Thelma vs. Bones - rumble on the road

Some of you might remember back in January when I met Thelma and started a meaningful relationship that has lasted just over 7 months now. Well, I know it's usually not good to bring up a previous fling, but I need to really show the change that Thelma has brought to my life.

Don't get me wrong, my relationship with Bones was a good one while it lasted. We had many good times. Reminiscing to a previous post 'What coulda been...', I sometimes miss my rough and ragged Bones:

Pics from both the Broadview races in 2005. Right now, it looks like the weather will be good for this Saturday's race.

Hopefully Copley's will be good too.

(Although I'm certain it won't be in the 60's like it was last year)

It seems like it was only yesterday that this pic was taken at The Fields in Broadview Heights:

Dirty Bikes!,
originally uploaded by gburkhol.

It tugs at my heart to remember trusty old Bones 3 and the good times we had. She has now hitched a ride to the west coast with a dear friend of mine. I had almost forgot about the brief stint I had with Bones' little sis Bones 2 after she and my friend grew apart and when Bones 3 took a liking to his car and latched on. I really hope for his sake that she wasn't just using him for the ride to LA. My brief fling with Bones 2 (I would hardly even call it a fling, especially since Thelma is the jealous type) ended almost before it started when she hopped in the car and rode off with another friend of mine looking for Nirvana or something.

It's good to remember all the fun times that I had with my Saris Bones 3. When I let her go, she looked almost as good as the day I first met her 7 years ago. She was very sturdy and it's not like I treated her as nicely as I could have by leaving her on my car year round the majority of the time. She did have her way of showing displeasure with her rougher touch on my Alero's finish and the frames of my bikes (the car's finish could have been easily protected had I not shared the same disregard for it as I did for ole Bones).

But enough about the past; I'm really looking forward to a longer and better relationship with my Saris Thelma 3. I will be sure to post more pics of her in all her glory when the Cyclocross season starts next week. But until then to hook up with a Bones or Thelma of your own, see the fine gentlemen at Bike Authority. They have a great selection of Saris racks to choose from. And this weekend you can even look forward to a 10% discount on the Saris rack of your choosing. Click HERE for more info, or just read down the page.

Bike Authority - Customer Appreciation Sale!

www.bikeauthority.com

Bike Authority, Northeast Ohio's High Performance Bicycle Specialists, is Clelebrating 15 Years!

Come and Celebrate with them in their first ever CUSTOMER APPRECIATION SALE!

EVERYTHING in the store ON SALE for 2 days only.
August 30th & 31st

After 15 years in the business, in the same location, we are inviting you to celebrate with us our first ever Customer Appreciation Event! This is arguably the largest and finest event we have ever had.

In Marc's Shopping Center 7979 Broadview Road Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147 440.546.9966

DETAILS:

15% OFF ANYTHING you can fit into a shopping bag. Bring in a new customer (not currently in our database) and receive an Additional 5% OFF all the contents of your shopping bag. 5% OFF EVERY BIKE IN STOCK. Purchase a bike and receive 30% OFF the computer of your choice. Purchase any Bike and receive a FREE water bottle and cage. 20% OFF Wetsuits. 20% off all remaining in stock wetsuits. 20% OFF Swim Accessories. 20% off all remaining in stock swimming accessories. Purchase any regular price Shorts and get 25% OFF any Regular Price Jersey. 10% OFF any in stock Saris Bike Rack. Purchase any set of tires and receive a Free set of tubes. 50% OFF selected clothing. 50% OFF selected men's and women's gloves. UP TO 35% OFF Selected '07 & '08 Bikes.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Saturday, August 30th

10:00am - 5:00pm	Customer Appreciation Sale "Kick-Off". The first 25 people through the door receive a Free Bike Authority T-Shirt.
10:00am - 11:00am	Women's Specific Clinic. A clinic designed to explain what the differences are between men's and women's cycling products.
11:00am	Basic Bike Maintenance Clinic held outside in our tent.
10:00am - 5:00pm	Bring the Kids. Free Helium balloons for all the kids.
10:00am - 5:00pm	WIN A FREE TREK 820. Enter the raffle to win a free bike. The drawing will be held on Sunday, August 31st.
10:00am - 5:00pm	CTC (Cleveland Triathlon Club) will be here all day, answering Triathlon related questions and enrolling new members. LOOK FOR THEIR TENTS IN OUR PARKING LOT!
11:00am - 4:00pm	Hybrid Test Ride. Come and test ride any of our Hybrid Comfort Bikes.
3:00pm	Nutrition, Power and Fitting. USAT Certified coach Sean Gilbert talks under the tent about some key elements of competition.

