WNWCWC Reminder

I have had several people say that they are coming out to the ride tomorrow. FANTASTIC!!!

Here is a map of the route.


View Larger Map


When: 5:00PM
Where: Corner of Fulton and Guerneville in Santa Rosa, CA
Who: Alex, Stroba, Glen "Bissell Boss" Mitchell, John, and YOU!!!
Why: Because it is a shame SR is the only cycling mecca that does not have a race ride!!! Heck, even OMAHA has one!!!

More coffee please!

Interesting article on coffee.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090331/sc_livescience/coffeelessensthepainofexercise

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Just kidding! Just a reminder that the Wednesday Night West County World Championships has moved to 5:00PM. Be there if you dare!

HA... that rhymes! Quit rhyming I really mean it! anybody want a peanut?

Rest Day

Recovery day for me. Took the Boss for a spin just north of town. We discussed the pleasures of maintaining German automobiles and a little strategery for local racing. Tomorrow is another recovery day.

Day in the life - photos from the bike

Just for fun ;-)


Instead of miles and miles of corn, we have miles and miles of grapes.


Pretty scenic around west Sonoma county eh?



I swam in that over the winter in a sad attempt at triathlons. I never was good at distance freestyle'er back when I was a swimmer so why would that change now.


SUV!!! AAAHHHHHHGGGGGGG!!!!!! DIVE DIVE DIVE!!!!


Sunset

Saturday at Brisbane Criterium - Race Report

It was certainly nice to see the podium again. It seems like it's been all too long.... As usual, lots of attacks from the berries. Lots of chasing from me and being chased by others too. Was a fun time and an excellent training. It was great to open up the legs after being sick for about a month!!!

Congratulations to the Team Bissell for securing 2nd place at Redlands!!

Saturday at Hellyer - Photo essay

It may be 5:00AM in SR, but Jim Keene and I are pretty excited to go learn how to ride on the track!

Jim and I discussing in detail our entire life story. After all, we had 3 hours to kill on the road and waiting for the gates to open to the track.


There it is! The concrete speed vortex!

A view from the pit.

Jim proudly standing by his rental bike. $5.00 for a day is hell'ya cheap!


Jim didn't mention beforehand, but he had arranged for Jeff to be our pit crew and photographer. 200 PSI please ;-)

Myself, Jimmy, and Aldwin.


Whoosh!

WNWCWC - NEW TIME

Due to popular demand and the fact that we have more hours of daylight, we'll be moving the start time to the WNWCWC to 5:00PM. Same place thought, corner of Fulton and Guerneville.


View Larger Map

Where: Rotten Robbies at corner of Fulton and Guerneville
When: 5:00PM, Wednesday, April 1st
Who: Riders that want to have fun
Why: Because having a blast on the bike is why we got into the sport to begin with! And, because we like going fast!

See you there.

WNWCWC moved to 5:00PM

Since we have more daylight now, we'll move the WNWCWC to 5:00PM.

Place: Corner of Geurneville and Fulton

Change of Planz

Looks like I will make it to the WNWCWC tonight. See y'all there ;-)

WNWCWC

New Route! (kind of)


View Larger Map

I will not be able to do the WNWCWC this Wednesday. However Jesus offered to lead it for y'all if you want to show up.

Last week we experimented with the route a little and it worked out pretty well, so above is the map.

KOM Spots:
Harrison Grade
Meyers Grade
Green Valley Road

Sprint Spots:
Pink Elephant
Guerneville
Santa Rosa

I need somebody to report the points to me after the ride so we can keep the tally accurate. I'd have Jesus do it but there is a language barrier.

-Timmo

WNWCWC Results

Attendance tonight was up substantially tonight. Fantastic!

Today's tally

Sprints:
1st: Tim
2nd: Chet
3rd: Matt
4th Jermey


KOM
1st: Tim
2nd: Chet
3rd: Matt
4th Jermey

Overall

Sprints:
1st: Tim
2nd: Chet
3rd:Jesus
4th: Matt
5th: Jermey


KOM
1st: Tim
2nd: Chet
3rd:Jesus
4th: Matt
5th: Jermey

Unfortunately, Chet will not be here next week so Jesus will still be wearing the sprinters Jersey and I'll keep my KOM. That's 2 weeks in a row!!!

Next will add Mays Canyon KOM

Let's try this again shall we?

Where: Corner of Guerneville and Fulton
When: 4:30PM, every Wednesday
Who: Anybody who wants to go, but know the route and be prepared

Route: This will change as the days get longer and more people come forward with ideas. But this Wednesday will be from SR - Occ - Mon Rio - SR.

Hope to see you there.

-Tim

March 18th Route

Ben Hur Hill Climb

Stage 1 of the Madera Stage Race was today. It was a 7 mile rolling with 3 miles uphill. We think BJM won it, but results won't be posted till Tuesday. Not sure how I did.

Tomorrow is a 10 mile flat TT and a criterium in the afternoon.

Thank you Jesus!

I'd like to thank Jesus Gonzales-Ruiz for attending the kick-off for the WNWCWC. The two of us sure had a great time! We started out at a moderate pace till the Atascadero Creek sign just west of Graton on Graton Road. However, I think he was a little confused about the "City Sign Sprint Series," since this was a creek sign, not a city limit sign. I would have won anyway, but he had a huge jump on me after I figured out what he was doing so it doesn't count. From that moment, it was GAME ON!!!

We then proceeded to battle up the hills for the KOM points and sprint for the city limit signs, but between each of these we did simmer down enough to have a little conversation. However, on the decent after the Graton KOM I realized he didn't speak any English and I don't speak any Spanish. But one thing that I have learned over the years from Emily is that if I just keep saying, "oh, I see" and "hummm (insert head nod)," that she can keep going on for hours and not notice that I don't understand anything that she sais either. So it work out quite well.

