San Diego Bellas Hold First Annual Camp

By Whitney Despain
San Diego, California

It is a well-documented fact: Anytime you get a group of Bellas together, it’s going to be fun! The First Annual San Diego Velo Bella Camp was no exception.

Twenty-seven San Diego Bellas came to Coastal Sports & Wellness Medical Center in San Diego at 8:00a.m. to start the first clinic- Dynamic Stretching and Warm-ups with legendary local physical therapist and ART provider, Gino Cinco. He started us out gently enough. We laid on the ground, working out the kinks on foam rollers. But, as is typical of Gino’s style, soon we were all sweating. He took us back and forth across the room with different warm-up moves. When we were feeling good, he let us loose on his circuit of pain. Yikes! The circuit included balance boards, medicine balls, push-ups and tethered running. There was a LOT of giggling, but we all got a great workout!

Next, part-time Velo Bella and full-time Gorilla Multisports coach DeeAnn Smith did a presentation on the art of hill climbing. After 30 minutes of explaining how to become a better climber, DeeAnn and her assistant/husband Norm Smith took us out on the road so we could practice. I don’t think the folks on Torrey Pines had ever seen such a gorgeous group of fast women! DeeAnn’s expert advice had us all moving out of our comfort zone trying new things. It was an awesome ride!

After the workout with Gino and the ride with DeeAnn, we were all starving. Luckily Chipotle hosted our lunch! They provided a super delicious free burrito, salad or taco plate to everyone in our group. AND they didn’t seem to mind how stinky we all were! That’s my kind of restaurant.

For our afternoon clinics, we went to local bike shop, B&L Bike and Sports San Diego. B&L has a great reputation for their knowledgeable staff, who actually LIKE their customers. Amazing, but true. Service manager, Scott Porter, stepped us through the care and maintenance of our bikes. He cleaned things we didn’t know needed cleaning. He oiled things we didn’t know needed oiling. More than once, he took something apart and we all went “ahhhh”. The hour flew by, and I think we all could have easily spent the rest of the afternoon having him explain brake adjusting, chain cleaning, and cable care.

The grand finale of our camp was a presentation from Kim Mueller, a sports nutritionist. Kim and her company, Fuel Factor, are well-known in SoCal for providing nutrition counseling to a wide range of athletes. We could tell right away she really knew her stuff. After giving us a clear, easy to understand outline of basic sports nutrition principles, she answered wide range of questions. She explained everything thoroughly. We all walked away smarter and grateful to Kim for sharing her vast knowledge.

Shout-outs!

A huge thank you to Gino Cinco, DeeAnn Smith, Scott Porter and Kim Mueller. These four are experts in their fields who all donated their time on a Saturday to help our group have a great season. We all appreciate your time. Mille Grazie!

Thank you to the official camp photographer, John Faseler. Thanks for only showing our good sides.

Thank you also to Coastal Sports & Wellness Medical Center and B&L Bike & Sports San Diego for welcoming us into your facilities.

All Bellas received goodie bags packed with awesome products. Thanks to the following for their generous support: B&L Bike and Sports, Chamois Butt’r, Chipotle, Goody Hair Products, Gorilla Multisports, Infinit Nutrition, LUNA bar, Lululemon, and University Physical Therapy.

See you next year!

Recovery Secret

Brittany Growdon demonstrates the Super Secret Patented Bella Training Camp Recovery Technique.® Soak until done. For best results, follow with a session of winervals!

Velo Bella Goes To Camp: Photo Gallery

The Bellas hit the roads around San Luis Obispo for three days of training, skillz drillz, and winervals. Santa Barbara photographer Carson Blume followed the Bellas and captured the fun. Here is what he saw:

Want to see more? There are oodles more photos of Bella fun in the full gallery by Carson Blume. You can also order photos of yourself and your friends. What could be better?

Velo Bella thanks Carson Blume for the use of his photos. All photos this page are copyright Carson Blume and are used with permission. Look, but don’t touch. Thanks.

Four Days of Soaring High

By Sarah Clatterbuck
California

This week I attended my first training camp ever with the Velo Bellas. They lured me in with promises of quiet roads that I like to ride on the Central Coast, lots of wine and good times. They conveniently omitted the part about the PAIN, but that’s OK, because it was a good kind of pain.

Rick and I drove down Friday night to stay in San Luis Obispo with the other girls at the lovely Sands Inn for the long weekend. I heard there were waffles at the breakfast buffet, so I was pretty sure it was my kind of place.

