First Weekend of Racing in the books….

California-  warm, sunny and well… warm and sunny.  Until this weekend.  I swear I  just worked a cross race in November in New England instead of a crit at the Tour of California.  45 degrees and pouring down rain. Soooo awesome!!!     

Caravaning across the Golden Gate to Santa Rosa

The team at Tour of California.  Featuring two freshly wrapped team cars.

Gina Grain one of the fastest Candians of all time (*see maple leaves on sleeves) models the new Voler team kit and Lazer Helmet. 

Rebecca Much.  Gettin’ ready to rock it.

Erinne Willock Getting ready for the task at hand.

Amy Dombroski  eagerly awaiting the arrival of the boys.  I believe she said “OOoohhh the Boys are coming!!”

Katheryn  Mattis bike racer and navigator excellantay-  4 hours of driving for 1 hour of  racing.  Freakin’ yeah man…

I am too tired and cold to write anything else. 

D.

2009 Webcor Team Issue Leopard M1

 Here is your first look at one of the 09′ Team Bikes.  This first batch will be the training bike.  Some of the bits and pieces will change but for the most part a SRAM equipped Leopard is what the girls will be rocking this year….

Hudz and Red- Nuff’ said

The Leopard M1 carbon in Webcor green.  The bike has no decals-  all the logos are painted.  The wheels are Williams Cycling’s System 19 .  The wheels are sub 1500g and reasonably priced AND they look good.

She looks fast, no?

Speedplay provides the pedals-  Cateye the cages and computers

Fizik saddles and Tape.  The race bikes hopefully will be outfitted in white-  time will tell.

That’s all for now.  The

ir is plenty of good stuff  yet to come-  Kits, Cars, Riders and the other team bikes.. Stay tuned we are just getting warmed up.

God save the queen.

 

D. out

The reflection ride…..

2008 was a very interesting year for me.  In a 7 month period  I traveled to 9 different countries including France, Germany, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland.  During the same time period I drove  across the U.S. 3 times in addition to up and down the West coast from Oregon to Redlands.  I have logged over 16,000 miles in the team car in the U.S. and tens of thousands of Kilometers in foreign lands.    In 107 days of racing-  I have witnessed amazing triumphs of will and physical strength, champions crowned and life goals acheived.  I have also been there when riders lie broken and bloody on the road-  usually one of the first on the scene- only to leave them as quickly as we got to them- hoping that they are taken care of  and safe after I jump back in the team car and speed away-  there are still other girls up the road that we need to look after.   

The amount of travel I did during the race season gave me a lot of time to really think about my life.  The things that I experienced and witnessed during the course of the season had a profound impact on me that lasted beyond the end of the race season.   2008 was a life altering season for me and its impact hit hard into my own personal life. 

Since September I have made many hard decisions in my personal life.   Many of these choices have not been very popular with friends and loved ones back east, but the choices I have made,  I have made for me.  Today I made another one of these choices and it lead to even more reflection.  Today I set aside some time for myself and I rode my bike and thought.  Yes, there was work to be done, but what I really needed was to hear the clicking of gears and whirring of freewheel bodies and my own thoughts.  I reflected on the decisions I have made and the things I have experienced in the last few months, since uprooting my life and heading to the Pacific Northwest-  and  I discovered something.   I am happy.   It feels weird to say it and even weirder to write it here for the 7 people who read my blog-  but today I came to realize and accept that I am happy.  I have met some great people and I have some truley great friends- who knows what lurks on the horizon, but right here, right now,  I am happy.

 

D.  Out.

09′ Sneak Peek

So.  The bike building has begun.  Here is a little peek at two of the frames and some of the other equipment the ladies will be riding this year along with a few insights into Cali 09′

Leopard made us a custom xxs – tube to tube carbon frame for our smallest riders

A peek at the Green Carbon Leopard M1 (for big girls)

What???  SRAM Red?!-  what could be cooler?  How about the Green Hudz from our buddies over in Boulder.  Yup-  next time you see this shifter it will be pimped- Hudz style (along with matching donuts)

Even heavy D. gets love in Cali.  This is a team pic complete with my euro trading card hanging in the service area at the Bicycle outfitter in Los Altos , CA.  Dave Prion and the boys and girls over there run a tight ship and are a class act.  If you are ever in the bay area you should stop in and check em’ out.  You won’t be disappointed.

The Service bay at Bicycle Outfitter- complete with Ryan Bontrager and disco ball.  Ryan is one of the techs at B.O. and the HRS Rock Lobster CX team mechanic.  Did I mention he’s a nice guy?

I passed this produce stand in Watsonville-  check it out 20 artichokes for $1.00 they are like $2.50 each back east

Amy Dombro’s new team bike.  Those are 20″ tubulars on that thing and those are 700c rims behind it!

Cali Build Trip-  The Hit list thus far….

• In N Out Burger- Nuff’ Said
• Not having to build bikes in a dark cold garage when it was raining-  thanks Outfitter crew!
• Running into old friends-  Billy Innes (who works at Outfitter)  use to come into my own shop in MA back in 01′ and 02′ ,  he was also the training partner of my friend Mukunda.   Billy and I wound up working next to one another for a few hours at the Outfitter before we recognized each other.   The other shop guys were freaked out when we broke into small town Masshole back east gossip-   the world is indeed a very small place.
• Crashing a Los Gatos farewell party at a bar for someone I did not know
• Dancing all night to crappy hip hop while drinking crappy beer
• The soccer mom/pole dancer at said party-  forever now known as “striparella queen of the carpool lane”
• Having someone compliment me on my Masshole ways and for being “brutally honest”
• In N out Burger-  did I mention that already?
• The KCM  B+B/ TV lounge for wayward cyclists and mechanics
• The Sun

That’s all for today.  I am out this piece-

It is time…….

Hey! It has been awhile.  How you going?   The season is quickly approaching and I am in the great state of California.  Webcor is ramping up for it’s debut at the Women’s stages of the Tour of California-  I am here to build the new team bikes and get prepped for the upcoming NRC schedule.  The Team has some new members and we are rocking some new equipment for 09′  I got my first look at the team frames when I picked up the first batch from Joe the Painter down in Watsonville.  The custom team paint is sick and the bikes are going to look amazing.  Stay tuned….  I just started building the bikes today and I will be posting some pics in the next day or so!  Nuf said’