bollettino di bicicletta - · pdf fileteam big bear is the official timing and sanctioning...

www.paacycling.org

PAA Pro Team Captain Michael

Dansk introduced the Pro Team

to the rest of the PAA club at the

March 2007 club meeting.

All Pro Team riders were in at-

tendance. Each rider introduced

themselves, described their

background, and their goals for

the season.

Michael has done a great job of

developing Pro Team talent from

within the PAA club. A few exam-

ples of this are John McKeen,

Fritz Bottger, and Simon Nung.

All of these riders have moved up

from CAT4 and CAT3.

The PAA Pro team has started

out this year with some great

results, including many top-10

finishes. At the Torrance Crite-

rium, the PAA Pro team did ex-

tremely well with Armin Rahm

getting 3rd and Fritz Bottger get-

ting 5th.

More information on the team

can be found at their new web-

site,

www.paaprocycling.com.

Let’s get out there and support

this talented group of riders!

May 2007

Wounded in Act ion? 2

What ’s on the Web? 3

Team Times 4

Banner 6

Our Favor i te R ides 9

PAA in P ic tures 10

PAA Sponsors 14

Tech Corner 5

Inside this issue:

Upcoming Race Dates: • 5/4-5/6—Fontana National MTB

Race

• 5/6—San Luis Rey Road Race

• 5/13—Valencia Grand Prix

• 5/19—SCNCA ITT Champion-ships

• 5/20—Castaic Lake MTB Race

• 5/20—Ontario #3 Crit

• 5/20—West LA Grand Prix

• 5/27—Barry Wolfe Grand Prix

Pasadena Athletic Association

PAA general meetings are held

the second Wednesday of the

month starting at 7:30 PM at La

Cabanita, 3447 N. Verdugo Rd.,

Glendale, CA 91208.

Board of Directors

President Matt Gunnell

Vice President Eddie Ramirez

Secretary Boni Forte

Treasurer Jim Small

Board Member Rick Babington

Board Member Lee Bird

Board Member Morgan Kapp

Board Member Banner Moffat

Board Member Jeff Moreton

Board Member Jerry Sanders

Board Member Aaron Tuchfeld Bollett ino di Bicic l e t ta

PAA Pro Team Introduced to the Club

The 2007 PAA Pro Team

Michael Dansk proudly shows off one of the PAA Pro

Team’s new Principia bikes.

www.paacycling.org

Ahhh the thrill of bike rac-

ing, the speed, the adrena-

line, THE RUSH!

We all love it, but along

with the endorphins comes

the potential for mishaps.

An old saying about bike

racing: “It’s not IF you are

going to crash, but WHEN”.

Some of the most common

cycling injuries are abra-

sions (Road Rash), Contu-

sions (Bruises), and Hema-

tomas (sharp impact result-

ing in significant pooling of

blood and inflammatory

fluids).

Keep in mind that the heal-

ing process begins from the

moment a wound occurs.

So to help your body with

this process, you can use

the following tips:

1-Follow basic first aid pro-

tocol for wound care and

cleansing.

2-If injury is severe; seek

medical attention ASAP.

3-Take time off the bike in

order to heal completely.

4-Adopt internal healing

protocol listed below.

Nutrition for Healing:

A significant factor in the

wound healing is nutritional

health. During healing, it is

important to boost your

intake of some vital nutri-

ents.

Protein - for anabolism.

The skin and underlying

tissues are comprised

mostly of protein. Severe

abrasions require more pro-

tein for healing.

Vitamin A - promotes

healthy epithelial (skin) tis-

sues.

Zinc - a major component

of many enzymes needed in

the wound healing process.

Vitamin C - required for

the production of collagen.

Proteolytic enzymes -

may be helpful in healing

due to anti-inflammatory

properties, especially effec-

tive for bruising and hema-

toma from blunt trauma.

Avoid smoking, alcohol,

and caffeine during the

healing process!!

Some after effects of injury

include: Fatigue, Sluggish-

ness, Mild Depression, Cold

or Flu, Reduced Immunity,

Reduced Performance,

Clumsiness, Re-injury.

Testimonial by Lee Bird:

In November 2005 while on

a Saturday morning ride

with Coach Rick, I was in-

volved in an accident with

another rider. My injuries

included a torn Anterior

Cruciate Ligament (ACL),

two fractures in my left

hand, and cuts and scrapes.

