Man, the nerve endings in my right leg....

......aren't diggin' the hill jams I did today. Trippy feeling.

One word could be used.......

.....to describe our own Jeff Smith: Stud! Jeff has been riding forever. Back when I was a Junior racer, I bought my very first road racing bicycle from Jeff Smith when he and Tom Devol owned Cyclesport in downtown Chico. It was a Benotto bicycle....and that thing was sweet!

But Jeff....this dude is a great rider. Back then, he was in the Veteran category.....now known as the Masters(and there were no separation of categories - if you were of age, you raced Vets). And Jeff whooped everyone. And this dude can climb - even today, he will slaughter most on the hills. I'll never be able to climb like this guy - I went riding with him last year up to Centerville and he dropped me like a bad habit.

Back in the early 80s, there was this racing team in northern California called Ten Speed Drive Imports. If you were on this team, you were the sh*t(their Junior team slayed all). And yes, Jeff was asked to join the team....and he did. The coolest thing about Jeff though was to hear the stories about the races. You sometimes read about going into the bicycle shops back in the day and the owner would tell you cycling stories about rides, races, riders, etc. That was Jeff - one of the best racers in northern California, telling us about the past weekend races on Monday or Tuesday, training during the week, the competition, the course, just everything. It was awesome - and a great memory for us as teenage racers.

Team Mom.....

.....she's the one on the right.

Jack & Jill Team Time Trial 2005.

Yes, Charlie and I are already planning the 2006 event.....start your training now!

South Rim anybody???

Well, after the 25 inches of rain last night, along with the 400 mph winds, the trails in our own Upper Bidwell Park are closed. However, before the big storm hit, the Chico Moutain Bikers were able to get some cool video of South Rim Trail over the weekend. Fun.....don't crash though.

Smells like......

.....Victory.


Name: Steven Mielich
Event: Snelling Road Race
RaceDate: 25-Feb-06
Category: 35+ 4/5
Field: 50
Distance: 48 miles (+3 mile promenade)
Conditions: warm, dry, sunny
Teamates: none
Place: 1st

Watch the wind, be patient and stay seated were Bruce Hendler's(AthletiCamps) words and we spoke on the phone on Friday evening as he was coaching me for Snelling. I was really relaxed as I was 20th on the wait list for two fields of 50 so I thought that I had little-to-no chance of getting in. That extra uncertainty kept me up all night and I was stressed the following morning as I drove to Snelling.

They made us wait until 15 minutes before the scheduled start time to give away slots and I got in with little time to pin my number on and get to the line. Unfortunately I did not get in the same field as Chris Soukup and Tim Lewis so I had to race with no teammates. My plan was to look for other strong riders to follow and hope for a bunch sprint.

Snelling is a 12 mile course with several sharp turns and several short modest pitches. There is one section that is very rough and it's a short uphill finish very much like the last section of our Tuesday night crit hill. The first two laps I felt bad, my pulse was 171+ almost the whole time, I felt panicked and I spent too much time out-of-the-saddle. What was wrong?

I checked my cadence and I was spinning the entire time at 105+. With the Tour of Amgen in town, I had skipped most of my drills this week and it only took that for me to be back to my old ways of gassing myself spinning way too small of a gear. I gathered my senses, forgave myself for making the mistakes and committed to racing the rest of the race smarter. I forced myself to chose bigger gears and found the climbs easier and I was easily able to advance on the climbs. Great!

The last lap was very fast and on the very rough section I could see the 1K sign up-the-road. I worked my way to the front and took fifth wheel. I waited for the thundering herd but there was none. I made sure to swing wide in the turn and took second wheel for the sprint to the line. I yelled at my now lead-out guy GO! GO! GO! and he did just that. I came around him with about 200m and took the win. What a thrill!

-Steven

Yoda man.....Yoda.

OH - So those are the shoes.....

.....cool.

So, we're looking for a new road bike.....

.....for Lori. She has her eye on a nice new Trek over at North Rim. But, she wanted to check out the new Specialized Dolce models tonight at Ltd. She digs the Dolce, but wants to test ride it first.....obviously. What she didn't like was me lusting after this bike(shown above) in the store! Think she was a little jealous. Sorry Honey.

Rollers......

