Three's Company

We arrived to training camp last night. The Peters have been nice enough to host Team Velo Bella-Kona for our crazy get together. Brent, Jane and I were supposed to be staying in a hotel down the street but at the last minute we changed our minds and decided to all stay together at the Peters for the first night. Soon we realized that someone was going to have to sleep on the floor and nobody really liked that idea. I thought it wouldn't be too bad if Jane, Brent and I all slept on the queen size bed, fully clothed that is. It was pretty tight but we made it work. That's all I have to say about that.

Dr. Testa performed our LT and VO2 tests today. What an incredible source of information that man is. If anyone reading this has an interest in finding out their VO2, LT, power output per kilo of weight, bike fit, nutrition or just about anything else cycling related I highly recommend calling the UC Davis Sports Medicine Clinic and making an appt. with Dr. Testa. I am pleased with my power results as the winter training has gone well and I look forward to torturing myself in the next month or so with incredibly painful LT exercises. These are the rides that make you throw up a little bit. I really do enjoy that type of pain, it's so real and pure.

Okay this posting is really boring me. I almost ran over a small child playing in the street today as I took my new bike around the block. It was either a small child or a cat, not really sure. But I am so very happy with how smooth the Kona Queen Zing is.

Tonight we go to a hotel so each of us will have our own beds and hopefully more sleep as tomorrow we should be able to spend at least 3-4 hours on the new bikes. I had better go as the food is out and I don't want to miss out.

Tomorrow I will post pics from camp!

Jen

Everyone is excited about the new Kona Bikes!

As you can see in these pictures even Leeloo is overwhelmed by how beautiful the new Kona Queen Zing bikes are with custom Velo Bella-Kona paint. Don't you wish your ride was hot like mine. Don't you wish your ride was fun like mine. The only thing I can find wrong is that I have not actually taken it out on the road yet. Hopefully tomorrow after work I will get a chance to cruise around for a bit. Training camp starts Wednesday and then McLane Pacific kicks off the NRC Calendar for our team. It's going to be a big week for the team. I love the race goodies! Our sponsors this year are very generous and we are being well taken care of. I will try to post more during camp and before McLane. I just can't get over how sweet this years ride is. Okay, stop staring at your bike and go to bed.

G'Night

First Race and the Enchiladas Revenge

Yeah, the first race of the season has come and gone without any major incident. Snelling is kind of a California early season classic for the local scene and the local scene comprises of just about half the NRC peloton so it's a good judge on everyone's early season fitness. Plus it's a very relaxed course with only about 3 or 4 small rises and mostly straight country roads fully closed for the race. I am still hacking up some junk from that nasty chest cold of a week or so ago and I wasn't really expecting a lot from myself except to get back into the mode of racing again. I did have that panic feeling at the start of the race as the field was pretty large at about 40 or so and I had been used to the company of maybe 1 or 2 other people all winter. This feeling soon passed and I started to have fun and play the game again, attacking, covering, shutting things down. It was nice to be racing again.

Velo Bella-Kona has an incredible amount of volunteer support at the races. The ever present Miss Mary was invaluable in the feed zone as well as after the race with the full spread of food. Gummy bears really do taste best after a race. In addition to Miss Mary there were many others in the feed zone for VB-K as well as hanging out at the finish to cheer us on around each lap. It makes such a difference for me to hear cheers for my team or hear my name being yelled with encouragement during a race. It brings excitement into the race and helps you focus on what your really there to do. So thanks to everyone supporting us out there at Snelling!

Oh so how did I do? Well.... I managed to stay active during the race and not allow myself to be pack fodder. As that was my goal, I succeeded. In the end the outside line on the corner was not the best position and a bobble in the middle of the pack pushed all of us on the outside off the road. At least we all stayed upright and were able to roll to the finish.

Quick update, the new bikes are here! I will publish some pics later today. They are so cute!

Oh and the enchiladas, well not the ideal food to consume in mass quantities before a race. Especially when you load them with corn, refried beans and Habanero Cheddar Cheese. Thanks go to Velo Promo for the large number of chili buckets at registration. Sorry goes to anyone who had to use it after me.

Jen