A Lil' Taste of Tucson BSV in Colorado

For those of us Blue Sky Velo members who were unable to make it down to the Tucson training camp this weekend (Michelle sadly wipes the rolling tear from her eye), Saturday-3/14 proved to be a great 'next best thing'. BSV cyclists galore gathered around the shop beginning at 9:45 with the urge to ride the Boulder County pavement. Some came for the friendships, some for the Raymond climb and still others for the dream of stopping in Lyons to drink another morning latte. No matter what the intent, all of us gathered in our BSV gear to checkout the newly posted 'A' and 'B' rides.Mike O. - checkout that arm strength

Brad - keeping the legs warmed up

Michelle & Jenny - chattin' up the members before the ride

Self Portrait - Angie was a good sport

The crew prior to departure

The group left promptly at 10am and rode towards Lyons. Members took their turn pulling and sitting in the pack. When Jenny and I dropped back from the front, the group along side us seemed to go on forever! It was great to see such a big crowd out representing. When the ride arrived in Lyons we all turned left to do a 'nana fruit loop. Some of us continued to Raymond and others rode back thru Lyons. This ride definitely had something for everyone.

Topics of Conversation:

Spring Classics

Downturn in Economy :(

Awesome Bike Fits from Rob :)

Compact Cranks

Training Plans

Sushi - Yummy

Kids/Family

Sprint Speeds on the Track (38 miles per hour; really Rob, bikes can go that fast?)

Double Century Goals

Cindy Sailing the Ocean Blue

Can't wait to see all of you again soon! With 70 degree weather, can anyone believe it is still the end of winter? -Michelle Vercellino

Hallowed Ground - A visit to the Champs Elysees

At some point or another, every cyclist should visit one of cycling's hallowed grounds.  There are many and offer a truly unique experience.  In December, my wife and I had a chance to visit Paris.  On day one, after arriving and having some wine, we set out for the Champs Elysee.  I wanted to soak in the feeling and karma of the finish line and she wanted to shop.  A holiday market made it a truly crazy experience.  Using pictures and the many hours I have spent viewing Tour videos, I tried to find the finish line of Le Tour and get a pic.  Here it is, Blue Sky representing at the finish of Le Tour.  

You cannot really tell from the picture, but the road is slightly cobbled and uphill as it approaches Le Arc de Triumph.  The riders make it look easy, but a crit on this same course would likely split the field of a cat 4 or 3 race.  All the sightseeing and uphill walking created a need for some food and wine.  Thankfully, Paris is filled with many cafes and we sampled some local faire.  Not bad.  Notice the near empty wine glass.  

To add to the cycling flair, we figured out how to use the rental bikes.  This is a great system where using a prepaid debit type card (this is a total hassle to purchase and fund) to pick up bikes around the city.  We were able to find bikes all around town.  You simply ride from neighborhood to neighborhood and put the bike back on the rack.  It is locked up and you cannot get it off the rack without your debit card.  This was a wonderful way to view the city and allowed us to cover way more ground than walking and using the subway.  Also, Paris drivers were super respectful of cyclists and we never had any issues, even taking on huge roundabouts.  Imagine a roundabout on Colfax during rush hour.  All we had to do was point and cars allowed us in.  Amazing.

If you have never been to a cycling Mecca, find a way to visit one, at least once.  I know many of you have been to other hallowed locations in Belgium, Italy, etc.  Post it up.

Hart Master's State Criterium Championships

The 5th that almost wasn't!

The Hart criterium was on a 1.4 mile loop with one decent climb of almost 100 feet per lap. The final corner was at the bottom of a decent and was only about 150 meters from the finish line.

The first half of the race I felt so bad that I was trying to think of reasons why I should drop out and was actually hoping I would get a flat. Luckily my inner sprinter sounds like George Michael and always sings:

I won't let you down
I will not give you up
Gotta have some faith in the sprint
It's the one good thing that I've got
I won't let you down
So please don't give me up
cause I would really, really love to stick around, oh yeah...

