Bay Area cycling buzz: Training champions

I used to live and ride in the San Francisco Bay Area. In fact, I would say that learning about cycling there almost 9 years ago made me the rider and athlete that I am today. Years have passed but my love of riding and training has only grown. Coaching athletes as a personal trainer gives me an even greater appreciation for the sport.

Charlie Livermore, cycling coach and EndurancePTC Founder wrote:
There's a cycling buzz in the Bay Area. The start of the Tour of California is just a couple of days away and all the emotions that sporting events of this magnitude create are flowing. Personally, I'm not sleeping so well these days. Through an Endurance sponsorship I've been coaching BMC Team rider Ian McKissick for the last three years and now he's at a level to ride for a top 10 overall place in the biggest race in America! Three years of the same testing, biomechanics, planning and training that Endurance members benefit from are in the bag and Ian is calm and ready to go. One of my favorite quotes really sums up what it takes to reach this point of opportunity:

"Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years that they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance is merely the demonstration of their championship character." - T. Alan Armstrong

When you are out there next weekend watching in amazement as these cyclists fly by on a climb or on the finishing circuits, take a moment to think and acknowledge the incredible amount of consistent, day after day, year after year, training that each rider has logged when no one was looking. It really puts the stakes into perspective and heightens the emotional buzz that comes with an event like the Tour of California.

I will be curious to see how lesser known riders like Ian Kissick stack up against the seasoned pros including George, Lance, Levi, David and Christian. Check the AMGEN Tour of California website for "riders to watch".

Today's training

I just returned from this easy 20+ mile ride. The roads were not too gutted and mostly dry. Best of all, the sun was shining so brightly I needed sunglasses!
MapMyRide.com | View Mass Ave Loop To Lexi - 21 Miles in Cambridge, Massachusetts

A new day, It's a new day

This blog is taking on a new life. I have finally found a voice to say what I think will be gratifying. I have an audience out there to connect with very soon.

I'll give you a few ideas to try on -- how do your body and mind connect during exercise, how does your self-concept get re-shaped while you change your physical shape -- plus a few facts about me that will give credence to the ideas that I suggest to you.

Stay tuned...the journey begins now.

Photos from HubOnWheels.org

Every sponsor, rider, and optimistic spectator at the City Hall plaza, Boston.

Banner for my triathlon team sponsor, Wheelworks.

One cyclist expressing a common sentiment at the start of the ride.




Just towards the river from Beacon Hill, cyclists "own" Storrow Drive.

Riders in mass...

Riders waving hello saying "it's great to have the road to myself!"

including the littlest rider. Ride one, ride all!

Bike Day in Boston

I woke up to skies threatening to rain and that bittersweet sadness that my 'race' planned for the day would be cancelled. Naturally I wanted to ride before it got wet and messy outdoors, so I went to downtown Boston to see the HubOnWheels.org riders take off for their 10, 20, or 40 mile jaunts through the city. I had almost signed up for the event myself, but then decided to just photograph and ride along the part of the route that would be the most scenic: the Esplanade and Storrow Drive.

As I waved from a bridge, hundreds of passing cyclists waved back. I saw smiles and hear hooting calls of glee from the car-free 3-laned road below. It was a magnificent sight! And as the last riders passed, I knew that those rare moments of blissful, bike-friendly roads would come to an end.

I rode along the closed route for the last mile, savoring the peace and tranquility, calling out *and* being heard by the one other rider out enjoying the silence with me. "See you on this ride next year!" I said before getting off of the road, back on to the bike-path beside it, where bikes "belong" and then I heard it...whoosh...and then another whoosh. Cars were coming back on to the road that had been closed. The city was going back to it's normal, bike-oblivious, car-centric self. But it was ours, the cyclists, sharing it so well during that hour of the ride -- and it made me well up with tears to think that it'd be another year before Storrow Drive would hear only the sound of freewheel hubs again.