Cycling Team

Anyone up for the Terrible Two?

BradleySaul — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:15:02 -0800

A group of us here in Sonoma County are talking about doing the Terrrible Two next year. It's a 200 mile ride that circumnavigates the county, managing to rein in over 16,000 feet of climbing. The Santa Rosa Cycling Club has been organizing it for several year. It starts less than a mile away from the OrganicAthlete Training Center.

Anybody game for joining us?

Cycling Team

Livermore Cyclocross 11/8/08

EmilyThurston — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:06:05 -0800

It's lonely at the top! I raced, and won the A class race at Livermore last Saturday. Or should I say I was dead last? There were a dozen women out racing with me, but I was the only one who registered as an A.
The course was stupid fast, a polar opposite to last week's interesting mud wallow. Packed gravel, packed wet sand, and some short stretches of grass, thick mud, and wood chips pretty much defined the landscape. There were plenty of barriers to jump over (my favorite!) and hairpin turns to negotiate (fun, but not a strength). It was a rodeo designed for horses and cyclocross racers.
We rolled up to the course with a cool 15 minutes to start. Actually, I usually prefer to warm up, but elected to sleep in this morning rather than go for the extended warm up, and then decided to stop for coffee rather than let Dennis drive away with my truck and my security blanket later on.
When he saw I was riding near the front of the field, Dennis got out of the truck to cheer me on. Yay, Dennis. Yay, Emily!
It may seem silly, but it was pretty fun to collect that big LARPD medal. I wore it to the farmer's market, the Berkeley Natural Grocery, and all the way home. It might have been covered up by my sweater for some of this time.

Cycling Team

Last of the Harvest, First of the Season

BradleySaul — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:19:22 -0800

Kevin picked the last of the tomatoes and corn yesterday from the OATC garden and made delicious salsa. Time now to prepare the beds for winter.

After today's ride, I got to work in the garden, thinking about the plans we made on the bike. Any time you get Andy B, Brian B, and I together, it's bad news. We were tame today - we only did Willow Creek Road. We had a solid group of 6: Julian (Brian's son), Kevin, Andy, Brian, Chris, and myself. We bumped into Dan Hopley on the way into Occidental too.

Brian "I've only ridden 5 times since RAAM" and Andy "I haven't been riding at all" were not shy to stick a paceline down to Monte Rio. We mellowed out after that, but as we turned up Willow Creek, the topic of the 2009 Terrible Two came up. By the time we hit the dirt, I had 4 of 6 saying they would do it this year. We were signing up others to do it as well. Talk is cheap in November, but now is when we'll start laying the foundation for a solid 2009 season.

Back in the garden, the sun came out while I piled compost and straw preparing the beds for Winter, and I dreamed about long, long rides into the hills while my garden decomposes.

Cycling Team

Cold weather riding

MatthewMiller — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:59:37 -0800

Poll time for northern cyclists........

How do members beat the cold? Cross-training? Ride indoors? Sit on the couch instead? Or bundle up and deal with it?

When do you say it's too cold to ride? 32F? 10F? -5F?

...just curious

Cycling Team

What does "Listen to Your body" mean to you?

BradleySaul — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:23:48 -0800

Coaches always say, "listen to your body."

What does that mean to you?

How do you listen to you body?

Cycling Team

Pro Cyclist Tjallingii in running for Sexiest Vegetarian

BradleySaul — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:58:04 -0800

Saw this on cyclingnews.com today.

Maarten Tjallingii of Team Silence-Lotto is in the running for the title of the Netherlands' "Sexiest Vegetarian," in a poll sponsored by a Dutch animal rights group Wakker Dier, in conjunction with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Tjallingii, who turns 31 tomorrow, will ride for Rabobank next season. He is "a prime example that eating meat is not necessary for top athletes," stated Wakker Dier. PETA holds the contest annually and selects its winners from various countries and continents. Last year's worldwide winners were singers Leona Lewis and Anthony Kiedis of the rock group Red Hot Chili Peppers. Vegetarianism's strongest influence on cycling was the Linda McCartney Racing Team, which operated from 1998 to 2001. McCartney, who died in 1998, was the wife of former Beatles member Paul McCartney, and both were vegetarians. The team was to be composed strictly of vegetarian riders and support staff. Financial problems caused the team to cease operations in anuary 2001. To vote for Tjallingii, or any of the other candidates visit www.wakkerdier.nl/sexyvegetarier/ (SW)

Cycling Team

A great !@$! day for a bike race!

JustinTorrellas — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:28:46 -0800

Ask and ye shall receive. I had been praying for rain and mud all weekend, and my prayers were answered Saturday morning. I think Kevin and Bradley can attest to how fired up I was before the race.

When we arrived, I was excited to cheer on Emily and Jane who were finishing up their races. 2 quick warm up laps revealed two things- getting up front early would be key.... and I was going to need my mud tires.

My only goal was to get the hole shot, lead the first lap and then figure things out from there. While I wasn't able to get a front row start, I managed to find a hole in the first few meters and hit the first turn in 5th or so. Several riders in front of me botched the first technical section and forced a bobble for just about everyone up front. I hit the sketchy bridge feeling strong and proceeded to plow through the first uber-muddy stretch and pass a few people. It reminded me of the USGP finals last year, except that Ryan Trebon or Tim Johson wasn't going to lap me. Popping out of the woods and onto sketchy bridge #2, Bradley and crew let me know I was already in 2nd place. Unfortunately for me though, eventual winner Josh Sneed already had a 30 second gap by the end of the first lap!

