Let Levi Ride

More than 1.6 million fans turned out over eight days to watch the best field ever assembled on U.S. soil cycle across California in the Amgen Tour of California. After eight challenging days of cycling through 650-miles of scenic California highways, roadways and coastline drives, Levi Leipheimer (USA) of Team Astana was crowned as champion of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California for the second consecutive year, with a weeklong total time of 29 hours, 24 minutes and 32 seconds of cycling across California. A resident of Santa Rosa, California, Leipheimer battled against the best field ever assembled to compete in the United States.
On February 13th, the Amaury Sports Organization (ASO) barred Team Astana from competing in any race or event organized by the ASO in 2008. The ASO owns premiere cycling events like Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Tours, and the famed Tour de France.
The ASO cited Team Astana's doping scandals of last year’s Tour de France as justification. Last year the entire team was disqualified in Stage 16.
There can be no comparison between the Astana team of 2007 and the new Astana. The entire organizational structure has been rebuilt under the direction of the team’s new General Manager, Johan Bruyneel (former manager of the disbanded Team Discovery Channel) , who has thoroughly cleaned house.Last year's winner of the Tour de France was Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) who now rides for Team Astana as well as Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel) who came in third. Because of ASO's ruling, neither of these riders will be able to compete in the Tour this year.

Join the campaign to Let Levi Ride in the Tour de France.

How Are Mountain Climbs Categorized?

There are no set rules on how the organizer of a race can categorize hills or mountains. This is how the Tour de France climbs are defined:
Category 4 - the easiest which is typically less than 2 km (1.24 mi) long and about 5% grade, or up to 5 km (3.1 mi) at a 2-3% grade.
Category 3 - can be as short as 1.5 km (.93mi) with a very steep grade, perhaps 10%; or as long as 10 km (6.2 mi) with a grade less than 5%.
Category 2 - can be as short as 5 km (3.1 mi) at 8%, or as long as 15 km (9.3 mi) at 4%.
Category 1 - can be anything from 8 km (5 mi) at 8% to 20 km (12.4 mi) at 5%.
Hors Categorie ("above category") rating is given to exceptionally tough climbs. This could be a Category 1 whose summit is also the finish of the stage, or one that is more than 10 km (6.2 mi) long with an average grade of at least 7.5%, or up to 25 km (15.5 mi) long at 6% or steeper.

The climb up Newport Coast to the Vista Ridge Summit is about 3.65 mi. (5.9 km) and is a 5%-11% grade. I guess that makes it about a Cat 2 climb. Nice symmetry to this climb since I did it twice. Newport Coast begins at PCH and ends in Irvine past Hwy 73 at Bonita Canyon Drive. If you turn right at Vista Ridge or Ridge Park you can extend your climb. Mt. Veeder in Napa Valley may be a Cat 1 climb since it is 8.24 mi. (13.3 km) and has a grade of 5%-17%.
Pine Valley (San Diego County) may also be a Cat 1 climb even though it averages a 5% grade. It is 15.64 mi (25 km) long.

The ride up the road to the Palm Springs Arial Tram is 4.52 mi (7.3 km), but it is very steep with an average grade of 8.8% and a 17% grade near the very top when your legs are already burning.
This would make it an HC climb for me. It took me 1 hour to climb that 2,640 ft "hill" averaging 4.7 mph. About as fast as an elephant walks.
Here is the same ride viewed with my Polar monitor. It is plotted over time instead of distance. You can see how long the climb took vs. the descent which looks like I fell of a cliff. Even with braking (for fear of dying) the descent took me only 9 minutes with an average speed of 25.4 MPH hitting a max speed of 36.5 MPH.

Student Of The Month-Congratulations!

Palm Desert's Student of the Month takes time from his hours of studies and warms up for a round of golf. I hear he's also a good ping-pong player. Are those ping-pong balls he's hitting?

El Tour de Tucson 2007

El Tour de Tucson, November 17, 2007. 109 miles around the city with full traffic control and crowd support. There were about 10,000 cyclists participating. This was my most exciting event of 2007. One hour before the start, sun barely up, and thousands of riders ready to go. An interesting thing about this ride was there were two dry river crossings where you had to walk for about 1/2 to 3/4 mile.

It was a relatively flat ride - total ascent 2,740 ft. with only a few hill climbs. Finished with the silver medal - 6 hours 33 minutes.

Ride Summary 2007

My ride summary for 2007:
Centuries done - 6, Best total time Tour de Tucson 6:33
Metrics done - 3
Total Distance - 5,618 miles
Total Hours - 143
Total Rides - 242
Calories Used - 245,884 (76 lbs)

Goals for this year:
Space rides farther apart, improve Century time to 6 hours
Work on pedaling efficiency and technique
Improving endurance, including improving on-bike nutrition
Continue strength training
Do a multi-day ride

Meeting Joe Friel

Joe Friel has trained endurance athletes since 1980, is an expert in exercise science, has authored many training books, and speaks at workshops around the country. Check out Joe Friel's Blog. I was fortunate to hear him speak recently at B+L Sports in Solana Beach. I actually took notes. Check it out. Got a picture,

And an autograph! I'll keep on spinning.

