Rain, Rain go Away

They told me it may come. I suppose the earlier rains have prepared me, but.... this has been the week of rain. One storm after another has rolled in off the Pacific. Four of them this week. We will probably get 6-7+ inches of rain before Saturday. Then a day or so of sun then some more rain. We have had some windy periods, kinda like east coast tropical storm winds, the kind that blows down trees. Today I was in the car and watched a guy roll out of a neighborhood on a bike, yeah he had tights, rain jacket, and stuff. His bike had fenders. He blasted off like he was out for a hard training ride. It was a solid day of steady rain. A couple days ago a guy rolled his bike in with a front wheel that looked like a potato chip. He had full rain suit, lights etc. He dropped off the pavement edge and ruined a wheel. He was obviously a randonneur, judging by the bike and gear. Look it up or ask Joe V. But the weather that day was HEAVY rain and wind. As I've said before, there are some dedicated riders here.

The photo above was from Sunday, the wave of storms was just starting, and I dashed out during a lull. I only got sprinkled on the last three miles. The photo is Mt. Hood which you, the faithful, may remember from a previous post. The clouds are just at the mountain top. So you see it pays to follow regularly as my blog refers back to itself. Is that self-referential? Lake Sonoma, also see a previous post, is up over eight feet. This certainly helps the drought we've been in for a while. I'll have to remember this rain in midMay through September when it will-not-rain.

I hope all is well with you. Have you noticed the increasing daylight?

Thanks for reading

HH

Road trip

Wild Mustard blooms under dormant grape vines These photos were taken Monday on a road (car) trip up to Lake Sonoma in the northern part of the county. I have this area on my to do list for the bike this year. Its a rather remote and hilly area that is a destination for on and off road riders. You can see how low the water level in the lake is. This is a seasonally arid climate, but the past several winters have been in drought, so lake levels do not recover in the winter. This year has shown slight improvement. To give you some idea of water importance here, our water/sewer bill was equal to our power bill in November. December was colder so that changed some, but I venture a guess that no one sees that back in NC, unless you keep a golf course of a yard. Of course, on the plus side, we seldom run the air conditioning in the summer, and bike rides will not be done in the rain from mid May thru October. One would think this makes for spoiled riders unaccustomed to riding in less than lovely conditions. Wrong. Riders show up for scheduled rides in the winter in the rain! Diminished numbers, sure, but talk of clothing and fenders is frequently on the club forum. This month had a century, just a club ride not an event. This weekend offers 65 miler with 6500' of climbing. My current work schedule has kept me away from these opportunities. But I did get to do 55 miles on Christmas day led by a guy on a fixed gear at 18 mph, and we were chasing him, not the other way around. This coming Monday is a MLK day 54 miler honoring the 54 mile march from Selma to Montgomery. I'm hoping the mildish temps hold,I'll pedal some for you guys. Saturday's 6.5 mag. earthquake was a ways north of here, some folks here say they felt it but I didn't. I didn't see anything move in the bike shop like I would have guessed. The numbers don't reflect the relative impact of a quake. Other factors are the depth and type of physical geological movement. The distant ridge in the above photo is The Geysers, there a small shakes there nearly everyday. The county has a system of pumping waste water into the geothermal area and using the ensuing steam to generate electricity! It feels good to see a creeping back of daylight. Come on Spring. Have a good week on wheels. HH

Happy Birthday Jacques

I know, another birthday story, but if you know me, appreciation of riders of the past enhances appreciation of the present. So if you are interested in such, follow this link. http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/riders/rider_bio.asp?rider_id=25 Jacques Anquetil was the first rider to win all three Grand Tours and until a certain American from Texas came around shared the record of TdF wins - 5. He was a dominant force in the late '50s and into the '60s. His style foreshadows the tour winning style of dominating the time trials and holding on in the mountains, so familiar to us in the past twenty years. Thanks again for reading, and I hope you are enjoying some rides. Those of you in the SE , well, sorry about the chill! HH

