Stay tuned to the websites and your email for updates on Ride Across Vermont and Bring a Friend Day.  Thanks for your patience and cooperation with the program and with mother nature.

This year our annual, culminating event, the Ride Across Vermont will be taking place at Sleepy Hollow Ski and Bike Center.  We have marked out some great single track loops on some new terrain that the girls will have fun riding.  There are also some ‘bonus’ loops which the girls can ride and add more mileage to their tally.  As a group, we will ride the mileage of the width of Vermont.

You can get this view of Camel’s Hump if you ride up to Sleepy Hollow’s Butternut Cabin

The ride starts at 2 PM for the Little Bellas.  For the parents who want to ride, there is some great single track there. If you are a Fellowship of the Wheel member (you can join by clicking the link), you ride for free at Sleepy Hollow.  If not, the trail fee is six dollars. You can pay at the kiosk at the main lodge.

We will fire up the grill and start the potluck around 4-4:30ish in Sleepy Hollow’s beautiful timber framed patio.  Please bring a dish (side salad, dessert, appetizer) to share.  We will provide stuff to grill, beverages, and plates, utensils, etc.  We will be announcing the 2010 Summer Ride Challenge Winner, and we will be handing out Little Bellas attendance awards. There are some great prizes so please be there to get them. It’s going to be a fun afternoon and we hope to see you out there.

Below are directions and a map to Sleepy Hollow: The address is 1805 Sherman Hollow Road, Huntington, Vermont  05462

From Interstate 89:

• Take Exit 11 (Richmond).
• Take US Route 2 east to town of Richmond.
• At traffic light in Richmond go right onto Bridge Street.
• Follow Bridge Street through town, after crossing the bridge, the road takes a sharp right and turns into Huntington Road.
• Follow Huntington Rd. for about 5 miles.
• Turn right onto Sherman Hollow Road (there are also signs for Birds of Vermont Museum and Green Mountain Audubon Nature Center).
• Sleepy Hollow is 1.8 miles up Sherman Hollow Road on the left.

From Hinesburg (Rt. 116)

• Take Mechanicsville Rd. (or CVU road) to Richmond-Hinesburg Rd. (towards Richmond), follow ~ 2.5 miles
• Go right on Magee Hill Rd.(this is a dirt road across from Pond Brook Rd.)
• Magee Hill road becomes Sherman Hollow Rd. at 1 mile, follow Sherman Hollow 2.5 miles to Sleepy Hollow, which is on the right.
• If you miss Magee Hill Rd. You can also turn right onto Swamp Rd. Follow until it ends (1/2 mile) and then take a left onto Sherman Hollow Rd. Follow 2.5 miles and Sleepy Hollow is on your right.

]]> http://littlebellas.com/?feed=rss2&p=556 0 http://littlebellas.com/?p=548 http://littlebellas.com/?p=548#comments Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:36:57 +0000 Lea http://littlebellas.com/?p=548 Our August sessions have started off with a bang.  The Little Bellas and mentors were both psyched to be back in action.  We began by handing out our new jerseys specially designed by Terry Bicycles.  We were all pumped about the pokka dots and the new design.

Today was obstacle day and we brushed off the cobwebs and got back in the groove with an duel obstacle course.  My personal favorite stop on the course was the dizzy bat.  Girls had to put their forehead on a bat on the ground and spin around in a circle five times as fast as they could.  You get pretty dizzy after just five turns.  We also included bike limbo, a slalom course, and a log roll.

The girls show off their new Terry Jerseys and a little extra flair courtesy of Angela

This is how mini Gaga got in my head.  She showed up with this poster.

To cap off an already eventful day, we had a ‘Lady Gaga Off’.  Yes, you read that last sentence correctly.  At our last session in June, one of the Little Bellas made a statement that no one is as big of a fan of Lady Gaga as she is.  I challenged her and said that we should have a Lady Gaga off next session to set the record straight.  I’m not one to back away from a challenge, but when she showed up with make-up, a poster, an outfit, and a wig, I knew I was done.  She had prepared the entire month of July, and I had prepared for ten minutes.  With the help of my chosen wardrobe artist, I scrambled a decent costume together, and, according to the judges, that was the only thing decent about my performance.  I could have sworn Simon Cowell was there as my performance reactions included ‘stick with mountain biking’ and ‘I was shocked and not in a good way’.  Obviously I lost but I want to thank Lydia for stepping up my Lady Gaga game.  It’s always good to lose to the best even when the best is eight years old wearing a wig that’s bigger than she is.

Mini Gaga (the winner on the right) and her competitor

There’s rumor of water ballon relays, an obstacle course, and a possible Lady Gaga sing off.  Get Ready!

See you this Sunday!

Our very own Little Bellas mentor, Joanna Petterson, grabbed a second place at the third round of the UCI World Cup four cross circuit.  Four cross is an event much like snowboard or skier cross except for on bikes.  Four girls race each other around gates, berm corners, and huge jumps to qualify for quarter finals, semi finals, and then, the big show, the finals.  Joanna (jojo) did just that in the mud in Leogang, Austria and won a sprint for second place. You can watch a replay of her race here at freecaster.tv Congratulations JoJo on a career best result!  Next weekend, she’s competing in the world cup downhill and four cross event in Val di Sol, Italy.  You can watch live coverage of all the World Cup mountain bike races and cheer her on at freecaster.tv

The Leogang World Cup women’s podium (jojo second from left) (Sven Martin photography)

We look forward to having JoJo back with the Little Bellas for the August sessions!

