I'm back!

After a long hiatus on the blogging scene I decided I am going to give 'er a try again. Lots of fun stuff going on recently so try to keep up!

Yesterday was the Hines Park Time Trial. A 20k (12 mile) out and back TT on relativity flat, notoriously windy Hines Drive. This was my first official road time trial so I didn't really know what to expect. It couldn't be that hard, right? Ride until I'm about to puke, then scale it back a notch. The cool thing about this race is they have an Eddy Merckx category (meaning no aero equipment). Looking at the times from last year and given my (lack of) training I figured this would be the right class for me to enter.

The first thing I noticed about this road racing thing is how organized it was. When I rolled up to the start tent the guy ahead of me went off at exactly 10:00:00am. I'm amazed they were able to start on time after sending 100+ people through the gate starting at about 8:00am.

Off the line I felt good. I pedaled my way up to what felt like a pretty good pace and held it there. I spoke with a guy before my start that mentioned a fairly strong headwind on the way back so I tried to keep my head down and hammer until I saw the turn around. It felt good to pass some people on the way out. It seemed like one by one I was reeling them in. I saw the orange barrel and cones for the turn around up ahead, clicked it down a few gears and slowed to make the tight turn. Once I was clear the head wind made itself known immediately.

6 miles back went fairly quick, but seemed to be full of hills that I didn't remember on the way out less than 15 minutes ago. Picking off one after another rider I set my sights on a rabbit quite a ways up the road and didn't pass him until less than a mile from the finish. We both commented on how brutal the wind was on the way back. I put my head down and pushed the biggest gear I could through the finish line. I missed the actual finish chute (I was going so fast everything was a blur... yeah, right), but the race volunteers were able to record my time manually. I felt great yesterday and my time of 32 mintues and some change was good enough for 10th place (unofficial).

Thanks to Kristen for the photos!

This week is the last Flying Rhino's Wednesday Night Worlds race at the Waterford Hills Racetrack in Clarkston for the summer. Be sure to come out and ride!

The Birmingham Bicycle Festival will be on August 28th in downtown Bham. They'll also be hosting a criterium race on the same day. Also going on that (busy) day is the $150 Bicycle Challenge. Can you build a bike for $150 or less and ride it 62 miles? If you're interested in building a bike to ride with us and want an invite please let me know.

Ride on friends! 1gear1love

Fear and Loathing in Udell

Last weekend I learned a hard lesson. Nothing is a sure thing. I thought for sure I was going to slay the beast that is the Big MF'r.

Everything was going well all weekend, I arrived at the campsite early on friday and got everyhting set up, my body felt great at the starting line and I cruised through the first lap in a time of 2:14:48.

I was on pace to break my 10 hour goal and I felt pretty decent dispite the heat and humidity.

This was supposed to be my big race of the season, everything leading up to June 20th has been training for the LJ100. Sometimes things don't quite go as planned. The bike slid out from under me in a corner and I went down hard. I jumped up and took a quick inventory, I at first glance I was fine. Then I tried to pedal. it felt like someone had hit me in the right thigh with a baseball bat. I made it to through the inner loop and stopped at the 8 mile aide hand off station. I needed help getting the bike out from under me because I could barely put any weight on my leg. some nice woman offered to help me stretch it out. When she touched my leg I about screamed. I layed there for a while trying to decided if i was going to go out and finish another 73 miles. My head said yes, but my leg said no. I had to call it quits after 33 miles. this was my first DNF ever. I am sorely dissipointed as the course conditions were perfect and the weather was great (if not a little hot). I will be back with a vengance next year. I've got 9:30:00 in my sights.

The rest of the Cycle to Fitness RACING GREYHOUNDS did and outstanding job. Seven members of the team finished the race, but everyone that attempted did a great job.

For the rest of the year I'll focus on staying healty and maintaing my fitness by riding some of the Fun Promotions 6/12/24 hour races, Cyclocrossing in the fall and training for the Dances With Dirt 50K trail run in September.

1Gear1Love

Spring in Michigan

The weather certainly was the deciding factor for most cyclists plans in Michigan this weekend. Both the 6/12 Hours of Addison Oaks and the Bloomer Park XC mounitan bike races were cancelled due to poor trail conditions. 