......just one of those nights to get on 'em again for riding. Although, it doesn't look that bad outside - I think only 1 inch of rain has fallen today, not 2, and the winds only look like they're blowing at 15mph, not 35. Hmmmm. Maybe outside training would be better.

Nah.

We have Yoda on our team.....

.....and his name is Nathan. Talking to him via e-mail about training and training philosophies/schedules/ideas, etc., Nathan has that brilliantly simplistic edge that all those great riders have:

"There is no good and bad.....there is only trained and untrained".

"The key to racing: Fitness and Patience".

I love it. I mean, why overcomplicate things through overanalysis and what I like to call "train-worry". Overanalysis of racing, races, strategy, tactics, courses, etc. Overworry about training, scheduling, plans, routines, even rituals. Trained, Untrained - Fitness and Patience. Can a guy with no teammates win the Snelling Road Race in the Masters 35+ 4/5 category? Of course.....but why? Fitness and patience......the guy had 'em both.....along with a few grains of intelligence.

1981 - Greg LeMond - Nevada City Classic. Rode to the course from Carson City on his Gitane bicycle. First lap of the Pro/1/2 event, he decides just to attack on the hill to see what would happen - just for sh*ts and giggles. What happened?? Got away, lapped the field, kept lapping the field(well certain riders of the split up field) and won the race. Fitness - yes. Patience? Well, maybe not in droves.......but he was patient enough to try the attacks again later in the race if the first one didn't work(his words).

Nathan - dude, you're Yoda. I love it!

The Man, The Myth, The Legend......

......Geno - The only dude who knows what in the world I'm talking about when I'm bringing up the Retro-Grouch days of the early 1980s northern California Junior racing scene. You are part of the glue that keeps us all together.

Death Ride this year???

Okay Eric.....

.....we only have 6 months left to train for the Mt. Shasta Summit Double Metric Century. Need to get on that 20,000 feet of climbing per week training schedule.

Nice bike Dude!

Actually, I can't wait for the sun to come out......

....again. EMC Criterium 2005 pic above......toasty warm.

2 inches of rain today.....

.....with winds coming out of the south at 20mph, gusts up to 35mph. Hmmmm. Let's ride!

Now that's a Pedicab!

Hey Greg - How do you think that would work out here in Chico???

Bye Tour of California......

....we'll see ya next year......and hopefully we'll be marshalin' again in Santa Rosa. Way to go Floyd!!!

Don't know why.....

.....but as I get older(just turned 38), this is getting to look like a lot more fun. Weird.

Now this.....

....is the Tour of California.

"You guys wanna go surfing.......

.....after this tandem race???"

1974 Tandem racing in Santa Rosa, CA.

One great reason for wearing a helmet.....

.....to make sure blood doesn't leak from your head when you crash during a final sprint in the 1985 Giro d'Italia.

So, you live in Chico......

.....and your wife or girlfriend is coming back into town after a short trip. The thing of it is, she's coming in by train, which stops in Orland, California....which is about 25 miles from your house. The train doesn't stop in Chico. And the next thing is that the train arrives at midnight.....and it's late winter.....so it's freezing cold outside. Being the nice guy that you are, you know you must pick her up to bring her back home. But you don't own a car. So, what do you do??? You take off around 10:30pm by tandem bicycle, ride to the train station, pick her up with her luggage, and you both ride back home to Chico. Sound like fun???

Well, we had a famous cyclist in these parts who did this very thing.....and he didn't think a thing about it.....it was just the way he did things......by bicycle. 400-mile weeks? Yeah, that was no big deal......but no racing, just riding. I was fortunate enough to ride with this guy quite a bit as a young teenager - his name is Chuck "Bodfish" Elliot. And man, talk about a great view towards riding. If you ever have the opportunity to read Bodfish's Butte Country Bicycle Journeys, I would highly recommend it......not so much for just the directions in the booklet, but more for how Chuck has a way of describing the ride itself. It just makes you wanna.....well.....ride!

If you're ever up in Chester, California......be sure to visit Bodfish Bicycles! And say HI to Chuck for me!

Don't quote me....

"Ride your bike, ride your bike, ride your bike" - Fausto Coppi(when a reporter asked him what it takes to become such a great champion).

"It was eleven more than necessary."- Jacques Anquetil (after winning a race by twelve seconds).