The girls begin the day with some stretching and yoga

Both camps were a success with girls of all ages mastering the basics of mountain biking and putting those skills to the test on the pump track and at Catamount’s single track.  The full day camp braved record high temperatures for the week and got a chance to sample single track ‘off campus’ at Fellowship of the Wheel’s Mud Pond and Sunny Hollow networks.  The Cubs camp stuck it through several rain showers.  All the girls were troopers facing Vermont’s healthy dose of crazy weather.  Both groups were extremely cohesive, eager to learn, and we all had a blast. If you want to get in on the Little Bellas fun, you can try out our program on September 12th, 4-6 PM at Catamount Outdoor Family Center on our ‘Bring A Friend Day’.  You can find out more information on our Little Bellas Camps at www.littlebellas.com

One of the campers practices her skills on the pump track

Starting a game of ‘Giants, Wizards, and Elves’.  Combine a group game of Rock, Paper, Scissors with a game of tag and you’re playing ‘Giants, Wizards, and Elves’

We escaped the rain and snuck in ‘The Dot Game’.  A game where the girls cover their bike in as many dots as possible and then have to name the corresponding bike part

We wrapped up the camp in Little Bellas Style with some homemade ice cream from the ice cream ball.  Yum!

Mentors (from left to right) Emily, Lea, and Jenn give out camp awards, t-shirts, posters, and stickers.

The Loewer Family has taken the early lead by a land slide with 21 points.  In the mentor category, Joanna Petterson is in the lead at 4 points with Ashley Nichols  close behind with 2 points.

Mentors and Little Bellas, I know you are riding, adventuring, and commuting this summer so record your points on the spreadsheet and put yourself in the running for the grand prize, 500 dollars towards a brand new Trek Bike. Remember, points only count if they are tallied on the spread sheet.

Hats off to the Loewer Family for diving into the challenge.  Keep up the good work!

Get outside and Play! Win a Trek Bike!

Click on this link to get started.

Little Bellas Ride Challenge

Once you click on this link, you will see each Little Bellas family has their own spreadsheet (found on the tab under your Little Bella’s name).   All you need to do is enter the date, the points earned under the appropriate sections, the event description, and the spreadsheet will tally up the points for you.  NOTE: DO NOT TOUCH THE FINAL TALLY SECTION OF THE YOUR SPREADSHEET.  This is automatically tallied.  Want to know how you measure up in the competition? Click on the Total tab.  Again, PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH THE TOTAL spreadsheet.  This is automatically tallied.

Need to know what counts and what doesn’t?  Look below for competition details.

The Summer Ride/Commute Challenge Guidelines:
-Families will compete as a family unit
- Mentors will compete as a solitary unit
- The Summer Ride Challenge begins Sunday June 27th and ends Saturday, August 21st.  I will announce the winner at our annual Ride Across Vermont potluck on Sunday, August 22nd.
- The Grand Prize is 500 dollars towards a Trek Bike!
- Record your commutes and rides on the Little Bellas Summer Ride Challenge sheet on google docs (Link posted on littlebellas.com on Monday, June 28th )
- This challenge is on the honor system.  I will be tracking everyone’s progress weekly through google docs and updating the Little Bellas website accordingly

Cycling Guidelines:
- If a “Little Bella” rides for one hour+, she earns one point.  There will be no cap on the number of points a Little Bella can earn.  It’s limitless.
- If a parent rides for one hour+, he/she earns one point.  Points that individual parents can collect is capped at 25 points.
- Family Bonus Points: If the entire family engages in any physical activity for one hour+, the family earns three points.  Points that a family can collect is capped at 50 points.

Commute Challenge:
- Commuting means using an alternative and more earth friendly medium of transport, walking, riding, or carpooling, to get from one location to another location.  In the case of this challenge:
- If you bike commute 10 miles or more round trip, you earn one point
- If you walk one mile or more round trip, you earn one point
- If you carpool 20 miles or more round trip, you earn one point
- Please calculate the mileage of your trip on google maps. Honor system applies.

Mentor Guidelines:
- If a mentor rides for an hour+, she earns one point. Cycling points a mentor can earn will be capped at 35 points.
- Group Ride Bonus Points: If a mentor goes out on a group ride of three or more people, the mentor earns three points.  Group ride bonus points are capped at 50 points.
- The commuting challenge rules remain exactly the same for the mentors

The event starts at 5 pm in the Terry Headquarters, 47 Maple Street, Burlington, VT 05401

Be there.  It’s gonna be fun.

The event starts at 5 pm in the Terry Headquarters, 47 Maple Street, Burlington, VT 05401

Get your Little Bellas jerseys, win some great prizes, and purchase some great Terry Apparel. Come seize the opportunity to get to know our sponsor Terry Bicycles and welcome them to Burlington and to the Little Bellas.