Archive for the 'Cycling' Category

So You Wanna Be An Olympian? Not So Fast My Friend

Published by
Brent
April 18, 2007 in Cycling. 0 Comments

Today ESPN.com has released the 5th part in their series So You Wanna Be An Olympian. The series follows journalist Kathryn Bertine as she tries to find a sport where she can possibly earn a spot in the 2008 Summer Olympics. ESPN explain the premise of the series …

Just how hard is it to make the U.S. Olympic team? Does it require a lifetime of training and devotion? Would an average person with an athletic background have any shot at all?

E-ticket will find out the answers over the next two years. We’ve tapped Kathryn Bertine, a former ice skater, professional triathlete and accomplished author, to see whether she can somehow find her way to Beijing in 2008. In what sport? Well, that’s what she’s trying to find out.

Bertine is 31 years old and has competed in figure stating at a national level when she was younger, and recently as a “pro” triathlete. Although triathlon is in the Olympics she was not at the top level in that sport. She tried a couple of sports like fencing and team handball, and then tried track cycling. She decided to focus on road cycling since that was her strongest event in the triathlon. In the current feature Bertine gets a Vo2 max text and it turns out her Vo2 max is 71 which is actually really good. I found that the highest recorded women’s Vo2 max is 77 by a cross country skier.

Bertine has started off doing pretty well this year in cycling races as a cat 4 and cat 3. You can see her race results on USA Cycling’s web site. She will have to stay on the fast track if she has any hope of being considered for the Olympics. According to the USA cycling selection criteria (PDF file) Only three women will make the road team, and the the U.S. already has some of the best cyclists in the world like Kristin Armstrong (another former triathlete).

Just to be considered for the final 3 riders she will need to qualify by placing in the World Championships this year, or accumulating enough points in UCI races to make “the long team” of 8 riders.

Nomination to Women’s 2008 Olympic Road Long Team:

  • Any U.S. eligible riders placing in the top-three (3) of the 2007
    UCI Elite Women’s World Road Race or Time Trial Championships,
    Stuttgart GER, Sep 26 – 30, 2007, will be named to the 2008
    Women’s Olympic Road Long Team.
  • The top-5 ranked U.S. eligible female riders on the final UCI
    Individual Road Point rankings as of December 31, 2007 will be
    named to the 2008 Women’s Olympic Road Long Team.
  • If positions remain after the Automatic Nomination process,
    USAC Coaches may choose remaining riders to fill the Long Team
    based on USAC Principles of Discretion (Section II) and subject to
    review and approval of the USA Cycling Selection Committee (see
    Section I.E.).

    • Since Bertine is not yet on a UCI team and eligible to do UCI races, her only real shot is to win the National Time Trial Championship and then finish top three in the worlds. The problem is that even winning the National Time Trial may not be enough to earn a spot at the Worlds unless the selection criteria has changed since 2006 …

    Elite Women Time Trial
    Eligible Participants: USAC International License Holders; Age 19 and over
    Maximum Start Positions: 2
    Athletes will receive automatic nominations to the team based on the following prioritized criteria:

    1. Any athlete placing in the top three (3) at the prior year’s World Championships in the same event and category. In order to maintain their position on the Team, the eligible athlete(s) must continue to demonstrate the ability to finish in the top 3 at the World Championships
      during the current racing season. This evaluation will be based on results from major international competition and current ranking on the appropriate UCI Individual Classification.
    2. The winner of the 2006 National Time Trial Championships provided the race is held in its entirety and run under UCI regulations.

    Since in 2006 Kristin Armstrong was first and Christine Thorburn third at Worlds they would automatically take the two start positions in the Worlds Time Trial taking priority over the winner of Nationals. With the two start positions in the time trial pretty much locked up, she would have to show great ability in the road race, and given that she will probably not have any international race experience this season it is really not a possibility. She would basically have come out of nowhere to be better that two of the current top two women in the world.

    One interesting note is that last year I did the bike leg of the New York City Triathlon as a member of a relay team. Bertine also did this race, so I can get an idea for her cycling ability. I’m 39 years old and about 30 lbs overweight and I did the 40K course in 1:04:48 compared to Bertine’s time of 1:13:54. Sure she had to save something for the run, but I would expect an Olympic level female cyclist to go faster than me. She was only the 15th fastest bike split of the pro women.

