Merced Crit-A Velopromo Special

Here, we are about to get cheery or something.
Jill and me. Dog not even interested.
Chase is on here.

On the way back from the race in LA, we decided to stop by to say Hi to Bob Leibold and do his race. Never mind the rain and all that crap about greazzy manhole covers on the course

Merced Crit. (Maclane Crit backwards with a Velopromo twist) Feb 25^th.

Team was Kelly and Sarah Bam. Terry as DS.

Raining. 25 girls.

The race started with one half lap of mellow until Touchstone and Cheerwine picked up the pace. An attack from Katie Lambden of TIBCO hung for a couple laps to get the pack into chase/counter mode. Once she was brought back, another attack by Touchstone and me dangled, but it was a bit early so we drifted back in. Since the rain started to pick up again at this point, it was time to do something to get one of us off the front.

Sarah ”I jumped into the corner/narrow section after about 7-8 laps and had Jill from Touchstone come with me. We stayed away alone, from about 18 to go, mostly due to Jill’s efforts, until 9 to go, when Amber (Webcor) made a hard effort to bridge up with my stupendous teammate Kelly in tow. At that point the break still worked well together for a while but soon started to get dysfunctional. The field was slowly catching us and so Kelly B decided to attack taking Jill and Amber with her and leaving BamBam in no man’s land for a few laps (ouch) but the girls wouldn’t work with Kelly so Sarah caught back up to the group with about 2 laps to go. At that point the field was breathing down our necks with one to go. It was looking like a ProTour catch for sure. Sarah saw a hesitation in the 2 competitors and so started to ramp things up in order to keep the break out front. Once it was 1 lap to go, Sarah put her head down and started the wind up to deliver Kelly to the final corner.

Once Kelly came around in the final straight, Sarah knew Cheerwine had the win since the field was still coming up on her. Kelly launched her sprint and no one could match it. Sarah rolled in with the field. Kelly won a t shirt and they all went to a kick ass Mexican restaurant on the corner of Main and F st. that we will eat at again next weekend.

Santa Clarita GP

Kelly podiums at the Santa Clarita GP, organized by Irene, a woman who is working hard to get a Tour of CA for women. Nice work on the race, from the huge purse to the pro treatment of the Podium and presentation.
Just a few laps to go.
Kelly wins a preme.

Mike Boone of Magic Cycles drove all the way to LA from North Carolina to see us race-and bring the van. Huge thanks too for getting our bikes race ready.

A brief race report...

Kelly said “Nothing got away and Bambam and I decided when to go and when to conserve. It was obvious that Lipton’s Lasasso wanted to keep it together for the sprint so we just made sure to be together on the top of the hill the last time. I was on the right side and Bam was on the left and when we crested, she and I came closer together. That is when I knew we were looking good for the finish.”

Bambam “ I got myself up toward the front so the last down hill I could defy gravity with the meanest leadout a 110 pounder could give to her sprinter. I knew it wouldn’t be an ideal leadout for me with what was essentially a race to the bottom of the hill so as we started going down and Lipton was trying to keep control, I shifted into my big ring and Kelly told me to “Go, go go!” So I went with all I had until we headed into the final corner. “

Kelly ”Yeah, and then it was nothing but net baybee. Oopps, then, actually I don’t know where the heck all these other people came from but coming around the last corner I was in 6^th place. I had to weave through as many people as passed me and ended up getting up to the line with yet one more to pass. I ended up 2^nd and Brooke Miller won. Sarah rolled in with the field. We won almost $700 though.

1^st Brooke Miler –TIBCO

2^nd Kelly Benjamin- Cheerwine

3^rd Becky Quinn-South Bay Wheelmen

4^th Laura Chrameda-Advil Chapstick

5^th ? Southbay Wheelmen teammate

6^th Stacy Maple- TIBCO

Spotlight on teammate: Clara Beard!

Tendenza! Clara Beard is a style icon. She quickly transforms from hillbilly student, to Italian cool girl to hot racer. Here she is before the ride.

And after, with a little shy face since she is our baby.

She carries the style so easily onto the bike, the camera just loves her! She may be wearing what everyone else is, but her Italian accent gives her such individualism. Due Coglioni!