After the first lap or two things settled down into a good rhythm for me. I yo-yo-ed for a while between 2nd and 4th, before finally being overtaken for good with 3 laps to go. It wasn't that my legs couldn't go any faster, but my bike was relegated to no more than 2 gears for the whole race. Yes, I could blame the mud, but in reality it is totally my fault since I haven't changed the cables (or chain) on the bike since 2001! Regardless, I felt like I had a pretty good race. I was geared well for the mud, and was forced to just spin easy and recover on the few speed sections.

Is was a huge relief to feel almost on my game again, especially after tanking the first SuperPrestige race in San Francisco two weeks ago. I really concentrated on being in the moment, staying loose, and having fun. For the last few laps I had images of the movie "Dodge Ball" going through my head. This movie was an essential part of my training, according to my new guru trainer Chris Lods.

All in all I had a great time, 4th on the day in the A race isn't badand this has gotten me fired up for some more two-wheeled duels this fall. Thanks to everyone who was there cheering and ringing the cow bells- Emily, Emily's Mom, Andy B., Jane, Kevin, Bradley, and Chris. Y'alls rock! And a special shout-out to Brian Bauer who I convinced to enter the A race at the last moment, despite not doing a cross race in 19 years.

Rock it People!

Cycling Team

Bikemonkey cyclocross race 2

JaneKurtz — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:45:36 -0800

Whoooooo Hooooooo ! I'm freaking hooked on cross. Andy, Justin, Emily, Brian and myself tackle another epic day of cross racing in California. We all know it will be classic, cause 2" of rain dumped on race day, which made a mucky mess just screaming to challenge us. We slip, slide, crash and grind through the deep thick muck, which seems to be oozing from every pore. My second cross race ever has me so jazzed and craving for more of this exhilarating ride. Why does a fifty year old woman decide to race cross?, am I crazy, having a midlife crises, living life to its fullest, maybe a little of all has me moving in a new direction which is rocking my world. Look out youngsters I may be looking at your backs from afar for now, but inch by inch, second by second you will begin to hear me breathing down your back in my subtle approach.

Okay now for results. Yes, Andy makes the podium with 3rd in 45+, Justin 4th in A, Emily moves up to 5th in A, Brian has the best smile on the course, alright he wasn't DFL, and I pull off 4th in C.

It was great to have such representation for sonoma cross, anyone else game to join us?

Please check out the photo links below for more great race photos.

Sonoma County Chapter

Bike the vote!

BradleySaul — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:43:57 -0700

I thought this would be an excellent advocacy campaign. A quick google search didn't yield much. Anyway, Tuesday is election day. Ride your bike to the polls!

Cycling Team

Poem for today

BradleySaul — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:20:07 -0700

I received this poem in my inbox today from my neighbor and Sebastopol City Council member, Larry Robinson. Enjoy.

Prayer for a Tenspeed Heart

Let the fire of my body
propel and warm me
and let each darkness
reveal its plenitude.

Let the hills
flatten under my wheels
and let the eloquent curves
yield up their good surprise.

Let my heart be obstinate
when I need to climb
and let my lowliest gears
restrain my spinning down.

Let there be flatland, too,
and into that glittering place
let me stretch with the heart of a lover,
at full speed, blind and intent.

- Barbara Hendryson

Cycling Team

Make everyday halloween

BradleySaul — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:15:37 -0700

In general, I think we need more of this

Cycling Team

Cycling Health Study

BradleySaul — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:57:20 -0700

FYI -
Begin forwarded message:

> I wanted to remind the group of the ongoing Cylist Health and Injury survey.
> This is an observational study looking into a number of aspects of cycling including acute and chronic health benefits and risks,
> factors in injury, mental health, substance abuse. It takes around 5-10 mins to complete depending on the amount of injuries
> the respondant may have had. The study is IRB approved and HIPPA compliant. I wanted to make sure I had a good cohort of
> elite and pro level cyclist. If you have not done so please let your teams and colleagues know about the study.
> It will be running until feb 09.
>
>
> http://cyclingstudy.lifespan.org
>
>
> Thanks
>
>
> Mark Greve MD
> Clinical Asst Prof Emergency Med
> Brown University
> Team MD Team Type 1

Cycling Team

A video blog again

BradleySaul — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:18:35 -0700

I finally borrowed a camera.

Staff

Torrellas flies

BradleySaul — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:22:56 -0700

Check out this photo.

Cycling Team

Warm, Cool, Warm

BradleySaul — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:52:03 -0700

Justin did his first cyclocross race of the season today in San Francisco. He looked hammered afterwards. Justin Lucke and I rode up from Redwood City to watch the JT. We arrived just in time to watch him go by once.

JT and I went down the Craigslist Nonprofit Boot Camp in San Mateo on Saturday. I had a list of ideas that I brought back. I'm especially interested in seeing OrganicAthlete generate social media from our fans and media. Our member blog is just one example of how our new website is facilitating stories, ideas, and discussion that give life to our organization. So thank you OrganicAthlete members who are blogging!

Cycling Team

Ballan wins

BradleySaul — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:00:41 -0700

If you haven't seen this video yet, it's a great one:

Cycling Team

Clothing Feedback

BradleySaul — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:58:56 -0700

Thanks to everyone who completed our cycling clothing survey. We had 45 responses!

Cycling Team

Discussion of Training Camp Dates

BradleySaul — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:59:31 -0700

Hi everyone,
We're looking at dates for the 2009 training camp. My thought is to do it a bit later in the year (like March or April), but we could also aim for the Tour of California timeframe again. That way people could watch the event when it comes to Santa Rosa. It's going to be rockin' this year.

The ToC dates are Feb. 14-22. It comes to Santa Rosa on the 15th. Please post your date requests here.

