Who Do I Follow On The 'Net?

The response from readers regarding my final newspaper column in the San Angelo Standard Times (which several people referred to as the "Substandard Times") has been amazing.  I've heard from people of all walks of life, including many that I would have never have guessed were readers of my column. Quite a few of those people indicated that they would continue to read my posts on this blog now that I'm no longer a columnist for the paper (or, as one nice person stated ... "continue to read the musings of an old athlete.").

Several people posed questions when they responded to the final column, with one of the questions being "Who/what do you follow on the Internet related to cycling and who are some of the authors who publish stuff that you like to read?" That's a great question and here are several answers.

One of my on-going favorites is Joe Friel's blog (http://www.joefrielsblog.com/). Joe is a serious Grand-masters athlete, a coach, author, researcher and more importantly - someone one who practices what he preaches. He is an authority on training strategies for older endurance athletes.

I also follow Lance Armstrong via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/lancearmstrong/). You may hate or love the guy (your opinion on that issue doesn't matter to me), but he's arguably the most talented endurance athlete ever to come from Texas and he still has an obvious passion for cycling and running.

There are two ladies who I currently find interesting (actually, there are a lot of ladies who are interesting), but these two are both articulate and can ride most people into the ground in totally different ways.

 One of these ladies is Hera van Willick (on Facebook at facebook.com/HeravanWillick/ and she also a great blog at http://heravanwillick.nl/en/blog-3/?lang=en). She's a cycling tourist and speaker who has pedaled and camped through much of Europe, across Iceland, through Alaska, Canada, and the West Coat of the United States and is now rolling through Mexico on her way to South America.

The other lady that I follow is Canadian mountain biker Emily Batty (http://emilybatty.com/). She's already an accomplished professional mountain bike racer (and, I should add, a former Canadian cyclocross national champion) who has been on the podium both in international World Cup races and also in the Olympics. This young lady seems to have a rare combination of athletic ability, drive, and the ability to communicate well, so I predict she'll do well when her racing career is over.

Last of all, I enjoy the Facebook posts by Cyclocross Magazine (www.facebook.com/Cyclocross/). Although some of their posts are clearly driven by advertisers, it's usually a good read and a way to keep up with the equipment, events and news related to cyclocross.

If you found this blog because you read the link to it in my final newspaper column that ran in the Standard Times, you're at the right place. Starting next week, I'll be posting information related to activities, events, and other items related to cycling, running and multisport in the San Angelo area. You can subscribe to this blog so that new posts are automatically pushed out to you. Also, if you use Facebook and are interested in cyclocross and/or dirt road riding, I maintain a FB group page that's focused on those activities at https://www.facebook.com/groups/179600455439317/.  In the meantime, glad to have you on board and welcome to the blog!

Loop Group

Every city has cycling traditions that define the sport in that area, and San Angelo is no different.  We have the infamous Loop Group rides (or at least, we had until they became small and not-so-infamous).

These group rides have taken place for years every Tues/Thurs evening during daylight-saving time, starting from the TxDot front parking lot (Knickerbocker Blvd and Loop 306) at 6:30 pm (usually 6:00 early in the season).  Be there on time or you’ll get left behind.


Loop Group rides are not organized by an individual or club - instead, riders just show up. There is no event permit from the city, no police support and no overarching event insurance. In past years the group size was often 30-40 riders each evening, although that's dwindled down to 6-10 on good days over the past couple of seasons.  Like groups rides everywhere, these rides allow riders at all ability levels to test themselves against other cyclists and enjoy the camaraderie.   Everyone is welcome – but please wear a helmet, ride safely, and obey all traffic laws.

Group rides have always been an integral part of road cycling. Teams and groups of individuals train together, cycling tours are usually large groups of cyclists, and most races start off as a group (“peleton”) until the action heats up.  Leaning to ride safely in a group is an important road bike skill and isn't something you'll learn on Google.

For some local riders, these twice-weekly Loop Group rides are the “Tuesday/Thursday World Championships” where they compete for bragging rights and less skilled riders just take pride in trying to keep up with that lead group for part of the ride.   For other cyclists, these rides are a biweekly social event. They meet at TX DOT on group ride evenings, enjoy the company of other riders and pedal around the route at a moderate pace.

On any given group ride evening, you’ll might find male and female cyclists ranging in age from teenagers to folks well over 70, an occasional couple on a tandem bike, and representation from all social classes and occupations.  Some of the local triathletes have been known to bring their running shoes and go for a transition run after the ride. The common thread is these people all enjoy cycling, and the Loop Group is the place to be on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

Let’s take a virtual ride through a typical Loop Group evening. You want to show up early enough to unload your bike and get “kitted up” (cycling shoes, helmet, gloves, etc.).   Go through the checklist:  rest room visit (check), tires aired up (check), spare tube or patch kit (check), water bottles full (check), sunglasses (check).  You’re ready to ride.

At start time, the pack starts to form and at we roll out headed east along the Loop 306 frontage road toward the Concho River.  Experienced and steady riders take the lead positions and (for now) the pace is easy, friendly, and relaxed.  New cyclists ride near the back of the pack and learn from those with more saddle time.

The group passes Foster Road and rolls across the South Concho River bridge, veers back onto the frontage road, and crosses Ben Ficklin as we head toward the Old Christoval road overpass.  The pace is starting to pick up, and (as usual) we’ve got a side wind from the southeast. We turn left up onto the overpass (watch for oncoming traffic!), go over the bridge, and then make immediate right and left turns to get onto Fairview School road. This is a tricky corner – watch for traffic and potholes in the road.

The anticipation starts to mount as we head down Fairview road - this is usually where the attacks start.  We’re all riding hard to stay “on the wheel” of the rider in front of us to be in the draft and conserve energy.  Like clockwork, it happens – a few strong riders sprint off the front and pick up the pace up from a leisurely 18-19 mph to 25+.   The strong cyclists in the group accelerate and catch up with the break, while the rest of us get left behind.  Most of us are “OTB”, cycling talk for Off The Back.

From this point on, the initial Loop Group pack fragments into multiple smaller groups as people ride at a pace they can maintain.  Occasionally some new rider will get dropped by everyone and left alone to find their way back to TxDot (hey, that’s part of the Loop Group indoctrination tradition).

The hammerheads (fast folks) will go on to east Loop 306, then right onto Susan Peak Road, south to Waling Pecan Road, and work their way back into San Angelo via Mikulik, Schartz, and Country Club roads and then back onto the loop 306 frontage road as they complete a 35 mile loop.

