An Open Letter To: The eight year old girls who came to watch youth soccer on Sunday at Loveland’s Miami View Park and ended up watching a grown man nearly blow chunks.

Dear ladies, I’m sorry you had to witness me crying for mama between bouts of the pukes. It happened on the 2^nd lap of the Masters 35+ cyclocross race. You were innocently standing and cheering near the course, about 100 yards after the double barriers. I was desperately trying to ride my bike as fast as possible to stay in contact with the tail end of the race. To put it in your terms, I was totally sucking and didn’t want to be a total loser. You probably didn’t even notice me as you texted your friends. Or, maybe you were using your cell phone camera to film your latest You Tube epic, “Barf On Bike.”
To refresh your memory I was riding a pretty green, blue and white bike with a matching outfit. I was in dead freaking last place, right behind the guy on the mountain bike. For future reference, if you every get into bike racing and are riding a custom made lightweight cyclocross bike in a cyclocross bike race, you should always be in front of people on heavy mountain bikes. Put it this way, if Barbie is driving down the freeway in her Jaguar, she should always be in front of her friend in the pick-up truck.
You see girls; I ate an egg burrito about two hours before the race. I thought the hour and fifteen minute bike path ride to the park would’ve speeded digestion. But, apparently there was a little eggy left in my belly that didn’t want to go down. You know how your mommy tells you to wait a little bit after eating before you go swimming? Yeah? Well, it’s the same with bike racing. Listen to your mom, or you’ll totally barf in front of strangers and embarrass yourself.
So, I hope I didn’t gross you out to the max by hacking, snarfing, wheezing, drooling and spitting in front of you. Since we’ve spent the last six weeks buying a new house and moving, I am a little out of cyclocross shape, mistimed that burrito and probably shouldn’t have rode my bike 20 miles to the race. Not to mention, riding in dead freaking last place doesn’t quite sit that well with me after staying in contact with those fast Kentucky guys the last two years.
So, little ladies, please know that I am grateful that you came over to cheer for the bike riders. Your shouts of “go go go” were encouraging. Thanks to you, I nearly caught that guy on the mountain bike on the last lap and kept some the 45+ guys behind me too.
Most of all I’m soo glad that you found cyclocross racing more interesting than watching your sister’s soccer game.
Joe Bellante
Bio Wheels Racing
Dead Freaking Last Masters 35+ at 2007 Loveland CX

236 Riders Hit UCI Harbin Park

UCI Elite Men’s Results

1 Barry WICKS Kona - Your Key Mortgage Team 1:04:57
2 Joachim PARBO CCV Protek 1:05:39
3 Brent PRENZLOW Alan North America 1:05:48
4 Ryan LEACH GPOA-Cannondale 1:05:48
5 Molly CAMERON Vanilla Bicycles 1:05:48

UCI Elite Women’s Results

1 Katie COMPTON Spike Shooter 0:40:08
2 Kelli EMMET Giant Bicycles 0:40:32
3 Wendy WILLIAMS River City Bicycles 0:40:48
4 Sue BUTLER River City Bicycles 0:41:31
5 Melissa THOMAS Team Maxxis 0:41:44

See full results and race report here!

Harbin Park UCI Cyclo-Cross!

Sunday, October 14th is the big day for UCI cyclo-cross racing at Harbin Park! That’s just over a week and a half away. This is about as big a bike race as we get in Cincinnati.

For those that haven’t been to a cross race before, it’s an extremely spectator-friendly event. We want those that come to be loud. We’re handing out 100 cowbells at the event to registered racers, we’ll have drummers down at the sand pit, and we’re asking people that are coming to spectate to bring a plethora of noise-makers. We don’t want those that are traveling here from out of town to forget Harbin Park, and Ohio Valley Cyclo-Cross. There will be food served to raise money for the Aubrey Rose Foundation, all kinds of kids races and events, music, 2007 and 2008 Jamis mountain bikes to demo on the trails there, and all kinds of other things going on.

Some of the female pro names we’ve gotten to fly in this year include a few past and present United States and Canadian Mountain Bike National Champions. Topping the list is Katie Compton, three time U.S. National Cyclo-Cross Champion and the 2007 World’s Silver Medalist. Katie used to be a member of the Trek team that used to dominate the 24hrs of Canaan back in the late 90’s. Now she’s racing cyclo-cross and track, and kicking butt at both. Giving her a run for her money will be Wendy Simms, former Canadian Mountain Bike and Cyclo-Cross National Champion from British Columbia. Two U.S. Master’s National Cyclo-cross Champions, Wendy Williams and Susan Butler, will be here from Portland, Oregon - and Wendy already has one UCI win under her belt this year. These ladies are tough; they’ve all raced ‘cross over in Europe - and will put on quite a show.

The men’s pro race may almost be as exciting as the women’s. This will be the most stacked men’s field we’ve ever had as well. The first rider we had signed on was two-time Danish National Champion Joachim Parbo, who is doing a tour of the States before heading back to Europe for the World Cup season. No doubt he’ll have his work cut out for him though with California’s Barry Wicks, 2006 U.S. National Mountain Bike Short-Track and 2005 U.S. Grand Prix Cyclo-Cross Champion. His teammate from Oregon Erik Tonkin will be up towards the front, as well as Colorado’s Brandon Dwight, U.S. Master’s National Champion Ryan Leech (State College, PA), New Zealand’s Mark Legg, and another Oregonian, Molly Cameron. Phil Noble (Xenia), Brandon Jessop (Cincinnati), and Shawn Adams (Akron) will be there representing Ohio mountain bikers - looking to crack the top ten. Louisville pro Anthony Slowinski will be representing KY mountain bikers - looking to do the same. It will be an unforgettable race.

There are categories for all ages and ability levels, so if you’re wanting to give cyclo-cross a try, you won’t find a more fun course than at Harbin. Registration info can be found here: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?EventID=5042

Local sponsors making this happen: United Dairy Farmers, Reece-Campbell Construction, Wyoming Steel, Legacy Stoneworks, Wellington Orthopaedics, and MSA Architects. Also, Jamis Bicycles, Hammer Nutrition, Ritchey Design, Endura, QBP, and www.procyclocross.com.

More info:

http://www.biowheels.org/Home/Article.asp?ArticleID=5891

NC Cyclo-Cross Racing 2007

Want to have fun while maxing your heart rate for 45 minutes? Want to ride a funny-looking road bike with knobby tires on dirt, grass, pavement and whatever else is in your path? Want to dismount your bike to run & jump over barricades? What to improve your bike handling skills and keep your fitness up going into winter?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then a cyclocross race may be for you.

Check out the series info here: http://www.nccyclocross.com/

Don’t Miss the 9th Annual Swank 65 Mountain Bike Journey in Brevard, NC

If you like a hard core XC race in falls full glory, you can’t miss the Swank 65. BioWheels has participated in it in celebration of the close of the calender racing season. Leaves will be deep on some of the most classic trails in Pisgah.

Here is the 2007 Swank Brochure

We are certainly looking forward to this Fall Classic. (I’d really like to get into the top-5 this year!). Check out our archived results & pictures below;

2005 Article

2006 Article

peace-mj