Saturday morning, we headed down to breakfast where I began meeting team mates I did not yet know – Suenago, LilyBella, Becky, Bethany and Raja from San Diego. All in all, there were about 30 Bellas for the weekend plus about 10-12 male companions, so we easily over crowded the breakfast room. To my pleasant surprise, the waffles were “real” – not toaster waffles. They had a batter dispenser and you poured it over the iron, closed and flipped, at which point a countdown would commence. Even the boys seemed capable of making their own waffles, so everyone was happy. Yum!

Bellas roll out for Saturday’s training ride

At 9:00, we met up in the parking lot ready to ride. Well, almost ready. After about 40 minutes of socialization and hugs and picture taking, we were ready. Ryan and Tyler and Tyler’s team mates were our escorts for the weekend, which was cool. We had route masters and sweepers! It was sunny and beautiful. We finally rolled out and only got about a mile before we realized we were missing the Fresno girls. Apparently, they were hung up in the fog belt. We waited about 10 minutes in a hospital parking lot (seemed like a bad omen) and then they rolled up. It was on! We rolled down Orcutt road through the vineyards. Everyone was focused and on-form. The pace was brisk but comfortable. It was pretty amazing seeing a 40 person double pace line snaking through the Edna valley. It felt like I want racing to feel – it was like the first 3 hours of a Tour de France stage where everyone just hums along at a good clip and chats, making a colorful rainbow through the countryside.

We turned left up Lopez Road toward Lopez Lake. I was pretty stoked to be stuck in the pack up the first real “grade” of the day – the grade up to Lopez Dam – and I felt pretty comfortable. Apparently some were already getting shelled out the back. Yay! After winding around the lake, we turned right on Hi Mountain Road – one of my favorite rides in the area. It is about a 6 mile out and back. It seems flat, but it’s really a constant 2-3% grade with a few kicks of 5-ish percent and the last half mile kicking up to 10% and finally about 15% for a final, short assault. The pace stayed really high as we started up the grade, and I finally got shelled about 1 mile from the end. But, I looked back and there were lots of folks behind me, so not so bad. I humped my way up the final assault and enjoyed an energy snack at the top. We started the descent. I was looking forward to some quality recovery. But, someone (I won’t name any names) decided to “race” down the mountain. So, my heart rate was just as high going down as up. And, I wasn’t even able to catch on to the attacking group, not that I really tried too hard, since I wasn’t in that mode yet.

After the descent, a good chunk of riders decided to call it a day and head back. It would have been a 50 mile ride at that point. But, I decided to push on for the next out and back, which was Huasna Canyon – another lovely ride. I was feeling good after recovering and still hanging in with the pack. We took a cutoff, which introduced a steep little digger on School Road right before getting into the canyon. I stood to get over the digger with the pack, which turned out to be a bad idea. I pretty much burned my last match doing that and got shelled shortly after entering the canyon grade – I just could not recover. Huasna is structured much like Hi Mountain – a constant 2-3% grade for 10 miles with about a half mile 7% section at the end. Rick and I skipped the end of the canyon – pulling over about 5 miles in in a shady patch to eat and wait for the group to come back. We had a good view to see when they’d be coming. As soon as we saw the front of the pack, we started riding and easing into the pace. There was a splinter pack that caught and passed us before the end of the canyon and then stopped at the mouth where we also stopped to re-group with the main pack. We selected the “rolling” option to return to town rather than the “climb” option. The “rolling” option was on Corbett Canyon, a connector road we use a lot when visiting my parents. I was able to stick with the pack over the stair-stepping climbs of Corbett and back to town (barely). Thanks to Sabine for going to the front and slowing it down as I was starting to feel some pain as we slogged up the gentle grade. We ended with about 70 miles of hard tempo riding.

Sarah rocks the kit mash-up

Saturday night, we all went out for dinner at a local pizza place called Village Host. Yeah, we pretty much took it over, except for two tables. It was a BYO wine dinner (oops. We didn’t get the message). Fortunately, there was plenty to go around. We later went to a martini bar/dessert lounge and had “lava cakes”, which as you can imagine were fabuloso. The best part of the night was riding 6-up in Marian’s Buick Roadmaster station wagon. I was having serious flash backs to junior high when my friend Katie’s mom would drive all of us to the mall in hers. That thing is just enormous.

Sunday was skills and race drills. But first, there were waffles, of course. We met again at 9:00 – and rolled out at a leisurely 9:40ish again. Love it! We rode for just over an hour as a pack – up Orcutt Road, across Tiffany Ranch to Corbett Canyon to Highway 227 back toward town. I rolled off the front on Corbett with the idea of sag climbing the stair step. But, I ended up being a dork and finishing with a gap. Sorry guys! That was lame. I should have just moved up in the pack. We arrived at an unfinished neighborhood off 227 by the airport that had complete streets, but no houses – a perfect crit course. I was a big block with a little uphill and corresponding downhill. We did some skills then headed on the course for some mock crits/bridging drills. Oof. I experienced feelings I haven’t had in a while. But, it was very race-like while still being safe, which made it so, so fun. There were even some unplanned counter-attacks, which really mixed things up in our group. We also had a pro-photographer, Carson Blume, along, who made us look really fast and furious. Some of the group headed out for an extended ride. Others of us rode back to chill by the pool and drink beer. I love the ride they were doing, but heeded the call of the recovery time.