The rest of us will turn right will turn right onto Mikulik shortly after passing under the Eden highway overpass and complete a 20 mile ride following Mikulik, Schartz, and Country Club roads.   We all end up back at TxDot before dark and spend a little time bragging about how fast (or slow?) we were this evening.

These Loop Group rides are a great way to meet other cyclists, improve you bike fitness, and test yourself against other riders.  It’s a San Angelo cycling tradition, so come out and join the fun.  Ride On, San Angelo, and remember – the Loop Group rides are not organized events .... riders just show up.

Places to Bike, Run and Walk in San Angelo

Cycling and Running Routes
San Angelo, Texas


Road cycling

1.    The Knickerbocker Loop from the Mary E Lee Park swim beach to town of Knickerbocker and back, 26 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/219937395.

2.    Out and back on Arden Road from Liquor City to County Road 411 and back, 34 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/219941479.

3.    The Loop Group long course, 31 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/219949563.

4.    FM 2288 from Liquor City to HY 87 at Grape Creek and back, 20 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/219952185.

5.    A great loop around the Bluffs subdivision circuit (4.5 miles per lap – if you hammer through four laps you’ll get a hard 18 mile workout), www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/220053265.

6.    A flat route that includes Jamison Road from Liquor City, 16 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/219960265.

7.    A San Angelo classic - Burma Road out and back from the old Liquor City location, 46 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/219969249.

8.    Susan Peak Road from highway 277 and Waling Pecan, 52 miles, nice hills in the middle part of the ride, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/220038655.

9.    A flat loop that circles the east side of Lake Nasworthy, 12 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/219957275

10.    A flat loop that goes from the swim beach to Highway 277 and back via Spring Creek Park, 20 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/220056721.

11.    The San Angelo Bicycle Association time trial (TT) course, Susan Peak road, 12 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/220058723.

12.    OC Fisher Dam, out and back, 14 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/220061105.

13.    A rolling route that goes through Knickerbocker, Tankersley, and Jamison Road from Swim Beach, 41 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/220068259.

14.    The Seven Sisters loop from the Swim Beach, 39 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/220071789.

15.    The Loop Group short route, 19 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/220077825.

16.    River Road loop, near downtown San Angelo, ~ 14 miles, http://www.mapmyride.com/us/san-angelo-tx/river-road-loop-route-23270662.

17.    State Park road loop, 14 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/220084343.

18. A flat route that starts at Fort Concho and goes out Paint Rock Road, 27 miles,
            www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/220049079.

19.    Swim Beach to Door Key Road out-and-back, 20 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/220087789.

20.    The Almost-to-Bronte” loop, 58 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/220090609.

21.    Need more of a challenge?  Try the San Angelo Grand Fundo route (combination of pavement and dirt roads), http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/235844785


Cyclocross and dirt road bike routes (can also be ridden on a mountain bike)

1.    State Park lake loop – a complete circle around OC Fisher reservoir, combination of paved roads and dirt roads/trails, 23 miles, http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/278912579

2.    Twin Buttes lake loop, a complete circle around Twin Buttes reservoir, about 50 % pavement and 50% dirt/4WD road, 30 miles, www.mapmyride.com/us/san-angelo-tx/twin-buttes-lake-loop-with-dam-crossing-route-18139500.

3.    An interesting loop that starts in Middle Concho Park with some dirt road and options for additional distance on 4WD roads or trails, 14 miles, www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/219944467

4.    A dirt road ride through ranch and oilfield country on CR 411 & 412 north of Mertzon. About 34 miles if done as an out-and-back, http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/226310267.

5.    Guinn Road (pavement and then gravel), out and back 29.5 miles total, https://connect.garmin.com/activity/944650499

6.    Eola gravel grinder loop, combination of pavement and dirt, 28 miles but can easily be extended, https://connect.garmin.com/activity/797137636

7.    Middle Concho cyclocross practice course, Middle Concho Park, www.mapmyride.com/us/san-angelo-tx/mid-concho-cx-training-loop-route-152193331.

8.    State Park cyclocross course (somewhat biased to mountain bikes), https://connect.garmin.com/activity/928171288


Mountain biking (or trail running)

1.    Spillway Hill (Middle Concho Park) mountain bike or trail run loop, distance will vary depending on how much of the motorcycle trail loop is used. The dirt road and 4WD tracks are good routes for new or casual cyclists, www.mapmyride.com/us/san-angelo-tx/spillway-hill-ride-route-18828500

2.    San Angelo State Park, miles and miles of trails with multiple possible routes, www.mapmyride.com/us/san-angelo-tx/san-angelo-state-park-south-to-north-loo-route-83619741.

3.    Powerline loop (or out-and-back), a short but challenging area near Lamar Elementary that follows the power lines.  There are some short but steep hills, good for mountain bikes or for a short trail run, http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/281662935.

4.    Twin Buttes – Spring Creek out-and-back.  This is part of the 30-miles Lake Loop ride but includes only the 4WD roads between the Equalization Channel and the crossing at Spring Creek. Mostly flat-to rolling, great views especially along Spring Creek, suitable for cyclocross or mountain bike, http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/281676781.


Running and Walking

(There are literally hundreds of routes in the San Angelo area, but the listing below highlights some of the most popular and routes that are used for events or general fitness activities.)

1.    Twin Buttes access road (also know as the infamous Dirt Road from Hell). This road was formerly used for the Wool Capitol triathlon and Striders Duathlon long course. Starts in Middle Concho Park - this is a GREAT training run on soft surfaces. Can also be accessed from highway 67 south.  http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/257740231

2.    Run in the Sun 8K route (a nationally certified course), http://www.mapmyride.com/us/san-angelo-tx/run-in-the-sun-2007-route-441709

3.    Trail run in the State Park, 3.8 miles but can easily be lengthened, http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/238846685

4.    Armydillo 10K (formerly used for the Marine Corps Bulldog Run), http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/283430321

5.    Red Bluff Road out-and-back, http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/283431299

6.    ASU Turkey Trot 5K course (on the campus): www.mapmyride.com/us/san-angelo-tx/new-turkey-trot-route-24705746

7.    East campus loop 5K: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/283274905

8.    KOA loop: http://www.mapmyride.com/us/san-angelo-tx/koa-mar-2-2011-5-53-pm-route-29033108

9.    Spillway Hill Trail Run (can easily be lengthened or shortened): http://www.mapmyride.com/us/brownwood-tx/spillway-hill-trail-run-route-4153291

10.    Crazy Desert trail run (half marathon), San Angelo State Park: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/244860612


Triathlon-specific workout venues and routes

1.    Lake Nasworthy swim beach: Swim around the no-wake markers, ride out-and-back toward the town of Knickerbocker (www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/219937395), and run on Fisherman’s Road into Spring Creek Park (http://www.mapmyride.com/us/brownwood-tx/spring-creek-park-from-swim-beach-route-7448249).