I'm still here

Harvest season in the wine country Pacific sunset early November two shots from my standard quick ride from home Well, its been nearly one month, numerous post ideas have bubbled up in my consciousness only to be unable to form a nice frothy head in the beer glass of Norcal Tarheels life. November and December are not on my list of favorite months. The beautiful vineyard harvest season has finished. As a cyclist the diminishing daylight and general dreariness are depressing. In Northern California we enter a damp or rainy season as well. You may remember my foot injury, it kept me out of cyclocross, which usually keep me riding and happy. I still can ride but my opportunities and motivation are small. I still commute to work usually one way. This 12 miles does help my outlook. One day I did take the car, and I passed quite a few cyclists. I felt like a traitor, as I drove past I wanted to holler "I am a cyclcommuter too"! The club rides continue with riders still doing impromptu centuries some days, and rain does not cancel a group ride here. Sheesh! These folks are tough. My work schedule makes my participation infrequent. Oh yeah, work,-over Thanksgiving week we moved Windsor Bicycle Center about one mile over to its new vastly improved location. From a 1200' rather ratty strip center spot to a 4000' prime spot on the town green. A very pleasant mixed use center on a park setting. Come see me! I'll show you some fine bikes from Giant and Felt. There is a guy I've met who is a staffer with the BMC pro team based here in Santa Rosa, they are Swiss owned I believe. You may recall they have picked up George Hincapie, Karsten Kroon and Cadel Evans for '10. He said we are likely going to see the team riding in the area late January. I still haven't bumped into Levi or any of the other pros who live or frequent Sonoma County CA The curtain is about to come down on 2009 and all of the associated resolutions have been long forgotten, most changes, those unlike my move to California, happen in increments. I hope you can look back happily on your cycling year. So forget the resolutions for 2010 but dream a little bit and get out there and ride. Come on Springtime. Thanks for reading HH

Happy Birthdays

The past couple days mark birthdays for two of my favorite riders from the last century. Stephen Roche 11-28-59 and Laurent Jalabert 11-30-68. In noting these cycling greats I can't help but reflect on how different pro racing was in the 80's and 90's. We will leave the PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) out of this for today. Jalabert was a multiple stage and jersey winner for sprints AND mountains. In 1995 he took both Jerseys and the overall in the Vuelta Espana a feat only shared with Eddy Merckx from the previous generation. He won two of the Monuments of Cycling as well as four major classics. Roche also was a man who could sprint and climb as well as dominate against the clock. His stand-out year must be 1987 when he accomplished another milestone, again only matched by Merkcx in '74. Cycling's Triple Crown, the Tour, the Giro and the World Road Championship. I'll never forget watching the Tour that year, on a mountain top finish at La Plagne, he attacked early and was away for several hours, only to be overtaken on the last climb, seconds added...a minute.... another half... Roche watched his Tour dream fade, but he clawed back up to within four seconds of Pedro Delgado, and collapsed into unconsciousness. He was administered Oxygen and recovered. The next day when interviewed before the stage start he looked calm and stated he was fine, he was after all a strong young lad or something to that effect. These days no tour winners even enter the Worlds, they are too late in the season. Granted lots has changed in the training and in the make-up of the races themselves. One element I look forward to being reversed is the use of race radios, two way communication between the manager and the riders. Riders are divided on the subject, but I tend to agree with those that think racing has gotten nearly scripted, the spontaneity has been removed. Riders no longer have to develop the instincts to weigh challenge and risk. The current crop of pros have never raced without the manager in their earpiece reminding them to eat, drink, - you name it. Again I recognize some of the arguments for radios. But they sure don't contribute to developing pros like Jalabert and Roche, and I think it shows in the racing today. Thanks for reading. I hope you are getting to ride. HH

Got 150 mil?

