A weekend of racing, college parties and more racing

Saturday was the Henleyville Road Race. Combined Pro/1/2/3. Flat 72 miles. Finished in the field...maybe somewhere in the mid-20's overall? (UPDATE: Results posted...17th) Two of our Elite Category 2's were there, JD and Kevin, and they both got into a chase group. JD got 6th and the Kevin was not far behind him.

RACING TIP: Try to find a college house party to crash the night before your next race...It works. Today, Ben and I were both powered by Coors Light, Jager and Rumplemintz. We were out very late and it was a rough start this morning. I say that's a racing tip because I raced some of my best races ever today. I've had better results, but today I raced very aggressive and felt extremely strong.

Today's race highlights - Downtown Chico Criterium:
Elite Category 3
- Got in a 2-man break. Caught.
- Went out for about 4 solo laps. Won cash prime. Caught.
- 8th in the sprint finish.

Masters 35+ 3/4 (ha...35+??)
- 2-man break. Split prime with him. Caught.
- 12th out of the 3's.
- Ben got in the winning break and got 3rd place for the 4's.

This is just a quick recap with my highlights, but my teammates all raced great races. We all raced very aggressive and pulled in many top 10's across all categories for the weekend. It was a great way to tie up the season. I'm going to slow down on the training for a while now and focus on living off of the bike, of course, with a few occasional rides here and there. Should be fun.

Interbike 2007

No, I was not at Interbike 2006 with Cipo, LeMond, Overend, Merckx, Hushovd and Roll, but I will be there this year!

Interbike is one event that I've dreamed of going to for years now. My position at Active Athlete Media has finally given me reason to attend the event and meet with some of the top industry leaders and I'm stoked.

I'll definitely be walking the expo area, as well as the Cross Vegas and the USA Crit Finals. I'm still trying to score a way into the Sinclair Party (That also reads as "if you are reading this and can get me in you will be my best friend.")

Some Pics from the Mt. Tam Hill Climb

As always, click the pic for large format...the last one is amazing. (Not 'tooting my own horn', I didn't snap that one)

Eric and I - pre-race

Synchronized cycling - post-race


Me, Eric and Anthony - post-race (salty)


Stinson Beach - facing North


Facing South

Race - Rides - Oktoberfest - Sunsets

Raced the Mt. Tam Hill Climb on Saturday. I thought I'd do better, but there's always next year. Some of my Squadra Ovest teammates met up at the top of the climb for a post-race-ride. Eric and I joined and ended up having a huge day of about 90 miles and a lot of race-pace climbing (crawled home on Highway 1):





Sunday morning, we woke up a bit groggy due to the night in the marina. Met up with Phil and Vince for a nice stomp up Marion to East Peak, down to Stinson Beach and back home on Highway 1 again:


Enough riding.

We (Eric, me and one of my roommates, Gosia) met up with Anthony, Shana and Christine to head back up to Marin. The "Tourist Club" is a German Pub in the woods. You have to hike a decent distance to find it and they were having an Oktoberfest Party there on Sunday. Lederhosen, beer, pretzels, brats, amazing views and dense forest...what else could you ask for?

After a few German liquids, we dropped down to Stinson Beach, picked up some snacks and checked out the Sunset over the Pacific. It was amazing.

Photos from Oktoberfest and Stinson Beach: Click Here

Almost "GO TIME"

Tomorrow morning is big...time to see what 5 months of hill training can do to a sprinter from the flatland of Chicago. First 4 miles are small rollers (flat), then it gets "fun".Eric (Team Get a Grip Cycles) is flying out tonight for this. My homeboys, Phil (Cal-Giant) and Anthony (Altezza 40) are possible racers and one of my new Kovarus / Squadra Ovest teammates, Mark, is racing the 35+. Should be a great race, with a great ride tacked onto the tail end (up to Point Reyes...maybe Tomales Bay and back).

Sunset

After work tonight, I rode with my buddy Anthony and on the way back the sun was setting over the headlands. The site was amazing. Before this picture was taken, the sun was blocked by the headlands and there was just a glow that outlined the hills. By the time we got the phone out to goof around with some pictures the sun was in the direct line of sight, but the pictures still turned out pretty cool.

Cable Car 101

I live really close to the Cable Car Museum and it only took me 5 months to visit. This morning I was getting some work done and downing lattes at the Gallery Cafe. As soon as my laptop battery died the museum sang it's siren song and I strolled across the street to finally take a look.

There are 4 really, really, really, ridiculously long cables that run under the streets in SF (and travel at 9.5mph). These (above pic) are the wheels (sheaves) that power the cables. The Hyde St. cable is off to the right of the picture. Each cable gets 3 sheaves to run through. The close two turn opposite each other routing the cable in a figure 8 and the 3rd sheave is about 100 feet away (top of pic). It's a pretty cool system...the figure 8 makes the cable touch 3/4 of the sheaves surface which creates the necessary friction and the 3rd sheave is mobile because the cables stretch as much as 100 feet before throughout their lifetime.

They even have a lower level (below the street) where you can see the cables entering and exiting the museum. It was really cool to see the angles of the sheaves that allows the cables to route around underneath the city streets. I tried to take a picture here too, but it was dark and the flash glared too much against the glass.

That's my cable car lesson for you. I could get into the whole gripping of the cable, but I don't want to spoil the entire museum for you. (yeah, there's not too much to it).