2.    Middle Concho Park (Wool Capitol Triathlon transition area):  Swim in the Middle Concho inlet of Lake Nasworthy, bike on Red Bluff Road and then Knickerbocker Blvd toward the town of Knickerbocker and back (http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/283435263), and then run on The Dirt Road From Hell (http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/257740231)


Copyright © 2015 by Bill Cullins. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, posting on another web site or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author / publisher.

Putting On Races Is Hard Work

Someone told me a few months ago that "there's really not much work involved in putting on a race."

It was obvious that this person had never organized or directed an event.

Those of you who have actually directed or helped organize events know the opposite is true. Doing a good job of putting on an event (even a small race) involves much more than just lining up the racers and saying 'Go'.

Properly done, the job of planning and directing an event starts weeks or even months before the actual race date with the overarching goals being to put on a fun, safe and well-planned event that attracts participants and also brings them back for future events.

Anyone who has competed in cycling, running or multisport events has probably seen both extremes - well planned and properly executed events that you really enjoyed and then other events that left you wondering what idiot organized this mess.

A race director's pre-event checklist will include selecting a date weeks or months ahead of time, creating an event budget, deciding on race categories, entry fees and start times, obtaining permits and insurance, developing the course (or courses), marketing the event via Facebook, web sites, and hard copy flyers, designing a logo and event T-shirts, ordering awards, setting up on-line and day of event registration, ordering portable toilets if other facilities are not available, assembling bike racks for multisport events, getting commitments from volunteers and answering 1001 questions from possible participants.

On race day, well-planned events will have barricades and/or course marshals to ensure participant safety, police and EMS support if needed, a well-marked course, an efficient day-of-event registration system (including change to accommodate the people who show up with a $50 bill to pay a $20 entry fee) and a process to quickly tabulate results so that racers don't wait forever for the awards ceremony.

Ideally, the scoring system will also be something that allows posting for overall results shortly after the event concludes.

Does all of that sound like "there's not much work involved"?

I asked some experienced racers (including several who have also directed or organized events) to list the top three things they expect to see in well-organized races and also what they feel are the most effective event marketing methods.

Angie Sonnenberg, a top competitive runner and former president of the Road Lizards running club, says she likes to see races start on time, reasonable entry fees and awards ceremonies that happen fairly quickly after a race ends.

"Event shirts and events that support a worthy cause are pluses," says Sonnenberg. " I'm also drawn to races that are family friendly but also like the ones I can go do without my kids. I think Facebook is a great for marketing."

Katherine Garrison, a runner and former event coordinator for the ASUFit program at Angelo State University, agrees on race start times, T-shirts and awards ceremonies.

"Races that start on time, cool t-shirts, a reasonable price, and an efficient awards ceremony are

important. Races with multiple events are a plus. I'd say a good Web site or general online presence (news outlets, Facebook, emails through local running club, etc) is what generally grabs my attention. Cool t-shirts get me excited too - they provide motivation when I wear them during workouts."

Cyclists Lance Bowers and Mark Durkay noted that the start time for a race is something that race directors should give some thought to in addition to other aspects of an event.

"Later start times allow those traveling from out-of-town time to make the trip and avoid traveling the day before," says Bowers. "Having a well organized check-in area, making an effort to welcome everyone and giving competitors a quick thank you for participating also goes a long way. FB is a great way of getting the word spread and having a complete flyer with all the needed information is a big plus."

"Having results posted quickly makes everyone happy and swag drawings keep people around after the event and gives them a great chance to meet new people and network regarding other races."

Terry Shaner, a long-time runner and 'President Emeritus' of the local running club and Brian Tillman, a local runner and triathlete, both agree that a quality event shirt with a good logo design is something that enhances a races popularity along with common-sense items such as starting on time, timely/accurate results, a well marked course, a friendly event attitude and a reasonable entry fee.

"Start within 10 minutes of posted start time, timely and accurate results, a well marked course or one that is easy to follow and an affordable price," says Shaner. "I will pay more for a cause I support or longer distance events."

"A friendly, welcoming event is a big plus - most of our local events fall into this category but I've been to some out of town triathlons that really turned me off with the egos involved," notes Tillman." I also understand that fees get high with a fundraiser or multi-sport event where lifeguards, EMS, etc. are required, but 10 to 20 bucks is about my limit for a 5K or 10K run."

"One comment on t-shirts," says Tillman. "I like getting a shirt for an event, but if you plaster the sponsor advertisement REALLY big across the front and the event name kind of small on the bottom or back it's probably going in the rag pile."

Remember - there is a lot of hard work involved in putting on races ..... if you do a good job.



Upcoming Events
Jan 9: Resolution Run, roadlizards.org
Jan: 16: Trail Running Series, roadlizards.org
Jan 30: Trail Running Series, roadlizards.org
Feb 20: Trail Running Series, roadlizards.org
Mar 12: Crazy Desert Trail Run, roadlizards.org

Cycling History in San Angelo

Cyclists have been riding the roads in and around San Angelo for the last 130 or so years.   The modern  bicycle was invented in 1861, and by 1885 bicycles were getting to be quite common on San Angelo streets.

  In May of 1888, the Standard-Times reported that bicycle fever was spreading throughout the city. Riding a bicycle during the early days resulted in numerous incidents or questions about bicycles. The newspaper reported that on February 20, 1886, a Mr. Frank Harris ran his bike into a horse drawn phaeton owned by a Dr. Early, causing quite a bit of confusion and uproar. The San Angelo city council voted to ban bicycles from sidewalks in 1892, and Mr. J. Harris suggested in August of 1892 that he felt cowboys would have a hard time rounding up cattle on bicycles.

Competition has always been a part of cycling, and that was certainly the case in the early 1900’s.   Activities during the Concho Valley Fair in 1891 included bicycle races, and San Angelo native Rhodes Baker won both the 5/8 mile and 1-mile cycling events at the Brownwood Fair in 1892.  These early cyclists also competed informally for bragging rights.  A report in May of 1888 stated that M.N.Burgess completed a ride from San Angelo to Ballinger in seven hours, and the Standard-Times noted that in April of 1892 Rhodes Baker did a round trip ride from San Angelo to Knickerbocker and back in less than three hours.