-Bradley

Cycling Team

OA Down Under

HarleyJohnstone — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:38:40 -0700

had a handicap race where there was only 3 of us riders off scratch and the limit bunch got a 16min headstart on a 40k circuit! lol!

so i lined up with matt king (2008 australian under 23 time trial champ and south australia.com rider) and chris loynes (2008 northern territory road and time trial champ) and im thinking that maybe i should have done a little longer warm up..lol! after a few laps i couldnt swap turns with these 2 and just rode my race to the finish.

either way, we all got a solid workout and im enjoying racing div 1 with guys that are the best in down under.

Cycling Team

Hot Pics and Veggie Times

BradleySaul — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:49:38 -0700

Here's two inspiring pics of OA members: Emile de Rosnay winning a criterium in Victoria, BC and
John Saponara on his way to bronze in the South Carolina (my home state!) Time Trial Championships. John's daughter took gold.

With my current state of cycling fitness I can only dream of such feats. Tomorrow I'm hoping for some running form. I'm doing a 10K in Santa Rosa. I'll post a report afterwards.

Today, everyone from the OATC went down to World Vegetarian Day Celebration organized by the SF Vegetarian Society. It's a good event, and it's fun to see more and more people interested in getting involved with OrganicAthlete. It sure seems like there is quite a bit of interest in a San Francisco chapter. It would be great to see one get started!

Jurgen leaves on Tuesday. We'll miss him.

Kevin, our next intern, arrives in late October.

Do you want to be next?

Cycling Team

Cross Racin' in Boulder County and around

CatJohnson — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:22:02 -0700

I have two cross races under my belt so far this season. The first was weekend before last at the Juvenile Correction Facility in Golden. I kid you not, there is such a facility, and it has a sweet cross course made of mostly singletrack, and hella bumpy. I missed racing the weekend before that due to sickness, so I didn't get a call up. It didn't go as well as I had hoped. I ended up second to last in the 1-2s. I think I was 14th. Of course it was the first race I've done for a while due to work commitments, so I was happy to get back into the swing of it.
I also raced last weekend at Interlocken in Broomfield, a 10 min drive or so from my apartment in Boulder. I love this course. It's mostly grass, some pavement, two barrier sections back to back, and is basically not really technical. Last weekend there was one muddy section, that was ridable without much trouble. I, again, didn't get a call up. Too bad, because now they're calling up the top 20 in the Best All Around Rider... and I guess I didn't make the cut. I don't think it mattered too much. I got off to a pretty good start from the third row back, and just kept passing people as I went, lap by lap. I was feeling good with only three to go, thinking to myself about how I planned to get ahead of the next rider up ahead, when all of a sudden I felt my breaks slack. I had them pretty tight, and I was like, sure that I was without brakes. This took me back to my messenger days, when, yes... I submitted to riding around without my brakes in DC traffic once or twice. It never lasted long to tell you the truth. Once I carried a package down M St. that way... but I had trouble turning without causing a scene... ANYWAYS! So I was like, well, hell yeah! I'm gonna ride wid out the breaks, and see how long I can get away with it for. It seemed possible.
It turns out I was a bad ass for no real reason, although they were really slacked out... but they did work. Thank God, or I'd be currently part of a concrete ravine. It changed my cornering approach a bit. Probably for the best, really. I ended up 10th overall, and 8th in the 1-2s. The other two people.... who snuck in were a pro roadie and a pro mtn biker. So, that was fun. I'm heading up to Frisco this weekend for some more cross racing! It really feels like Fall in Colorado, and it's so great!

Cycling Team

AZ State Hillclimb/ Mt Graham

DaveGlick — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:02:43 -0700

I finally won the jersey at the state hillclimb championship. The race is 20 miles up Mt Graham in Safford. The start is at about 3400ft and the finish is over 9000ft at a decent grade (maybe 7% average) with quite a few steep switchbacks. This year a Mexican team (P&S) showed up with some strong guys, but fortunately they weren't eligible for the state championship jersey. After a few early attacks, Carlos Lopez (winner of Tour of Guatemala 07) attacked the lead group. I didn't respond as I was thinking about the jersey. Then another Mexican, David Solomon attacked and I didn't respond. The third time a decided to follow Carlos Hernandez (winner of El Tour 07) off the front. We quickly got a gap over the lead group and then caught Solomon. Hernandez faded and it was me and Solomon chasing Lopez. Unfortunately the Mexican wouldn't help me chase down his teammate, so I had to do most of the work. The good news was that there were no Americans (and hence, no Arizonans) up there. Lopez went on to set a new course record, Solomon beat me in the sprint for 2nd many minutes later, and I got 3rd overall, but won the state championship as the best Arizona rider.

Cycling Team

Mt. Tam Hill Climb

DanHopley — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:59:11 -0700

The course is only 12.5 miles (4.4 flat then abruptly climbing 2000’ for the remaining 8.1 miles). Our field took the flat at a very mellow pace, then the _ _ _ _ hit the fan as we started the climb. In about 1 minute, the lead group was down to 6. After about 5 minutes, a solo rider accelerated away from our group. I was monitoring just one guy and felt if the escapee was a threat to the guy I was watching that he would quickly close up the gap. He did not seem bothered so we rode on as 5 as the escapee disappeared from sight. As the finish line drew near I realized our group had made a tactic mistake of letting the eventual winner leave our sight. Further I realized I made a tactic mistake by letting one guy determine the outcome of my race. I was feeling strong and could have ridden harder than I did BUT, was confident we would all come back as one group and did not put in the effort to bridge to the solo rider. Mistake two, timing my sprint too late and ending up 3rd in a 5 man sprint for 2nd place. The math works out to me getting 4th overall. This was a live and learn experience that really should not have transpired

