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April 29, 2009
Welcome to Arizona Road Cyclist News, which is sent
out by E-mail every other Wednesday and is posted to the
Back Issues page of
www.azroadcyclist.com several days later. This
newsletter attempts to address issues of interest to people
who cycle the roads and streets of Arizona, be they
commuters, club riders, recreational riders, tourists, or
racers. Arizona Road Cyclist News is free of charge. Feel free to
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www.azroadcyclist.com.
This newsletter is copyrighted. You may send individual
articles to others if you identify Arizona Road
Cyclist News as the source. However, it's much easier
to forward the entire newsletter, in which case the
copyright information is already included.
In this issue:
Specialized Road and Mountain Bike Recalls
Upcoming Racing on Versus
Midweek Criterium Series, Grand Finale
Upcoming Bicycle Road Races in Arizona
Phoenix-Area Club Rides This Weekend
GABA Rides
Mingus Mountain Madness
Feedback: More on the History of CABA/GABA
Specialized Road and Mountain Bike Recalls
Specialized has
recalled some of its road and mountain bikes. The two types
of bikes have different problems. According to a
press release sent out by Specialized and reprinted by
several cycling news sources, the road bike involves several
models of the Roubaix Comp and Roubaix Pro bikes sold in
2004. The specific models are the Roubaix Comp 18, the
Roubaix Comp 27, the Roubaix Pro 18, and the Roubaix Pro
frameset sold by Specialized dealers between September 2003 and
August 2004 for between $1,600 and $4,000. To quote
Specialized: "Only bicycles with a single rivet fastening
the cable stop to the frame are subject to recall....
Bicycles with a double rivet fastening the cable stop to the
frame are not subject to recall." Anyone owning one of these
bikes should take it to the nearest Specialized dealer for
repair. I searched Specialized's Website and was unable to
find the recall notice there.
The mountain bike recall involves 2009 model year bikes with
HL handlebars, model number HL 13NTFOV. The bicycle models
involved are the 2009 versions of the Cross Trail Comp, the
Myka HT Comp, the MYKA HT Eline, the Rockhopper Com, the
Rockhopper Comp 29, and the Rockhopper. Anyone with one of
these bikes should contact a Specialized dealer. To view the
recall notice on Specialized's Website, click
here.
Upcoming Racing on Versus
Versus will broadcast a summary of the Tour de Romandie on Sunday May
3 from 2 to 4 p.m. Arizona time. Other upcoming Versus
cycling broadcasts are the Dauphine Libere on June 7 and
June 14 beginning at 2 p.m. and the Tour de Suisse on June
14 and June 21. Then comes the Tour de France almost daily
from July 4 to July 26. We will have more detailed broadcast
times on the June and July races in future editions of this
newsletter.
Midweek Criterium Series, Grand Finale
The Midweek Criterium Series wraps up tonight (Wednesday,
April 29) with an exciting evening of racing.
Bicyclehaüs has generously donated $500
in cash toward the prize list, which promoting team Phoenix
Consumer Cycle Club will add to its own modest stock of
prizes plus prizes expected to be donated by other
organizations. Racing begins at 5 p.m. in the parking lot of
Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Enter the lot from the south side
of Van Buren just to the east of Priest Drive, which is
called Galvin Parkway north of Van Buren. The main event
starts shortly after 6 p.m., and a fixed-gear race will
follow at about 7 p.m.
Although the facilities at this race cannot compete with
those at the big, downtown criteriums, this is a good
spectator event, because spectators can view the entire
course. Park across from the announcer's stand, and if you
want to be comfortable, bring your lawn chair and perhaps
some cold beverages. Some spectators have even been known to
grill supper while watching the race. For racers, entry fees
are modest: either $5 or $10 per race depending on the
event, but watching the races costs nothing except perhaps
some damage to your ticker from the excitement. I'll be there, and I hope
to see you, also.
Upcoming Bicycle Road Races in Arizona
This weekend brings two criteriums in the Greater Phoenix
area. On Saturday May 2, the State Capital Criterium takes
place in Phoenix. Racing for the
younger junior riders starts at 7:30 a.m. on a
figure-eight course in the State Capital west of downtown.
The race for women professionals and category 1 through 3
female riders begins at 1:25 p.m., and the race for
professional, category 1 and category 2 men begins at 3:00
p.m. There is also a kids' bike race at 2:20 p.m., and the
Phoenix Police Department and the Safe Kids Coalition of
Maricopa Count along with Landis Bike shops and the Trek
team will conduct a bike rodeo and helmet fitting from noon
to 2 p.m. This has historically been a good event for
spectators with shade, access to food and beverages, and
decent race announcing. To access the event's Web site,
click here.