In the end, I did get every KOM and every LEGIT sign sprint (sorry Jesus, rules are rules. Better luck next time!). So let it be known that I will technically hold both jerseys going into next weeks WNWCWC. Jesus will wear the Sprinters jersey next week, since this may be the only time in my professional cycling career that I will be wearing a KOM jersey.


The above photo shows where you will be next Wednesday. Rotten Robbie, corner of Guerneville and Fulton.

Wednesday Night Worlds

I am really looking forward to tomorrow night. ;-)

-Timmo

New tradition? Wednesday Night Ride - Sonoma County Styl'n

Every spring in Lincoln, Nebraska after Daylight Savings begins, most of the who's who comes out for a little bare knuckled training rides. Since I am living in California now and can't make it back for these rides and the Crits are gonna be going away and the Dirt crits are still a while off, I thought I'd get this going out here in Santa Rosa. I know this will probably conflict with some folks carefully calculated interval sessions and recovery days, but for those of you who just wanna play hard and have fun and possibly also have a day job, this one is for you.

Where: Corner of Guerneville and Fulton
When: 4:30PM, every Wednesday
Who: Anybody who wants to go, but this is not a "nobody gets left behind" ride so be prepared

Route: This will change as the days get longer and more people come forward with ideas. But this Wednesday will be from SR - Occ - Mon Rio - SR.

Wednesday, March 11th Route

If you want to RSVP to let others know you will be there, feel free to reply to this post.

Hope to see you there.

-Tim

Help make more trails in Nebraska!

http://jedionabike.blogspot.com/2009/03/lb-134.html

Many of you may already aware that Senator Pankonin from Plattsmouth introduced LB134 earlierin this session of the Legislature to strip NRDs of the last resort ability to use eminent domain for trail projects. Research for by NTC board members has revealed that, so far as we could document, eminent domain has been used ONLY once on a project which solely involved development of a recreational trail and twice if you count a second NRD project that included a recreational trail, as well as other natural resource improvements. While proponents of this legislation would like members of the Unicamerals Natural Resource Committee to believe this bill is justified by past abuse in the use of eminent domain by our Natural Resources Districts, the facts do not bear out this assertion.

We believe that this legislation has been introduced solely to prevent the Lower Platte South NRD from being able to complete the final segment of the MoPac East Trail between the village of Wabash and the Lied Platte River Bridge. This segment will connect the two largest population centers in our state and also provide access to the premier state parks and other public attractions along the Platte River near the Lied Bridge. The Lower Platte South NRD has spent the past 5 years working with residents of the area through which the trail will pass to select a route that has the least impact on their properties. Currently only about 21 acres of land adjacent to an existing county road would be required to construct the trail. To put this in further perspective, the 21 acres to be acquired stretch along 9 miles of that road. We do not believe it is in the best interests of Nebraska's 1,774,500 citizens for the Unicameral to consider a bill aimed at benefiting 22 landowners.

1) Click here to find your senators email address

2) Copy/paste text below [add changes]

3) Send email or print out and take to your next meeting/group ride and collect signatures.

__________________________________________________



Subject Line: LB134


Dear [copy paste your reps name],



As a cyclist and trail volunteer, I do not believe there is a justifiable public need for this legislation. There has been no documented abuse of our NRDs use of eminent domain for trail projects. Public recreational trails are a great public asset benefiting people of all ages, economic classes and abilities. I also believe the NRDs need to retain the eminent domain power received in the legislation which established our Natural Resource Districts.

Signed,

[Your name]

[Title/occupation optional]

Grasshopper this weekend!!!!! :-)

Well it is that time of year again. "What time is that?" one might ask.... It is the time of year for the world famous grasshoppers. I was not able to do Old Caz (which was unfortunate since I got a Pinarello CX cyclocross bike just for that race), but I did have a good experience in Merced to replace the lost memories of muddy Old Caz fun!

T minus 4 days!!

Merco Weekend - Race Report

Overall, the weekend went well. First, nobody got hurt! For me, it was great to get out there and race with a full squad of guys that are all really talented.

Merco Criterium:

The Merco crit started out pretty rough... As I fully anticipated to work for a victory for our seasoned sprinters, I wanted to get some power data for the race. Unfortunately, that was a big mistake. I spent the first 7 laps getting DROPPED!!!!! It was only after I stopped to check out my bike that I learned my rear wheel had shifted and was rubbing against my frame. That's wuite the power draw. I can't remember exactly what I was thinking as I was sitting on people wheel grinding out 450 watts and still falling backwards. But thankfully, I found Ben in the wheel pit and he told the official what had happened and they let me back into the race with a new wheel. All of the sudden, it was much easier to move around in the pack. In the end though I was sitting a little further back then I should have been and I was cought behind a couple wrecks (Sterling, are you OK?) in the last few laps so I was unable to contribute to the final sprint :-( Fortunately, BJM was able to pull out an 8th place for the day's efforts.

Merco Road Race:

120 miles of slightly chilly rain. Sprinkle on some formerly dusty roads and you get a lot of dirty lycra. The race started fast as planned. With lots of full teams and a few partial squads but with their ringers, it was a slug fest of two wheels. I spent most of the day sitting in the front 20 riders trying to cover moves, ensuring that if any of the breaks stuck, Team Bissell would be represented. But with the number of strong teams, no significant hills, no wind, and Rock Racing having a few national champions in the field, al breaks were doomed to failure. So in the end, I was part of the Bissell train up front at about 2k to go and just kept pushing untill my legs blew out at about 200 meters to go. Fortunately AJM was there to get the last podium spot with a 3rd place finish in the field sprint. WAY TO GO ANDY!!!