Palouse Cycling events now on TRC Calendar

It seemed worthwhile to ask if Palosuecycling was interested in sharing calendars. After all we are both using Google Calendars. It would be easy to set up.

And so it is that you can now see events from the Palousecycling club on our calendar. If the calendar is beginning to look a little busy, you can adjust just which events you are actually seeing. It takes just a couple of clicks. Our calendar is really 6

• the trc event calendar
• Corrie’s TRC (I put up regional events like STP, RAMROD)
• Largent’s TRC
• Pam Tucker’s crazy ladies calendar
• the weather
• Kim Yauchzee: This is PalouseCycling.com’s event calendar.

By default you see all the calendars. To seclect which calendars you wish to see, look to thte upper right hand corner of the calendar near the link to turn the calendar into a list. The link is called Agenda and there is a small arrow on the right containting the drop down list of calendars. Uncheck any calendars you don’t wish to see.

This week in TRC Cycling

The cycling season has warmed up in more than just the temperatures, finally. If you’ve been waiting for the warm weather to get your bike out, now’s the time.

June is traditionally the month of the hill climbs so I’m sure you are all really fit and ready to compete with Brian Morra who won the White Bird Hill Climb last week. Don’t know if Bill McPherson, who took second, will be down for I Made the Grade since Helen’s off in Europe with her grand-daughter. You are still welcome to race the third climb, Bite the Bullet Day Tour, but we’ve changed it to a semi-supported club ride on the 29th of June.

So, the usual events first:

Ice Cream Ride 6:30 Tuesdays all summer long

Rained out 3 out of 4 weeks so far, this looks like the best opportunity for a social ride on the levy we’ve had so far this year. Organize at Clarkston’s Baskin Robins on Bridge about 6:15. Roll out at 6:30 for a 20 to 25 mile ride at an easy  pace and stay for ice cream on the return about 8:30. All our rides are no-drop affairs. Feel free to ride as far as you like and turn around. Usually we ride an out-and-back to Asotin and up Asotin Creek. Linda thinks some new, non-lycra, riders may join us this week so behave yourselves.

Crazy Ladies Wednesdays all Summer Long

With Pam out of town the calendar needs someone to keep it updated, but the rides cointinue from the Southway Boat Launch Wednesday Mornings at 9. They’re crazy, they don’t go fast, but they do manage to put on some distance as time goes by. Good group to start with.

Time Trials Thursdays all Summer Long

Last time I was a little hard on this event. So . . .

Want to build strength and stamina? Tired of watching the spinners pass you by on the hills? Come test your fitness weekly at the two mile mark west of Red Wolf Crossing on Down River Road. Riders are timed individually each starting at 30 sec intervals with the slowest going first. It’s fun to try to beat your own best time or to see if you can catch the fellow in front of you with that 30 sec lead.

TRC Board Meeting: Thursday, June 19th 7:30 pm

Yes, you read that right. It’s Thursday. Surprised me too. Thought we had another week but Tamra’s been working feverishly to finish her bathroom project for this week, so let’s not disappoint her.

These meetings are open to all TRC club members. Come help shape the direction the board is taking this club this year.

If you have items for the agenda, please send them to me or directly to Carol by Wednesday evening about 6. I’ll send my version of the agenda to Carol Wednesday night.

Tamra’s House
The meeting will start as usual after Time Trials. Expect the meeting itself to begin no later than 7:30. Tamra’s is on Powers just a little further out than Sean’s. 2211 Powers Ave.

I Made the Grade, Saturday 6/21/08

Not a club event but one of the three big June hill climbs. This race starts at Chief Timothy Park on Highway 12 about 8 miles west of Clarkston. Registration is at 7 and the race begins at 8. Lots of TRCers will be riding. The church provides a shuttle to take you and your bike back to Chief Timothy, but many of us just ride back. Even better, ride out to Timothy for the warm up, race, and then just ride home. And join us to celebrate our 10,000 Mile Challenge for May’s Bike Month following I Made the Grade.

l0,000 Mile Challenge Club Barbecue Saturday 6/21/08 Clarkston’s Beachview Park

We’ve always had a barbecue following I Made the Grade but the $5.00 parking fee at Chief Timothy seems to have discouraged folks. Look for us at the south end of Beachview Park (on top but at the far end from the old pool) about noon. The club provides hot dogs and hamburger and the fixings. We’d appreciate a salad or desert. The barbecue is free to members and $5.00 for non-members.

Kendrick Ride, Sunday 6/22/08 Southway Boat Launch 10:00 am

Debbie likes to visit her Kendrick relatives now and then. We’ll ride Tammany over Web Ridge to Lapwai and through Spalding park to Arrow before turning up route 3 to Julietta and Kendrick. We return on 12. The total route is around 70 miles with little climbing after Web Ridge. Lunch at Zoe’s is a favorite. I may start at 8 for a few extra miles before joining the group. Let me know if you are interested.

