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Steve Wolfe points out an interesting video you may want to download. It's a bike messenger's race in NYC. It's 50 meg but well worth the download. (video) Lots of weaving in and out of traffic.

Speaking of video galleries here's an interesting one. Don't forget the classic video galleries that belong to Steve Wolfe and Peter Fagerlin.

The Outdoor Sports Championship is coming May 14-16 to Sonoma It's supposed to be a mini Sea Otter but being only a month apart, I'm not sure NorCal can handle two big events back to back.

A fine Sonoma Spring blend of outdoor activities awaits you including professional and amateur categories in road cycling (circuit race and criterium); endurance mountain biking (cross country and short track); and gravity mountain dual slalom and mountain cross). Festival activities feature noncompetitive road and mountain bike rides, exhibitors, demonstrations, live music and family entertainment.

Well only myself and Mark (who hangs with Bill and Dave) showed up for this one. Very nice weather, about 70 degrees, dry course and very fast. Small turnout for this one as I'm sure everyone went to Napa Valley Dirt Classic. At the starting line there were 8 in my class of Beg. 35 plus.... then right before the start someone yells out they have a goathead in their tire and going flat, so drops out. Velo promo let the girls and younger class go first which was a mistake because our class caught them within 2 minutes and people were yelling at the last girl to get out of the way...then 2 get in a big accident in front of me trying to pass and I get blocked and get to watch the leader just ride away while I have to push around these 2 guys who were yelling at each other. Anyway, about 3 miles into the race, I hear a large boom...turns out someone blew their tube going through some rocks. Then, 1 mile later another younger guy is off the side after a pinch flat. (George, that's 3 flats on tubes within the first 4 miles if you are counting, and none for notubes). Anyway, I was in third, and pass the second place guy about 5 miles out. The guy in first just left me, so I tried to catch him on the second lap (somebody else pinch flatted on the second lap by the way George) and I just hammered. Never did catch him but I tried.

Got 2nd place and a shirt. Mark got 2nd as well. So another shirt. Overall, just didn't feel good this week, so I was happy with my effort. Melones will be getting hot soon so better ride it while we can.

The Velo Promo guy said for sure he was having another race in June. Velo Promo is bad for canceling things, so we shall see. He said he was also legitimately thinking about another race near Lyons Lake...hmm` we shall see.

Take care,

One more stage of the Tour of George left. After today's climbing stage, Armstrong is in the lead, but local pro Chris Horner of Webcor is in third. Regular Wednesday night rider Jason Klinka is there riding for Sierra Nevada. Today he finished in a small group with Mario Chipolini.

Race Report for Cal Eco #1, April 17, 2004.

I raced with Annette Zaccor, Oliver Pohl, and Justin Snider as Team Positive Altitude. My sister, Wendy Pauli, was our support crew. We entered the race with the goal of a top ten finish. Here's a brief summary of events:

Race starts at 6:05am after the bass tournament boat traffic passes. We began with a short paddle about an hour long that ended back where it started. We transition for the Orienteering and trekking sections which will include a swim across the lake. It will be about five hours until we see our support person so we make sure to have every thing we need.

Team sets out on orienteering course. The orienteering was about 6 miles, all off trail and pretty hilly. It started by the boat ramp and ended at the lake shore farther up the lake. We were moving fast and doing well. We were making time on the teams we started near. Annette was trailing behind a little so we hooked her up to Justin and towed her to move faster as a team. Then we ended up looking for CP "G" (the 7th of 8 orienteering checkpoints) in the wrong place. We probably lost about 45 minutes there. I got two wicked heel blisters on the O course which was the last straw for my new Vasque Velocity shoes... They just don't fit quite right for me so I can't use them for racing without turning my feet to hamburger. We turned in our orienteering card at Checkpoint #4 and began the trekking leg, which began with about a one mile swim across the lake. The water wasn't too cold but it would have been less pleasant if it wasn't so sunny and warm outside. I used swim fins
and stuffed my pack in a dry-bag and used it like a kick-board. None of my teammates had as efficient of a setup and I ended up treading water waiting for everyone. Annette got cramps in her calves and they began to spread so I towed her across. When we got out I re-taped my blisters and they didn't give me any more problems.

