Things to do in Vermont when not getting your butt kicked by a bunch of thirty-somethings in a bicycle race

Go on a hike up a mountain that is way too technical for flatlanders like us.





Swim.



Interact with the many, many sled dogs on site.



Stand on rocks.



Participate in a Wii Tennis Tournament.

Four!!

Today I dusted off my clubs and ventured to the driving range in preparation for a golf date next week with some out of town relatives.

Forgive me father, but it has been about six years since my last game of golf.

In that time, I certainly did not improve, yet my skills also did not deteriorate. They just stayed mediocre at best, the level at which they remain even when I golf on a regular basis.

The funny part about visiting a golf course and/or driving range is my initial inclination to judge these people with their ungodly expensive golf clubs, ridiculous outfits, and way too serious attitude about hitting a little ball in a hole.

Then I think about the fact that I spend hundreds of hours a year riding a bike while wearing a lycra costume with what is supposed to be a menacing looking snake on it. I also more than occasionally race against other like minded individuals and put way too much emphasis on the results of these contests between what is usually a bunch of mid to upper class white guys with way too much time and disposable income on our hands.

Then I decide to stop judging golfers.

Road rules

I just came across this well organized summary of Ohio bicycling laws, which was compiled earlier this year by the recently deceased Cal Kirchick, an avid cyclist and attorney. It is a must read for anyone who rides the roads of Ohio. (Scroll down a bit on the page after clicking on the above link.)

It is definitely a must read for the gentleman we encountered today on our ride who insisted that we should ride single file on the four-lane Shaker Blvd. because, according to him, Westlake forces cyclists to ride single file (which is likely an invalid law) and in bike lanes when available (which is even more likely an invalid law). Sorry Dorothy, but you're not in Westlake anymore.

Ride for Miles

Here is a link to information relating to a ride to honor the life and work of recently fallen local cyclist Miles Coburn, which will take place on Saturday, September 20th from John Carroll University.

GMSR crit and final GC

The Monday GMSR crit was 25 laps around a 1k course in downtown Burlington. It was a hilly, tight, and fast course with lots of spectators and some brick roads. The pace of the 30+ race was brutal from the gun, and the fact that we could not pre-ride or warm up on the course didn't help matters. I think we started this last stage with 40 or so riders, many of which were dropped and pulled on the first few laps after the field blew up. My group was pulled at 11 laps...ouch.





The finish



The day improved greatly, however, after we visited the way cool Magic Hat Brewery in South Burlington for some samples and a jug of Jinx to take home, straight from the tap.

That officially wraps up the GMSR. My 30+ field started with 45 riders, mostly Cat 1, 2, and 3. I finished 27th overall on the GC. I can't really complain about that, given the studs in this field and their stage race experience.

The race itself was pretty remarkable. That doesn't mean much coming from me, but the fact that people from all over the east and beyond keep coming back every year shows how good it really is.

So now I am here until the weekend, relaxing on a mountaintop property in a rustic cabin on 75 acres with our dogs and the 28 sled dogs that reside here.

I guess it's now time for cyclocross.

GMSR Prologue, Stage 1, and Stage 2

On Thursday, Katie and I, the dogs, two bikes, and two and a half wheelsets made the trip to Vermont for 10 days of vacation and the Green Mountain Stage Race.

I originally signed up for the Cat 3 race, but made a last minute change to the 30-39 master's field after realizing the start times in that race better suited our travel plans (which included a change of lodging on Saturday). So, instead of racing against 100 other Cat 3's, I am racing against 45 mostly Cat 1's, 2's, and 3's. (I learned this info by cyber stalking the competiton on usacycling.org.)

Prologue
The prologue was a 5.7 mile time trial with about 2.5 miles of up (gaining around 500 feet), 2.5 miles of down, a steep little hill, and a false flat to the finish. I rode it as well as I thought I could and came in at 26th place with a 15:56, nearly two mintes off of the leader (who posted a time nearly a minute faster than the winning Cat 3 and who would have been 12th of 126 riders if he had done the Pro-1-2 race with lots of good regional and national teams like Symetrics, TargetTraining, etc.).

The warm up tent (click photos for larger image)


The start









Stage 1
Stage 1 was a two-lap, 65-mile circuit race with about 3000 feet of climbing, two King of the Mountains sprints, and one points sprint. The pace was pretty high throughout, and the afternoon sun made the race hotter than the temperature said it was. I finished 29th with the front group/main field in a mass sprint. We dropped around 15 guys on the KOM's, especially on the second lap. We actually dropped a lot more than 15, but many clawed their way back on the several mile long, winding descent after the hill.

As we approached the finish the moto pulled off at 500m to give us the whole road. I started to come around to contest the sprint at around 300m, and my legs began to seize (literally). After I crossed the line, I coasted alsmost to a standstill and nearly dropped my bike because I could not move my legs. That hurt, but I managed to finish with the leaders.

The field aproaching the line (I don't remember if this is the finish or the first lap points sprint)



Stage 2
Stage 2 was a 75 mile death march with several thousand feet of climbing and two major climbs between 1500 and 2000 feet of elevation gain. It finished at the top of Appalachain Gap, a 10 mile climb with the last 4k averaging 10% and the last 500m being 20%.

I was dropped with 500m to go before the top of the first major climb/KOM (Brandon Gap) at mile 35, caught back on a few miles later, then stayed with the lead group until about 7 miles from the base of the last climb. The goal was to stay with the leaders until the base of the last climb. Oh well. I then lost some serious time on the last climb and finished totally shattered, 25 minutes down from the winner.

The drive to Stage 2


The start


The finish








Me near the finish


At 100m to go


Burlington Criterium
The Burlington Crit is tomorrow. I currently sit in 33rd place out of 45 starters. Despite having it handed to me royally today, this race is serious fun and is run with amazing precision for a race with 800 total participants.

She's Crafty

Problem: I lost my nifty orange armwarmers, which I will likely need for this week's race.

Solution: Katie makes me new ones, in about 10 minutes.

I am an interloper

And so is Ray and Brett, who were also kindly allowed to take part in the Team Spin/Spin Multisport Team two-person time trial tonight in downtown Cleveland, despite the fact that we are not members of either of those teams.

The night consisted of meeting up with Ray and Thom D., then riding to the race, getting randomly paired up with Brett, and riding pretty darn hard for 10 miles, half of which was into (what felt like) gale force winds coming from the east off of the lake. We then rode home, barely making it home before nightfall.

A fine time was had by all, and it served as good training for the stage 1 (Eddy Mercx style!!) time trial at the GMSR, which begins a week from Friday.

Who was it that said crit racers have no brains?

Some people say that life imitates art. It also imitates high school, at least for some pro bike racers at this weekend's USA Cycling Pro Criterium Championship in Downers Grove, Illinois.

Apparently, recent Tour de France podium contender, Olympian, and Chicago-raised Christian Vande Velde showed up for the pro race. He attacked the field in the middle of the race, took a $400 prime lap, and stayed off of the front in a solo breakaway for six laps before being caught by the chasing field.

