Jill Wins Snelling Road Race...

T-Shirt courtesy of Velo-Promo.

Merced Criterium

Kelly B (Cheerwine) won, Amber second, Jill third.
Totally fab race.

Spirited, at the Tour of California.

Amber, Bev and Jill went to spend the day (or 30 seconds) cheering for the men on Sierra Road in San Jose. We were left in awe by the spectacle of athleticism and the wonder that the World's best cyclists were riding through our hills.

(of course we didn't spectate with these signs)

Jill writing welcome greetings at the top of the climb

cold

and colder

GO Saul!

Go Hottie

(everyone loves Bev)

Stars of the Pine Flat Pre-Party

Sunday, February 18, 2007 11:20:22 AM PT

While Fabian Wegmann, Paolo Bettini, Ivan Basso and other cycling stars attended the team presentation and opening gala for the 2nd Tour of California in Sausalito, the paparazzi found top female cyclists at the opening ceremonies for the Pine Flat Road Race. This race has been good for Maria Monica. The defending champion of this event recently signed with Touchstone Climbing Elite Women’s team, whose members appeared to be enjoying the lavish pre-race party. Touchstone domestique, Kelly McDonald, was quoted as saying, “fighting off all of the men tonight will be a much harder task than getting up those little hills tomorrow.” She sure looks to be putting up a struggle.

Photo: Tougue
Picture: Kathy Conway

Photo: Thrown
Picture: Kathy Conway

Photo: Yeah Baby
Picture: Kathy Conway

*you can rent a himbo at www.himbo.com

Pine Flat by Pat

Weeeelllll........Pine Flat was jolly good, I think considering the circumstances that we were all dealing with. Kelly went into the race right out of heinous training week so she had lots of heavy work on her legs to deal with. In spite of which, Kelly took third behind Jane Despas, and Maria won! Kelly took a lot of pulls during the race, and I did too to keep Maria out of the wind and off the front. I think we were successful in that regard. There were fit and determined racers in our group who were not going to make this an easy race to win.

Here's how the race looked from my bike:
I had gear issues right from the start. My rear derailleur was giving me helll.........During the first 30 miles of the race where there are plenty of descents the darn thing wouldn't move into the heaviest gear so I couldn't get any gear on the downs, all I could do was go into a aero tuck and hope for the best. After the first 30 miles where the course moves into the flatlands and rollers, my rear derailleur got completely stuck in the heaviest gear. The only derailleur that worked was the front one. Soooo, I had two gears for the remainder of the race, my heaviest gear possible and the middle gear. Not good for the upcoming climb by any means. So, I did some attacks in my big chain ring in front and my hardest gear in back (where it was stuck), and to be fair, Jane Despas did work to chase me down. We hit the first rollers that begin the climb and Lisa Penzel jumped and attacked. She put on a really decent heated pace that left everybody gasping. I was stuck in my middle gear but I managed to hang on by running out of the saddle. Of course, at the top of each roller I looked like I was moving in slow motion. I was busy making plans about how at some point soon I was going to leap off my bike, and manually adjust the derailleur into the EASIEST gear when my cable just flat out broke, and there was no shifting anywhere anymore for me. I told the group "I'm done for. Have fun!" and as chance would have it, I hitched a ride with VeloPromo's Rick who was coming up behind in his little white truck. The cool thing was that I got to watch the rest of the race unfold from there.

First we came across a few Velo Bellas one by one who were separated from the pack by the climb. Then a few more. and a few more......Then Kelly in a group of three. Kelly looked calm cool and collected with a nice spin. The other two who were with her, well, they looked a little less calm and cool than our Kelly. I knew from past experience that that both those women can climb though; Tracy Lillig and Jen Joynt. Then a short while later we came across Lisa Penzel who looked like she was feeling the effects of her attack. Then, a fair distance later there was Jane Despas and Maria on the steepest part of the hill.This part of the hill was blowing some of the guys to smithereens. Jane and Maria were working smoothly through the carnage of blown racers from the other groups.

Rick drove on past Jane and Maria to the finish line where I got to watch the final outcome. Maria came around the corner first looking good. She had dropped Jane! Not too much farther behind her came Jane looking really determined. THEN, Kelly! Kelly had dropped the two racers she was with, and she had caught and dropped Lisa. (Not bad for having toasted her legs all week during training!)

It was also great watching the Cat 4 women come across the finish line at the end of their race too...Amy, Lisa, and Jess looked GREAT coming across the line. Amy came first of the Touchstone women in her group, then Lisa not far behind, then Jess soon after. I'm not sure what the exact placings were but I'm pretty sure that Amy had a top placing, and the other weren't too far off that mark either.

I think it was a pretty great day at the races again for Touchstone Climbing.

Holly's View of the Tour of California

Holly practiced photography skills at Sunday's TOC prologue in SF. She managed to selcect a few clear shots, most notable being Paolo Bettini's bottom. Keep up the sharp shooting Holly.

QOM-Maria Wins Pine Flat

Maria takes win at Pine Flat, Kelly 3rd. Report pending.

TT

All the very best to our favorite, Taylor T, in next week's Tour of California.

Martinez Criterium

Martinez Criterium was superb: technical, fast and torrential rain. For Kelly and Jill it was the first race of the season, for Holly the second.

There was a strong field, including Amber (Webcor), Brooke (Tibco) and Sarah’s Cheerwine’s. Our plan for the race consisted of staying at the front, the back, off the front and very much upright. We didn’t have aspirations to crush the competition-and had this been our goal we would have been disappointed.

After the race we were rather happy; we had finished with the pack which had been severely reduced and had been active in the race. Jill had worked so hard that she had vomited with 8 laps to go. Kelly had never really ridden a crit before, let alone a technical one in the rain. Unfortunately, Holly had a short race due to road debris in her eye.

Bottom line is that we had fun racing in the rain and laughing about it afterwards.

Congratulations to Brooke on the win(s)

Martinez Criterium

mid-race excitement at Martinez

Holly, Jill and Kelly take the plunge at torrential Martinez Criterium. Report to follow.

Cherry Pie Criterium by Holly

Fun course, fast competition, 45 minutes of hard racing! Quite a few breakaway attempts, but nothing stuck—the competitive racers weren’t about to let anything escape for long. With a large contingent of riders, Colavita raced aggressively and kept things interesting. Although Colavita was the largest team, the field responded hard—especially the Cheerwine and Value Act women. I just tried to stay out of the wind as much as possible, saving what I could for the finish. In the end, Brooke Miller took the race with a super fast and long sprint, uphill into a headwind. I finished mid pack, leaving plenty of room for improvement as the season continues!

Pet of the Month "Lady Jane"

February 9th 2007: After days of anticipation, Penny and Wayne's new arrival is here. 8 week old Weimaraner "Silverado Lady Jane" born December 16th 2006, Clear Lake, CA.

Her favourite bed.





Wayne taken hostage

And then there were three...

Congratulations Penny and Wayne! Full details on the arrival later this week...