Sunday night, we descended on Vallarta Restaurant with no reservations and 30 people, which kind of threw them, but they were very accommodating. My mom and dad were able to join for dinner, so that was cool. The restaurant was close to the hotel, allowing margaritas to be consumed and we could stagger back. Mom and Dad stuck with the requisite Diet Coke, since they were driving. It was a festive time, and Carson did a nice slideshow of the pics after dinner. Sweet! Again, we ended the evening fairly early.

Monday promised an “easy” ride along the coast to Cayucos. I was hoping that “easy” would be the case, since I was starting to feel like I was at a stage race. We did actually start at a nice, leisurely pace. Everyone seemed a little bleary-eyed and unfocused, so I left a bigger gap than normal in front of me. We had just gotten out of town on Highway 1 near the “Men’s Colony” when I saw some bad swerving going on a few rows up and a rider go down. Fortunately, everyone else was able to stop without going down or running her over. It was Susie. Apparently, she’d hit a HUGE rock, lost the bars, was almost able to steer out of it with her body above the top tube, but then lost it. I was so sad, since she was looking forward to seeing the ocean all weekend. It seemed like she probably had broken ribs, so a friend was called to take her to the hospital while we finished off the ride.

The rest of the ride was nice and mellow. Everyone got a little more focused after that. We enjoyed ample tail winds and another warm and beautiful day with salty air. After 45 miles, we ended back at the hotel, did a quick change and quick lunch at Firestone and headed home.

On Tuesday, it was the BIG DAY. The college had set up a viewing room with breakfast for us to enjoy the inauguration. Unfortunately, there was no heat, so it was a lifelike Washington, D.C. experience. It was a little weird sitting teary-eyed with co-workers that I don’t know well yet. But, we were all moved to some extent by the historic moment, so it wasn’t like I was an anomaly. Even those who didn’t vote for Barack seem pretty excited and moved by what the moment in our history represents. I feel like we are all pulling for him and rowing in the same direction – at least for the moment. I hope this sentiment lasts and we can work together (even where we differ) to make this a better nation for all of us.

After all the physical exhaustion, thrills and emotional highs, I felt like a deflated balloon yesterday afternoon. I was back to the mundane. At least I feel like the work I’m doing is making a difference and will contribute to that better society that I want to be a part of. So, time to put down the intervals and winervals and start with some bookervals!

If you’ve ever wanted motivation to do more, to be more…

By Raja Lahti-McMahon
San Diego, California

Wow! I had an amazing weekend with 30 of my fellow Velo Bellas, hotties on bikes, up in San Luis Obispo. We had Bellas from all over California, even one from North Carolina! Some had just started riding in the last 6 months, others were seasoned racer chicks.

Then there were the boyz… A local racing group provided escorts, sweeps, tire changers extraordinaire and last but not least.. some mighty fine calves for all viewing needs. (Yup, he’s the one wearing the Velo Bella bibs!) When suffering, a good pair of calves will do.

We even had paparazzi!

Daily rides ranged from 25 miles to 75 miles of amazing farm roads and a skills clinic run by Michael Hernandez … a former San Diego triathlete now wicked cyclist in the Bay Area. Or AKA Sabine’s Boy Toy… Ooh là là!

Our own Ryan Hostetter (Girl Ryan) provided most excellent organizing, routes and most importantly, INSPIRATION! And Sue.. well, she just likes spanking boys. I think they call her SueNami! Marian… Virgin Blood is Vegan Safe… Cathy from NC, the track guru turned mommy…if you ever thought you didn’t want kids, have a little chat with Cathy. And the rest of the Bellaistic crew, what fun!

Laura and Sabine (pronounced like Sabina)…Mama Bellas! They are the perfect personification of Velo Bella – pink hair, endless humor, killer smiles, giggles and energy & motivation that never ends.

If you’ve ever wanted motivation to do more, be more…. Welcome to Velo Bella.

So next year… you don’t want to miss it! Who’s in?

I can’t even tell you how proud I am to be a Velo Bella!

Happy Riding!

Weeee!

The Bellas Play Bikes at Training Camp in San Luis Obispo, California

Video by Carson Blum