Merry Christmas '07

2007 surely came to a rapid end, like a 40 MPH downhill! Hence the lack of recent posts. I'll catch up with photos and news soon.

Donna and I would like to wish all a very

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year!

Spooktacular - Rain, Wind, Cold

The Spooktacular Century is presented by the Kern Wheelmen. It started in Bakersfield at the Kern River State Park near Lake Ming and headed into the Sierras for the climbing part.

Because I was recovering from a cold, I wasn't sure which ride I would end up doing:

The Horrible Hundred with 8,600 feet of climbing

The Nightemare Ninety with 5,900 feet of climbing

The Morbid Metric with 4,600 feet of climbing The ride started off as advertised: "eerie lack of traffic . . . . . . and one stoplight." And just my luck, it happened to be red.

The start of the Grey Wolf grade. Over five miles of a continuous 5-8% climb into the Sierras. At about 1400 feet the weather turned nasty with rain, wind gusts, and temp in the low 50's. By the Caliente food stop I was soaked and shivering. I decided to head back before hypothermia set in. Because of the weather, I ended up doing the "Morbid Metric". Looks kinda like a mountain bike. What was that joke about sand in your Schlitz? I've been getting a lot of questions during my ride about "those things" on the back of my bike. I think they mean the Polar power sensor-more about that on another post. Need to give my Trek a bath.

Amtrak Century - Irvine to San Diego

6:30 am registration at the Irvine Transportation Center.

The Amtrak Century organized by the Orange County Wheelmen sells out every year with 1000 riders. It is a one way bike ride with a private train ride back home. Your gear and homecoming "refreshments" are loaded in a truck which meets you in San Diego. Bikes are then packed up and transported back to Irvine.

Irvine to San Diego: 100 miles,

average speed=16.6 MPH,

maximu speed=38.5 MPH

average heart rate=133 BPM,

maximum heart rate=181 BPM,

total ascent=3311 feet

energy used=4414 kcal

total ride time=6 hours: 3 minutes

Just follow the railroad tracks 100 miles south to San Diego. The Amtrak Century was mostly flat except the beginning of the ride up to Foothill Ranch, then a nice downhill to San Clemente. I used a lot of energy during this phase of the ride (heart rate 150-165) and paid for it later with leg cramps at mile 60.

Fuel stop at the end of the San Onofre Beach path, right before the entrance to Camp Pendleton.

Usually cyclists are allowed to go through Camp Pendleton to Oceanside and avoid the 8 mile stretch on the I-5 Frweeway - not today. It's an interesting experience to feel a big-rig zooming by you at 70 MPH.

This pumpkin patch will be ready for Halloween. Maybe this is the patch where the Great Pumpkin will rise out of, fly through the air, and deliver toys to all good children of the world. I will be prepairing for the Spooktacular Century in Bakersfield this Halloween.

Encinitas Station, about 30 miles to go. Oceanside, Carlsbad, Leucadia, Encinitas, Solana Beach, and Del Mar are nice seaside towns to bike through and visit.

Torrey Pines climb 400 feet over 2 miles after riding for 80 miles. The smoothie I had in Encinitas gave me just enough energy to take it over the top.

Finish near the Amtrak Station in San Diego where a private train ride back to Irvine awaits. See the coolers on the ground? They are not filled with your typical energy/recovery drinks.

Cool Breeze Mini Metric 2007

Laurel's first organized ride, after training for over a month.The Cool Breeze Mini started in Ventura and did an out-and-back along the Ventura River Bike Trail toward Ojai. Then another out-and-back north along Highway 101 to Carpinteria.Laurel looks ready to ride even after only 4 hours of sleep. She was up packing for her move to Berkeley. We left Long Beach at 6:30 and will drive up to NoCal after the ride.Checking out the route guide.Can't forget the Butt Butt'r and sunscreen. . . guess which one goes where the sun don't shine.Ready at the start. Laurel looks Pro and I look like a newbie with my helmet falling off my head.After one hour of riding, Laurel takes a break to fuel up with Luna Bars and Vitamin Water.Braving the 101 Freeway heading north toward Santa Barbara. You need to be a steady rider with cars zooming by at 65+ MPH.Rest stop at Rincon Beach Park, mile 23. The popsicles were a nice treat on a hot day.Congratulations on your first ride! 38 Miles in under three hours. Maybe Berkeley has a cycling team.