After getting home and try-

ing to clean up, I realized

that my injuries were pretty

severe and went to the hos-

pital. After x-rays and a

prescription for pain killers,

I was sent home with lim-

ited instructions on what to

do next.

That afternoon I received a

call and then an email from

Rick. As a friend, Rick

wanted to make sure that I

understood that the healing

process needed to begin

now. I followed his instruc-

tions (as seen here), and I

know that they helped.

Three days after my acci-

dent, I had my first of two

hand surgeries. While still in

a cast, I began a six week

physical therapy program to

get my knee ready for ACL

graft surgery. It was after

my knee surgery that I

learned the most valuable (Continued on page 11)

Wounded in Action?

“We all love it, but

along with the

endorphins comes the

potential for mishaps.

An old saying about

bike racing: “It’s not IF

you are going to crash,

but WHEN”.

Bo l let t ino d i B ic ic let ta

Rick Babington

Rick Babington can be

reached at

[email protected]

www.paacycling.org

So you’re new to PAA, or maybe

just new to racing. For all things

about road, track, and time-trial

racing in Southern California, visit

http://www.scnca.org. SCNCA is

the Southern California/Nevada

Cycling Association. This website

has the main race calendar for Southern California, as well as race results and point standings. This is

also a great place for resources such as USCF forms and rule books.

If you’re looking for mountain bike racing information, check out

http://teambigbear.com/. Team Big Bear is the official timing and

sanctioning body for Southern California mountain bike racing and

the national mountain bike series, NMBS. Don’t look for anything

pretty here. This website is a

blog format that unfortunately,

is not very pretty.

For everything there is to know about cycling in the United States, go to http://www.usacycling.org/.

This is the official website of the USA Cycling. Race results, calendars, license information, and more

can all be found here. This website has had some recent improve-

ments and is updated frequently. If you haven’t been here in awhile,

you need to visit it again soon.

What’s on the Web?


A Note From the Editor:

Welcome to the new PAA newsletter. My goal is to provide you with interesting stories and information

on cycling, that you may not otherwise be able to get from the PAA website. Some of the regular fea-

tures that you will find include a monthly coaching tip from Rick Babington, stories from Banner Moffat,

and monthly columns including "what we're riding", "rider interviews", "what's on the web", "sponsor

profiles", and new this month, “tech corner” and “our favorite rides”.

Please help me make this a great newsletter by contributing! Please email me pictures, stories, ideas,

etc. Thank you to everyone that sent me lots of great contributions for this April edition. I sincerely ap-

preciate your help!

Lee Bird, Editor [email protected]

www.paacycling.org

Team Times


ROUTE: Up Angeles Crest from the second (uphill)

light at the freeway to the entrance to the Clear

Creek Information booth parking area.

Scott Powell 41:10 Mar-07 Daniel Lowetz 43:40 Mar-07 Kevin Martin 44:08 Jul-06 Banner Moffat 44:40 Mar-07

ROUTE: One lap of the Rose Bowl. Time Trial Solo.

Jeff Moreton 7:12 Feb-07

ROUTE: Corner of Lida and Vista (dotted line) up to

“No Stopping Anytime” sign on top of Lida. Same

route used for uphill TT at the PAA training camp.

Duane Atiga 5:34 Mar-07

ROUTE: Chantry Flats climb from the top of Santa

Anita Blvd. to the Chantry Flats parking lot (gate to

gate). 3.25 miles.

ROUTE: Up Lower Sam Merrill Trail, from the water

fountain to the trail junction at Echo Mtn.

Brian Provost 25:24 Oct-06

ROUTE: Down El Prieto Trail. From the start of the

singletrack to the big rock where the trail joins the

fire road. Classic “old” El Prieto route.