- George Michael, Freedom 90

By just past mid-way I finally started feeling better but there was a 4 man break that was gone already. As the final 5 laps started winding down I just started moving up each lap and found myself in about 10th to 15th going up the hill the last time. From there I just kept moving forward and made sure that no one boxed me.

On the big down hill, Green Mountains lead out started right in front of me on the inside and I was the first to jump on the back of it (remember Power Loops are as much about reaction time as sprinting). Thus we entered the final turn all out with Green Mountains lead out guy, their sprinter, and yours truly in that order.

Their sprinter broke right and their lead out guy peeled off left but I thought that the left distance to the line was shorter so I got around their lead out guy quick and was coming up fast on their sprinter with us both throwing our bikes at the the line. The finish was close enough that I didn't know if I got it and it would go to the camera.

Exciting enough yet? Well now is where it really gets weird!

This was the last BAR/BAT race for the Masters and my old teammate Danny Sullivan went into it leading the BAR but with one guy in striking distance. Unfortunately, the guy 2nd in the BAR got into the break and won while Danny finished several spots behind me in the field sprint. When we talked after the race, Danny joked that I cost him the BAR by beating him in the sprint which would extremely unfortunate as he is a really nice guy.

Then I went and looked at the results and they had me at 9th and Danny in 8th, something we both knew was NOT true but I didn't want to protest because it takes time, only top 3 were in the money, and it might cost Danny places thus the BAR.

After being a little annoyed about finally being competitive in a field sprint after all these years and not even getting credit for it, I got into the office this morning to find the results fixed. It turns out they had me switched with a guy from MOB with a similar sounding name who was in 9th. I don't know if Danny, or someone else, protested on my behalf or whether the officials just went back to the tape but it was nice to find out that I won the field sprint for 5th on the bike throw.

(On a sad note, Danny did not hold on to the BAR but fixing the results had no effect on this placing.)

Kevin A.

The Davis Double Century

So my crazy friend, Whitney, talked me into this ride. Her sales pitch, "They say this is a great beginner Double. Come on, I've heard guys do it on a fixed gear!" She left out the part about them adding a climb up Cobb mtn a few years ago. That 8-ish mile climb started at about mile 98. Sweet.

Anyway, on to the ride summary: Figuring it would take around 17 hours and knowing we were looking forward to record heat, I left with a group of three others (Whitney, Kevin & Chaust, pictured at right) around 3:30am hoping to get a jump on the sun.

The first 40 or so miles were flat and then we hit our first climb, Cardiac Hill, which wasn't really all that bad. A few more rollers, some gorgeous scenery reminiscent of southern France, and a couple rest stops later, we hit the real climb.

My Garmin reported grades of mostly 7-9%, though I saw it jump a few times to 14%. I saw more people recovering in the shade along this climb than on the road. Many were walking, at least one puking, some sagging. It was, of course, really hard. It was hot (103 degrees!) It was long. It was exhausting. And the ride was barely half over.

The first in our group to sag came on this nasty climb. The second came soon after at the lunch stop. Both suffered heat exhaustion, getting chills and goosebumps. This was a similar story for at least 100 others who reportedly sagged as well--no idea what the final sag count was.

Luckily, the ride was very well supported. I can't say enough about how great a job the organizers did keeping us fed and cool. There were stops every 20 miles or so with tons of food, water, Gatorade, water hoses and ice packs. There were also plenty of sag opportunities if/when it came to that.

Now down to two, we hit our last climb, Resurrection hill. The top was at around mile 140 and after that it literally was all downhill. Re-joined by my friend Whitney at the top, we pace-lined all the way home. This section felt the longest by far. My butt was sore and my smile was long gone.

With 10 miles to go and the sun long-since set, we hit a rough patch of road and I heard Chaust's tire hissing. Just our luck, not one, but two flats! We changed them quickly and hustled to the finish and a hot meal by 11 pm. Yes, that's around 20 hours!

It's been a few days now and I'd definitely say I'm still recovering. No major injuries, but seriously sore legs and butt. As for a good beginner Double? I suppose it might be if that's your thing. I think that's crazy. ;)