Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Way To Go Jed!

Jed, and the rest of the SB Mountain Bike Trail Volunteers Organization were recognized by Parks and Rec for their terrific service to the community. Check out the story on Edhat. There is a good photo of our man Jed with the rest of the group. If you don't know Jed, he is one of our B Team Downhillers, maybe the only one. Downhillers Rock!

Monday, January 28, 2008

Vegas Race Report

Hello Everyone,

Well Gabe, Mitch, Corey, and I had a great trip to Vegas for the Southern Nevada Stage Race. We avoided the crummy weather (mostly) and we got in some good early season racing....we even got some good results. Let's get right to the good stuff.

We started off with a TT on Friday afternoon. I managed a fourth place finish even though my aero bars broke at mile 2 of the 12 mile course. Gabe just missed the top ten, finishing 11th, and Mitch and Corey both rode well.



Saturday's Crit was a fast and exciting course and Gabe put on a great show finishing 3rd in the 4's field sprint. It came right down to the wire and he only missed the win by half a bike length! Corey and I basically rode around in circles for an hour 'cause there was an early break away of 5 riders in our race and we couldn't get an effective chase going. Two Platinum riders Gary Douville and Brian Cook took 1st and 2nd in the pro 1,2 race so Santa Barbara was well represented.

We'd had great weather for Friday and Saturday but on Sunday our luck ran out and we awoke to cold rainy skies. Gabe and Mitch raced first and it was dumping pretty good on them. Mitch had recently installed new brake pads and he learned the hard way that new brake pads and rain don't go well together and he abandoned the race on the first descent for safety reasons. Gabe hung in and finished strong in 11th giving him a top 10 GC finish. Nice job Gabe! Corey and I raced a little later in the day it was still raining at the start but not too bad. We were both hoping to gain some serious time in the GC 'cause the course had some serious climbing. Over 7,000ft in less than 60 miles. Unfortunately my race ended early as I flatted on the first descent. My front tire blew-out at 40mph in the rain and I walked away without a scratch so actually I feel pretty lucky. I got a replacement wheel from a support vehicle and I rode as hard as I could until I bonked, but I never caught the lead group again and finished 18th. Corey rode patiently in the lead group all day allowing some riders to get up the road but always keeping them within striking distance. Jason Hannon of the Platinum Team was off the front for awhile and rode well finishing 8th. But Corey is like Michael Jordan....you can't stop him.. you can only hope to contain him! He attacked on the last climb and rode away from everyone, riding the last 9 mile descent alone to a solo victory! The stage win catapulted him up to 2nd place in the overall! Local rider Steve Smith of Platinum finished a strong 4th. It was an impressive win. He passed quite a few of the Pro 1,2 's who had started in front of us!. So between the four of us we managed a 1st, a 2nd, a 3rd, and a 4th in various events....not too shabby for the first race of the year!

But most importantly we had fun and lived to race another day! We learned a few things about Vegas and the surrounding area in the process. Clearly people who live in that area have their priorities straight. They like to smoke, drink, gamble, cuss, get tattoos, and eat (poorly).....in that order. Luckily we found a great restaurant in the area called Sammy's Woodfired Pizza and Pasta. Great food and not a Casino in sight....almost felt like home! We went Friday and Saturday night. Actually only Gabe and I went Saturday night. Corey and Mitch went to some show called "Love" in Vegas and then went back to their hotel room to apply what they learned at the show. After seeing the way Corey rode on Sunday, I've asked Mitch to go see "Love" with me this Friday before Mothballs!

See ya out there!

Matt

Velodrome Race Report

Lettieri Takes 2nd!

Mr. Fastrack himself, came off an 11 year retirement to take a 2nd in the 35+ Omnium over the weekend. Interviewed afterward he said, "Nothing beats racing indoors on a rainy day!" Looking Good Dave!


Friday, January 25, 2008

NO WIMPS!

I had another on the spot reporter send me some photos of one of our very own studs who had the @$#@%#@$ to climb the Gib on Thursday.

Chicken Ranch's own Aaron Long going up Gibraltar on Thursday. Either he thinks he's Lance or he's insane!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Divide Peak

hey Gang, I'm catching up a bit, Here is that famous Divide Peak ride report.

Hello,

To those of you who missed this mornings MTB ride.....I'm sorry....it was AWESOME! The views from Divide Peak Fire Road were amazing.....we climbed for 2.5 hours straight to see them, but it was well worth the effort. We could see all of the Channel Islands clearly and Catalina Island as well! It was truely spectacular. Unfortunately my lousy pictures don't do it justice but that's all I've got. Dan Rudd made it out on his first Sunday MTB ride and Houston Harte who we haven't seen for awhile made it out also. We had no flat tires and no crashes......well, except for me. I fell over going about 1 mph.............uphill.........not very
graceful.....but kinda funny.....at least to the other guys.