 Early cyclists, like those of today, were prone to do long rides that took several days and covered a lot of miles.  One of the most intriguing early cycling trips involved San Angelo residents Rhodes Baker and George Allen, who completed a twelve day, 425 mile trip on their bicycles that took them from San Angelo to Sonora, to Del Rio, across into Mexico, and back through Rock Springs to San Angelo.  This ride was done in hot July weather, on rough wagon roads, with all of their gear (including fly fishing rods) strapped to their bicycles.

 Bicycle clubs were popular back then, as clubs organized across the nation during the 1890’s.  The first San Angelo cycling club, the San Angelo Wheelmen, was formed in April of 1892, and a newspaper report in May of 1892 noted that a Miss Itena Patch had mastered the art of riding a bike so local ladies were considering forming their own bicycle club.  The legacy of the original San Angelo Wheelmen cycling club continues today with the San Angelo Bicycling Association (SABA).

 A lot has changed since the early days of San Angelo cycling, and yet — just like the early local pioneers of our sport — we still push on the pedals to make the bike go, curse the windy days, and enjoy the feeling of rolling down the road as we complete another two-wheeled adventure.

Train Like A Spartan

Do you think your daily fitness workouts are hard?  Most of you who bike, run or go to the gym on a regular basis would probably respond 'Yes'.

If so, try to keep up with Bridget Runion as she does workouts to prepare for an upcoming Spartan Race she'll be competing in on Oct 31.

Even though Runion is a petite 30 year old lady who probably weighs around 100 pounds soaking wet, her workouts would make most pro football players cringe.

She's a female version of the Energizer Bunny with extra high-voltage batteries installed.

Her workouts include hanging from overhead bars and doing what appears to be endless repetitions of ab-strengthening leg lifts (toes up to the overhead bar), chin-ups, and running up and down a flight of stairs while carrying a heavy medicine ball.

She adds strength-building workouts that include hard sets of tire flips using big heavy tires, does fast endurance runs on a treadmill, and 'cools down' by teaching various aerobics classes at Community Health Club.

This isn't her first experience related to sports and fitness.

"I started gymnastics at age three and continued for the next 12 years", explains Runion. " Once I entered high school I played volleyball, basketball and softball in addition to competing on the power lifting team. I was also a cheerleader in high school and my first year of college."

The event she's training for is the Spartan Race Beast schedule for Oct 31 at Rough Creek Lodge in Glen Rose, Texas.

She and other competitors will face a grueling 12 mile race against the clock that includes 25 or more obstacles such as rope net climbs, carrying heavy rocks, tire drags, spear throws, wall climbs/jumps, barbed wire crawls and other fitness tasks that the seemingly-sadistic race organizers dream up.

All of this will take place on rugged off-road trails that include steep hills.

Competitors may not know what specific obstacles they'll face since course instructions are announced verbally during the pre-race briefing by the race director or at a specific obstacle.

If a competitor fails to complete an obstacle section they are must complete 30 'penalty burpees' before continuing on to the next part of the course, with one repetition of a burpee being a full chest-to-the-ground pushup followed immediately by a feet-off-the-ground vertical jump.

Runion says she wanted to do a Spartan race instead of a marathon, a triathlon or some other event because of the unique challenges involved.

"Spartan is a mixture of strength and endurance. The challenge of the obstacles is what appealed to me more than the running alone."

Her personal goal is to finish the event without having to 'pass' any obstacles with the alternative option of 30 burpees.

Runion says there are many reasons why people sign up for events such as Spartan races, mud runs and 'boot camp' activities that emulate military training.

"There are several different reasons why people would sign up for such events. Some do it for the social aspect while others choose to simply challenge their ability. For me, it is a test of not only my physical strength, but my inner strength."

If you want to test your inner strength and physical ability, go find Runion at Community Health Club and try to keep pace with her during her Spartan-prep workouts. Be sure to bring your 'A' game if you try to do her workouts - you'll need it.

You have to train like a Spartan to prepare for a Spartan race.

Upcoming Events

Oct 21: Longhorn Cyclocross Series race #3, http://tinyurl.com/longhorncx

Oct 24: Come Run For The FUND 5K, 10K, and half marathon, http://tinyurl.com/BronteVFD

Oct 28: Longhorn Cyclocross Series race #4, http://tinyurl.com/longhorncx

Oct 31: Dinosaur Run, San Angelo State Park, roadlizards.org

Nov 14: Masochist Run, roadlizards.org

Earning A Ph.D. in ‘How to Hurt Yourself by Being Stupid’.

Although many people think of ‘getting injured’ as being some type of physical trauma such as a torn muscle, sprained ankle or a broken bone, the most common cycling and running injuries are actually due to overuse.

I consider myself to be an expert on overuse injuries. During my 35-plus years of cycling, running and multi-sport competition, I’ve racked up enough overuse injuries to have earned a Ph.D. in ‘How to Hurt Yourself by Being Stupid’.

Overuse, defined as repetitive micro-trauma to tendons, bones and joints, is usually the result of doing too much exercise without appropriate recovery. If you have pre-existing conditions related to previous physical trauma such as an injured knee or poor bike/run biomechanics, overuse will often further exacerbate those conditions.

The most common causes of overuse injuries are increasing the intensity or duration of workouts too quickly, doing too many workouts without taking recovery days, not doing enough flexibility and strength exercises or changing equipment without allowing for a reasonable period of easy adaptation.

Most athletes (at all levels) tend to be highly motivated individuals with set goals they want to accomplish. To reach those goals of biking or running faster and further, we often fall into the trap of ‘no pain, no gain’ and try to do hard workouts day after day.

If the athletic improvements don’t come as fast as expected, we’ll usually chalk it up to not working out hard enough and increase the duration or intensity of our workouts even more.

The inevitable end result is some ‘weak link’ in our body breaks down and we develop overuse injuries such as rotator cuff tendinitis, Achilles tendinitis, shin splints, patellofemoral pain syndrome, iliotibial band friction syndrome, iliopsoas tendinitis or painfully tight lower back muscles.

Medical terminology aside, overuse injuries are a pain for cyclists and runners (pun intended) and they are almost always self-inflicted wounds.

The good news is that overuse injuries can usually be prevented if we follow common-sense guidelines related to both our workouts and to the selection/use of sports equipment.

The first line of defense against overuse injuries is to accept that our bodies gradually adapt to new training stresses (the key word is ‘gradually’). We get faster and stronger by applying a small overload stress to muscles and then allowing the body to adapt to that overload by resting or doing easier workouts until the muscles have recovered and become stronger.

