A bike I feel sorry for........

......no no, it's not necessarily this Specialized Tarmac shown above - I love those bikes. No, what I'm talking about are bikes I see in classified ads now and again, usually online, or being sold on one of the numerous e-mail lists. It usually goes something like this:

FOR SALE
2007 Specialized Tarmac
Full Dura Ace Gruppo
Mavic Ksyrium ES Wheels
Michelin Pro Race 3 Tires
Never ridden in the rain, never raced, never crashed, never fallen over, less than 500 miles on it - everything in top working order and almost brand new.
$2,500 firm

Geesh - I feel sorry for this bike. Never ridden in the rain? Never raced? Never crashed or fallen over? Less than 500 miles on it??? Oh man, what a waste. I hope the new owner lets this bike live.

I mean, heck, it's why we get bikes like the one pictured above - to ride the heck out of it! We want to ride it - everywhere - at night, in the rain, race it, maybe have a spill or two because we're ALWAYS riding it! Your body likes being out on the bike......so does your mind.......and, believe it or not, I think your bike does too!

Here's what I wanna see:

FOR SALE
2007 Specialized Tarmac
Full Dura Ace Gruppo
Mavic Ksyrium ES Wheels
Michelin Pro Race 3 Tires
Um......now for the fine print.......this bike has been ridden thousands upon thousands of miles this past year. It's been ridden in the rain enough to be considered part-boat.........it's been raced more times than I can even count - in short, I have raced the hell out of this bike........it's been on hundreds of miles of cruddy roads and even off-road for training and racing........it's been crashed in 2 Criteriums and one training crash........used extensively for commuting to and from work each day in all types of weather. The bike has been maintained as well as a work-horse bike can be maintained by myself and my trusty local bike shop.
$1000 FIRM

Yeah, now there's a bike that is living - or lived - a happy life. All the adventures and fun that bike had with this owner - truly good memories. Yep, I don't feel sorry for this bike.......unless, of course, its new owner lets it collect dust in the garage.

And, we gotta have a Hill Climb TT Series too........

Hi Everyone! So, the Chico Corsa Cycling Club is looking at doing a Fall/Winter Hill Climb Time Trial Series this year, with the climbs and dates below. There was a similar Series done years ago here in Chico - 1981 or 1982 - by Tom Devol and Jeff Smith, who owned Cyclesport bike shop at the time. And, of course, there is the famous Low Key Hillclimb Series in the Bay Area every fall. In any case, we decided to have our own and revive the old Chico Series.......with a couple of route changes. Below is a list of the tentative events with dates. It should be mentioned that these dates could change depending upon Galland Cross, the Cutty Series and Tyler Cross dates this fall/winter. And, of course......the weather! Rain will not cancel - but snow and ice will.

How does it work??? Below are each of the 10 Hillclimbs in the Series. Each climb has been given a rank based upon feedback from some well-known riders in the area(and climbers in particular - yes, I know - everyone is different, but this is just a low-key have-fun series, so no big whoop). Category 1 climbs are the hardest, with Category 3 being.......let's not say easiest.......let's say........not quite as hard as Category 1! Points will be awarded to the top finishers in each Hillclimb TT - the folks with the most points at the end of the Series, wins. The Point Breakdown is as follows:

Cat. 1 Climb = 30-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2-1-1-1 (In other words, 1st place in a Cat. 1 TT gets 30 points, 2nd place gets 26 and on down the line - every person who competes in the event gets at least 1 point).
Cat. 2 Climb = 24-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2-1-1-1(The winner of a Cat. 2 climb gets 24 points, 2nd place gets 20 points and on and on.)
Cat. 3 Climb = 20-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2-1-1-1

Cohasset to Store (from Nicalog) - Sept. 7th - Cat. 2
Forest Ranch (Chico Velo event) - Sept. 28th - Cat. 1
Honey Run Rd. (from Covered Bridge) - Oct. 12th - Cat. 1
Pentz Road (from Spring Valley School) - Oct. 19th - Cat. 2
Cohasset to Gravel (from Keefer Road) - Oct. 26th - Cat. 1
Centerville (from Covered Bridge to the gravel) - Nov. 1st - Cat. 3
Neal Road - Nov. 15th - Cat. 3
Table Mountain (Wildflower Side) - Nov. 22nd - Cat. 1
Clark Road (from intersection with Durham Pentz) - Dec. 6th - Cat. 2
Humboldt Road - Dec. 27th - Cat. 3

10 Climbs, approximately 18,000 feet of climbing in total.

Participant Categories - the following categories will be offered for the Series event(see below) The winner in each category will receive the Chico Hillclimb Champion Trophy, along with Bragging Rights.........as well as any stuff we can get to give away as prizes:

Category "A" Men
Cateogry "A" Women
Category "B" Men
Category "B" Women
Clydesdale Men (No no, I'm not gonna weigh you - just show up and tell me and I will give you a yes or no answer)
Clydesdale Women

As usual, sandbaggers are strongly discouraged. Also, if there's a lot of folks in one particular category, we may split those up into sub-categories, if needed.