Sunday, August 31st

11:00am - 4:00pm	Customer Appreciation Sale "Cool-Down". This is the final day of the sale. The first 15 people through the door receive a Free Bike Authority Water Bottle.
2:00pm	FREE TREK 820 AWARDED. The winner of the free Trek will be chosen and must be present to receive the bike.

- Items on sale are limited to in stock items only. Special orders do not apply.
- Winner of the Free Trek 820 MUST be present at the time of the drawing to be awarded the free bike and must 18 years of age or older.
- This Sale excludes Cervelo Bikes.
- Shopping Bags for the "15% OFF" provided by Bike Authority.
- The "New Customer" must be added to our email database to receive an additional 5% off the contents of your shopping bag. Maximum 20% off.

Bike Authority

Killer coming to Justice

I came across some updates today on the murder of David Babcock, Toledo, OH. David was riding his bike to work for the first time in order to save gas. His fiancée said that he left early to ensure he would be on time.

http://my2mile.blogspot.com/search?q=murderer

http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=57437

Some of you might remember that this story was featured on America's Most Wanted. While it is good that they caught the guy, I wish that senseless violence such as this would come to an end.

2008-08-23 and 24 Race reports

Last weekend was a fun filled weekend with SnakeBite's Valley City Road Race on Saturday and the Bellefaire JCB Biathlon and Walk & Roll Cleveland event on Sunday.

The Valley City race was a hefty undertaking and involved a lot of work and coordination to make it a successful event. I was able to do the 1/2/3 race because we just had enough people to run things smoothly. However, aside from a few fruitless chase efforts that got me off the front, my race was uneventful until I found myself off the back 3/4's of the way through the final lap. I want to give a BIG thanks to Linda, Pat, Eric, and Rick along with our other teammates and volunteers for all their hard work! Results and pictures from the race are linked to from www.SnakeBiteRacing.com

The JCB Biathlon (3mi run followed by a 12.9mi bike) would be my second attempt at a multi-sport event, having done the Super-sprint distance in the Cleveland Tri. Again I had problems getting ready to compete, this time discovering I'd forgot my pedals when I arrived at the race. I'd been pedal swapping due to building up a 2nd track bike and wanting to use CrankBrothers pedals for both my road bike and track bike out at Lorain. I'd switched the pedals on my road bike before the Valley City race, and thought I left them in the car. You can imagine my dismay when I realized they weren't in there! Thankfully Ray lives close to JCB and he said I could swing by his place and grab a set off of his CX bike.

Once I had my equipment issue sorted out, I barely had time to get setup in transition and make it to the line before the start. I didn't have time to stretch much and had really bad position when the race started. Things were PACKED for the about the first 1/4 mile and I had some trouble working my way around people until we made it out onto Belvoir. I really liked the run course in that it was an out and back to the north followed by an out and back to the south. This let me see where I was at and how far back. It was fun rooting on Ray and Rudy, Mike, Christina, and Chris from Bike Authority / Team Lake Effect. I managed to pull my way up even to Mike on the run and we traded spots back and forth going into transition. I think I just broke 20min for the 3.0 mile run.

My transition was pretty slow (I had to take my helmet out of the bag and didn't have my shoes undone in order to put them on), but I felt good as I finally made my way out onto the bike route. I quickly passed quite a few people, but the farther I got from transition, the farther apart people were as I tried to catch them. I was feeling more and more comfortable on the TT bike, but this was only the 4th time I'd ridden it. Most of the turns on the bike course weren't tight and I was able to keep on my aero bars. This almost resulted in disaster as I did the round-about on Brainard Circle. Right as I headed onto Gates Mills, I rode straight over a manhole cover that was about an inch lower than the road surface. It shook me up a little bit, but I quickly recovered.

About halfway out on Gates Mills I caught up to Robert; he was looking really strong heading over the rollers. After looping around through a neighborhood and getting back out to Gates Mills southbound, I began to work my way up to some more riders in front of my. The first two I came to was one guy on a TT bike who was being closely drafted by a rider behind him. I wanted to get by this pair in a hurry so that they wouldn't be tempted to hitch onto my wheel. As I went by pedaling hard on the down hill I saw I was gaining serious ground on another rider, Mike V. After some words of encouragement, I passed Mike only to have him pass me back a hundred yards or so later. I let him get some space and hung back looking for a better opportunity to pass. As we started up one of the longer rollers on Gates Mills, he slowed and I saw my chance. I dug in and pushed to get by him. I think I was standing on my pedals toward the top of the hill wanting to get some distance, but still trying to keep my back flat and aero.

