Ladies -- we want YOU to race your bike!

If you've been riding your bike a while, you've probably thought "what next?" many a time.

At first, we go longer. We start with 10 miles, then 20, and before you know it you've ridden over the mountain to the coast. Maybe your goal was to ride a century or even a double century or to complete the California Triple Crown.

Then, we go faster. Now your goal might have been to complete a 5-hour century or a sub-8 hour Death Ride or a sub-25 minute Old La Honda.

And then we might explore multi-day riding, like the AIDS LifeCycle, and Undiscovered Country Tours trip down the coast, or even some self-supported touring.

But at some point, you probably hear a little voice whispering in the back of your head: "I wonder if I could race?"

Bike racing isn't the easiest sport to gain entry to. It's confusing. How do you find the local race calendar? What about joining a club? How do you learn the rules of the sport? What type of race should you try? What if you wear the wrong thing? Not to mention the fact that bike racing can be a dangerous sport.

And so most of us forget about that little voice and just keep doing what we've been doing.

But I want to help you fulfill that dream of racing. I want to unravel the mysteries. I want to teach you the secret language. And I want to make sure that you don't crash yourself or anyone else out in the process. There's an easy way and there's a hard way to do anything. I'm going to teach you the easy way to race your bike.



TRI-FLOW WOMEN'S DEVELOPMENT RACING PROGRAM
Dunnigan Hills Road Race -- June 29th to August 15th

Introduced in 2006, this award-winning program is designed to help you bridge the gap from club rider to team racer. In a six-week series of workshops, clinics, and rides, we'll teach you everything you need to know to begin road racing and then we'll support you at your first race. This program is limited to eight riders each session. A solid level of fitness is required. Program includes team kit (shorts and jersey), USA Cycling License, race registration, 12 group training sessions, and a group training program. Since 2006, more than 60 women have competed in their first race as part of this program, many still racing in Northern CA as CAT2 - CAT4 racers.

This program starts next week and you can register online: https://www.sportsbaseonline.com/Item.aspx?id=3026

Thank you for Voting Velo Girls the Best in the Bay!

And the winner is.......Velo Girls as the Best Sport + Social Club in the San Francisco Chronicle's 2009 BayList Readers' Poll. With more than 14,000 voters, Velo Girls was chosen as best of the best among 32 other bay area clubs.

Thank you to all our members, our fabulous sponsors, and everyone who participates in our rides, clinics, and events for voting us #1.

Make a weekend of it!

Lots of folks have requested that we "bundle" our two most popular cycling clinics into a package so they could participate in both of the in one day or even in one weekend. So that's what we've done for the fall. Now, you can participate in Bike Skills 101 (Individual Bike Handling Skills) and Bike Skills 201 (Climbing + Descending) both in the same weekend. All of these clinics are co-ed.

August 2nd, 2009:

8:00am - 12:00pm -- Bike Skills 101 -- Individual Bike Handling Skills

1:00pm -- 5:00pm -- Bike Skills 201 -- Climbing + Descending


Saturday October 17th, 2009:

8:00am - 12:00pm -- Bike Skills 101 -- Individual Bike Handling Skills

Sunday, October 18th, 2009:

8:00am - 12:00pm -- Bike Skills 201 -- Climbing + Descending



Registration for these and all our clinics can be found online at:

https://www.sportsbaseonline.com/Series.aspx?id=438

Let's Get Down + Dirty on June 28th!

Calling all dirty girls! Team Velo Girls would like to encourage you to try mountain bike racing. There's a great race on Sunday, June 28th in Monterey -- CCCX -- and we would love to bring a great group of women to race (and support you in your first race).

Mountain bike racing is fun and casual and you can drink a beer when you're done. If you fall down, you laugh it off and get back up and keep racing. And you can wear a sleeveless jersey (something you can't do in road racing).

Of course, if you want to be competitive, you can do that too! Heck, Team Velo Girls member, Thea Stein, won Sea Otter this year!