"Don't buy upgrades - ride up grades"- Eddy Merckx

"Want to make a million dollars in the cycling industry? Start with two million dollars."

"The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine." - John Howard

"It never gets easier, you just go faster." - Greg LeMond

It's better than nothing......

No Lance, No Matter for OLN

Outdoor Life Network's cycling coverage will be about the same as in 2005 even though the sport's biggest drawing card has retired. The Paris-Nice stage race kicks off the Sunday programming on March 5. Back at the mikes will be the three amigos -- Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen and Bob Roll.

OLN also will offer a streaming feed of Monday-through-Saturday stages of the Giro d'Italia on its website, http://www.olntv.com, according to VeloNews.com. Access and pricing information has yet to be announced.

Here's this season's TV lineup. Most of these shows are same-day coverage. Check your local listings to make sure of broadcast times and any additional racing programs.

---March 5, 12: Paris-Nice, 5 p.m. ET
---March 19: Milan-San Remo and Tirreno-Adriatico, 5 p.m. ET
---March 26: Criterium International, 5 p.m. ET
---April 9: Paris-Roubaix, 5 p.m. ET
---April 23: Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Fleche-Wallonne, 5 p.m. ET
---May 7, 14: Giro d'Italia, 5 p.m. ET
---May 21, 28: Giro d'Italia, 4 p.m. ET
---July 1-23: Tour de France (schedule to be announced)

For some of us vets out there, this is awesome coverage. Beats the total of 3.5 hours of coverage of the Tour de France back in the 80s......although I was very thankful of that at the time, since it was the only racing on TV.

You want me to work on your bike???

Um, if I were you, I would take it to one of the local shops instead.

Classic Cycling Mechanic Moment #1:
One year, I was trying to clean the inside of my front hub. I took the skewer out, looked inside through the hub, and it was filthy. So, being the brilliant cycling mind that I am, I decided to take a rag and thread it through the hub to clean all the dirt out. Suddenly, I noticed that one end of the rag got stuck inside the hub(remember now, I'm only 14 at the time). Instead of pulling it back out, I tried to jam the rest of the small rag through to force the other end out. You guessed it - that little rag got jammed inside the hub.....no way to get to it. Thanks to my bike racer/smarter older brother, he told me to put a few drops of bleach in there and wait a few hours. Sure enough, the bleach ate right through the rag and out it came. Lesson learned? Try not to be a dork when you work on your bike.

Classic Cycling Mechanic Moment #2:
Using a crank puller to try to take the Shimano cranks off of my 1988 Stumpjumper mountain bike, I noticed I was having quite a bit of trouble getting them loose. So, I started using a hammer on the crank puller until it started moving. Great! Finally, that thing is coming loose - good deal. So, round and round the crank puller went.......until it got to the end.....at which point, I looked down and my crank's threads were wrapped completely around the puller. Well, guess I won't be removing those cranks for awhile. Lesson learned? Maybe photography would be a better choice for you instead of working on your bikes. Yeah, right.

Classic Cycling Mechanic Moment #3:
Cracked chainstay on your steel 1982 Colnago?? It's cracked completely in half?? Oh, no problem.....you can keep riding it. Just use electrical tape to tape it back together....and a little Super Glue would probably help too. Genius. Just genius. Lesson learned? Don't use electrical tape or Super Glue to repair a cracked steel frame - unless you like landing on your face during a ride.

The BobMan......

.....Over the last 26 years, I have ridden with quite a few different riders. Some great, some good, some bad(myself included!) and some just obnoxious. But there are a select few riders who I feel lucky to ride with and race with(uh, yeah, I know, I'm ending this sentence with "with"....shoot me). Many are local riders - like Peggy, Eric, Daniel, Steve, Kareem, Paul, Bill, AM, Ed and many others. But if there is one guy I would like to ride with more, it would have to be our own teammate, Bob Raymond.

I was lucky enough to ride with Bob during our team's training camp back in January. He was nice enough to let Paul and I crash at his house too, and man, let me tell you......that dude is a cyclist's cyclist. I mean, even his wife races bicycles!! How cool is that???? And she is an awesome racer!!