Sunday brings the popular Scottsdale Grand Prix on the
traditional downtown course. Junior racing starts at 7:30 a.m., the women's
professional and category 1 and 2 race starts at noon, and
the race for professional and category 1 and 2 men begins at
3:40 p.m. There is a fixed-gear race at 3 p.m. and a kids'
race at 3:25 p.m. You can access the event's Website by
clicking
here.
May 9 brings the annual South Mountain Time Trial beginning
at 7 a.m. Racers
start at 30-second intervals from the San Juan Point turnoff
and suffer through 20 to 30 minutes of excruciating pain
until they reach the mountain's summit. This is not a good
spectator race, as the park rangers and Phoenix police usually close the road
to the top to all but racers before the event starts. Some
spectators make it a point to arrive before the road
is closed and cycle to a point a few hundred yards before
the end to watch riders struggle up the steepest hill. Some
of the newer riders have even been known to get off their
bikes and push them up this segment. The
second-best place to watch the race is from the summit
itself. I plan to ride this event, so if you station
yourself along the route in advance, please commiserate with
me as I struggle by in pain. The race's Website can be visited by clicking
here.
The Sonoita-Patagonia Time Trial will be held in Southern
Arizona on May 17 The first rider leaves Sonoita at 9:30
a.m. The course is 11.7 miles long with a drop in elevation
of 700 feet. Average speeds are expected to exceed 30 miles
per hour. The event's Website can be accessed
here.
The first race in the Three Bears Time Trial series takes
place on May 23 Park Link Drive, which connects the I-10
frontage road to US-79. The races will be 30 kilometers
long. The remaining races in the series will be held on June
20 and July 18. To view a PDF file with more information,
click
here.
The final time trial of May is the Thunder Road Time Trial
on May 31. The course is 16 miles long and is located in the
Tucson area. The event flyer in PDF format can be viewed
here.
Finally, the weekly Tortilla Tuesdays series of road races begins on May
19 at 5:30 p.m. in Apache Junction. The race goes along the
Apache Trail to the end of the pavement beyond Tortilla Flat
and then returns via the same route. There are two races
each evening, an A race for the more advanced riders and a B
race for the rest of us with a separate women's race if
three of more women show up. The Website for the series can
be accessed by clicking
here.
Phoenix-Area Club Rides This Weekend
The Phoenix Metro Bike Club has landed a good deal for its
Saturday ride on May 2: Free food! After the ride, the
Landis bicycle shop at Price and Southern will feed the
hungry mob. The ride starts at 7 a.m. from Kiwanis Park, and
the festivities at Landis begin at about 9 a.m.
May 2 is also the date of the Arizona Bicycle Club's (ABC)
annual Desert Classic Century Ride.
Registration is $35
for members of ABC, GABA, and the Bullshifters and $40 for
others. (By "GABA", I believe that the ABC means
to extend the discount to Phoenix Metro Bicycle Club, which was once a part of
GABA.) Riders who are not already
registered will have to pay a $5 late fee.
The first 130 riders who register will receive a pair of
cycling socks. The ABC ride is co-hosted by Oggi's Pizza and Brewery, which will be feeding riders after the
event. Registration opens at 5 a.m. in the parking lot of Oggi's
just south of the Loop 101 on the east side of 67th Avenue. The
century ride starts at 7 a.m., the metric century starts at 7:30
a.m., and the 34-mile half metric century ride starts at 8 a.m.
There is also a 46-mile half century ride, whose starting time
is not specified in the information provided by ABC. You can
view the map, course profile and route description of the half
century by clicking
here, of the full century by clicking
here, of the half metric century by clicking
here, and of the full metric century by clicking
here. Please note that is possible to zoom in on the map for
a more detailed view.
GABA Rides
GABA Tucson is promoting the
challenging Mount Lemon Hill Climb on May 8 in
Tucson.
The climb averages a 4.5% grade, which makes
for a strenuous workout on the way up but a
thrilling descent on the way back. Check-in
begins at 5:45 a.m. at McDonald Park on
Harrison, north of Catalina Highway. GABA
will provide four sag stops along the way,
all for the bargain price of $10 for GABA
and ABC members and $15 for others. For more
information about the ride, click
here.
GABA's Luna Lake
Bike Tour takes place on Memorial Day
weekend of May 23. through May 25. On the
first day, riders will pedal 48 miles from Springerville to Quemada, New Mexico. The
second day's ride is 55 miles from Quemada
to Reserve, New Mexico, and on Monday riders
will cover 63 miles from Reserve back to
Springerville. GABA and ABC members pay $90
and others $105 if they preregister. Day of
the event registration jumps to $105 for
GABA and ABC members and $120 for others.