I was hoping that I hadn't just burnt too many matches because that effort really hurt, but I wanted to keep the pace up and either maintain or build the gap on the downhill. Up the next roller and there were a couple more riders in striking distance who I passed in the same fashion. I was still hurting at this point and wished that I had remembered to put a water bottle on my bike when setting up for transition. Heading back in on Shaker I could see a rider way up the road. I didn't think there was any way I could catch him, but I knew trying to was a good way to stay motivated.

When I turned onto Belvoir, I realized he was within reach and turned it on in order to catch him. I blew by him with about 200m to go and looked back to see that he had responded a little but didn't have much snap in his legs. As I approached the finish I could see that the finish was not very wide and that it went almost immediately into a shoot that was single file. I sat up and started to brake, not knowing for sure where the line was. Low and behold the guy who I'd passed decided to make a last second sprint to nip me at the line (a really sketchy move on his part and it looked like he came close to getting caught up in the tape of the finish shoot). I forgot to stop my watch or look at the clock, but my HR data shows me finishing at around 54:30.

All in all it was a very successful race. Ray took first overall, Christina was the first overall female, Chris and Robert were the winning relay team for the 2nd straight year! I was surprised to grab 1st in the 30-34 age group, while Mike took 2nd, and JC took 3rd. Rudy had some misfortune by getting led off course during the race which took him out of contention for the overall, but he still clenched 1st in his age group. Results are HERE

I had planned on going straigt from the biathlon to the Walk & Roll Cleveland event in Rockefellar Park, but I ended up going home first. After a brief rain delay on our departure, Sadie and I rode down to MLK to find that things were pretty much wrapping up. Here's a video of some of the fun stuff: http://www.walkroll.com/videoalbum/

Unfortunately the day had a very somber ending as I later learned that a participant had died while competing in the biathlon. Please keep Kevin Karn's family in your thoughts and prayers.

The OrrvilleCross schedule is up (almost)

Good news - it looks like the OrrvilleCross schedule will be up soon according to this forum post:

OrrvilleCross Series 2008
by JCDuckboy on August 19th, 2008, 10:38 pm

OrrvilleCross Series 2008 REVISED DOWN TO TWO RACES-NO SERIES AWARDS!!!!!
OCC will be hosting the 5th Annual OrrvilleCross Cyclocross Series once again this year. Race Dates are as follows:
Sunday October 5
Sunday October 19
Sunday October 26
Start times will be announced later but will be in the early afternoon.
A-B-C race formats, USCF Rules Apply, license required, one-day licenses available, series champions will be crowned. All races will take place at The University of Akron Wayne College campus in Orrville. The course will change slightly each week and will be a bit different from last year as there is now a building being constructed on part of the old course. (Don't worry, we'll make it interesting!) Our Orr Park Course will be closed this year as the City relocates a portion of the creek which runs through the course. We may be back to a two venue series next year. We are skipping the October 12 date because of the OMBC Fox Creek race which takes place right in our back yard at Clay's Park. Lots of our guys race the series and we don't want to make them choose between an hour of extreme suffering and 2 hours of moderate-to-intense suffering
watch the website for the flyer

Walk+Roll Cleveland

08/24 Walk+Roll Cleveland 11:00 AM-06:00 PM

This free event will take place in Rockefeller Park and The Cultural Gardens. The street will be closed to cars. Bring your talent, your music, your art or your group and join the day. For a map and activity details for Walk+Roll Cleveland, visit www.walkroll.com. At 1 p.m., enjoy live Hungarian music, dance group performances and poetry recitals. Hungarian food will be available. At 2 p.m., join in a Rededication Ceremony for the Hungarian Cultural Garden. Miles4Melanoma will kick off their 15,000-mile bicycle adventure to the tip of South America at 1 p.m. from W+R. At 4:30 p.m., celebrate opera in Cleveland and the grand restoration of the Italian Cultural Garden by hearing performers from Opera per Tutti sing Italian arias, duets, and ensembles by Verdi, Puccini, Bellini and more.

Click here for more information.

Or if you need half a dozen reasons to get your but out to the event, here they are.

