Person of the Year

(right, Bill pictured with teammate John before a ride and with Lisa as they sort through race results at Conte's Cycling Classic. Top photo by BJ Samuel, bottom photo by Bob Devich.)

Time recently declared "You" (that's Us) Person of the Year since "You control the information age." I guess that means I can declare Bill Conoscenti the bikevoice person of the year. "Wild Bill" wins because of his year-in and year-out dedication to racing, race promotion, training and mentoring.

He has been racing since 1976. He raced road, track and tris in northern and southern CA in 70's and 80's. He moved to Virginia in the early 90's where he joined Tripower Cycling Club. Wild Bill serves as club vice president, mentors juniors by holding weekly training rides for them, serves as a USCF official, and races cat 3 and master's road events. He also leads the region's longest standing group ride every Saturday in Virginia Beach. (Actually, leading that ride alone would be enough for him to get this award.)

He has served on the race committee that has promoted over 40 cycling events in the past 12 years, including 3 this year. He was director of the first Smithfield Time Trial in 06 and is the creator of the deathly anarobic 2.8-mile Pendleton Prologue which will return to Virginia Beach in 07. His leadership has helped lead the club to 3 VA State Team Best-All Around awards (04-06) and to USA Cycling's Club of the Year award in 2005. He's even been in the paper.

Wild Bill retired from the US Navy and now works as a contractor. He has a Masters in Computers in Education. He is married to Sheri, and they have two children and a grandchild.

From C-Ville to Belgium

(left, Deidre on elite women's nationals podium. Photo by K-Dogg.)

Charlottesville, VA resident Deidre Winfield is heading to Belgium for the world cyclocross championships. She earned a place on the U.S. world championship team and will race January 28.

Here is an article about the top women at Nationals last week. Her 4th place finish earned her the place on the world team. Katie Compton won the race.

I tried to piece together some cool info about Deidre. First thing you have to see is this video of her winning a Pennsylvania race. Watch it till the end and you will see the congratulations hug from her 2-year-old daughter.

Next thing is some history. This article was published in UVA's staff magazine in 2003. I am pretty sure Deidre is training full time now, so I think UVA is a former employer now.

Here are 2 photos published on cyclingnews.com, one at Henderson, NC and another in Reston, VA.

Her team Velo Bella has an excellent blog. Her nickname "Grasshopper" I assume comes from her flat-back, elbows-up position on the bike. This section of Velo Bella's blog has race reports, several of which Deidre wrote.

A master of the 45-minute cross discipline, Deidre still did not hesitate to participate in 100k Ironcross, a race that she won with a time of 4 hours and 38 minutes. I had the priviledge of lining up on the same start line which naturally was the only time during the race that I saw her. I am a better groupie than racer, so I approached her after the race to ask all the dumb questions I am sure she gets. Her husband Buck was there and it was clear that this run up to worlds is also a result of excellent family support.

She placed 2nd to Betsy Shogren in the Verge Mid-Atlantic series this year. It appears she divided her time between that series and the US Gran Prix series that Lyne Bessette won.

I find it interesting that she was named "rookie of the year" in several articles like this one. She has not been a "rookie" in terms of ability for several years. I guess this was the first year of her full dedication to cyclocross and she sure has proven herself.

Dec-skip winter-July

(left, Iowa, people, Iowa. Photo source)

Sunday: Cyclo-cross season ended.

Monday: Planning for summer trips began.

Tuesday: Decision finalized with Steph. We are doing Ride Across Iowa July 22-28, 2007. That's 470 miles inside the heartbeat de Americana. Dar Williams’ song Iowa has been swimming in my head all day.

Wednesday: YOU get on the Ragbrai website and register under team name “Tripower.” Since final selections are made by lottery, all who want to ride together register as a team. No need to be a Tripower member. I just typed a convenient name.

Thursday till Dec 21: YOU send me, team leader, your waiver and $125 check written to Ragbrai. All the team entries must be mailed together.

Dec 21: I will send all waivers and checks.

Come on, this will be a blast. Ragbrai is the oldest cross-state tour and it’s way cheaper than the other ones I checked out. For $125 we ride for 70 miles a day for a week with 8000 others. Cycling, camping, microbrews, American pie. I emailed the organizer who said 99% of those who register get in, so don’t let the lottery selection stop you. Who is IN?!