Cycling Team

East Coast 'Cross

BrettDollar — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:03:44 -0700

School has been kicking my ass lately, but I finally got off campus this weekend and did a little cross racing! The Verge New England Championship Series kicked off this weekend in Williston, VT with two days of racing in the woods. It was pretty darn fun, despite my being sick and not having ridden for about a week before Satuday’s warm up. The forecast for the weekend was epic rain and flood warnings, but Vermont was spared the tropical storm fallout and we ended up with pretty nice weather on Satuday, leaving the course pretty dry and fast. Sunday it lightly drizzled all day, making for some slippery corners and roots, but I only crashed once and popped right back up. Fun stuff. I haven’t seen any results and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to, but I had a good time and introduced a couple friends to ‘cross, so all in all it was a pretty good weekend. Now, time to catch up on some work…

Cycling Team

OA Vic Bike Team Leaves Strong Impression at Bastion Square Crit

DaveShishkoff — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:12:59 -0700

Congrats to OA Victoria's racers, who all finished well in each of their events on Sunday! The Times Colonist Bastion Square Criterium is the biggest road race on the island, and typically one of the biggest in BC, and marks the closure of the road season here this year. The course is in downtown Victoria, a four-corner road course around the popular Bastion Square market.

Kevin Park was the first racer up, in the mixed-level Category 5 field, which was the 2nd largest of the weekend with 26 starters. Kevin played an active role in the 25 laps of racing, with a strong effort in the remaining laps in an effort to break up the pack, but it was incredibly tenacious and stuck together for a massive bunch sprint, in which Kevin edged through, including a few bumps with a rider in front, for 4th! OA member Casey Ryder was also in this race, but rumour has it he focused a bit too much on 'fun' in prior evenings, and was not at all in top form, but finished mid-pack. ;)

In the Cat4 race, Dave "What - I Hardly Do Road Races!" Shishkoff was a continual presence at the front of the pack of 12 racers - leading out for the first few laps, then sitting in waiting for a good moment to pounce. Unfortunately, the pack stuck together, and Dave wasn't feeling much like a solo TT effort, and so stuck it out for the bunch sprint. Hoping to whip through on the inside of the final corner, he found everyone else there, and so went wide, and powered by much of the sprinting field on the outside to collect 3rd - a podium spot! Having not done any high-speed racing for over three weeks due to the closure of the velodrome eroded Dave's confidence, who in retrospect should have jumped 150m earlier, and would have easily outsprinted the field once in front... Reminder of today's lesson: you must believe in yourself!! Regardless, despite typing this in the third person, Dave is very happy with his performance, and will likely move up to Cat3.

In the Cat3 race, Emile DeRosnay was an obvious standout in the 12 starters, and won almost all the Primes (and often by a large gap!) True to form, with four laps (or kilometers) to go, Emile carried through from a Prime sprint and gained nearly an entire block of ground as he pursuited to the finish, and remained ahead of the charging pack to win the race!! Emile was ecstatic to finally win a road race in BC, and will likely be moving up to Cat2.

Gillian Carleton rode a conservative race in the Women's 1/2/3 race, with a disappointing seven starters, although that didn't mean the competition wasn't significant, with international track star Steph Roorda and Canadian MTB sensation Alison Sydor in the field. Gillian demonstrated her tremendous strenghts a few times, going for a few Primes, but would fall back into the pack afterwards...until the final Prime with two laps remaining, when in response to screaming teammates and crowds, she carried the momentum from the Prime win through, and powered away like the future superstar she's going to be, and took the win in style!!!

Photo from the line here: http://duanebc.smugmug.com/gallery/6030043_Svs3Y#377453995_GHKQt

Gillian will be missed after this event, as she's been offered a fantastic opportunity with Total Restoration, and doubtless she'll continue to excel and dominate in whatever races she takes up with the aid of coaching and teammates. All the best to you Gillian, thanks for choosing to race for OA in 2008!! =)

This marks the end of the road season, and the beginning of 'cyclocross!

A listing of many of OA Vic's rider's accomplishments can be found here:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pnfzlMjRxwTsEWTpK45rFcg

Thanks for tuning in!

- Dave

Cycling Team

Tour D' Organics Portland

JimStuck — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:13:37 -0700

Today was a good day. After months of planning and never knowing if we were getting anything accomplished, we seemed to have got through it. The Tour D' Organics Portland ride is history, for 2008. It is still to be determined on whether it was good or not so. As a chapter and a team it was a huge success. We came together and got the job done and made our chapter a closer knit group. This may not be visible to anyone but me, so I want to let everyone know; You All did a tremendous job and I thank you for helping me make this ride and chapter work. It was just over two years ago when Bradley put on the first Tour D' Organics ride here in Portland. Two months after that I decided to try and get a Portland chapter going. Today truly showed me that we have got a great OrganicAthlete chapter, and it will not just fade away as I have thought it would many times in the last two years. I see the upcoming cross season as a wonderful time for our chapter and team. It seems that all of our team is racing cross this year and seeing the green and orange kit with the "GO VEGAN!" flying around the course will be a great thing.

With much love and respect, thank you!

Jim

Portland Chapter

Pills, Potions, and Powders No More

BradleySaul — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:21:19 -0700

In an article in last weeks' New York Times, Gina Kolata discusses the idea that athletes need special protein and carohydrate mixtures for optimal recovery. If you've been in endurance sports long, you've heard of the magic 4:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein. It's true one needs carbohydrates and protein, but "as so often happens in sports, those grains of truth have been expanded into dictums and have formed the basis for an industry in 'recovery' products."