District 5 Diary: "Keep up the good work, Mr. Anderson"

District 5 Diary: "Keep up the good work, Mr. Anderson"

Wow... Be sure to check out this WSJ article. I am baffled by how progress has been stymied in this instance. Let's hear your comments. Be sure to leave one on Rob Anderson's blog as well.

The Euphoria Cyclocross Series

UPDATE - Euphoria Cross Cancelled!

The Euphoria Cyclocross Series

[Presented by Team Spin / RR Donnelley]

Wednesdays, September 3 - October 22, 2008

time	what	field	length	entry	prizes
5.30-6.05	registration
6.15	start	A	45-60 min	$10	cash - 3 deep
6.16	start	B	30-45 min	$10	merch - 3 deep

Location: Emerald Corporate Park (map and directions can be found HERE)
Emerald Parkway
Cleveland Ohio 44135
Off Grayton/480

Entry Fee: $10 per week or $50 all eight weeks [USA Cycling license required; one-day licenses will be available for $10 for those looking to try a race]
USCF permit pending

Registration: Complete the series liability release [covers all eight races]
Sign and date liability release [each week]
Complete sign-in sheet [includes pre-registrants]
Preregistration available at Spin [Lakewood location only]

Categories: A Race: Cat 1, 2, 3, Pro, Semi-pro and Expert
B Race: Cat 4, 5, Citizen, Sport and Beginner

Prizes: A Race: weekly cash three deep, overall cash ten deep, payout based on turn out B Race: weekly merchandise three deep, overall cash five deep
series winners determined by points best five out of eight races

Website: teamspin.com / spinbikeshop.com

Contact Info: info@spinbikeshop.com

Click HERE for a printable race flyer (.pdf)

What is wrong with this picture?

I had been mystified that I wasn't seeing new posts from one of my favorite bloggers, Dave Moulton, in my Bloglines Feeds. After clicking over to his blog, I realized that he'd changed where his blog is hosted, and I had to update my stuff. Once I was back in business, I was a little mystified to come across this post:

Right-Hooked: Almost

Wed, August 20, 2008

Here is a story with an interesting video clip, out of Rochester, NY. A cyclist is almost right-hooked by a police patrol car; the cop then pulls the cyclist Gabriel Zayas over, and lets him off with a warning.

I would hope the cop stopped him to apologize, although I doubt it. The cyclist did nothing wrong he was riding his bike, in the proper place on the right hand edge of the road, as required by law, when the police car makes a right turn in front of him. The police driver is clearly at fault.

To add insult to the situation, the local TV News Station ran the video as an example of police zero tolerance on crime. There was no crime, in fact there was a traffic violation against the cyclist.

The commentator states, “A patrol car is about to make a right turn when a bicyclist darts out from the side, narrowly missing the patrol car.”

Not true by what I see on the video; the cyclist is riding straight down the road and is clearly there before the police car attempted his turn.

Click here to read the rest of Dave's post or the intelligent discussion in the dozens of comments. Here is a screenshot from the news video of the incident:


I did a quick search of the NY State's DOT site and came across information that validates the police officer was in the wrong. Jason, founder of Rochesters's RocBike.com, has this to say (along with helping to summarize the NY laws):

I urge News 10 NBC to use this as a teachable moment, and to run a series of segments during your newscasts on safety procedures for drivers and cyclists. Let’s use this near-miss as a chance to score a hit for road safety in Rochester.

...

TAKE ACTION!: Ask News 10 NBC to help promote driver and cyclist safety. Feel free to use the letter above or write your own, then send it to news1@news10NBC.com. You can also call (585) 546-5670.

It’s really unfortunate that the news media feels the need to polarize issues in this way. It unfortunately takes a lot of effort to do a well thought out piece which would generate this much buzz in cycling circles, but it’s pretty easy to muck it up and embrace the (negative) publicity.

The road to justice

Came across this on John Prolly's blog (Prolly is not Probably):
http://johnprolly.blogspot.com/2008/08/kill-doc.html


http://www.cnn.com/video/us/2008/08/16/rowlands.bike.clash.crash.cnn/

There is a good write up on this incident, over at the LA Times, including how the same driver did the same thing 3 months ago to pro-cyclist Patrick Watson. The same road, the same driver, license plate, and situation. A police report was filed and the driver was investigated, but no charges were filed at that time. Two felony counts would be too good for this guy. He needs to lose his license to practice medicine as well as lose his drivers license for LIFE.

