Wednesday, March 4, 2009


Welcome to the first post of the new Team San Angelo (TSA) blog. I'll use this blog site to entertain, educate, and motive you as relates San Angelo cycling, running, and multisport activities. Future posts will include both short snippets of information and also a longer monthly Team San Angelo newsletter. Let's get started ....

The local event season is starting to ramp up. Serious athletes have been out in the cold and wind training (and racing), but most of us have emulated the "Old Guys Who Get Fat In Winter".
I just finished directing the 2009 Trail Running Series ... good stuff, with a record turnout this year. Full results are posted at http://www.roadlizards.org/ (click on results), and pictures are posted at photobucket.com. Congratulations to Boyd Guthrie and Kathly Rakel for their outstanding performances in the series.

The infamous Loop Group rides start back up on March 10th. For those of you visiting or new to the San Angelo area, Loop Group really means "Tuesday and Thursday World Championships". The pack will start together, some hammerhead will throw in an attack, and from that point on it's hang on or be dropped. The good news is that most of us get dropped, so there's always someone to ride with at your pace. Groups will form after the initial flurry of attacks, so you can do 20 miles or longer distances depending on how you feel.The start/finish location is the TxDot front parking lot, loop 306 and Knickerbocker Blvd. The pack rolls at 6:30 pm, so be there early, wear a helmet, obey traffic laws, and bring your "A" game.

The local cycling club (San Angelo Bicycle Association) will also be hosting several other group rides per week, both on and off road. Visit their
new web site at for full information and say hello to the new club officers - this years crop of officers is a lot more photogenic than last year's!

Our local running club (
San Angelo Road Lizards) has a full schedule of events on the calendar, with the next races being the River Run 5K on March 14 and the Shannon 1/2 Marathon and 5-mile on March 21. Visit the club's web site for updated event information and to meet the 2009 club officers. Shoot an email to the Head Lizard if you have any running club questions.

Striders Duathlon is only six weeks away, so it's time to start doing those brick workouts. The event will have both a short course (5K/30K/5K) distance and la long course (8K/74k/8k). Visit
www.ironheadrp.com/striders for details, and sign up by March 28 to get the lowest entry fee.

For those of you who like to vent in public, the former SABA forum has moved to
www.cvmconline.com/forum2/. Go there to discuss rides, runs, buy/sell, and see what other folks are talking about.

The
ASUFit program will have two outstanding speakers for upcoming Brown Bag luncheons. On Friday March 27th we'll hear from Kathy Rakel as she talks about her experiences as a triathlete and Air Force officer. Kathy is an Air Force Academy graduate, cyclist, runner, triathlete, and .... a twisted individual who loves long hard workouts in bad weather conditions.

On April 17, we're bringing in triathlon superstar and Olympic Trials qualifier
Desiree Ficker as the speaker. Desiree will talk about training, nutrition, fitness, and what it takes to excel. The ASUFit Brown Bags are held monthly, 12-1 in ASU's CJ Davidson center, and are open to the public. Let's pack the house for these two presentations.

News flash - the cycling column is coming back to the San Angelo Standard Times beginning Saturday, March 7. Log onto
http://www.sastandardtimes.com/ and look in the Sports section (or, ... buy a newspaper?). I'll be writing a column every other week and local triathlete and former newspaper editor Anthony Wilson will fill the column space on opposing weeks. Sounds a little like dueling keyboards, eh?

CONGRATULATIONS to local triathlon strong man Shane Plymell for his performance in Ironman Malaysia last weekend. Shane completed his first full ironman event in a time of
14 hours 21 minutes (in brutal hot and humid conditions). Way to go, Shane, and ... maybe you'll slow down a bit now?

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