It’s fall, the race courses will actually have some mud this year, but I won’t be able to race cyclocross this season. It seems that serious CX training just isn’t compatible with my chemotherapy treatments every other week. I’m holding out hope that I can at least be “pack filler” in the Texas CX championship race, scheduled for January 16 (my treatments end in late December). To remain sane, I’m riding my CX bike whenever possible and doing “mini CX workouts” (read: slow motion stuff that’s about the same as my pre-race warm-up routine). One of my stay-sane rides is a short combo on-and-off road circuit that takes about an hour at an easy pace. I wrote about this route in my most recent cycling column (http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/oct/02/take-a-spin-on-one-of-my-favorite-routes-around/).

Speaking of cycling, the San Angelo Bicycling Association just elected new officers for the coming year. They are John Woiton, President, Dominic Santos, Vice President, Rita Grafton, Treasurer, Roy Jones, Secretary, and Christy Nesbitt, Member at Large. I’m sure the new board already has a priority list of initiatives for 2010, but if not … I’ll list three items that might be good to address:
(1) Improve relations with the mountain bike community.
(2) Encourage a more positive attitude toward multisport athletes (we represent a majority of the local cycling population)
(3) Take a more aggressive stance against dangerous riding in the Loop Group and other pack rides.

Although the national trends for obesity are still on the rise, I’m seeing a glimmer of hope locally. I’m basing that on the larger turnouts we’re having for cycling, running, and multisport events, and the increasing number of beginner/entry level participants. As an example, 700 runners and walkers turned out for yesterday’s Pick Ribbon run here in San Angelo. Obviously, if you did a “visual survey” in the Wal-Mart parking lot, you would realize that we have a long ways to go before we actually start having a slimmer population.

Angelo State University has several events coming up that may be of interest to local athletes. On November 21, it’s the 2nd annual Turkey Trot 5K run and walk on the ASU campus. This fun event has the distinction of having pies as the primary awards for category winners. For swimmers, Mike Buck (Road Lizards VP and ASU ROTC commander) has worked with the university’s Recreation Department to get a Masters Swim program in place. See flyer on the right for details. Finally, the ASUFit Health Fair will take place on Wednesday, October 14, in the University Center. Get details on all of these on-campus events at http://www.angelo.edu/services/fitness_wellness/newsletters/October2009_Newsletter_final.pdf.

UPCOMING EVENTS

October 8: Road Bike TT series, http://www.sanangelobicycleassociation.com/
October 10-11: Texas Road Cycling Championships, Copperas Cove, http://www.txbra.org/db/events/2009FortHoodClassicV4.pdf
October 17, Heart Walk 5K, http://www.roadlizards.org/Upcoming%20Races/Heartwalk.pdf
October 18: West Texas Series mountain bike race, Concho Bike (San Angelo), http://www.wtcycling.com/wforum/viewtopic.php?t=2887
October 24: Quest for the Cure 5K, Angelo State University (Texas Hall parking lot), www.angelo.edu/asufit
November 1: West Texas Series mountain bike race, Abilene, http://www.wtcycling.com/wforum/viewtopic.php?t=2887
Dec. 10-13: Cyclocross National Championships, Bend, OR, http://www.visitbend.com/Bend_Oregon_Activities_Recreation/National-Championships/Cyclo-cross/default.aspx