Another stars and stripes jersey for Brooke Miller

Thanks to Benjacat for posting the following link:
http://www.velonews.com/article/82006/bahati-miller-claim-pro-crit-crowns-in-downers-grove

Tibco’s Brooke Miller again outmaneuvers Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home) to add another jersey to her closet.

Photo: Kurt Jambretz

Last corner, last chance
Two weeks after winning the road race national championship, Team Tibco’s Brooke Miller again outmaneuvered Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home) to add another jersey to her closet.

When Pic jumped heading out of the penultimate corner, Miller jumped too, figuring the race was now a race to turn eight. She beat Pic to the corner, took a wide turn that had many convinced she was bound for the hay bales, and then held the lead all the way to the line.

"I went up the left so I could take the inside of the [final] corner and so [Pic] would have to take the longer line and couldn't take it as well," Miller said. "She slowed into the corner, and I barreled into it. I felt pretty confident when I was first out of the corner that I would be first to the line."

(L-R) Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Verducci Breakaway), Brooke Miller (Tibco), and Jenn McCrae (Advil-Chapstick).

Photo: Kurt Jambretz

Miller counted on Saturday pro-am winner Lauren Franges to lead her through the final laps. "I'm always completely relaxed when I'm on her wheel because she knows exactly where to go. She just weaves in and out of riders. I feel like I'm on a little trailer dragged behind her."

Defending champion Pic, who finished sixth, said she hesitated heading into that crucial turn because of the memory of a last-lap crash here.

"I had visions of 2006," she said. "I braked. There was just nowhere to go. I thought she was going to crash into the barrier, so I just backed it up and three or four people came on the inside.

"I guess it's just crit racing, isn't it?"

Click here to read about Brooke's win in the National Road Race or here for a great shot of Brooke on the front.

Like to bike? Try 8 days of events!

I came across this today over at RocBike's links of the day.

From: http://www.ohio.com/news/27082239.html
(the text is pasted below, but is much more readable on Ohio.com's site)

Like to bike? Try 8 days of events

City's first bicycle week will start with ceremony at new Towpath Trail bridge over Akron Innerbelt

By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer

Published on Monday, Aug 18, 2008

Akron will celebrate its first bicycle week starting Friday, with rides, workshops, scavenger hunts and bike movies.

The eight-day event includes the ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. Friday for the new bridge over the Akron Innerbelt on the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail.

Meet at the intersection of Quaker Street and Ash Street/Dart Avenue behind Cascade Plaza for the ceremony at the 275-foot-long trail bridge.

Guided rides and walks will be available across the 270-ton bridge. The Mustill Store off West North Street and accessible from downtown via the trail will offer free ice cream and music.

Bikers and hikers who make the inaugural trek will get buttons.

Two free trolleys will run from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday from the Mustill Store to Cascade Plaza to Lock 3 to Spaghetti Warehouse to the loop at the Polymer Building at the University of Akron to the John S. Knight Center/Quaker Square to the Akron-Summit County Public Library to the dedication site and back to the Mustill Store.

During the week, bicyclists will be encouraged to pedal to work. Free showers will be available at the CitiCenter Athletic Club, 146 S. High St. Bikes
will be attended indoors while bikers shower. That will be available on Friday and again on Aug. 27. Call 330-375-2867 for details.

The city also will offer free valet service where bikes will be watched during Friday's Rock the Lock concert at Lock 3, at the Countryside Farmers' Market on Aug. 28 at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, at the Rock the Lock show at Lock 3 on Aug. 29 and at the Farmers Market at Lock 3 on Aug. 30.

Metro RTA is offering free bus rides for bicyclists all week. Buses have racks for up to two bikes and bikes are allowed inside buses if space is available.

Other events include:

Saturday

Bike with Bachman, 8 a.m. Summit County Engineer Greg Bachman will lead a bicycle ride of about 30 miles from the Boston Township Hall, 1775 Main St., Peninsula. Free. No sign-up. For details, visit http://www.engineer.co.summit.oh.us.

Tour de Akron, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Akron Bicycle Club will lead a 20-mile bike tour of historic Akron. The ride begins and ends at Hardesty Park in West Akron. Helmets are required. For details, go to http://www.akronbike.org.

BikeEd Workshop and Ride, noon to 4 p.m. at Lock 3. League of American Bicyclists instructor Fred Oswald will conduct a workshop on how to safely ride the roads. A ride will follow. Helmets required. Riders must be at least 10 years old and capable of riding for one hour. For details, contact Andy Davis at 330-375-2377.