The bottom line of the article is that recovery products are not, as the marketing would have us believe, essential for performance. Furthermore, the article quotes Dr. Michael Rennie, a physiologist at the University of Nottingham, as saying at that 10 to 15 grams of protein per day is adequate for any adults. Bullocks, most people would say. It's true, though. As you eat enough calories from whole, plant foods, protein is a non-issue.

The article did use eggs and chicken as example of where to get that protein, which was too bad. Plants have protein too, along with carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, fiber, phytonutrients, and essential fats. Animal products are seriously lacking in those areas.

Staff

TrackFest #2 Results and Recent Racing Updates

DaveShishkoff — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:24:09 -0700

Hey all y'all!

An update from this weekend of racing! The second and final TrackFest was this weekend here in Victoria, BC, and out little club did very well!

Evan in the 'C' category unfortunately had only one competitor in the Omnium, and none in the Bunch Races, so he did no worse than 2nd in any event! =) Thrown in with the 'B' racers, he did amazingly well, remaining in contact with the bunch for almost all the races! He's inspired, and looking forward to a solid winter of training, and joining the B's full-on for next year.

Gillian came for Sunday's races, but was pretty pooched from winning the Provincial TT Championship, and also coming within 14 seconds of Olympic TTer Alex Wrubleski in the local TT course last week. Still, she put in some great efforts in the Keirin and other bunch races, including a top Women's finish in the Points Race.

In the A's, we had Emile and myself representing. Emile was a bit more focused on the Omnium, and i had the Madison in my sights. At the end of the day, Emile finished 4th, 2pts short of 3rd, and i in 9th (out of 16). In the Bunch Races, Emile finished 7th, mainly due to poor Keirin results. He finished 3rd in the final Points race. I finished one up from the bottom in 15th, and only entered the Keirins -- finished 3rd in both my heats, but only two went through each time. Still, in the first one, i hit a season high speed of 63kph! Hoy only hit 69 at the Olympics. ;)

Being the second and final event of TrackFest, Series Champions were also revealed! Evan, of course, came out on top in the Bunch Races and Omnium in the 'C' field! In the women's field, Laura Brown, who doesn't race for OA, took the title, but she's an OA Vic member! In the Omnium A's, we were happy to see Emile as the Series Champ!! I was also crowned one of the series Champions in the Madison series, tied with the second most points over the series.

OA Vic sponsored one of the events, the OrganicAthlete Omnium, and part of the arrangement was to have special Series Champion jerseys produced, with the OA logo and name on them, you can check out the design here:

http://www.gvva.bc.ca/events/2008-trackfest2/trackfest-jersey.pdf

These were awarded to the top 'A' finishers, so both Emile and i will be sporting these on occasion. A real honor!

The nitty-gritty details of TF#2 can be found here:

http://www.gvva.bc.ca/events/2008-trackfest2/

OA continues to shine here in Victoria! In the local racing leagues, i'm still sitting in 1st overall in the Track League, with Emile chasing me in 2nd. In the local Road League, i'm still sitting in 2nd overall, but Emile will likely overtake my position in the TT this week. He's also set the fourth fastest overall TT time!

OA Vic plans to keep things rolling, with Track Nationals coming up in a few weeks, another big weekend of road and track racing in mid-September, and then onto Cyclocross season!

- Dave

Victoria BC Chapter

Kitt Peak Hillclimb TT

DaveGlick — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:43:52 -0700

I guess all that suffering out at elite nationals did me some good. I felt pretty good in training this week and pulled out the win at the Kitt Peak hillclimb TT yesterday. Most importantly, I beat a certain Bradley Saul's time from 2002 by 2 seconds!

check for yourself...

Cycling Team

Elite Nationals (RR and TT)

DaveGlick — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:20:17 -0700

Last weekend was the elite national championships in Orange County, CA. I hitched a ride out from Tucson with my buddy Neil (saunier extraordinare) and Thomas (16 y/o cat 2). We arrived in Disneyland tuesday night, got packets and cruised over to Cara Gilles' pad in Huntington Beach.

Next morning was the TT. I tried to get a good warmup in, but on the course I felt really flat from being in the car all day the day before. It was a tough course and I was going so slow that I was sure my wheel slipped in the dropouts. A quick stop at the pit at the turnaround reveal it was just the legs that were slow. I started feeling better by the end, but finished well down from the leader.

After a couple days of hanging out with Cara and checking out the local vegan restaurants it was time for the RR. 185k on a fairly flat course in the blazing afternoon heat of Irvine. I was stoked to make THE breakaway and all I needed to do was survive to the end for a top-10 result. Unfortunately, with 1 lap to go, the heat took its toll. My legs cramped bad and I just ran out of gas. I called it a day after about 98 miles and 12 bottles. Better luck next year.

- David

Cycling Team

2 TT Champs in 1 weekend

BradleySaul — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:01:36 -0700

Jeremy won the Maryland State TT in the category 4 race today. According to the results Gillian Carleton of the Victoria chapter won the BC provincial TT champs today as well.

Go team!