We then continue the improvement process by applying a slightly larger stress, recovering again, and continuing this gradual improvement process over time.

The most common mistake (and what leads to most overuse injuries) is trying to increase the workout load too quickly without taking recovery days or continuing to push hard even though your body says it’s time to ease off for a while.

Using myself as an example (and also proving that years of experience doesn’t automatically make me smarter), I recently wrapped up an eight-week period during which I trained for and raced an off-road half-marathon, a 50-mile road cycling race, an epically long bike workout that included a hilly one-hour time trial race and wrapped things up by competing in a tough 100-kilometer dirt road cycling event.

Instead of responding to the signs of doing too much without rest and recovery (i.e., constant aches and pains) I continued to ‘train through the pain’ with the end result being a severely inflamed iliotibial band that makes even easy bike and run workouts painful.

Another trigger for overuse injuries is changing equipment without allowing the body to gradually adjust. New running shoes which may alter your foot strike, a new bicycle that may or may not fit your body properly, or adding items such as aero bars or different pedals to your bike can all lead to overuse injuries because of the new stresses placed on muscles, tendons and joints.

The bottom line is that most of us will develop some type of overuse injuries, so the key to getting past them is to identify the root cause, correct it and then follow the RICE protocol (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) until you’ve recovered.

A proper recovery plan for an overuse injury should also include strategies such as walking instead of running, icing sore muscles and joints, resting more, running on soft surfaces, spinning in an easy gear on your bike instead of mashing a big gear, stretching after every workout, warming up well before workouts, and focusing on strengthening the muscles that stabilize joints.

Those same recovery plan strategies will also help preventing overuse injuries, so work them into your routine and listen when your body tells you to back off for a few days.

Remember — doing too much without appropriate recovery will result in an overuse injury.

Your First CX Race

Cyclocross season is getting underway and the local Longhorn CX Series starts in three weeks, so some of you are getting ready for your first-ever cyclocross event.

Even if you've done other types of races such as mountain bike, road or triathlon events, you'll quickly find that CX is a different beast. The good news is that there are some things you can do to make your initial cyclocross experience better.


Let's start with training.  Although three weeks isn't long enough to significantly improve your fitness if you've spent the summer doing easy social rides, you can develop skills and start upping your fitness over the next few weeks. Three workouts that will make you faster (or at least reduce the pain level of a CX race) are big gear accelerations, threshold repeats and running (yep, I used the dreaded 'R' word).

Big gear accelerations (pseudo sprints) are simple and can be done during a ride on a practice course or as part of a road/trail ride.  After warming up for 20-30 minutes, do 6-10 30 second repeats in a somewhat hard gear where you dig hard to get the bike going as fast as possible during the 30 seconds. Recover for a minute or two, then repeat ... and repeat ... and repeat.  The objective is to train yourself to get the bike up to speed quickly after a corner or after a dismount/remount.

Threshold repeats are longer and also somewhat painful. After warming up, push yourself to ride at almost-maximum-sustainable effort for 5-10 minutes at a time (build to 2X 20-minute intervals over time).  The effort level is best described as 'throw-up minus about 5%'.  These efforts will train your body to maintain a hard pace during the course of a 40-50 minute race.

If you're really feeling masochistic, combine the two workouts described above and do a hard 15-20 second sprint at every one or two minute point during a threshold interval. This will simulate the effort required to maintain a hard pace during a CX race with repeated hard accelerations after each corner or barrier.

Running is the third piece of the 'prepare for CX' puzzle and the good news is that - just like strong whiskey - it doesn't take much to really have an effect. Here in The Desert, most of the running you'll do during a cyclocross race is either (a) to the restroom just before a race starts or (b) short dismount/run sections over barriers or through sandpits.

If you're a dedicated non-runner, start by walking fast and then adding 15-30 second intervals of easy jogging followed by a minute or so of brisk walking. Wear good shoes, stay on soft surfaces and try to do your running AFTER a bike workout when your muscles are warmed up.  You multisport athletes will recognize this as being a brick workout (bike, then run). A good starting point is to (after a 30-60 min ride) do 5 minutes of easy run/walk and then 5 minutes of fast 30 second strides followed by 1 minute of brisk walking.

After doing these short post-ride running workouts for a couple of weeks, start combining them with cyclocross practice by warming up on the bike and then doing 15-30 second barrier, sand pit or uphill 'runs' while carrying your bike. This will let you combine a little run training with dismount, barrier and remount practice. Remember to mash the pedals hard after each remount to get back up to speed before coasting and recovering.

Let's shift the focus to race day and doing workouts that simulate race day. Having a good first cyclocross race means that your body is ready, you have a routine that you have practiced, your equipment is ready and so you're relaxed and ready to have fun.

Getting the race-day routine down is important. As a general rule, you want to arrive at the race location at least one hour before the race starts (sooner than that if possible). Get registered, pin your number on, air up your tires and then do a gradual warm-up on the actual course, if possible. Make sure you have a pump, spare tubes and water/energy drink in the car.

As a general rule, try to warm up for at least 30 minutes before a race with the last few minutes being several 1-2 minute fast 'jumps' to elevate your heart rate and wake the body up. Try to simulate this routine before hard workouts to dial in how long and how hard your warm-up should be.

Course inspection is important, so pre-ride several laps to get a feel for the course, identify good vs. bad lines through corners and to determine where you'll have to dismount and run. The pre-ride is also where you want to adjust air pressure in tires.  If you're bouncing all over the place try lowering the pressure and conversely - if you're bottoming out the rims on every bump add a little air.

As you pre-ride the course, identify areas where you can grab a sip from your water bottle if you're a drinker, look for areas where you might be able to pass slower riders and hopefully find those sections where you can soft-pedal and recover for a few seconds.

You'll also want to find out where the restrooms are - trust me.


Last of all, you'll want to practice your 'cross the finish line' move. Will it be a one-arm jab at the sky, a two-arm victory salute or a stylish dismount-and-run across the line?  Remember that whatever you do will be on social media a few minutes after you finish.

That's it.  The keys are to prep your body, prep your mind and have a good repeatable pre-race routine.  See you on the race course !

Killing Mesquite Trees With CX Bikes

The CX Nationals tree fiasco from last January is behind us and here in West Texas, we're taking the lessons learned from that weekend and putting them to good use for the upcoming cyclocross season.

We've partnered with a rouge group called 'Leave No Mesquite Living' to design the course for our local CX races and - based on the obviously superior research conducted by Austin's Heritage Tree Foundation - we fully expect every dammed mesquite on our course to be dead by the end of this year's racing season.