According to this article on velonews.com:

[Pro racer and former teammate of Vande Velde Antonio] Cruz said the peloton was at first unimpressed with the Olympian in their midst.
"A lot of these [racers] were like, 'Whoo, hoo, Christian Vande Velde, Tour de France, big deal.' And then when he hit it, you hear some guys talking trash. Then two laps later we're strung out and nobody's talking, and Christian is gaining ground.
"It actually really pisses me off. There are a lot of disrespectful guys. They need to go to Europe and see what it's like before they talk."

In other words, a bunch of domestic pro cyclists barely scrapping by on teams with tight budgets (with a few exceptions) took issue with an international cycling star in their midst. One whom in no way was going to contest the crazy finish at this race (absent a successful breakaway), and one whose name alone creates a great deal of publicity and media attention based upon his recent success at the Tour de France and participation in the Beijing Games.

Domestic professional bike racing has been a fringe sport in this country ever since the decline of track racing in the first half of the 20th century. Major domestic races are routinely canceled (Tour of Utah 2007) or downsized (Tour de 'Toona 2008) as a result of lack of sponsorship money. You'd think that domestic racers would welcome the increased attention and free publicity that comes with a racer like Vande Velde at an event like Downer's Grove. Instead, they acted like cliquish high school kids threatened by the presence of the new kid who is going to steal their girlfriends.

There are two sides to every story, and there is always the chance that Vande Velde did something at the race to cause this stir. Until I hear something along those lines, I'm going to have to say that dissing Vande Velde was pretty damn lame and shows a real lack of class. If nothing else, it demonstrates a lack of common sense if you actually want to see this sport grow on this side of the pond.

A plug

This upcoming Saturday, August 23, 2008 is SnakeBiteRacing's annual Valley City Street Fair Road Race in Valley City, Ohio. This year's race includes the Ohio USCF master's championships for men and women, as well as many other category-based races, including a women's 2/3 race and a women's 4/Citizen's race. A detailed race flier is here.

The price is also right, as all men's races are $18 and women's races are $10 for licensed racers!!

Yes, I am involved in this race, so take my opinion with a grain of salt....but, this is great race on a great course.

Another tragedy, more ignorance

For those who have yet to hear, John Carroll University biology professor Dr. Miles Coburn was involved in a bicycling accident and killed on Saturday morning. It was at an intersection we east siders regularly ride when going to or from Burton. The tragic story first appeared here, then was updated here. Send your thoughts, prayers, vibes, etc. to his family and friends. Also keep in mind the person driving the automobile involved in the accident, who must be devastated.

To make this story even more disturbing, here are some comments in response to the initial Plain Dealer online article. Yes, I know, pointing out the ignorance of people who comment on internet news articles is akin to shooting large, slow fish in a barrel. The problem is that these people have our lives in their hands every time they encounter us on the roads. That is truly scary.
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Posted by Buckeyebobby on 08/17/08 at 12:41PM
As for the cyclist killed on route 44, these people are playing with fire. I see them all the time out in Geauga County cycling the backroads. The trip is scenic and the rural roads more quiet than the urban ones, but these roads are often narrow and hilly, several times I've almost hit cyclists coming around corners in my work truck.

Posted by chaosad948 on 08/17/08 at 10:56PM
I lived in Geauga County for 7 years and I will tell you that it is a diffcult county to DRIVE in, let alone cycle! Everyone goes like 50-60 MPH everywhere bc it takes 20 minutes to get anywhere...I don't think cycling should be allowed on certain roads there...kind of like the "No Truck Route signs...No Cycling Route....seriously...
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I'm really glad that some motorists think cyclists should stay off of the rural streets because the motorists are too lazy and selfish to drive at safe speeds on dangerous roads.

Why is banning bikes the solution to dangerous roads, opposed to safer vehicle speeds?

Everyone, please be safe.

Well said

"The thing about the masks is they're USOC masks...a doctor from the USOC sent a note saying, 'You should wear these masks in all transportation centers.' The fact that the USOC didn't back that wasn't very cool."

Taylor Phinney's response to the controversy over the use of air pollution masks by some members of the U.S. Olympic track team when they arrived in Beijing, courtesy of an article from the Denver Post.

I'm glad the USOC issued the masks, advised the athletes to wear them, then, according to this NYT article, scolded them for wearing them. Way to make a bunch of first time Olympians diplomatic scapegoats.

An hour in hell

Many people give me weird looks when I try to describe cyclocross to them. From now on, I'll just send them this video.

Orrville Milk Race

38 racers showed up for today's Cat 2/3 Milk Race in Orrville, Ohio. For SBR, it was Tom K., Pete S., and myself. This is yet another fabulously run August race in northern Ohio....five laps of a ten-mile loop of country roads. At the beginning of lap three, I managed to make a five-person breakaway. We stayed away for over 20 miles, but were brought back by the motivated field on the last lap. Then, two of my former breakaway companions (Tris H. and Rudy S.) had enough left in the tank to attack the field with Ray H. with a few miles to go. They held their lead, and Ray won the race in a three person sprint. Nice work Ray. SBR's Tom K. managed to take 8th overall in the field sprint. Good work Tom.

Hanging with and trying to contribute as much as possible to a breakaway group like that on a rolling and windy course is truly a test of willpower. I can't believe I pay money to do this.

Single File

Both Ray and JimmyNick have recently commented on single file cycling laws and their enforcement by local authorities.

Actually, I was on the ride with Ray when the Gates Mills police officer hassled us for riding two abreast. We were riding two across going up a curvy s-hill heading north on River Road, just north of Wilson Mills. At the top of the hill, we singled out. We had no idea a cop was behind us, and he pulled us over at the bottom of the other side of the hill. He specifically said that he pulled us over because we were riding double file going up the hill, which happens to include two totally blind curves. Apparently we were blocking traffic by riding double file. But, any driver who would attempt to pass a cyclist going up this hill has no respect for his/her own life or the passengers in their car, the life of the cyclist(s), or the life of any potential oncoming drivers. Like I said, we singled out at the top of the hill when it would be safe for a driver to pass us, but that wasn't good enough.

As for the arguments in JimmyNick's post, and the comments on Ray's post about the conflict between state law and local laws on this issue, let me just say that I agree with the consensus. For various reasons, I won't go into detail on why.

But, I would ask that if anyone who reads this blog is ever ticketed for riding two abreast in Ohio, or riding too far from the gutter of the road, contact me. We need to challenge the unlawful enforcement of these laws in court, and to the court of appeals if necessary. Honestly, you'll be wasting your time (and potentially be putting your short term liberty in danger) arguing about it with the cop who wants to ticket you.

At least I finished "in the money" on Saturday

So my (lack of) results at the Zoar road race was kind of a drag.

But, at least Reuben (aka "The Brave Sir Reuben") did well on Saturday. We acquired another title in his quest for world dominance in the Black and Tan Coonhound agility scene, a scene that actually doesn't really exist except for him. Aruuuuuuuuuu.

Zoar Road Race

Stark Velo once again put on a first class race today in the hills just south of Canton, Ohio. This race is, without a doubt, one of the premier area races.

