July 2002

07/30/02 - Commonwealth Games Silver for Susy
Good on ya, Susy! The Commonwealth Games has been the focus of the season for Susy this year. While the Commonwealth Games do not receive too much coverage in America, they are a pretty big deal to the Commonweath Countries. They only come around once every four years, and a medal at the Games means as much as, if not more than, a World Championship to the countries involved.

Susy has tasted success in the Games before. She won a silver medal at the road event in Kuala Lumpur in 1998. And this year, for the first time, mountain biking would be offered at the games. Susy was selected by New Zealand to represent them in BOTH the road and mountain bike events. (Wow!)

The mountain bike event was held in Rivington Park, near Manchester, England. The 26K course featured a technical descent named, "Snakebite Alley." The rocky, cobblestoney, steep descent forced Susy to make a decision between running high pressure in her tires to help avoid pinchflats, or low pressure to alleviate bouncing down the rocky course. She opted for the high pressure.

Caroline Alexander leapt out to an early lead, followed by Chrissy Redden, Mary Grigson and Susy. Susy succumbed to her high pressure tires with a vicious crash on Snakebite. She hurt her wrist and smooshed her face, but she carried on. Alexander also succumbed to Snakebite. She flatted and did not carry on. Redden was now in the lead, but Susy was charging. On the last lap, Susy pulled to within 10 seconds of the Canadian rider, but that was before the last ride through Snakebite. Susy stayed upright, but she couldnt pull back Redden. Susy was pleased as punch though to cross the line safely in second place.

Susys New Zealand teammate didnt fare as well. Sadie Parker also crashed on the descent. She was airlifted off the course and suffered a broken arm and multiple lacerations and remains in the hospital. Susy suffered a black eye, some facial lacerations and a fractured left wrist. She has yet to decide whether she will be able to carry on in the road race on Saturday. Susy says that the crash may have marred the rest of this season, but that carrying on and winning the silver was worth it.

Heres what New Zealand is saying about Susy:

New Zealand Herald Pryde Wins Silver for NZ
New Zealand Herald Crash, Bang and a Silver
NZZoom Glory and Heartbreak for Cyclists
n.z.p.a. Great Pryde Ride Secures Silver

07/23/02 - Livermore Road Race
by Shelly
It was a great Velo Bella day at the Livermore Hills RR. Six relatively short (6-mile) laps and a field of 20 Cat 3s. Me, Petra (racing for Trek/VW), Laura, Jessie and Sabine were there.

After a mellow first lap, Petra and I drove a hard pace for lap 2 and the first half of the 3rd lap to try to tire out the field and shell some people off the back. Then on the long descent on back side of the loop on lap 3, Sabine attacked, which her teammates successfully chased down (we all learned a good lesson about the purpose of an attack yesterday), to keep the pace high and further tire the field. The hard pace and attack took its toll, and we lost Sabine on the next climb at the start of lap 4. Shortly after that Sabine suffered a flat tire. Big Bummer. On the start of lap 5, the pace slowed way down, so Laura decided to attack (her 2nd of 2 attacks in the race), but she got a warning for crossing the center line by the lead motto. So, in true "Laura fashion," she stuck her finger up to her mouth, apologized in her most innocent voice to the motto ref, and slowed up for the peloton. I think all of our attacks and hard efforts were effective in tiring out some of the potential contenders, but the course was such that we couldn't really break up the peloton very much on the short loops, with the short climbs and descents, so it was going to come down to a sprint finish.

I realized if I wanted a shot at the win I needed to stay close to the front on the last decent on lap 6, before the sharp right turn and 500m uphill climb to the finish line. I ended up driving a hard pace down the descent but didn't really want to be in the very front, so luckily a girl jumped ahead of me with about 1/4 mile to go before the rt. turn. I jumped on her wheel, then at the turn I came around her and jumped on the pedals for the sprint. Half way up the hill I glanced back to see that I was a good 50 ft. off the front. I kept sprinting anyway all the way to the finish, just for the sake of sprint practice. Petra worked hard at the front with me most of the race and got 7th in the sprint. Laura was in the pack, too, and got 13th. We won money and granola and had a great race day.

Editorial Note - Other Velo Bellas racing that day included Monica in the Women 4, and Terry and Sherie in the Women 5. Terry said she had the BEST time racing (It was only her second race ever!) and is ready for more. Well yee haw! Also, big thanks to Jessie for the Sara Lee bagels.

07/22/02 - Watsonville Crit - Many 1sts but no Podium
by Dana
Livermore RR or Watsonville Crit? After so many travels and still recovering from the Death Ride, Elizabeth Caraker and I decided it would be best to sleep in and stay close to home. Heck, I've never raced a crit, so this will be a first! Memory often fails me, but I do recall some Bellas saying that no woman's race would be as hard as what we do with our group and crit rides with the local Cat 1/2/3 Velo Fellas. (Obviously, they were referring to Cat 4 Women's races.) Sabine, however, did warn us that "the Watsonville Crit has this little hill that just kills after 10 or so laps, especially when you are chasing the 1/2 women." Well, she was right...and we did 34 laps! My, my...what a workout! I spent 30-40 minutes with my hear racing in Zones 5B & 5C (another first) - quite the flutter for a little technical course through a sleepy residential neighborhood. My goal was to hang and not get lapped, so that was accomplished. Unfortunately, Elizabeth cramped on lap 3, recovered and got back in, but those muscle spasms won out.

