How to Ride the Tour de France

I’m sure you’re at least keeping one eye on this year’s tour. Much of the excitement is gone for me with no American’s in play and under the doping shadow. Not much interested in racing in general, but you might be so here is a former professional racer talking about his life as a racer.–corrie

Google product manager Dylan Casey raced professionally for five years for the U.S. Postal Service Team. In this one hour “Google Tech Talk,” he talks about the life of a professional cyclist racing in Europe. The video is an hour long so set some time aside to watch this.

The Urge to Race Uphill

This one is dedicated to Bill McPherson. You may know Bill as that leathery old guy that beats us all up White Bird regularly. I know him as the guy who mows Helen’s lawn. Kind of puts it all in perspective doesn’t it?

Bill’s fast. Says he’s got other things to do with his day so he likes to ride shorter miles but hard. When I’m on the bike, he says, I’m going fast. Still he tells me he has 900 miles in May. Not too shabby. So I post this article on how to climb faster for Bill.

Vaughters begins by asking Why? and finishes with a list of tips on how which boil down to hurt. I still don’t get the urge to race uphill.–Corrie

Expert Advice From Jonathan Vaughters

By Jonathan Vaughters

30 Days to L’Étape. Today’s training: practice spinning up hills while pedaling at high cadences.

Guest blogging today on The Climb is an expert on the subject, the former rider Jonathan Vaughters, who counts among his accomplishments a record-setting ride up the side of the fearsome Mont Ventoux. Vaughters rode in the Tour de France for Lance Armstrong’s United States Postal Service team and for the French squad Crédit Agricole. He is now the sporting director of a new American team he founded, Slipstream/Chipotle, which will compete in this year’s Tour after a rousing, burrito-fueled send-off from midtown Manhattan this morning.

Last year, Juliet Macur wrote about Slipstream’s anti-doping mission. Vaughters, who was recently profiled on French television, also blogs regularly on Slipstream’s Web site.

Over to you, Jonathan…

Read Jonathan’s Advice

Race Across America Coverage

Bruce qualified for this event a few years ago but said it was too much. Wonder where you are today Bruce?

Biking Bis has a good article introducing the event which starts today for men’s solo plus a link to the RAAM site with what they are calling live coverage.

Race Across America starts this weekend

by Gene Bisbee at 04:32PM (PDT) on June 6, 2008 | Permanent Link | Cosmos

Crews are stocking up on caffeine and butt blister creme in southern California this weekend as most solo cyclists in the 27th annual Race Across America prepare to set off from the Oceanside pier on Sunday.

Some 250 cyclists are participating in this year’s cross-country ultra bicycling event in the solo and team categories. The route will take the cyclists some 3,000 miles to the new finish in Annapolis, Maryland.

Sleep-pedaling and rescues by snow-bikers at Iditarod

Update on the Human Powered Iditarod  from Gene Bisbe You really oughta just start reading him regularly.–Corrie

Sleep-pedaling and rescues by snow-bikers at Iditarod

by Gene Bisbee at 10:45PM (PST) on March 1, 2008  |  Permanent Link  |  Cosmos

Most of the snow-bike riders in the Human-Powered Iditarod have trickled into McGrath, the 350-mile checkpoint for those on the way to Nome and the end of the ride for about a dozen.

The latest cyclist to roll into the small town on the banks of the Kuskokwim River Saturday afternoon was Jill Homer, the author of the Up in Alaska blog. She completed the trip in 6 days, 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Human Powered Iditarod

 You’ve heard of dog sledding in Alaska, but did you know this was going on right now?–Corrie

Four-legged bane of Trans-American bicycle tourers? Dogs. Four-legged bane of Iditarod snow bikers? Moose.

The Human-powered Iditarod got underway in 10-degree temperatures on Sunday, and racers snow-biking the route have reported problems with moose along the trail, especially one particularly aggressive female moose.

Meanwhile, Jill Homer, whose Up in Alaska blog is one of the most popular bicycling blogs on the Internet, is posting good enough times to be on pace for a record-setting 350-mile ride into McGrath.

Read the rest of the story 

Preview of the Road Race at the Beijing Olympics

Riders pass Tiananmen Square during the Olympic Men’s Road Race test event in August 2007.

Feng Li/Getty Images

Profile of the Olympic Road Bike Race Course

From David Fiedler,
Your Guide to Bicycling.
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Preview of the Road Race at the Beijing Olympics

Remember the brutal conditions for the bicycle road race at the Athens Olympics in 2004? Searing heat had competitors dropping like flies as the riders wound their way through Athens for over five and a half hours. But current opinion from teams who have scoped the course that riders will face Beijing this summerat the 2008 Summer Olympic Games is that the Beijing route will make Athens seem like a cakewalk, as it is widely considered one of the most challenging in Olympic history.

Read More

Guid to Olympic Track Bicycle Racing

A Guide to Individual Events in Olympic Track Bicycle Racing

Going back more than 100 years, track bike racing has long enjoyed a passionate following since the first world championships were held in 1895. That tradition continues in the 2008 Olympics, which offers a total of ten different track racing events, the most of any of the cycling disciplines.

Read the guide

Olympic Road Bike Race

Italian Paolo Bettini won the road race in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

(c) USA Cycling

How to Earn a Spot in the Road Bike Race at the 2008 Olympics

From David Fiedler,
Your Guide to Bicycling.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

Your Path to Glory: Making the Team in the 2008 Olympic Road Bike Race

Competing in the Olympics is a dream for many athletes, and that’s no exception for road bike racers. Here’s how the selection process works to pick the cyclists who will ride in Beijing Summer Olympics road bike race, and what you need to do to claim your place among them.

Picking the Competitors - Road Race

 Read the rest of the story

IMBA and Partners Announce 2008 World Summit in Park City

And the mountain bikers are meeting in June and in Utah. Hmm, aren’t there some great off road routes in Utah?–Corrie

For Immediate Release
08-29-07
Contact: Mark Eller, IMBA Communications Director
markeller@imba.com
303-545-9011
Mountain biking enthusiasts from around the globe will gather in Park City, Utah, June 18-21 for the 2008 IMBA World Summit. IMBA Summits bring mountain biking advocates, land managers, ski resort professionals, trailbuilders, tourism officials and the bike industry together for collaboration, planning and celebration.

Read more

Devil’s Slide Registration Open

 

Well, at least I have pdf’s of the entry form and the flier live on the Devil’s Slide page.

Lot’s more work to do yet. Lance will get the fliers and posters printed and I’ll get those fliers in the mail–probably by the end of next week. We’ll need to figure out how to get fliers and posters distributed. That’ll be easy in the valley, but in the banana belt we only hear terrifying things about the roads on the Palouse.

So, if you’re a racer check out the registration information and even if you are not a racer, consider looking it over to spot those inevitable mistakes and oversights that I have made. Chandler, you usually do a good job of catching my mistakes.

–Corrie