Treasure Valley Cycling Club

On Saturday, one of my big goals for the year was accomplished in the BSU road race that was part of the collegiate omnium hosted by the BSU team. Surprisingly, the road race course included part of the ride that a large group of us took about a month ago, namely Little Feezeout Hill. In that respect, I was at least familiar with the course. Also, as part of the hosting club, I had the opportunity to drive the course to set up signage before the event to do even more reconnaissance. It was especially helpful to know how long climbs were to be able to gage my effort and output.

Wow, it was an incredible week. I'm probably forgetting a lot, but I'll make a quick run through the week here:

19 folks came down initially. Harrison and Michele, and Harris and Brian met us down there on Monday. Josh and Eric showed up later, as did Dan, Brent, and Mike. So we started smaller, but kept growing!

The weather the whole week was perfect - sunny and warm.

MONDAY: awesome start to the week.

Race report:

A year ago in Walla Walla, I raced in my first collegiate RR at age 39. A combination of poor pre-race nutrition and terrible hydration skills resulted in calf cramps that ultimately ended my hopes of finishing with the group. Off the back on the penultimate climb, I watched the infinitely more aerodynamic peloton disappear into the distance. If any race motivated me to train harder, learn more, and perform better, it was Walla Walla.

Get down to the Reel for this movie fundraiser, brought to you by BAMBA & SID, to support the Eagle Bike Park!

The first race of my final season of collegiate cycling began in Corvallis, Or early in the morning. The Men’s D road race started with 46 riders from a parking lot. In what turned out to be a mistake from the organizers, it was not neutralized. Following the parking lot roll out, a second 90-degree right turn on to a frontage road followed only 100 yards later. On that long, straight 2-mile road, a 12 MPH cross wind. So with two immediate turns and no neutralization, a handful of riders hammered it from the gun and the field went crazy.

BAMBA members and Eagle Bike Park Patrons,

We have scheduled a volunteer trail work session with Jon Gould who manages the Velopark Grand Prix race series. The focus here is to repair and improve the multiuse/XC trails at the bike park. The information is included below. If you can attend, please rsvp on our facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eagle-Bike-Park/185118006724?v=app_2344061...

You can also reply to this email to rsvp. Let us know if you are willing to help out as a team leader. Here is the info...

Well, it finally happened. I won a race. it wasn't a real race, mind you, but details like that and never stopped me. On Saturday at the sixth annual St. Alphonsus Inside Ride, a group of garage rats and I managed to put down a total of 98.95 miles in one hour. Of course it was on trainers, without headwind, and directly across from Victoria's Secret, but we managed to be the only group to put down that kind of distance.

(Hopefully this will be contagious and everyone will list there athletic plans for the year.) It has been my experience that racing, however futile and devoid of podium finishes, has been the key to by fitness and fun. In short, I race to complete more often than to compete. It is still fun to get geared up and climb out of the back of the pack to somewhere in the middle. Last year, in my second year of racing, I did 4 collegiate omnium events, 5 SWICA crits, the LP200, Snake River Handicap, Twilight Criterium, and 7 Cyclocross races. It was a busy year.

First post. I would have tried cross, but I've had a minor disagreement lately with my bike, so that hasn't worked out. I've gone to two races to heckle riders and my family finds the race environment entertaining. Our morning schedule isn't such that we can ever make it to the majority of the first race, so we usually miss the first-lap spills in the first race. We usually try to park near some hazard that will produce the most drama during the race. Eagle Island #1 we chose the sand section, but fortunately/unfortunately depending on your perspective nobody in the second race ate it.

So I went out Monday the 18th and did a 35 mile ride on my cross bike. I was down in Kuna heading back to my In laws home in Boise and saw a sign on the side of the road for a trail. I looked it over and it was the Hubbard Wildlife reserve. I thought to myself, good thing I brought a cross bike. Jumped the gate and away I went. It was the roughest single track in the world. You might want to bring a mouth guard to ride it. However it was a lot of fun. I explored for only a few minutes because I needed to be heading back. The trail takes you from Deer Flat road up to Hubbard road.