Last day to enter May Mileage

I’ll post the final results tomorrow morning. If you haven’t posted yet, please do so. Let me know if there are corrections to your mileage. Bill Arnold checked his and discovered he’d left out over one hundred miles. We have over 8,000 total miles now. We need a few more.

10,000 Miles In May: Last Chance

We’ve been logging our miles all month in hopes we could document 10,000 miles of bicycle riding. Now I know lots of area cyclists don’t even know we exist but some of you do and you haven’t been logging. That’s okay, just total up your May mileage and post it by Tuesday 6/2/08, tomorrow and it will count.

You don’t keep a record of your rides? Doing so has some advantages

• you too can become a mileage junky–No, but a log does help motivate the cyclist to get out and exercise. No log usually means no ride ’cause it is always easy to put it off to another day. This is usually what people mean when they say they don’t have time to ride. Riding becomes a priority if you have a log.
• Training Plan–Even if you ride for the fun of it, training is iimportant. You can’t enjoy a club ride if you aren’t fit enough to do it. A training plan keeps you from adding too much mileage too quickly.
• Route History–when planning rides, some routes are more interesting than others but it is important to know how long they take when talking to riding companions.
• How did I feel–a log with just a note on how you felt can over the long-haul suggest you are pushing too hard or not hard enough.
• Impress Your Friends–It doesn’t take much to impress the non-cyclilst. Blow ‘em away with your mileage.

Linda is in the no-log camp but even she’s been keeping track this month. For those who want to keep track for the long term a simple notebook works fine but online tools can offer more. Steve offers a well designed simple spreadsheet or you might visiting the many mapping sites that contain log features which I have reviewed. My favorite and the one I use is MapMyRide but you can start looking on the Journals page.

Weekend Ride Invitations 5/31-6/1

Anybody up for 100 miler on saturday……kind of like the cherry on top of the bike month sundae?

That’s was Doug’s innocent inquiry. Did he really have to ask? Up for a century, Me? Well, if you insist.

Actually I was considering calling for a long ride on Sunday as a way of getting a good start on June mileage, my May mileage already at over 1,000. Still, an offer’s an offer. I suggested Pullman, Moscow, Kendrick. This is 110 miles figuring from the boat launch. I plan to ride to Pullman and across the Chipman Trail. Let’s hope for a west wind though that’s unlikely given recent patterns.

Hey, good news. We actually had an ice cream ride on Tuesday despite threatening clouds. I checked the radar and saw them heading north and west. We had a great ride at over 70 degrees. Oh, and the ice cream is still good, especially Baseball Nut.

Don’t forget the time trials on Thursday on down river road. I don’t ride ‘em myself much, but if you want to feel like you’ve ridden 100 miles and want to puke up your guts without the trouble of actually taking the time to ride 100 miles, the time trials are just the thing. Chris likes ‘em better when the temps are high-say 90 to 100. You can almost always count on a head wind too at least one way or maybe both. Do I make them sound too attractive?

Saturday, June 1 7:30 start from the Southway Boat Launch for Doug’s May Mileage Cherry Topping Century.

You do ride the Spiral highway just to get you started, but once you’ve hit Pullman, the ride gets easier. Sure there are some climbs maybe even some little hills but nothing anything like the Spiral and its mostly rolling hills, one steep down hill, and then just the ride back from Kendrick. Chocolate sundae with a cherry on top.

Sunday, June 1 1pm start. Southway Boat Launch

Aren’t many of these left. A couple of Sundays in June we’ve scheduled longer rides. By July, we like to start earlier to beat the heat.

Standard Disclosure: If it’s rainin’ I’m not spinin’ from the Southway Boat launch or anywhere else that may be noted above.

–Corrie

Bike Challenge Enters Final Week

Looks like a little gloomy weather kept some of you off your bikes last week. Shame.

We’ve got a ways to go to make 10,000 miles in May but I know many of you don’t post until the middle of the week.

Saturday, the 31st is the final day of the month so let’s get mileage posted as soon as possible on Sunday or Monday. I’ll wait probably until Wednesday to post the final results.

If you haven’t posted at all because you prefer to post just once at the end, that’s great. Just don’t forget.–Corrie

	Total	Commuter	Combined
Week 1 May 1-3	602.87	82.3	685.17
Week 2 May 4-10	1648.46	108	1756.46
Week 3 May 11-17	1942.36	674	2616.36
Week 4 May 18-24	1366.32	441	1807.32
Week 5 May 25-31
Running total	5560.01	1305.3	6865.31

TRCBoard Schedules new rides!

The monthly meeting of your Twin Rivers Cyclists board was held at Mike Riddle’s last night. You may read minutes of the meeting by surfing over to the Balance Sheet and selecting the appropriate pdf form the navigation menu. Or just open the pdf here.

