Mellow Velo

Mellow Velo in She Pedals Magazine, 2

Posted on 12. Jul, 2010 by KFullerF4 in Life, Road

A look inside professional women’s cycling with Team Vera Bradley Foundation

From She Pedals Magazine, issue 3, summer 2010

If you follow domestic professional bike racing, the flashy colors, piles of expensive equipment and rip-roaring speeds shine the sport with a dream-like gloss. But when the race is over and the leaders’ jerseys have been contested another day, you find down-to-earth women leading lives surprisingly similar to our own.

These women just happen to ride their bikes really fast.

One of those teams is Vera Bradley Foundation, the reincarnation of the Value Act Capital cycling team. Team VBF is unique in that it asks its 11 cyclists to raise money for and awareness about breast cancer research. According to team director Lisa Hunt, Team VBF is probably the first pro cycling team to actively involve the riders and staff in fundraising and outreach for a cause.

Vera Bradley is a name more often associated with feminine luggage. In 1998, the founders of the company, Barbara Bradley Baekgaard and Patricia R. Miller, began raising money in memory of friend and co-worker Mary Sloan. Their efforts became the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer, which has raised more than $10 million. Every dime goes to the Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center in Indianapolis.

“This has nothing to do with handbags,” said Heidi Floyd, the traveling spokesperson for the foundation and a breast cancer survivor. “I want cancer therapy centers to know about [the team]. I want them to wheel their patients down to watch a race.”

Floyd explained the connection with cycling as a way to put a young, vital face on the problem of breast cancer and on the cause of finding a cure. She emphasized that just by talking about the issue wherever they go, the team might help someone become inspired.

Team VBF has committed to raising at least $22,500 for the foundation ($2,000 per cyclist). In addition, the team has equally high aspirations for the 2010 racing season. Alison Powers, the squad’s most high-profile name to American fans, wants to repeat her 2009 performance as the National Racing Calendar champion. Powers came to Team VBF from Team Type 1 because she wants to win and have a good time.

“This team has fun,” Powers said. “Even if results don’t happen, you can still have fun.”

On top of raising money and enjoying themselves, Team VBF is aiming to win the NRC team classification. Translation: They want to become the best professional women’s cycling squad in America.

Love, sacrifice, success

Sponsored head to toe by the likes of Specialized, SRAM and Rolf Wheels, life in the pro peloton for Team VBF appears posh. But make no mistake – these women are here thanks to grit and sacrifice, all for something they love.

Fifth-year pro Kristin Sanders explained that most women – like herself – start out the hard way by competing in pro races alone, making all of their travel arrangements and purchasing their own high-end equipment.

For one race, loaded down with two bikes and other gear, Sanders had to take a plane, a bus and then a cab to get to her hotel, which was still a 40-minute ride to the start line.

“A pro team is they easy way,” explained Sanders, who raced in pro events on her own for three years. “[The staff] takes the brunt of the juggling and logistics so all we have to worry about is racing well. Allowing us riders to be selfish is huge … It’s the only way we can perform the way we want to perform.”

Sanders, who is 38 and married, holds a full-time job with Cox Communications in Florida even during racing season. Most professional female cyclists have a second job because bike racing doesn’t pay enough.

“How do you balance everything? You don’t,” said track and criterium-specialist Erica Allar. “It’s kind of a lonely sport. Even now, there are days that I hate it, but it’s so worth it.”

Brian Muck, the team’s lone mechanic, and Molly Carlson, VBF’s soigneur, have each worked with both male and female teams and agreed that the unique sacrifices required of professional women cyclists make them more grateful than most.

“Some of my friends who wrench for men’s teams are shocked when I tell them that the girls say ‘thank you’ when I stay up late tuning and cleaning their bikes,” said Muck. “The other mechanics tell me they are up until 2 a.m. working on bikes and their riders still complain.”

Part of the cyclists’ gratitude comes from the fact that they don’t have as much provided for them, explained Carlson. Since male teams get more funding and more publicity, they get more stuff. They stay in hotels and are removed from many of the daily activities required to run a pro team. Soigneurs prepare bottles, do laundry and fix meals for the male cyclists, who generally expect those things to be done.

On the other hand, the women are often under-supported and under-funded. They stay in host housing where they help cook, clean and get themselves ready for races. There is no behind the scenes for them.

For the women of Team VBF, those things aren’t inconveniences. Those things mean they are living the dream.

“Why was I determined to go pro? Because half the people back home said that I couldn’t. I’m stubborn enough to say I can do whatever the hell I want,” said first-year pro, Lauren Hall. “I fell in love with riding the bike and the idea of racing. It’s kind of glamorous on the outside. So at age 30, I quit my job. I just had to go for it.”

Learn more at Facebook.com/teamvbf and help the team with their fundraising goal at VeraBradley.org.

Team VBF 2010 Roster
Erica Allar (USA)
Toni Bradshaw (NZL)
Carrie Cash (USA)
Robin Farina (USA)
Lauren Hall (USA)
Leah Goldstein (ISR)
Alison Powers (USA)
Alex Rhodes (AUS)
Kristin Sanders (USA)
Carla Swart (RSA)
Alison Testroete (CAN)