Saturday, March 28, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Live Stream of Milan San Remo
mms://cyclingtv-live-200.wm.llnwd.net/cyclingtv_200_LIVE_2?MSWMExt=.asf
Thursday, March 19, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, March 2, 2009
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"
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"
Thursday, January 29, 2009
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!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
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
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.
Last year they had both individual and team categories.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Stolen Bike @ SMU
I'm a bit late in posting this but if you know who's bike this is then contact the SMU Police 214-768-3333. It is a Husky Powercurve Softride. It should be unusual enough to stand out in a crowd.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Musings
This was sent to Mr. Vangeli from a friend of his:
Since it's not clear if or when there might be a meeting and if I would be able to make it at that time, I thought I would pass along some of the thoughts I have had over the last couple of years and how they relate to my experiences with collegiate cycling. Now, collegiate cycling is likely to have changed quite a lot since my days (I raced with John Stenner, if that name rings any bells, and was at CU even before Tyler Hamilton), but maybe it hasn't, so I thought I'd toss these out there.
What I remember from being on a collegiate cycling team is this: we were all in college and we were all bike racers. We had fun, we put on a race, we went to other races and we had meetings. It was a good time, but it never really seemed to be all that it could be. What I've realized of late is that we were missing an important piece of the pie: Non-cyclists. I mean, it is a cycling team so it makes sense that we were all cyclists. But when you look at a 'real' cycling team (e.g. a Pro Tour team) they have all sorts of other people: directors, finance people, logistics specialists, mechanics, etc. And what better place to get these folks involved in cycling than in a college atmosphere.
My thought is that by getting these non-racers involved two things could be accomplished: First, racers could focus on the task at hand: racing. The need to be their own driver, planner, mechanic, etc. could be reduced or eliminated allowing them the time to just train and race. Second, for the non-cycling folks there is an opportunity for some 'resume building'. If someone working on an Organizational Management degree could become involved to plan out transportation, lodging, meals, etc. for the team that could be a good feather in their cap when looking for a job in the 'real' world. If someone working on a marketing or advertising degree could put together a sponsorship proposal and present it to local businesses to drum up some support for the team they could put that on their resume. Someone working on an art or graphic design degree could work up some new team kits every so often (as well as work with the advertising/sponsorship folks) to get some resume fodder for themselves. Someone working in web design/computer science could put together a great web home for the team and get a very tangible item for their resume. All of these folks - and maybe some more - could work together to put together SMU's annual race, getting the permits and sponsorship and promoting the event to the public. There are probably a number of different areas at a school like SMU that could contribute something to the program, and yet have really nothing to do with actually getting on a bike.
To me, a setup like this would seem to be win-win, with everyone getting something out of the deal. It might take a while to build up to a system like this, but I think it could be done. Something like this has the addiitonal benefit of familiarizing an entirely new group of folks with the world of cycling. These people might well go on to then either stay in cycling or become patrons of cycling at whatever company they end up because they would recognize the potential benefit of exposure in the sport.
This all might be pie in the sky, but then again it may just work. As I mentioned, perhaps you and other clubs are already doing something along these lines. I just know we weren't anywhere close to thinking this way when I was doing the college cycling thing. Think about the football team and how successful they would be if it was only the players trying to do everything. By having coaches, trainers, medical, logistics, marketing, etc., etc, they players only have to concentrate on playing (although I suppose they should concentrate on their studies, too, right?) which then helps to make them better players. And I think that by pulling people into the program that could gain some resume material it would really provide a benefit to these folks as well as the team.
Well, that's the Reader's Digest version of what's going on in my head regarding collegiate cycling. If you've got any questions or comments about all of this gibberish I'd be happy to ponder some thoughts a bit more.
Take care and maybe we'll see you out on the road one of these days.
Jeff Bauer
Since it's not clear if or when there might be a meeting and if I would be able to make it at that time, I thought I would pass along some of the thoughts I have had over the last couple of years and how they relate to my experiences with collegiate cycling. Now, collegiate cycling is likely to have changed quite a lot since my days (I raced with John Stenner, if that name rings any bells, and was at CU even before Tyler Hamilton), but maybe it hasn't, so I thought I'd toss these out there.
