Adventures on a Bike

Dave and I took four laps around Fiesta Island today in preparation to race the Fiesta Island Time Trial on March 9th. It was a little windy, but not very bad. Sure am glad warm weather has returned to the southland. Was able to ride today without any cold weather gear.Btw, submitting this post on my new Mac Book Air (which is almost as cool as my bike).

Have you found the Bicycle Tutor? This guy rocks. He’s got videos showing you how to perform a lot of common maintenance on your bike. I’ve subscribed to his feed and am getting a lot out of his posts.

Thanks Bicycle Tutor guy!

If you’re not following what’s going on in the pro peloton, the organizers of the Tour de France (ASO) have decided to not allow Team Astana to participate in any of the events they organize (Tour de France, Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, La Flèche Wallonne, etc).

I’m not going to get into any of the politics here, you can read about that at VeloNews yourself. The point I want to make is this - How can you claim to organize the world’s biggest, most competitive, highest-level bike race in the world and not invite last years winner (Alberto Contador) and third place finisher (Levi Leipheimer)? How about the sports director who has won 8 out of the last 9 Tours (Johan Bruneel)?

Your race becomes a farce. In the end, you know who loses? We do, because it’s really our Tour.

Go to http://www.letleviride.com and join the tens of thousands who are trying to save the 2008 Tour de France.

Recovery ride. Legs still feel a bit beat up. Focused on climbing Torrey and Scripps Highlands from the sitting position.

And it was sunny today although chilly. Was still glad to have my undershirt and sleeves. I am seriously done with this whole “winter” thing. Someone bring on the sweltering days of August. I hate being cold.

Riding with The Descenders yesterday, I got to take some turns in their TTT formation.

The theory is that you get a group of riders in a line to share wind protection. The person on the front goes balls-out for a short period of time while everyone else is tucked neatly behind and only going 70-80% because they are sheltered from the wind. When the leader is done with her pull, she moves to the side, allowing the next cyclist to drive the train. The ex-leader tucks into the back of the group and recovers until it’s her turn to pull again.

This is some seriously fun stuff!

I can’t tell you how exciting it is to be rolling at 30+mph waiting for your turn at the front. As soon as you leave the leaders’ draft the wind assaults you and I immediately went to 100% to keep the speed constant. It’s awesome to be at the front with your legs burning, terrified that you’re not going fast enough and wondering if you can hold the pace just until the next…

I did as best as I could, but my form was not perfect. Sometimes I pulled too hard and fractured the group, sometimes I pulled to slow and they decided to pass me. Once, I went completely apeshit from adrenaline and overcooked this left hand turn - I’m glad there was a little hard-pack on the shoulder

This is a discipline I look forward to practicing again!

Yesterday, I rode with a local cycling group who call themselves The Descenders on a 64 mile course around some of greatest roads Poway, Ramona and Rancho Bernardo have to offer.

Luckily for me, The Descenders were having a slow day cause I got my legs cranked completely off. These guys ride a couple of hills in Poway that are actually private roads and have grades as steep as 10-15%. Most of them ride triples and I can see why. I was lucky to be holding my own in 39×27.

Once over the hill to the 67, we set a course into Ramona and that’s when the Descenders got into their Team Time Trial (TTT) formation - more on that later. For now, I’ll just point out that The Descenders set the course TTT record at the Stagecoach Century last year (ok, ok, they were the only TTT team at the inaugural event, but still!)

Later on, Dave (most of The Descenders are named Dave, btw) led me into Bandy Canyon - what a beautiful secluded canyon! I can’t wait to work this into more of our rides. There’s a wicked little hill climbing out too (bonus!).

It was very cool to meet the Descenders. They are a really great group of guys who support each other, are fanatical about cycling and ride wicked hard. I’m looking forward to riding with them again!

Are you watching the Amgen Tour of California? It’s been a great race so far. Tune in, it’s only getting better.

I’ve got some friends visiting the Tour as it rolls through SLO, Solvang, Santa Clarita and Pasadena. Why the heck am I staying home this weekend?

I really didn’t want to ride today, but I did anyways. I need a baseline time for that simulated crit around the lake twice and I got it at 20.3mph average for 15.28 miles.

Then I did some of the local hills on my way home - Scripps Ranch Blvd, Scripps Highlands, and Blue Cypress. To be honest, these hills used to be a lot harder than they were today. I’m not saying that I flew over them at 20mph or anything, but I used to be sort of afraid of them, like they were really *HARD*. Now I get distracted by a good song (Pearl Jam today) and next thing I know I’m over the top.

I’m getting cocky, it must be time to do Palomar again

If you thought climbing Alpe d’Huez was tough, check out the Galibier. And yeah, I’m climbing that in July on the same day I do Alpe d’Huez.