    I wish Kathryn the best of luck, and I hope she can prove me wrong. It is nice that cycling will get a little more mainstream sports coverage because of this which is good, but I guess I’m not sure if cyclists should be offended that cycling was selected as the best possible chance for an average person to make the Olympics. I hope Bertine and the other editors at ESPN see that there are some very talented and dedicated athletes in the sport of cycling.

    Some other headlines …

    Plainville Spring Series

    Published by
    Brent
    March 10, 2007     in Connecticut and Cycling. 0 Comments

    It is March in Connecticut and that means it is time for early season industrial park training races to begin. The local training race where I live is the Plainville Spring Series. I personally am in no condition to race, but I did get out on my bike and ride to the course and back. I brought my camera and took a few photos and video clips.

    RAMROD Route Changed Due to Road Closures

    Published by
    Brent
    March 3, 2007     in Cycling and News. 3 Comments

    Road on SR 123Because of flooding that devistated many of the roads in Mount Rainier National Park, the route for the 2007 RAMROD (Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day) will be changed. The offical RAMROD web site outlined the 2007 route and announced that the 2007 ride will be a fundraiser for the Nation Park to help with the restoration efforts.

    The year the route will visit Sunrise and Crystal Mountain.

    This year we will start as usual from the high school in Enumclaw (elevation 720 ft). You will begin with an enjoyable loop around the rolling green farmlands surrounding Enumclaw to get warmed up for the day. You will connect back to Hwy 410 and proceed southeast as the climbing begins toward Cayuse Pass. Just a few miles short of the summit, the route turns toward Mt. Rainier and to the biggest climb of the day to your first checkpoint at the Sunrise Visitor Center, located on the northeast flank of Mt. Rainier (elevation 6,400 ft.). The views will take your breath away, as will the descent back down to the valley below. With no rest for the weary, you return to Hwy 410 and continue down to the Crystal Mountain Blvd turnoff. The course will then take you up to the second checkpoint at Crystal Mountain Ski area at 4,400 ft. From there it is basically all downhill back to Enumclaw with the fast descent down Mud Mountain Dam Road and to the final checkpoint at the finish.

    Tour de France threatens to ban ProTour teams

    Published by
    Brent
    March 1, 2007     in Cycling and Tour de France. 0 Comments

    The fued between the UCI and ASO (organizers of Paris-Nice and the Tour de France) has reached a boiling point. The organizers of Paris-Nice have turned the race into a “national” event in defiance of the UCI, so the UCI has told all ProTour teams not to race. Now the ASO is telling teams they must race Paris-Nice, or forget about racing in the Tour de France.

    “If these teams refuse to come to Paris-Nice, then they will have taken the same stance on our other races,” ASO chief Patrice Clerc told a Belgian newspaper. “If that’s the case, I don’t see why we should invite them to the Tour de France. I will only reconsider this if they have a very good reason to skip Paris-Nice.”

    I guess by turning the Tour de France into an all French amateur event, they could ensure that one of their own win the race, but this would virtually kill the sport. Sponsors who are paying millions of dollars are counting on the media exposure from the Tour de France.

    The ProTour team managers will meet Friday to decide what to do.

    The leadership in the sport of cycling is in need of a major overhaul. How much bad press can this sport take? The goals of the UCI and and the Grand Tours are really polar oposites. ASO owns the most influential race in the world and they want to keep it that way, and keep the financial rewards that come with that.
    buy viagra blue pill
    stop to buy viagra
    best place to buy viagra online
    buy viagra medication
    doctor advice to buy viagra
    buy viagra from home
    buy quality viagra
    buy cialis professional
    buy cialis tadalafil
    buy cialis soft tabs
    buy cialis
    buy cialis discount
    buy christmas cialis
    buy cheap levitra
    buy levitra quality tabs

    The UCI wants to grow the sport globally and build up the importance of races other than the Tour de France. I think the UCI ProTour is what cycling needs to grow into a globally popular sport that the mainstream sports media outside of Europe cares about.

    Ride Report: 2006 RAMROD

    Published by
    Brent
    July 27, 2006     in Cycling and Ride Reports. 0 Comments

    The 2006 Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day was my big cycling goal for the year. As in 2003, I traveled from Connecticut to do this ride that I have done a number of time in the past. I had been staying with my friend Gordon who was joining me on the ride.