The trek was short, simple, and mostly along the lake shore. Annette's leg cramps were never all the way gone.

We finished the trek and got to the first Transition Area since the end of the first paddle leg. From there we did a mountain bike "ride and tie". Ride and Tie is two bike and four people. The idea is to have two people ride ahead and leave the bikes for the other two on foot. The people on foot would than reach the bike and ride ahead of the others, leaving the bikes for them. Annette was still hurting so she rode the whole 11 mile ride and tie except for about a mile, fighting off cramps the whole time. Justin ran 10 of the 11 miles to allow Annette to stay on the bike and attempt to ease the cramps in her legs. Oliver and I split it about 60/40, I rode about 60%. We actually managed to pass a few teams.

We finished at the TA at around 2:30 and got ready for a bike leg that was 1/3 fire road and 2/3 paved. Annette still fighting leg cramps. She's done alot of races the past few years and has a reputation for being strong and determined. Cramping had never been a problem for her before, and hopefully it was just a fluke. She just kept on going as best she could through the whole race, never complaining or asking to stop or rest. The ride started with a series of several short semi-steep climbs on fire roads. We took everything out of her pack except her water and about a third of the food she'd packed. I tow her up the first several hills by the shoulder strap. Towards the end of the dirt section near the dam I'm feeling the effects of the towing so I told Oliver it was his turn. He hooks up a more traditional tow line and tows her up the rest of the hills and some of the downhills through the bike leg. The longest climb in the race was on the pavement and as we neared the
top we were greeted with a downpour that quickly became a hailstorm. We finished the bike leg just before 7:30pm.

Last leg was a paddle that we did in about 2 1/2 hours (pretty fast) and pass some more teams. We were neck-and neck with the first boat of another team but they'd left the other half of their team behind and had to wait for them while we pulled our boats across the finish line. We crossed the line 11th but one team was 2 person, so we were tenth four person co-ed.

The whole race was within a few miles of the lake which made navigations relatively easy. Only four TA's in only two locations made life simple for the support crews.

Mark Richardson

Good to see that www.brightroom.com photos are in for the folks that raced. Some that I found.

I just looked at my results. Whew, I wasn't last. I crashed in the first right hand turn sandpit...I'm going down, so off to the left looked like a nice bushy padded landing. Nothing fell out of my pockets, bike was mostly out of the way of the masses to follow and make it through the corner staying on their bikes, I jumped up, checked to make sure everything is Ok...body and bike, and back on the trail I went. As I was riding, I took inventory of pockets, dusted off dirt (thinking how I needed to look good for the finish. I couldn't look too thrashed ; ) and noticed scrapes on my leg and arm.

The race was only beginning; so, with a big smile on my face I continued down the trail. Communication is very important. I always thanked riders when verbal cues were given for their passes. I truly enjoy the words of encouragement which are shared with others during the race. I was being passed, yet I managed to do my share of passing others and loving it. The single track and downhill sections were my favorite, even if I was behind a slower rider causing a reduction of good endorphin release (speed). My time improved compared to my last 2002 sea Otter time. My training has been very little, so I feel good about my 27th finish (Ok ...out of 29 :).

For me, there was some hike a bike and a little dehydration, but I'm getting stronger.

It sounds like everyone had a Good time overall. Thanks for sharing your stories.

Tammy

P.S. When I removed my shorts, I discovered I had ripped the back of them and was flashing a little skin the whole race.

I had so much fun at Sea Otter over the last 4 days. There is no way I can tell you everyone I saw, everything we did. It was my first anniversary of mountain biking (the first time I rode real singletrack was during the fun ride last year!) and so not only was the race today special because it was my first real race, but it also wrapped up one of the funnest years I have ever had.