Cycling Team

Maryland State TT Championships

JeremyMoore — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:47:33 -0700

Start: 08/09/2008 - 07:06

Cycling Team

TT State Champion

JeremyMoore — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:45:16 -0700

TT went well other than a few odd things I wasn't prepared for. I got there a bit late but had enough time for a decent warm up but I had to rush to put on my aero wheels. Of course my disc tire was low on air so I inflated it in a rush and lined up for my start on time unlike last time I did this race(I was ten minutes late for my start time). Right at the start I felt a small thump in my rear wheel...I figured it was a small rock stuck on my tire or something but when it didn't go away for a few minutes I knew my tire wasn't on my rim all the way...a very careless mistake. I was expecting my tire to blow any moment but somehow it held the whole race...no idea how that happened. Anyhow I figure I lost well over a minute due to the bum in my tire and maybe over two minutes. The other odd thing was the wind. Its always windy there but at least you always know where its coming from but this time it was going the opposite direction so I don't think anyone timed their efforts properly and everyones times were off by 90seconds or more. I remember the wind not bothering me until the final 6 miles where I was passing riders left and right at 17-21mph(not very fast but it was terribly windy). This time I was cruising from 27-31 for that whole stretch (I even hit 34 briefly near the finish which means I definitely rested too much for the expected wind). I definitely didn't get the time I wanted(56:36...for a 25mile...not a 40K) but I still won by 30 seconds so I can't complain too much. I was 9th overall including the pro/1/2 racers...I figure I would have been top 5 if it weren't for my tire. My buddy took a picture of it and I'll post it when I get a chance.

Anyhow its nice to have a state championship(Cat 4TT champ)...that eluded me in high school...I got silver medals 4 times to a now 2 time Olympian as a shot putter.

Cycling Team

Boulder Road Race

CatJohnson — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:21:30 -0700

I raced the Boulder Road Race, today. I haven't done a Road Race that was just pavement in I think, five years or so. I've done things like the Boulder Roubaix, and the Koppenburg, which are part road/ part dirt... but yeah, it's been a long time since I did a road race.

I was inspired to do it, because I originally trained with the idea of doing mostly the Mtn States Cup... all Mtn Bike XC. But I learned that the technical skills required to do those races at the level I want to do them at, requires more time and $$ than I have. Being in Boulder, I can't easily get to the Mtns to train due to the cost of gas, time, and quite frankly -- I try to avoid driving as much as possible, and ride my bike instead, when possible. So in a value based sense, I was getting tired of all the driving, as well.

Also, I consider myself a peaceful warrior of veganism... so I like having Go Vegan on my butt and riding around. Quite frankly, it's fun!!! My fitness is pretty good from all the Hill Climbing I've done this year, so I thought... what would be a better time to try a road race, again, and see how it goes!

It's kind of hard jumping into a road race with women who focus solely on road racing as a sport. I'm thinking of focusing on road racing in the summers with some short track thrown in for good measure.

The race started out pretty well. I spent most of the first one or two laps up front, before realizing that my legs were feeling a little torched from all the racing I've done, recently. I tried to sit in on the back, but kept getting near dropped, and had trouble following the attacks from the back. I know from experience that's just not the best place to be. So I rode mid pack/back for a while! Sort of like, back..... with serious intentions of not getting dropped, and moving up! I dropped off the back with a bunch of women with I think 3.5 laps to go, or somewhere around there. There were five people that kept the faster pace. The course was over seven miles with 900 ft of climbing per lap. The race was 6 laps. This seemed fine to me. I was already riding hard, and worried that I would not make it through the whole race if I went any faster. After a while, there were still about 5 girls up the road just a minute ahead of me or so, and one girl always with me, with whom I paced myself with through the race. We kept trying to catch up to them, and sometimes it seemed like it was quite probable we would. But we never quite did. On the last lap, it was evident we would be racing for 6th or 7th place. I was pretty spent, and my legs already feeling sort of numb, and not planning on going any harder no matter how much I really wanted them to. Isn't that always the way. Wanting.... to be faster... never does much good. Probably more training for distance road racing would be necessary! Will be necessary, to catch those girls! So I ended up 7th or 8th or somewhere around there. It was a Women's 1/2/3 race.

Anyways, I had fun. I love working out, and I really pushed myself, which always feels good. Plus I conquered my nervousness of road racing that had developed into something vicious over the past few years. It was fun! So, I'm up for another road race and then some in the future! The Boulder Roubaix is next weekend. It'll be similar but with dirt. I *heart* dirt. Bring on the dirt! Looking forward to that, for sure.

Cycling Team

Boulder Crit Series, Race #1

CatJohnson — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 19:49:50 -0700

So I attached myself to my drops, today, and got out there after work, barely making it to the crit before the start... number pinned to the wrong side... way cool.

Super-sweet short course. After the first lap I nailed every corner in in my drops. Legs sore from racing this past weekend, I wound up ahead of three women, and kept drilling it till we were lapped with 5 min to go. It was not just a women's race. There were guy categories in the race too.... small town fun! yee-haw! There were two women racing with the pack. I have no idea if they were dropped and jumped back in, or what. I hear you can do that, though. The course couldn't have been more than a few minutes per lap.

So much fun. I am figuring it helps to really push yourself to improve your skills. It's fun if you have some people to work on it with, that are chill and strong!

Pro-Activist Team

Fed Center Circuit Race, Bannock St. Crit

CatJohnson — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:10:23 -0700

I did a couple of races this weekend. The first on Saturday, was a circuit race at the Fed Center. I didn't get in much of a warm up lap, but got in a good 20 min warm up before the race. I try to catch up on sleep on the weekends, too, because I have work, an internship, and class during the week. So, alas, that was as much of a warm up as I could afford. In a perfect world, I would have more time for such things.

I did the Cat 3 race. It started out super-slow. The course was a nice gradual steady climb, and back down, with some twisty corners on each side of the loop. As one girl said at the initial pace... " the fours will catch us at this rate!". So true. Anyways, I was happy to sit in. I was determined to not make a move until I felt like it would help me win... i.e. not let everyone draft on my wheel the whole time. We did 4-5 laps. This was my first road race that wasn't a climb in almost a year. I felt the improvement in my group skills/ cornering skills lap by lap. The pace remained pretty chill, and on the second to last lap, myself and another girl took some pulls off the front to see if we could drop anyone. Everyone kept up. I grabbed some H20 on the downhill before the last lap, chilled a little at the beginning of the last climb, and then drilled it off the front as hard as I could. I could feel the burn after the first few minutes, but kept digging hard to pick up the pace. After all, I had a good gap on everyone, thanks to my climbing fitness. It was a long lap. I kept ahead up the whole climb, and down at least 1/2 of the descent. This was actually pretty good for me. I was nervous on the descent, and I think I owe some of my nervousness to it being my first road race of sorts in a while. Anyways, it was worth a try, and was a memorable attempt. Needless to say, I missed the final sprint, but it was a race well fought.

