We caught wind of this blog post from the Griz family and to be honest, we're pretty worried. These girls look to be pretty hard core. Know doubt they will be the fastest of the fast in just a few short months.Ladies, your photos look great. You look tougher than any 11 year olds we've ever met. If we got one tip for you- it's to ride your bikes as fast as you possibly can... all the time! Never slow down, ok? And tell your parents you want to come out and race at RACE LIKE A GIRL series this summer. It'd be so much fun to meet you!
Squatter's Rights - PRC Wins Kent Park~
Posted Sunday, March 29, 2009 by the Pulchritudinous Women of PRC
Sure. There are some people who think that the Kent Park Classic was canceled because of the obscene amounts of snow and ice all over the roads- but they would be wrong. PRC freakin dominated that race! From the gun, attack after attack. Green zig-zag jerseys coming out of nowhere. PRC was unstoppable! Completely and utterly dominant over all. Literally taking the cake- as the top prize was this sweet and tasty chocolate cake. Yum! We want to thank the race promoters, officials, and volunteers for their work at Kent Park. We know how lucky they were to have PRC at their event. And to our sponsors, count the first victory in the books!Kent Park Classic Results
1. Sara Broek
2. Heather Myer-Davis
3. Kristin Armstrong
4. Keely Shannon
5. Alison Doyle
6. Emily Schaapveld
7. A Ninja
8. Maria Ruhtenberg
9. Ms. Swan
10. Keri Blake
If we had any complaint about the event at all it was the very noticable lack of Specialized angels. Not sure who dropped the ball on that one- but race promoters, consider yourself warned. We want Specialized Angels.
Picture Pages, Picture Pages....~
Posted Saturday, March 28, 2009 by the Pulchritudinous Women of PRC
Picture pages, picture pages, time to get your picture pages. Time to get your crayons and your pencils... You can play with picture pages, open up your picture pages. Time to watch PRC do a picture page with you!Anyone remember that show? Cosby must have done so many drugs before each episode. Check it.
And and and and and! Check out our newest desktop background images. Color your computer PRC!
This weekend we're heading to the Kent Park Classic- the officially unofficial kick off to the Iowa road racing calendar. Kent Park is located just west of Iowa City and the 5-ish mile loop is filled with some of the most fun rolling hills you've ever been on (as long as you've only ridden within a 10 mile radius of Kent Park). If you're planning to attend the race at Kent Park the race promoters have promised that if you can spell "PRC" using sign language they'll give you a $10 discount on your $13 race entry fee.I know, amazing right!?
Now, officially we haven't discussed this with the race promoters by phone or email or any form of standardized communication not including telepathy or smoke signals. But we're pretty sure they'll agree to this. So- again for those of you racing Kent Park this weekend- throw up the PRC gang signs designed by the wonderful 4-senses people of the ASL (above)- and demand $10 off your entry fee. See ya there!
PRC pics from Kent Park 2008.
We occasionally get some fan mail. And we recently got this little letter and some photos from Diana in Colombia.I´M FROM TO COLOMBIA, FAN NUMBER ONE OFF PUNK ROCK CYCLING AND SPECIALIZED DESIGNS FOR WOMENS, I LIKED RIDE BIKE. I WANT TO LIVE ROAD RACING! I LOVE YOU PUNK ROCK CYCLING! I LOVE MY RUBY SWORKS! BYE!!!
-DIANA
Thanks for the letter Diana, your pink Crocs are adorable! And we always wondered who our number one fan was. Now we know it's certainly not this guy! Diana, we can't wait for you to visit us in Iowa, or better yet- how about we visit you?
If you want to be as awesome as Diana you can write us as well... just send your emails to punk@punkrockcycling.com and be sure to make it funny. We like the funny ones!
UNRELATED: We love guys who can get their pants on in a hurry.
PRC + Elder + BBQ = Sponsorlicious~
Posted Tuesday, March 24, 2009 by the Pulchritudinous Women of PRC
This past week, PRC was lucky enough to get a night out on the town with our wonderful sponsor, Jay Elder of Elder Corp. We had a great time and snarfed down some wonderful BBQ at Jethro's. As always, it was great to see Jay and give everyone a chance to get to know him better.Additional highlights for the night was our 2009 team clothing which just arrived with our newest sponsor logo - Papa John's! Also, 5 sweet new CHROME bags were handed out to our new team members. YEA for CHROME!
Defintely a great night and thanks again to our main man, Jay Elder, for joining us for BBQ!!
