Treasure Valley Cycling Club

(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.

It's kind of funny. For loving cross so much, I wasn't really on the ball this year. The night before I was up late putting the (wide illegal) knobbies on my extra wheels, etc. Good thing I didn't flat, because I noticed my front spare was flat when I pulled it from the pits!

But none of that mattered, it was a great day. Probably too warm for cross, but otherwise perfect. We had a pretty good group of 5 that all started together. If only we would have had Eric start to the left and further ahead, he could have taken them all out with his crazy start :)

I hope this translates into a good time this Saturday, but I made it to the forest service sign in 39 min 55 sec tonight. That is about 2 min faster than my previous best time to that point.

For those who are interested, here's a run down of what I can remember of an awesome week...

First off, this was a great route. The volunteers did a great job. The addition of a shower truck was awesome (8 stalls for men, 8 for women, and all the hot water you could want.) And a HUGE THANKS to the Reel Theatre for sponsoring it!!!

What a great trip!

Friends-

I am forwarding a message along from a friend who serves on ACHD's Bicycle Advisory Committee. Please let Rick know if you're interested in helping out. This seems like a worthy (and fairly simple) endeavor for the team:
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Rick Overton's Message:

I am fortunate enough to be a member of the ACHD's Bicycle Advisory Committee, and we're organizing a volunteer activity that I thought all of you might connect with.

What a great tour!

I just pulled all the data off my Garmin and below are the stats for anyone interested. I missed about 15 miles on day 6 but otherwise it should be complete.

Count: 7 Activities
Distance: 430.06 mi
Time: 24:54:37 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 15,299 ft
Avg Speed: 17.3 mph
Avg HR: 141 bpm
Calories: 13,777 C
Avg Distance: 61.44 mi
Median Distance: 67.74 mi
Max Distance: 80.55 mi
Avg Time: 03:33:31 h:m:s
Median Time: 03:48:30 h:m:s
Max Time: 04:20:36 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain: 2,186 ft

So, uh, I'm new around here. Well, at least publicly. I've been stalking you all for quite some time. Not just on the forums either. I feel like I'm always grabbing the wheel of a Reel rider at one of the charity rides I do annually (here's a belated 'thanks!'). I sat alone at Les Bois Junior High in the drizzle eating a cardboard burger after The Ride for the Blind, watching the Reel Theatre folks carry on merrily just feet from my lonely patch of flower bed. I tried to keep up with some of you on that windy Bob Lebow 100 miler...not happening.