If you think this sounds like fun, we'll have a little get-together on Tuesday, June 23rd to chat about the race and organize carpools. Or, just come out to our Thursday night Dirty Velo Girls ride @ Arastradero OSP and plan to join us at the Alpine Inn afterwards.

RSVP to Lorri@velogirls.com

Velo Girls Coaching Announces Summer/Fall Camps + Clinics

What a year it's been! Through the end of May, Velo Girls Coaching Services has presented 13 clinics for women and men, racers and recreational riders alike. That's about 250 riders who've participated in one or more of our Bike Skills series of clinics. And the fun just keeps rolling!

We've got some fabulous new offerings for 2009, including Bike Touring 101, an Alpine Altitude Adventure weekend (aka Death Ride Camp), and a women's camp in Bear Valley and another one in Santa Barbara.

I'm pleased to announce our summer/fall schedule of camps + clinics. All events are co-ed unless specifically noted for women or for men:


Bike Skills 101 -- Individual Bike Handling Skills
June 6th, August 2nd, October 17th


Bike Skills 102 -- Mountain Bike Skills
August 9th


Bike Skills 103 -- Cyclocross Skills with guest coach John Funke!
August 16th


Bike Skills 201 -- Climbing + Descending
June 27th, August 2nd, October 18th


Bike Skills 301 -- Group Riding Skills
July 19th


Bike Skills 302 -- Racing Skills + Tactics
July 26th (separate sessions for women and men)


Girls Got Skills -- Two-day Women's Cycling Clinic
June 13th + 14th (SOLD OUT), September 26th + 27th


Girls Got Race -- The Tri-Flow Women's Development Racing Program
Dunnigan Hills Road Race -- June 29th - August 15th


Bear Valley Women's Cycling Camp
September 10th - 13th


Santa Barbara Women's Cycling Camp
October 8th - 11th


Click on over to Sportsbaseonline.com to register!

Girls Got Skills sells out with an international participant list!

Girls Got Skills! This is the clinic that started it all -- our cornerstone, two-day women's cycling skills clinic. In this fast-paced, git er done world, there's just something very special about setting aside two whole days for yourself, learning, enjoying the sport, sharing the company of like-minded women, and thinking about nothing but you and the bike. Ah, bliss!

I designed this clinic in 2003, based on the skills training I had developed for our very first racing team. We've made some refinements over the years, but the content is still basically the same: individual bike handling skills, group riding skills, and climbing + descending. We throw in some fun and informative special topic discussions to fill out the complete cycling experience. Since our first clinic in 2003, more than 500 women have participated in Girls Got Skills!

Over the years, the women who participate in Girls Got Skills have primarily been from Northern CA. We've had a random participant from Hawaii, Virginia, and southern CA, but the majority of our participants are local to the bay area. Bicycling Magazine recently recognized Girls Got Skills as one of the top camps for women cyclists (right up there with offerings from Chris Carmichael). And suddenly, more than 50% of our participants are from out of the area. In June, we'll ride with women from Oregon, Arizona, British Columbia, and every nook and cranny of California. Pretty cool, no?

Girls Got Skills is sold out. A waiting list has been opened. The next session will be September 26th and 27th.

And if you want just a little taste of the cycling goodness only Velo Girls can provide, there's still space available in our co-ed Bike Skills 101 clinic on Saturday, June 6th. This 4-hour clinic focuses on individual bike handling skills and you'll ride away feeling safer, more confident, and more connected with your bike. You might have some fun, too!

Details and registration for all our camps and clinics can be found here: https://www.sportsbaseonline.com/Series.aspx?id=438

Bikes + Burgers = Fun!

Join Velo Girls and Mike's Bikes for a fun event next Saturday, June 6th at Mike's Bikes in Palo Alto -- the Big Huge Bike Drive BBQ! We're collecting bikes for Mike's Africa Bike Drive, and we're going to have a lot of fun, too! Join us for these fun events throughout the day:

12:00 - 2:00 Free BBQ

1:00 flat changing clinic

2:00 co-ed group ride led by members of Team Velo Girls (road + mountain)

4:30 flat tire changing contest

5:00 raffle

More info at http://www.mikesbikes.com .

