NorCal Cycling News

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hats off to Velonews … i know i bag on the mag … but that’s only because i’m egalitarian to the bloodyredbone and want the grassroots pedaling bathed in as much glory as some of Lance’s shadows.
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well done, VN … and i want my cut of the IT royalties, delaney.
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Jim Langley is our oracle in Louisville, feeding us twittery-tweets about the goings-on in Kentuckyville.

• Mark Edwards (Bicycle Trip) took 9th in the 45-49 road race on Tuesday - top NorCal rider! Very close to podium. Got boxed in in the sprint.
• Time Trial was yesterday- my avg speed was 26mph, Mark’s was 29.8 - we finished mid group. I rode standard road bike w/clipon aero-bars
• Drafting controversy in my 55-59 TT could bump Kent Bostick and Tom Doughty (both Amgen-Giant) off their 1/2 podium spots.
• In the 50-54 TT, 2008 defending Champ and NorCal rider John Novitsky (VOS) won his second TT Nationals by 1/2 a second. Way to go, John!!
• Other great results from NorCal - Team Hammer riders Jack Kelso and Jim Fox podiumed in the 60-64 and 65-70 respectively.
• Also, in the 40-44 road race, Chris Phipps (Morgan Stanley) took 4th in a crazy finish where 3 guys rode off course. NorCal riders really rocked natz.

Awesome
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Ryan’s Ride 2009 from Luca Prasso on Vimeo.

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Several of NorCal’s finest moseyed east this week to race in the humid verdure of summertime Kentucky at Master Natz.

Jim Langley’s report on the men’s road race (55-59) is over at the Bike Tripper’s blog.

Langley’s nutshell summation of his road race:

 “I knew going in that I wasn’t going to be able to podium. The names are just too big. I’m a good cyclist not a great one. I could have raced smarter and tried to eek out a top 15 maybe, with a different attitude of not trying to race with the big boys. But, it was fun being out there on the Natz stage and I was clearly fitter and a better racer than about half the group, so that’s something to build on.”

 Congrats to Jim for giving it his best and representing the NorCal-hood.

Hello everyone. It’s Hernandito again.

First, let’s dispel some rumors, or at least alleviate some confusion. I am not Michael Hernandez, nor will I ever ascend to such lofty heights of style and speed. I am merely a guest-blogger, trying my best to stay true to the content that Mike would post, and to keep this blog updated frequently. Hernando = Mike, Hernandito = Me. An attempt to be subtle gone awry…

Now, whether you like it or not, I’ll be uploading a full-length post sometime in the next few days. However, I finally found a photograph of the inspirational handcyclist, courtesy of one of NorCal’s greatest (and most friendly) cycling photographers, Veronika Lenzi:

I figured I would post his photograph here, but I have also added him to the original post for the sake of completeness. Apparently his name is Matt Bailey, and I hope that somehow he finds out that he has inspired me. I also hope that he continues to light a fire in the hearts of other cyclists in the future. What a badass.

Anyway, I also highly recommend heading over to Ronnie Lenzi’s site. She snaps great photographs, and she just uploaded a gargantuan quantity of them to her website.

That’s all for now…but I’ll be back shortly.

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Thanks to all the flickr photographers who’ve been populating the norcalcyclingnews pool that randomly draws (the latest) photos down the right column of the website ~ really, really appreciate your time and beautiful work.
Amazing.
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And big thanks to the new norcalcyclingnews bloggers starting to publish on the site. There’s still openings on the ‘staff’ … so, if you’re interested in contributing ~ send me an email, pedalhome(at)hotmail.com.
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LANCE ARMSTRONG … why i molested him at Nevada City
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The Nevada City Classic - year after year we go to this race … dragging a few hundred of our friends and family to this old, cranky mining town that half-wakes just enough to lean out and sniff under their noses, “fpfff - these aren’t crowds … you should’a seen it when Lemond was here and the streets were lined with” - blahblahblah.
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But this year … because of a “twitt”er post a few days before the event ~ Nevada City was witness again to thousands upon thousands of spandex mad freaky-people cascading over their streets and businesses ~ running riot over parking & urination laws and (quite literally) drinking the town dry of every single drop (of beer).
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word.
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Yes … it was Lance Armstrong showing up ~ and showing us all what a superstar really can do to a gold-rush town.
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“I just don’t understand where all these people come from? Why do they come? Just for this one guy? Just to see a superstar? Can they name one other cyclist? Do they care?”

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… heard in more than a few conversations ~ such questions acidically burping out of long-time cyclists not able to overcome their chamois-crusted cynicism enough to believe it was good that one person could or should …or IS … able to bring out all these maddeningly frenzied folks to watch a bike race.
… and party.
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At the startline, it was a pretty special moment. A mass of 130 young and old die-hards for the bike getting an evil little taste of racing under the most potent of performance enhancers … a frenzied mob ~ that massive wall of emotion flooding into you, willing you, hurtling you past every barrier you’ve ever built for yourself.
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it’s addictive.
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People in every balcony, people thronging up and down both sides of the street like agitated hives … thousands. It was a moment to sit back, take it all in ~ contemplate just what our sport might …
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And that’s when i happened to turn around and see that Lance Armstrong was riding right up, and if i stepped in front of him a bit ~ no place to end at but right in front of me. And … that’s when it thunderclapped down on me … hell with it ~
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I’m a fan.
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… a fan of Lance Armstrong ~ not because of who he is, or what he wins … but simply because he DOES bring all these people out … all these crazy, smiling people … to watch bike racing. I’m a fan of what Lance Armstrong DOES – last weekend at Nevada City … he gave the world another look at riders like Ben Jacques Maynes and Shelley Olds. He brought the world’s eyes to NorCal … and we got to show them a bit of what makes us love this sport, live this sport.
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Living strong, I suppose.
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hernando-out

Untitled from Greg van den Dries on Vimeo.

Check out this wonderful bit of insight into world-class cycling by BenJacquesMaynes.

~ Go Ben Go ~

and kudos, BJM … for pulling your lapped teammate off the front from chasing down Lance - true class, true warrior.

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