Many of you have seen my postings of times on the PAA Yahoo Group Message Board. The concept is this: PAA members

can post their times on whatever specific route they like to time themselves on. Others can then ride that route and post

their best times too. The same way that after playing a video game it is fun to see how you stack up to the others who

have played before you, it will be fun to see how you stack up on a bicycle time trial. The purpose - other than just for the

fun of it - is also to suggest new routes for team members to go out and try. As well, it may encourage riders to push

themselves a little extra on some routes, and it might even inspire some team members to train for the sole purpose of

achieving a higher ranking on one of the listed routes. Even if you don't have a fast time on a route, posting your time will

still serve a purpose: It will encourage others to give it a try, and it will help people who want to know where they stand in

the bike fitness hierarchy. They call Time Trials "The Race of Truth" because you can't fake it, but I know you all can han-

dle the truth! So don't be too shy or too proud to give it a try and have your time posted. Remember; it's just a game!

Here are the rules:

1) Define a specific route precisely if it's a new location.

2) Send me your time.

3) Send me your name (or pseudonym if you prefer)

4) Send me your age and your race category.

5) You can include a BRIEF list of excuses or explanations such as "strong tail wind" or "drank too much last night".

6) Honor System; no cheating. If you post a time that's off the chart, you better have a reputation or witnesses!

Format: (Route) Time - Name - age - category - date - comment

Send your times to me at [email protected] I will keep track and post them periodically on Yahoo and hope-

fully we will have an exciting list to include in next month's newsletter.

Lyle Warner 9:02 Feb-07 Steve 14:46 Mar-07 Scott Powell 35:05 Feb-07

Scott Powell 16:36 Feb-07 Oscar Guzman 20:25 Apr-07

www.paacycling.org

One of the most common causes of sloppy

shifting is a bent cable at the rear derail-

leur. (Fig 1). In this case the cable housing

is capped with a plastic ferrule and the

housing is too short. This bend causes fric-

tion in the cable and slows the up shift

causing the chain to ride in between the

cogs.

The best fix is to replace the short housing

with a longer piece of housing and the

plastic ferrule with an alloy one. (Fig.2).

It is standard practice at Bicycle John’s to

always install alloy ferrules.

Editor—Kevin Casey is a senior mechanic

with Bicycle John’s. We are excited that

Kevin has offered to provide a monthly

contribution to our newsletter. Please visit

him at the Bicycle John’s store in Burbank

the next time that you need help with your

ride.

Tech Corner Smooth Shifting 1


Kevin Casey

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Coffee afterwards....

This will solely be a social

ride, so if you've been talk-

ing about getting on the

bike again or would like to

get to know the ladies or

wives/girlfriends in the PAA

group, this would be the

ride. And for all you guys

who have wives/girlfriends

that have been wanting to

ride, this would be the per-

fect ride to start, since the

goal is to encourage new

riders, especially women.

Well, it's that time.... I am

adding another ride for next

month, so make sure to

mark your calendars!. :)

PAA Ladies/Fun Ride

When: Sunday, May 6th &

May 20th, 2007

Meet at Rose Bowl Parking

lot K

Rolling out at 8:00am (Rain

Cancels)

Easy pace, approximate

distance 25-30 miles

All riders are welcome for

socializing and support (so

the guys can come along for

a co-ed ride), but I would

like this to be an easy, get-

ting-used-to-road-biking

ride or just getting back on

the bike, in a very NON-

COMPETITIVE environment.

If you know of any friends

or family who might be in-

terested, please forward

this on. Hope to see a few

of you there!

[email protected]

Ladies Ride Cici Arenas

www.paacycling.org

Rose Bowl Rider Primer (part 2)

See the April Bollettino di Bici-cletta for Part 1 (http://

verdugocycling.com/

PAA_Newsletter_April_2007.pdf)

I originally wrote this Primer

years ago for friends who were thinking of giving the Rose Bowl

Ride a try. Some of them went

on to become reliable Rose Bowl

regulars. So if there are any

team mates who are new to the

ride or thinking about doing it, maybe this will help "bring them

up to speed":

Drafting—Sometimes when you

are completely surrounded by

the pack you don't even have to pedal, and out of the corner of

your eye you see someone on

the outskirts pedaling furiously

and still not keeping up. The

price you pay is that you are

trapped and at the mercy of any incompetence surrounding you.

However, any time you need a

rest or want to conserve energy

what I call "the embracing arms

of the pack" can be magic.

You do get a little draft outside the pack as long as you are

close beside it and back from the

front a ways. Two can draft off

one by sharing the slipstream,

but it is easiest when you are

smack in the middle of it directly behind someone. You can feel

the wind lightly buffeting both

shoulders and it gets quieter.

