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BIKE GUY: SPRING TUNE UP: BIKE GUY'S FEBRUARY TO MAY UPDATE
Bill Humphreys
May 10, 2009
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Bike Guy on the Golden Gate Bridge
It is early May and spring is in full bloom back here in New England and I need to capture what has gone on over the last few months so I don’t lose track of what is coming up next. Otherwise spring will roll into summer and the longest day of the year will have come and gone before I know it. Updating myself and my readers (I assume there are a few of you out there) might slow things down just enough before I do my first barelegged ride of the year.
Back in February I took the family out to San Francisco to visit my mother-in-law, but mainly I wanted to catch the Tour of California coming over the Golden Gate Bridge. I called my old pal and long standing bike rep in Northern Cal, Bill Miller to see if he could find me a bike to ride and sure enough he set me up with Duke Tuchman of Napa River Velo. Duke carries almost every high end road and mountain bike frame and complete bikes available today plus he is a Specialized dealer who was just getting his demo fleet of Roubaix models built up. So from the snow covered roads of New England and my 28-pound cross bike with fenders, Duke set me up with a brand new Specialized Roubaix with Ultegra weighing in at just less than 17 pounds. Knowing the weather forecast is rain and cold for the upcoming week’s stages in the Tour and my vacation, I hit the Silverado Trail for a 3 hour ride, which is as flat as you can find in Napa. Not getting out of the saddle much that whole time I was impressed by the new saddle that came as standard equipment on this fine ride.
Sunday’s stage finish in Santa Rosa was a total washout with 45 degrees and rain all day. I arrive way early with my sister and son Ian with me for the festival and expo to entertain them while I was arranging for Ian to meet Teddy King and Thor from Cervello and also Oscar Friere from Rabobank who’s signed world championship jersey was sent to Ian on his 10th birthday. This never happened, as it was too miserable and cold for the riders to be bothered. I did meet up with my old Raleigh teammate Emile, “Flip” Waldteufel who is the chef at a new French style restaurant right on the green on 4th street where the expo and finish line were located.
Walking around in the rain while the impressive women’s field was lining up for the criterium I could hear another old acquaintances voice over the sound system, it was Connie Carpenter. Then I bumped into Davis Phinney who I had managed through the Red Zinger and the Coors Classic so many years ago. I had not seen Davis in several years and it was a warming moment in the middle of a bone chilling day.
The peloton approaches
I did get up early the next morning and put on the liniment and all the cycling clothes I had brought with me for the ride out to the Golden Gate Bridge to see the neutral start. Once out there I realized my camera batteries were dead so I asked those around me to email me some shots and actually received some good ones. It was cold and wet but there were still several hundred spectators on the bridge when the group came by. I was jumping up and down like a little kid when I saw them with the traffic totally shut down in both directions.
The smart thing to do once they had passed was to ride home and take a hot shower but I was too charged up for that and had not even had my first coffee for the day. So I head over the bridge and down the hill, catching a real to the bone chill, into Sausalito, where I power down a triple Americano two Gu’s and a pastry for the ride back up the hill over the windswept bridge and home. Going back over the east side of the bridge I am all alone out there and grinning from ear to ear as I try to stay upright in the crosswind and rain. Now this is the highlight of my vacation and I am grinning because I realize what a sick puppy I really am. The weather does break and before I head back to my sturdy winter steed with fenders for the remainder of the long winter in New England, I get over to Berkley to visit Peter Rich’s Velo Sport and to ride the Wildcat Loop.
Back home in Connecticut, winter is in full swing with several storms coming through and missed school days to go with them. I get good upper bodywork with the snow shovel and lots of cross-country skiing at the soccer fields down the street.
Getting the Junior Team together for a couple of meetings, finalizing some sponsorship deals with Mavic, Acid Zapper, Accelerade and Raleigh while setting them up on Training Peaks.com for Coach Al was time consuming but key to the coming months. Reviewing their race schedule and picking out the individual and team goals is critical for a successful season.
Planning the second annual Whaling City Cyclone criterium for June 14th this year is going to be a real challenge with the downturn in the economy, but I am determined to keep this event alive to help build the awareness of cycling in the southeastern region of the state.
The “Raleigh Boys” reunionnn is taking place at the Fitchburg/Longsjo 50th Anniversary race this July 4th weekend and I will be bringing you up to date on this event on a weekly basis starting soon.
So there you have it, spring has sprung, the song birds have arrived, the Osprey is taking trout out of the lake, and I put all my winter cycling clothing, (not the legwarmers) up in the attic for the next 5 months.
The best is yet to come.
Stay Tuned to the Bike Guy.
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