First Bike Night Longmont of 2010

Good turnout for this year's first Bike Night Longmont:



C'mon out! Every Wednesday evening @ 6:30 PM, Senior Center parking lot.

Farm animals in Boulder County

Some four-legged friends, as seen on a bike ride today in Boulder County:

An alpaca (I think), and perhaps yaks in the background? This chilly and overcast day is their type of weather.


These horses were interested in why I stopped:



A proud horse on a different farm:

A Bicycle Helmet Is Always A Good Idea

As seen on US-34, just east of Brush, Colorado.

Boulder Cup Cyclocross Weekend, Day 1

The USA cyclocross elite are in Boulder this weekend for two races, one today at the Boulder Reservoir and another tomorrow in Boulder at Harlow Platts Park. Someday this race will have snow, wind, and cold temperatures but once again, like last year, it was warm and dry.

Deep sand and the dreaded goatheads were some of the obstacles out here. There was a reported twenty flats during one of the races, from goatheads, which occurred when riders just strayed just a little off course.

A mens 35+ rider dismounts to cross the sand "at the beach":


Prime goathead territory:


Rachel Lloyd and Olympian Georgia Gould line up for the women's elite race. They would eventually finish #2 and #1. Remember Georgia from two weeks ago at Xilinx in Longmont?



Georgia Gould won today, from start to finish:


A day on the beach:



Ryan Trebon, who always does well in Boulder, lines up for the mens elite race.


Crowds tend to build up at the obstacles (from elite mens race):



A rider will become a fan favorite, and get lots of applause, if they successfully pull off a "bunny hop"!

Todd Wells from Durango, right about to start the winning breakaway from the leading group, with just under a lap to go. Tim Johnson and Ryon Trebon behind. Final finishing order was Wells, Trebon, and Johnson.


Garmin-Chipotle pro road rider Tom Danielson was a spectator today. Hopefully, he'll finally get a Tour de France roster spot in 2009.


An elite rider reminds us that yesterday was Halloween:


Dave Towle (on the left): the always-present announcer:



A full wrapup is over at cyclingnews (womens, mens). Another race tomorrow; let's see if I get over to Boulder for that.

Boulder Cyclocross Series comes to Longmont

Round #2 of the Boulder Cyclocross Series was held today at the Longmont Xilinx campus in ideal northern European "cross" weather: rainy, muddy, and cold (4C, 39F).

If you missed it, there is another cyclocross race at Xilinx next Saturday (October 18, 2008), organized by Blue Sky Velo, with the legendary Dave Towle doing the announcing!

And in three weeks, the pro's will making a circuit stop at the Boulder Cup cyclocross race (Harlow Platts Park) on the weekend of November 1 - 2, much like they did last year at the Boulder Reservoir (notice the dry conditions and blue skies!)



The hose-down!

Diagonal Bicycle Bridge Dedication on May 16

An update on earlier posting about Boulder-Longmont Diagonal bicycle bridge: It will be dedicated on Friday, May 16 at 11:30 AM, with a "ride-through" by the Boulder County Commissioners and the community.

Full details here.

Get well soon, Timmy Duggan

Boulder pro cyclist Timmy Duggan suffered a crash on a downhill yesterday during Stage 3 of the Tour of Georgia. He's currently in the Athens, Georgia Regional Hospital where the initial diagnosis says he has a broken collarbone and shoulder blade, and a head injury. The good news from his team's web site is that he is expected to make a full recovery. JustGoHarder is another site offering good updates on his condition. Timmy was slotted to be his team's squad for the prestigious Giro D' Italia next month.

Here's Timmy (on the left in the white jersey) racing down Coffman Street in the Longmont Criterium last July, sprinting it out at the finish in the men's Cat 1 race:


Best wishes for a speedy recovery from Longmont.

New bicycle bridge on the Diagonal is in place

The new bicycle bridge was put into place this weekend over Lefthand Creek on the Diagonal (SH 119) near Longmont. This bridge provides a solution to a nagging safety problem for years, where cyclists and motorists were suddenly force to share the road with little safety margin between the two. Despite the usual grumbling (not worth referencing here) from a few Times-Call readers about this project being too expensive and cycling-centric, this bridge will benefit motorists and cyclists alike with the safety improvement.

Note: the bridge is not operational yet. June 1 is the current estimate for project completion, which includes the short diversion paths to/from the Diagonal.

The diagonal and the new bridge to the right, looking toward Longmont:

Closer looks:

The bridge appears to have been made by Big R in Greeley, in February:


The old and future way of cycling over Lefthand Creek on the Diagonal.

Buying Used bicycles: good or bad?

Advice from Dennis Teter, manager of Longmont's fine Acme Bicycles store, as mentioned in the Thursday, March 27, 2008 Times-Call:

"He advises against buying used bikes for this reason -- you never know how much wear and tear the components already have"

To give some context, the "reason" mentioned is that bike components matter, and the more riding you do, the better components you need.

