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September 30, 2009
Arizona Road Cyclist News is E-mailed to its
subscribers every other Wednesday and is targeted at those
cyclists who ride the streets and roads of Arizona, be they
racers, commuters, tourists, or casual riders. This
publication is copyrighted by Jack Quinn. You may forward
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in Arizona.
In this issue:
Yuma Cyclist Killed in Tragic Accident
Arizona Racing, Single Track Omnium, October 10-11
Pro Racing on Versus and Universalsports.com
Tour de Scottsdale, October 4
Trekwomen Breast Cancer Awareness Ride, October 10
Cave Creek (New Mexico) Bike Tour, October 17-18
Memorial Ride for Safety, October 24
Tour de Tempe, October 25
The Heart of Arizona Century, November 7
Cave Creak (Arizona) Bicycle Festival, November 13-15
The Ride for Resilience
Yuma
Cyclist Killed in Tragic Accident
37-year-old Doug Flynn of Yuma was
killed last Thursday morning in a head-on collision with a
passenger car in Somerton, just south of Yuma. According to
Ed McGhee, a Phoenix cyclist who works and cycles in Yuma
Monday to
Friday, a group of cyclists was out on a regular Tuesday and
Thursday morning training ride when the accident occured. Doug Flynn, 42-year-old Will Price,
and a third cyclist had broken away from the group and were
riding about 100 yards in advance of the chase group.
The cyclists
were riding west on East Madison Street, also known as
County 15th Street, with the rising sun at their backs just above the
horizon. At 6:41 a.m. the breakaway group neared a tractor towing a disk plough in the
opposite direction on the 300 block. The tractor and plough
occupied the entire lane and blocked the view of a car that
was approaching the tractor from behind. Suddenly, the car
pulled out in an attempt to pass the tractor.
The 24-year-old woman
behind the wheel was driving into the rising sun and
apparently did not see the cyclists, who were riding single
file in a paceline. The first cyclist managed to avoid the
car. The car struck the second cyclist, Will Price, a
glancing blow, knocking him to the ground, and leaving him
with a dislocated shoulder as well as cuts to his arms and
legs. The car then struck Dough Flynn head-on, Doug was
catapulted headfirst into the windshield and apparently died
instantly.
Cyclists in the chase
group with medical training arrived on the scene within
seconds and immediately began applying CPR, but their
efforts to save Doug were in vain. Paramedics of the
Somerton-Cocopah Fire Department who arrived minutes later
were unable to detect any signs of life.
Doug Flynn was president of the Yuma Bike
Club and was licensed by USA Cycling as a category 3 racer.
When off the bike, he was the creative services manage of
the Yuma Sun. He is survived by his wife Mary, two
daughters, and a newly born baby boy. Doug will be
greatly missed.
Arizona Racing,
Single Track Omnium, October 10-11
In the last issue of Arizona Road Cycling
News, I featured what I thought would be the last road
races of the 2009 season, but while I wasn't looking,
another two-race event was snuck onto the Arizona Bicycle
Racing Association's calendar. The Single Track Omnium takes
place in the Flagstaff area on October 10 and 11. The term
"Single Track" in the race's name refers to the sponsor, the
Single Track Bicycle Shop in Flagstaff and not to the race
courses.
The first race in this two-race series is the
Snow Bowl Hill Climb, which starts at 7:30 Saturday morning.
There is a 6.6 hillclimb for licensed racers and a 3-mile
race for the general public. Sunday morning brings the
Wupatki Road Race, which starts near the intersections of
FR545 and AZ 89 about 12 miles from Flagstaff with the first
riders off at 9:30 a.m.
Riders can register at the race or online.
The entry fee is $35 per race or $65 for the series for pro,
category 1 and category 2 riders. All other USA Cycling
licensed riders pay $30 per race or $50 for the series
except juniors, who race for free. Unlicensed riders who
take part in the citizen's category pay $20 per race. To
read the race brochure in PDF format, click
here.
Pro Racing on
Versus and Universalsports.com
Versus will broadcast condensed
coverage of the Paris-Tours race on Sunday, October 11 from
3 to 4 p.m. Arizona Time.
The UCI Road Cycling World Championship
races were held in Mendrisio, Switzerland on September 23
through 27. Video coverage of the races is available to view
on demand on UniversalSports.com. To go directly to the
cycling calendar page of the Website, click
here and scroll down the page. Then click on the race
that you wish to view.
Tour de
Scottsdale, October 4
There is still time to
register for the Tour de Scottsdale, which takes place on
Sunday, October 4. If you haven't yet registered, riding this
event will cost you $100 if you register immediately or $120 if
you wait until October 3 or 4 to sign up.
This year, category 1
and 2 racers with a USA Cycling license get their own race
starting on Thompson Peak Parkway. The 70-mile mass event for
everyone else starts on the Market Street Bridge at DC ranch.
There is also a free family fun ride. For more information,
click
here.