Click HERE to view pictures from the evening.
The freshmen have passed their exams. They are now true PRC! How do we know? Because they've just recieved their CHROME messenger bags. Every bag is a different color- embroidered with the team logo and her name. We rock these bags pretty much everywhere- to races, to work, to commute, and Keri is just going to carry around her newborn in hers. These bags are absolutely perfect.Check out our collection of CHROME bag photos.
And FYI: Chrome & Hot Leather was a bad ass movie from the 70s. You should check it out sometime. Marvin Gaye was in it. It deserves to be defined as "delicious".
InspirationOur race season starts next weekend with the Kent Park Classic. For some of our team, it will be their first race. Some of them are excited, some are scared. I am inspired. Not only because we had such a rockin’ spring training trip (please read Ali’s blog about Tulsa—it is fantastic), but because of the dedication, optimism, toughness, and sacrifice of my newest team members who ride but have never raced before. I need to tell you about these exceptional ladies.
First, the rider who has had the girliest girl label now has the toughest girl label. I am talking about Sara. She worked her ass off in Tulsa despite the fact that her left knee was hurting the entire time. Today she showed up at Rassy’s at 7:00 a.m. for the inaugural Rassy Shootout group ride. This was her biggest group ride. Me, Kelli, and Heather were also there. It was a decent sized group. Let’s just say lots of testosterone. We take off south of town toward Cumming. Some of us (including me and Heather) got shelled on the hills. I decided to regroup at the stop sign where you turn to go to Cumming. We waited. No Sara. We knew she didn’t know the route. We called. No answer. We keep going. No sign of Sara. We decided she must have missed the turn, but hoped she got some good Maffet Lake hills in. We have a beautiful ride down to Winterset. The route is out and back (turn around when you hit Hwy 169). We turned around. Nice tail wind ride back in. Suddenly we spy a single rider up ahead. Looks like Sara. Heather says, “I’d be shocked if she rode all the way out here by herself. It can’t be her.” Your right, it can’t be I thought. But is was. She rode a few extra miles and a few extra hills, but figured it out, and had a kickass ride. By herself. Into the wind. We rode back together—no way we would let her ride back alone too.
Next up is Heather. She also has been working through knee pain (yes, DQ, she is getting her bike fit THIS WEEK). She has not been able to blow off responsibilities as some of the rest of us to go ride outside. When we got to Tulsa, she had only 2 outside rides under her belt this year. And then she rode 200 hilly miles on aching knees. Did I mention tough? Heather has also made some tough personal sacrifices just to be on this team. Yet her attitude is always positive. And she is always supportive of everyone else. Nobody works harder than Heather.
Ali is a true treasure. I did not know Ali before she joined the team, but boy am I glad she is here. She is a fantastic wit. Single mom. A true cycling machine. Ali lives in Ames, so unfortunately we have not been able to ride a lot together, but I cannot wait to race with her. She will be the glue that keeps our spirits up when times get tough.
Keely is not new to racing, but she is inspiring all the same. She has been racing since she was 12. She is back after taking a couple of years off. For only 19 years old, she is willing to make the sacrifices it takes. She hasn’t been able to train in her dorm room this winter. I think her room is about as big as my laptop. So she has schlepped that bike out in all kinds of weather to ride trainer miles. My basement. Lou’s garage. I think she has even hauled it down to her dad’s in New Virginia so that she could train. She is invaluable to this team since she has more racing experience than all of us put together. She is serious this year. Watch out.
Keri…..I don’t think I need to say much more about Keri other than she got on her bike like 2 weeks after giving birth—I am sure with the idea in her head that she could race Kent Park….um did I mention tough? Look for her at Iowa City weekend.
I am truly inspired. I can’t wait to start the season so that I can race with these ladies and simply spend more time with them.
I am truly inspired. I can’t wait to start the season so that I can race with these ladies and simply spend more time with them.
Rassy Saturday Morning Shootout~
Posted Saturday, March 21, 2009 by the Pulchritudinous Women of PRC
Hey folks, join PRC (on weekends we're not racing) for a new Saturday morning ride starting up in Des Moines.Meeting Place: Rasmussen Bike Shop (301 Grand, WDM)
Ride Start: 7am
Pace: TNWC pace (aka; pretty damn fast!)
Route: Approximately 50ish miles out and back. We'll first head south on 63rd, making our way to G14 and follow that to the turnaround point where it intersects Hwy 169 (just North of Winterset).