On Sunday I raced the Bannock St. Crit. Again, first crit of the year, and my legs were a little shaky at cornering in the pack. Definitely something I can improve upon. Jeannie Longo was there,.... again, and it was pretty evident I would be crushed, ego bruised, legs drilled into the hot August pavement.... pretty evident, there from the starting line up. But I thought... how could I not improve! We're getting used to seeing Jeannie Longo in Boulder. She got quite an introduction at the Fed Center, and was quite the topic of attention at Bannock, as well. I hung back out of the crowd for the most part in the beginning of the race. Sue Stokes and I worked off the back, together, and it was great to have a corner buddy, to corner with! I am feeling better in the corners, actually. I owe some of that to my recent parking lot practice sessions. But my legs were cooked before the end of the race. When Jeannie Longo lapped me a 2nd time.... yes you read right, a 2nd time! I decided to call it a day. I just had one short 3 min lap left, but couldn't find the drive to suffer any longer.

I am happy to have a rest day, today. Racing has been non-stop this week, and I'm doing a crit tomorrow, as well.... then Short Track again on Wednesday... I did better at short track last Wednesday, and we'll see if I have some energy for this week's show down. It's the last one of the season, so I can't not go! ;)

Later, sporty vegans!

Cycling Team

Why do you eat meat?

BradleySaul — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 18:41:06 -0700

I remember the last hot dog I ate. I barfed afterwards.

Having been vegan now for going on 6 years, I sometimes wonder why it took me so long to give up eating dead animal flesh. I know why. Meat embodies the values of the consumer culture I grew up in. As much I like to think I'm a nonconformist and free thinker, when it came to meat, I was with the in crowd.

Through college, I had "vegetarian tendencies." I liked the idea of being of vegetarian, but I also wanted to be an elite athlete. How could I get my protein? I bought the myth that meat and protein meant strength and power. It's those values that made the hunk of cooked cow muscle at the end of my fork palatable for me. New research confirms this theory.

Have you ever heard someone say, "I like the taste of meat"? The satisfaction may have less to do with what their taste buds tell them, and more to do with what the food symbolizes. According to researchers Michael W. Allen (University of Sydney), Richa Gupta (University of Nashville), and Arnaud Monnier (National Engineer School for Food Industries and Management, France), found that the symbolic meanings of food and beverage can influence a person's taste based on their social values.

Fortunately, I gave up eating meat and dairy. I feel better for it. And I have strength and power without it. In fact, I'm probably more better to preserve my lean muscle by eating my fruits and vegetables, according to (would you believe it?) the USDA.

Triathlon Team

Mt Evans HC, etc...

CatJohnson — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:15:28 -0700

So I am late in race reporting this, because I've been unusually sick with some sort of bronchial virus, and on vacation. But anyways, I did race the Mt. Evans Hill Climb last week. This was kind of a disappointing event for me, because I was really sick, and not feeling well at ALL. I have been mostly climbing this spring/ summer, with some mtn biking and short track thrown in for fun on Wednesday nights.... but just for fun.... no time to take short track very seriously.

So, I pre-rode Mt. Evans a week before the race. It's about an hour away, 28 miles, over 7,000 ft. of climbing.... apparently the highest peak you can drive to in the US! It's such an awesome ride.... such an awesome race, really. It was really too bad to get sick for it. I'll spare you the details of what it's like to race something like that when your body aches, and feels mostly like sleeping rather than pounding out some efforts to try to catch Jeanne Longo.... there are more fun things, let's just say that....

I already unburied myself by going on vacation in Maine this past week, so am back on the up and up... and feeling positive about cross season coming up, and probably doing a few crits this month.... one last short track race to say I've lived up Wednesday night again in Boulder, and yes.... lots of cross training, i.e. running free on the trails, jumping over BYOBarriers in the park on the horizon with the Boulder cross goobers..... probably a good place to start will be to assemble my cross bike which hasn't been together since my one lap at the ice fest otherwise known as Cross Nationals last year....

Regarding the HC.... No, I am not throwing all hopes and dreams of that road racing/ climbing sort in the future. Quite the opposite, I am really into it, and not too swayed by factors out of my control. I'll have to ride Mt. Evans on my own more often, too. I didn't realize how easy it was to train there on my own, and now see that I have no excuse not to ride there more in the future. I guess I'm getting wiser. I had forgotten that sometimes you get sick for something you've trained your ass off for.... sometimes the cards are just like that, and you deal, and realize it's just one race, and not the be all and end all of who you are, and not a reflection of what you can do......

Sorry I don't have any pictures. Just imagine a national park, a road by a beautiful lake, and a mtn. goat at the top with a comfort range of 5 ft. Then chant a bit. That should cover it.

Boulder OA rocks!!!! (that'd be me!)

Pro-Activist Team

Breathe in compassion. Breathe out compassion.

BradleySaul — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:49:06 -0700

“Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts.” ~Thich Nhat Hahn

I think this is why I love exercise. You get to breathe.

