Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Ride For The Roses 09

Ride Report: Ride for the Roses....
For those who don't know, the Ride for the Roses is an annual event
put on by the Lance Armstrong Foundation in Austin. This event has
turned into the season finally if you will to the Livestrong Challenge
ride series held throughout the year in a few select cities. The
event started as a group of Lances friends wanted to do a ride to
honor Lance's return to riding after cancer treatments.
Now 13 years later its a tradition that inspires people effected by
cancer to both fundraise and enjoy a weekend of festivities in Austin
hosted by Lance and his foundation. This was the 9th year for me.



Some observations:

We did ride 90 miles in under 4 hours. There are no mountains in Texas
but when the pace gets hard after 70 miles is still easy to get
dropped by Lance and the entire Trek/Livestrong under 23 team.

Just because I finished with Dave Weins (Leadville 100 mile Mountain bike winner 6 times), doesn't mean I could finish that event.

Mellow Johnny's (Lances Bike shop) is really a clothing store that disguises itself as a bike shop.

I finally met someone who could leave an event and get home faster than me..


Dave L

Sunday Urban Assault

Hello,

We had another great ride today! I hadn't been up Powerlines since the fire.....It was like being on another Planet! Didn't recognize a thing. Our ride today had it all.....climbs, flats, singletrack, fireroad, fancy houses, cardboard boxes, oceans, creeks, lakes, you name it..we saw it. Check out the pictures.

Aaron Olsen (the pro) was kind enough to make an appearance. When we were finished he didn't have a speck of dirt on him and he looked fresh as a daisy. The rest of us, who had hung in there for 4+ hours were covered in mud and sweat and near death. We came to the conclusion that when you turn pro you must be given a secret "repellent spray" that keeps you looking fresh and clean on long rides....there's no other way to explain it.

Ken Doyle made another appearance on his mountain bike and performed well....outlasting some of the "mountain men" on the team. David Jurist crashed before we even got started but then redeemed himself by not crashing again and completing the entire ride. Randall Tinney showed us that he may have actually earned his Leadville Belt Buckles instead of just buying them......but I'm still no 100% convinced. Blingerman showed off his new impossibly light hardtail 29er and kept pushing the pace just to show us how fast it is....and yet a good time was had by all!



Looking forward to seeing you all next Sunday for the "Mercury Mine" ride. Should be an epic!

Matt

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Enjoying the Front Country Trails!

Hello,

Great ride today! Awesome turnout...more riders than some of the races I've done! A couple new faces, Alfredo did his first MTB ride ever and did great. Heather showed up and impressed everyone with her skills. Luke's pal Jonathan made his first appearance as well and is clearly a skilled rider.....I think it was Fastrack Greg"s first time on one of our MTB rides as well. Plus a lot of the old regulars were back on their bikes......great group.

No major injuries to report that I'm aware of so that alone makes the ride a success. Trails were in great shape and the weather was beautiful....not a bad way to start the day!

I attached a few photos to make the rest of you jealous



See ya next Sunday for sure!

Matt

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Dave Says!

Check out the tire change



One night only...
...it will be at the Arlington on Thursday night

Monday, October 12, 2009

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Gran Fondo- Fun With Levi!

Images are here
Just a quick GranFondo update,

Think of a century ride that has the Gibraltar loop in it with the
Camino Cielo section twice as long. Amazing roads, amazing views with
the best paved decent you have ever seen followed by a 30 mph tailwind
along the coast. If that's not enough at 75+ miles throw in a shorter
version of Old San Marcos climb. I was happy riding in my 34-28 on
alot of climbs... The pros finished under 5 hours. After Levi pulled
for the first 50 miles, he pulled off to socialize in a couple of the
rest areas. It was one of the most organized and well attended "fun
rides" we all ever attended. The Chickens finished from 5:12
(Craig), 5:26 (me) and everyone else was close behind. More from the
others..


Dave

fastrack@mindspring.com
http://www.fastrackbicycles.com/



http://granfondo.smugmug.com/2009/Carson-Blume/9744543_eqGpz#669502585_48VP7


Thank you,
Carson Blume
Carson Blume Photography, Owner
Digital Capture Systems, Owner Digital Production
Women's Cycling Magazine, Co-Founder / Photo Editor
Cat4Pro.com, Coming soon
888.680.2276


It was long.

The highlight for me was watching Lettreri try to pump up Bob Roll's
rear tire at the start and another guy walks up and says, "I can help.
I'm a bike mechanic." He then proceeds to try to pump the tire up and
stops and says, "He needs a new tube." At which point Lettreri gets to
say, "It's a tubular." Priceless.

Other highlights:

1. Levi seemed stronger than most of the other riders.

2. I felt a bit gypped. It turned out it was only 102 miles but they
advertised 103 miles. Maybe they made up for it by advertising 6,500
feet of climbing when it was really 8,900 feet of climbing.

3. The course was perfectly marked. You knew right where to go. All
hazards were marked including steep downhills.

4. Levi's wife is 18 inches taller than he is. She also descends into
oncoming traffic. It must be a Euro thing.

5. Axel Merckx couldn't try hard enough to avoid me. In our little
pack I kept sneaking up next to him trying to start a conversation. I
now hate him also.

6. Bob Roll was the best. A pick-up truck honked at us and he yelled
back, "Bunch of retards".

7. I've never seen so many people walking their bikes up a hill. The
hill from Highway 1 back to Santa Rosa was unbelievably steep. It's
used in the AMGEN Tour. The street was still painted with "Basso
Cheat". My group got a big chuckle out of that one.