It's a win-win. Race CX and kill bad trees at the same time.

The course design included the obvious best practices - a long starting straight, off-camber corners, steps to run up, a sand pit and some up and down sections to test climbing and descending skills.

We also added 'tree kill zones' as an important course design goal.

Before the actual course was marked we identified all mesquites that would be targeted as part of the 'eradicate by bike' initiative. The course was then routed directly over the primary feeder roots for the condemned trees to ensure that the soil becomes compacted causing the mesquites to experience loss of growth, spread of decay in the root system and hopefully - a premature death.


Baby mesquites have also targeted by routing the course directly over them in hope that repeated abuse by CX tires will not only pluck small thorns from the sprouts but will also alleviate the problem of having to hand-chop the little bastards.

Although we don't doubt the tree damage claims made by the Austin experts, there are some who doubt that our cyclocross season tree eradication program will work.  Local experts point out that even in the midst of a multi-year drought the mesquites (and other trees) that line area mountain bike trails are flourishing.

Let's hope the 'kill mesquite trees with CX bikes' initiative works as planned - if so, it'll be a lot cheaper than using chemicals and bulldozers. Our goal is to have every rancher in the region clamoring for us to ride through their pastures and kill off mesquites.

Ride on, and remember - the only good mesquite is a dead one that's been repurposed as fuel for a BBQ grill.

Will Summer Ever End?

Will the hot weather ever end?

As I write this, the temperature is a balmy 102 degrees and headed up toward the 105 we saw a few days ago.

Although we were tricked into believing the ‘cooler and wetter’ El Niño forecast because of the great weather in May and June, we’ve had dry and oven-like conditions since mid July.

Cyclists and runners have been subjected to four consecutive weeks with most daily high temperatures soaring to 100 degrees or above and a few days exceeding heat advisory criteria.

People doing bike or run workouts have coped with rivers of sweat leaking through saturated sweatbands, salty sweat obscuring vision and stinging sunburned skin and routinely losing 3-5 pounds of fluid during long workouts even when hydrating constantly.

Some athletes have avoided the heat by getting out early in the morning when the air temperature is (comparatively speaking) cooler at 80 degrees or so, while others have suffered through workouts later in the day in 100 degree or higher temperatures when readings on road surfaces are 110-120 degrees.

One local cyclist training for an upcoming event has sacrificed sleep to get up at 4 a.m. and do his workouts before daylight, while other people have strategically planned running routes so they can stop at friendly houses along the way for a cool ‘water hose shower’ and drink of water.

Post-workout time has revolved around rehydrating with a cold fermented beverage (or two) while dreaming about relocation to a cooler mountain climate.

Micheal Decker, a staff meteorologist with the local National Weather Service office, said that although temperatures may “moderate” slightly over the next week or so, the hot weather isn’t going away soon.

“The area of high pressure that’s parked over our area is typical for this time of year,” said Decker. “The heat could stay with us on into September until the hours of daylight get shorter and cold fronts start moving through.”

There may be hope on the horizon, noted Decker, but not for the near future.

“Although the eagerly-awaited El Niño weather pattern hasn’t had much of an impact on summer temperatures and rainfall, the long range forecast suggests that we’ll possibly see cooler and wetter than normal weather during November, December and January,” Decker said.

Cooler and wetter than normal? Bring it on, please.

Athletes training and competing in the hot weather of the past month may have also noticed that in addition to copious amounts of sweat and the associated dehydration, you have to work harder to maintain a given pace while biking or running compared with doing a similar workout in cooler conditions.

Several heat-related issues contribute to that feeling, but the most significant are increased skin blood flow to aid with cooling (moving body heat to the surface), reduced blood volume because of sweating and less oxygen due to lower air density during hot weather.

As the body works to reject heat and stay cool, there is increased blood flow to the surface of the skin to carry internal body heat to the surface where it can dissipate via sweat.

This shift of blood to the surface combined with loss of total blood volume due to increased sweating means that less blood is available to working muscles and vital organs such as the heart, making exercise more difficult. Decreased blood volume to the heart decreases cardiac filling and stroke volume, so the heart rate increases to sustain the workload. The net result is that a moderate level of exercise in cool weather may feel significantly harder at higher temperatures.

In addition to reduced blood volume and a corresponding higher heart rate, the high temperature air we breathe during exercise also has less oxygen (for a given intake volume) than cooler air due to the density altitude.

Density altitude is pressure altitude corrected for nonstandard temperature, so as temperature increases the air density will decrease. Decreased air density (or a higher density altitude) during hot weather has the same effect on an athlete as being at a higher altitude

As an example, the elevation in San Angelo is about 1,850 feet above sea level. If we calculate density altitude for this location based on hot mid summer conditions of 102 degrees, a barometer reading of 30.05 and a dew point of 54 degrees, the effective altitude that our body feels is almost 5,000 feet or close to the same elevation as Denver.

The effect of the higher density altitude due to high temperature is that less oxygen is taken in with each breath, so our muscles produce less power.

So, getting back to the initial question — will summer ever end? It always does (eventually) and so we can all look forward to that perfect bike or run day when the temperature is around 50, there’s no hot wind and a light mist is falling.

Until then, we’ll all suffer in the heat, drink copious amounts of fluids, struggle with the higher density altitude and look forward to the promised El Niño.




Upcoming Events

 Sept. 19-20: Fort Davis Cyclefest, pbbatx.com/cyclefest/
 Sept. 26: Armydillo Run, https://secure.getmeregistered.com/get_information.php?event_id=122340
 Sept. 26-27: Texas State Championship road race, txbra.org/events/event.asp?EventID=229
recently.

Bike Paths (or the lack of)

Although Greeley, Colorado and San Angelo, Texas are about the same size and have about the same demographics, there's a world of difference between the bike and pedestrian infrastructure in the two communities.

I'm very familiar with both Greeley and San Angelo, having lived here until 1982, then in Greeley through 2000 and back here for the past 15 years.

Through 1982, both Greeley and San Angelo had exactly the same bike-pedestrian infrastructure - almost nothing. Since that time, Greeley has developed an impressive and expanding network of bike-pedestrian lanes and paths while San Angelo lags far behind with very little non-motorized transportation infrastructure.

The two cities have very similar demographics. San Angelo's population is approximately 97,000 with 56% between the ages of 18 and 65, 14% over the age of 65 and a median household income of $42,385.

The data are similar for Greeley with a population of just under 97,000, 66% of the population between the ages of 18 and 65, 11 % over the age of 65 and a median household income of $46,272. Both cities also have very similar ethnic distributions.

