Hill Climb Rained Out!!!

Look at it outside. Not happy to ride a bike today. We'll try again tuesday evening at 6:00. Same place. We still have prizes. See you then.

The Southfork Hill Climb

Saturday, April 25, 3:00 pm.

Start line at Vivian Park (up Provo canyon)

Men's and Women's divisions. Prizes three deep in each category.

Raffle for club members. Family and friends invited.

Hope to see you there.

Tour of California Photos

Here's a few of my very amateur shots from TOC stage 6. Enjoy.

And racing begins

Hey everyone. So it looks like cycling season is about to get started even here in Utah. We've got 50's all week, and daylight savings time starts in two weeks! Racing is really underway now with Levi Liepheimer winning his third Tour of California in as many years. This year's race saw the strongest field ever to be assembled on american soil, and saw Lance Armstrong's second race in his comeback.

I had the chance to see stage 6 heading into Pasadena. The race was incredible-- the speed, the intensity, and the organization of the Astana team as they attempted to control a promising break. The atmosphere made me want to come home and get right on my bike. Hopefully some of you got to watch part of the TOC on tv, and hopefully all of you are looking to get back out on the bike soon. For now, props to Levi for completely owning this race-- and for beating his own course record on the Solveng Time Trial by a full seven seconds. Look for photos and more consistent posts to follow. Classics season starts next week.

Happy Christmas

Congrats to everyone for finishing finals. I hope you all feel good and are taking some time to unwind and see family and friends that have been neglected. Since the dog days of winter are upon us, and keep most of us off the roads here in Provo, i just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a merry Christmas. I look forward to seeing you all at school in a couple of weeks, and on the road in a couple of months when it finally stops snowing. Enjoy the holiday.

Alpine Loop

Well, for those of you who missed the ride yesterday, it was epic. We missed almost everyone from the group. Annie, Spencer and I rolled out from Spencer's home at about 8:15. We sandbagged it up to Vivian Park, where Annie finally succumbed to the cold (it really was freezing and she couldn't feel her feet for about half of the ride, not a good thing) and ditched us. After that, Spencer and I continued to the mouth of the loop. The first two miles of the climb are by far the most intense part of the climb. After that, the final 6-7 miles are pretty much steady spinning. They're tough, but not near as tough as the first 2 miles. After cresting the climb, we turned around and headed back down the same side. The descent was awesome. You guys missed a great ride.

Ride tomorrow

Just a reminder of our Tuesday, October 7th ride. 8 A.M. at the usual meeting place. This one is a big climb up to the top of alpine loop. Hope to see you there.

Ride on Saturday

I thought I'd post this in case there's anyone out there who is interested but doesn't get the emails.

Meet Saturday at 9:00 at 775 East 820 North.  We'll be riding from Provo to Springville, then up Hobble Creek Canyon

The group will stay together until we reach the canyon, then everyone ride at their own pace up as far as you want and back (make sure to get off the bike path at the golf course, and then to take the righthand fork in the road). Last time we did this, everyone turned around as they were passed by the group on the way down. It worked out great, and everyone got to ride at a pace comfortable for them. There will be riders of all levels.

The ride is unsupported, so make sure to bring enough food and water (we’re planning on around a 2 hour ride). We do have left over hammer gel and accelerade from previous rides that you are welcome to.

It should be a really nice ride - fall colors and fall weather!

Fine print: The majority of this post was plagiarized from an email written by Spencer.

Contador wins the Vuelta/ Say it aint so, Fabian

Alberto Contador (Astana) of Spain won the 2008 Vuelta a Espania, completing his triple crown of the 2007 Tour de France, the 2008 Giro d' Italia, and the 2008 Vuelta a Espania. Contador makes history by being the youngets person to complete a triple crown, and doing it in the shortest amount of time. His American teammate, Levi Liepheimer, was second and 2008 TDF chapmion, Carlos Sastre (CSC) was third.

In other news, two time reigning world TT chapm Fabian Cancellara has announced that he will not compete in this year's worlds. He says that he simply lacks the legs to do it after a very long season (with several very prestigious victories, including the Olympic gold medal in the mens Time Trial). I'm disappointed to say the least.