Sunday
University Park Bicycle Scavenger Hunt. Registration is at 1 p.m.; the hunt begins at 2 p.m. Meet at Eddy's Bike Shop, 160 E. Exchange St. Sponsored by the University Park Alliance to benefit bicycle programs at Leggett and Mason schools. The fee is $5. Participants must be at least 18 years old. Helmets are required. Bring a driver's license. Liability waivers must be signed. For details, call 330-972-8859 or e-mail info@upakron.com.

Family Bike-and-Train Ride, 1:30 p.m. Meet at the Mustill Store. Participants will then move to Akron's Northside Station and board the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. Tickets are $2. Participants will get off the train at the Botzum Trailhead and pedal six miles back to the Northside Station.

Monday
Bike Movie Night in University Park, 5 to 9 p.m. at the UA Student Center. Breaking Away at 5 p.m.; Yellow Bike Project at 7 p.m.; and The Bicycle Thief (aka Ladri di Biciclette) at 7:15 p.m. Sponsored by Summa Foundation. Free. Bicycle valet service will be available. Bike helmets may be purchased for $7.50 through Akron Children's Hospital and Eddy's Bike Shop. For details, call 330-972-8859.

Tuesday

How2Commute workshop, noon, Room 2AB, Akron-Summit County Public Library. Lunch will be available from Hattie's Cafe for $5. Sponsored by the Downtown Akron Partnership. Call 330-762-9550 or check http://www.downtownakron.com.

Valley bike ride, 6:30 to 8:15 p.m. Meet at the Botzum Trailhead off Riverview Road. About 19 miles. Sponsored by the Akron Bicycle Club.

Wednesday
Tires and Train Outdoor Adventure Ride, 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Meet at the UA Recreation and Wellness Center. A bike ride of 10 miles, plus a ride on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. Fee is $2. Riders must be at least 18 years old. Register by Aug. 26. Helmets required. A few bikes and helmets are available. Call 330-972-8028 for details.

Aug. 29

Night bike ride, 8 p.m. Century Cycle is sponsoring a night bike ride on the Towpath Trail. Meet at the Lock 29 Trailhead off Mill Street in Peninsula. Riders will go 15 to 20 miles. Helmets and lights are required. Call 330-657-2209 for details.

Aug. 30

Cycling Club ride, 1 to 4 p.m. The UA Cycling Club is sponsoring a ride that will leave the Student Recreation and Wellness Center. Helmets are required. Call 330-972-8028 for details.

Summit Tour of Metro Parks (STOMP) bike tour. Rides of 10, 25 and 63 miles; starting times vary. Rides begin at Howe Meadow off Riverview Road, north of Ira Road in the Cuyahoga Valley. Helmets required. The event is limited to 1,600 riders and is sponsored by Citizens for Metro Parks. Proceeds will benefit Metro Parks, Serving Summit County. For details, call 330-867-5511 or check http://www.stompbikeride.com.

Akron Bike Week 2008 sponsors are the city of Akron; Metro Parks, Serving Summit County; Akron Bicycle Club; UA; Cascade Locks Park Association; Downtown Akron Partnership; and University Park Alliance.

A complete list of Akron Bike Week activities is available at http://www.akronbikeinfo.org.

---

Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com .

Find this article at: http://www.ohio.com/news/27082239.html

From Copenhagenize.com - The Copenhagen Bike Culture Blog:

More Expensive Gas, Please!

I was astonished to read the following at Copenhagenize.com:

The Danish Prime Minister said something the other day that you won't hear many other statesmen in OECD countries say:

Namely that petrol prices need to be raised drastically in order to clear the way for environmentally-friendly technology and to free us from our dependence on oil. He was quoted in the New York Times by Thomas L. Friedman who met with the prime minister on a recent visit to Denmark.

"I've observed that people in all other countries, including the USA, are complaining about rising gas prices. The cure isn't lowering prices, but instead we should raise them further in order to break our dependence from oil."

"We will propose a new tax reform with an even higher tax on energy and the money raised from this will be used to lower the income tax - so we will strengthen the incentive to work and the incentive to save energy and develop sustainable energy sources", said Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish Prime Minister, to Thomas L. Friedman. Read his opinion piece Flush With Energy here.

It remains to be seen if it will happen. The current government are not environmental angels and the proposal has been met with skepticism from the other parties in the government. But a quote is a good start.