You pay a potentially big price of

less visibility, however.

Although putting your front wheel about 6 inches behind the

next guy's rear wheel gives the

maximum draft, in such a

loosely organized pack with a

wide variety of skill levels, you

should give yourself a bigger and safer gap. When the rider in

front of you is large, the more of

a pull you get from his draft

but... the worse the visibility. Sometimes you get a skinny,

short rider whose draft is use-

less. I call them vampires be-

cause it is like they cast no

shadow.

You need to be a steady rider and able to prevent gaps from

opening up in front of you to be

a good person to draft behind.

The less you use your brakes the

better, and sometimes you can

sit up rather than put on your brakes to slow down a little and

that helps the riders behind you

by pushing more air out of their

way. Sometimes changing

"lanes" has to be done, but keep

in mind it makes drafting behind you harder. In the races when

you see a rider trying to break

away from the pack they swerve

all over the place trying to make

it as difficult for the chasers as

possible. Don't try that at the Rose Bowl.

Corners—Cornering in a tight

pack can be nerve wracking for

riders new to the experience

since you have to do it exactly in

concert with the riders around you. I keep my vision low and

not focused on any one thing but

rather try to see all my periph-

eral vision at once. Instead of

steering based on where you are

going you steer based on the riders around you. You have to

look at the wheels around you as

stationary objects and as long as

they stay stationary or if they

move away, all is well. If they

move toward you, you have to make the minimum adjustment

to stay as close to the middle of

all of them as possible.

Often there is an accordion ef-

fect at the corners which is most

pronounced back in the pack. The whole pack slows down to fit

through the bottleneck of the

corner and then speeds up to

catch up with itself and re-

form as a pack.

This slowing

and speed-

ing costs extra

energy for the riders at the

back of the

pack who likely

can least afford

it and for the

strong riders at the front, the

corners are perfectly smooth and

steady. It's one of those, "the

harder I work, the luckier I get"

type of situations. Being on the

outside or inside of the pack can make cornering easier, but there

is more wind and you have to

stay out of the pedestrian white

line on the inside and beware of

cars on the outside.

Pulling—Someone has to be in front and no one does it for long

because it is a lot of work; as

much as 30% more work. Usu-

ally there are 10 or so riders

single file at the front and the

one pulling will move to one side when he has had enough and

number 2 becomes number one.

You can be number 10 and feel-

ing good, but as you move up

one by one, the draft gets thin-

ner, the pedaling harder and you start to wonder if you can keep

up the pace. If you move out of

line early before you do your

pull, the rider behind you will

momentarily hate you because

he has to close the gap. So it is best if you can hang in there,

and there is no shame in doing a

short pull - 5 or 10 seconds even

- and a series of short pulls is

actually more efficient and can

pick up the pace of the whole pack.

(Continued on page 7)

“Although putting your

front wheel about 6

inches behind the next

guy's rear wheel gives

the maximum draft, in

such a loosely

organized pack with a

wide variety of skill

levels, you should give

yourself a bigger and

safer gap”.

Banner Moffat


www.paacycling.org

Rose Bowl Ride Primer (part 2)


After pulling you either find a

place to slide back in line or

more often the bulk of the pack

just overtakes you, and, while

huffing and puffing, you try to find a spot with enough draft to

catch your breath. It can be

hard if the pack speeds up just

as you finish pulling. That's

when you find yourself going

from first to last in a pack of over a hundred in seconds. Don't

be afraid to pull even though it

may make it hard to keep up.

It's great practice and you are

there to get a work out aren't

you?

When you move over at the end

of your pull, always be careful

that you are not being overtaken

on that side. Sometimes riders

decide you are not pulling fast

enough and start overtaking you before you are done pulling.

Other times they just yell at you

to pedal harder as if you weren't

already giving them your heart

and lungs on a platter. Some-

times, not too often, on a slow day you can try to pull and no

one follows you. You find your-

self out in front with no one

drafting behind you. I like to

pretend that I'm too strong for

the pack and enjoy the fantasy while I can - until the pack

catches up as they always do,

and I'm once again struggling to

keep up.

