Team San Angelo

Sunday, April 12, 2009

I don't understand why more people don't do their own bike work. For me, part of the fun is buil

ding up my bikes and doing my own maintenance. The picture on the left is my latest bike project - a carbon fiber Kuota K-Factor time trial frame that I built up as a combination road/TT bike. Thus far, the parts are what I moved over from my Specialized Allez road bike, but I'll upgrade them as time goes on. The bike probably won't make me any faster, but .... it's been a fun project.

For those of you who are dedicated runners, I hope you never get injured. I tweaked a knee back in mid January and have done very little running since then. It's amazing how bad it feels when 50% of your weekly workouts are taken away. I love cycling, but ... it's hard to replace the after work or noon run with a bike ride in windy conditions. The good news is that I'm getting more saddle time in, so my TT times should be better this year. We'll see ....

The local road TT series kicks off on Thursday, April 16 (revised date). Word is that the start may be moved to

get away from the traffic at the Loop 306 intersection. The weather is looking good, so come out and see how fast (or slow?) you are. Time trials are the ultimate test of how much pain you can tolerate, or - to quote Fast Lady Christina Templin - "the pain of hard cycling is very cathartic” (hmmm, hope she was using cathartic as an adjective!).

Speaking of fast ladies, my cycling column that will appear in the April 18 Standard Times discusses the local female hammerheads. Check it out in the Saturday sports section at http://www.sastandardtimes.com/. Here's a little teaser from the column: "San Angelo has a long tradition related to Fast Ladies, but … I’m not talking about the girls from Miss Hattie’s. The ladies I’m referring to can hammer on a bike, tough out bad riding conditions, and get extra style points for looking good while doing so."

Striders Duathlon is coming up this weekend (April 19). This is a good event; in fact, it's the oldest duathlon in Texas. Jack the Promoter can be a bit abrasive at times, but he's a professional and puts on a dammed good event. If you're racing, make sure that you have gotten the mandatory bike and helmet inspection done (go to Randy's Bike and Run shop).

Registration is now open for the 2009 Run in the Sun event, scheduled for May 16. This will be the 2009 Texas 8K State Championship race. We're expecting 200-300 runners, so be smart, pre-register, and avoid the long lines on race day. Full information is posted at http://www.roadlizards.org/Upcoming%20Races/RIS.2009.flyer.pdf, or you can sign up on-line at http://www.active.com/page/Event_Details.htm?event_id=1712378&assetId=BCA2AFEF-164B-4EE7-807B-797654F3F757.

Given the windy conditions that we've had for the last few weeks, here are the words of wisdom for this week: "Vir prudens non contra ventum mingit ".

UPCOMING EVENTS

*MTB TT series, begins April 2*

*Road TT series, begins April 16 (rescheduled date for 1st race)

*ASU PT Run, April 18

*Striders Duathlon, April 19