What I remember from being on a collegiate cycling team is this: we were all in college and we were all bike racers. We had fun, we put on a race, we went to other races and we had meetings. It was a good time, but it never really seemed to be all that it could be. What I've realized of late is that we were missing an important piece of the pie: Non-cyclists. I mean, it is a cycling team so it makes sense that we were all cyclists. But when you look at a 'real' cycling team (e.g. a Pro Tour team) they have all sorts of other people: directors, finance people, logistics specialists, mechanics, etc. And what better place to get these folks involved in cycling than in a college atmosphere.
My thought is that by getting these non-racers involved two things could be accomplished: First, racers could focus on the task at hand: racing. The need to be their own driver, planner, mechanic, etc. could be reduced or eliminated allowing them the time to just train and race. Second, for the non-cycling folks there is an opportunity for some 'resume building'. If someone working on an Organizational Management degree could become involved to plan out transportation, lodging, meals, etc. for the team that could be a good feather in their cap when looking for a job in the 'real' world. If someone working on a marketing or advertising degree could put together a sponsorship proposal and present it to local businesses to drum up some support for the team they could put that on their resume. Someone working on an art or graphic design degree could work up some new team kits every so often (as well as work with the advertising/sponsorship folks) to get some resume fodder for themselves. Someone working in web design/computer science could put together a great web home for the team and get a very tangible item for their resume. All of these folks - and maybe some more - could work together to put together SMU's annual race, getting the permits and sponsorship and promoting the event to the public. There are probably a number of different areas at a school like SMU that could contribute something to the program, and yet have really nothing to do with actually getting on a bike.
To me, a setup like this would seem to be win-win, with everyone getting something out of the deal. It might take a while to build up to a system like this, but I think it could be done. Something like this has the addiitonal benefit of familiarizing an entirely new group of folks with the world of cycling. These people might well go on to then either stay in cycling or become patrons of cycling at whatever company they end up because they would recognize the potential benefit of exposure in the sport.
This all might be pie in the sky, but then again it may just work. As I mentioned, perhaps you and other clubs are already doing something along these lines. I just know we weren't anywhere close to thinking this way when I was doing the college cycling thing. Think about the football team and how successful they would be if it was only the players trying to do everything. By having coaches, trainers, medical, logistics, marketing, etc., etc, they players only have to concentrate on playing (although I suppose they should concentrate on their studies, too, right?) which then helps to make them better players. And I think that by pulling people into the program that could gain some resume material it would really provide a benefit to these folks as well as the team.
Well, that's the Reader's Digest version of what's going on in my head regarding collegiate cycling. If you've got any questions or comments about all of this gibberish I'd be happy to ponder some thoughts a bit more.
Take care and maybe we'll see you out on the road one of these days.
Jeff Bauer
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Sponsorship, bike racks etc
We haven't been idle these last couple of weeks. There are a couple of campus issues that we are investigating that are peripheral to the cycling club but are still important. The proliferation of bikes on campus has created over crowded bike racks where cyclists have started to spread to hand rails (which we must frown upon.)
Mike Paul at CPPO has been working with us to get more racks, as well as the bike lockers that the serious riders want. We need to evaluate placement and style of rack, so if anyone has input, let us know.
I communicated with the president of Baylor's cycling club this week to get some insight on sponsorship. For some of the really ambitious items (like team bikes) we need to grow our numbers of those that will compete and go to races. Brandon Thomas, the BU prez, said that the experience of traveling to races with teamates was a rich and rewarding ecperience. He also seems to have a shared vision of growing collegiate cycling. It seems that TCU and UNT might reappear this next year, which would be great news. I have thought about helping UTD get going (at least in guidance, I'm leary of green and orange!)
Jeff, Sam and Rob are going to visit these two potential sponsors and see what mutually benefits us, so hopefully we will have news on that front soon.
Mike Paul at CPPO has been working with us to get more racks, as well as the bike lockers that the serious riders want. We need to evaluate placement and style of rack, so if anyone has input, let us know.
I communicated with the president of Baylor's cycling club this week to get some insight on sponsorship. For some of the really ambitious items (like team bikes) we need to grow our numbers of those that will compete and go to races. Brandon Thomas, the BU prez, said that the experience of traveling to races with teamates was a rich and rewarding ecperience. He also seems to have a shared vision of growing collegiate cycling. It seems that TCU and UNT might reappear this next year, which would be great news. I have thought about helping UTD get going (at least in guidance, I'm leary of green and orange!)
Jeff, Sam and Rob are going to visit these two potential sponsors and see what mutually benefits us, so hopefully we will have news on that front soon.
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