On to the race report! I didn’t really train, and I didn’t really have any expectations other than not coming in last. Of course you always secretly hope that you will magically be the fastest etc, but that was not to be …

People told me not to ride for a few days before the race, or just do an easy spin, so of course I ignored and pre rode the course (20 miles) on Thursday and then followed it up with a 5 ½ hour ride at demo forest on Friday. I ate a pre-ride meal of an English pot pie and a pint of Newcastle, then proceeded to get only 5 hours sleep. Figuring I had broken every race rule so far, I decided not to warm up either. Al and his friend Hugh had just told me to hammer up the pavement to the tires on the initial ascent, so that’s what I did. I stood and hammered right out of the gate. Well, tried to, I got stuck behind some slowpokes. Finally things spaced out and I rode hard as I could. I got to the tires and I was breathing hard. Really hard. Too hard. Much to my dismay, there was more climbing after the tires, on the dusty dirt road. For some reason they had told me that it was downhill after the tires. I hadn’t pre-ridden this part of the course. I was really pushing it, and having more and more trouble breathing. My chest started burning and then really hurting, and it hit me – I was having the worst asthma attack of my life, and I had forgotten to use my inhaler pre-ride. I could not catch my breath and people were totally passing me. I could taste blood in my throat – I must have popped a capillary somewhere in my bronchioles – I was in agony and felt like I was going to throw up. My chest hurt really bad on the left side near the throat and the blood taste was making me nauseated. If only the hills would end! Finally we started going down, and still I couldn’t breathe. I started to panic – what the hell had I done to my lungs? Where was that blood coming from? I became convinced that I was going to have to quit the race. I was losing ground and time and even though I had an inhaler in my pack I didn’t want to stop, kept hoping if I just kept riding that the asthma would ease, like it normally does. I was so demoralized, people just kept passing me and I still couldn’t breathe. I thought “oh god I’m going to DNF”.

We started the long grind up towards hurl hill at about 2.5 miles, and magically, my chest started to ease. My panic eased as well. I thought “If I can make hurl hill then I will be ok”. I left it in middle ring and grinded up to the top. I did it! I was breathing hard, but I was breathing. On to the fireroad, where I hoped to make up some time. I grabbed my Gu flask and ate some and….dropped it. I had to stop and run back and grab it, because my ride was so rough so far, I was afraid that I’d need that Gu later. So I stopped, and ran back and got it, and more people passed me. Oh well.

We started on the singletrack and I started feeling good. I passed some people and started feeling better. My legs felt strong and I was breathing. I actually felt great. I had a good song running in my head (girls by beastie boys) and felt like singing. I went as fast as I could without blowing my lungs out. The sand was bad and people were walking a lot of sections. I made all of them except one where this guy stopped right in front of me and I lost momentum and another which was sand trap from hell. I started getting good at telling people which side I was coming on, except sometimes I got my sides wrong. I was laughing and chatting with people as I passed them. This was fun! I could breathe! The longer the course went the stronger I felt. I middle ringed the entire course and cleaned every climb except the third b!tch, which I never make anyway and I felt A-ok about that. I started remembering a year ago, and how scary the downhill sections seemed and how impossible the uphills were. Here I was riding those same sections in a race! I passed the scary steep sketchy section that had tossed me in the bushes on Thursday. I cleaned it even with clouds of dust obscuring the line. Woo!

Winding single track, frustratingly slow people you try and pass, exciting fast parts – what a great race! Finally I started the fire road climb out and locked-out my suspension. I was motivated to climb as fast as possible because I knew there was a special treat waiting for me near the top. As I got closer, I caught a glimpse of the team hamana banner up ahead. WOOHOO! I upshifted and stood and HAMMERED. I heard hoots and hollers and saw the beautiful sight I had been waiting for – Ron, the team captain, with beer handoff for me and a cheering section! As I passed a grabbed the beer, chugged about half then chucked it (to Al). All without stopping and I was SO excited I stood and hammered the rest of the way to the pavement, then big geared it all the way to the finish! I felt SO GOOD (well actually once I stopped I started having trouble breathing again and I’ve been coughing since, but I’m sure it will go away).