*** If driving to the ride, please park in the parking lot to the west of the bar. Thanks!
Wow! Just Stop. Right Now. Stop.~
Posted Thursday, March 19, 2009 by the Pulchritudinous Women of PRC
Oh son of a bee sting! Are you kidding me? GIRLFRIEND, listen good. You DO NOT wear underwear with cycling shorts. That wonderfully plush, antibacterial, and seamless chammois is seamless for a reason. Because seams rubbing on your flower do not help it blossom! When you wear underwear with cycling shorts you're ignoring every part of their design. So pull that cush little diaper right up against you and enjoy it's loving touch. You deserve it!
You're welcome.
Just 2 More Weeks... "The Papa John Ride"~
Posted Tuesday, March 17, 2009 by the Pulchritudinous Women of PRC
Mark your calendar, just 2 more weeks until the start of our Wednesday night rides! April through September, PRC hosts a public no-drop ride where we head south of town. All speeds welcome and no one is left behind.Two small changes for this year. Thanks to our newest sponsor, we have a new name for our ride, "The Papa John Ride" (and there will occasionally be Papa John's pizza for all after the ride). Also, we're moving the start to a more centralized location. The ride will start and return to our favorite bike shop, Rasmussen Bike Shop (located at 301 Grand Ave West Des Moines). Stay tuned for parking info and an exact route map utilizing the new trail south of town.
We hope you can join us!!
What a weekend. Six of us PRC chicks, Terry, and Rik Shannon packed up our stuff, loaded our bikes, and drove down to Tulsa for a big weekend of riding. And man did we ride. I think the final estimates came in at 200 miles and 15 hours of good ol’ bike time. You can’t beat that.But there was more than just riding. The amount of fun we all had together won’t be done justice by this punk periodical, that’s for sure. And there is no way we would have had a seamless trip without the people who helped us out along the way.
My first big help came from the guys at Rasmussen Bike Shop. There is no way that I would have been able to feel as good as I felt riding with these girls without the bike I was on. My new Specialized Ruby S-Works is amazing. I always felt good on the Dolce, my “White Lightening,” but she just doesn’t compare to the Ruby. And I made sure Adam Thompson, at Rassy’s, fit me on the bike before I left to make sure everything was perfect. Because, really, what’s the point in riding all weekend—and risking injury—if you’re not going to be at your best ability? I had people comment throughout the ride how much more comfortable I looked on the bike than I did on my first ride without the fit. Man it makes a big difference. Thanks Adam!
So once my new baby was taken care of, I was ready to rock. On our way down there, Maria was telling us that a friend of hers, Ken Brune, was hooking us up. He was going to let us stay in his office building for the weekend. So we’re all thinking gray walls and cubes, but when we get there we were all in shock and aw. His place was amazing! Dark wood cabinets, beautiful granite top counters, beer, wine, great food, and we each had our own individual offices to sleep in, WITH DOORS! And we can’t thank Ken enough for letting us crash his place!
Each morning, the team met up with Malcolm McCollam. He is the race events coordinator for the big ride down there, Tulsa Tough, which after riding with him we’ve all pretty much agreed to do. Malcolm, along with his friends Garrett and Tim (also a race director for Tulsa Tough), took us around the hilly terrain of Okalahoma. We didn’t have to deal with maps, we didn’t have to deal with getting lost, and we didn’t have to worry about everyone keeping up. These guys were our glue for sure! They were patient, kind, wise, and oh so much fun.
Along the way we made lots of friends, like John Jolly and Raymond, and got to know each other so much better. I think Rik even learned new things about Keely! (wink!) Oh, and we even have a new mascot. But, you’ll have to keep checking back to get more info on him!
I can’t wait for race season to start!! Watch for us at Kent Park!
Keely, Heather, Maria, Ali, Kelli and Sara PRC has returned to Des Moines after a wonderful spring training trip to Tulsa this past weekend. We had an AWESOME weekend with great team bonding, many good laughs both on and off the bike, unforgetable stories and we even managed to ride 200 hilly miles.
We met some amazing people in Tulsa! Through Maria's friend, we heard there was a downtown "office building" that we could stay in if we wanted and if you look at the pictures you'll see this wasn't the typical "office building" we were expecting. It was beautiful! Thank you Ken for hosting all of us women! We really appreciate it.
Also, we were so lucky to have our own local tour guides to show us the way. No getting lost, no maps needed as Malcolm rode every mile with us. He was amazing! Thanks to Malcolm and his friends (Tim, Garritt and Barb) for joining us/putting up with us. Your knowledge, personalities and encouragement made for such a great weekend. We definitely look forward to our next visit to Tulsa!