This was a first for me to race with the Pro 1/2s, who were grouped with the 3/4/5s. I was extremely impressed with the stamina and speed of the gals from Santa Cruz Spokesman, Alto Velo, and Palo Alto Bicycles! Go ladies...nice team work! The real winner of the day was no surprise, Carmen D'Aluisio of Cliff Bar. (We heard this crit was simply a training ride for the local cyclo cross champ.) When lap 34 ended, I came in 11th in the pack as fodder and 5th for the 3/4/5s. I was glad a T-Shirt was the prize and not food...would not have been able to keep anything down. Now I know what an aerobic hangover is all about...another first!

07/17/02 - Gold in Georgia
by Cathy Boland
Our very own Atlanta Velo Bella, Sally Wansboro, took two golds in the Georgia Games in Augusta, GA this past weekend. Saturday was a flat, fast criterium course with a combined 1-4 Women’s field. Sally was the only Cat 4 Woman left in the field after repeated attacks from the small but determined pack. She took third in the field sprint but received a gold for her 1st place in the Cat 4 division.

Sunday was a rolling 22-mile road race for the Cat 4 Women’s field. The pack was gradually whittled down from attacks but stayed together for a field sprint in the end. Sally, showing the speed and jumping ability she has gained from a season of racing at the velodrome, lead out the final sprint and handily won by several bike lengths. Woo Hoo!! Go Sally, Go!

07/17/02 - Night at the Track
by Cathy Boland
I really had to force myself to go to the weekly track race tonight. <whine mode on> I had a migraine yesterday and felt just washed out. It was hot and a code red ozone day to boot. I could feel my lungs complaining before I even got into the car. If I hadn't planned to meet another Velo Bella teammate, Kelli Rogan, for an early pre-race workout and for the little fact that Masters Track Natz are all of 3 weeks away, I would have bailed for sure. <whine mode off> So I told that whiney little negative voice in my head to keep quiet, and I headed down for the track.

Good golly, Miss Molly! It was hot at that concrete pit. I firmly told my wimpy alter ego to shut the hell up. After Kelli and I warmed up and did a couple of jumps, poor Kelli had to give it up and go home. She had crashed in training last Saturday and just wasn't feeling up to par yet.

The first race was a "10-Lap Snowball." The race is called that because the points snowball on every lap. The winner of the first lap gets one point, winner of the second lap gets two, and so on. Snowballs are usually fast and furious and no doubt are probably the most painful race on the track. The level of women’s competition this year at Dick Lane Velodrome is the highest I have ever seen it in ten years of racing there. All categories ride together, and there is a heavy sprinkling of 1's and 2's in the field. This race was guaranteed to be blistering. Velo Bellite Sally Wansboro, showing what a GA Games Gold medallist is made of, jumped from the gun to stay away solo for the first 3 laps, netting herself 6 points. Another Bellite, Esther Davis, taking advantage of the field having to chase down Sally, jumped hard on lap 5 and got herself 6 points as well. Yours truly was languishing at the back of the pack coughing up a lung. On lap 8, I prodded myself up to near the front of the pack and told my legs to jump and jump hard. My legs answered back 'f u' and my attempt to beat out one of the local studettes for 9 points was unsuccessful. Ah, well. Perfectly timed but no legs to back it up. At least I got half of it right. Having blown my wad, I sat up for the last lap, as there was no hope of winning that one.

The next race was a "Miss and Out," sometimes called "The Devil Takes the Hindmost." The last person across the line on each lap gets pulled out of the race until there are 3 people left for a final sprint. The key to this race is to stay up front. Sitting in the back is dangerous as you either have to sprint on every lap (exhausting) or you get trapped with nowhere to go. For once I decided that I was getting my butt to the front so that I didn't get pulled almost immediately. We were also combined with the Men's Cat 4, and I didn't want to mix it up with those squirrel meisters in the pack. (Men's Cat 4 on the track are really scary.) I managed to stay on the front for quite a while, but my lack of true fitness finally won out and I slid further back in the field. Esther had flatted by this time, Sally had been pulled, and Amy Spruill was the only other Velo Bella left. After watching some of the guys wriggle all over the track for a few laps and feeling like I had been hit by a truck, I decided to leave it to her and pulled myself out of the race. I ended up somewhere around 8th and Amy was 6th. Not enough for overall nightly points, unfortunately.

The last race was an "Unknown Distance Event" combined once again with the Cat 4 Men. Literally, you don't know how long the race will be until the bell is rung for the last lap. You can get lucky in the race if you are off the front when the bell is rung. I was the only Velo Bella gal left at this point - everyone else had opted to leave early for various reasons. Bummer. With no one to work with, I decided to jump early and pray for an early bell. I attacked on lap 3, but was chased down in short order. Even bigger bummer. I retired to the back of the pack to catch my breath and realized pretty quickly what a mistake that was. Someone attacked and I was caught behind some slower riders with no juice left in my legs to go around them. Ack! We caught back to the leaders just in time for the bell ring. Double ack! I was dead. I dug deep for a the sprint, but it was a lost cause.

Another night of no points. Ah well. It was good training, I wasn't total pack fodder, and it was very exciting to see so many women at the track. Sally and Esther got a couple of points for their performances as well, so not all was lost. We'll be racing this weekend again for Regional Track Championships. And most exciting of all: there will be a Velo Bella team pursuit entry! What fun!

Editorial Note - Follow the action of the Velo Bella Squad as they compete in weekly track sessions at the Dick Lane Velodrome in Georgia.

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