The NYT column is a must read! If this country does not change course and soon, I don't know how history will judge us. More responses to the NYT column can be found at Digg.com

America needs to learn from Denmark, which responded to the 1973 Arab oil embargo in such a way that today it is energy independent.

read more | digg story

Miller scores elite women's road title

Way to go Brooke!!

From http://www.velonews.com/article/81580

2008 USA Cycling National Road Championships
Orange County, Calif. August 6-10

Elite Women's Road Race
1. Brooke Miller (Los Altos, Calif.) 3:20:05
2. Tina Pic (Buford, Ga.) s.t.
3. Katharine Carroll (Sausalito, Calif.) s.t.

U23 Women's Road Race
1. Kacey Manderfield (Breinigsville, Penn.) 3:20:10
2. Lindsay Myers (Paradise, Calif.), at 0:23
3. Amy Dombroski (Boulder, Colo.), at 0:24

Junior Women's 17-18 Road Race
1. Anna Young (Madison, Wis.) 2:34:15
2. Jacqueline Kurth (Palm City, Flor.) s.t.
3. Antonia Musto (Ada, Mich.), at 0:04

Tibco’s Brooke Miller scored a big win at the 2008 USA Cycling National Road Championships on Friday, outsprinting Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home) and Katharine Carroll (Aaron's) at the end of 123-kilometer race in Irvine, California.

Miller was national collegiate road champion in 2005, but the win on Friday marked her first elite title.

Click here to read more. Awesome JOB!

Soon!

It's almost that time of year again: Cyclocoss Season is rapidly approaching!

Northeast Ohio's Bike Authority Cross series schedule is online:

9-28 - Whiskey Island

11-2 - Kirtland Park

11-16 - Broadview Heights

12-7 - Copley

The Cap City Cross (Columbus) series is online.

Working farther south, Ohio Valley Cyclocross series schedule is online. This year's OVCX will include 5 UCI races on the following dates:

Cincy area: Oct. 10, 11, 12
Louisville: Oct. 25, 26

There is also a weekend of UCI racing in the Detroit area: Sept. 20, 21

Hopefully the OrrvilleCross series will be posted soon.

I've been told that Spin's 'Cross My Heart and Hope To Die Race will be held this year on 10/18. I'm also looking forward to the weeknight practice races. Location and details TBA.

Happy 08-08-08

I've decided to make more regular blog postings, but due to nothing good to write about today, I'll point you to posts of two of my favorite bloggers:

The first is a longer opinion about an initiative from Walk + Roll Cleveland, but it's a good one! Just what goes on in this guy's head when his creative channel has a stopper in it???
http://stiffcrankbrassnipples.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-disagree-cuff-me.html

The 2nd is a critique of the journalistic talents of Ohio Sports & Fitness Magazine. While you can sometimes say that 'no news is good news', I think in this case it's more the 'thought that counts'.
http://cyclingphun.blogspot.com/2008/08/cycling-phun-moment-of-intolerance.html

I'll be back this weekend with some coverage from the following: Sadie's Tri in Norwalk, the Greater Cleveland Tri, or the Orrville Milk Race.

Awesome... Yet another reason to move to Europe.

From: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSCOL66909620080806?sp=true

All U.S. adults could be overweight in 40 years

Wed Aug 6, 2008 6:57pm EDT

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - If the trends of the past three decades continue, it's possible that every American adult could be overweight 40 years from now, a government-funded study projects.

The figure might sound alarming, or impossible, but researchers say that even if the actual rate never reaches the 100-percent mark, any upward movement is worrying; two-thirds of the population is already overweight.

"Genetically and physiologically, it should be impossible" for all U.S. adults to become overweight, said Dr. Lan Liang of the federal government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, one of the researchers on the study.

However, she told Reuters Health, the data suggest that if the trends of the past 30 years persist, "that is the direction we're going."

Click HERE to read more, and then get out and excersice if the article worries you!

pics from Westlake 8-5-2008

Rick was kind enough to let me borrow his camera last night to take pics of the Westlake race. Pics are all posted on his Flickr. I've favorited a few of the better shots I took for some variety, but there are a ton of pics here.

Cleveland Triathlon race report

Sadie and I ended up leaving later than I'd liked to get to the event and I was late getting setup in transition. They had people waiting in line to enter transition so they could have body marking done. After I stood in line for several minutes looking at my watch, one of the volunteers came by and told anyone doing the super-sprint to move to bypass the line and get into transition right away. I was thinking they might start us late (I know dumber move than getting there late to begin with).