Cycling Team

Summer Duathlon #2

BrettDollar — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:28:45 -0700

Bradley and I arrived at lovely Rancho Seco Park (located immediately next to a nuclear power plant) early Saturday morning after spending the night at a heavily populated, noisy, windy campground somewhere along the way. As we registered for the 3 mile run/16 mile bike/3 mile run duathlon event there were a bunch of people scurrying around in wetsuits and ridiculous rubber hats, so I guess there was a triathlon, too.

Bradley had a good race, ending up 4th overall and third in his age group with a time of 1:24:51. I initially thought I did pretty well, having passed most of the other women on the bike and held them off on the second run, but when I wasn't called for an award I figured I must have lost track of my competition--no big deal, I had fun! Well, it turns out I was completely left out of the results, but my time of 1:38:30(ish) made me first overall for the women. Bummer... why can't my results get lost when they suck? Oh well, a fun day nonetheless.

Check out the video report...

Cycling Team

Roblar TT Results

BradleySaul — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:06:19 -0700

Cycling Team

Fitchburg Longsjo Classic

DaveGlick — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:01:28 -0700

Not too much to say about my Fitchburg this year. It started out with a time trial in the middle of the thunderstorm (I was one of a fortunate few late starters). I had a decent road race but couldn't quite stay with the lead group of climbers. Then came the circuit race which is always hard, but this year was particularly hard and I was having a bad day. I got seriously dropped and lost any hope of decent GC place. I was able to survive the criterium the next day, and actually felt like a bike racer again. Pretty disappointed with the weekend, but hopefully this will jump start some good training for elite nationals. - DG

Cycling Team

Canadian National Road Race Championships

caragillis — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:01:15 -0700

114km. 4 laps over a 28.5km rolling/hilly rectangularcourse. Start line, left turnuphill, flat, left turn/right turn uphill, long side, rolling WINDY, left turn(short side) most significant climb, stiff cross wind, left turn (longbackside) uphill, crest, downhill, rolling, little pitches, sweeping left,little pitchs 2-3 km to finish, flat/slight uphill. AWFUL pavement throughout and a 4-person/broken collar bonecrash as a result of some rut-sucking. Hot, mid-to-high 80s/30s and NO neutral feed.

18th place. Not too bad, but not great. Many people missed the time cut of 5% so Ithink only 40 or so got official finish times Watch the post race interview for more details.

I had a big Team Cara support crew this weekend: Team Cara Proxy Team Manager Dad,assistant Steve, Mom, Nanny (roommate extraordinaire), Linda, Cynthia, andKevin (and Spencer). They dealtadmirably with my crankiness. Yay!

The race was fast and there were several big teams. Webcor, Aaron’s, and Cheerwine wererepresented (there were also some VanderKittens riding for Team BC). From Canada, there were big contingenciesfrom Equipe Quebec, Team Ontario, Team BC/Giant, Team UltraLink, and severalothers who I can remember. Alas, Iwas the only Team Vegan/Équipe Végétalienne. (Go Vegan vs. Allez Végétalienne!Hmmm…)

Attacks started right away on the first lap. Anne Samplonius was representing Quebecand several EQ women launched some attacks early on. On the climb on the short side, Aarons (I think) initiatedsomething. I was in a good spotand responded well and made the selection. We got brought back pretty quickly on the downhill backside. Fine. On the second lap Imade a mistake and went to the back (to get away from some sketchiness—actuallythere was much sketchiness) at a very bad time. Samplonius attacked, Wrubleski, Hobson, and Gomez were onher and that break moved very fast. 18 or so got away. I wasquite bummed that I was so dumb there. Over the next lap we worked (well, some of us worked and many others gotin the way) and picked up remnants from that group. Much disorganization and we kept loosing time. I tried a lame-ish attack with Meganfrom HR Block (mostly just to pick up the pace), but nothing happened. The last lap I went to the front WAY toearly (5km to go) and was an idiot in the sprint. Still pulled out a 5th in the group, will AllisonTestroete from Aaron’s winning the group. Predictable on the podium were Alex Wrubleski, Leigh Hobson (riding aloaner bike at the last minute), and Felicia Gomez. The NRC is well represented at Canadian Nats!

After some pep talks from Coach Damon and TCTM Jeff, I feelbetter about my result. Hopefullyit will be on the same course next year and, with my improved pop and brain,I’ll be able to respond better.

Super-Fantastique!!

Cycling Team

Elkhorn Classic, Stage Four

BrettDollar — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:05:06 -0700

Here's some action from the last stage of Elkhorn. Better late than never... Check it out.

Staff

Cascade Classic

SamiFournier — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:05:03 -0700

Start: 07/09/2008 - 17:02

End: 07/13/2008 - 17:02

Cycling Team

A Couple Random Victoria Videos

DaveShishkoff — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:17:37 -0700

Been playing with the video setting of my camera and software, here's a couple vids i've put together.

Enjoy!

Cycling Team

Okemo Hillclimb

DaveGlick — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 20:03:15 -0700

Let's see... big money crit down in Providence, RI? or charity hillclimb right here in Vermont? Yeah not much of a choice for me. Fortunately I won and got a sweet trophy (see photo). Not a super-strong field I must admit, but the climb and conditions were pretty epic. Hopefully a good chance to get the climbing legs going before Fitchburg next week. Sorry for the miss-matched kit on the podium Bradley, you can dock me 10 days salary.
- David

Cycling Team

Everest Challenge

BradleySaul — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:38:10 -0700

Start: 09/20/2008 - 18:36

End: 09/21/2008 - 18:36

Cycling Team

Back in the Saddle

BradleySaul — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:36:19 -0700

I'm starting to ride and run again.

Cycling Team

Bike Fruit Picker

BradleySaul — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:27:24 -0700

If only he had a deep dish carbon wheel.

Staff