In the Cat 3/4 field, we started with 51 racers and the field shrunk considerably as the race progressed. No significant breaks managed to get away (despite many efforts), and the race came down to a field sprint. As we got within a mile of the finish line (which is all downhill), I shot away from the group but got caught well before the 200m sign. Oh well.

An observation from today's race is that more than a few people can use an August bicycle tune up. If I had a dollar for every mis-shift, dropped chain, and general horrible sound coming from people's bikes today, I would have had my gas from the trip covered.

We also watched the end of the men's 1/2/3 field, which saw Thom D. and race winner Brian B. break away from the field and stay away for the duration of the race. Hats off to those two for being just generally beasts on the bike.

Next week is the Orrville Milk Race for me, and I'm looking forward to it.

"Only celebrities like Barack Obama go to the gym three times a day."

This article from the Wall Street Journal Online discusses Barack Obama's weight and his apparent dedication to fitness and a healthy lifestyle (or, as "healthy" as a lifestyle one can lead while being a Senator and presidential candidate).

Here's an excerpt:

But too much time in the gym can cause problems, as Sen. Obama learned last month after he made three stops to local Chicago gyms in one day, for a total of 188 minutes....Republicans have recently picked up on the senator's fitness regimen. On Wednesday, the McCain campaign launched a new ad titled "Celeb" that compares Sen. Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. In a memo to reporters explaining the ad, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis wrote, "Only celebrities like Barack Obama go to the gym three times a day."

So the guy worked out for three hours one day. God forbid. I guess no one from the skinny guy convention, also known as bike racers, will ever pass as a respectable presidential candidate.

I'm certainly glad that things are different in this election cycle, and we are finally focusing on the candidates' stances on the important issues facing our country.

(thanks to Asymetrical Information for the heads up on this article)

NYC's finest

Since when was it a crime...

The recent images of Riccardo Riccò being carted away by French authorities following his positive blood test at the Tour de France got me thinking (again) about the existence of "sporting fraud" crimes that exist in some European countries. What I am referring to here are actual crimes for which one can go to jail or be forced to pay fines to the state...not prohibited acts in the eyes of the UCI, World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), or any other sporting body.

If a professional cyclist is caught doping in some of these European countries, he/she could face criminal charges of sporting fraud in addition to any criminal charges associated with possessing, distributing, or consuming a banned substance.

In America, the only actual crime associated with doping would be the possession, use, or distribution of the banned substance, assuming the drug at issue is actually illegal to possess.

This article from last year on the Huffington Post, written by J.P. Partland, makes the case for sporting fraud laws in the United States. I have to say that I disagree with it 100%.

I view the criminalization of "sporting fraud" in the U.S. as an expansion of the already over funded and largely unsuccessful war on drugs. I don't want my tax dollars funding cops who bust down the doors of professional athletes looking for EPO or steroids or extra asthma inhalers. I care about doping, but I don't care that much.

Plus, European sporting fraud laws have not stopped the scourge of doping in the European pro peloton. If you do believe that the pro peloton is cleaner now than it was five years ago (which very well may be the case), the recent shift toward clean cycling was not caused by sporting fraud laws. Instead, it was caused by the horrible publicity from several Tour de France scandals, sponsors pulling out millions of dollars from cycling, and a general sense of doom within the sport.

Allow the market to dictate how strictly pro cycling enforces its own doping policies. If people want clean cycling, sponsors will continue to pull out until the sport comes clean. The thought of the FBI, ATF, or local law enforcement involved in this fight seems unnecessary, which is why those Roger Clemens Congressional steroid hearings sat so poorly with many people.

The real shame here is that cycling continues to receive a black eye for all of the doping scandals when it is one of the few sports that actually try to purge the dopers, even at the expense of the credibility of the entire sport. There is nothing more annoying than hearing a U.S. sports commentator decry the illegitimacy of cycling while praising the virtues of baseball and American football.

Let's just say that, if doping did become a crime that was strictly enforced in the U.S., there would likely be a heck of a lot more baseball and football players sporting orange jumpsuits than cyclists.

Bottle!

One of the few universal truths among cyclists is the importance of hydration before, during, and after rides and races. Although we may disagree on the best type of frame material, training methods, or the on the definition of a "sandbagger" in races, most everyone agrees (expert and non-expert alike) that your ability to ride well is directly related to your hydration level. In fact, one of the best ways to let someone else know that you are superior to them in cycling knowledge and training is to tell them, while on a ride, to remember to drink before they get thirsty. That usually does the trick.

All of this knowledge about hydration, however, is completely thrown out of the window when cyclocross season rolls around. For some reason, racers miraculously do not need water for the 60+ minutes of all out riding we do in cyclocross races, despite the fact that we usually finish the race in a pile of sweat, regardless of the weather conditions (with some exceptions).

To place a water bottle cage on a cyclocross bike is akin to wearing a pocket protector to a high school dance. Not cool. Most cyclocross racers say that bottle cages interfere with their ability to shoulder the bike when running up hills. That makes perfect sense...compromise your hydration and performance for the entire race over a few seconds to be gained when running up the hill that half of the races around here do not even have.

Others keep a bottle in their back jersey pocket. This is a fine idea in theory, but even a smaller sized water bottle in your back jersey pocket feels annoying in a race. Plus, it is rather inconvenient to access the bottle from the jersey pocket, at least compared to grabbing a bottle from the way uncool traditional bottle cage.

Actually, it seems as if the only acceptable way of keeping hydrated at a cyclocross race is to rope your family member/spouse/significant other/friend into giving you a bottle handoff about halfway through the race. By giving them a job to do (that is relatively stressful for someone not familiar with racing), you will ensure that they will mysteriously always have some other "plans" on the dates and times of all future cyclocross races.

As for me, I've found my solution. I am a simple man with a giant cheapbone, so simple things for free cause me great excitement. At the Danville road race this weekend, racers were treated to free miniature water bottles:



These are the smallest bottles I've ever seen. As soon as I laid eyes on them, I thought, "The perfect cyclocross bottle!!" So I took three. Small enough to fit in the jersey pocket without being terribly annoying, but large enough to carry enough liquid for a 60 minute race in the fall. Nice.

Hopefully this season's cross results fare a bit better than the results of Saturday's road race.

Disgrace

This deeply disturbing article today on velonews.com talks about a 19 year-old cyclist named Autumn Grohowski who was killed by an oncoming car. More specifically, she was killed by a drunk driver while she was turning left right before a railroad crossing where the lights on the crossing were blinking and the safety arms were swinging down. The drunk driver was coming the other way, saw that the crossing said "stop," illegally accelerated through the railroad crossing, and killed the 19 year old. Then he fled the scene, was forced back to the scene by shocked bystanders, and then proceeded to call 911. The story is actually much more disturbing than my brief summary.

Disgusting.

Accelerating through an active train crossing is the same as running a stop sign or red light. The driver's illegal actions (in addition to being drunk) were the direct cause of this murder. Yes, it was murder, and I suspect that the only reason the DA did not press more serious charges is because the victim was a cyclist.