But the thing about Bob is his tremendously good attitude toward training and racing. He is a high school Cross Country coach, and it shows in his on-the-bike and off-the-bike coaching/teaching. In short, he is motivating. I feel very lucky to have him on the team - even though he is a Cat. 3 just waiting to happen......you have enough points yet Bob??? One of the absolute coolest things about having teammates and people you ride with is how motivating it can be - and Bob has that something extra that I think motivates others.

So, this blog entry is dedicated to our own Bob. As much as I am going to hate to see you move up to the 3s, I hope to be racing with you in that category in the years to come. To Bob!

Gotta love Coach Munson.....

His advice for the Snelling Road Race:

Coach Munson here.

The other night I was home on the couch doing some lung expansion excercises while watching Episode IV: A New Hope on DVD. You non-informed out there might refer to this film as "Star Wars."

So I'm watching the movie and having a pretty good time since the lung expansion exercises segued to English muffins dolloped with Nutella by the time the Millenium Falcon got tractor-beamed into the Death Star. I had a grand old time right up to the part where Princess Leia awarded medals of honor to Han and Luke.

I never noticed this before, but thanks to my heightened mental state, I realized that while Chewbacca had the honor of standing alongside Luke and Han, he was completely shafted when it came to being awarded medal of honor to call his own. What the heck? Was Princess Leia so attracted to her long lost twin brother that she completely forgot that Chewbacca did just as much work as Luke and Han when it came to rescuing her prissy butt from the bowels of the Death Star?

Even worse, did she think Han had no need for a co-pilot when he sniped Darth Vader's Tie-Fighter from behind so Luke could get a clean shot at the exhaust port with his proton torpedos?

So what if he's 800 years-old, covered in hair and communicates through grunting? Chewbacca deserved a medal. Not even a French figure skating judge could orchestrate that grand of a hose job.

The mission I give to you team putting a wheel to the startline this weekend is simple: leave-the-Snac-Packs-and-psychological-warfare-at-home-simple. When the gun goes off, I want each of you to be thinking about one thing - and that's poor Chewbacca not getting a medal. It is up to each and every one of you to give it everything you've got to win a medal in the name of good 'ol Chewbacca. You deserve it. He deserves it. Keep the rubber side down.

Coach Munson out.

The SpecAngel......

....I think Specialized is on to something with the Specialized Angel at the Tour of California. I mean, the Tour and the other Euro races have the famous Devil. California now has the Specialized Angel. But the strangest part of it is, Specialized is using her to promote their new cycling shoes. Cycling shoes??!! Uh, okay.

Be sure to wear.....

....your mouthpiece if you're racing this weekend.

Random thoughts.....

.....I wonder if they could have RAAM all off-road? An MTB RAAM. Gnarly.

And this is my other award winning shot.....

.....of Chris Horner in the pack at the Santa Rosa stage of the Tour of California. I call it "Why-in-the-hell-do-you-even-own-a-camera-you-dumbass". Yes, a great shot indeed.

Way to go JJ!!

Oh, and nice bike too!

Racing....

You know what I would like to see in racing here in northern California - multiple 100-mile road races in a year. Say, at least one a month....or preferably more....all categories, 100 miles, plenty of climbing.....maybe even point-to-point. A Century racing series.

The question is, how to get it going - and get through all the red tape to make it happen.

Eco what now??

EcoSee! Some great pics of the Tour of California.

Nothing says fun.......

.....quite like 60 minutes at 120 RPMs. Good twitchies.

Yes, even more useless photos.....

......of the Tour of California....in Santa Rosa.

Um, hey Greg......I think you need some tape...

....or some glue for that brake hood.

That is some serious effort going on there.....when you're ripping off your brake hoods, you know you're putting the hammer down.....or training a ton.....or both(as in the case of Greg LeMond).

Nice bike too - miss staring at those brake cables planted right in front of my nose.

Okay, yeah, so maybe Levi did have a meltdown....

....in the time trial yesterday. But you know what, it seems there was this other guy who use to win the Big Tour - that Tour of France thing - who had less-than-stellar TT performances early in the year. I don't know....call me kooky, call me crazy....but I still like Levi to do well in the Tour this year......that France Tour.

Man, I'm tellin' ya, after visiting Levi's hometown this past weekend and seeing all the press and publicity and hubbub around this dude in blue......I've become a fan. Strangest thing too - I use to ignore the guy when he rode on Rabobank. And I use to hate the looks of those Specialized bicycles. But now, hey, I'm not afraid to admit it - I'm a convert! I've become a fan.