 The Addison race is slated to be run on October 10th while the Bloomer Park race will be held next Sunday, May 24th.

The Cycle to Fitness Road team was in full force at the Tour of Kensington Valley on Saturday.

A Strong Showing for the CtoF Racing Greyhounds!

(photos by Chris Werth and Danielle Jankowski)

1Gear1Love

Idiot

Zack Colman

Black 2001 Saturn SC2. That’s the car I drive —

 and if you’re a bicyclist on the road but not in a bike path and you see my car, I hope you’re wearing a helmet, because I might run you over.

Maybe not intentionally.

But you see, with all these things I can do in my car nowadays, such as choose a different song on my iPod, send a text message while driving or fall asleep at the wheel because I had to wake up for a worthless 8 a.m. biology lab, I might not notice you.

And, considering you are where you should not be, I might hit you.

The simple fact of the matter is, MSU has so kindly provided sidewalks for people on foot and Rollerblades, and MSU’s ordinance should be revised to require bicyclists be there too. The university has outlined bike paths on certain roads, but bicyclists can’t just create imaginary bike paths like they do.

I cannot drive my car on the sidewalk, so why must you ride your bicycle where I drive?

Many of my friends ride bicycles on campus, so I’m not trying to berate a whole demographic of students. I appreciate bicyclists who advocate environmentalism, since they are making up for the damage I do with my car.

I respect bicyclists who use bicycles as a form of exercise, since people certainly can never get enough fitness in their everyday routines.

But for as much as I respect and appreciate bicyclists, I will not hesitate to honk at them when they are interfering with the roads.

My concern is not merely about inconvenience.

Bicyclists on the road are a driving hazard to people in automobiles, since many bicyclists make turns without using hand signals and ride too close to other vehicles when there is no designated bike path.

For example, I was driving to work Tuesday when a bicyclist pulled up in front of my car in the right lane on Farm Lane going northbound where it intersects with Shaw Lane. There is no bike path at this portion of the road, and I needed to be in the right lane to avoid the left turn only lane, but the bicyclist was in the way.

Instead, I had to speed ahead and veer away from the fast-approaching rear end of the car in front of me, just barely making it into the right lane.

Some will say I could be more patient on the road.

But roads are for cars, not bicyclists. The bicyclist should not have been in the car lane.

It’s possible some bicyclists are trying to live out their dreams of being Lance Armstrong, and the smooth terrain offered by the roads where big, people-killing cars are designed to travel on are more desirable than the sidewalk pavement.

I get it, bicyclists — you’re in the Tour de France. Well, in your head at least.

But in reality, my gas-guzzling, carbon footprint-leaving car is trying to get around you, the bicyclist. And you, the bicyclist, prefer to coast, not along the side of the lane but in the exact middle.

Maybe in your head you are actually driving a car. Maybe that’s why you believe you should be behind a pickup truck and in front of 15 other cars trying to pass you.

And maybe you are Armstrong, so talented and in shape and able to pedal so, so fast. But Armstrong’s average speed in the 2001 Tour de France was 24.9 mph, which is 0.1 mph less than most of the speed limits on and around campus.

Plus, I’ve had difficulty finding students who actually obey the speed limit anyway.

It’s common for motorists to drive at least 5 mph above the speed limit, which makes your task to out-pedal Lance Armstrong all the more daunting. And considering you’re not actually Armstrong (even if you do wear a skintight yellow bicycle uniform), you likely are not going 24.9 mph.

And, oh yeah, Armstrong is competing when he is bicycling — your leisurely ride through campus might not even register on a police radar.

But, hey, snap out of it. You’re not Lance Armstrong.

And those are the headlights of my black 2001 Saturn SC2 bearing down on you.

Zack Colman is the State News opinion writer. Reach him at colmanz1@msu.edu.

Published on Wednesday, April 8, 2009

This is old news, but I thought I would bring it to the attention of those who havent seen it yet.  Hes been goofed on by the famous Bike Snob NYC, and bashed by just about every cyclist in the state. 

Speaking of idiot, guess who ran into a tree yesterday at Island Lake? Good thing my face broke the fall. Scraped up nose. Check. Black eye. Check. Bruised Ego. Check.

1Gear1Love