You'd think that by now, we would be used to being treated as second class citizens in this country. But I'm still not ready to accept this fact.

Home gymnasium

marriedtothesea.com

Odd day at the races

I knew that today's Westlake race would go differently than normal because, of the 30 or so guys at the start line, close to 20 were from three teams: Lake Effect, RGF, and Spin. That, and the fact that some of the big gun regulars were missing, meant that an early break with those three teams represented would stay away...for good.

And guess what...it happened, but fortunately my SBR teammate Tom K. also made the seven person break, which made life for me just dandy. The teams with people in the break were happy with its makeup, and those without teammates were not going to bring back a break with that much horsepower up the road.

So, I hung out in the main field, managed to snag a cash prime, and was very happy to find out that Tom K. took 5th, despite being seriously worked over by the three previously mentioned teams, all of whom had two people each in the break.

Also, Hats off to Tom H. of Spin for riding an excellent race today and taking 2nd place.

Identify the author(s) of this quote

"I was before the front group and they were probably going really fast cause my legs got really tired, I was in the front group"

Okay, that is an unfair question unless you've read this article on the KTRV website from Boise, Idaho. The quote is from 9 year-old Mary and 6 year-old Jack Aruskidicius, who participated in a 200-kid criterium with pro cyclist and hometown hero Kristin Armstrong. (The video news clip of the event, titled "Ride with Kristin Armstrong," is also definitely worth watching.)

In a month where reports of bicycle tragedy and hate-filled road rage stateside, along with doping scandals in the Tour, have brought down even the most optimistic cyclists, this story is a breath of fresh air. It is about a pro athlete giving a damn and giving back to kids. It is about kids who have no clue what L’Alpe d’Huez is, don't care, but do know how fun it is to ride a bike. It is about kids doing something other than rotting away at the television or computer consuming messages from the advertising media telling them that they should spend more time rotting away at the television and computer. It is about everything that is good about cycling. And for that, I thank Kristin Armstrong, and wish her the best of luck in Beijing next month.

Given how she is riding lately, however, I doubt she will need luck to bring back some nice hardware.

I guess I should welcome this change...

But I'm not so sure I do.

As I mentioned a few months ago, I am racing the Green Mountain Stage Race in Vermont over Labor Day weekend. It is a four-day stage race, with a day 1 prologue/TT, a day 2 circuit race where we do the circuit 2.5 times, a day 3 road race, and a day 4 crit in downtown Burlington. (Links are to mapmyride.com profiles of the courses. Click on "show elevation" to see the elevation profiles, especially on stage 3.)

In years past, the prologue has been a mass start race up to the top of Appalachian Gap, climbing 1730 feet, and 1267 in the last 2.7 miles at a 10% average grade. They ditched that course this year, though, and instead are including a more conventional 5.7 mile individual time trial. It has some climbing, but nothing like the previous years.

At my size, I should be happy about this change. But, honestly, I was really looking forward to the uphill prologue. Not that I won't have a chance to do this climb from the other side two days later when the stage finishes at the top of the mountain.

Now I just have to decide whether to do the Cat 3 or 30+ race.

Ringing Endorsement

I ride and race on a 2007 Cervelo Soloist Team road frame that I bought last year from the good folks at Bike Authority. It is aluminum with a carbon fork, and I absolutely love it.

I was looking around at the Cervelo website today and found this statement which, I guess, is supposed to make people want to buy my bike:

We know that this is sometimes hard to believe – people are so blinded by “carbon” that they prefer a mediocre carbon frame over an Aluminum frame that is lighter, stronger, stiffer, more responsive and even more comfortable. Therefore, we can only recommend that you try out a Soloist Team, and find out why almost half of the Team CSC riders – the best team in the world – have a Soloist Team in their garage for training.

Almost half. In their garage. For training.

It evokes a picture in my mind of the bike sitting there and collecting dust next to the backup lawnmower and the chainsaw borrowed from but never returned to the next door neighbor last year.

I think that my college marketing professor would fall out of his chair reading this.

WTF?

This story is horrific. I am eager to find out more about what caused this senseless tragedy. From today's Toledo Blade:

Roland Gladieux was awakened yesterday morning by two men arguing outside his house in South Toledo. Still groggy, Mr. Gladieux peered out his bedroom window about 5:40 a.m. and saw one man hovering over a man on a bicycle, threatening to shoot him. Seconds later, there was a gunshot and the victim fell backward. “I saw him pull the trigger,” Mr. Gladieux said. “I seen the gun flash.”The victim, David Babcock, 46, of 908 Kingston Ave., who was riding his bike to work to save money on gas, was shot once in the corner of his mouth in the 800 block of Western Avenue, near Langdon Street. It was the first time he had set out on what was to be an eight-mile ride to work.
**
Thirteen years ago, Mr. Babcock was diagnosed with a brain tumor and, despite the odds, fully recovered from the surgery to remove it.“Doctors didn’t think he’d walk and talk again, let alone live this long,” his fiancee, Rene Long, said.Toledo police Capt. Ray Carroll said authorities are unsure why the two men were arguing, but according to witnesses, it was a heated exchange. “It was enough to wake people up at that hour,” the captain said.

Shreve Cycling Challenge 7-12-08

Another great race held in Shreve, Ohio and sponsored by Shreve Chiropractic. In the Cat 2-3 race, the attacks started from the very beginning and the race was already made about 3/4 into the first of five, nine-mile laps. Unfortunately, Tom and I from SBR did not make the break, which meant a long morning of riding around with the field. Not for me, however, because I lost the will and lost contact with the field on the big hill on the third lap. DNF...Ouch.

Congrats to Matt W. from Team Lake Effect for his impressive win in the 2/3 race.

In the Cat 4 race, SBR's Gary B. took 2nd and Matt O. finished in the field.

In the Cat 5 race, SBR's Mike L. won and Dave T. took 2nd, while Dave K. finished in the field.

The organization and support for this race is crazy good. A bag of free Amish pasta noodles in the promo bag, volunteers handing out water to racers after the race, free lunch for the riders, and an overall excellent vibe.

I do have one beef...with the rider in the main group (after the break was looong gone) who felt the need to chuck his Gu wrapper on the road. Not that this is a serious offense to humanity in the grand scheme of things, but it just shows a real lack of respect for the community that provides dozens of volunteers and offers their scenic country roads for this great event. Not that it would have been any better if the guy was in the breakaway, but c'mon. Is it really that hard to throw the plastic wrapper in your jersey pocket as you cruise along in the grupetto on lap two of five while fighting for the scraps of the race that is already up the road and is never coming back, no matter how much Gu you slurp down?

We can be better than this, people.

So unrealistic

This video attempts to portray a "normal" American adult life as a predetermined journey down the road of unfulfilled dreams and mediocrity. It is, however, so very unrealistic. Everyone knows that a normal adult male doesn't have room in his basement for a rec room with a bar and pool table because all basements are filled with bikes and bike parts, right? Right??

Le Tour on Le Internet

Today I watched the TdF stage here, for free, with English commentary. It is the live streaming video from Eurosport UK and, with any luck, it will be available all Tour long. The quality isn't superb, but cheap asses can't be choosers.

