RUSA 10th Anniversary 200k

Saturday 30 riders departed Morrisville, NC on a 200k route to Siler City and back. This is a familiar route and most of the riders were familiar. It is always good to see everyone at these events. Of course, it is good to see new faces.

At the control, Chuck Lathe was sporting his RUSA 10th Anniversary Medal eagerly signing brevet cards. We talked about wheels and bicycle designs until it was time to get back on the road. Chuck rode his red Randonneuse from his house to the control.

I had the opportunity to ride with some riders experiencing the sport for the first time. Bill and another gentleman (forgot name) passed us. They mentioned they had done some bonus miles already. They must have passed Dean and I at least 6 times. It took a while to register how this was possible. Three words: More Bonus Miles. From the Andrews Store they joined us for the ride into the finish.

At the finish, an entire group of riders and supporters were waiting with some burgers, hot dogs and cold beverages. This was a fantastic way to end a wonderful day in the saddle.

What? No Lessons learned?
Of course, I thought you would never ask.

The biggest lesson that I confirmed was lack of fitness. I need to ride more rides of 3+ hours on a regular basis. (Not only when there is a brevet.)

On a very positive note I completed the ride without the aid of any NSAIDs. This is a first!

Olympic Cycling

On the eve of the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics in Beijing I'm excited. There are hundreds of elite athletes that will compete for their countries and try to bring golden glory home. Heck, it is exciting enough just thinking about the possibilities for the medal count for swimming phenom Michael Phelps who could bring home 8 medals alone. We have a pretty strong swimming team.

On the track, we have a strong team all around in many distances. This year we even have some strong distance runners. The race I can't wait to watch is Jeremy Wariner in the 400M. Wariner has run the fastest 400m of the year. His agent and mentor is the 400m World Record holder Michael Johnson.

Of course I will be watching the cycling events as well. We have a great team road cycling team with big George Hincapie (Team Columbia), Levi Leipheimer (Astana), Jason McCartney (CSC), Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Chipotle), and coming of a surprising TDF finish Christian VandeVelde (Garmin-Chipotle). With this team, we could bring home some hardware.

Zabriskie and Leipheimer will also compete in the TT.

Competing the track is the future of US cycling, Taylor Phinney. Phinney rides for the Chipotle development squad. He was the 2007 JR World Champion in the Pursuit and is the son of US cycling legends Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter. He is the phenom!

So while you are recovering from a ride or a RUSA 10th Anniversary Ride, you will have something to watch.

Daily Commute -- photos

Shots of my daily commute.

First Landing State Park on Shore Drive

Up the Lesner Bridge

View of Chix Beach

Chesapeake Bay - Lynnhaven Roads

Lynnhaven Bay

More dopers

What the heck. Another doper incarcerated by French authorities. I had a feeling Ricco’s wins in this years tour were too good to be true. Especially winning with those margins. How can someone be that much better than the other professional athletes? There is only one answer, he cheated. It is of note that Ricco's idol is the late Marco Pantani. Pantani was also ousted for EPO in his career.

I will put a lot of money of this: more riders will be caught doping in this year’s tour.
Any takers?

It's not surprising that there have already been 3 riders caught ‘red handed.’ It is surprising that it is only 3. So why would someone that signed a contract stating they will not use these substances do it anyway?

The answers are too simple. With are millions of dollars at stake, greed plays a large part. These guys are human and in their mind, the riches of victory far out weigh the risk of getting caught. Especially since the chances of actually getting caught are pretty low. The International Herald Tribune reports, “A test to detect EPO in urine samples didn't work very well in experiments conducted last year, according to the study released online Thursday by the Journal of Applied Physiology [1].”

Instead of a 2 year ban from the sport, there should be a lifetime ban and or prison time for using substances that are illegal. At least something that will make the athlete and teams think twice before they make a poor decision.

Of course it might not matter anyway. At the rate they are going, there won’t be any corporations willing to sponsor athletes associated with poor ethics. Greed could mean the end of professional cycling all together.

Here is the good news. It will have no affect on the friendly cycling sport of Randonneuring. In our sport it is man vs self and man vs nature. It doesn’t matter if someone finishes a ride fast or slow as long as they have fun participating. To this I say, Bon Route and I will see you at the next brevet.





[1] http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/26/sports/NA-SPT-EPO-Study.php

In the news: Coho Bicycles

Bike builder Charles Lathe of Coho Bicycles made it into the news. You can watch the clip here (for a while). I have a Coho and I enjoy riding it most every day. It is a beautiful bike and it is like riding a Cadillac!

Bicycling Muscles

A new toy

Afew weeks back I was looking for a bike that I could use for the sole purpose of commuting. I wanted something similar to my Coho yet something that I could set up in a bullet proof manner and not worry about the wear and tear of the city streets.

I won this frame on EBay and it arrived yesterday. Now I have the fun of building it up. I am open to any suggestions. The frame is a 1984 Univega Specialissima. The tube lengths and geometry are very close to my Coho.