There are more similarities - both cities have bike-pedestrian plans, they are both located in an area surrounded by flat-to rolling agricultural land, neither city is located on an interstate highway, rivers run through both communities, and both Greeley and San Angelo are home to a junior college and a university.

In two important areas, however, these communities are vastly different. While San Angelo has an estimated obesity rate of about 30%, Greeley comes in almost 10 points lower at 20.5%. That obesity rate difference can arguably be attributed at least partially to Greeley's philosophy regarding bike-pedestrian infrastructure vs. what exists in San Angelo.

San Angelo's Bike-Pedestrian Plan as initially developed back in the mid 2000s, but there has been very little significant implementation of the plan. Other than a few sidewalks near schools or around parks and an update of the area along the downtown River Trail, the amount of (and quality of) non-motorized transportation and recreation infrastructure our community hasn't changed much since 1982.

Our city officials would argue that the 3.9 million dollar Red Arroyo Trail currently being constructed will provide four miles of wide concrete multi-use paths, but even when that project is completed our oasis in the desert will have very little 'real' bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure such as off-street bike paths throughout the city, sidewalks and marked bike lanes on streets.

In contrast, Greeley has an extensive network of paved off-street bike and pedestrian trails include 21 miles of paved trails that parallel the Poudre River and connect to similar trails in neighboring cities, 6 miles of paved trails through the Sheep Draw area and 85 miles of marked on-street bike lanes.

These trail and bike lanes meander through subdivisions and connect many key locations such as schools and businesses, and bike routes throughout the community are marked with both signs and on-street marking making it possible to easily find a route for commuting or exercising.

Wesley Hood, a traffic engineer with the City of Greeley, says many major streets in that city have been developed to conform with 'Complete Street' design criteria that allows for safe travel by those walking, bicycling, driving automobiles, riding public transportation, or delivering goods. 

 "The trend in our area is for more non-motorized forms of transportation", says Hood. "In Greeley, this includes both wide sidewalks and marked on-street bike lanes along many major arterials enabling residents to safely make their way across the city on a bike or by foot."

Hood also notes that the city has seen a significant reduction in accidents involving cyclists or pedestrians on the streets that have been redesigned to serve cyclists and pedestrians in addition to serving motor vehicles.

So, why the difference? What prompted Greeley to develop a great network of bike-pedestrian infrastructure while San Angelo continues to simply update a plan that's been on the shelf for years?

The best answer to that question may lie with the respective goals of each city's Bike-Pedestrian plans and more importantly, Greeley's philosophy of serving local residents' needs instead of focusing more on infrastructure to attract out-of-town visitors.

Although San Angelo's Bike-Pedestrian plan (sanangelompo.org/plans.php) uses terms such as "improving bicycle access, mobility and safety, improving pedestrian access, mobility and safety and enhancing San Angelo for tourism, economic development, and as a healthy place to live", the real focus on infrastructure upgrades in San Angelo appears to be focused on the 'tourism and economic development' aspects of the plan.

In contrast, Greeley's plan (greeleygov.com/activities/greeley-bikes) is based on a philosophy that focuses on their residents. Their plan states "Build a safe and efficient bicycling network and support facilities that serves the needs of all types of bicyclists, connecting residential Greeley to the University, recreational trails, downtown, retail centers, and local services, promote bicycling as a healthy and inexpensive transportation alternative, and establish a city division under public works to maintain and expand the city bicycle program."  It should also be noted that almost all of their 'bicycling network and support facilities' also serve runners and walkers. 

Greeley has followed through on the goals in their plan recognizing that bicycle and pedestrian-friendly communities attract new businesses, residents, and visitors alike and help to combat many trends such as obesity and heart disease.

A recent report titled 'Building Bike-Friendly Communities Is Good for Economies' http://tinyurl.com/oa6arkt) notes the important of having infrastructure that supports healthy lifestyles: "Cities whose residents ride, run, walk, and participate in other activities have increased economic growth and productivity compared to areas with more sedentary citizens. These bike-friendly communities also have higher levels of mental health and wellbeing."

I hope San Angelo's city leaders will read that report and I also encourage then to take a summer vacation to Greeley to examine what that community has accomplished.

You Can't Judge Age By Looking At Butts

I raced the Tour de Gap event this past weekend which was a fun but hard 'T-shirt' ride sponsored by Abilene's Biketown shop . Unsanctioned events such as Tour de Gap are sometimes derisively referred to as T-shirt rides by egotistical USA Cycling racers because the organizers hand out T-shirts to all participants and because this type of race/tour is typically not sanctioned by USA Cycling.

Sanctioned or not, the field that lined up for the 56 mile race distance included quite a bit of cycling talent and saw some hard racing at every age group level. The overall winner was Abilene's Luke Allen, a strong young cyclist who races for the Matrix/RBM team and also for Midwestern University at the collegiate level.

Allen completed the tough hilly 56 mile loop in 2 hrs 20 min (a 24 mph average) narrowly edging out Chaparral Cycling Club's Kelly Brown who finished with the same time and Midwestern's Cameron Lowery who took 3rd place in a time of 2 hrs 23 min.

The race started in finished in the small town of Buffalo Gap, which sits a few miles south of Abilene. Riders followed an undulating course over mainly small farm-to market roads that included almost 1,400 feet of climbing along the way.  Riders rolled out of Buffalo gap on a narrow town street, turned onto a small farm road and the race was on with the faster cyclists ramping up the pace from the gun. Shortly after the start I managed to latch onto the 2nd group on the road which consisted of about 15 riders of mixed ages.

This group rolled along averaging 20-22 mph for the first 30-35 miles with most people working well together and taking pulls as each rider rotated to the front. The differences in ability and experience, however, were evident as some ramped up the pace when on the front (almost attacking the group) while others slowed down noticeably as they pulled and slowed the group's pace down.

By the time we reached the day's biggest climb at about the 33 mile mark, I mistakenly thought I had identified the other 60+ riders in the group and decided to mark them rather than race against everyone in the group since the combination of hot weather and being near my threshold heart rate for almost 2 hours was starting to take a toll on my legs.

As we started up the six miles of the day's longest climb, I noticed that who I thought were the other 60+ racers were starting to struggle with the uphill pace just like me, so I decided to back off, let my HR come down a bit and hope that they would blow up. That plan worked as they faded and I reeled them back in further up the climb. I immediately put in a hard effort for several minutes, moved ahead of them by 30-45 sec and then settled into a steady tempo pace planning to conserve energy and maintain the gap to the finish.