I got my stuff set in transition and then went outside of transition to have Sadie help me put the wet suit on. I then went through the crowd down to where the swim was. When I got there, people were already coming out of the water from my wave (the very first wave at 6:45am), and the 2nd wave was already well under way. I rushed down to the dock along with another participant from the 2nd wave who was running late. The wave probably left 1-2 minutes before I jumped in the water. I then removed my flip-flops, which I'd forgotten to take off earlier and threw them on the dock under the ramp leading to transition.

At this point the adrenaline was pumping quite a bit higher than normal and I began the swim. I wanted to make sure I was going in the right direction, so I began swimming with my head up out of the water. I did this until I noticed what I was doing, but by the time I tried to swim with proper form, I was out of breath and had to keep my head out of water at this point. In hind sight, I should have just tried to stop, get relaxed, catch my breath, and settle in to a good free style stroke, but I continued to swim head up until I couldn't anymore. I then began to do a back stroke about 3/4 of the way out to the buoy.

As I neared the buoy, amazingly enough, I was catching people. I swam really wide to make the turn back in, and began to alternate the back stroke and the heads up freestyle. On the way back in, I swam to the outside of one of the kayaks and the guy asked me if I was warming up (probably because I had a different swim cap color compared to everyone else in the water at this point). I told him nope, but I wish I was only warming up...

As I finally neared the dock, I had actually passed 1/2 a dozen or so people from the wave ahead of me. I swam toward the biggest guy near the end of the pier, and he plucked me from the water with no trouble. I then made my way into transition as quickly as possible. When I got there my bike was the very last one left in the racks from my wave.

Once in transition, I managed to get out of the wetsuit and into my MTB shoes and helmet fairly quickly. I was able to run well inside transition in the shoes and got out of transition pretty quickly. I wasn't sure where I was allowed to mount the bike at, so I ran a little farther than I needed to, but this also allowed me to pass a few people who were slow in mounting their bikes outside of transition. I quickly began to pick people off during the bike.

I had to be careful passing people, because it looked like I was doing 5-10mph faster (it felt like I was going twice as fast a lot of people). At the first turn around, the cornering skills from Westlake kicked in, and I swept around effortlessly. Heading westward, the road began to incline fairly significantly as I passed Browns stadium. I had to shift to the small ring and use the base bar instead of the aero. Once I crested the hill, I was back up to speed and picking people off left and right. Toward the turnaround, I kept wondering how far I had to go because I didn't have a computer on my bike. Once I saw people heading back in, I knew it was getting close.

At the 2nd turn around, there were no other cyclists, and I whipped through. The volunteers were telling me to slow down and practically jumping for cover. I made the turn around pretty wide but with no problems and got back up to speed. There was a slight uphill back to Browns stadium and then a down hill until the off ramp. I passed a few more people and made my way up 9th street.

As I'm speeding toward transition, I see a guy crossing the street who's not looking and carrying a children's cars seat of all things. I yell "head's up" twice and other people were yelling at him. He was just about to enter my path when he stopped, but I had already started to brake hard to the point that my rear wheel was fish tailing. Once I saw that he was stopping, I was able to punch it for the last 50-100m leading up to transition. I got off the bike quickly (not sure if I dismounted earlier than I needed to), and ran into transition.

Once I got my running shoes on and tied, I just remembered to take my helmet off and I booked out of transition. I passed a couple of people with-in the first 100 - 200m and then figured I should ease into my pace and not go out too hard. I settled into a pace that I could probably keep up for a 5k, but it felt managable. There wasn't anyone really close to me, but I could see I was slowly gaining on those in front of me. I picked off a few more people and got the last guy about 300m from the finish. When I crossed the finish line, I was suprised to see a sub hour time on the clock, given my late start. I was 13th OA, 11th male, and 3rd in my age group. I was 3rd from last on the swim, had the fastest bike leg by 1:30, and the 2nd fastest run time.

OPEN MALE 30-34:
Place No.   Name                  City/state            Rank Swim    T1      Rank Bike    T2      Rank Run     Time  
===== ===== ===================== ===================== ==== ======= ======= ==== ======= ======= ==== ======= =========

1   283 Todd Glyde            North Olmsted OH         1    5:26    1:59    3   28:22    0:22    3   11:17   47:24.2
2   569 Brad Crellin          Avon OH                  4    6:47    1:36    2   27:48    0:35    4   11:44   48:27.0

3   183 Gary Burkholder       Parma OH                 9   13:47    2:49    1   23:44    1:22    2   10:36   52:16.1