Getting dropped—It has hap-

pened to almost everyone in the pack at one time or other so

don't worry about it. It's sup-

posed to be hard; all the riders

at the front of the pack are do-

ing their damnedest to make it

hard and if it were easy we wouldn't be there. Sometimes

you either don't have the legs,

the lungs or technique and the

(Continued from page 6) only way to get them is to keep

trying. I guarantee if you keep

trying every Tuesday and Thurs-

day and try again every time the pack passes you after getting

dropped, you will eventually

keep up for the full 10 laps.

Money back guarantee!

Out of the blue, sometimes the

pack speeds up and stretches out and it can be a lot of hard

work to hang in there. If you

have any strength left in you,

don't give up because it always

slows back down sooner or later

and if you are still in the pack, you will get your recovery. Often

the difference between keeping

up and getting dropped is just

20 seconds more of pushing

hard. I used to be annoyed by

how riders who I knew were not as fit as I was would hang in

there while I would get dropped

like a wet rag. They were riding

on experience, not muscle and

knew how to conserve energy

with smart drafting and how to time their exertions to the ebb

and flow of the pack.

When you are dropped, you can

ride at your own pace till the

pack laps you and then can try

to jump back in, or you can fall in with some other mini pack.

Occasionally you get dropped

only to find you were in a break

away pack and didn't know it.

Then, if you are not too tuckered

out, you can happily join the "B" pack. Some people try to jump

back into the pack by coming

down the hill on the side street

at the NW corner to get gravity

helping them to get up to pack

speed. It is not a good idea be-cause they have to run a stop

sign and cross the on-coming

traffic lane to do it. Some people

use the hill in the middle of the

west side where at least there is

a better view of on-coming traf-fic, but you still have to come up

to speed on the wrong side of

the yellow lines. The best place

is the first (south) half of the

west side. The pack usually goes slower there, you can see them

coming and there is usually

room to start from the right

lane. However you have to use

your own power to get up to

speed - there is no gravity as-sist.

Break-aways—Break-aways

are when a front group opens a

significant gap between them

and the main pack. If it is just a

few riders, they will almost al-ways be caught and swallowed

up by the pack. When there are

about 10 or more and if they

know how to work together with

good rotation at pulling (or they

are much stronger than the main pack), it can succeed in

staying off the front to the end.

Usually the people at the head of

the main pack take break-aways

as a challenge and will pick up

the pace to catch them. Being part of a break-away can be

exciting, but it can also be a

mistake. I've been spit out the

back of break-aways so ex-

hausted that I couldn't even

keep up with the "B" pack. Like-wise, sometimes the whole pack

is going just too damn fast and

you expect to get dropped any

second. Then suddenly, like a

blessing from God, the break-

away occurs and now that the strongest riders have left the

pack behind, you can hang in

there with a new lease on life.

The hard part can be if you are

right there at the point of sepa-

ration. Do you close the gap like you should? Do you jump for-

ward to become part of the

break-away? Or do you hang

back in relative comfort and

think of all your justifications for


“Sometimes riders

decide you are not

pulling fast enough and

start overtaking you

before you are done

pulling. Other times

they just yell at you to

pedal harder as if you

weren't already giving

them your heart and

lungs on a platter”.

“Being part of a break-

away can be exciting,

but it can also be a

mistake. I've been spit

out the back of break-

aways so exhausted

that I couldn't even

keep up with the "B"

pack”.

www.paacycling.org


Hurricane, Utah

For those of you who yearn

for adventurous mountain

biking, there are some

world class trails that fit the

description only 6.5 hours

drive from Pasadena. I just

got back from a trip there.

Gooseberry Mesa is a trail

system created by and for

mountain bikers and you

can see the thought process

of the creators as you ride

it. Rather than go from

point A to point B, the trails

twist and turn from one

interesting spot to ride a

bike to the next with some-

thing different to think

about around every turn

[Photo 1]. Some of the

challenges are quite hard

[Photo 2], some are easy,

but most of them are in

between; just tricky enough

to make you think. The

mesa is a slightly tilted tri-

angle with only 400 ft of

elevation gain from the 2

mile wide end to the pointy

end [Photo 3] about 9 miles

away, so all the ups and

downs are very short [Photo

4]. The main trail that goes

up one side and down the

other is about 16 miles

long, and there are a vari-

ety of alternate trails that

explore the mesa in be-

tween.

