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March 18 2009
Welcome to the post St.
Patrick's Day edition of Arizona
Road Cyclist News. This
newsletter is sent out by E-mail every two weeks and attempts to
cover news and events of interest to those who bicycle the roads
and streets of Arizona, be they racers, club riders, commuters,
recreational riders, or tourists. This publication is sent out
free of charge. Please feel free to forward it to your friends.
If someone has forwarded this newsletter to you, you may sign up
for your own free subscription by visiting
www.azroadcyclist.com
and clicking on the "Subscribe to Arizona Road Cyclist News"
tab at the left of the screen. You may also forward
individual articles to your friends as long as you reference the
www.azroadcyclist.com
Website and mention that the article is copyrighted.
In this issue:
Partisan Politics and Cycling: Bill Favoring Cyclists Killed on
Party-Line Vote
Midweek Criterium Series Takes a Break
Special Presentation: Tim & Cindy Travis's 7-Year Bike
Ride
Bicycle Swap Meet
El Tour de Phoenix and the Tour of the Tucson Mountains
Bicycle Racing on Versus
Upcoming Races in Arizona
Silent Sunday March 22
Sonoita-Bisbee & Triangle L. Ranch Rides
Partisan Politics and Cycling: Bill Favoring Cyclists Killed on
Party-Line Vote.
As reported
in the last issue of
Arizona Road Cycling News, the Arizona Legislature's
House Bill 2479, which would have permitted cyclists to treat
stops signs as if they were yield signs, was voted down by the
House's Military and Public Affairs (MAPS) Committee. What I
didn't notice at the time was that voting was along straight
party lines. Every Democrat on the committee voted to approve
the bill, and every Republican voted to kill it.
Voting
against the measure were Ray Barnes (rbarnes@azleg.gov), Sam
Crump (scrump@azleg.gov), Carl Seel (cseel@azleg.gov), David
Gowan (dgowan@azleg.gov), and Jerry Weiers (jpweiers@azleg.gov),
all Republicans. Voting in favor were the committee's three
Democrats: Patricia Fleming (pfleming@azleg.gov), Barbara
McGuire (bmcguire@azleg.gov), and Daniel Patterson
(dpatterson@azleg.gov).
Perhaps the
political party that has taken a stand against this cycling bill
doesn't think that its constituents ride bikes. In case some of
our readers would like to correct this impression, I've included
the E-mail addresses of all of the committee members who voted
on this bill. You may also to forward this article to your
cycling friends who may also wish to E-mail, call or write the
people's representatives in the Arizona Legislature. There is
nothing that motivates politicians as much as knowing that
voters are watching them and care about the decisions they make.
This article is also posted online at
www.azroadcyclist.com.
Midweek Criterium Series Takes a Break.
The
Midweek Criterium Series, held Wednesday evenings in the parking
lot of Phoenix Municipal Stadium will be held this evening,
March 18, as usual with the first race beginning at 5 p.m. Then
there will be a two-week pause with no races held the evenings
of March 25 and April 1. Racing resumes on Wednesday April 8 and
continues until the end of the month with the grand finale on
Wednesday April 29th. This event has really taken off with large
race fields and growing numbers of spectators. This evening and
on April 29th, the final event will be a fixed-gear race.
Special Presentation: Tim & Cindy Travis's 7-Year Bike Ride.
Have you
ever thought of selling everything, hopping on your bike, and
riding off into the sunset? Maybe you will finally get the
courage to take that worldwide bicycle tour after listening to a
couple that has done just that. The Arizona Bicycle Club (ABC)
hosts a presentation on March 21 by Tim and Cindy Travis, the
Prescott couple who sold off everything in 2002 and have been
cycling the world ever since. They have cycled through the
North, South, and Central America, China and Southeast Asia,
Australia, and New Zealand, and they are still underway!
The
presentation will be held at the Amerischool, 1333 W. Camelback
Rd in Phoenix this Saturday evening. The doors open at 6:30 p.m.
and the presentation begins at 7 p.m. ABC members are expected
to donate a can of food as the price of admission, and non-ABC
members will be charged a modest fee of $5. For more information
on the event, click
here.
