Australian to win CA's bike race

Levi Leipheimer (from Santa Rosa, CA) has won the Amgen Tour of California for 3 years in a row, but this year, with only 1 day left to go, he's in 3rd place overall, 25 seconds behind after nearly 30 hours of racing. Dad and I rode to today's time trial in downtown LA.

Michael Rogers is the aforementioned Australian that looks like he's going to ruin Levi's party. Here he is going down the little steep hill in the race today:


Levi Leipheimer going up the same hill:

From 2010 AToC in LA

Tomorrow's final stage is a slightly hilly ride in Thousand Oaks.

Yesterday, the riders rode 135 miles from Palmdale to Big Bear, taking Angeles Crest Hwy on the way to Rim of the World Hwy at Big Bear. It was special watching them (from my computer) ride in places I've very much enjoyed riding in before.

This is on Angeles Crest Hwy, this side of Wrightwood.

(Thank you Graham Watson and associates for the picture.)

And, a more scenic shot, from one of my favorite places on CA-2/Angeles Crest, at about 7000'.

There is nothing like a bicycling fun ride . . .

. . . that starts at 5 a. m.



Rob went on the 22 mile ride with Ken and I (pictured below) on May 25th 2009, my 53rd birthday.

Bike Trail Closure Sunday

Sunday morning I rode north on the San Gabriel River bike trail. There were some interesting sights along the way. Just south of the 60 there was a group of people in robes standing out in waist deep water doing what seemed to be a baptism. About 100 yards farther along there were about 4 LA County Sheriff's cruisers and 6 or more deputies talking to an agitated man on the uphill side of the bike trail. Not that much of a ruckus.

A little while later, on the way back home in the heat, the bike trail had been closed by "do-not-cross” yellow tape. Cyclists were being directed to go back and take a street outside of the normal rive channel. I asked the office standing guard by the tape if it would be long. He said yes, it will be a long time and asked if I knew where the Thienes street gate was. I asked him what had happened that the trail was closed. He said he couldn't say. Chatting with some other cyclists, they said it must be a dead body, otherwise why would it be closes. I thought: maybe. Or, it could be something else too.

This was in the Los Angeles Times on Monday.

Day to Day Recovery

So there is an awesome x-ray image on the 12 screws in Lances clavicle here at CNN.

Lance has Surgery

He had 12 screws put in his clavicle.

via twitter: "howdy folks. Made it thru. Took longer than we thought. Playing with my kids right. Making me feel A LOT better."

Directly from Lance Armstrong, via Twitter

I'm alive! Broken clavicle (right). Hurts like hell for now. Surgery in a couple of days. Thanks for all the well wishes.

about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry

In Placerville . . .

It's cold and snowing. Yikes!

Stevii and Cindii are playing Wii golf.

Tomorrow we'll be at a lower elevation in Sacramento. Forty percent chance of rain. I think that means if you line up 10 cyclists, 4 of them will get wet.

That will be a lot of wet professional cyclists

Saturday's Fun Ride in Mexico

Some people from the YMCA (Tracy and Bruce) and I went down Saturday morning and come home the same day (the line to cross the border was fairly quick (I think less than one hour). This ride was marketed as the last ride ever. So, I really wanted to go. Someone said they heard that it will happen again. My average speed was about 12.9 mph. So 3:50 was my time. I think that was the same as last time I rode. Did I tell you there are some pretty steep hills?

Register for the Tour!

The Tour of California is now looking for volunteers! Whether you be around Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, or Pasadena and Escondido, there's liable to be something for you! See details here. Oh-- and Lance might participate.

Amgen Tour of California, Paris-Nice, the Tour de Georgia, the Dauphine-Libere and the Tour de France . . .

Lance Armstrong will come out of retirement next year to compete in five road races with the Astana team, according to sources familiar with the developing situation.

--from Velonews

. . . Dirk Demol has already signed on with Astana for 2009. it is further rumored that Lance won't take a paycheck, he's just bored.

Cycling News from the Team Wilson

It all started a long time ago. This wasn't exactly his first bicycle, it was more of a plastic thing. He was about 2 years old and not yet know by the moniker "Dance Wilstrong."





I heard that there was a crash. So I asked him, "I heard you had a pretty good crash? How did it happen?

How it happened in his own words: "At Rimforest on CA-18 (28 miles from Big Bear), I was enjoying the scenery, and a car turned left in front of me, I suppose with the sun in their eyes. I hit the front panel (fender) and flew to the ground (I think my bike stayed on the other side of the car). I crawled onto the curb, and many people were suddenly surrounding me, with Dad arriving a few minutes later. The roadside nurse said that I probably had a broken nose and collarbone, and possibly a slight concussion."


This photo is from Google Maps, "Street View."



How badly hurt are you? Did anyone get any pictures?

Half-hour later, I was out of the ambulance and at the Loma Linda emergency room/trauma center, where, after being examined with about 7 x-rays and a CT scan, I was informed that I had a broken nose and clavicle, with many abrasions. We left the hospital after 1am, after being admitted at 6-smthng pm.

My nose was reduced (straightened). I am currently wearing some kind of brace, typing with one hand (my right) & am still dirty.

How is the bike?

I guess my front wheel will need to be rebuilt b/c it's 1-2 inches out of true (tho I have a ready-to-go spare).

Are there any more pictures?

I was taking lots of pictures, so as to not get to far ahead of Dad, but naturally, I didn't digitally record the crash. The camera is still in my seatbag, which was taken with my bike to the cabin. However, we have some pics on our new camera phone, but don't know how to get them on the computer yet.

Bicycling in Beijing

There is a schedule of the cycling events on the USA Cycling website here.

Lytle Creek

I also was able to take pictures at Fontana and Lytle Creek yesterday. The ride makes up most of the way to Big Bear.

Getting out, forest edition

I took the camera on another trip up to Angeles Crest Hwy (turned around at only 4 hours). Some beauty in our own national forests ("Lands of Many Uses") may be experienced here.



Please excuse the unoriginal title.

2009 Tour of California annnounces route [UPDATED}

and adds another day! Velonews reports on it here. Nothing on Tour of California website yet.

[UPDATE] More information is now posted Tour of California

G's Cyclery has a blog!

And, they have a sense of humor! Check in out here.

I just saw Ernest yesterday for a new tire and some spare tubes. Now I am all set. And, for a ride with Rob at 6 AM! Oh, My!

Take Back the Tour

From the LA Times:

Versus came up with a striking promotional spot, "A New Stage Begins,'' in which some of the sport's most notorious dopers -- Erik Zabel, Alexander Vinokourov, Michael Rasmussen and Jan Ullrich -- are shown riding backward. The defrocked 2006 champion, Floyd Landis, is stripped of the yellow jersey.

The guys who sings on the ad is Paul Weller:

I'm gonna get myself straight.
I know it's never too late.
to make a brand new start.

I haven't really decided if I like the ad or not. It is emotionally powerful.

Watch the Tour

"I hope people who are interested in bicycle racing forget about me by the end of the week and turn on the television and watch the Tour, and give those guys the respect and attention they deserve,"

--Floyd Landis, July 1, 2008 to ESPN reporter Bonnie Ford

Can't forget Floyd, but we'll have the TV on.

News about news to come!

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will publish its decision on Floyd Landis' appeal on Monday, June 30 at 11 am EST. --From Journal of Competitive Cycling, June 27, 2008

Take Back the Tour

The false allegations and fair weather fans
They ripped the soul out of this race.
It belongs to us.

Take back the tour!

Click to see the whole promotional thing at Versus