Think Floyd is probably gonna win the TOC though.

Larry Nolan....

....get well quickly! I heard about the accident - hopefully you won't be out too long. In fact, you'll probably be racing this weekend!

You ever have one of those days.....

.....where it feels like the only thing to make it a good day is to go out for a ride??? Well, today's one of those days......and the mountain bike is calling my name.

Chico Gino.......

.....dude, I'm gettin' me one of these. Loved the ride report. But man, the mullets......glad I shave my head on a regular basis.

I think this will be my moonlighting job.....

.....of course, you have to have a death wish to do it.

Okay, enough TOC for one night......

.....it was a great event. I hope it sticks around for awhile. I heard Amgen is staying as the sponsor for the next two years, and the LLC that owns the race signed on for 5 years and $35 million. It was a great production.....these guys go all-out in getting bicycle racing out there to the masses. Great fun to have it in our own backyard.

Here they come.....

.....now, if only I had a better camera and photographer.

No, it wasn't Type O Negative.....

....but they had an awesome reggae band playing.

The Toyota United Team.....

....were nice enough to pose for this picture for me. Funny guys though.....they don't talk much, but they ride quick!!!

The Toyota United Cycling Team.....

....is a first year pro team in the US.....and their rider, JJ Haedo, won the stage into Santa Rosa on Monday. But, the team is pinching their pennies, so the riders and crew had to sleep in this tent overnight.

And let me tell you.....

.....the craziest riders in the race weren't riders at all.......they were the follow vehicle drivers! I swear, these guys have a career in NASCAR if they ever wanna dump this job. I was glad to see the Navigators Team Director get docked for reckless driving on the course - dangerous is not the word I would use to describe his driving......suicidal is a better word. And here's the thing - there are cops everywhere! But, hey, this is the Tour de California. Too rad.

Oh yeah - there was this bike race thing going on too!

Okay, this was heavy duty. We had been marshalling this corner for about three hours by this point. The crowd was building up around the course, but we were out in the middle of nowhere on the circuit course around the city of Santa Rosa. We were waiting and waiting.

All of sudden, we hear this low-flying helicopter come into town around 2:10pm and we hear this HUGE roar coming from the crowd around the course - estimated at about 46,000. There were three helicopters, two airplanes and I would say probably 50 cops on motorcycles following and leading the peloton. Just too cool for words. And these guys were moving!

Respect my authority.....

.....dude, you park on the course of the TOC, and this is what happens. The corner we were marshalling had 4 cars towed away two hours before the riders were even to hit town.

We wanna win Jan's bike!!!

Uh, yeah, new lust.....

......from the Specialized booth at the Tour of California.....Levi's bike.

Yes, the women living in this house.....

.....loved the men in spandex....almost as much as they love Levi! That dude is a rock star there now.

The one thing I noticed about Santa Rosa - fixed gears! I have never ever ever seen so many fixed gear bikes and riders in my life - this house here had 6 riders visiting, all on fixed gears. And they were all over town. This has to be Messenger heaven......or in need of a velodrome.....or both! In short, it was pretty cool to see.

Awards podium in Santa Rosa....

.....pretty cool. And packed! 36,000 people jammed packed into the Santa Rosa City Center to watch the finish. Of course, Lori and I were out on the course marshalin' and all......well, marshalin' and watchin'. Ummm....well......Lori was marshalin'. I couldn't take my eyes off the race.

The TOC.....

....Tour of California. Man, what an amazing event this was - I swear, I felt like I was at that Tour of France thing, or whatever it's called. Just rad.....more pics to follow....

Home again.....

....back home now - just got back from Stage 1 of the Tour of California. Let me tell you - Levi Leipheimer is a friggin' God in Santa Rosa. Talk about popular - this dude was swarmed at the race finish, and he's all over the newspaper, news, radio, everything - the dude is everywhere!

I will write more tonight!

8-Track

I think I'm gonna build one of these in our backyard........it might help with my cornering.

You guys stay safe out there this weekend!

Tour of California....