The whole mesa is a couple

hundred feet above the de-

sert floor with vertical cliffs

on both sides so whenever

the trails get close to the

edge you find yourself

pausing to enjoy the spec-

tacular views (and you find

yourself thinking, "I would-

n't want to miss the trail at

this turn!") [Photo 5] The

trails twist through the trees

and you sometimes have to

be careful not to catch your-

self on a branch and then all

of a sudden you emerge

[Photo 6] onto large undu-

lating rock slabs (AKA slick-

rock) [Photo 7] which you

navigate by following white

dots painted on the rock

[Photo 8].

There are no trails like these

in S. California. For exam-

ple, there is one trail where

you ride along a smooth


Banner Moffat Gooseberry Mesa

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photo 6

Photo 7

“The whole mesa is a

couple hundred feet

above the desert floor

with vertical cliffs on

both sides so whenever

the trails get close to

the edge you find

yourself pausing to

enjoy the spectacular

views ”.

www.paacycling.org


Palm Desert, CA

For 15 years, my wife and I

have vacationed during

spring break in Palm De-

sert. Before I started riding,

I would spend my time in

the desert playing golf,

lounging by the pool, and

enjoying the great restau-

rants.

About five years ago, I

brought my bike along with

me for the first time. After

doing a little research on

the Internet, I found some

local ride descriptions, and

started cruising my bike

around the desert valley. In

April, the weather is still

cool enough that morning

rides can be very pleasant.

By 8:00am, the sun is up

and it is usually warm

enough to be able to ride

without any jackets or

warmers. Most of the roads

go east/west and north/

south, so cris-crossing the

valley is not that difficult,

even without a map. Almost

all of the roads have a fairly

wide bike lane as well, mak-

ing the rides feel safe.

My favorite ride while in the

desert is Highway 74. High-

way 74 is a mountain climb

that is very similar to riding

up Angeles Crest Highway,

but with much different

scenery. The ride starts at

the intersection

El Paseo and

Monterey Road

in Palm Desert.

I usually begin

with an early

morning coffee

at Starbucks on

El Paseo, then

start my ride

up the moun-

tain. Highway

74 begins with a 9%

straight climb for about 3

miles. During this initial

climb, you pass some of the

most beautiful homes in the

area at the Bighorn Golf

Club. Now the fun begins!

Keep on climbing and climb-

ing. (My ride usually lasts

another 12 to 15 miles of

climbing). This climb in-

cludes some of the most

incredible series of

switchbacks, each offering

an incredible view of the

desert valley below.

I usually do this ride in the

morning to beat the heat.

During the morning hours,

there is a steady flow of

traffic coming down the hill,

although not as many cars

going up. The drivers are

courteous, although the

shoulder of the road is nar-

row, like Angeles Crest.

Take plenty of water as

there are not any water

fountains or rest areas.

On my last ride up this road

in April, I must have seen at

least 100 golf balls littered

all over the side of the road

for miles and miles. Not sure

where they all came from,

but they did keep me enter-

tained during the tough

climb.

If you enjoy climbs, this is

definitely a ride that you

must try!

“I usually begin with

an early morning coffee

at Starbucks on El

Paseo, then start my

ride up the mountain”.

Lee Bird Our Favorite Rides

www.paacycling.org


PAA in Pictures

Coach Larry Working Hard at Dominguez

CAT 3’s Out in Full-Force at LA Circuit

Kevin Martin showing true courage in the face of a snow

ball attack by Brian Provost

Matt Gunnell practicing his “I need to catch my breath”

technique

Bob Llamas—Second GC San Diego Cyclo-Vets

www.paacycling.org

Wounded in Action?


lesson through this whole

process. About one-week

after surgery while in physi-

cal therapy, my therapist

noticed some redness

around my knee wound.

Days later, this would be

diagnosed as Cellulites, a

form of a staph infection.

Even with all of my careful

attention, cleanings, dress-

ing changes, I was still in a

lot of trouble. I ended up

having to take IV antibiotics

for 14 days. I will never

forget that experience!

Even if your scrapes or cuts

seem minor, take care of

them! Staph infections are

becoming more common

and can be very scary.