Highlights of this meeting were the new rides:

1. 1. Sunday 1pm starts will continue through June unless the weather turns hot.
   2. June 5^th, Thursday Time Trial becomes Senior Games competition. Any one may ride, but if you are 50 or older you may register on site to compete in the Senior Games’s only cycling event.
   3. June 8^th, Saturday Bike and Brew from El Sombrero 10 am start. Celebrates Mike’s Birthday. 58 mile ride.
   4. June 10^th, Tuesday Linda leads an Easy Does It Ride on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes from Heyburn State Park. Details to come. 20 miles or so of flat, lake view cycling.
   5. June 14^th Saturday on the Southfork. Start in Kamiah at 8 and ride up Harpster to Grangeville and back down Mt. Idaho along the Southfork of the Clearwater back to Kamiah. Option to climb the forested switchbacks of the Old White Bird Grade before going down Mt. Idaho.
   6. June 22^nd, Sunday Kendrick ride starting at 10 am from the Southway boat launch.
   7. June 28^th, Saturday Breakfast Run. Bike to Mainstreet Grill in down town Lewiston for breakfast at 9 am. Then bike home or form up groups to extend your ride. This should be the first of a series of breakfast runs.

In addition the hike on the Breakheart Trail is tentatively scheduled for July 19th, one of the dates Bill Mannschrek offered us. I’m waiting on a confirmation from Bill.

Finally, if you are traveling toward Coulee Dam you might wish to spend the night at the Columbia River Inn . If so, just mention you are a member of the TRC and you’ll get a discount. Some exculsions apply.

-Corrie

Weekend Ride Invitations May 24-25

The forecasters keep saying it’s going to be colder by which they mean low 60s on the Palouse and maybe 70s in Lewiston. I happen to consider that pretty much the ideal temp for a nice long ride. Cool enough to make working a bit feel good, but warm enough you don’t need arm and leg warmers. So maybe there’s still a threat of showers and though I never trust Accuweather’s wind forecast even if it does agree with Weather.com’s assessment, I want to try Wawawai Canyon this Saturday. By leaving early, we might enjoy the morning east winds going toward Wawawai and the north north east winds should be quartering enough to help on the return from Pullman. I have a fancy for Quiznos and I haven’t biked to the Palouse yet this year.

Please Note:

Jen has the first of her two classes this Saturday at the Lewiston Parks and Rec downtown. The first is an introduction to Bicycling. You guys won’t need it, but you might send that nosey neighbor over who’s always around when you’re cleaning your bike. Maybe he needs some confidence builders to get started. After all it is still Bike Month.

And on the subject of Bike Month, we planned a bike festival and more bike to work activity but felt we hadn’t time to put everything into place. To help us out click on the link from the Bike Month page to add your name and info the Bike Commuter Registry or just click through on this link..

Saturday, May 24 Wawawai Canyon Loop Southway Boat Launch 7:30 am road ride

The link is a map which reports only 82.9 miles. I”ve always counted this loop 85 and usually find another 15. My advantage is the 5 miles to and from home for me. Your mileage may vary.

Saturday, May 24 Easy Does It ride from the Clarkston Corps parking lot at 10.

Linda leads another of her slow paced 10-12 mph rides to Asotin and back designed for the beginning rider. She’ll provide tips for checking your bike.

Sunday, May 25 1pm start from Southway Boat Launch

So while I was having Just Another Adventure on Joseph Creek last Sunday, McCracken showed up. Jim’s been conspicuous for his absenteeism this spring. Wonder if I can tweak him into coming?

Truth in Advertising Notice: Wet, windy weather waves wides without warning. All these rides begin at the Southway boat launch except Linda’s Easy Does It Ride on Saturday. Be a few minutes early. Ride times are roll times.

–thanks, Corrie

Do You Commute By Bike?

Bike Month caught us a bit off guard this year just as we were finishing up with Devil’s Slide. We’ve got lots of ideas and plans including a bike Festival with local bike shops and a bike buddy program but you need time to promote these things and we just weren’t ready.

One thing we didn’t have in place was a contact in the places of business like Potlatch, St. Joe’s, Blounts, the city of Lewiston. We know there are bike commuters out there, but we don’t know who they are and how to contact them.

If you are a commuter (or know a commuter) give us your info if you are willing to help out promoting Bike Month at your work place next Spring. And how about volunteering to be a bikebuddy to help someone you work with begin the transition to bike commuting a day or so each week.

The link is on the Bike Month page which will continue to serve as our Commuter Information page or you can click through to the Bike Commuter Registry here.

–Corrie

10,000 Mile Challenge Half Way

I’ve posted the latest totals in our 10,000 mile challenge. If you are saving your miles to post just once at the end of the month, fine, but check us out. We’ve got 4193 totals miles reported as of this morning. 864.3 of those are commuter miles. Combine them and we are at 5057.99. Not bad.

Sunday’s Ride on Joseph Creek was no commute: