Sam Weyand, Cycling Club's 1st President, is Moving to South Africa!

We want to thank Sam for all of his work on behalf of the SMU Cycling Club and wish him an enriching stay in Johannesburg.

Keiko Schneider SMU Prof of Japanese

Dealey Dragon finishes 4th in USA Cyclocross Championship

A shout out to 8th grader Daniel Parks (who rides for local club GS Tenzing) and a classmate of my daughter Katarina, went to Bend Oregon to race the National championships. He finished a solid 4th! Is it too early to start recruiting?

Junior Male 13-14 # Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Ian Haupt (Planet Bike)
2 Peter Goguen (Minuteman Road Club)
3 Gavin Haley (Red Zone Cycling)
4 Daniel Parks (Gs Tenzing)
5 Austin Vincent (Clnoonan/kam/coast To Coast)
6 William Barta (Byrds)
7 Cooper Simon (Red Zone Cycling)
8 Ian Mcshane (Red Zone Cycling)
9 Ryan Grant (All Sport - Team Swift)
10 Karch Miller (Davis Bike Club)
11 Noah Granigan (Team Somerset)
12 Nils Boberg (Plan C)
13 David O'brien (Rad Racing/hagens Berman)
14 Liam Earl (Byrds)
15 Ben Hogan
16 Kody Raymond (Old Town Bicycle)
17 Logan Feasline (Vertical Earth)
18 Samuel Rosenberg
19 Maxx Chance
20 Cameron Millargriffin
21 Henry Hayes (2020 Fuel)
22 Garrett Roth (Nova Iscorp)
23 Evan Geary (Asc/redline)
24 Mitchell Stevens (Sunnysidesports)
25 Bridger Fiore (Montana Cyclocross)
26 Patrick Whitesel
27 Adin Baird
28 Stephen Haas (Black Sheep)
29 Cameron Williams (Bear Valley Bikes)
30 Ben Glover (Red Zone Cycling)
31 Jedidiah Fritzinger (Red Zone Cycling)
32 Owen Donnelly
33 Mike Jors (Ascracing/redline)

Winter Crits, Frank Cusimano in 2nd...

D Race (4,5s) posted by Christian on 12/6/2009 4:57:00 PM.

D race (4,5’s)

1. Jon Cotton Real T
2. Frank Cusimano SMU/Dallas Bikeworks
3. David Carter Corinth Cycling
4. Mike McCrary Corinth Cycling
5. Matthew Denton Real T
6. Glenn Tolle LoneStarWorks.com
7. Jon Rhodes McKinney Velo
8. Lee Allen Woodlands Cycling Club
9. Michael Winders McKinney Velo
10. Ken Primer
11. Shawn Jantzen Matrix
12. Russel Grindstaff
13. Michael Johnson
14. Leonard Roberson Team Bicycles Inc
15. Colin Roberson Team Bicycles Inc
16. Nicholas Roberson Team Bicycles Inc
25 Starters

More Winter Crit results

C Race (3,4s) posted by Christian on 12/6/2009 4:58:00 PM.

C Race (3,4’s)

1. Jamey Munroe McKinney Velo
2. Nicholas Boulle SMU/Park Place
3. Jacob White Tulsa
4. Robb Bush Colavita
5. Lee Eldridge Park Place
6. Roland San Miguel Corinth Cycling
7. Danny Parks GS Tenzing
8. Alex Castenada Matrix
9. Dave Parks Mirage
10. Jim May GS Tenzing
11. Imari Miller GS Tenzing
12. Rob Strange GS Tenzing
13. Shawn Jantzen Matrix

18 Starters

More....

B Race (p1234) posted by Christian on 12/6/2009 4:58:00 PM.

B Race (1,2,3,4’s)

1. Nicholas Boulle SMU/Park Place
2. Michael Vasey GS Tenzing
3. David Arteaga Velossimo
4. Lee Eldrgidge Park Place
5. Alex Castenda Matrix
6. Robb Bush Colavita
7. Mario Arroyave Velossimo
8. Mike Reade Think Cash
9. Scott Braden Plano Athletic Cycling Club
10. John Ehinger
11. Noah Williams GS Tenzing

18 Starters

Road calendar for 2010

Here is the 2010 Calendar, hope to see everyone at the races.
Centenary College Feb 13th & 14th (Shreveport, LA)
Texas Tech Feb 27th & 28th (Lubbock, TX)
Texas A&M Mar 6th & 7th (College Station, TX)
D/FW HS/Collegiate Weekend Mar 13th – 14th (Dallas, TX)
Texas State Mar 27th and 28th (San Marcos, TX)
Baylor Apr 10th & 11th (Waco, TX)
Midwestern State April 17th-18th (Wichita Falls, TX)
Conference Championships (Texas) April 24th – 25th (Austin, TX)

Stats from Map

SMU's cycling club has 4 licensed members, which gives an indication of the relative size of a club to other USA Cycling registered clubs.

200 of the collegiate clubs in the US are larger, some have as many as 80+ licensed members.

75 clubs in the US are smaller.

14 are the same size.

Our peer institutions:
Emory has 0, Duke 16, Wake Forest has 19, Vandy has 5.

In our conference:
Texas A&M has 52, UT Austin 42, MSU, 29, Texas State 24, Houston 23, Texas Tech 13, Rice 11, Baylor 9, OU 9, SMU 4, St Edwards 3, SFA 2, UNT 1, Sam Houston 0, TCU 0, Centenary 0

http://collegiatecycling.org/eccc/wiki/uploads/ECCC/2009-all-schools.kml - Google Maps

http://collegiatecycling.org/eccc/wiki/uploads/ECCC/2009-all-schools.kml - Google Maps

Collegiate cycling map provided by USA Cycling and the ECCC

In honor of parents weekend, SMU parent Tim Barrios

Frank Cusimano in Eggnog Race (finished 2nd)

B Race results

B Race (p1234) posted by Christian on 11/15/2009 5:01:00 PM.

1. Josh Carter
2. Mark Montemayo
3. Mario Arroyave
4. Nicholas Boulle
5. Andrew Dahlheim
6. Jeffrey Bauer
7. Alex Castaneda
8. Mark McCrary
9. Carl Hentschel
10. Robb Bush
11. Christian Williams
12. Noah Williams
13. Craig Fulk
14. Steve Riedl
15. Scott Braden
16. Hunter Stewart
17. Mario Corso
18. Danny Roberson
19. David Arteaga

24 starters
6 p12s, 15 cat 3's, 3 cat 4's

Cat 1-2-3 A Race (Did Nicky really race in 3 Events?)

A Race (p123) posted by Christian on 11/15/2009 5:05:00 PM.

1. Danny Robertson (MSU)
2. David Arteaga (Velossimo)
3. Andrew Dahlheim (Metro VW)
4. Joshua Carter (MSU)
5. Mario Arroyave (Velossimo)
6. Nick Boulle (Park Place, SMU Cycling)
7. Edver Salanic (SST)
8. Scott Braden (PACC)
9. Robb Bush (Colavita)
10. Ken Maclean (GS Tenzing)
11. Marco Corsi (McKinney Velo)
12. Jeffrey Bauer (Matrix)
13. Jared Reynoso (Matrix)

Cat 3 & 4 Race Eggnog Crit (Nicky 2nd)

C Race (3,4s) posted by Christian on 11/15/2009 4:57:00 PM.

1. Michael Vassey (GS Tenzing)
2. Nicholas Boulle (Park Place, SMU Cycling Club)
3. Imari Miller (GS Tenzing)
4. Edver Salanic (SST)
5. Sean Pinard (GS Tenzing)

(pack- not the exact order across the line, but this was the pack)
Robb Bush
Todd Delany
Ken Maclean
Dave Parks
Jared Reynosa
Alex Casteneda
Cole Bewley
Jorge Alvarez
Hunter Stewart
Darrell Dake
John Ryan
Frank Velasquez
Jonathan Gollab
Steve Reidl
Shawn Hodges
Mike McCrary
Mark Ashton
Tim Silva
Craig Fulk
Mark Montemayo
Jeffrey Bauer
Carl Hentschel
Royce Strange
Rob Strange

34 Starters
13 cat 4's (including 1st, 3rd and 4th places) and 21 cat 3's

Cat 4 and 5 Results Eggnog crit (hint Frank is 2nd)

D Race (4,5s) posted by Christian on 11/15/2009 4:50:00 PM.

1. Ken Primer
2. Frank Cusimano (SMU Cycling)
3. David Carter
4. Matthew Denton
5. Justin Hicks
6. Roland San Miguel
7. Lee Allen
8. Craig Lay
9. Alan Lay
10. Glenn Tolle
11. Sean Pinard
12. Shawn Jantzen
13. Russ Fagan
14. Charles Barron

21 Starters
11 cat 5's (including 1st and 2nd), and 10 cat 4's.

SMU Homecoming Parade 2009

Neighbor is a pro racer, "El Gato"

I have been seeing a guy ride by the house wearing a Kelly Benefit kit. Not the type of pro kit you would wear if you were a poseur,(and this guy looked really fit) so I assumed he was with the team, even though they are not based here. I accosted him at the stop sign last night and met Jonny Sundt, former Jittery Joe's rider and next year will be with Kenda Tires. He wrote a good bit for Pez about the tour of Cali that I had read some time past, and he is restoring a house down the street, a fellow urban pioneer! He is newly married and she is also a former pro. Welcome to the neighborhood!

Results

Nicky won the C-Race and finished 4th in the A Race, results not yet posted in Frank's race. Turns out the results for Franks race were left taped to a trailer. Frank finished 2nd, by the other results are probably at a U-Haul store somewhere...

Frank Cusimano and Nicky Boulle racing late in season...

Nicky Boulle gritting his way to 4th (yellow Park Place jersey, far right)

A few pics of Frank Cusimano during his Championship Winning race

U-23 Race, Nicky Boulle finished 2nd!

Wow, another good result! He was in a breakaway with another cyclist for the last 30 miles and was just edged at the line.

State Champion in the Cat 5, Frank Cusimano!

Nicky finished a strong 4th in the State Cat 3 race and Frank won his race.
Congrats to both for a strong showing.

Nicky Boulle and George Hincapie

Wood framed bikes

Take a look at this one...

Suh. Weet.

http://www.renovobikes.com/display/ShowImage?imageUrl=/storage/R4-Black-Side.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1247708342991

just don't lean it up against a tree and get termites in the frame.

Paluxy Pedal

Caryn and I decided to do Paluxy Pedal, despite the effects of her lingering cold/allergy/funk. We ran into James Irwin, who was wearing the new jersey for the first time and Lisa Marshall who was also wearing an SMU jersey. It was cool, mid 50's and overcast. Paluxy is famous for the Wall, a short but steep pitch of 19%, which comes about 37 miles into the ride. A noted dearth of recumbents suggests that the route has plenty of hills.

I saw a cyclist that I see often, wearing a TCU Cycling jersey. I asked him about it, and it seems a local Fort Worth businessman makes them to sell. Sounds like a copyright infringement to me, and takes away from Tyler Elings and the club selling jerseys to alumni.

I also noticed a Wake Forest Demon Deacon kit, also based on Rock Racing, they changed the design much less than we did, and I have to say that their kit resembled a bumble bee.

When we finally arrived at the wall, Caryn taking it easy due to her chest cold, we witnessed a stunning spectacle in front of us as riders were dismounting or falling over! The road surface, which was usually chip seal during most of the ride, resembled cinder and crumbled asphalt. You see a very steep pitch before you that curves to the left, with a rocky wall on the inside of the steep section. Caryn thought it wasn't the wall and forgot to drop down into the 39 until she was half way up. Afraid she would unship her chain, she waited until she had no choice but to try, and the SRAM worked just fine.

I was just ahead of her and saw that this was a terrifying climb, mainly due to the people who are collapsing, leaping off their bikes and falling over. It is about the same as Summit Street (in the valley behind Cedar Hill) but the road surface on this "Wall" is horrible. After the turn and the 19% it becomes a 12% then shallows out and you are done. One guy in an all grey kit passed me, just inside me at the steepest pitch. The thin high schooler we saw a lot during the day walked up, he didn't trust his ability. The rest stop is at the top, with Boy Scouts handing out little patches (purple and neon yellow, were these left over from 1991?)

Unfortunately this little climb aggrevated my knee, and the rest of the ride was uncomfortable. Amazing how a 19% pitch can make the usual 8,9,10% climbs seem like child's play.

The ride is worth doing with a competent group, and it has beautiful scenery. Toward the end, it was shocking to see so many cars were in the "Creation Evidence" parking lot. Amazing that so many fall prey to charlatans.

Wednesday Ride

Despite the threat of rain, Bill, Caryn, Court, Damiano, Frank, Greg, Michael, Nicky and myself chose to ride. A few of us even brought out the arm warmers, which I thought turned out to be a good choice. Bryan and Noah had school obligations, but they both signed for the mandatory organizational meeting on Tuesday, so we are in good standing for another year.

Since the Dallas and Fort Worth crits are over, we saw a lot of Metro VW, GS Tensing and RBM folks out at the lake (Ginny King sighting). We chose to do a few intervals, which were fun, except that Nicky still is the fittest of us and Frank is improving rapidly, with a new road bike to play with. They take off, we struggle to stick with then.We heard some stories about the TX Tough from Mike, and Nicky and Frank discussed their Cotton Patch war stories (The omnium was Nicky 1 in the Cat 3's, Frank 7th in the 5's.) We really want to get Jeff back on the bike, so that we can send a solid team to future events.

The jerseys are finally jetting to Dallas by FedEx Air, so we should distribute them tomorrow.

Dallas Cycling Infrastructure

On October 8th, at 7:30PM, Council Member Angela Hunt will host the evening and discuss infrastructure developments and initiatives noted from recent trips to Portland, Vancouver, and Copenhagen at the historic Texas Theatre. Afterward, the documentary Contested Streets, will be featured, which profiles New York’s streetscape history, and its efforts to become more pedestrian friendly. Large cities around the world are showcased along with some of the most renowned urban planners.
If you come at 7PM, the North Texas Chapter of the Congress for New Urbanism will be holding a discussion in the lobby of the theatre. This is where Lee Oswald wass arrested while watching 'War is Hell'! Should be fun! Tickets are $8.
Get Tickets today at Brownpapertickets.com

First Cat 3 result for Nick Boulle is....

Nicky finished in first place in the Omnium @ Cotton Patch
3rd Place in 70 mile road race, 1st place in 9 mile TT (18mins09sec for 9mile), 5th or 6th in criterium)

Texas Tough at Victory Viewing Thursday

The Texas Tough Crit, which is a P1/2 race downtown will have a roving Michael Vangeli doing press for us. The rest of us should wear our SMU colors to watch the race and cheer on a strong domestic field.

Austin Pickle Crit, Nicky Boulle Omnium winner

Nicky Boulle posted a video on his Facebook of his easy victory in his last Cat 4 race, the Austin Pickle Crit, He also finished 2nd in the Banda Road Race and 3rd in another to take the omnium title. There was a collegiate category, but he raced with his trade team since the field was kind of thin in the college ranks. We still need to work on that with our fellow schools.

Also nice to see Jenn Purcell continue her winning ways, even if she is a Mustang with mixed up letters (MSU, not SMU)

Wednesday Ride

Nick Boulle, Noah Buck, Court Carreker, Bryan Crabbe, Frank Cusimano and Jeff Klein were the students who started the ride, unfortunately Jeff discovered a problem with his chain and had to leave to get it fixed. That left Caryn, Michael, Kevin and myself and for once, happily, we were outnumbered by the students.

Nicky brought his Trek TT bike to mix it up with Frank, but I have to say that I thought Nicky was faster on his road bike last week as we shamelessly drafted behind. He needs to get comfortable on the TT bike again, so different than the regular road bike. I still need to adjust the bottom bracket on my TT bike, haven't touched it since the mid pack finish at the Horse Country Time Trial.

I do like my repainted Trek 5200 frame with the SRAM Red. Biggest difference between my usual Campy set up (other than the unusually powerful rear brake with SRAM vs my beautiful but 90's era Athena Monoplaner brakes that I use more for their looks on the Y-Foil) is the really intuitive Double Tap shifters. Also, ceramic bearings are great!

Bryan's dad, a former local racer and current Master's rider, bought him a new bike at RBM (he doesn't yet know we are sponsored by Dallas Bike Works!) and I think that this is our first, a new first year student getting a bike so he can ride with the club. A very functional Specialized Allez, great bike for the price.

Make plans to attend the party at Kevin's on the 30th, and we are meeting at the Texas Tough Race to watch the P1/2's race on a very nice circuit at the AA center and Victory Plaza. See you at both!

Nicky now a Cat 3

After winning his last B race again on the September 1st, Nicky had his 1st P/1/2/3 race yesterday and was happy with the sensations so we look forward to some good results soon.

Quoted in Wall Street Journal Online

see http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125234166475590463.html

They probably stopped us since we were wearing our SMU jerseys. Katarina had the best quote even though they did not use it, Isabella was shocked I talked to her teacher on Facebook!

"Where Did Our Sprint Go"

Sung to Holland/Dozier/Holland's Supremes hit, we realized that without Nicky pushing us this summer, our sprints left something to be desired. We were left in his wake all night. Frank and I were usually the last to pop off his wheel during the intervals. I guess we've become used to sprinting from mid the 20 mph's to lower 30 mph's, but we were setting up toward the finish at 28, 29 and the rest of us were unprepared to start the sprint at that speed, even after sitting on Nicky's wheel. He usually dropped all but the most accomplished wheel suckers. Since he has won a lot of the Tuesday crits this summer, Nicky can be expected to be stronger, but you should be able to do absolutely no work in front, then come around at the line. Didn't work. Finally I just tried to go around at 400 meters and do lead out like Renshaw does for Cavendish. Behind, Frank was on his TT bike, so he was a bit hesitant to work a sprint in due to it's squirrily nature, but judging by the last two weeks, he should do fine once he is on a road bike.

Fortunately, Nicky, Frank and Noah did Loving a bit later (water break) so Caryn, Michael, and I chased Kurt up. Being relatively new to the sport, Kurt lacks some of the finer ascending and descending skills, so I caught him on a downhill turn, but I was giving it full gas to catch back on. Quite impressive uphill sprint he has.

I was finally able to get hooked up with 43 by way of one of our faculty, so we are planning on getting W a SMU jersey, even if he plans to wear it on a mountain bike!

Wednesday ride report

Nicky was ready to come back on a Wednesday and his summer of racing was evident as it was a chellenge to stay on his wheel. He ripped through the groups out there training for HHH this weekend. On one turn, near the Williamson Park's cut-off, I followed him through with a lean angle that I don't think I've been so far over short of a crit corner. The Vredsteins held firm. We were joined by another new student, who already was able to drop all of us on the rapid "up" sans Mr. Boulle and Vangeli.

We have been welcoming new students and continuing a dialogue with the other local Universities regarding their cycling clubs. More on that later...

Wednesday Ride report

We we're contacted by a PMBA student today, Court Carreker, and we welcomed him on the ride, unfortunately he had to make it a short ride due to other commitments. Always good to see people with SMU affiliation come out.

On that note, the remaining cyclists met at the White Rock Boathouse after doing the Loving Hills. This one guy, Ryan Cooper, has been at the water fountain the last three or four weeks about the same time. One week he's wearing a UT jersey with Rockwall cycling shorts, next week only the shorts and a Rockwall jersey, this time no orange (which is Rockwall Cycling and UT's colors.) I have said "hi" every week, this time we struck up more of a conversation, only to discover he has a Masters from SMU and is a current Ph.D student in Engineering at SMU's newly named Lyle School. Despite our SMU kits, he never commented on his SMU affiliation till this week. He just cat upped from a 5 to a 4, so I will need to introduce him to Nicky since they have been racing the same series.

Kurt, Caryn, Kevin, Court (a bit of alliteration) and myself had a spirited ride, until my new SRAM red crank arm started to loosen a bit (haven't had the 100-200 mile re-tighten yet.) I didn't want to damage anything so I was way behind the action after the White Rock Trail hills.

Till next week and the return of our students...

SMU Jerseys ETA 9/15

Thanks to Kevin Kendrick for providing the last few dollars to pay off the supplier. We should get our new jerseys mid-September after a long gestation period with the new supplier, then we will know if the wait was worth it. Afterwards we will start to determine a winter order with jackets, arm warmers and more jerseys as we hope the club grows further, and winter apparel will be needed.

Wednesday Ride

We met at the flagpole and the benefits of being a registered club are paying off. AARO has introduced numerous students to the club, and a new recruit showed up tonight. As we made our introductions, the new student, Dallas Blagg, described how he had heard about the club,and what he had been doing (bike commuting in Switzerland to his dance gigs.) Turns out he is an incoming Meadows Division of Dance student. I asked him, "Did you loose an iPhone recently?" He was shocked but pleased it had shown up. It had taken me a moment to piece the clues together, but Debbie Barr from the Dance Division found this iPhone in a studio, and after some detective work determined it belonged to Dallas (but we did not know he was an incoming student.) It was his recent Swiss residency, not his name that finally clicked for me! I had it in my desk with his name on it, but I said he would have to buy a SMU jersey as reward!

With Dallas (named after a county in Iowa and a third generation male to be named "Dallas") we had Caryn, Michael, Kevin, Kurt and myself, meeting Tony at the lake. Kevin and Mike had last seen each other at RAGBRAI, and it was evident that Mike had used those extensive miles to the good, since he seemed pretty strong (wheelsucking smartly and embarrassing me in the sprint) and Kurt seems to be warming to group riding. Caryn had to ride her TT bike since she has had an epidemic of flats on her Bianchi (and the Trek is waiting for ceramic bearings) She is reminded how AL hurts, C comfortable. Kevin was showing off his RAGBRAI jersey, and said RAGBRAI is something everyone has to do (seems a bit freddy, but the parties can be epic)

At the watering hole we regrouped and had a enjoyable post ride conversation and we are looking foward to when the students return.

SMU Cycling at www.ponyfans.com

Join the SMU Cycling group at www.ponyfans.com

Our club President, Noah Buck set this up. Another venue for SMU Cycling!

Slow day......

While browsing the internet, I came upon this site: http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/. I think it's super neat and a bit inspiring. I'm a big geek when it comes to self-improvement so I might see if I can't incorporate some of these 'suggestions' into my own life and find my own 'happy'.

I didn't bring my camera to work to upload photos, so you'll have to wait another couple days before some vacation photos get posted. Too bad for you.

Possibly an update a later point today. Morning ride tomorrow- getting pumped for it. Speaking of, had to get a new spacer put on my cassette- my poor bike! Everything seems to be finiky lately. Such is life.

Pedal on, my friends!

Hail and angry motorist (A Texas Refrain)

Again, we were caught unaware regarding the crazy weather that hit in the afternoon.
It was so threatening that Michael even took off for home. Kurt, Caryn and I decided to ride despite the build up of clouds to the east. We were able to ride a mile away before the rain started to batter us and we found shelter under a car port at an apartment complex on University.

As we stood under it, the cacophany of the sound of rain and hail on the metal roof was shocking. The temperature dropped 20 degrees F and the hail approached marble size. As we stood there marveling at the sudden change, a pick up pulled up and aimed directly for us and appeared that it wouldn't stop. I yelled at Caryn to move and the driver then pulled in. His first words were "I live here and I pay for this spot!" Odd first words, so I asked him "What?" and he became confrontational, suggesting were were unwelcome and a nuisance. I asked if he saw us and he said, "of course" suggesting we had violated his property and were trespassing. He acted threatening, but readily appeared to be vain and self centered and I had to laugh at his suggestion of threatening behaviour, i.e "Are you scared?" but in reality he was hiding behind his pick up, a pervasive symbol of insecurity in these parts, and he was a classic example of someone trying to project alpha male masculinity but the reality was an insecurity complex hiding behind the F150. All I responded to his belligerence was that he was "inhospitable"

We had a light tempo ride that really showed how strong Kurt can be. He just needs to learn how to ride on a wheel rather than 10 feet back. I followed a GS Tensing guy up Loving and he was very secure in his fitness, for he just spun up at a very even tempo with no insecurity that I was right behind him. I didn't pass him since it would be arrogant to suggest I beat him when he was just riding tempo. I could tell by our conversation that he was fitter than me as I had to struggle to make some small talk about the weather and he was unwinded.

We rode back to the house to find our cars had been pelted by the hail and were dented. We have gone online to find hail damage repair tips. Any suggestions where to find dry ice?





H

July 3rd ride

All,

Count tomorrow as a recovery ride, holiday ride, whatever but I'll be leaving from the Starbucks on Forest that is adjacent to the WRL trail at 9:00 AM and head south to pick up our usual "horseshoe" loop around the lake and back up the trail again to Starbucks. My guess is that the distance will be approximately 30 miles.

Greg P. will be riding up from TeePee Hill starting at 8:15 AM to meet me at the Starbucks. He and his group may drop off when we get back around to TeePee Hill.

This accommodates those who want to start early and not so early and those who want to get a longish ride in or a short ride.

If you want to ride over with me I'll be leaving the house at 8:30 AM to have enough time to "lounge" at Starbucks, field calls, answer questions for the media etc. before we start down the trail. If you want to join me for yoga that starts at 7:00 AM and if that's too early for you to get up and ride (or drive) over you can sleep at my place (I can always use the extra money.)

Call me if you have any questions, feel free to send this to others, and I'll see you in the morning.

Ciao,

Michael V.
214-674-8978

The Hills are ...... HUGE!

Well y'all - Texas certainly is flat! I say that with love, and with a bit of soreness in my legs from last night's ride. The ladies and I did what is fondly called the "saddle" - a 35 mile jaunt that includes tons of rollers and very "nice" mile and a half 6-8% climb. We started from the usual Van Buren bridge local, took the bike path out of town, and headed north. The wind was a bit tough to deal with but we soon got out into the rural roads, flats and rollers, that allowed for a good double pace line. We made a turn (somewhere because I was thoroughly confused on where I was) and soon enough had an awesome tailwind pushing us around 25! When we got to the hill, we re-grouped before starting the ascent. As I began going up hill, it actually was a bit easier that I had psyched myself up for. The hill is fairly smooth in its ascent - no up and then flat or really sharp turns. The only downer is that the bike lane is non existant so there was some traffic to deal with. And what will make me do that all over again is the thrill of the descent down!! Once I get really comfortable with the turns, I think I'll be able to really enjoy it but I found my brakes once or twice to make sure I wasn't going to wipe out. 35 mph on a bike is such a rush! The rest of the ride went well and the weather held up til I was basically back at the apartment. The temp dropped a few degrees but was definitely still bearable.

I hope that I feel that well for all the rides. Hoping to start some longer ones soon and maybe venturing into the dirt (finally!)

Until next time; pedal on, my friends.

The new cycling kit has arrived, New SMU Cycling Jersey and bib shorts (front, back, shorts)

Wednesday Ride Report: A view from behind.... in OR

Live from OR: The Wednesday Night Ride Report. I've met up with a group of cyclists on the Willammette Valley Cycling Team who ride on Wed. evenings. Last night, we had 5 ladies. Based on upcoming events for others and some lagging injuries/back on the bike for the first time in awhile feelings, we did a flat, shorter route from Corvallis to Peoria and back. A nice jaunt that helped to stretch my super sore legs with a chance for some conversations. The weather has been absolutely glorious - somewhat over cast at times but no wet! I plan on keeping this ride up throughout the summer.

Pedal on, friends!

New SMU Cycling Kit is in the house!!

Feast your eyes, my fellow Mustang cyclists, on the new SMU Cycling Club jersey! Information about how to purchase, cost, etc, will be forthcoming!

The View from behind.... coming to you live in OR!

Well Scot and the crew's ride on Wednesday was, believe or not, much wetter than mine! I have to say, Oregon has treated me quite nicely thus far - although we got the monsoon rains last Friday---(you guys should call - i can give you a better farecast!). So I'm still feeling my way around the TONS of bike paths and routes that Corvallis has to offer the bicyclist (not including all the off-road ones!). Yesterday, I decided to show some solidarity to the Dallas group and headed out for a ride. As I was coming up to a street crossing, a group of ladies passed in the opposite direction and yelled for me to "join us!" ... so, I did! Little did I know I was going to hunker down for a 'easy' ride with some of the great ladies of the Willamette Valley Cycling Team. They kicked my butt!! Yet, were very supportive of my slow "Dallas legs" up the hills (which apparently aren't even the hills around here! -- Loving ain't nothin' guys!) So, a nice "thanks again" to you ladies for a great cycling welcome to Corvallis.

"Gimme Shelter" Kevin, Josh, Caryn, Scot, photo by Michael

Sturm und Drang on a Wednesday ride

The last weather forecast I saw was the evening before our ride(which in Texas meterological scale, might as well have been written in cuneiform for how current that forecast was!) and I was not expecting anything more than brief and spotty rain showers. Caryn, Michael, Kevin and (appearing with us for the second time) Josh Cohen must have read that same Sumerian tablet since we all show up expecting a good ride.

Kevin made it back after a few weeks absence. He has been in Beijing with his family. He said it was unbelievable how bad the air was, yet the Chinese were so very gracious it is hard to say anything negative about the trip. He did mention eating a few things that would make Andrew Zimmern squirm.

We make it to the lake with the sun hiding behind a few clouds, but as we do our first sprint to Mockingbird (on Lawther) the sun disappears from view (and hasn't been seen since.) It wasn't yet ominous enough to preclude doing the full loop (the horseshoe) so of we go to do the Muur de Flagpole (the park had a crit race in the Tour of Texas when 7-11 and Coors Light were the domestic powers, with Inga Thompson lapping the women's field once due to the wicked little hill in the middle)

Josh hasn't ridden with us enough to know all the hot spots, but easily hung in on every surge and attack and probably wondered what all the fuss was about. We make the far turn near 635 and the clouds were getting more ominous, yet no rain could be seen from the promentories of Lake Highlands. We crossed Buckner and met up with a few other cyclists and rode tempo all the way to Loving. I was expecting these riders to challenge on the three hills, but Josh, Caryn and I dropped them really easily. When we summited I was the most out of breath, (I take them really seriously!) but gave Josh a few pointers about attacking these kinds of hills. Local familiarity with every bump and elevation change is why the Italians dominate the Giro, and can be the same for these familiar roads we ride on. Same type of hill, same type of riders but on unfamiliar roads and we might not do so well.

Kevin's Beijing smog laden lungs caused him to avoid the Loving trio, but as we rode toward the lake, the clouds were massing ominously, and then the sirens went off! We quickly decided to forego the water stop and started back toward campus. We saw a black wall cloud in front of us on Fisher Rd. and the cars that passed us would make a point to tell us to get home quickly. On University and Skillman a truck pulled up next to us and asked if we needed a ride, a tornado warning was in effect. We said thanks, but we were very close to the finish. Immediately the rain started and it was torrential, the roads flooded quickly and we met with 40-60 mph winds in our faces. I thought it felt more like a dust storm, the droplet's hurt so much on the face. Michael, on point, made the wise decision to turn into a parking garage, less than a kilometre from SMU. We witnessed horizontal sheets of rain driving through the area.

With the tornado warning fresh in the mind, I used Michael's phone to call my daughter's cell to make sure they were hunkered down in their mom's house. Katarina was very calm (unlike the cheerleader's in the camps staying in the dorms here, I can hear them screaming across the parking lot at every thunderclap!) she said the tornados were far from us (and we were overreacting!) That gave us some willingness to leave the garage after the rain let up to only a downpour.

Eventually it let up enough so that we could make it across Central, getting even more soaked, but confident we were not going to be propelled across the sky like Miss Gulch and join Dorothy in Oz.

Wednesday Ride Report "30 Minutes to Know All Intellectual History"

Pondering the difficulties of collegiate cycling, one has to wonder if cycling suffers at a school where the students are spread across the country, versus a commuter school. The summer (May to late August) has the highest concentration of events and venues, but the students are spread across the globe. The Chronicle of Higher Ed had a recent article wondering if the semester model is outmoded in the current economic climate students find themselves in.

The day was so pretty with a light cool breeze and mild temperatures that it even brought out Hillsman. Now that school is over and the school has no ceremonies for the official university photographer to chronicle, we were ready to rumble. Only it was Michael, Caryn and myself that left the flagpole to meet up with Greg and Hillsman at TP Hill. Sam was waiting with Hillsman, so we did have a student! Sam has no philosophy tutoring this summer so he had time for a cardio ride (HR range limit.) We asked about tutoring, and Sam said he could tell you everything you need to know in 30 minutes or less! If only someone could do the same for me with critical theory and lit crit (de Saussure, Lacan, Kristeva, Derrida, Foucault, Habermas et al, ad nauseum!)

We did what were are now referring to as the "Horseshoe" (up to Flagpole Hill, into Lake Highlands, back to White Rock at the Bath House, then spillway, and Loving.) Sam made it a point to hide behind Caryn as we descended, then climbed the rollers away from Flagpole Hill, spinning past me near the crest of the last hill, pointing out he was in a very small gear, almost taunting, but a common ritual from our rides. Cycling as a ritualized activity would benefit from a hermenuetical analysis of the various behaviours (30 minutes, right...)

As we ride toward the spillway, Hillsman (who hasn't shown his usual facial polychromic display on this day i.e. shades of red with a little green thrown in) decided to take off and win that imaginary sprint. Since he lives in the neighborhood, he called it a day. He explained this action to me this morning, knowing that Loving was not in the cards for him. We joked about Paul Sherwin's matches all day, he had not heard the expression before. Hillsman asked how many matches were in a box, some people seem to have thousands, others only three. The key is to use what you have at the right time!