And special thanks to our two traveling companions, Rik and Terry. Thanks for driving a vehicle, joining us for the rides and all of the help and support throughout the trip. It was great to have you guys there. You are brave men to join 6 women for a long weekend road trip!
Click HERE to view trip pictures from Tulsa.
Spring Training Time! Tulsa, here we come!~
Posted Tuesday, March 10, 2009 by the Pulchritudinous Women of PRC
The women of PRC are packing their bags and heading south with just one thing on the agenda: LOTS OF BIKE RIDING!!
Well... and chatting, and bonding, and hanging out, and eating, and exploring downtown Tulsa, etc but mainly lots of riding! We can’t wait. We leave Des Moines this Thursday, TOMORROW, and plan to ride our bikes through Sunday.
Stay tuned for pictures!
Bo Dixon Blake
Born 2/27/09 @ 2:08 a.m.6lbs 13 oz, 20 1/4 inches
All is well! Congrats to Keri and Ben!
In honor of your newest family member. An instruction guide for you. ENJOY!
I streamed video of much of the Tour of California. The highlight of the tour was watching the camera accidently pan in on Mancebo during one of the early stages as he whipped out his junk at approximately 26 mph and took a leak. Don’t get me wrong; I was aware that this happened and have been privy to plenty of road trips with my boys where soda bottles have been used; but this was a reality check of monstrous proportions.All I could think was, “Excuse me, DURING MY RACES, WHERE/WHEN WILL I PEE?”
Immediately visions danced in my head of ten women rolling down an Iowa highway trying to piss off the sides of our bikes. But again, these races are sometimes 70 or 80 miles long. I have birthed a child. To think that I could go this long without relieving myself, well, it’s preposterous. Where will I pee? And um, how?
Well ask and ye shall receive. I am a Twitter fanatic and am fairly certain Twitter can solve virtually all the world’s problems, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that Twitterland would provide for me the answer. In walks Go Girl, whose logo alone could cause a girl to wet herself. It seems this company has developed a product whereby a woman can now pee standing up! They call it a FUD, short for, Female Urination Device.
Naturally, I had to send the link for this amazing invention to the team, and within seconds, I received the following enthusiastic replies:
“Sign me up!”
“I need one of those!”
“Heck yes, this is great!”
“Oh just wait until its five minutes before race time and the Kybos are 4 blocks away. And you’re wearing a skin suit! I am all for these!”
And my personal favorite:
“My favorite is the girl on the website they interviewed who said, is this something you use to cover your mouth? Oh damn sweety, some girls are just not marriage material!” (that was Donny, leave it to him to watch ALL the video!)
For those of you thinking like we think…we’ve already written Go Girl, asked if we could test their product and if better yet, they’d like to sponsor PRC, and honestly, why wouldn’t they? We anxiously await their response, and if we DO receive samples, we promise, you’ll see pictures of us trying them here first.
In the meantime, we’re left to ponder what in the heck you do with this thing after you’ve peed in it? Put it in your seat bag? In your purse? Or perhaps, bungee it to your top tube so it’s handy. And what happens if you are laughing so hard while peeing that the “seal breaks” and your cup over floweth? We only hope we can find out soon and that next year, we can paste that fabulous Go Girl logo on our uniforms.
“Sign me up!”
“I need one of those!”
“Heck yes, this is great!”
“Oh just wait until its five minutes before race time and the Kybos are 4 blocks away. And you’re wearing a skin suit! I am all for these!”
And my personal favorite:
“My favorite is the girl on the website they interviewed who said, is this something you use to cover your mouth? Oh damn sweety, some girls are just not marriage material!” (that was Donny, leave it to him to watch ALL the video!)
For those of you thinking like we think…we’ve already written Go Girl, asked if we could test their product and if better yet, they’d like to sponsor PRC, and honestly, why wouldn’t they? We anxiously await their response, and if we DO receive samples, we promise, you’ll see pictures of us trying them here first.
In the meantime, we’re left to ponder what in the heck you do with this thing after you’ve peed in it? Put it in your seat bag? In your purse? Or perhaps, bungee it to your top tube so it’s handy. And what happens if you are laughing so hard while peeing that the “seal breaks” and your cup over floweth? We only hope we can find out soon and that next year, we can paste that fabulous Go Girl logo on our uniforms.