.....yeah, we're heading down to check out the race. Lori and I are course marshals for this little event. And, from the start list I saw, it looks like a great field. And although the course is not quite as brutal as the 1971 Tour of California......it's definitely gonna be fast! Just hope the camera and the camera operator work this time around.

You know, I'm still trying to figure out.....

.....which Hot Wheel is inspiring me to my most-lusted-after bicycle. Haven't figured it out just yet.....and no, I never had a gator eraser that went "moots" when you squeezed it.....I only had Indy 500 car erasers......way cool!

This may not make a lot of sense.....

....to some out there(kinda like this blog!)....but maybe it will....who knows. Obviously, we all have our views, likes and dislikes in the world of cycling and racing. I, for one, definitely have mine. And I'll tell you the one thing I admire the most in a rider and a racer - quiet confidence.

I've had people ask me why I tend to mention Olaf and the Thurmanator now and again in the blog. These two guys represent all things cool about cycling - they're awesome riders, they really have nothing to prove to anyone but themselves, and they don't need a big mouth to get their point across. When I met Greg LeMond back in 1983, he had that same kind of quiet charisma and confidence about him. He was totally nice, very giving with information, not boastful in any way. In short, he was a rider to be admired.

The Thurmanator(Rich Thurman, for those who don't know who in the world I'm talking about) and I went to high school together and graduated together here in Chico. Rich was always an athlete - and a very good one. When he got into cycling, you just knew good things would happen......and they did, including two District Road Racing Championships and numerous mountain biking victories in the Expert and Semi-Pro class. And the thing about him is that, the guy is super nice, has nothing to prove, isn't boastful at all - just quiet confidence....and has a very basic way of looking at riding & racing. Rich told me once that he doesn't train to race.......he races to train. Imagine that! Can you imagine what kind of pressure that would take off of most racers out there???

And every time I read Olaf's blog - especially about the training and racing(sorry MH - the Schmoopy stuff I leave for Lori to read.....and she enjoys it!) - I'm only thinking one thing.......Damn, that sounds like fun!!!! Yeah, the Schmoopy stuff is fun too!

But I guess what I'm trying to say is that, at least to me, it seems like some of the best and most admired riders out there don't have to be A-holes or loudmouths......they enjoy the riding, their training, their racing.....and just the fun & fitness that comes with cycling. And in the end, they have a way of inspiring and motivating those around them without really saying much at all.

So, yeah, I'll continue to mention these two riders - they're definitely awesome in my book.

Uhhh.....

.....this is just ugly.

Now I understand!

Those that have read this blog for a little while, know that I have had a love affair with this bike above. It is the Seven Elium Race bike. There are a lot of drawbacks to this bicycle - it costs $8,000.....you can't use it on an indoor trainer, except rollers.....and if you use the bike to race and you crash, that would pretty much suck(unless you've recently won the Powerball lottery - I hear it's now at $365,000,000......million a day.....yeah, I guess I could live with that.....oh, the bikes I could buy!).

I could never figure out though why I had such a love affair with this particular bicycle - until yesterday. I discovered yesterday that this bicycle has the same paint scheme as my absolute all-time favorite Hot Wheel!! When I was a kid, that Hot Wheel was THE car - fastest, sleekest, funnest Hot Wheel around - won every race, stood out among the crowd of little cars, far and away the best one. Still have it to this day - of course, it's hermetically sealed now.

Funny how things from your kidhood affect your wants, needs, lusts later in life. And it still doesn't change anything - still want the bike......and still love the Hot Wheel!

You have a what on your team???

A Team Mom!!

I think we're pretty spoiled here in Chico. The Chico part of the team has a Team Mom.......I'll call her, ummm, Peggy S. Peggy S. is the most unbelievably nice person in the world. Peggy S. is so giving of her time and resources to other cyclists, I swear, she should receive a major award....something fra-gil-a. Essentially, what Peggy S. does is care about other cyclists - their needs, their plans, their rides, their bikes, their races, their training - and she is part of the glue that keeps us all together. If we were ever to need something, we don't even have to ask - she already knows, and she is there for us. She's a Team Mom. I, for one, am especially grateful to have Peggy S. on our squad - without you, our lives would not be nearly as fun or complete.

So, a HUGE THANK YOU goes out to our Team Mom - Peggy S.

Hey Ted....

