and I gladly scooped up our prize envelope and we looked around for the podium. What?! No podium photo?! If I bust my female balls, for any race and I place, I want to relish in the limelight a bit longer and have my picture taken, like the rock star I am!

I decide to take my own picture with my prize envelope. Cheesy I know, but this is my race and my blog, so here you have it–taken in my backyard. I pulled out my 4-hour old, wrinkly, sweaty jersey from my backpack and put the dang thing on, just for this podium shot.

I just opened my prize envelope and not only was it chock full of $$, it contained a hand-made card and lots of glitter’n stuff. Someone took their time to make this and I think it’s lovely…..it makes up for the lack of an official podium shot.

Burlingame Criterium, CA
3rd, Katie Norton, Women 4
24th, Meredith Obendorfer, Women 4
29th, Sarah Kerlin, Women 1/2/3

Michigan State Time Trial Championship
1st, Monica Tory, Women 4

Chickasaw Bassackwards TT and XC Report

On a couple of hot and dusty days in this dry Southern summer, the Tennessee Velo Bellas kicked bootay and took names at the Chickasaw Bassackwards time trial and cross country mountain bike race in Columbia, Tennessee on June 9 and 10, taking several podium spots.

June 9 • Time Trial
The course was 3.7 miles of some of the fastest singletrack at Chickasaw, with a challenging uphill finish. Results and times are below.

Jennifer Moorehead, 1st place Sport 19-29, with a time of 0:16:27
Angela Brown, 1st place Beginner 19+, with a time of 0:16:46

June 10 • XC
The course is laid in the opposite direction of the Classic course from the March race, with a few variations.

Jennifer Moorehead, 1st place Sport 19-29, with a time of 1:41:27 on the two-lap race
Maria Pino, 1st place Beginner 19+, with a time of 0:53:02 on the one-lap race

CCCX MTB #8, Fort Ord, CA
1st, Katlann Kintz, Junior Women 18 & Under
4th, Michelle Perez, Beginning Women
6th, Daphne Hodgson, Beginning Women
3rd, Sabine Dukes, Pro/Expert Women
5th, Jen See, Pro/Expert Women

Stockton Criterium, CA
2nd, Denise Ramirez, Women 4
??, Stella Carey, Women 1/2/3
18th, Tracie Nelson, Women 1/2/3
21st, Soni Andreini Poulsen, Women 1/2/3
24th, Angela Aldrich, Women 1/2/3

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