Can't make it to the event, make a tax-deductible donation to the Africa Bike Drive here: http://mikesbikes.com/itemlist.cfm?category=293

Today is the last day to vote for Velo Girls!

Velo Girls has been nominated for the San Francisco Chronicle's Bay List 2009! Please click on the banner above to vote for us in the Bay Area's Best Sport and Social Club category. Voting ends on May 29, 2009 -- yeah, that's today!

Is Bicycle Racing in your Future?

If you've been riding your bike a while, you've probably thought "what next?" many a time.

At first, we go longer. We start with 10 miles, then 20, and before you know it you've ridden over the mountain to the coast. Maybe your goal was to ride a century or even a double century or to complete the California Triple Crown.

Then, we go faster. Now your goal might have been to complete a 5-hour century or a sub-8 hour Death Ride or a sub-25 minute Old La Honda.

And then we might explore multi-day riding, like the AIDS LifeCycle, and Undiscovered Country Tours trip down the coast, or even some self-supported touring.

But at some point, you probably hear a little voice whispering in the back of your head: "I wonder if I could race?"

Bike racing isn't the easiest sport to gain entry to. It's confusing. How do you find the local race calendar? What about joining a club? How do you learn the rules of the sport? What type of race should you try? What if you wear the wrong thing? Not to mention the fact that bike racing can be a dangerous sport.

And so most of us forget about that little voice and just keep doing what we've been doing.

But I want to help you fulfill that dream of racing. I want to unravel the mysteries. I want to teach you the secret language. And I want to make sure that you don't crash yourself or anyone else out in the process. There's an easy way and there's a hard way to do anything. I'm going to teach you the easy way to race your bike.


BIKE SKILLS 302: RACING SKILLS & TACTICS
May 23 (separate clinics for women and men)

This four-hour clinic will teach you all the individual bike-handling and group riding skills you'll need to race your first (or your 10th) criterium or road race. In addition to skills & drills, you'll receive expert coaching on race preparation and logistics, and an introduction to tactics. We'll finish the day with a training race followed by a de-brief. Pre-requisite: Bike Skills 101 or equivalent experience.

Register online: https://www.sportsbaseonline.com/Item.aspx?id=3033



TRI-FLOW WOMEN'S DEVELOPMENT RACING PROGRAM
Dunnigan Hills Road Race -- June 29th to August 15th

Introduced in 2006, this award-winning program is designed to help you bridge the gap from club rider to team racer. In a six-week series of workshops, clinics, and rides, we'll teach you everything you need to know to begin road racing and then we'll support you at your first race. This program is limited to eight riders each session. A solid level of fitness is required. Program includes team kit (shorts and jersey), USA Cycling License, race registration, 12 group training sessions, and a group training program. Since 2006, more than 60 women have competed in their first race as part of this program, many still racing in Northern CA as CAT2 - CAT4 racers.

Register online: https://www.sportsbaseonline.com/Item.aspx?id=3026

Get high with Velo Girls!

You heard that right! Velo Girls wants to get high with you. Altitude, that is. By special request of my coaching clients and Velo Girls club members, I've put together a fabulous altitude training weekend June 19th - 21st in Markleeville (home of the Death Ride). This is some of the most spectacular riding in California, and I'd love to experience it with you.

This is a co-ed camping weekend with daily mileage options from 25 - 75 miles (and lots of climbing). I've designed this camp to help prepare participants for the rigors of endurance riding at high altitude.

Your registration includes camping on Friday and Saturday, SAG on rides, cycling nutrition by GU Sports Nutrition, Saturday breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Sunday breakfast, and lots of fun with cool folks! Thursday and Sunday camping are also an option for anyone interested.

You're responsible for your own camping gear and transportation to/from Markleeville, but I'll play matchmaker with other participants to encourage carpooling.

Registration is open now! Space is limited so I would encourage you to register early.

https://www.sportsbaseonline.com/Item.aspx?id=3283