The rest of us went over to Loving, and an awkward turn from Winsted to Loving and we immediately saw the brand new and flashy jersey of the Texas State Criterium Champion flash by (I have typed those words so many times tha last few days she should hire me as a publicist!) Caryn and I decide to chase Jen Purcell so that we could congratulate her in person. She is doing intervals and following a lithe, waif like GS Tensing rider who is gliding up the Muur de Loving (but inexplicably misses the middle of the three!) Caryn went into the red zone but was close behind, I chase hard so that I could say something to her, but when I reached her at the top, my breathing was so labored I don't even know that she understood what I said, so a pat on the back was all I could manage.

A safe ride back and my moratorium on the city limit sign was ignored, but I was undergeared and Michael dedicated it to Noah, whose was celebrating his birthday today.

Kevin and Michael near Chris Phelan, RoS

Ride of Silence, Wednesday the 20th of May

This Wednesday is the annual rite of memory, the "Ride of Silence" that started in Dallas at White Rock Lake and has spread around the world as an observance and a celebration of those who have lost their lives while riding their bicycles. Please join us at 7pm and see the web page at http://www.rideofsilence.org/main.php

MYSTERY SOLVED?

A couple of weeks back, Greg and I had noticed a fully tricked out Pinarello Prince casually locked to the handicap entrance to the Maguire building. We thought two things quite odd, (1) that someone would be stupid enough to lock an $8,000 rig to a railing with a cheap lock, and (2) who on God's green earth would put a $49 set of pedals on an $8,000 rig? It intrigued us so much, that Greg took a camera phone picture of it and posted it to the blog.

Well the universe now makes sense because according to the Competitive cyclist, they had a Pinarello Prince stolen in May and posted this item on their blog...
"If you are the bitchface who stole our 53cm Neon Yellow Pinarello Prince demo bike via an admittedly clever bit of identity theft in early April, a few things to consider: Do you know how many 53cm Neon Princes exist in the US? Of those, do you know how many are built with SRAM? Do you know that we know that your IP address is at SMU in Dallas? We're closing in..."

Apparently the crime has been solved as they have posted this on their latest blog...
"Loyal readers of our What's New section will recall that last week we were hot on the trail of the scumbag who stole one of our Pinarello Prince demo bikes. In our investigation we learned that the fraudulent order was placed from SMU; we learned that the delivery address was a "for sale" (and likely vacant) house in a dodgy Dallas suburb; and we learned that the thief went apeshit with UPS trying to re-route the delivery or pick up the bike at the Mesquite, TX UPS depot.

We filed police reports galore and scoured Ebay, Craig's List, and sites like the TXBRA to see if someone was trying to fence the bike and we found nothing. And then, in a funny twist, we got a phone call from Sarah at fellow retailer Chicagoland Bicycle. She told us she was reading our What's New piece about the theft, then did some poking around on websites we're not familiar with, namely Facebook. She came across the SMU Cycling Club's Facebook website, which led her to the SMU Cycling Club's blog, which led her to this blog posting.

One thing led to another and the SMU police soon tracked down (editor: name removed for privacy) (an SMU student, no less) and secured the bike from him. So huge props to Sarah at Chicagoland and to the SMU PD. The situation we find ourselves in now is whether to file charges or not. The student in question is either the thief (felony) or was in possession of stolen goods (felony) and while the detective who helped us was doubtful that the student was indeed the thief, it's interesting that the kid got amnesia about the details of buying the bike off Craig's List. And suddenly the rationale of waterboarding became obvious to us.

The crossroads we find ourselves in is this: If we file charges, the investigation and the legal process could take a year, during which our Prince would be held as evidence. Or, conversely, we have the option to forget about charges and just pick up the bike. A tough call, since vengeance is sweet. But we want our demo back, so we're trending towards just saying nevermind….


We are psyched that the Competitive Cyclist have found their bike and are glad to have played a part in it's recovery. It's a testament to the connected world we live in and the love we have for bicycles (though at no time did The Competitive Cyclist contact the admins of this blog - that I know of - to inquire about the bike. Greg has even met the student - he is not a member of our club).

While I understand the Competitive Cyclist's desire to get their property returned, I lean towards filing the charges. If there is a thief at SMU (especially a thief of bicycles) I believe that they should be held accountable for their actions and removed from our campus. This is a serous crime (a felony) and reflects badly against SMU's reputation. However, we have had projectors stolen and understand the desire to retrieve your items. Perhaps you can take comfort in the fact that at least a pawn shop didn't have it, because you'd have to pay them what they shelled out for it to get the item returned in a timely fashion.

In any event, I will follow up with the SMU PD and the Dean of Student Life.

So hopefully, the bike will be returned in a timely fashion, the perpetrator will be held accountable and we can all get back on our bikes instead of sitting at keyboards writing about them!

As for the anonymous bloggers who thought WE stole the bike and then posted pictures of it, I would suggest reserving your comments until you know what's going on. Dumbasses.

Horse Country TT Jen Finishing

Horse Country TT Finish Unhappy....

Horse Country TT Start Happy....

Digital Cameras and Masochistic Torture Devices

In an eerie replay of the last Horse Country time trial, we brought out the trusty Nikon with it's irrefutable time stamp to help determine Jen Purcell's finish time. Only this time, it was to resolve her confusion over being declared the winner. Having raced a lot recently and with a good Redlands behind her, Jen was still a bit unnerved at the start, shaken at Paula Felix's unfortunate crash at the velodrome on Friday night (our thought and best wishes for recovery are with Paula.)

Jen arrived with what...5 minutes to get her shoe covers on and pump up her tires! Mina Pizzini was in the start blocks directly in front of Jen and at the finish, the marshals declared Jen the winner even though she did not think she closed the time gap on Mina. When Jen rode up to look at the results, she was confused, since her high tech cyclocomputer had her with a 30 ish minute finish rather than the 28 they posted. The Swatch analog wristwatch tells no lies! Caryn and I looked at the time stamps and my math was very hazy since I had just finished a few minutes before. Jen would not believe the time even though everyone was in awe at the "no warm up, road bike with aero bar new course record strategy"

After we got the abacus out and Caryn wrapped her uncanny "bend radius, sheet metal skilled" accuracy around the numbers, it was only obvious that it was Mina who won, and she set a new course record (first woman under 30 minutes!) Mina did not arrive to look at the results until a few minutes later so she did not have to question the officials. Mina is also wired with every bit of telemetrics you would ever want, so we scrolled through her time, which verified the sub 30 minute scorching of the course (25+MPH).

Jen showed she is a superlative sportman as she wasn't wanting to be given a result that would have taken away from Mina's remarkable effort. Jen was also close to being the first to go sub 30, but stayed out of her lactic threshold due to the problems she faced on this day, still unnerved at the previous night's events.

Now on to a more prosaic item, my ride.

I bought this specific mass of aluminum, leather, rubber and carbon fiber thinking it was a time trial bike. I was mistaken. This particular item is a torture device roughly in the shape of a bicycle. Time trial bikes are fetish items, used by masochists. The last Horse Country Time trial looked enjoyable, but my work of art, the Klimt Y-Foil is a non UCI allowed item. Now these events are not obligated to follow the rules established by the contrarians who are the UCI, but I wanted to be within the spirit of these rules. What a mistake. 5cm setback from the BB, 75 CM from the bb to the end of the extensions, your body has to be tortuously manipulated to fall within these capricious rules.

To make the effort today even more ludicrous, the bike developed a personality of it's own on the last Wednesday ride I rode it. It complained loudly, developing a horrendous squeaking, and decided to try to pitch me off of it. I think the bike has a shetland's personality. Braying and biting, wanting me to get off of it. It was one part fetish object, one part annoying little animal.

I start with David Pearson's words in my mind "I'm expecting the SMU Cycling Club founder to do the TT in under 30 minutes" Since I like to chase rabbits, and don't do a lot of these events, I ran out of carrots about 4 miles into the ride. I caught the two guys in front of me and with the wind at my back, I was feeling OK. At the turnaround, I wish I could have switched to my regular bike. The Time trial bike must have multiple personality disorder, as it became all the things I complained about previously. It now hurt to sit on it and the noise from the bottom bracket was loudly proclaiming that I sucked. I was being tortured so much that at about the 15 K mark, and then at 18k I was passed by two cyclists who had started 30 seconds and a minute behind. The bike was pleased I was so ignomiously passed.

Pro riders and TT specific bikes spend hours in the wind tunnel, investigating everything to shave a few milliseconds off the possible elapsed time. Caryn was concerned that I let an extra inch of zip tie flap into the wind. If only that was all I had to worry about. Try to avoid pedaling squares would be a more legitimate concern. Or how about avoiding the slowdown after these carrots are consumed. Or better yet, actually spend some quality time on this infernal bike and get it dialed in so my upper glutes don't hurt so much. When did I get these muscles that hurt so much tonight!

At the finish, up the hill, Caryn said I was swaying like Stevie Wonder trying to stay on the extensions. 11th out of 18 starters in the Masters Division, but I'm still waiting to see where I finished in the 50 + (31 min 45 seconds, 23+ mph)

I can't wait to hear David's post mortem (Hmm, you sucked) on this excruciating excuse of a sinister branch of the sport of cycling!

Kudos to our Mina Pizzini, she is a great time trialer, and I would bet she would beat anyone on campus. Willing to take the challenge?

The old Olympic training ground returns!

Ginny King once referred to White Rock (in a mocking tone) as the "Olympic training ground" as afternoons would see large groups dicing it up for no apparent reason, short of fleeting and dubious glory in simulated race mode. Caryn just calls it excessive testosterone on display. After weeks of rain, the storms stayed north of I-635 and large groups of cyclists came out of hiding to test their race strategies. Of course I was more guilty than most in succumbing to the urge, even chasing Nicky and his team mate Lee down whenever they would escape the not so friendly confines of the group.

We met at the flagpole with Michael Vangeli choosing to celebrate his birthday with us. Also Noah, Kevin, Caryn and Damiano (who is going to provide race reports from the Giro) joined me as we met up with Nicky at the lake.

Nicky had a "chute" on Tuesday that by all accounts was spectacular! Tuesday night crit Cat 4 race, perfectly positioned (4th wheel, and fresh) going into the final corner and he had a casing failure on his Vredstein's, which immediately went flat, rolled off the rim of his Kysiriums and caused him to have a high speed skid, 6 series aluminum on concrete. He controlled it long enough to get out of the train and dived into the grass, sliding on his back. No long term effects save for the disappointment of seeing a perfectly planned victory go awry.

Noah was resplendant in his Livestrong kit, and the miles he put in for the MS150 showed immediate results. I have never seen him this strong. Just a few weeks ago he was getting shelled on the ups, and now he was making many of those out on course crack.

Michael was continually chasing every rabbit that escaped and Caryn was spinning away in her soon to be discarded SRAM Rival compact crank. She likes to grind ala Jan Ullrich, rather than fast twitch it. Noah has discovered he is a fast twitcher and loves to spin away in the small ring. Crazy how everyone's physiognomy is so different. Michael is just a bit taller than Odessa's husband Levi, but he pushes 175cranks.

Speaking of Odessa, I am promoting two groups that are advocates of Mustang preservation. To ensure that these two groups are the proper advocates for the preservation of our true mascot, I e-mailed a well known animal rights advocate, Odessa Gunn, (who also happens to be the wife of one of the favorites for the Giro d'Italia, Levi Leipheimer.) She sent a very kind response and gave me the thumbs up for this effort.

Kevin and Greg Pulte are in favor of doing the "Horseshoe" loop as our Wednesday ride path, but when there are this many cyclists at the lake, it is way too tempting to sit in the pack.

With many leaving for the summer, we want everyone to know that we will still be riding and planning events for the fall, so keep in touch and keep riding.

By the way, Michael celebrated his 43rd with the winning sprint at the city limit sign!

Wednesday ride report

By Belgian standards (according to Rob) yesterday wasn't a big deal, yet no one showed up save for Kevin, Michael, Caryn and myself. We made it all the way to TP Hill before we decided to ride back, and it started to really rain once we entered the bubble. No chutes suffered this day! We experienced a Thermocline crossing 75 on the way out, that was dramatic, but it didn't really rain until we stopped at Kevin's house. He offered to host the SMU Cycling party in two weeks, so make plans to attend!

Chute!

Well, I finally crashed (in a non-controlled manner). Coming off the bike trail at West Lawther north of Northwest Highway. Following Greg, turning right onto Lawther, we hit a wet patch. Greg fishtailed and recovered. I had to hit the brakes or plow into the back of Greg, and as soon as I touched the brakes I was down on the deck.

Landed heavy on my right leg and elbow. I've got some stiffness and some rash (sounds like I spent a weekend of "liberty" in the Philippines and wasn't too careful).

Laying on the deck I first evaluated my condition, then eventually got up. I then road home on one leg. Boy am I glad Dallas is flat!

The bike has dinged up shifter, pedal and rear derailleur but is otherwise unscathed.

Not my worst crash, but at 47 I'd like to avoid all crashes! I was able to muster through without any painkillers, though if I had been offered any darvocets, I certainly wouldn't have refused.

My daughter keeps poking my elbow wound with a stick. She thinks my reaction is funny. Kids!

Muenster metric century

Wednesday Ride report

The new Facebook page appeared to be a hit as we had a strong contingent of students ride tonight. Let's see, it was Ryan, Mitch, Andrew, Travis, Nicky, Ian, Nick (do we have a lot of Nick's or what?) and pack filler was Damiano, Caryn, Michael, Greg, Kevin and myself (by pack filler, I mean the core group that exists to make SMU Cycling a viable, constant presence on campus!)

It was obvious seeing Andrew ride that we need to help him have a lot of fun on the bike again, as he is very skillful, and a remarkably strong rider. Travis is also strong, he is being tutored on sprint tactics. Always strong, Nicky Boulle finished second in his first cat 4 race, after the upgrade, and that was only because he was expecting different tactics. The tri guys who joined us are (mostly) relatively new to cycling but we hope they discover that the bike is the place to be. It was a rather chaotic day, as we did numerous up and backs, but the object of this ride is to get us all to the lake and work with each other or at our own pace, and then ride back "piano" which is "soft", as Ian pointed out. As a Music major at Meadows, he would know.

Karma, Or Don't Tempt Fate!

I committed every road sin imaginable on the ride tonight. I forgot everyone's name, since I was introduced to so many. I took shortcuts to avoid the wind. Even quit on the Loving Hills 'cause Nicky passed me with a 50 meters to go (and Damiano and Caryn, and was that Ryan?) who trounced me also. Rode the TT bike again since the road bike has a broken nipple and I haven't had time to take to Dallas Bike Works (shameless plug) for repair. Had something go horribly creak, creak on the bike, probably because I put it together and not Caryn.

Then to top it all off, I did not take karma seriously, as I told Vinh on Monday and probably also in a conversation with Chris Snyder, that I haven't crashed on the road bike in years. We were discussing mountain bikes and how every mountain bike ride has as an objective to get big air and probably crash. But road bikes, no! I did a precursory "knock on wood" but that might have been waht kept me off the pavement.

So Michael's city limit sign beckoned the group, and I should have known better than to chase after Mike got a good start! A TT bike has limited uses and sprinting is not one of them. I came unclipped and barely (I had thoughts of, "where should I crash?" - on the all carbon Colnago, the pavement or should I just go over the overpass into Central?) I heard it was as ugly, if not more so than Noah's similar experience, 2 weeks ago. New rule, no dangerous sprinting, small ring variety on busy roads! Michael's weekly glory will now be forbidden!

So I hope the very elegant rider on the Colnago forgives me since he might have kept me up!
Scot

Pinarello Prince

One last Cat 5 race result from Nicky

Men Cat 5A posted by LH on 4/20/2009 10:25:00 AM.

1 534 Boulle Nicholas Dallas Racing
2 518 Spears Adam Unattached
3 522 FRAZEE JASON VT BIKE STUFF
4 508 Carter David Unattached
5 527 Mills Charles Unattached
6 505 Briscoe Steven The Woodlands Cycling Club
7 521 Chung Brian Team ALS-C3
8 501 Aston Brent Unattached
9 515 Linebaugh Richard VT Bike Stuff
10 537 Thomas Jackson Frisco Cycling Club
11 550 Atkinson Robert VT Bike Stuff
12 525 Jackson Bruce Unattached
13 526 McGraw Dan Unattached
14 535 Abstein Adam Tunerus Turbo
15 551 Baker Michael Team Bicycles Inc.
16 529 Shewry Joel Unattached
17 530 Stewart David Dallas Racing
18 533 York Craig Unattached
19 524 Heun Jeffery NRC/PedalMasher
20 507 Bumpas Lee Unattached
21 513 Jantzen Shawn Matrix Cycling Club
22 532 Scaggs Nathan Unattached
23 955 Singer Andrew Unattached
24 536 Cannon Scott Unattached

Upgrade (from txbra.org)

Nicholas Boulle Dallas 5 to 4

Welcome TCU Cycling!

