What is that Nicole up to?

It all began with the introduction to an avid mountain biker, who has turned out to be one of my closest friends and biking mates. He has kept Team Velonerds very much alive with his enthusiasm, promotion of the team and sport, dedication, and love for biking and those who bike with him. With introduction to this fantastic person, came my induction to Team Velonerds.


My first official race under the propeller-head was at an 8-hour solo Mountain Bike race at Boggs demonstration forest. A beautiful, fun course of single-track bliss. For over 7 hours I kept a relatively consistent pace, completing 7 laps, riding a metric century, and getting second place for women's sport. Turns out that the woman who beat me, although 15 years younger, was also from Illinois AND wanted to be a marine biologist, as I discovered during our conversations throughout the race! Great minds bike alike (or some bike better, as in her case!). While I had time to do one more lap, and possibly gain first place, a beer seemed far more appealing than another lap of cramping quads and hamstrings. My teammates who also rode solo did an amazing job! Alex caned the course with 8 laps, getting an official fourth place, which should have been third due to a sandbagger that got first by racing in the wrong class. DJ also did 8 laps, not too far behind Alex. Bob (on singlespeed) and Jun also completed 7 laps. Erin also did great by competing in her first solo Mountain Bike race (or any mountain bike race for that matter (?), as we know she was a tough competitor for UCLA and U. Boulder on the road). I was super proud of everyone and I think we all had a superb day!

My second race as a Velonderd involved donning the full, official Velonerds kit. I not only wore the installed helmet propeller with pride, but also had the honour of wearing the official team jersey: a white collared, button-up shirt with the team logo across the back and heart, and a red tie. I was part of a co-ed 24 hour race at 24 hours of Cool in Cool, California. I rode with Bob, June, Carlos, and Scotty. Alex went solo that race. What an incredible event which was a fundraiser for cancer victims, but also treated its competitors like gold. We were fed a hot dinner, breakfast and lunch, had a band that played for us all night, and
even music and people to cheer us on half-way along the course, where we biked along a path lined with pictures dedicated to those that fought cancer. It was an inspiring event that we entered for the fun of racing and to support a worthy cause. Much to our surprise however, after
Bob caned the first lap, we were already in second place! We pressed on through the night to turn our half-hour lag into a one lap lead! What a great surprise. We worked so well as a team, particulary through our night rides, as Santa Cruzians do so well. For more detail, see Jun's great account of the race in the Velonerd blog.

My most recent feat under the Velonerd name was the Santa Cruz Mountains Challenge Century. Alex, Mark and I set off with propeller-heads revving and spinning (and Alex and I in our formal-wear) up, around, down, up, along and up (and up and up) the gorgeous mountains surrounding and within Santa Cruz. These roads, close to my very own backyard, were absolutely incredible. I feel as if we got to see more than 90% of the redwoods in this county! It was a breathtaking day, in more ways than one! While Mark had to bail at mile 70 due to an injury, Alex and I pressed on to complete the century. I give Alex the highest accolade not only for doing his very first century on one of the hardest courses around, but also for doing this on a fully rigid mountain bike with slicks (and for the record, he did NOT use his granny gear!). Did I also mention that his bike was complete with GPS, two bike computers, a bell, plenty of Gu's and Shotblocks, as well as a fender? A very well-prepared cyclist no doubt.
I felt as if the ride was difficult enough on my carbon road bike! And the funniest thing about this feat was when Alex looks at me at around mile 80 and says with a perplexed look on his face "Ya know Nicole, I am really surprised that I havent seen ANY other mountain bikes on this century ride?". I thought this was most humourous, and then explained to Alex that it is not really NORMAL to ride 100 miles on road, climbing almost 11,000 feet, on a mountain bike! But then again, Alex is not your typical cyclist.
On a serious note, I couldnt have asked for a better riding partner that day - our faces ached, probably more than our quads ached, from smiling so much! At one point, while pushing ourselves up the last major climb, one of the riders we passed remarked that we were having too much fun! So we tried to have a tiff with one another, but that turned into a laughing-fest as well (particlarly when we turned up a steep, dark, tree-covered switchback to hear Alex exclaim "Turn your headlights on Nicole", which he read off of a road sign - he added my name onto the end, obviously). We were also treated with an awesome surprise at the end of our ride, when a teammate of ours, Erin, rode the course backwards, catching up with us for the remaining 10-15 miles of the ride. Thanks Erin!! You are a total star. It was so refreshing and encouraging to see you and have you ride with us those last several miles. We were pretty tired at that point, but your energy saw us through to the end!

While I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I met my best biking mates and became a Velonerd, I could not be more proud of my teammates and to represent my team - and I cant imagine life WTHOUT being a Velonerd. Love you guys!