    We got up early and drove from his home in Renton to the start in Enumclaw. When we arrived there were not too many cars yet in the parking lot, so we found a good parking place, and beat the crowd to the packet pickup.

    CIMG0010.JPGWe got on the road before the sun came up. The local police were at main intersections to control traffic as we made our way out of town. As usual in this ride, I always tell myself I’m going to take it easy on the first part of the ride, but I usually find myself in a group and the competitive spirit takes over. Plus, the first part of the ride has narrow roads and you have to deal with some drivers an their way to work who are not excited about big groups on the road, so it just feels safer to me to string the group out single file than to constantly be passed by large groups of riders.

    We were some of the first cyclists to reach the first water stop just past town of Eatonville. We stopped just fast enough to fill our water bottles before continuing on to the Mt. Rainier park entrance. For this next part of the ride the roads are much better for cycling, but it is a gradual uphill. Some of the interesting sights along this section of the ride are the old steam train in Elbe, and a yard full of large metal animal sculptures.

    DSC05057.JPGJust before the park entrance was the first food stop of the ride, and as usual the RAMROD had great food with a great assortment of bagels, fruit, and cookies. We stopped and refilled the tank before heading into the park.

    The park entrance fee is included with your ride registration fee, so on the way into the park the riders are directed through a set of cones where the park ranger checks to make sure you have a number and are paid for the ride.

    After you enter the park, you begin a gradual climb through the thick old growth forest, with an occasional view of the mountain when there is a break in the trees. The first really good view of Mount Rainier is at the Longmire Ranger Station where there is a lodge and some very scenic meadows.

    Just after Longmire the climbing gets a little more steep as the road heads up toward the Paradise. Along the way there is a great view of the Nisqually River and Glacier from one of the bridges. This year there was a construction project going on at the Paradise parking lot, so the ride turned off before heading all the way up.

    CIMG0057.JPGAlong the climb to Paradise there were some more great views of the mountain. There is a nice little downhill after the Paradise climb, then one more climb before descending to Box Canyon. At this point the organizers had stopped all the cyclists at a turnout because a rider up ahead had crashed, and they blocking off the road so that a helicopter could come and land to pick up the injured cyclist and fly him a hospital.

    This was a reminder that these beautifully scenic roads also could be dangerous if you are not using caution. There are some steep downhills, sharp corners, and long drop offs. If you take a corner a little to fast, it could really be seriously injured.

    CIMG0063.JPGWe sat there for a little while trying to find some shade, as it was really starting to warm up in the sun. After the road finally opened up again we got back in the saddle, but then it wasn’t far before we stopped at Reflection lake to take a photo, which is probably the most popular stop to take a photo of the mountain.

    After Reflection Lake the descent to Box Canyon is one of the most fun parts of the ride with some sweeping switchback turns, and then a long winding descent to the next food stop. The Box Canyon food stop was again well stocked with food. I saw at least one rider there with some road rash who must have fallen on one of the tricky turns.

    After the food stop there was just a little more downhill before the turn to Cayuse Pass. I had a rear blinking light on my bike that fell off on the downhill so I had to stop and turn around to get it, but it was pretty much broken into pieces from hitting the pavement.

    The climb to Cayuse Pass is always a killer. It comes at the 100 mile mark in the ride, and it takes me about an hour and a half to climb. The last time I did RAMROD in 2003 it was really hot and I had to stop a few times to cool off. This year I felt much better on the climb. Not only was I in better condition this year, but it was cooler, and I think getting an earlier start helped us get to the climb while some of the road was still in the shade instead of in the full afternoon sun.

    CIMG0067.JPGAfter a stop to recover at the top of Cayuse Pass there is another fun downhill to the park exit, and the Crystal Mountain turnoff, where the final food stop is located. This is where they have the RAMROD Deli. The great volunteers will make you a sandwich just the way you want it, and there was plenty of other food to help the riders top off their energy and make the final miles back to Enumclaw.

    The final 30 miles or so back to finish are mostly gradual downhill, but there was a headwind. We settled into a good pace and finished up the ride feeling good. I’m glad I made the trip out to do this ride again because it had to be one of the best in the country.

    Photos …

    « Previous Entries
    RSS - Subscribe to the BikeRide Blog
    UDC Tours
    Pro Cycle Gear

     

    July 2008
    M T W T F S S
    « Jun    
     123456
    78910111213
    14151617181920
    21222324252627
    28293031  

    Pages

    Flickr Photos