We'll definitely have to do that ride again and go even further. Our round trip was only 25 miles but we did 4,000ft of climbing....actually we did 4,000ft of climbing in 12.5 miles....the next 12.5 miles was all downhill! Hope to see you out there next time....'till then, keep the rubber side down.


Matt

Saturday the 19th.

Here is a late report from one of our own. Thanks Rick!
Here's The C-team Ranchers make it home after a sweet, crispy Saturday ride to the Ranger Station ... B-Teamers went out to Ojai and we saw all the A-teamers all storming up 150 Hill number one in hot pursuit, Druber, Aaron, Dave ... had to be over hundred riders all along the way in several groups.














pic one - Eric and Brian keepin it at 20mph the whole way home!
















pic two - Eric creating some drag.
















pic three - Brian smoooth.



pic four cheering - you know, our fans! :)

Rick Martz

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Cycling In The Rain

If you do that search (cycling in the rain) on google and view the images, they are pretty good. Just a thought since it has been sooooo wet out.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Tour of California Fundraiser

Everyone should make an effort to attend the Movie night Fundraiser being held tomorrow (Thursday) night at the Cabrillio Pavillion of Arts (East Beach Bath House). There will be a Reception period between 6:00 and 7:00 and the movie "American Flyers" will be shown between 7:00 and 9:00. This will not only be a good chance for many of you to see each other sans helmets and spandex, but also to support a good cause. The Local Organizing Committee of the Amgen Tour of California is putting on this event to kick off its 2008 Tour of California Calendar and to raise some of the funds required to host the Start of Stage 6.

Hope to see you there - Should be a good time!

Dan

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Solvang Report

Below is Matt's report and photos, but I would be remise if I didn't recommend you go read Mark Fennel's report on his blog as well. It has some very cool historical info. Good Job Mark

Hello,

We had a great ride in the valley today with just over 40 riders attending....not a bad turnout! It was nice to see Steve Otero back on his bike after his face-plant a few weeks back. We had a bunch of Mark Fennel's Platinum boys show up as well which was nice. We also had the pleasure of riding with a few "elite" level pros. Aaron Olson (formerly with T-Mobile now with Bissell/Priority Health), Kim Anderson (Formerly with T-Mobile now with High Road Sports), and Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) all showed up to ride with us which was very cool. Having pros on the ride always helps to keep the tempo under control.

The pace was steady but manageable for almost everyone. Big Bob Wilcher flatted a few miles in, but chased his ass off for the next 20 miles and was able to re-group. Other than that no mishaps that I'm aware of. Round trip for the ride was 61 miles, after the main ride a few of us also did the 15 mile TOC TT course. Then Aaron Olson also rode home! Capping off what had to be a 120 mile day....pulling the whole time!... Impressive. The weather was outstanding, cool and clear, the group was well behaved and full of interesting people to talk to....all around a great ride. Thanks to everyone who made it out. Can't wait 'till next time! See ya on the road...or on the trails!

Matt

Friday, January 11, 2008

Multiuse Trails Update

From: Multiuse Trails Coalition [mailto: multiusetc@gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 2:15 PMTo: Multiuse Trails Coalition
Subject: 1/9/08 MEETING RECAP - YES THERE WAS A MEETING THIS WEEK

If you are thinking that you didn't remember getting an emailpublicizing this meeting, you are correct. The meeting held 1/9/08 wasbetween stakeholder groups involved in the hearings over the last year.
This event was not televised. The purpose of this meeting was to review recommendations given tothe Task Force and review the process that will occur in most likely at the Feb '08 meeting. This stakeholder meeting was held at City Parks Offices and City, County, and USFS were all in attendance. Groups inattendance were: Ourselves, SBMTV, Los Padres Trail Riders(equine), Trails Council, Sierra Club, and the Los Padres Forest Association.
Just as a reminder, the TF is not able to enact, but instead onlyable to recommend actions to the City Council, and Board of Supervisors.They reviewed at this meeting what they may be recommending at the upcoming Feb meeting. They hope to establish a framework and vision forour trails. The following are parts of that framework they are readyto recommend: Ask to create a memorandum of agreement(MOA) between The City, County, and USFS. This would enable the three groups to act on trailissues without having just an advisory role. Subjects such as jurisdiction will not be as much of an issue when the MOA is established. They hope to have this sometime in the next year. Create a management plan. This would be an outline of what they hope to accomplish on the our Front Country Trails. Hire/Create a Front Country Trail Coordinator Position . A fulltime person would be hired for this position which up until now didn't exist and all trail related issues were done in the spare time by staff. Create a non-profit community organization . Because the agencieswould not be able to care for the trails alone, volunteer work is essential to accomplish this. This group which has yet to be defined, wouldalso help in planning and management of the trails. Lastly....Access . At this time the TF is unable to recommend anyaccess plans for user groups. They realize that there is a lot ofinformation needed before any decision is made. Among the information needed in this area are: classifying trails, surveying, and finding trail standards for multiuse groups. This was hotly debated by members of theSierra Club in attendance who were very much for a decision on accessimmediately. The Sierra Club members felt that our trails are not multiuse based on standards from other trail locations. Look for more on this debate at future City Council meetings and the Board of Supervisors. We felt happy with the decisions that the staff will be giving to the TF at the Feb meeting. The staff realizes that many steps need to be taken before more controversial topics are tackled. When given achance to address the TF, we felt that the assessment of applyingtrail standards from another areas to our own is far more complex than it sounds. Because our trails are governed by different agencies and theterrain is so different, a "cookie cutter " cannot be applied here. Wealso felt the continuing meetings between "stakeholder" groups to talk about planning and management of trails is essential. We feel keepingthe trail users themselves informed about upcoming decisions is the most important. Because the stakeholder groups only accounts for 20 or so people, we feel passing this info on to the trail user population has tobe done. Although there was some disagreement from certain user groups about some of the issues on the table, there seemed to be a sense that we all
need to start working together if anything is to be accomplished.
Hopefully this leads to future pleasant work sessions between groups.