The best-laid plans don't always work out, however as I found out when I crossed the finish line and learned that another 60+ rider, Bill Minter of Abilene, had crossed the line a few minutes ahead of me. My hard effort to finish in 2 hrs 54 min placed me 27th overall out of 72 in the 56 mile event, 2nd in the 60+ age group and - most importantly - reminded me that 'it's hard to judge a rider's age while looking at their butt in a pace line'. 

There was one consolation, however.  I raced the event on my Specialized Crux cyclocross bike (with fat 700 x 28 road tires mounted) and since I did not see any other cyclocross bikes in the field, I awarded myself 1st place in the 'CX Bike in a Road Race' category :)  Full results are posted at http://www.cadencesports.com/eResults.php?raceid=976&event=56%20Mile%20Results.

Lake Nasworthy Triathlon Race Report

(Photo courtesy of Barry Kleypas)

Air Force service members took top overall honors in Sunday's Lake Nasworthy Triathlon with Major Jeff Dierdorff from Dyess Air Force Base winning the Men's division and Goodfellow's Morgan Diglia racing to the overall Women's division win.

The race started with a 300 yard open water swim with ASU Physical Therapy student Ryan Ruh posting a fast swim time of 5 min 24 sec to lead the field out of the water and into the transition area. Ruh went on to finish 6th overall and 2nd in the Men's 20-29 age group.

Dierdorff took command of the race on the bike leg and held on during the run to take the overall Men's win with a time of 46:49, edging out Goodfellow AFB intelligence school instructor Brian Lemaster who crossed the line in 48:49 to finish 2nd overall and 1st in the 40-49 age group. Mertzon's Brian Tillman leveraged a fast swim and strong final running leg to place 3rd overall and round out the Men's podium/

  In the Women's category, eventual overall winner Diglia and San Angelo's Dionnie Hoelsken raced a close back and forth battle with multiple lead changes before Diglia pulled away for the win in the second mile of the final run leg. Diglia lead coming out of the water, then Hoelsken took the lead during the bike leg and led during the first half of the run until Diglia retook the lead for good to win in a time of 1 hr 43 sec.

(Photo courtesy of Barry Kleypas)

Hoelsken finished 2nd overall and 1st in the 30-39 age group with a time of 1:01:55.  Former collegiate volleyball player Stephanie Starnes put together strong swim, bike and run legs to claim 3rd overall in the female field and 1st in the 20-29 group in a time of 1:06:58.

San Angelo athletes Lenny Christo, Sebastian Haynes and Sam Spooner ('Team Randy's Bike and Run') took home top honors in the team relay category with Christo doing the swim leg, Ironman triathlete Haynes racing the bike leg and Team RWB's Spooner bring it home with a strong final run.

Although the competition was fast and furious at the front of the field, the Lake Nasworthy triathlon also welcomed a number of beginner triathletes who were racing their first multisport event. One of those athletes was San Angelo resident Amanda Razani who said she normally does just running events.

(Photo courtesy of Barry Kleypas)

"This was my first triathlon," said Razani. "I was a little nervous going in but the friendly attitude of everyone and the lifeguards in kayaks during the swim leg helped make the race fun. Before my next triathlon, I need to do more multisport training and hopefully upgrade to a better bicycle."

The triathlon action in San Angelo will continue on July 25th with the Goodfellow triathlon and then on August 9th with the San Angelo Triathlon. For full results and flyers for up coming events visit roadlizards.org.

Tour de Trash

This is the season for large multi-day cycling races such as the Tour of California, Tour of Italy ('Giro d'Italia'), the upcoming Tour de France and similar events.

 The regions and towns these events pass through take great pride in showcasing the beauty of their areas to the millions of potential tourists who watch these races in person or on television.

 Unfortunately, San Angelo does not have a large televised multi-day cycling event and that's probably for the best.

If we had a local cycling race of that type, the only logical name would be the 'Tour de Trash'.

 The amount of intentionally-discarded litter that decorates many roadsides, parking lots and open space areas around San Angelo is amazing - unlike anything I've ever seen in other locations I've cycled through.

 It's almost as though signs are posted everywhere that say "Please litter here to decorate the landscape".

A scenic Tour de Trash route would have to include Mary E Lee Park (the swim beach) on Lake Nasworthy. Although the view looking west across the lake to the high peaks of the Twin Buttes is nice enough by itself, San Angelo residents go to great lengths to decorate the parking lot and beach area with colorful trash such as beer cans, 12-pack boxes, plastic water bottles, fast food containers and dirty diapers.

The area around the Wal-Mart on Sherwood Way would also be a key area for scenic views during the Tour de Trash. Shoppers in this part of town decorate bushes and mesquite trees with plastic shopping bags that seem alive as they flap gently in the prevailing southerly wind.

After leaving the Wal-Mart area, the scenic tour would roll through southwest San Angelo to Twin Buttes Blvd just south of Lamar Elementary.

Most people don't see the really scenic sections from the street, but just a few yards into the undeveloped land under the power lines south of Twin Mountain is one of the most scenic trash areas in San Angelo - an area that would be a 'must-see' during the Tour de Trash.

Riders, spectators and television viewers would get to view piles of household trash, old mattresses, cans and bottles of all types, discarded furniture and mounds of tree branches laboriously hauled to the location by San Angelo residents.

It's a gem of a trash location that would undoubtedly attract scores of photographers and spectators as the tour rolled through.

The final leg of Tour de Trash will be follow Red Bluff Road from Knickerbocker Blvd to the finish line in Middle Concho Park on the banks of Lake Nasworthy.

This section of the tour route might be the most 'trash scenic' of all areas, with both local residents and out of town visitors contributing to the decorate-with-trash efforts.

Despite the negative efforts of city employees who constantly patrol the roads and parks removing decorations, you'll see open space areas and roadsides beautified with items such as beer and fast food containers, cans, glass bottles, shotgun shell casings and occasionally a special decoration such as the loaded Smith &Weston pistol that I found on the roadside a few weeks ago.

When the tour enters Middle Concho Park, participants and spectators will be treated to amazing views of litter decorating the landscape.

 Although trash containers and big trash bins are located throughout the area, park users understand that out-of-sight trash is not as scenic so they go to great lengths to pile rubbish next to campsites, in the ditch next to roads and in some cases - on the ground adjacent to dumpsters.

When viewed on a Sunday afternoon at the end of a long weekend, the trash viewing in this park rivals anything that you're likely to find world-wide.

Remember - bring your camera to capture the stunning route decorations when you watch San Angelo's Tour de Trash cycling event.