Clean and properly dress

your wounds. The time you

spend taking care of your-

self after an accident, will

be rewarded in the end with

good health.

Resources:

Medlind & Medline/Pubmed:

www.nlm.nih.gov

Wound healing process: Dr.

Falanga, Woundbiotech,

www.bu.edu

Wound Care Healing Insti-

tute: www.wcei.net

Healing from the inside out:

www.bravesoldier.com

(Continued from page 2)

Bike to Work Week Cici Arenas

For the 13th straight year cyclists are expected to participate in this year's Bike to Work

Week, May 14-18, 2007. Not only does bicycling reduce traffic, improves your health and

saves you money on gas (especially now!), but it improves the environment. And coming

out to ride in force will make others aware that there is an alternative to driving and also

let the current riders out there be seen and heard. There will also be pit stops on Bike to

Work Day, Thursday, May 17th from 7am to 10am throughout Los Angeles, offering re-

freshments and free giveaways. Following are just a few:

• Union Station East Portal, 800 N. Alameda St, LA

• Hollywood/Western Station, Metro Red Line

• West Hollywood City Hall at Santa Monica Bl & Sweetzer Av

• Glendale Civic Center, 613 E. Broadway Av

• Nestle USA, 800 N. Brand Bl – Glendale

• Fire Station 37, 3430 E. Foothill Bl, Pasadena –

• Pasadena Central Library at Garfield Av & Walnut Av

• Polytechnic School at Wilson Av & California Bl

• REI Arcadia, 214 Santa Anita Av, Arcadia

• El Monte Bus Station, El Monte Expressway

• Whittier City Hall, 7333 Greenleaf Av

• Covina Metrolink Station

There are also special events being held

throughout Los Angeles and the Pasadena area

to help celebrate the bicycle as a healthy, non-

polluting method of commuting to work. More

information and helpful tools are available at: http://www.bikemetro.com/home/home.asp

If you plan to commute all of Bike to Work

Week, why not post your route? You might be

surprised at how many members already com-

mute. Let's show the community that bicyclists

count and we are part of the solution for a bet-

ter commute, a better environment and a

healthier lifestyle.

www.paacycling.org

Rose Bowl Ride Primer (part 2)


being a "B" pack rider?

The Sprint—I can't tell you how

to sprint because I'm a lousy

sprinter at best. I can tell you

what it is. The second half of the

last lap is usually fairly fast com-ing up to the last SW corner as

those who want to be at the

front move up and those who

are already there try to hold

their position. Usually the pack

separates a bit after the last corner as the sprinters (or want-

to-be sprinters like me) pull

away from those who don't care.

The real sprint starts on the

down side of the small hill in the

middle of the west side and eve-ryone tries to get to the line

first. A lot of riders poop out

before they get there and the

others have to maneuver around

them. If you poop out, hold a

steady line and try not to get in the way. Hold a steady line after

the sprint too. There is a lot of

mixing up after the sprint when

some rider’s glide, others pedal

and others pull over.

An interesting phenomenon has occurred to me several times,

which might give you a clue,

how to achieve good sprinting

position. First I would decide

that I was not going to sprint

that day and so would hang back from the very front and stay

towards the outside where I

might not be in the way. The

next thing I know, just by fol-

lowing whatever wheel is in front

of me, I have been pulled to the front and am in perfect position

for the sprint - something I don't

always accomplish when I am

really trying!

The Reason Why—One part of why is the thrill; the same urge

that sends people to the roller

coaster. Bicycling as fast as you

(Continued from page 7) can (in fact much faster than

you could alone) inches away

from other bikers and sur-

rounded by hundreds of people experiencing the same thing is a

thrill. Being in front and setting

the pace for a couple hundred

riders behind you even for only a

few seconds is a thrill. Merely

not getting dropped for more laps than ever have before is a

thrill.

I have a theory that activities,

which require intense concentra-

tion on what is happening in the

world around you, are very therapeutic, and the Rose Bowl

ride fits the bill. You forget your

worries, your job, your past and

for a little while you exist com-

pletely in present time. You are

just a hyper-alert pedaling ma-chine constantly adjusting the

body and the bike to do what

needs to be done. There's not

much room for daydreaming on

the Rose Bowl ride! After exert-

ing yourself like that and con-centrating so hard, it's amazing

how refreshed and relaxed you

can feel afterwards.

It's a great work out. The pack

never asks you if you are feeling

okay today or if you really want to do 10 laps or if now is a good

time to speed up. You just do

what it tells you and recover

later and in that way it can be

better than the highest priced

Beverly Hills personal coach. It can be heartless: if you don't

have the strength or skill, it's

hard to kid yourself that you do

as the tail end of the pack pulls

away like a missed train. And

the ride happens like clockwork twice a week. There is no orga-

nizing required by anybody; just

show up and ride.

People need a challenge to feel

alive. First there is just doing the

10 laps, then there is being able

to move to the front, then there

is the ability to close a gap when

it happens, then there is the

occasional pull on a slow day, then there is a pull when the

pack is really cooking, and then

there is always the sprint at the

end.

Seeing the pack stretch out in

front of you like a quarter mile long snake -- catching someone's

wheel that pulls you right up to

the front -- doing more than you

thought you could, again and

again -- closing a gap with an

effort that feels like throwing yourself on a hand grenade to

keep the pack together -- going

from complete exhaustion after a

pull to feeling ready to crank

your way back to the front after a

miracle recovery in the draft -- having found the strength in the

sprint that others have lost on

earlier laps -- getting high on

endorphins from a great workout

when earlier you were consider-

ing a nap on the couch instead -- flying over the landscape sur-

rounded by riders who are ex-

periencing the same thrill as you

-- these are some of the reasons

why.

“You forget your

worries, your job, your

past and for a little

while you exist

completely in present

time. You are just a

hyper-alert pedaling

machine constantly

adjusting the body and

the bike to do what

needs to be done”.

www.paacycling.org

Gooseberry Mesa


rock ledge about 5 feet off

the ground which is about 2

feet wide. It curves around

a giant boulder and also has

a rock overhang just above

your head. There is another

trail which takes you

through curvy, smooth

channels in the rocks just

wide enough to ride through

and deep enough to put

your hand out to lean

against [Photo 9]. It's like

riding through a Star Trek

alien planet movie set.

We rode up the more tech-

nical west side and so when

we came down the faster

east side it was a relatively

high speed bomb [Photo

10] although the trail turns

too much to get going really

fast. There is primitive

camping anywhere on the

mesa, but most people

camp on the outer edge

(Continued from page 8) where you can see for

miles. The camping is under

trees on sandy soil [Photo

11] and there is a single

toilet centrally located on

the mesa which is about

half a mile from most camp

sites. There are cows on the

mesa too and don't be sur-

prised if you wake up in the

morning with a herd of cows

eyeing you suspiciously.

The parking at the trailhead

[Photo 12] is about a mile

further up a rough road

from the toilet.

Some of the 6 miles of dirt

roads that access the mesa

are rough but not to rough

for a 2 wheel drive street car

- as long as there is no re-

cent rain. When it rains too

much, the roads can become

too muddy for even 4 wheel

drive so you have to watch

the weather. One year we

got there to discover some

campers in a small sedan

who had become effectively

trapped, were living off Cliff

Bars and waiting for the

road to dry out enough to

leave. If you decide to go,

there is a fantastic website

(http://

www.utahmountainbiking.co

m/) which has detailed de-

scriptions of the trail with

photos and maps. You can

also look up some other

great trails in the area. In

fact, the site has descrip-

tions of almost every trail in

the state of Utah! At the

height of summer, Goose-

berry Mesa might get too

hot for comfort and likewise

too cold in winter for most

warm blooded Southern

Californians, so I recom-

mend you visit during April

through June or September

through November. How

about now?

“It's like riding through

a Star Trek alien planet

movie set”.

Photo 8

Photo 9

Photo 10

Photo 11

Photo 12

“There are cows on the

mesa too and don't be

surprised if you wake

up in the morning with

a herd of cows eyeing

you suspiciously”.

www.paacycling.org

PAA Sponsors

http://www.fc.ml.com/kevin_r_martin

http://www.bicyclejohns.com

http://www.callus2sell.com

http://www.calrad.com

[email protected]

http://www.pasadenacosmeticdentist.com

http://www.congressmedical.com

http://www.louisgarneau.com

http://www22.verizon.com


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