Our friend over at TCU, Tyler Elings, let me know that they are now an official club at TCU and they are looking forward to competing with us. Welcome aboard and with another collegiate club in the fold we can look foward to some keen competition.

Austin Adventure Race - USARA

This looks like a fun event and a good excuse to go to Austin for the weekend and they have actual prize money.  Here's their pitch:

Two Great Events at One Venue

May 9, 2009 Burnet, Texas

USARA Sprint Adventure Race National Championship

The USARA is proud to present the 2009 Sprint Adventure Race National

Championship. Teams from around the country will battle it out for bragging

rights in Burnet, Texas. Two member teams will mountain bike, trail run and

paddle their way to victory. Categories will include male, female, coed, coed

masters, male masters, Clydesdale and the all new relay category.

USARA Collegiate Adventure Race National Championship

The USARA Collegiate Adventure Race National Championship will be held in

conjunction with Sprint Nationals. Collegiate competitors will compete for the title

of Sprint Collegiate National Champions. Teams of two will mountain bike, trail

run and paddle. Categories will include coed & male.

For the second year in a row, the AIX Group will offer an amazing $3000

sponsorship to the winning collegiate coed team. This sponsorship package will

include AIX Team Racing Gear, funds for race fees and travel expenses, and

armfulls of gear!! The sponsorship includes equipment from Merrell, Suunto,

Native and Zanfel. The team will also receive free entry into the 2009 USARA 24

Hour Adventure Race National Championship, a $900 value, and will be crowned

the USARA Collegiate Sprint Adventure Race National Champions!

Visit www.usaranationals.com for more details and to get registered today.

Travis Mossy's 1st Race 11th!

SMU Cycling's Travis Mossy had his first race on Tuesday, and if any of you have done any crits, you know that there is a steep learning curve, but Travis finished a very credible 11th out of the nearly 50 riders. Nicky had a set of lightweight wheels for Travis to borrow and gave him some good advice. Nicky won, and will have to be give up his cat 5 status as he has won 2 races in a row.

Travis, things are looking good for you!

Wednesday Ride Report: The View from Behind....

Yes, so I don't get out on the bike even a third of how much I would like to, so on days like today - even when I don't really want to - I do. And after all the stops, turns, and hills..... it's always better :) Today was a small group: Noah, Nick, Caryn, Scot, Greg, Mike, and myself. But always a fun one. After getting completely squashed on the lake side, we took the "horseshoe" as Mike calls it. The rollers were actually quite comfortable but when we got over to Loving, I felt as if I hadn't rode in AGES! Slow and steady, quite like a turtle (maybe a turtle would have been faster) I arrived at the top. Thanks to Mike for sitting steady with me. For most of the ride, Caryn and I were behind the boys - keeping a great pace, Caryn is always an excellent ride partner (There's your shout out praise, C!) And then she blew everyone away up Loving. All in all, a good ride. I'm sure Scot will have a more in depth report up soon - but it's always an interesting view from behind!

Pedal on.

Vintage Bike Rallye

Just a short note to let everyone know that Greg, Clyde and I participated in the vintage bike "extravaganza" this past weekend. A lot of the credit (okay, all of it) goes to Clyde for organizing the festivities and mapping out the route from the Fair Park area to White Rock Lake.

The show had some really cool bikes on display, including Clyde's Peugeot and Raleigh, a super fine Guarini, Randy's awesome Cavalera time trial bike, and my Eddy Merckx 7-Eleven and Trek 560.

Having spent a week concentrating on prepping the Trek, I noticed that the Merckx was in dismal shape... dirty, muddy, dusty, a black chain and dingy bar tape. So I pulled an all-nighter and broke her down to the bare frame, cleaned and waxed the frame, took apart all the components and cleaned and lubricated them (the rear derraileur's lower pulley has metal teeth!), cleaned and polished the entire drive train and installed an NOS chain and new white cork handlebar tape. Too seal the deal, I installed my vintage excellent condition Regal seat (with the copper rivets).



I also prepared an informational one-sheet about the bike and also brought along my cherished edition of Bicycle Guide from May 1989 with the bike, Andy Hampsten and Eddy Merckx on the cover.


Boy, the Merckx looked spectacular and I believe it was the hit of the show! The ride was very fun, even if a few of my spokes loosened up on my (not so vintage) Open Pro front wheel.

There is another vintage ride coming up in May, contact Clyde or me if interested!

Steel is real!

Rob

P.S. I've come to realize that I am also a vintage rider, but that is another topic all together.

Tree hugging of a different kind...

So, I must admit. I may have committed a roadie sin: I bought a mountain bike. After much saving and scrimping, I ended up with my GT Zaskar, complete with SLX's and brakes that I have no idea how to maintain. Yesterday, I took it for a 'break-in' ride (which is why there is no mention of me in Scot's entry). After a total count of 4 trees hit, 6 spills, and some blood drawn, I called it a day after traversing the entire trail at Erwin Park (McKinney). Steve (shout out to the bike shop, Performance @ 75 & Walnut Hill) taught me how to go over log piles which I surprisingly found easier than I thought it would be.

After a little bit of thought, I don't think I'll leave the road. Really, I think the skills I'm learning to keep away from the trees will help me become a better road rider: keep a better line, be able to aptly ride out of a skid, etc. The off-road experience is definitely something I think everyone should try -- just watch out for the trees!

Note: Picture added by moderator.

"Would you like your spanking with Tzatziki?"

In front of the Asian Student Association celebration that was held at the flagpole, we had a strong group show up, Nicky (fresh off a victory in the Tuesday night crits), Travis, Noah, Michael, and Caryn joined me for our weekly thrashing.

Travis was so enthused about Nicky's victory that he decided to get his license and race next week! The weather was making everyone feel excited to be on the bike as you could not ask for a better evening. We arrived at the lake, and Michael had this notion of setting up situations for the three students to simulate racing situations.

We discussed these scenarios, but confused, we started. Noah, Travis and Nicky waited while Michael, Caryn and I took off. We were to get ahead, have them catch, and then go again, with the guys working to set up Travis in the sprint. I don't think we had enough horsepower though since they caught quickly enough, then Michael makes a strong move to get away (actually, I don't think I have ever seen him go quite as powerfully as that before) then we all chased and Travis made his move from 600 meters out! If Caryn and myself could have worked better together we might have caught him but he surprized us with a move so long out. Bad move at the crits but not so bad tonight.

The next sequence, for Michael, Caryn and myself was to get away and try to stay away, Noah was the designated sprinter from the "kids". So Caryn and I started talking and Michael was gone. I put my head down and try to chase him, and chase, and chase and finally pull him back (about the same spot Travis took off from last lap) I pass him and launch Caryn to the sprint line. All this time we are expecting the team to charge past, but they never did. Noah appears soon enough, I guess he had been chasing. Turns out Nicky met one of his trade club team mates and they talked just long enough to let us have an insurmountable lead! Plus Travis had a pedal issue on his Colnago and tried to straighten that out.

Next lap was to be tempo all the way around the lake, but Travis and Nicky show the rest of us what tempo really is. As we tried to follow their pace we got to the little rise that gets us next to the lake and I can see Caryn shutting it down, manifold pressure off, oil pressure up, time to put out a few less watts. She was already working on her 50 miles for the day (her mileage by the time we returned to SMU) the rest of us were hoping for 30+. At this time, all she could think of was a line from a computer game of Othello. When the computer Greek god would beat you, he would say "Would you like your spanking with Tzatziki?" That was an endless loop playing in her head. I played domestique and pulled her as the rest disappear quickly. Michael commented that it was a thing of beauty to see Travis and Nicky alternate pulls so effortlessly.

The rest of the way around the lake was tempo (19-21 mph) and we rode together well.
The city limit sprint? My one moment of glory on the day!

Nicky Boulle, two races, two victories

I guess it is time for Nicky to cat up, since he has his victory in the tuesday night crits, 1st place in the cat 5's. He also was first in his age group, 6th overall at the Duathlon this past weekend. Chapeau!

Wednesday ride report

We were joined by Beth Newman and her protege, Maggie Smith, a 2007 SMU grad. She does most of her riding with Team in Training, you know the group, they have 90's era Mardi Gras colors, but are supporters of a good cause (the Leukemia Foundation).

Travis joined us again along with the usual stalwarts Noah, Caryn and ride captain Michael Vangeli. We met Nicky out at White Rock. It is fortunate for us that he has some crit skins on the wall and doesn't need to thrash us since he had a good race on Tuesday. Noah has his license now and will be battling the other "crash fives" for a while.

