list of candidates

Candidate statements:

President:
Ron Castia
Lorri Lee Lown

Vice President:
Michael Hernandez
Jess Raphael

Treasurer:
Tad Borek
Christopher Phipps

Secretary:
Robert Leibold
Brian Meiers
George Meilahn

If you are in a club with voting rights, your club gets one vote. Here is the list of the club representatives and voting status, thanks to Ryan Fu.

link to document

Thanks to NCNCA, SugarCRM, and Sports Basement, I was given the
opportunity this summer to race in Belgium for a month and compete in
a total of ten races. I want to thank NCNCA, SugarCRM and Sports
Basement for believing in me and supporting me in my dream to gain
experience and explore my potential as a female cyclist.

Ticket in hand, bike checked, and a long flight ahead, I was super
excited, nervous, and ready to start my first European race
experience, but first I had two long flights ahead of me. So time to
sit back and relax, luckily I had my partner with me to lean on and
keep me entertained and help calm my nerves. He has been to Belgium to
race on two different occasions and was able to set us up with a great
housing situation.

We arrived in Belgium and after two short train rides we arrived in
Auschot where Jos our gracious host picks us up and delivers us to our
new home in Blauberg. Jos and her partner Tim run a handful of houses
hosting cyclists from all over the world.

We got settled in, mainly by unpacking the bikes meeting the
housemates, and getting out for a short spin, as I was racing the next
day.

My first race takes me out to Memorial Marcel Marijnissen Oostmalle
91km (26 x 3.5km). We ride out to the race making for a 190k day a bit
long by the end of it all but it was a first experience that I will
never forget.

For a full race report on this race and all the others please visit
my blog.

In almost all the races the field size consists of 90 plus riders, the
course 80 plus km country roads with narrow bumpy sections,
cobblestones, speed lifts, and long fast windy sections. There were
lots of corners that we approached at full race speed, then the
peloton would come to almost a complete stop and then sprint out of
the corner back to full race speed in seconds, it did not matter if
you were in the front of the pack in a break, or in the back, corners
were treated the same way, this was hard to get used to because this
gave all the other girls a wicked strong jump coming out of the
corners, and it took me some time to get used to this.

Throughout the 10 races I took away 10 very valuable lessons here are
the lessons learned from each race.

Lesson #1: Keep your mouth shut. Not in the sense of don’t talk trash,
but more so, keep it closed so whatever is on the road does not get in
your mouth. From the pouring rain I must have ingested something my
body did not like because during the race I had severe stomach
cramping and on the ride home, yes this is gross but I was projectile
vomiting and barely made it home before night fall.

Lesson # 2:
Don’t go so hard in the beginning just because you feel good. Save it
for when it counts.

Lesson #3: Be more patient in the sprint.

Lesson #4: At one point, I noticed I was having a hard time getting my
head where it should be, not sure if I was not trusting in myself
enough, or something else. I seemed to be more focused on staying in
the race then racing aggressively and not really trying to be the
rider I know I am. Was it because the racing style here is so much
different, and unpredictable? Was this stopping me from listening to
my instincts as I normally do? Was this making me more cautious? Maybe
it was that the level of racing was a lot harder and I was holding
back because I was a bit afraid to take the risks, and risk blowing
myself out of the race and then dealing with myself after.

So the lesson came down to: Stop listening to my head so much and more
to my instincts.

Lesson # 5: Be aggressive. Be aggressive. Fight for that wheel even if
you have a bully trying to knock you down.

Lesson # 6: Never give up, push though the pain. Suffer a bit more to
make it to the end with your head still up.

Lesson #7: Do not go a lap early; don’t trust your eyes or your ears
wait for the stupid bell.

Lesson #8: Just because you’re in great position does not mean you
will keep it but I knew that, so I guess the lesson learned is that I
am improving and gaining confidence out here.

Lesson #9: Listen to my body, as it knows best.

Lesson #10: If you want to do well at a big deal race don’t go in to
it with an empty book of matches.

Coming back from this trip I learned a lot both on and off the bike,
and I found a huge correlation between the two. I have to admit, I am
the kind of person who likes to stay busy and always making steps
forward. When in Belgium there were a lot of times where there was
nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing to do, this was hard for me to
get used to, but after I stopped fighting it, I started to enjoy the
down time and take as is recovery, I learned to appreciate this time
and even learned to incorporate it in to my life once I got home,
making for a lot less stress in my life on and off the bike. This
experience also allowed for me to listen to my body, instead of
pushing myself and suffering for it later. I have learned what is a
reasonable amount of pressure is to put on myself and what is just
wasted energy.

In my last entry “Wanting More” I explored the question, just how far
I can go in women’s cycling? After a month in Belgium racing, and as
the 2009 race season comes to an end, I continue to wonder the same
thing, but with a greater sense of confidence and respect for myself
and all the other women in cycling who push themselves every day.

As I improve and build my resume, experience NRC Racing, stage races
and races abroad, I gain confidence in myself. My desire and hunger to
take this to the next level is growing. I am looking forward to the
next race season, and to being involved with two speaker series at
Sports Basement in the months to come encouraging women to get
involved in competitive cycling and explore their own potential.