Mavic is for sale. As many companys these days a once monolith has been sold and transfered several times in the past decade. Probably most of you have or had Mavic rims/wheels at some point. If you are interested in the history, it goes way back like many things cycling related do. If you have $150,000,000 laying around I'll bet you could have a lot of " free" wheels to try out. Thanks to Bikeraceinfo.com History of MAVIC 1890Manufacture d'Articles Vélocipediques Idoux et Chanel (MAVIC). The main product line is bicycle mud guards. Also later, the manufacturing of pedal-cars for children. 1920The company is bought by Henri Gormand because of his interest in the innovative mud-flap invented by Mavic. He sets about a diversification--the manufacure of aluminium bicycle rims. 1926The first ever aluminum bicycle rim. 1931Becoming more and more accepted, Mavic rims appear for the first time in the Tour De France. 1964The son of Henri, Bruno Gormand takes over the company--the Mavic passion for performance is born from the enthusiasm of Bruno. 1967Mavic moves to St. Trivier-Sur-Moignans 1971The arrival of the famous blue anodized "SSC Blue" rim reserved for racers and professionals. 1973The arrival of "Neutral Support" and the famous yellow cars in the Tour De France. 1975The birth of the grey "SSC Paris-Roubaix" (SSC Grey) hard-layer anodized rim. The first time that this treatment has been used on bicycle rims, it would be seen later that no high-end bike would be seriously considered that did not offer this type of rim. 1977The perfecting of an innovative hub with cartridge bearings, and the first monobloc bottom bracket. A new factory of 1000m2 adjacent to the original unit making a total of 3500m2. Mavic plays host to the Tour de France where the start of the day's stage is from the Mavic factory. 1978Mavic begins to manufacture bottom brackets, handlebars and derailleurs, including the first models which could be easily disassembled. 1979A new concept: "Tout Mavic" (All Mavic), a set of equipment that includes rims, derailleurs, hubs, cranksets, etc. Since then this set is fitted to cycles at the very top of the range and especially for racing. This year also bares the fruit of several years' development of an aerodynamic cycle in collaboration with Gitane. This revolutionary cycle is used by the Gitane-Renault team in the 1979 Tour de France. 1980The first professional team to be equipped with "Tout Mavic": the Boston-Mavic team. 1983Mavic equips 26 professional teams throughout the world. 1984Sean Kelly wins Paris-Roubaix on a Mavic-equipped machine. Mavic working with the Aerotechnical Institute in St. Cyr, France, developes the disc wheel for commercial use. A new factory at Chavanod, near Annecy for the machining of components other than rims. The first CNC (Computer Numeric Controlled) machines arrive at Mavic, quickly followed by several others. 19857th December, a black day for Mavic. A tragic car accident claims the life of Mavic's owner Bruno Gormand. Madame Cécile Gormand is named the new President and leads the Mavic team in the same enthusiastic way. 1986The arrival of the first CAD-CAM (Computer-Aided Design, Computer-Aided Manufacture) system at Mavic. 1988A new sport and new products, this time for mountain bikes: cranks and chain rings, head sets, pedals bottom brackets, rims and handle bars. 1989Greg Lemond equipped "Tout Mavic" wins the Tour De France and the World Championships. 1990On the 30th of November, Madame Gormand agrees to a management buy-out and the company passes into the hands of four key members of staff with the aid of a financial partner, a holding company is formed. 1994Mavic joins the Salomon Group (Salomon, Taylor Made, Mavic, Bonfire). French wintersports group Salomon becomes the 100% owners of Mavic. In an agreement which will permit the Mavic brand to grow and to have sufficient investment to launch a drawer full of new ideas, the rebirth of the company is assured. In the same year, ZMS (Zap) is launched--the world's first electronic shift derailleur. 1995Mavic launches the Cosmic wheel, aerodynamic and highly innovative. The decision is taken to focus Mavic's energy on a line of complete wheel sets and rims, thus all other components are withdrawn from sales, including the innovative ZMS. 1998The announcement in September that the group "SALOMON WORLWIDE" is joining forces with Adidas to form the No. 2 sporting goods company in the world, "ADIDAS-SALOMON". I am always amazed at the history of a huge organization that starts with something very common (the bicycle mudgaurd!) and lasts over a century. What companies will be around in a hundred years? I would greatly appreciate any assistance you the reader can offer in updating this timeline as this is the only way the accuracy of this timeline can be improved. Chuck Schmidt

View from the Top

OK I got it done. If you followed my posts leading up to this past weekends Levi's King Ridge Gran Fondo, you know I was having some anxiety about the event, that is this pictured climb in particular. I didn't realize until late that we were not going CW like I have gone in the past. This shot is less than two miles from the ocean. Going down it is steep. Well it was tough, but going up it didn't seem as steep as coming down. Max. grade I saw was 15%. This is the famed Coleman Valley Road. Once over this steep part I knew I was fine and put down a hard effort the remaining 30 miles. We even had a mile+ of gravel park path. My cyclocross readers can be proud I road everyone off my wheel pulling 18 mph down this stretch. Many of you will be surprised to know I am inspired by the event to do the 100 mile version next year. It contains King Ridge Road which is longer and climbs higher before dropping down to the ocean, then does Coleman Valley. We'll see if this was just an endorphin induced ambition. 3500 riders and it was a very safe feeling start. I was surprised, I think the fact that we started in a long narrow chute kept everyone from packing up. Then we had about five miles of wide flat roads to get in our rhythm. Stay tuned. We had a local cyclocross clinic start last week, I'm looking forward to the next one on Tuesday eve. About a dozen people showed up including a few newbies. Roll on HH