Here are some other options for trying to watch it online.

Robbed!

Check out this finish of the 2008 Mountain Bike Marathon World Championship in Italy this past weekend:




According to this article on cyclingnews.com, after nearly 5 hours of racing, Belgian Roel Paulissen (Cannondale-Vredestein) and Christoph Sauser (Specialized) approached the finish together and tangled handlebars about 70m before the line. Sauser then remounted his bike and crossed the line first, but was later relegated by the UCI officials for riding "dangerously" in the sprint. Paulissen was then declared the winner.

I'm not so sure I agree with that call.

Twin Sizzlin'

In the summer of 2001, I had just finished my second year of law school, rode my bike about twice a week, and was moderately overweight. I fancied myself a pretty badass rider, at least compared to the other recreational cyclists to whom I compared myself at the time.

I then decided to try my hand at road racing that summer in the 20-24 age group Citizen's race at the Medina YWCA Twin Sizzler. I lined up with about 10 other guys, including several members of the Case Western cycling club and some guy with a Colnago bike and an Italian flag tattoo. Within a couple of miles into the race, two or three guys crashed on the side of the road, and one of them landed in the roadside ditch. A few miles later, the Case guys used team tactics to launch a guy into a solo break, which he held for the rest of the race and won. I dropped the rest of the field chasing him in vain and finished 2nd. I came home with a silver medal and a new addiction.

It took me several years to really get into road racing, and that was mostly due to my lack of exposure to bike racing social circles until 2003/2004. But, that 2001 summer race was the pilot light that led to the flame of obsession that causes many of us to spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on this silly little sport.

So, every year since then except for one, I have made the trip to Medina for the July 4th Twin Sizzler. This year was no exception, and the race was typical for this event: a police lead car that led the elite 19-35 field for a few miles, then inexplicably turned off of the course with no warning to the riders; unmarshalled intersections, one of which the cyclists did not have the right of way; mixing of the 19-35 and 35+ elite fields about 20 miles into the race; and a bombed out Smith Road that made for an interesting last few miles of the race.

I tried to make a solo move at the end of the race this year, about 1.25 miles from the finish. I got caught by the peloton right before the final two turns and everyone passed me like I was moving backwards. But I lived to tell about it, and lived to fight another day, which likely includes next year's Twin Sizzler.

I knew it!!

I just called Representative Boehner's Washington office this morning and was directed to someone on his "leadership" department. I asked him if Boehner supports the automobile tax credit I talked about yesterday. He said the Congressman did not have an official position on it yet, but he was pretty sure Boehner supports it.

This level of hypocrisy, although par for the course, is maddening.

About that $240, redux

Back in December, I talked about how stuffed suit/U.S. Representative John Boehner (Republican - Ohio) joined the charge in deep sixing the bicycle commuter tax credit that was originally contained in the House version of the Energy Bill. It was a $240 tax credit over 15 months for those who regularly commute to work by bicycle. That post also included a video of Mr. Boehner's inspirational speech where he mocked the tax credit in a very mean spirited way and pretty much classified it as wasteful pork barrel spending.

Now, local U.S. Congressman Steven LaTourette (Republican - Bainbridge Township) has proposed a bill that:

will reimburse [automobile] commuters for up to 30 miles per day, round trip. The reimbursement will be for up to five days a week for 50 weeks a year, taking into account that most Americans get two weeks vacation.

Under H.R. 6154, the standard reimbursement will be 4 cents per mile, and vehicles that receive 35 miles per gallon will receive a higher reimbursement of 5 cents a mile, the equivalent of $1.75 off a gallon of gas (5 cents x 35 mpg). The maximum reimbursement will be $375 a year for someone driving 30 miles per day round trip to work for 50 weeks of the year, or 7500 miles. The bill is triggered whenever the national average price of gas is at or above $2.75 a gallon.

I am dying to see how Boehner responds to this proposal. I would bet my entire arsenal of bikes that he supports it.

There are valid arguments for and against both of these tax credits. But, to allow the $375 car credit and not the $240 bike credit is shameful and disgusting.

Raccoon Rally 2008 road race videos

Start of Cat 1-2 race.


Start of Cat 3-4/masters race.


Start of 2nd lap in Cat 1-2 race.


Start of 2nd lap in Cat 3-4/masters race.


Finish of Cat 1-2 race.


Finish of Cat 3-4/masters race.

New addition to the family

Or, new addition to the fambly, as Pa from the Grapes of Wrath would say.

Raccoon Rally

We traveled.


We hiked.


Reuben did not find any Raccoons.


And, despite this wonderfully staged photo, I bailed on the Sunday Mountain Bike race after heavy rains on Saturday made the course unenjoyable for a fairweather mtb person like myself.


The good news is that the road race was pretty epic with driving rain and 4 members of SBR cracking the top 10 of the 40 rider 3/4 field, with 2 others in the top 15. Tom K. grabbed 2nd (for the 3rd year in a row), and Matt O rode like a man possessed. Gary has the elevation profile on his blog.

Video of the race is forthcoming.

Shreve Challenge, Saturday 7-12-08

The Shreve Challenge is on again. This is a road race held on a 9-mile rolling to hilly loop near Wooster in Shreve, Ohio. The course is fantastic, and the race (at least last year) was run very smoothly by the promoter.

The event flier found here speaks of special features such as:

King of the hill contest, who climbs the fastest. (see web page for details) and for Cat 5 , beat the promoter. Can you beat the fat, old Dr.??Get a bonus if you do.

I will just be thrilled to win the "not get dropped by the fast guys up the big hill" contest. We shall see.

Get out of the bike lane, jerk!

Back in April, I was intentionally buzzed by a motorist on a country road. I blogged about it and discussed how it would be nice to have a user-generated database for people to post details of aggressive driver incidents, including license plate numbers.

Today I found a similar type of site dedicated to posting photos of cars illegally blocking bike lanes. It's pretty funny. Here is the Washington D.C. page of the site. Check out the caption next to the photo of the Mercedes, about halfway down the page, that says:

When I took this picture, the guy came out of the car and rushed me, saying "I'm going to smash you in the face." I started biking away and he smashed me in the back with his fist. I am pressing assault charges.

Yikes!

Personally, I would also like it if there was a website dedicated to photos of cyclists doing stupid things. Maybe we would then think twice before doing something about which we would be embarrassed if it was on display for our peers to see.

About that Plain Dealer Article

I thought it would be disrespectful to include a diatribe in the same post as the one sending condolences to the Patrick Hickey family, so I have started a new post about the Plain Dealer article reporting the accident. In a nutshell, it sucks, as do the "comments" of Lt. Thomas Stacho. Here is the article in its entirety:

A 20-year-old Parma Heights man was killed in a crash Friday.

Patrick Hickey was riding his bicycle to work and crashed into a beer truck at Oakpark Avenue and West 25th Street, a coroner's spokesman said.

He was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. at MetroHealth Medical Center.

Police said the accident happened at 3:40 p.m., when Hickey was riding north on the east side sidewalk along West 25th. The truck was also going north.