Having put tens of thousand miles on my used bikes, I must admit that I was a little taken aback by this recommendation. But the overall article was targeted at road cycling beginners: "Advice for the beginner from Longmont's bike shops". Ok, Dennis is probably right. First experiences matter and a new rider doesn't want to get quickly discouraged by equipment failures or degraded components. That would introduce a safety issue, too. They'll probably want a good "out of the box" series of rides immediately and who can blame them?

So who is a candidate for used road bikes? Not the beginner and probably not the emerging Cat 3 rider looking for those few extra seconds to place high at the local criterium. I'd say the intermediate rider can benefit for many of the same reasons that used automobiles are good deals:

• Road bikes can be expensive, and prices are increasing as we speak. A new bike may be out of reach for the improving cyclist looking to upgrade their equipment but wait a few years and you could find the same model used within your wallet's capacity.
  
• There are deals to be had: good bikes can be found from people exiting the sport, having a new child, riders moving up themselves to a more advanced bike, ProTour teams disbanding (ha!), folks needing the cash, moving, or needing more room in the garage, etc. (Those Discovery bikes never did sell on eBay, by the way, going for US $10K apiece).
• If you know the seller, or share common ground with him/her (perhaps the seller works with you or lives in your neighborhood), you can probably arrange a better test drive than you could with a new bike in a store. If you trust the seller, you can also ask about how the bike was used.
  
• Used bike owners will be less intimidated to attempt intermediate or advanced maintenance on them vs. on a pristine new bike. Agree? The end result could be that you gain more familiarity with your used bike and are more prepared to deal with failures.
• Similar to the standard practice with used cars, there's nothing to prevent you from getting a seasoned bike mechanic's opinion about the bike before you buy it. I'm wondering if any local bike stores have an existing practice where they offer this type of service for a fixed price.
  

I agree that components could be worn down on used bikes but this is part of the discount experience. My (used) road bike needed a new rear Campy dérailleur which did set me back $70 after a year of riding it. And, I have always put new tires immediately on the used bikes that I've bought, just to eliminate any uncertainties about their condition.

One final argument in favor of used bikes: riding a used bike keeps them in circulation! After all, if everyone bought only new bikes, where would the used ones go? Consider it an eco-friendly thing to do and it also rescues them from perpetually collecting dust in someone's basement.

Weld County Winter cycling

Pictures from a President's Day cycling ride out east, earlier this week. No punctures this time!

First, I usually see this pond along Weld County Road 20.5 (and it's inviting deck) in the warm summer, when it looks very appealing. This iced-over view is nice, too. This house and property have been on the market for a while in case you're interested!


Looking west, from not too far from I-25:


And a closer look at Longs Peak, Mt. Meeker, and Twin Sisters (on the very right), all part of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Katie Compton, 2007 US Cyclocross Champion

Congratulations to Katie Compton of Colorado Springs, the USA 2007 Cyclocross elite female champion, at the nationals today in Kansas City. The Longmont connection? Katie uses a frame made by Primus Mootry right here in town.

The top three podium finishers were all at the Boulder Reservoir last month for the Redline Cup.

Redline Cyclocross Bike Race at the Boulder Reservoir

A great day for a cyclocross race at the Boulder Reservoir, loaded with USA's best riders. "Cross" is dominant in Belgium and Holland, but is growing in popularity here in the States. Unlike most other road and mountain bike cycling races, cross is a great spectator sport because the riders compete on a loop course, most of which is observable from a single point. The Redline Cup attracted some all-star cyclists, including Ryan Trebon, Katie Compton, Barry Wicks, and road cyclist and frequent Tour De France participant, Chris Horner. He must enjoy cross cycling because he also rode at the Xilinx Cup race last year in Longmont, although he missed the cut because of some mechanical problems. Today, he finished impressively in the top ten.

Multiple-time US champion and World's silver-medalist Katie Compton takes one of the tricky turns, on the her last lap, before winning the elite women's race today.











Today's best helmet:


Rachel Lloyd:


The start of the men's elite race








Early part of the men's elite race:



Cyclocross courses are required to have obstacles, such as telephone poles to go over or stairs to climb. In today's race, one of the obstacle sections had two boards on the course. Most riders dismounted and carried their bikes over, but a few "bunny jumped" 'em much to the crowd's delight. You can gain some valuable seconds if you're good at this but it can be a serious wipe-out if you miss.














Six foot five Ryan Trebon of the Kona team, the men's elite winner, just like last year in Longmont. He overcame a slow start to take a commanding lead.


A wave to the crowd, ten feet in front of the finishing line.


A cross tire: thin but knobby:


These tires come in handy for dealing with deep sand and loose gravel, all part of cyclocross:



Chris Horner after the race:


Is Cyclocross weather supposed to be this nice? The pictures you always see from Belgium cross races show a lot of mud, rain, and gray skies!



Race results on Cyclingnews. Velonews has their results here