Back to Basics...

AWfoSho, El Gigante, Caren, and I had a chance to join Jesse Moore on one of his rides yesterday... Well, I joined them until Jesse turned the world vertical. Once he did that, I opted out of his four hours at 300 watt excursion and persuaded El Gigante and Caren to come with me. AWfoSho stayed glued to Jesse.

While AWfoSho spent four hours in his ME heart rate zone, those that I persuaded to go with me did our own three hour excursion, finding as many hills as we could manage. When the pavement petered out into gravel we continued on the gravel, passing mountain bikers while repeating the mantra, "Mountain bikes? we don't need no stinking mountain bikes!" And somewhere on that dirt road, while concentrating on weighting the front wheel properly in the corners, I realized that I was having fun.

That got me thinking... It's Fall, the off season, and this is what cycling is supposed to be about... boys, and girls, on their bikes having fun! We churned up gravel steep enough that you had to stay seated to keep the back tire from spinning, spun downhill and around corners that threatened to wash the skinny front tires out, and when the gravel roads ran out, we traded graded road for a little cyclocross on the dry lake bed around Folsom Lake.

All good fun... it brought out the kidlet in me...

Sometimes, in the midst of all this training to be better, stronger, faster, we forget why we race bikes... In its distilled essence, bike racing is all about boys and girls having fun...

AWfoSho, Davitamon, and El Gigante release their inner child following four hard

days racing the Elkhorn Classic in Central Oregon

Bits and Pieces...

Hey ya'll... Foxy's Fall century is this Saturday, as in tomorrow. It is the last chance to finish those last few volunteer hours that you need in order to receive your race reimbursements. Hopefully you've contacted a rest stop captain, corner marshal, etc and made arrangements to volunteer. BTW... if you are applying for a reimbursement of your race entry fees this year, the request is due by November 14th.





Sheesh, I hate passing along boring logistics... simply nothing entertaining about it.

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On a more interesting note...



A hat trick for the 2006 Grand Tours... In 2007 they go 2 for 3???

• Ivan Basso, 2006 Giro Winner: busted for "trying to dope." I don't know... maybe he should have admitted to doping instead of looking so foolish as to be someone who tried to cheat, but couldn't even get that right.


• Floyd Landis, 2006 Tour Winner (at least he used to be): keep appealling Floyd... there is always a higher authority. Either that, or man up and cop to it the way Millar and Hamilton did. Oh wait... I mean Millar. Hamilton is still trying to make us believe he has an unborn twin somewhere. At least Tyler expanded my vocabulary ----> chimera... Floyd can only provide soap opera style entertainment. And that is a waste of my time.


• Alexander Vinokourov: 2006 Vuelta Winner: and I liked this guy right up until the time that I realized his sporadic greatness may have been a sign of, hmmm, doping...

and most recently...

• Danillo DiLuca, 2007 Giro Winner: busted for hanging out with doper enablers... This guy, I really did like him but never thought he could climb well enough to win a major tour. Thought he proved me wrong, but I should have been suspicious.


• Alberto Contador, 2007 Tour Gift Receiver, oops I mean winner: In the spirit of being fair, Alberto has never been caught, umm, I mean doped. He has been chummy with another one of those doper enablers though. I've heard it said that, "He is gonna be great... until they catch him." Not my words... just passing along things I've heard.


• Dennis Menchov, 2007 Vuelta Winner: Squeaky clean, but boring as hell...

Do you think there is a doping problem in European Cycling? If so, how far down does it filter? Domestic pros? Elite Amateurs? Weekend Warriors? Juniors? 8 year olds riding BMX on their way to school? I'm still optomistic that it hasn't permeated this side of the pond...

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On a more somber note...

A cyclist was killed the other day while commuting between Davis and Woodland... Unfortunately, this is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that we've heard news like this. This one hit home though...

The accident occurred on road 99 between roads 27 and 29... this is my commute to work. I've passed the victim countless times as he was heading south and I was heading north. I've sold tires and tubes to the victim when I worked at Ken's Bike and Ski. AWfoSho and El Gigante have hit golf balls with him at the local golf course. He was no more than an aquaintance, but it was too close... It made me think twice about turning the kidlets loose on the road. It sounds like the victim was doing everything right... on or near the fog line, rear blinky, headlight... and the accident still happened. To the family of Francisco Lopez, our thoughts and prayers are with you. To the rest of you... be careful out there.

Taking a Break... Or, Give Me a Break

Conference week starts next Monday, which means I'm spending most of my free time this week filling out report cards, scheduling conferences, meeting with colleagues, etc. But, in between report cards I snuck a peek at a back issue of Velonews just to clear my head...

An Ironman Triathlete/Cyclist whom I had the pleasure of knowing while she lived in Davis a few years back used to preach about the negative effects of drinking orange juice had on performance. Seems she thought that the lactic acid in the juice would compound the effects of anaerobic exercise... in a nutshell, she said it would increase the amount of lactic acid in one's muscles. I didn't think much about it, but the kidlets rarely drank orange juice before a race...

We've long since given up on skipping the OJ, but an article in the dusty issue of Velonews got me thinking...

BELGIAN LOGIC: When it comes to basic nutritional sense, some Belgians may tend to waffle with scientific facts.

The premise of the article is that those crazy Belgians have some even crazier superstitions...