The truck turned east on Oakpark Avenue and the bike collided with it. Hickey was thrown to the pavement.

Lt. Thomas Stacho said Hickey was riding a bike that didn't have brakes. He was not wearing a helmet. And he was wearing headphones, listening to an I-Pod.

The truck driver was not cited and voluntarily submitted to drug and alcohol testing.

As I read this, Hickey was heading north on the sidewalk and the truck was also heading north. Then truck then turned right (east) onto a side street that Hickey was crossing at the same time, still heading north.

It seems to me like Hickey had the right of way here, doesn't it?

I obviously don't know what happened, and I am not trying to vilify the driver here. Two days ago I failed to see a cyclist on the sidewalk while pulling out of a side street I regularly use. He fortunately stopped, and I let him go, but it made me realize how fast something like that could happen. It's very scary.

Going back to the article though, the part about the i-pod, the "no brakes," and the helmet is very disturbing. Was the i-pod a factor? Was it being played excessively loud? Does a person give up his/her rights as a cyclist if they are using an ipod?

Same for the helmet. Would it have saved him? Where were his injuries? It is very possible that his failure to use a helmet had zero effect on the outcome of this tragedy.

Although I cannot verify this, the "no brakes" comment is a lie. I spoke with someone today who said that Hickey was a bike messenger at some point, which of course means that his "no brakes" bike was most likely a fixed gear with adequate stopping power.

Overall, the article represents the "bikers are guilty" attitude that permeates the media and law enforcement. Including the bits about the i-pod and the no helmet without facts to verify whether these things even made a difference in the accident is very suggestive and unfair. The "no brakes" sentence is also unacceptable (assuming it was a fixed gear with braking power). Stories like these only serve to rile up readers and add to an already disturbing anti-bike sentiment. Just read some of the "comments" after the article to see what I mean.

So, after reading the article today, I called Donna J. Miller, its author. She answered the phone and we discussed the accident. She assured me several times that the driver had the right of way. She was actually quite militant about it. When I pressed her as to why this was the case, she said that the cross street where the accident happened was a "big" intersection and the truck surely had the right of way. I then got her to pretty much admit that she had no idea how big the intersection was and that she had lied to me. I later checked mapquest and verified that the street onto which the truck turned was in a fact a side street, not a "big" intersection. (not that it would really matter in terms of whether a cyclist traveling parallel with a vehicle has the right of way). After I caught her lying to me, I told her that she engaged in "bullshit journalism that fosters a biased attitude towards bikes." She didn't like that too much. We talked a bit more, and when I asked her if she had inquired into whether the driver was listening to his car stereo when the accident happened (a valid question since she included in the article the fact that Hickey was listening to his i-pod), she hung up on me.

After reading the article, speaking to Ms. Miller, and thinking way too much about this tragedy today, I have come to one conclusion: Patrick Hickey was guilty of being a cyclist in Cleveland. Who will be next?

Tragedy

20 year-old Patrick Hickey of Parma Heights was killed on Friday riding his bike to work. The tragic story ran on cleveland.com yesterday. Send your thoughts, prayers, vibes, etc. to his family and friends, who must be devastated. Also keep in mind the person driving the truck involved in the accident. I cannot imagine how that person must feel as well.

Freedom Machines.

Federal, State, and Local Spending on Surface Transportation Infrastructure, by Type, 1956 to 2004, in billions of dollars


I would call a bike a freedom machine. Others call cars freedom machines, including Terence P. Jeffrey. He is a columnist at CNSNews.com whose writings are sometimes published in major newspapers. He recently wrote an article decrying recent threats to the car, and it begins as follows:

Recent evidence that automobile use is declining in America and that some Americans are making significant -- and in some cases not readily reversible -- changes in their lives because of escalating gas prices should be worrisome signs for those who love liberty.

No device is more in keeping with the American spirit than the automobile. Privately owned cars and trucks allow us to go where we want, when want. They are freedom machines.

Still, some liberals would like to use government to force Americans out of their cars.

They believe in socialized transportation, not free-market transportation.

In a free-market transportation system, a person purchases his own vehicle with his own money, buys his own gas with his own money and can drive his vehicle anywhere there is a road -- and, if he has the right kind of vehicle, some places where there are no roads.

Admittedly, the roads generally are constructed by government, albeit with funds extracted from the earnings and gasoline purchases of drivers.

In a socialist transportation system, the government takes the taxpayers' money and purchases vehicles -- often buses or trains -- for itself or a government-funded agency. Where and when these vehicles go is determined by the government.

In a free-market transportation system, a person travels solely in the company of people with whom he has freely chosen to travel. In a socialist transportation system, a person may be compelled to travel in the company of people he does not know and who could even be a danger to him.

Whoa! Regardless of your view on the merits of driving a car (I happen to drive one myself....much more than I'd care to admit), this guy is a clown.

He calls driving cars "free market transportation." That is a lie.

According to the Deputy Director of the Congressional Budget Office in October 2007:

Spending on surface transportation infrastructure by all levels of government in 2004 was $191 billion (in 2006 dollars), or 1.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). The federal government provided about one-quarter of those funds, and states and localities provided the rest. Those funds were split about equally between spending for capital projects and operation and maintenance. Most of that spending was for roads.

The graph at the top (from the same source) shows that, in 2004, government spent about $130 billion on roads. Of the total $191 billion spent on surface transportation, the federal government (aka gas tax funds) covered approximately 1/4, or $48 billion of that cost. I am sure that Mr. Jeffrey would like all of that federal money to have gone to road infrastructure, not public transport. So let's assume that all federal money did go to roads (which it did not) That still means that, in 2004, state and local governments spent $82 billion on roads that was not covered by the federal gas tax ($130 - $48 = $82).

Travel by car is not a "free market" mode of transportation when you consider the $82 billion dollar tax subsidy for road infrastructure that is not covered by the federal gas tax.

This guy is a total fraud. If you love your car, then drive it. Great. Wonderful. Have fun. Just don't lie to me and tell me how I (and every other taxpayer who may or may not own a car) am not subsidizing this endeavor.

Here's another money quote from the article:

Hopefully, the 8 percent who have taken to socialized transportation represents a trend that can be reversed.

Wow again. This guy actually wants those who take public transportation to stop it because it offends his sensibilities.

His main point in the article is that America should start drilling its own oil. The funny thing is that he sabotages his argument and shreds his own credibility by needlessly lying, resorting to silly propaganda ("changes in their lives because of escalating gas prices should be worrisome signs for those who love liberty;" cars are "freedom machines;" etc.); and breeding fear through classism and racism: "In a socialist transportation system, a person may be compelled to travel in the company of people he does not know and who could even be a danger to him."

That's a really good point. The RTA rapids during rush hour are very dangerous and filled with the dregs of society. No one is safe there. Once, I even got hit in the head by a businessman's briefcase who wasn't paying attention while he was walking down the aisle and talking on his cellphone. I was so traumatized by the event that I needed to take the day off and go for a "free market" drive on our glorious roads.

Thanks to BikePortland for the heads up on this topic.