When all was said and done, I came in 9^th out of 14women in my group, which I’m pretty happy about considering my early setbacks and lack of prep. Most of all, though, I had FUN , and am looking forward to next year.

I read Impy's report with great interest and feel contrasting my experience with her's would be sort of like a remake of..."The Good the Bad and the Ugly" do doo dododo-dooodo-do. with Impy's role played by Clint and mine by Eli Walach.
Pre-race routine eh Blondie? Well, my pre-race routine consisted of building a fence in my backyard and spraining my ankle at Pacheco park the weds before the race. It's pretty good though, you'll like it. Just tell me the name on the grave.
Got to the starting line and I felt good, real good! Talked to the wife and kids on the walkie-talkie, compared notes with the other racers, that stuff. Then we're off! Hammer the hill to the tires? Well, OK. Attack the downhill? if you insist. Pass all the guys walking at "Cardiac Hill"? muy bien. Continue to pass other racers every little steep climb and at every sand pit swim the bike across without dabbing? No problem at all! Check the watch and I'm now over 90 minutes in and, where's the downhill before the fireroad out? I should be there by now.
George had posted that this years course would have more climbing and boy did it! Back up top following the ridge (I don't think this was in the race last year) I started to feel like "Duco" sitting on the horses with a rope around my neck hoping Blondi's aim is still good. "When the rope starts to tighten around your neck you can feel the Devil bite your @**!"
Finally the downhill into the fireroad out! And I hear BOB its BOB!!! Fred had made up the 5 minutes he started after me and was right behind. We exchanged plesantries,(pardon me do you have any Grey Poupon?). And then he roared off. I was left all alone on the climb out.
Unlike Impy I was not in a skippy mood here. I felt like Clint when Duco had just shot up his canteen before marching across the desert. "It's about a hundred miles, but I feel a man of your caliber could do it, If you don't you'll die!"
Well, I didn't find Bill Carson on that stretch of road, but I did make the whole thing without cramping up or walking. The run down across the race track was fast and fun and I wished I had adjusted my front deralliuer "high" screw better -'cause I sure put that biggest ring and smallest cog to good use!
Until the next sequel...
Later;

Bob

Anyway, there were big groups again at the start. I get there about 10 minutes before the start and had to begin about 2/3 towards the the back. Off we go....Impy was right, more climbing at the start than usual. Well, not a problem but lots and lots of dust which makes it hard to breath once we get to the dirt. Within 5 minutes of the race were going downhill and a guy ahead of me goes over his bars and hits hard. Then, a few minutes later...paramedics near the course with a biker down and a helicopter overhead. Gee...this is supposed to be a beginner's race. Well, gotta keep going. The upper part of the course is not that hard...and hurl hill is easy for real TROGS....so no problem and off we go down a fast fireroad. Somewhere I hit about 40 mph...cool.

So, I pass this guy going up a hill and start down the otherside which has more sand and only 1 passable "line" to the left, because sand on the right, bushes and trees on the left. So, this guy I passed decides to pass me to the "left" and I tried to move over the best I could...BAM...he hits a tree and all I heard was "I broke my arm" and lots of screaming as I'm heading way down the hill. Again, I'm thinking this is a beginner's race and just hope he is ok.

So, about half way through, I start feeling pretty good, and decide to start hammering. I start passing guys left and right. The climbs are never very long, and a few steep climbs but I make them all other than the last steep short climb (picked the wrong line when I tried to pass somone and slid out)...finally get to the road climb out. Lock out the front and just start hammering. I passed lots of guys in my class who looked like they had nothing left. Then, I get quickly passed by some young kid who had to be on the Jr. Olympic race...boy was he fast. I got passed by a few more guys as well but can tell they must be towards the front of their later class. It didn't take long to get to the top which was surprising, then opened it up on the pavement on the race course. Its cool to see everyone cheering when you come in. I passed lots of guys just on the race course and nobody passed me...so I was happy. Last year a guy sat on my wheel then sling shotted around me and the end...not this time around.