Group riding article

I saw this on bicycling today. It's a good article on how everyone can make a group ride work together. I suggest a quick read for everyone before the next time we all head out.

MTB Saturday

for those of you looking for a good mountain ride, meet at 775 E. 820 N. on saturday morning at 9:30 to go ride Deer Creek South Fork. 6 mile loop, and a good workout. Hope to see you there.

Congrats Heather

Quick congrats to Heather Rodriguez for finishing Lotaja on September 6. 206 miles is a long way to go. Any of the rest of you racing and stuff, let us know and we'll post it.

By the way, here's a little info on what Lance is up to. You won't find this kind of writing everywhere. Here's a little clip from velonews:

The seven-time Tour champ, who earlier this week announced his plans to end his three-year retirement and race the 2009 Tour de France, won the local 10-mile Smuggler-Hunter mountain bike race this past Wednesday in Aspen.

Tuesday and Friday rides

By the way, Drew and I usually ride tuesday and friday mornings at 7. The pace is pretty fast (at least for a couple of out of shape law school kids), but anyone is welcome to come. We usually meet at my house, but sometimes Drew's.

Follow-up on today's ride

We had a phenomenal ride today. As mentioned in the previous post, we headed up Hobble Creek into the Uintas for some pretty intense climbing. We had 7 people out there for the ride. For those that couldn't make it, we missed you. After passing Hobble Creek Golf Course everybody took off at their own paces for the pain. We hope to get up there in a few weeks for another great ride where we can enjoy some nice fall colors.

Other potential rides to keep in mind: Alpine Loop, Suncrest, Squaw Peak, South Fork and of course we'll probably try to get out onto the flats to whoop it up a few more times.

Any preferences on which one to take next? Feel free to make suggestions.

Saturday Ride

For those of you clowns that failed to read the lawmailer, I'm posting here information for our Saturday ride. This Saturday, September 6, we're headed up Hobble Creek Canyon for a bit of Uinta climbing! The ride is gorgeous (my wife and I rode up there a few days ago), the workout phenomenal. We plan on meeting at Spencer's home (where we met for the Century) at 8 a.m. and rolling out shortly thereafter.

We're planning on doing 50+ miles for the ride, so in the interest of time, this will be a "go at your own pace" ride (drop ride) after we hit the 400 S stoplight in Springville. There may be occasional stops to stretch and regroup a bit, but for the most part, dropping the group and being dropped by the group is going to be permitted.

The other main difference from the Century is that we will not have a support car out with us. We have left over gels from the Century (someone forgot to pack them in the car, Spencer) that are property of the club, so you're free to use them. Be prepared nutrition-wise if you're going to go long. It may not affect you during the ride itself (I normally don't have problems doing 50 with water only), but the real effects will hit you during recovery if you don't nail your nutrition down pretty well.

Hope to see everyone at Spencer's at 8 a.m.

Interesting article

If you haven't already seen this interesting (and slightly scary) article, I suggest you check it out.

Thanks Guys!

I just want to add my thanks to everyone who came out to ride saturday. The ride turned out better than i could have hoped for, and i hope everyone had a good time. Any comments or suggestions for improvement are welcome, just leave a comment here. I especially want to thank Drew and Lindsey and Cate for all their help with planning routes, food, etc. Also, thanks to Meg, Lindsey, and Cate for driving/taking pictures. Stay tuned for more events through the fall.

Spencer

Century photos

Thanks to everyone who came today - you all made it a lot of fun! Here are a few of the better pictures. If anyone wants the whole set of pictures, let me know and I'll put them on a CD or something.

Century Success

A big thank you to everyone that came out on the century. I think that I can honestly say that it was a smash hit. We had 15 cyclists out for the ride, which is by far our largest group to date. We had a little of everything: 1Ls, 2Ls, 3Ls and even spouses. A special thanks goes out to Spencer for putting in lots of time planning this to Lindsey for taking photos and to Cate and Megan for alternating as support crew. For those unnamed people like Adam and Amy Pomeroy that didn't come, we missed you. I think that the highlight of the day had to have been the 3-4 flats that we had during the ride. Congrats and thanks for helping us kick off the season right!

A New Blogger!

We would like to extend a very special welcome to our new blogger, Lindsay! Now we have proof that Spencer and I aren't the only two that read this.