.....were you in the "Pie" races this past weekend??? Sure likes you may have been. (Cycling great, Ted Ernst, after an accident in track motorpacing).

How do you know you have a.....

.....cycling addiction??? Well, besides all the bikes, clothes, magazines, vids, books, parts, leg shavings and time on the bike....you also have 1,158 new e-mails waiting in your Inbox - 99% of them have to do with one subject......cycling. Yikes. Better get to reading & deleting.

Is the Angry Mann still racing???

Man, this dude is good. I saw Jeff race the NC Classic last year and he crushed all. Not even the Vampyre could hang with the guy. Insane quick on the hill. He just toyed with them all.

Is he still racing???

Stay away......

.....from the corndog diet!!

Do you know that the Fast 50 is only.....

.....a few weeks away from beginning again???? First Wednesday in March - 5:00pm at One-Mile.....and every Wednesday after that through September/early October. When the time changes, it'll move to 6:00pm.

And you know, I can almost see the Thurmanator pulling the pack along at a leisurely 36mph.

Lusty.....

Different way of thinking.

When I first started riding a bicycle seriously, I was 12 years old. At that time, there were no limits - no restrictions - on what I could do on a bicycle. It was just open - I could go where I wanted, ride as much as I could when I could. The last thing I needed in my life at that time were more restrictions. I already had someone telling me when to eat, go to bed, go to school, do chores, do homework, take a shower, take insulin injections, when to go to recess, etc. On the bike, it was just me, the bicycle and the outdoors - in short, it was awesome! I was free.

I know a lot of riders nowadays who feel that they have a choice in their riding. But at the same time, I am sometimes amazed at how many limits riders put on themselves. And I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about, from comments I've heard in the past year:

"I only race Road Races - never Criteriums - Criteriums are too dangerous."
"I don't mountain bike because it has a negative factor on my road riding."
Conversely, "I don't ride road bikes because I'm a mountain biker."
"I don't commute by bike because I sweat too much."
"I'll never ride rollers because I'm afraid of falling."
"Why would I want to pay to enter a Time Trial - I can go out on the road whenever I want and time myself for free!"
"I only like going out with this group because they keep the speed I like."
"Oh, I don't ride in the rain - if it's raining, I'm staying inside."
"Spinning class is not the same as outdoor riding - and I'm an outdoor rider only."
Conversely, "I only take Spinning - it's too hard to ride outside."
"It's too cold to ride."
"It's too hot to ride."
"It's too windy to ride."
"It's too dark to ride."
"It's too foggy to ride."
"I'm suppose to do Z1 training today, so I can't go riding with you guys."

We are all guilty of setting these kinds of limitations on our riding. Sure, life in general has built-in limitations at times.......but our cycling is our recreation.....a way to re-create ourselves. I am just as guilty as the next person in putting self-imposed limits on my riding. But through the years, the one thing I really came to realize is that breaking through those limits and experiencing all kinds of cycling is part of the magic of riding. It's a way to believe and to think - to open up your mind to new experiences on the bike and in life in general.

Anyway, enough Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy. Go ride your bike!!!

training.

i'D like to tAke this moment to talk a little bit about Various kinds of training. many of us havE limited hours in which to train and ride. KiLlEr workouts can sometImes be aN approprIate Substitute for A Nice recovery rIDe. however, I believe yOu have To listen to your body. and definitely read between the lines of your so-called coaches recommendations.

Well, scratch that idea....

...gotta go to work. If anyone is up for some Crit practice tonight in the dark, let me know. Either that, or I'm thinking of this new workout - riding no hands on rollers for an hour. Heard it works some different muscles - mainly around the mouth and forehead from all the grimacing. Gotta work on my death mask look.

You ever have one of those mornings....

.....where you wake up and you feel like you haven't slept at all? Oh man, I'm having one of those this morning - already on my second cup of Peets and I'm draggin'. Luckily for me, I received an e-mail this morning from the ChicoMtnBikers - and with it, was a video.......an AWESOME video!! Think I'll head to Upper Bidwell Park this morning before work for some mountain biking - that should help wake me up......I'll have Peets in my water bottle though. Gotta hit Live Oak today.

Tour of the Unknown Valley

It's coming up - March 5th. Of course, riding a cyclocross bike might be a better idea for this one.

Gotta love it.