Racing in circles, then drag racing

Tuesday evening's pleasantly moderate temperature made for a pretty enjoyable Westlake race. The only problem was that things get a bit boring when you miss the break with over 10 laps/20 miles left in the race and there is no way the field is going to bring it back.

Last night, Ray, Pate S., and I also drove to Granger, Ohio to do the Team Lake Effect Time Trial. After getting lost trying to find the place, we were able to arrive on time and sufficiently flog ourselves in the sub 10 mile race. I did the time trial last year with my regular road bike and no aero equipment, which was pretty much like bringing a knife to a gunfight. This year, my Soloist road bike is pretty aero, and I managed to borrow Ray's TT bars and his FlashPoint deep dish front wheel.

The downside, of course, of having aero gear for a time trial is that it leaves you less excuses for doing poorly. Did I say that out loud?

They are putting this event on next Thursday (6-19) as well and, like usual, it is a first class event.

Firewater

A few weeks ago, Katie and I met up with Greg D. at the Beachland Tavern to see Firewater.

The band is the brainchild of singer/guitarist/bassist Tod A, who always tours with a very talented group of multicultural/multinational musicians to back up his songs, which are a mix of rock/punk/klezmer/middle eastern/eastern european/gypsy/cabaret. Greg D. took some great photos at the Cleveland show, including the one above. Below are two live songs recently recorded in Chicago during their current tour.

Mill Creek Park

Today was the Mill Creek Park race. Most people would call this race a crit, but some would argue otherwise. Whatever.

It was hot. Really hot. The 2/3 race started at 11:45 with 25-30 racers. After a couple of breaks stayed away for a bit and were eventually caught, the winning move started with six, then dwindled to four riders. Ray H. (Team Columbus) and Thom D. (Spin) were both in that winning move. The rest of the field battled for the last two paying spots over the next 15 laps/miles after the winning breakaway rode off. I felt like poop most of the race and managed to finish with the main field, which had shrunk significantly over the course of 25 laps. Props to SBR's Chris B. for racing smart and aggressively today.

In the 4/5 race, SBR had Pete S., Gary B., Rick A., Dave T., Matt O., and John V. Gary took 3rd, Pete 6th, and the rest of the boys finished in the field.

Another good race put on by Team MVC.

One of "those guys"

When I first started doing group rides, I used to think that riders who had "race only" wheelsets were total weenies. I still think that, but have now also become one of them.

The progression took some years, but the point is that it happened. I used to think that it was dumb not to use the best gear I had for daily riding since it feels the best and, after all, I am riding for fun. Plus I wanted any advantage I could get in the crazy sketchy town line sprint on County Line road or in the race up whatever hill(s) on which we chose to beat each other to a pulp.

Then, as I amassed more gear, my best wheels were reserved for only the "good" or "fast" group rides that carried a zero chance of rain.

Today I realized that I have officially become one of those weenies whose stance on race wheels I used to mock mercilessly. I can't even remember the last time I rode my race wheels on a day where they didn't see the start line of a race.

I must admit that my "race" wheels are only marginally better and lighter than my regular wheels, and they pale in comparison to the high bling hoops seen on the machines of most local racers. But that is beside the point and does not detract from the fact that I am now one of "those guys."

I could write more on this pressing topic, but I now must go prepare my bike for tomorrow's Mill Creek Park race in Youngstown. And put on my race wheels.

Liquid Gold

I have no idea about the source of the information in this graph, but if it's even close to accurate, it's hilarious. I would suppose that, with oil nearly reaching $140 a barrel today, it may be close to overtaking Red Bull.

Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape

British writer Paul Howard recently wrote a biography about cycling great Jacques Anquetil, who won about a million races and several European Grand Tours in the 1950's and 60's. The book is called Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape, and was recently reviewed on cyclingnews.com.

The review includes a passage from the book where Anquetil discusses his preferred way to spend a night before a race. It sounds eerily similar to my pre-race routine:

"Here's the routine I'd advise for the evening before a race: a pheasant with chestnuts, a bottle of champagne and a woman."

Cheesy downhill mtb video game

Enjoy.




Go here for full version with instructions and without annoying blogger format that cuts off right 20% of screen. Does anyone know how to fix that little problem I seem to have with the layout of this site?

Patriots

The word "patriotism" is commonly used today. Some use it as a tool to inspire and unite this country to do great things. Others use it as a weapon to tear down and create divisions.

A person demonstrates true patriotism through his or her meaningful actions. Patriotism should not be measured by one's stated stance on issues at the dinner table or on a call-in talk show. Nor should it be measured by whether a person wears a U.S. flag lapel pin or not. And no, it was not patriotic to spend money we didn't have shopping in the wake of 9/11, regardless of what the President said.

So why don't bicycle advocates use the "patriotism card" to promote our cause? A person on a bike is either riding for (1) exercise/recreation; (2) transportation; or (3) both.

Riding for reason number 1 fosters a healthy lifestyle, reduces stress, and undoubtedly reduces overall health care costs, the majority of which are paid by the taxpayers through Medicare, Medicaid, bad hospital debt tax write offs, and taxpayer funded health insurance premiums for federal, state, and local government employees and their families, as well as the military and their families.

Riding for reason number 2 decreases our dependence on foreign oil, decreases the demand for oil (which in turn will cause prices to fall, in theory), greatly helps the environment, and reduces the stress on our nation's road and highway infrastructure.

Riding for reason number 3 is, of course, a no brainer and the best of both worlds.

Given the benefits of riding to our "national security" and the state of our national health (all of which you knew already anyway), I would argue that riding a bicycle is one of the easiest things a person can do to be patriotic. If people are going to exploit this word to further political agendas, the least we can do is use it to promote something meaningful, healthy and productive.

So, if anyone from the League of American Bicyclists or Congress is reading this, go ahead and use my idea. For free. I hope to see "bicycling is patriotic" billboards by the time gas hits $6 a gallon. Just give me the credit, and maybe a few flag lapel pins.

Bike shortage = wicked

This recent article from the New York Sun talks about the high demand for bikes these days and how retailers, especially those in New York City, are quickly selling out of utilitarian commuters. I particularly loved the quote from the owner of Dixon's bike shop, who sold 25 Jamis hybrids over Memorial Day Weekend: "They're all gone. It's wicked."

The real question is whether these people will continue to use bikes as transportation when/if gas prices ever go down.

Race for Alex

Today was the Race for Alex, a circuit race held in Columbiana County Ohio.

Chris B., Gary B., Mike L., Pete S., and myself lined up for SBR at the master's 30-39 race. Did I mention that I am a bit troubled about being old enough to race masters? Anyways, I managed to join the winning break on lap 1, and then it was off to the races with two other riders from the Pittsburgh area. Another teammate of one of my breakaway companions managed to bridge to us a few laps later (what a beast!), and the four of us were never caught. I was worked over on the last lap and took 4th, the first non-paying place. Still a good race, and a good time.

Chris B., Tom K., and I also did the 2/3 race, which felt pretty comfortable until lap 3, when gaps formed all over the place. The three of us were dropped around the same time. Oh well, doing a masters race before the 2/3 race is a recipe for disaster (at least for us).

