My Picks

Tour de France Podium? 2nd José Azevedo, 1st Floyd Landis, 3rd Levi Leipheimer

Preserving the moments

Nice Richmond Times-Dispach article about the recent X-Terra weekend event in downtown Richmond. Awesome mt bike race, my favorite of the year.

Also, great coverage of Nick Bax's win in Silver Spring, MD race by Washington Post last weekend.

(see left) So why does screaming down a hill on a bicycle feel so much safer than riding a roller coaster? Judging from the photo, I am alone in thinking Apollo's Chariot is pure evil. This "hypercoaster" at Busch Gardens has a 210 foot drop, 8 additional drops, and no darn shoulder harnesses.

[front row, Sally (grandstanding), Kisha, Pamela, and Liz (losing it) take on Apollo.]

Goings On

Susan hit an errant squirrel on a Sunday spin 2 weeks ago. The injured was somewhat mobile but in bad shape. Susan said call Peta. I was impressed with their response. Two women arrived, titles and credentials a blur, but they had the know-how to euthanize our squirrel on the spot once they determined he had internal injuries. Susan cried for the little one, I cried that people were willing to assist an animal often considered a pest on a Sunday. They took him away in towels and left kind words. Ethical for sure.

My childhood is cluttered with major poison ivy events. I grew up in Roanoke, VA where poison ivy stalks skin and sure had it out for mine. My dad would buy me useless Calamine Lotion and sit up with me when my rash was at its sleepless peak, and we’d talk about when he was a kid, dead presidents, what distinguishes the material from the spiritual, stuff like that.




Times they have a-changed. As I pre-rode the X-Terra mountain bike race course in Richmond Sunday, I brushed up with a bit of ivy bordering the single track. I have seen commercials for prevention meds, so I checked out what could keep me from sleepless nights. There is now a whole line of products that promise to remove poison ivy oils before a rash even breaks out. I could have spent up to $40 but opted for the $10 brand since the exposure had been minimal. No rash, zzzz.






The 10th annual Amphibious Assault race was another success this past Saturday. Ann emailed me calling “FOUL” after she saw this picture of the women’s 40+ race. She said I was obviously trying to grab her—even when I look at it, I can’t figure out what I was doing at the time. Guess that’s why there are rules about hands staying on bars. Very fun race. (photo and lots others of all races in John's gallery.)

The Pendleton A race is a weekly Tuesday night showdown between Tripower, the Red team, Bike Zone team, Northend, the Blue team, Hilton Cycling, Fat Frogs and scattered individuals. This past week, I counted a dozen breakaways before it all merged into a field sprint. The Tripower Chrabot brother instigated the most breaks and the Snow Valley Chrabot brother won the sprint. (photo by BJ Samuel.)

Kev may look like a dog (Hosang's words) but he slides like a cat. He slid out on the last turn (turned left but went right as Marc would say) of the race but showed no signs of even landing on his butt or legs.

Nice Beacon article on Eric Alger, local firefighter who is also avid cyclist, published last week. He has served as volunteer EMT at a few of our cycling events. I have not seen him in a while come to think of it. (photo by Staci Dennis, Virginia Beach Beacon, 06/11/06.)

Cap Tech

(left, Andrea Dvorak of CRC sets the pace up Main Street in Richmond.)

I finally made it to Richmond to see the NRC Cap Tech Classic this year. I skated from work early Thursday and was in downtown Richmond eating and taste testing beer with the Wards and Carol by 5:30 pm.

Cap Tech is a crit course with a brutal climb up Main Street, a screaming downhill with 5 turns, then a brief flat section leading back to the climb. Ouch. The line up is simple: pro 1-3 women first, then pro 1-2 men in twilight.

Local women Dee Dee Winfield and Andrea Dvorak of Charlottesville Racing Club hung in there with the pros Colavita, Lipton, Diet Cheerwine, etc., and even did much of the pace making up the climb. This climb reminds me of the infamous Manayunk Wall in Philly--a bit less steep but probably longer.

In the 150-at-the-start men's invitational, Paul did an amazing job holding his own against the best in the country. John was paying better attention than I was so read his blog. Winners: Tina Pic and Davide Frattini, both Colavita. Bob Roll did live commentary for the crowd and Outdoor Life Network during both races.

Yep, I am getting old, because watching the big screen, staring at Bob Roll, walking the course, hanging out in the VIP tent, clocking the downhill speed all had a ton more appeal to me than the thought of attacking that hill every few minutes.