The weather was again brutally windy at the lake, so it created some splits in the group (and some chasing)

We did up and backs, even though I would like to do a Sunnyvale tempo ride once in a while. We will need to get a bit more light. It does require a consensus from those attending.

After the ride, we had a meeting at TP Hill to discuss our Bishop crit, and Noah has some good ideas to get the event staged during an SMU weekend (where we will have a lot of visitors.) Till next week...

Nicky Boulle, 3rd place in Cat 5 Tuesday Crit

Using the "cause pain" strategy to burn away a lot of the field, Nicky broke away mid race for 5 or 6 laps, causing only the strongest to join him. In the sprint Nicky finished 3rd, so the results keep coming.

Live Stream of E3!

http://www.sporza.be/cm/lmc/wielrennen/voorjaar/Comp_E3-prijs

Live Stream of Milan San Remo

mms://cyclingtv-live-200.wm.llnwd.net/cyclingtv_200_LIVE_2?MSWMExt=.asf

Wednesday Ride Report

Nicky Boulle joined us this week, a 2nd year student who rides with the Park Place team, and soon will be representing us at collegiate races. He did the Tuesday night crits the night before, and his first outing was 7th out of the 50 or so in his cat 5 race. He should cat-up pretty soon. Even though he made a lot of people hurt out on the course, it takes some time to learn that the hurt needs to be dosed out in a timely fashion. Soon he will be on the podium.

After last weeks torrential rains, today was the perfect day to ride. Chase, Nicky, Clyde, Jackie, Damiano, Don, Caryn, Greg, Rob and myself had a nice jaunt to White Rock, where we did up and backs on this day. After last year's alteration of the ride due to extensive work done to the paths at White Rock, I thought staying at the lake would be a good choice. The traffic was prohibitive to any nice tempo/sprint ups (that would be TP Hill to M-Bird) so it is hard to say who had the good legs with the desire to use them. I wish we could do the Sunnyvale ride on Wednesdays, but the traffic on US80/I30 for those few miles would be disconcerting to some of us.

Caryn had a flat commuting from her work, so she went home to get a replacement wheel only to find more issues there (missing valve stem, a forte tube that was too small for a 650 wheel, and met us at the lake. Rob and Caryn noticed some new bottom bracket issues (a weakness of FSA) but these problems were nothing like what happened just in front of Don.

On such a pretty day, there is an obvious desire to ride, but if your bike hasn't been looked at for the entire winter, please do a serious check on it to make sure nothing has loosened up. A women and two friends just got on to Lawther from TP Hill and within the first minutes, she noticed that her steering bolts were loose. She then tries to repair by shaking her front wheel (while she was still riding!) She does an ugly face planting endo.

A large group stop to check on her, and a RBM guy ask if any of us know first aid. Hmm, what to do. She is conscious and laying down but complaining that "her neck and spine hurts" Chase said that he is a lifeguard, knows CPR, but what we needed was an ambulance and a neck brace. Nicky was on the phone to the authorities, but was asked not to call. Her friend kept telling us "No ambulance" and then tries to lift her so she can stand up. We all thought that is a bad idea. She lays back down. Her friend went to get their car, and another friend was saying, "if you didn't want to ride, you should have said so" Hopefully they went to see a doctor. She might have needed a stitch in her lip also. Her bike has a buckled top tube and down tube so I left them with a "look for a replacement frame on e-bay"

Our group made it back in two groups as there was a sprint to see who was in front of us wearing the SMU jersey. The rest just rode in at our leisure.

Our ride captain, Michael Vangeli should be back next week, and we can discuss the shape of future rides.

Nicky ready to start TT, Nathan running away

Horse Country Time Trial

A very strong and much larger field showed up for this event than in years past. From our community, we had David Pearson (CAT 4/5) Caryn Montague (Women's open) Mina Pizzini (women's open) and Nicky Boulle (CAT 4/5).

I will let David and Nicky describe their event, it was the women's event that has caused some controversy. Mina was riding in her Mellow Johnny kit and rode like Lance, catching the half dozen or so women in front of her, winning the event and easily showing her class.

I took digital pictures at the start and finish of Mina, David, Caryn and former MSU Mustang (Midwestern State) Jennifer Purcell. We used to ride with her before she went to MSU. When the results were posted on TXBRA, she was placed in 10th, which appeared to me to be an error. Caryn finished in 18th, but her time posted was at least 30 seconds more than her computer showed. Since the camera has a time stamp, we looked at the camera and determined that David's posted time was correct, but Jen and Caryn's were inaccurate. Jen's were so far off (4+ minutes) that we think she should move from 10th to 2nd. Caryn wasn't in the money, but she should move from 18th to 16th, but who knows how accurate the other competitor's times are.

I am not indicting the organisers of the event, but it shows how difficult the logistics are for these events and the technology that could solve these problems is expensive.

Cedar Hill with a White Rhino for good measure

Two of the last three weeks we have chosen to do hill work towards Cedar Hill. Michael, Caryn and myself made it out for a chilly tide two weeks ago, where Mr. Vangeli seemed to win all the city limit signs, joyfully pointing them out as we pass them. Caryn threw down the gauntlet at the hill that leads up to the Cedar Ridge Nature Center, and easily dropping us. After we did Summit Ln. (out little Flandrian climb of 18%) Caryn and Mike missed the turn into Cedar Hill's downtown (yes, it is that small) they went a bit further and discovered a coffee shop, The White Rhino. A perfect place to reconnect when we have larger group rides down south.

Saturday was on again for a hill ride to Cedar Hill, only this time it wasn't chilly, it was quite cold. Layered with thick jerseys, jackets, neck gaitors, gloved tights and knee warmers, we were joined by Tony Tillman this week. I heard a lot of complaining as to why we were still going to do the ride, since it was sunny, 34 degrees and a north wind that was a steady 25 mph. We met on an exposed parking lot(Gospel Lighthouse Church at Illinois and Walton Walker, Loop 12.) The wind was ferocious, but when we finally started, the wind was at our back.

Michael did all the pulling, while we let the wind drive us toward Cedar Hill. A couple of hills and my aching knee was still quiet, but after the previous week's torture (where I had to really suck it up on the last couple of hills, getting way dropped by Caryn and Mike) I decided to avoid the Robin Ln/Summit Mur de Grammont. Victory one week, DNS the next. Now if I had known that Michael brought his camera and was going to download to Facebook immediately, I might have reconsidered. We did have some local wildlife attack us. This little dog actually chewed on my bootie for a second!

Michael and I waited for what seemed like a long time for Caryn and Tony. Tony had never done this climb, and we were so focused on warning him about the climb, we forgot to tell him that the brief descent was frightening the first time down. Curvy, steep, off camber...you can get to 40mph in just seconds...with a stop sign at the bottom. After both climbed it, Caryn went back up to find Tony walking down (never having done any downhill skiing, he thought better of just going down the fall line) I forgot that the first time we did it, it was 15 seconds of terror.

Two good pictures of Caryn and Tony climbing out of this crater, we then went to the White Rhino for coffee. Just like a day on the slopes, sometimes the most enjoyment is found at the lodge. We delaminated ourselves (peeled like onions...undressed) and had some really tasty coffee, courtesy of Tony. I took an out of focus picture with Mike's camera, which was on his Facebook before we finished coffee, thanks to his Blackberry.

We rode into the wind back, where Caryn heard Tony say "what are they doing?" and she said, 'City Limit signs" and he offered a parental like "Oh, right"

Clement Fox, a Mustang great in the cycling kit!

Clement Fox (TE on the great Pony Express Mustang teams) shown wearing the SMU Cycling club kit on a ride in Arkansas.

Clement threw one of the key blocks in Craig James 53 yard TD run that saw our Mustangs beat a highly ranked Texas Longhorns team. It is # 22 on SMU Football greatest moments!

Horse Country Time Trial Series

In case you're interested in doing some bike time trials this year, this series is a good one (details still pending)

3/7/09, 5/9/09, 7/18/09

http://www.ic3-ntx.org/horsecountrytimetrial.htm

Its 20K and hilly in Aubrey, TX. The road surface was repaved from chipseal to *smooth* asphalt last year...very nice.

It is a USCF event, so you'll need to either purchase a yearly or 1-day USCF racing license if you don't already have one (1-day is $10). Also, jerseys must have sleeves.

A 'no muss, no fuss' event, but the first one in March was pretty chilly and windy last year. I did two of the events in the series in 2008....recommended.

Last year they had both individual and team categories.

Let me know if you have any questions.