This Series is FREE - so come on out and take advantage of some, or all, of these Time Trials this fall and winter! Hope to see you out there - and I will have more details and information as we get closer to the events.

Local fall cycling schedule.........

Geesh, there are quite a few events going on in our neck of the woods the next couple of months - busy, but all in good fun!

Tentative event schedule for some local races and such during the next couple of months - subject to change:

Thur., July 24 - Aguas Frias 10-Mile TT

Sat., July 26 - Aguas Frias 25-Mile TT

Tues., July 29th - Chico Airport Criterium

Thurs., July 31st - River Road 10-Mile TT

Sat., Aug. 2nd - Table Mountain Road Race

Sun., Aug. 3rd -

Tue., Aug. 5th - Chico Airport Criterium

Thurs., Aug. 7th - River Road 10-Mile TT

Sat., Aug. 9th - Messilla Valley Circuit Race

Sun., Aug. 10th - Esparto Time Trial

Tues., Aug. 12th - Chico Airport Criterium

Thurs., Aug. 14th - Aguas Frias 10-Mile TT

Sat., Aug. 16th - Dunnigan Hills RR

Sun., Aug. 17th - Black Butte RR

Tues., Aug. 19th - Chico Airport Criterium

Thurs., Aug. 21st - River Road 10-Mile TT

Sat., Aug. 23rd - Cohasset Downhill TT

Sun., Aug. 24th - Table Mountain Road Race II

Tues., Aug. 26th - Chico Airport Criterium

Thurs., Aug. 28th - Aguas Frias 10-Mile TT

Sat., Aug. 30th - Challenge Road Race

Sun., Aug. 31st - Winters Road Race

Tues., Sept. 2nd - Chico Airport Criterium

Wed., Sept. 3rd - Fast 50 - Start of Nutcracker Omnium

Thurs., Sept. 4th - River Road 10-Mile TT - 2nd Stage Nutcracker Omnium

Sat., Sept. 6th - Messilla Valley Circuit Race - 3rd Stage Nutcracker Omnium

Sun., Sept. 7th - Cohasset UPHILL Time Trial - Final Stage Nutcracker Omnium(1st race in Chico Hill Climb Series)

Tues., Sept. 9th - Chico Airport Criterium

Thurs., Sept. 11th - Aguas Frias 10-Mile TT

Fri., Sept. 12th - Folsom TT

Sat., Sept. 13th - Folsom Criterium

Sun., Sept. 14th - Folsom Circuit Race

Tues., Sept. 16th - FINAL Chico Airport Criterium - Double Points

Thurs., Sept. 18th - River Road 10-Mile TT

Sat., Sept. 20th - Henleyville Road Race

Sun., Sept. 21st - Chico Downtown Criterium

Thurs., Sept. 25th - Aguas Frias 10-Mile TT

Sat., Sept. 27th -

Sun., Sept. 28th - Forest Ranch TT(2nd race in Chico Hill Climb Time Trial Series)

Thurs., Oct. 2nd - FINAL River Road 10-Mile TT

Sat., Oct. 4th -

Sun., Oct. 5th - Jack & Jill Team Time Trial

Mon., Oct. 6th - Rodney falls over and dies.

Hey, part of it came true........

The Bicycle-A Hundred Years Hence
Toronto Globe, June 14, 1893

"The roads will be prepared especially for bicycles, the grades beingvery slight. The roads will be kept clean, as by that time the horseswill found be only in zoological gardens. The improvement in therider will be equally marked. From the continued and increasing useof the wheel a race of people will be evolved that will take tocycling as readily as a foreign immigrant does to politics. We mayexpect an average speed of 30 miles an hour on the road and 60 mileson the track. The use of the machine will be universal. Children willbe taught to ride as they are now taught to walk. The suburbs of ourgreat cities will extend from 60 to 100 miles in every direction. Allpatents will have expired, and such large quantities of bicycles willbe manufactured that the cost will be nominal and within reach of all.There will be no more crowded tenement houses. The artisan, whowillwork only four hours a day, will live with his family in a cosy littlehome in the suburbs, where he can see the sunshine and breathe thefresh air. The use of the wheel will have so improved the stamina andphysique of the race that the only cause of death will be old age andaccidents. Everyone will own a bicycle. Those intended for distancetravel will be run by small but powerful storage batteries, which maybe charged at automatic electric stations by connecting the battery toa dynamo and dropping a coin of small value in a slot. With machinesof this character it will be possible to attain a speed of 150 milesan hour. The bicycle will not be used in war for the simple reasonthat as dyspepsia will be unknown, everybody will feel so well and beso good-humoured and disinclined to quarrel that there will be no oneto go to war."

As published in the book "Bike Cult".