• no houseplants in the bedroom. they suck oxygen out of the air at night. Give me a break. Don't plants suck co2 out of the air and respire 02? Perhaps the superstition should say: no houseplants in the altitude tent, where we are actually trying to decrease the o2 concentration
• no showering after a race. the parched body will absorb unwanted water weight through the pores. so much for climbing fast in the rain. perhaps I should dehydrate myself before racing. that should increase my strength to weight ratio right... the magic number?
• no warm bread. causes stomach problems
• no cold water. see warm bread
• no tomato sauces or onions. same as OJ as it pertains to lactic acid

You can find many similar superstitions in Lance's War and other cycling books. In fact, sport is filled with them... When I was playing high school baseball we never shaved before games (maybe because we didn't need to) and always dressed in the same sequence... right sock first, etc... In the movie Bull Durham you can see just how far baseball players will go with superstition.

But, all this got me thinking... The superstitions themselves may be crazy and science says that they don't increase performance, but science doesn't account for the psychological aspect of superstition... the truth is, if you believe you are going to be faster because you didn't drink the orange juice or eat the pasta sauce or don't take the shower, then you just might be. If you believe you will go four for four with three rbi's because you are wearing women's underwear or just rubbed your bat with a chicken bone, then you just may...

If superstitions put you in a positive mindset, there just may be something to Belgian Logic...

Another Youngster Takes the Next Step...

Despite a labor market flooded with talent, Hot Tubes' Ben King found himself a ride. Two stars-n-stripes jerseys will go a long way in scoring a ride, but it looks like Ben's results in p/1/2 races caught the attention of Jonas Carney, director at Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast.

“I’ve been looking at King since 2006,” Carney said in a statement. "As a first year junior he was getting results against pros at the Tour of Virginia that just blew me away. Our team has a very positive, supportive atmosphere which I know is really going to help Ben maximize his great potential.”

Makes me smile to know that, even though their are numerous unsigned 'big' names, somebody is willing to take a chance on a kidlet... and, it couldn't have happened to a nicer kid.

For the last few years, I've been touting kidlets who ride competitively in adult races. Despite, the growth of the junior scene recently, races for the youngsters just aren't fast enough, long enough, the fields are not big enough. If a kidlet has his sights set upon the stars then he/she has got to be racing with the big dogs. Only then can the youngens prove themselves.

Oh, the boys will still be racing the big junior races, they are just too much fun too miss... They'll double up on crit days whenever possible... but mostly they'll be mixing with the senior element. If you want to race fast, you've gotta race with fast racers!

Mark Your Calendar...

DBCJRT's annual information meeting is coming up... Save the date.

Sunday, October 28th

6:30 PM

Willows Apartments Club House

1959 Lake Blvd

(corner of Covell and Lake in West Davis)

Lotsa info about 2008... sponsors, clothing, responsibilities, and benefits.

Stuff you need to know if you want to ride for DBCJRT!

Ken Bradford of Ken's Bike and Ski gets credit for the poster... something he dug up off his 'puter and shared with me awhile back.

A "literal" Copout

It's the off season and things are kinda quiet... Some of the kidlets are beginning their base work, others are in the midst of a well deserved rest... Not much happening on the junior scene, with domestic proseys, or in Europe. All that adds up to: Not much to write about.

Not such a big deal if you just scribble on the Internet for fun or what not... But if you earn your living at it, times can be tough.

Perhaps that is why we see the bane of periodical writing showing up on Pez and VN. Pez interviewed Bobke. VN interviewed Georgie. It's not the interviews that I hate, it's the format they use to publish them...

VN: What is your name?

GH: George

VN: What is your favorite color?

GH: Pink

Snore...

Boring, but I guess if you don't have anything else to write about... or can't think of a more creative way to publish the answers to questions you asked in an interview...

I don't know, maybe one of these days I'll send out a questionnaire to one of the kidlets and publish it in question and answer format... just for fun!

SW: Hello, what is your name?

Junior Kidlet: What do you care?

SW: I don't, but I gotta fill 750 words.

JK: Call me Bill.

SW: I'm sure it's not Bill. Can I call you William?

JK: Whatever

SW: blah, blah, blah...

JK: Yakity Yak...

See what I mean? It's not literature... it's a copout.

But... I got you to read it! :) Happy Tuesday!

There Should Be A Handicap...

if the barriers are taller than your waist!

Karch trades pavement for dirt and grass... and wins

the mens junior B's...

With some help from Dad!

Linkage

I'm guessing that Jesse is finding some time to take care of things that slip through the cracks during the season. His "mandatory" rest following a successful 2007 season has been productive. Mooreperformancecoaching.com is up and running... check it out.

Miscelania

I'm out 6 Chipoltle burritos tonight... Got off cheap for an afternoon of Jesse Moore's services. Coach stopped by to talk the boys up about the off season. Looks like it will be full of "Jesse" rides, Hours of Power, circuits around the gym, and some gut wrenching core work. All the goodies to make boys fast come spring time... An off season's worth of training for the price of a few burritos. Now if I could swing some bikes for as cheap. And six bike racers can still put away food, even in the off season.

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Speaking of Hours of Power... push this into a headwind for a few miles

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And of interest in the signing department... TeJay is stepping it up. Rabobank... not bad for a kid from Montana, even if it is their continental team. It's fun watching kids take the next step that I watched cut their teeth... From TeJay's floppy cowboy hat to....

Holloway's curly locks to Switters' boyish grin (tried to dig up some pics of Mad Max Jenkins and Eric Riggs, but they must have been too fast even as kidlets for my old camera)

It's fun to see just how far the boys will go... Rumor has it that DHolla will announce a prosey contract pretty soon. I have it from inside sources that Mad Max is in negotions with a few teams that will pay you to ride, and, of course, Adam is already making bank when he turns the pedals.

fun, fun...

It's Started...

October means next season has begun... It's base miles time, strength training, spin work, core work. The razors will come out after a two month hiatus to shave unshorn legs. Miles and minutes will be counted... hours. I know a few kids who are champing at the bit. The trick is to keep them champing until February.