8. Lettreri has mellowed in his old age. We were supposed to meet
outside of the hotel at 7:20. At 7:23, Mitch and Nikola still were not
out with us and Lettreri was actually calmly waiting for them.

9. We at breakfast at 6:15 am two hours before the ride. The majority
of the other riders were already in their chamois. Assuming they
finished their ride around 3 pm, that would be a 9 hour chamois day.
That can't be healthy.

10. Thanks to Carson for getting lots of pictures of me coming out of
the port-o-potty.

11. At the end of the ride there was no water or food.

12. Friden arrived back at the hotel after the ride to shower. No more
than 5 minutes later Lettreri's truck jams out of the parking lot to go
home with Friden in it. We imagined Friden was still in his towel with
shampoo in his hair sitting in the back of the truck. Maybe Lettreri
hasn't mellowed with age.

13. Lettreri has his name written all over his jersey and I still don't
know how to spell it.

14. No fewer than 5 people asked me if we are sponsored by a brothel.

15. I suck at descending. My deep dish carbon wheels really helped in
the strong cross winds. Great equipment choice. Next time I think I
might bring my disc wheel.

16. Jurist is the best to travel with.

17. Dano, Jurist and I had dinner with my old LA riding buddies. Back
in the day they used to dominate bike racing. They finished this ride
in 7 hours. I guess some things change.

18. Everyone wearing a Levi Gran Fondo jersey walked their bike up at
least one hill. Don't buy the ride jersey! It slows you down.

19. Who won the polo field sprint on Sunday?

20. At mile 95, they had you turn off the well paved road onto a gravel
bike path. True story. The sign said don't worry, it's only 1 mile
long. Only 1 mile? Try riding on rocky gravel for 1 mile after already
being in the saddle for 5 hours. Two of the local pros who had been
pulling my group for oh, about 2 hours straight, flatted on the gravel.
Sweet. I beat them.

21. I suck at descending. I was so bad I needed to say it twice.

Thanks to Lettreri for getting me my entry. I'd like to do more of
these rides.

Bling.

1. No Problem on the porta pot shot!
2. I think I would have been less wiped if I had done the ride than shot it.
3. Welcome to NORCAL!
4. Levi's wife beat Dave, and kicked Allison Sterns but down the hills and most of the guys, that is hot!
5. Could we get sponsored by a brothel?
6. We, David Walls and my self, on the moto also got waived onto the dirt path, that was "fun"
7. tubular! that is priceless!

Thank you,
Carson Blume
Carson Blume Photography, Owner
Digital Capture Systems, Owner Digital Production
Women's Cycling Magazine, Co-Founder / Photo Editor
Cat4Pro.com, Coming soon
888.680.2276


The list has gotten exhaustive, but let me add:
Great photo #158 Paul next to Levi. Great job just to get that close to him, let alone timing it with Carson to be there. Dave seemed to be more preoccupied with riding next to Levi’s wife and the other blond pro. Other reports:

1. Bling, the people you saw walking up the final climb were the medio fondo riders who had ridden only about 25 miles up to that point. By the time I got to there, it was all gran fondo riders, and to my amazement no one was walking even though that seemed to me to be the more sensible thing.
2. I was just lucky that I was able to shower and get a towel around me. Last one back rides home in a wet towel.
3. Mitch spent most of the ride taking in the amenities at the rest stops and he still beat me in.

-Friden



Hats off to Dave for orchestrating the "Great Train Robbery" start strategy. After getting the distinct feeling that the 2 by 2 start of the ride might take several hours to accomplish, Lettieri gets our group to stage around the corner from the start in front of a fire station. There was already a large group there and we figured they were interested in the same "drop in". Turns out they were the marshals for the ride, but were cool enough to recognize the incredible athleticism and riding savvy that a whore house cycling team represents (not to mention that Blinger had already built a reputation as a Santa Rosa bar fighter) and allowed us to stay put. Dave went back to the start, glad handed his way to the front of the pack and as they came around the corner starts yelling for us to jump in. Thusly, we were excused from the mayhem, shouting and carbon crunching sounds heard a ways back in the field.

As far as the best to travel with, it's an old story: easy trumps pretty.

David

Here is a little video from my Fondo experience... it's on You tube.
(shot on my iPod Nano, produced on iMovie)
------ look for Dave's cattle call: "go go go" - Priceless.

Mark

Monday, October 5, 2009

Cross Season Has Begun, Go Kimberly!

Hi all!


So where are the reports from the GranFondo?????????? Please let those of us who couldn't go know how it went!

This chickenette went down south for another day of crossin'. It was a really fun day. The course was awesome, having grass, sand, turns beyond belief, dirt, stairs, barriers, gravel runups, etc. It was the largest women's field in a so-cal CX race to date, with over 40 starters in the combined 3/4 and 35+ fields. I had a bad start, and spent most of the day chasin. I was a good little chaser, picking off rider after rider, and by the end of the 2nd lap, only 3 were in front of me. I even caught the stragglers of the M45+/55+ who started a minute or 2 in front of us. However, I never did catch the top 2, and ended up in 3rd. I felt great about my fitness and the course, although I did manage to pull a quad while running, and I was too sore to double up and do the 1/2/3 race.

It was a good day for Santa Barbara 'crossers. I carpooled down with local Echelon junior, Somersby Jenkins and her mom, Avalon. Somer won the 3/4 race (yes, I was beaten by a 16 year old girl) and Avalon was 2nd in the 35+!!!! So we floated on home afterwards.

Cross is really really fun...do try it!

And I can't wait to hear about the Gran Fondo!

kimberly