Bicycle Swap Meet.
As Reported
in the previous edition of Arizona Road Cyclist News, The
Coalition of Arizona Bicyclists will hold its annual Bike Swap
Meet in Kiwanis Park on April 5 from 7 a.m. until 12 noon.
Here's your chance to unload that box of spare bike parts that
you have sitting in the garage and pick up some cool stuff that
you need.
El
Tour de Phoenix and the Tour of the Tucson Mountains.
As we also
reported in the previous issue, the Perimeter Bicycling
Association will hold the Tour de Phoenix on April 4. The Tour
begins at Red Mountain Park in Mesa and offers adult rides of 74
and 26 miles. There will also be a four-mile kids' and family
ride. Registration closes on April 3. For more information,
click here.
The organization will also promote the Tour of
the Tucson Mountains on April 26. To access that event's Website
and to register, click
here.
Bicycle Racing on Versus.
The cable
and satellite TV channel Versus will be broadcasting a short
synopsis of the Criterium International road race on March 29
from 2 to 3 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. Future broadcasts
include the Tour of Flanders on April 5 beginning at 2 p.m.,
Paris-Roubaix on April 12 beginning at 1 p.m., Liege-Bastogne on
April 26 at 1 p.m. followed by Fleche-Wallone at 1:30 p.m.
Upcoming Races in Arizona.
The Superior
road race and criterium take place this weekend. The road race
takes place on Saturday and the criterium on Sunday. For more
information, click
here.
The final weekend of March brings the Colossal
Cave Stage Race with a time trial, a criterium, and a road race.
The time trial and criterium are both scheduled for Saturday
March 28, and the road race follows on Sunday March 29. For more
information, click
here.
The weekend of April 4 and 5 will see exciting
racing in the southern part of the state. The UA Criterium will
be held on Saturday in Tucson followed by the Tumacacori road
race on Sunday. The road race will be held on a six-mile
circuit, which the promoters describe as "the most difficult
one-day road race in the state" with 460 feet of vertical
climbing per lap. For more information on these two races, click
here.
The Copper Valley Road Race begins in Globe on
April 11. To go to the race's Website, click
here.
Silent Sunday March 22.
Once a
month, the Phoenix Parks and Recreation department closes South
Mountain Park to automobile traffic and opens it to cyclists,
roller skaters, hikers, etc. This month's Silent Sunday is this
weekend. Cyclists are encouraged to ride the mountain or take
the exhilarating ride out to San Juan Point (with its
deceptively difficult climb on the way back.) The best time to
ride the mountain is as early as possible, before too many
skateboarders start slaloming down the hill.
Sonoita-Bisbee & Triangle L. Ranch Rides.
GABA Tucson
presents its annual Sonoita-Bisbee ride the weekend of March 28
and 29. Day one the riders will pedal 62 miles from Sonoita,
through Tombstone, up Mule Mountain and finish with the
exhilarating descent into Bisbee. For riders who are not quite
up to pedaling up the Mule Mountain climb, a shuttle is
available for this segment.
Day two features a different return route by
way of Palominas, Fort Huachuca and Canelo back to Sonoita.
There is also a shuttle available over part of the course for
those not up to doing the complete ride. Riders must carry a
government-issued photo I.D. in order to cycle through Fort
Huachuca.
This is a great ride. Although hotel space
always books up far in advance for the stay in Bisbee, camping
is available for the more adventurous. The price tag is $60 for
members of ABC and GABA and $75 for non-members plus an optional
$20 charge for a meal at the Copper Queen Hotel in Bisbee. For
more information on the ride and online registration, click
here.
On the weekend of April 25 and 26, GABA
presents its Triangle L. Ranch Overnight ride from the Pima
College West Campus in Tucson for the 58-mile version and with
other starting points for the shorter versions of the ride.
Inform yourself by clicking
here.
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