SBR also had Pete S., Gary B, Mike N., Mike L., and David T. in the 4/5 field. Pete grabbed 5th, and Gary finished in the front group. David T. finished in the field, Mike L. crashed out, and Mike N. quit to assist Mike L. after the crash. No worries though, everyone was ok. Not sure about everyone's bikes though.

Tom K. also did the masters 40-49 race and finished in the field.

I was also very pleased with the attendance at this race. Over 50 in the 4/5 field and about 44 in the 2/3 field. Like usual, it was well run, had good payouts (not that I would know personally), and raised money for Alex C., a recovering spinal cord injury victim.

BFF

This year's Bicycle Film Festival looks really good...Road to Roubaix, The Six-Day Bicycle Races, film shorts on bmx, messengers, David Millar (I hope they show him clubbing in Europe!!), etc. The above photo is from the Six Day Bicycle Races movie.

Looks like Toronto and Chicago are the two closest stops for this event.

Race!

Don't forget to check out the two upcoming Mahoning Valley Cycling Club events...the Race for Alex on Sunday June 1 (a circuit race) and the Mill Creek Park Race (a criterium) on Sunday June 8. These are both very well run events on good courses. Link to info for both races is here.

Here is a photo of the break from last year's Mill Creek Park race:

The week in pictures, W.Va style

Arrive at cabin.



Ride.



Cook.



Eat.



Hike.



Repeat, several times.

The Brave Sir Reuben...

...earned his first agility title on Sunday.

The plan has come together

Finally.

And reservations have been made. After talking about it for a few years, this is the year I'll be doing the four-day Green Mountain Stage Race in Vermont from August 29 - September 1.

Now I just need to learn how to ride hills like those New England folks.

Thanks USCF

As I've already discussed on this blog, my trip to the (canceled) Bull Run Farm road race north of Cincinnati was a pretty big debacle. To add insult to injury, I also managed to lose my USCF racing license that day when I got it back from the promoter after turning in my timing chip.

A replacement license....a piece of paper with my info printed on it....costs $15. Wow, that really gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. Sure, it's a donation to USA cycling, but I prefer my donations to be voluntary, not coerced. And I prefer that they be to organizations in which I have confidence with the way they are currently being run.

Lame.

Food for Thought

I tend to eat a lot. Biking makes me eat more. No surprise there. Did you ever wonder how all of that excess eating affects the world food supply? Yea, I know, we can drive ourselves nuts worrying about all of this stuff. But it's at least worth thinking about. And discussing. While out on the next ride, burning a bunch of calories.

And yes, I know, there are a million other reasons for food shortage issues....inefficiencies in the distribution chain, bad governments, subsidies to not grow crops, etc. etc.

Here is an excerpt from a recent article in the New Yorker:

The problem is not just the number of mouths to feed; it’s the quantity of food that each mouth consumes when there are no natural constraints. As the world becomes richer, people eat too much, and too much of the wrong things—above all, meat. Since it takes on average four pounds of grain to make a single pound of meat, Roberts writes, “meatier diets also geometrically increase overall food demands” even in those parts of Europe and North America where fertility rates are low.
***
Even now, there is no over-all food shortage when measured by global subsistence needs. Despite the current food crisis, last year’s worldwide grain harvest was colossal, five per cent above the previous year’s. We are not yet living on Cormac McCarthy’s scorched earth. Yet demand is increasing ever faster. As of 2006, there were eight hundred million people on the planet who were hungry, but they were outnumbered by the billion who were overweight. Our current food predicament resembles a Malthusian scenario—misery and famine—but one largely created by overproduction rather than underproduction. Our ability to produce vastly too many calories for our basic needs has skewed the concept of demand, and generated a wildly dysfunctional market.

Deep thought

Driving through the country and watching people spend hours obsessively mowing their multiple-acre yards/farmland before the grass has hardly even grown since the last time it was mowed makes me feel better about spending several hours a week riding and racing bikes.

That thought occurred to me while driving to southern Ohio on Saturday after racing in the final Race at the Lake.

The 1-2-3 race averaged around 26.9 mph and featured a bunch of dudes much more fit than I making people like me hurt a whole bunch for about an hour. How's that for a race report?

Here is a video of the riders entering the final lap:




Here is the finish:

Well said

Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia.

~H.G. Wells

Westlake

Today was my first Westlake race of the year. We had four SBR's in the A field, including myself, John E., Chris B., and Tom K.

I managed to grab the first prime. Then, somewhere around halfway into the race, a well represented break got away without anyone from the team in it.

The field managed to catch the break with less than a half lap to go, and a mass field sprint ensued. Not much else to say, other than we didn't crack the top five.

I think we raced for about 40 miles, and averaged somewhere a bit above 26mph.

Bull Run Farms Road Race

Sunday presented many race options for those who were willing to drive 3 - 4.5 hours. A bunch of us from SBR decided to make the trip to southern Ohio for the Bull Run Farms Road race. It was closer and had a later start time than the Wilkesville to Wilkesville race that same day, and it was less likely to end in a flat tire than the Cone Azalia race (which featured 2.5 miles of gravel roads each lap) in Michigan.

The race was a disaster. After a bit more than one lap of riding around totally clustered with 60 other Cat 3's and no ability to move around because the center line rule was STRICTLY enforced and teams with riders in the break were blocking like crazy, the race was stopped because of two separate accidents, neither of which were in my field.

They postponed the race and are going to move it to a new location on a different day.

Did I mention that the second turn had cones along the center line of the road onto which we turned, right after the apex of the turn? Brilliant.

After the races were canceled, a few of us did a 20 some mile hammerfest. About 40 miles in all, including warm up, and 8 hours of driving.

I heart bike racing.

$147.77 road bike

Here is link to the bike.

Note that the GMC logo of the bike looks like the BMC brand logo, the Cionlli seat sure sounds (and looks) like Cinelli, and the style and font of the Vitesse logo on the wheels sure looks like the Easton wheels logo.

This bike appears to have more trademark violations than Wal-Mart has employees who receive health insurance.

edited: They changed the bike. The current photo is of a different bike than the one I had talked about in this post.

Justice

A few weeks ago, I received a completely bogus ticket in Euclid for making an illegal left turn into the driveway of a business. I won't bore you with the details other than saying that I had resigned to the fact that I broke the law until I took another look at the "no left turn" sign I allegedly failed to obey and realized that it was actually more misleading than I had thought. Unfortunately I was driving home from paying the ticket when I realized this.

This ticket made me think about how many times drivers dangerously pass bicyclists with oncoming traffic or on a blind hill/corner. This is pretty much a given for most motorists, and it happens in front of police officers all of the time. Has anyone ever gotten a ticket for doing this? Perhaps unsafe operation of a vehicle? Driving like a selfish jackass? This happened twice last night on a group ride and scared the life out of us both times.

I guess it's only fair that I pay $125 for a victimless crime based on a deceiving sign while drivers everyday place our lives (and the lives of oncoming traffic) at risk for the sake of saving 6 seconds...and never receive a ticket.