Next meeting February 6th, see our website for details....-- Thank you,The Multiuse Trails Coalition Board,Dave Everett, Dorothy Littlejohn, Cort Flinchbaughswww.multiusetc.org

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Another B Teamer In The News


Hey gang, you will need to check out page 10 of today's Daily Sound to see one of our fearless B teamers with a bit of self promotion. You can never get enough of that. I included a photo of the page, I'm not sure it's readable though. Thanks to the Daily Sound for the blog noise. So, Dave I noticed there wasn't any mention of the Chicken Ranch or B Team in the article. I'm sure that was edited out. See you on the Bike!

Monday, January 7, 2008

Be Careful Out There

Blingerman just emailed me this link http://cbs2.com/local/mountain.bike.trail.2.623394.html You have got to check it out. Not only do mountain bikers need to watch out for horses, and hikers, and dogs and the normal obstacles, in some areas they have to watch out for people like this doing stupid stuff. It makes the controversy here in Santa Barbara look pretty tame. Like they used to say on Hill Street Blues, "Let's Be Careful Out There". I know I dated myself by bringing that show back, but hey it was a good one.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Stump Grinder Dirt Club

Yo Ranchers,
Here's a report from the Stump Grinder Dirt Club inaugural event on New
Year's day near Los Olivos.

The event ran from morning until after 4PM and over 160 folks showed up to
ride throughout the day.
We arrived in the early afternoon and the downhill course was hopping with
about a half dozen shuttle cars running riders up the hill.
The dual slalom course was also rocking with riders walking/running their
bikes back up to the starting line after each run. (crazy kids)

My wife and I rode with our 5 & 7 year old boys around the first half lap of
the Firestone XC course, except for the Vineyard portion of the loop which
is now locked off due to land ownership changes. The XC course trails are
in good condition, similar to when the Firestone event was run in '07 and we
felt like we had the place nearly to ourselves, no hikers or horses, just a
few cows. Very nice!

My 5 year old was able to ride the flat sections on his own, but we hooked
his mini-MTB onto the back of my Cyclo-cross bike for the hills, both up and
down. If you've never ridden a CX bike down a scree covered single track
with switch backs while towing a 5 year old on his bike, you should try it
sometime...

I also brought along my MTB and after grubbing a couple complimentary
hotdogs for ballast, I took the opportunity to pedal back up the hill (no
shuttle for me) to drop the downhill course. It was a blast being able to
catch air on a few of the doubles and I enjoyed riding the berms, but I'll
confess that I took the "chicken" exit on some of the more manacing launch
ramps. Too bad Jed or Mike Abbot weren't there to show me how to really
downhill!

I was impressed by the day's event as well as the plan that Mike Hecker has
put together for the Dirt Club. I'm considering joining the Club when it
opens in June because the idea of paying a moderate fee to gain access to
"free" local overnight camping in the midst of lots of well maintained &
conflict free trails is intriquing.


Ride On!
Paul

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Steve Otero Update

Hey Gang, I just learned that Steve Otero, one of our b teamers had a nasty accident on one of the road rides on Dec. 23rd. Steve has emailed me and told me he is feeling a lot better right now. He has to get some dental work done and is looking forward to a good nights sleep. If you get grossed out easily I apologize for the photos, but as Steve said in one of his emails, maybe this will help our fellow riders understand the importance of pointing out obstacles that are in the road. I hope we see you soon Steve, and heal quickly.