The fee covers SAG stops, luggage transport,
camping and showers. For more information,
click
here.
It's probably a bit late
to register for GABA's Salt River Canyon
Tour, which takes place this coming weekend,
but if you are determined to reserve a
last-minute place, click
here. The ride starts in Globe and
passes through the beautiful Salt River
Canyon with lots of climbing. Those riding
the full route will pedal 85 to 90 miles a
day with 8,500 feet of climbing on the first
day and 5,000 feet of climbing the second
day on the return trip. For riders who are
not quite up to such a workout, a shuttle is
available that knocks off about 20 miles of
the ride as well as much of the climbing.
Mingus Mountain Madness
Mingus Mountain Madness is a fund-raising ride, so it is not
cheap. The ride starts in Verde Valley on May 3 at 7 a.m.
and offers five different ride lengths: 108 miles, 80 miles,
65 miles, 48 miles and 38 miles. The 108-mile ride goes over
the top of Mingus Mountain to Prescott Valley and then
returns. The 80-mile riders get to pedal to the top of
Mingus and then coast back downhill. The 65-mile ride climbs
the mountain as far as Jerome before turning back, and the
two shorter rides take place within Verde Valley. The ride
costs $50 and includes a T-shirt. For more information,
click
here.
Feedback: More on the History of CABA/GABA
I received the
following feedback on my article on the history of GABA from
Steve Cline, one of the club's founders. If anyone wishes to
contact Steve, write to me, and I will forward your message
to him.
Jack, I just stumbled upon your February 2009 issue where
you were looking for historical information about CABA. I am
the former owner of Bicycle Harbor. CABA was the brainchild
of Leon Taylor and Anita Hopkins. The CABA logo, later
modified to be the GABA logo was drawn up (in a few minutes)
by my friend Dave Hanson. I had a small role as a sounding
board, and I largely supported Leon so that he was able to
spend his time organizing the club and putting on seminars
on bicycle safety, bicycle repairs, and getting people
turned on to bicycle touring. It was really a lot of fun
getting people excited about cycling and training people how
to enjoy doing weekend tours. Leon was a brilliant marketer
and was a great observer of people and an excellent trainer.
He also had his faults, most of which are not important to
me now.
Anita and I and one other person- whose name escapes me now-
put together the first Mormon Lake tour, which started in
Cottonwood and did a loop to Mormon Lake, Happy Jack, Camp
Verde, and back to Cottonwood. I mention this because it was
Leon and Anita's seminars that educated people who had never
ridden more than a few miles in a day to accomplish this
difficult 2-day tour.
We also put together Midnight Bike Rides. These would start
at Midnight and travel throughout the city and end with
watching the sun rise. (Sadly those ended when drunk
drivers, in two separate incidences, killed one woman, and
seriously injured another.)
Leon, took a bad rap back then and most recently in your
February 18th issue. I used to tell people that he ripped me
off for a large sum of money, but the truth is that I put
Leon in charge of one of my stores and then did not
supervise him. At the time that I let Leon go, the store he
had managed owed over $30,000 in sales taxes (no sales tax
reports had been turned in), and there appeared to be
missing inventory. Today, I realize that we never had an
accurate accounting for inventory, even before he opened
that store for me. Several years later I was able to see
clearly that it was my poor management that caused the
problems at Bicycle Harbor, not whatever Leon did or didn't
do. I forgave Leon, and many years later I forgave myself.
Leon was 63 when he left town, and that was about 28 years
ago, and I lost contact with him about 26 years ago. He was
a heavy smoker and is likely not around any more. Despite
his shortcomings I really miss him, and there are a lot of
people who owe their enthusiasm for cycling to him.
Regards,
Steve Cline
Stirring up a Hornet's Nest in the Racing Community
Finally,
I seem to have stirred up a hornet's nest last week, when I
criticized the organization of the Arizona State Criterium
Championship races in downtown Phoenix. I won't copy the
article or the responses here, but if you want to be bored,
you can read the article on the main
page of the
Arizona Road Cyclist News Website, and the
responses on the
Arizona Bicycle Racing Association (ABRA) Forum
beginning with the eighth entry. Yesterday, more than a week
after the race, the results became available. You can view
them in PDF format by clicking
here. There is one race per page, so scroll down to see
the complete race results. Also, the results of last
weekend's Vuelta de
Bisbee can be found by clicking
here and then clicking on the x at the right of the page
for the stage results that you wish to see. |