Christmas Ride on Nevis

Merry Holidays, Ride-Strong readers!

Just a quick report from the island of Nevis, where I’m spending the holidays both relaxing, training, and volunteering with the St. Kitts and Nevis cycling federation. Many of you have offered donations to the program, and I can’t tell you how much we appreciate it. Please keep them coming or get in touch with me to find out more (ESPNOlympian@aol.com). We had over twenty youths come ride with us last week, and it was the biggest group yet. Good things are happening!

For those of you who are seasoned riders, I’ve got to put in a plug for the training here. Nevis, which is the smaller island of the St. Kitts and Nevis Caribbean nation, has one paved road that encircles the entire island. It’s about 23 miles around. Uphill both ways. Or so it feels! The wind here is fierce, and the steep, volcanic topography make for some excellent climbing terrain. Steep rollers, blustery headwinds, and hot Caribbean sun/humidity are a foce to be reconed with—and well worth the effort. While there are a few stretches of potholes, the majority of the single lane road is good. After you master riding on the left-hand side of the road and become accustomed to the monkeys, goats, sheep, donkeys, and crabs that skitter across the road, Nevis may just be the best kept strength-training secret. And the volcanic hot springs in the center of town? Not a bad way to rejuvenate the muscles post-climb. If you’d like to test your strength here, come on down!

National Road Race Championships on June 20th, 2009

Or, if you’re into triathlon and open water swimming…

March 15 Carino Health Olympic Distance and Sprint Triathlon
March 29 Cross Channel Nevis to St.Kitts 2 mile Swim
Early November (TBA) Off road triathlon

For more information, check out www.neviscycleclub.com.
Wishing you all a happy holidays from the heart of Nevis,

Kathryn Bertine

http://www.ride-strong.com/nevis-cycling-club/

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Nevis Cycling Club Donations – Please Read

Hello Ride-Strong readers,

My name is Kathryn Bertine, and I’m a pro cyclist living and training in Tucson…only I happen to be in the Caribbean at the moment. How I got here is a bit of a long story, but here’s the condensed version: Two years ago, ESPN hired me to write about my two-year attempt to make it to the Beijing Olympics. Alas, I didn’t make it. But here’s the cool part; I didn’t exactly fail. The experiences along the way made for an incredible journey, with unbelievable races, people, and nations all playing huge parts in my quest.

Halfway through my Olympic attempt, I was given dual citizenship with the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis in order to help the country build a prominent future in cycling. While I’m still racing toward my own dreams of 2012, I’m finally in a position to start giving back to the country that helped me so much in my quest. I’m currently on the island of Nevis. What an incredible experience cycling here. for starters, the island has one paved road all the way around measuring just over 20 miles. The hills are killer. The winds are killerer. I can’t begin to tell you how fascinating it is to watch out for monkeys, donkeys, goats, and crabs…all of which love to dart into the road without notice. Ok, crabs don’t dart. They scuttle. They’re not so startling. Except for the fact that, dude, there’s a crab in the road. We don’t see that much in Tucson. Cooler still are the people, all 10,000 of them on Nevis. There are less than twenty in the cycling club, but we’re changing that every day.  One goal is to build an inter-Caribbean women’s UCI team, so the islands can get better world wide recognition. I was fortunate enough to race in the World Champs in Varese, Italy this year. Someday, there will be more of us, which is why the other goal of my volunteering down here is much more grassroots. The Nevis Cycling Club and I are trying to get as many kids into cycling as possible.

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