Got to meet up with Fred, Bob (who looked 100 percent better than last year after the race...you are doing great), Bill and Mark after the race. I heard Dave cheering me on as I came in before the finish.

Bill took about 30th in the 30 to 34 Beg. class. I think Dave got about the same in the 30 to 34 Sport Class. Way to go guys. Both those guys are very fast and the sky is the limit. I'm not sure about anyone else but I'm sure Joseph hammered.

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - Customer service turned into a police sting at Gravy Wheels in San Anselmo. Gravy Wheels bicycle shop president Julia Violich got a call Thursday from a man who said he wanted to sell a $4,000 custom bike - a bike she realized another customer bought a few weeks earlier. After a flurry of calls between the rightful owner, police and the bike seller, Violich persuaded him to bring the bike to the shop - where he was promptly arrested. "I felt like a superhero," she said. William Stacy Vargic, 35, of San Francisco, was booked Thursday into Marin County Jail and later charged with purchase or receipt of a stolen vehicle or equipment, possession of marijuana and paraphernalia with an enhancement for having two prior felony convictions. He pleaded not guilty in Marin Superior Court yesterday. San Anselmo police Cpl. Anthony Boehle said the department frequently finds, or is given, found bicycles and does its best to reunite owners with their bikes. Even so, he added, "You don't see one of these every day." The case began Thursday morning when Schuyler Brown of San Francisco called Violich to let her know his bicycle had been stolen from a friend's San Francisco garage the night before. Coincidentally, Brown had been photographed a couple weeks earlier taking delivery of the bike at Gravy Wheels, as part of an Independent Journal story about the local custom bicycle business. Violich said later that morning, at about 11 a.m., she got a call from a man who perfectly described the same bicycle - it had been custom-painted a striking green, yellow and seal-gray based on colors Brown had selected from the Porsche catalog. The caller wanted to know how much the bike was worth. Violich asked for his phone number, explaining she was busy. But, when he wouldn't provide it, she told him to call another phone number at the shop where he could talk to someone more knowledgeable. Violich quickly called Brown to fill him in and, when the man called back at 11:10 a.m., she altered her voice to give him the impression he was talking to someone else. She then gave the man a third number to call, which was her cell phone that had caller ID. She called San Anselmo police, who instructed her to set up a meeting, and then took a third call from the man at 11:18 a.m. When the suspect pressed her for a dollar amount the bike might be worth, she told him the shop would sell it for a small fee if he brought the bike in for an inspection. "I was feeling pretty smug at that point," she said. "I told him I could sell it for about $4,500 and I would get about $700." At about 5:30 p.m., a man walked in pushing the bike and handed it over to a mechanic for a pre-sale inspection while another employee had him fill out a consignment report. "Another mechanic picked up the phone and called the police," she said. Three police officers arrived and took Vargic into custody. Later, Paul Taylor of Mill Valley - who built and hand-painted the frame - identified the bike as the one he built for Brown. "All of us were involved," Violich said. Brown said the bike was stolen from a friend's garage along with his partner's Bianchi bicycle, a digital camera and an iPod MP3 player - but none of it has been recovered. He said San Francisco police are trying to arrange for a search warrant. The suspect "had no idea what it was because I'd taken all the brand-name stuff off it," Brown said of his custom bike. "The only sticker I kept on it was the one from Gravy Wheels. "It's one of those benefits of using a small bike shop," he added. "There was no doubt about who that bike belonged to."

Cupertino Bike Swap
The ROMP (Responsible Organized Mountain Pedalers) annual Road and Mountain Bike swap meet will take place the last Sunday in April— the 25th, 2004 from 10:00 AM– 4:00 PM, in the rear parking lot of sponsor, Cupertino Bike Shop. They are located at 10493 S. DeAnza Blvd in Cupertino. This year there will be a $2.00 admission to the event.