–
Starla Teddergreen

We helped send her there, I think that’s what the little NCNCA logo on her blog means. :)

Photo by Garrett Lau, SugarCRM/Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club
Starla Teddergreen, SugarCRM/Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club

Photo by Garrett Lau, SugarCRM/Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club

I think one of the coolest things in cycling is when the famous pros take a minute to encourage the ‘up and comer’, junior, or even the casual cyclist. Towards the end of our trip to Europe, Amber Neben was in Limoux recuperating from a stage race and getting ready for Tour de l’Aude. We went to have coffee at the square where we sat for a while chatting, asking questions, getting advice. The first thing Amber asked me after I introduced myself is if I wear sunscreen. She talked about the importance of distinguishing between race and training blocks, finding a good coach, finishing school. During the Tour de l’Aude, she was in the yellow jersey for several of the stages. It was so cool to have a superstar like Amber take the time out of her day to come and chat with us youngsters.

I got the chance to race with the National Team in Luxembourg for the Elsy Jacobs Grand Prix. That was such a great learning because I was racing with and staying with such experienced women who were very willing to offer advice.

Getting back from Nature Valley pretty recently, the race is still fresh in my mind. Being in Europe really helped me with positioning and moving through the pack. Compared to fields of 230, Nature Valley’s 130 was nothing!

Just a couple weeks after getting back to the US, I got an email asking if I wanted to go to France again to race the Route de France. YES, of course I do! I loved everything about Europe and I can’t wait to go back.

Lindsay Myers

Photo by Garrett Lau

In her words:

I’ve been in Limoux, France for over a month, and I still am SO stoked to be here and have a hard time believing I’m actually racing my bike in Europe. I got the chance to come here through a USA Cycling Women’s development program. It is a program set up to give women who show potential, and are relatively new to racing, a taste of racing in Europe. NCNCA was able to help me with some of the costs of the trip. I really appreciate those of you who support the development side of cycling, athletes who show potential. Six women from the US were sent here, and not so surprisingly, three of us are from NorCal.

We’re based in Limoux, France. It’s a small town in Southern France, whose population consists of mostly old people and cyclists. The latter of the two groups being fairly small, leaving most of those in Limoux with white hair. There’s not much going on here, but the riding is phenomenal. We’ve been doing everything from local races, French Cup races, and UCI races. Most of what I’ve been learning here, I don’t think I could have learned in the US…or it would have taken much more racing and experience. The race I learned the most from was Ronde Van Gelderland, a UCI race in Holland that I got time cut out of within an hour and a half of racing. There were over 200 starters and some of the roads we were to be racing on would be considered bike paths in the US. No matter how good or bad a race goes, you cannot leave the race without learning from it. I had a 16 hour drive to think about the race in Holland. I think part of being a good bike racer is learning from the race, but knowing how to leave it in the past, look forward to the next weekend.
Going into the race, I knew on a basic level what I needed to do. Stay close to the front during the neutral to avoid crashes and the cluster of the big field. The roads were narrow; be up front. The road becomes one lane, even more narrow, crosswinds. If you’re not in the front thirty, you’re probably going to get gapped and be in a chase group. I knew where I needed to be. But “knowing” doesn’t get you very far.
I was really nervous going into the race. Maybe because of the field size, some of the best teams in the world were there, the course, the speed…
Here is a mindset that is not recommended: My last couple races in US and racing in Europe, I’ve been going into races doubting my ability to finish or do well. In some ways, I guess it provides an incentive to prove myself wrong.
I was talking with the director of the national team before the race. He said this is the deep end of the pool; this is the deepest field you’ll be in. I lined up on the front line.

My legs felt fine, my head was out of the game. After we were through town and into the narrow roads, there was a bad crash in front of me. It was a Cervelo girl who we had talked to a dinner the night before. When I went by, I really looked at her, crumpled underneath a couple bikes. And I could hear her moaning. That’s the scary sh#t that you don’t think about. It happens, it’s bike racing…but I kept the picture of her on the ground in my mind. I wasn’t mentally in the game in the first place, but was really out of it after that.
I don’t mean any of that as an excuse for not finishing a race or not doing well. It’s not. I might not have the finished the race had everything been going right for me. But sometimes, no matter how good your legs are, how much you’ve trained, prepared, if your head isn’t in the right place, you’re out.
After the race, I didn’t know what to think. I needed to take something from it, but I didn’t know what. Still don’t have a really good idea. I kind of excused myself from the race, thinking that it was OK, because some of the best riders in the world were there. Because the course didn’t really suit me. Because I should be satisfied with just being there.
None of those are valid reasons to excuse myself from a race and I have yet to come up with one.
Bad days on the bike happen, bad races happen, or maybe a bad season. But if you take something out of it, learn something, it was worth it.

From: Robert Leibold

Snelling
Starting Order Changes
Master 35+ 1/2/3 8:10
Cat 3 8:15
Cat 4 8:20
Cat 5-A 8:25
Cat 5-B 8:30
Women 4-A 8:35
Women 4-B 8:40
Jr Girls 8:40
Jr 15-16 8:45
Jr 13-14 8:50
Cat 1/2/Pro 12:15
Women 1&2 12:20
Women 3 12:25
Jr 17-18 12:32
Mstr 35+ 4/5-A 12:35
Mstr 45+ 12:40
Mstr 35+ 4/5-B 12:45

SNELLING HAS CHIP TIMING/PLACING
Snelling road race will have chip timing/results this year as an experiment. This means there will be two steps to registration. (1) You will need to get in line for registration as usual (show license, sign/turn in form, pick up numbers), and then (2)go to the chip desk, to pick up your timing chip. There will be people there to help put them on your bike, so bring your bike to that line.
Immediately following finishing (or dropping out), go to the station just off the loop before returning to Snelling town to have your chip removed. Do not cross the finish line backwards after finishing; it will give you a later finish.

If you live along the Central Coast – show some support here.