The suffering, that is.

Nothing says quad pain quite like hill sprints. My lungs didn't like 'em much either.

We have winds coming out of the north....

.....at 20 to 25mph this morning. I'm thinking it's time for a little Meridian Road/Lassen Road ride......you with me Eric???

Wonder what team that dude's on????

Bubba - Larry......Larry - Bubba.....

Yep - That's 400+ pounds of bike racer going up that Nevada City hill between the two of 'em(Bubba Melcher, Larry Nolan). Could be footballin' it, the both of 'em - but no, they chose the bike racing. Excellent - especially on a course as subtle and sweet as the NC Classic. In fact, I'm not sure the Vampyre even saw them once during this race - except maybe at the start. You see these guys during the race Olaf and Brother Maynard????

But put these two guys in a flat criterium.......and it's:

Turn out the lights, the party's over.......

Who berg???

Wohlberg! As in Eric - the TT man! Yeah, I hear he's putting in between 90 and a hundred miles a day right now......sounds about right. But when you add to that the 1,000 crunches a day he does as well........the guy is fit.

But you know what - If you look at this picture closely, I swear......Eric looks like a friggin' alien.....I mean, c'mon man - 1,000 crunches a day?! 90 to 100 miles a day?! Yeah, he's an alien. Dig the gloves dude - are those Symmetrics team issue gloves?

I swear, every race report I've read so far.....

....about the two "Pie" races this past weekend makes it sound like every single rider crashed! Yuck!!! Maybe I made the correct decision in staying home. I can not believe how many broken bones and hospital visits there were over the weekend.....just got another report of a dude breaking his scapula yesterday at the Cherry race. Awful.

Steve - how you feelin' tonight man? I feel for ya. How'd the wheel turn out - did it get a RIP designation?

"So, how many miles a week you ride?"

"Oh, 780."
"No no, I mean in a week.....how many miles you ride in a week?"
"780."
"I don't get it."
"780 miles - One week."
"Um, yeah, but that's like 111 miles a day, everyday."
"Yeah."
"What are you trainin' for - RAAM or something??"
"No - Just trainin'. Trainin' for racing."
"Uh, okay."

I heard Gert-Jan Theunisse use to train this way too. Didn't realize, at the time, that Gert-Jan Peavy trained this way as well. I'm gonna have to get one of those 3-hour per week jobs in order to start in on that schedule. Crazy.

You know, after reading this race report.....

.....or should I say crash report......below, I think two things - First, maybe it was a good idea to downgrade from the 3s and second, maybe this racing thing is not such a good idea after all:

Since, the word is creeping out I thought I should putout a post to update the club on our fallen teammate.Bo Hebenstreit took a hard fall in the E3 Race atCherry Pie yesterday. Here is his status as of 9:00amtoday.

He has two fractures to his chin and a compound fracture to his right jaw bone. He lost 3-5 teeth and broke a few more off. The worst part (as if that were not enough) is that he has 3 fractures to the rightside of his pelvis.

He is at the Santa Teressa Kaiser hospital (see full address below) in the surgical ward. The pelvic injury is something they do not operate on. Just immobilized while healing, then 2-3 months of Physical Therapy to walk without a walker or cane. He will be going in for the jaw operation at 4:00pm today. They will be putting plates in his jaw and wiring it up shut for the healing to occur. He will be in the hospital until Wednesday.

Just for the record, since I was right behind Bo when this occurred, he did nothing wrong. He was holding a steady straight line on the decent when he was bumped on the left, so he moved right a bit, then a guy with an aggressive line quickly swooped around my right onto the same converging line as Bo. The other cyclist hip turned Bo's handle bar, wham he was down at over 35mph with 80 guys behind us. 15-16 guys went down and 3 went to the hospital.

Help me in showing our Club support: Kaiser Sana Teressa Hospital 250 Hospital Parkway San Jose, CA 95119 rm 437-bed 2 Attn: Bo Hebenstreit

Thanks,Mike

Uh, maybe I'll take up crocquet or something.

I was glad to see......

....this up on the Net. Looks like Zamora is a go.

Aaahhh.....there's nothing like getting up at....

....6:30 in the morning to go to work for the next nine hours. What fun. I wonder if I could hit rewind and re-play yesterday over again.

Hammergel moments......