Unfortunately last April, PRC’s Kelli Mente was caught up in a tangle on the local Tuesday Night World Championship ride when two guys touched wheels and crashed in front of her, causing a whole pile-up of bikes behind them, including Kelli. It left Kelli’s face swollen & bruised for weeks but luckily the only thing broken was a tooth.After two surgery sessions for a tooth implant, several temporary teeth, many doctor visits with an oral surgeon and a cosmetic tooth surgeon over the past year and just shy of a trillion dollars, Kelli is finally sporting a new permanent tooth!
Looking good and glad to see that great smile back Kelli!
Our Sweet Little Keely is 19 TODAY!!Keely is always ready to ride with a smile on her face. She’s brought so much positive energy to our team this off season and we’re super pumped for her upcoming race season!!
Have a great 19th birthday Keely!! We’re all playing hooky and looking forward to your 70 degree birthday ride this afternoon!!! YEA!! ROCK ON KEELY!
This past Sunday, the PRC girls were joined by Lou Waugaman for an indoor presentation where we discussed race tactics, bike safety, effective drafting, pacelines, and other topics. After the presentation, we buddled up and headed out in the 14 degree weather to practice what we learned. It was definitely a very productive day!
Lou, thanks for your time, knowledge, patience and energy. We appreciated it and learned a ton!
Lou, thanks for your time, knowledge, patience and energy. We appreciated it and learned a ton!
Below are a few pictures from the day....
(L to R) Keely, Maria, Heather, Sara, Kelli, Ali
(L to R) Kelli, Ali, Keely, Sara, Heather, Maria 
Here's a little brain teaser for anyone who's game. The middle word helps forms two compound words. And the last letter in each new word spells out a PRC rider's name.
tow _ _ _ _ _ stop
back _ _ _ _ walk
some _ _ _ self
cotton _ _ _ _ spin
sword _ _ _ _ mate
And the answer is....
tow TRUCK stop
back SIDE walk
some ONE self
cotton TAIL spin
sword PLAY mate
tow TRUCK stop
back SIDE walk
some ONE self
cotton TAIL spin
sword PLAY mate
Which spells 'KEELY'. Thanks for playing!
Specialized launched their newest website dedicated to all the Specialized pro athletes. Not sure why PRC wasn't included though? Maybe it's because we're not pros. Or maybe it's because we keep sending the good people at Specialized stupid YouTube videos? Or maybe it's because they feared the backlash of putting something as awesome as us on here. Whatever... you should check it out anyway.I AM SPECIALIZED
I spent some time last fall researching the ’09 Tour of California stages, looking at maps, making hotel reservations and finding cheap airfare for February. It seemed like so far away. Well, here we are and now the trip has come and gone!Last week, Terry and I flew into San Jose and then stayed in San Francisco, spent time in Sausilito, drove along the coast on Highway 1 (beautiful drive!) and arrived in Santa Cruz. Thanks to John Q and Ian at Specialized, we were able to get VIP tent passes for the Tour of California which was awesome! Food, drinks and a front row spot. We enjoyed watching the tour although if you watched any of the ATofC last week, you know that it rained and rained and then rained some more before the sun finally came out later in the week. We still had a great time though! It was definitely cool to see the riders in person.
Thanks to Amy Shreve, (west region Specialized D4W demo coordinator) for the bike hookup in Santa Cruz. After the stage 2 race, seemed like a possible break from rain and maybe even sunshine so we got bikes, got dressed but then it had already started sprinkling before we left town. ;( On the edge of Santa Cruz, the sprinkles turned to rain and eventually pouring rain and even a hail storm before we FROZE on the ride back! Santa Cruz is a super cool town though; we were really impressed. Very bike friendly with bikers and bike lanes on every street and very scenic, low-traffic riding just outside of town. Definitely on our list of towns to visit again!
From Santa Cruz we headed to Morgan Hill for the next couple of days and we were able to meet up with Donny. It was great to see him again. Donny gave us a tour of Specialized which is definitely a cool work environment with employee indoor bike parking, full locker rooms, 2 hour group lunch rides, etc. You’ll have to check out the pictures I took of Specialized.
The bike riding around Morgan Hill (and finally sunshine!) was awesome. Plenty of climbing on beautiful scenic roads with very little traffic and we were never once buzzed, nearly run off the road or even honked at! Very bike friendly. Great training.
Anyway, it was an awesome trip and I’m definitely looking forward to my next trip west! Click HERE to view some of my pictures from the week.
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