Trekwomen
Breast Cancer Awareness Ride, October 10
The trekwomen Breast
Cancer Awareness Ride will be held in Peoria on October 10.
There are two distances: 10 miles and 25 miles. The event fee is
a modest $25, and registration closes October 9. To view the
ride's Website, click
here.
Cave
Creek (New Mexico) Bike Tour, October 17-18
GABA (Tucson) will put on the Cave Creek Bike Tour on
October 17 and 18. No, this isn't the Cave Creek north of
Phoenix; this Cave Creek is near the New Mexico-Arizona
border. The ride is 42 miles each day with an option for
extra miles for the ambitious. The ride starts the Desert
West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico and proceeds to the
eastern slopes of the Chiricahua Mountains and Cave Creek
Canyon where there are eats and overnight lodging. The ride
includes several meals, snacks, lodging, and much more. The
cost is $120 for members of GABA, PMBC and ABC and $135 for
others. For more information, click
here.
Memorial Ride for Safety, October 24
The Phoenix Metro Bicycle Club and the Coalition of Arizona
Bicyclists are jointly sponsoring the Memorial Ride for
Safety on Saturday, October 24 with 60- and 35-mile options.
The ride starts at AJ's at Pima and Pinnacle Peak Roads.
Registration opens at 7 a.m.. The 60-mile ride starts at
7:30 a.m., and the 35-mile ride starts at 8 a.m. The cost is
$25 for members of PMBC, GABA, ABC, and CAzB and $30 for
others until October 10. After that date, add a $5 late fee
per rider. For more information, click
here.
Tour
de Tempe, October 25
The annual Tour de Tempe community bike ride
starts and ends in Kiwanas Park on October 25 at 9 a.m.
Unlike other "Tour de" rides, which cost an arm and a leg to
enter, this ride is free! The ride is a short 12 to
14 miles. All participants will be entered in a raffle for
free giveaways, and there will be entertainment after the
ride in the form of BMX stunt riders. The event also
includes a helmet giveaway and a bike rodeo for teaching
safe riding. For more information, click
here
and scroll down to the second half of the page.
The
Heart of Arizona Century, November 7
It's not too early to start planning
for the Heart of Arizona Century Ride on November 7. Forget
the Tour de Tucson! If you're really a macho cyclist, this
is where you can prove it! The 100-mile version of this ride
vies with Mining Country for the title of the roughest
century ride in Arizona, and for those who need more, the
Heart features a 120-mile version.
The Bullshifters sponsor this
challenging ride each year and do an excellent job of
support. The ride starts in Congress, near Wickenburg, heads
out Highway 93, then loops east on SR-97. Be sure to load up
on liquids at SAG stop #2 at the corners of SR-97 and SR-96,
because from there it's a 16-mile ride to the next SAG in
Hillside, and this stretch is almost all uphill. The climb
starts out innocently enough, but it goes on and on and on.
Each time that you think you've reached the top, you'll
round a corner or top a rise and see the next section of the
climb ahead of you.
For those who survive the climb, there are rollers from Hillside to Kirkland
Junction that hide the fact that the ride is still mostly
uphill, and then a final climb to Yarnell that would be a
piece of cake for a fresh rider but is torture to legs
already screaming in pain from thousands of feet of
climbing.
However, then comes the exhilarating
nine-mile descent of Yarnell Hill. By the time you finish
freewheeling through mile after mile of switchbacks with no
need to turn a pedal, you'll arrive at the bottom of the
hill refreshed. From the bottom of the hill, it's just a
short, flat pedal to the finish line where hamburgers, chips
and soft drinks will be waiting.
During the climb to Hillside, you'll
curse yourself for signing up for this ride, but as you
munch your hamburger at the finish line and exchange lies
with the other riders, you'll already be planning your
strategy for next year's ride. Oh, and I described the
100-mile version. If you plan to ride the 120-mile version,
add in two more climbs.
The cost of the ride is $40 for members of the Bullshifters,
ABC and GABA and $45 for others. To access the ride's
Website, check out the map and profile,
and print out a registration form and release form, click
here.
Cave Creek
Bicycle Festival, November 13-15
The Cave Creek Bicycle
Festival takes place on November 13, 14, and 15. As part of the
festival, there will be road and mountain bike rides, music,
free food for registrants, a beer garden, and a vendor fair. The
mountain bike and road rides individually have an entry fee of
$50 or you can register for both for $80 until October 31.
Anyone who is interested in participating can download a
registration form or register online for an additional
processing fee. After October 31, add a $15 late fee. The even
organizers are also looking for volunteers. For more
information, click
here.
The
Ride for Resilience
For the life of me, I can't figure out what
this ride is about. The publicity is written in a style of
English that is incomprehensible to me, although I did
manage to figure out (I think) that the event involves
someone or some group riding across country to raise money
for a good cause called the CRAIDO* Project. The ride
includes a stop in Tucson on or about November 13 with some
sort of event at "Arizona State Univ." [sic] that involves "Merits of a CUBIT Approach for
College Campuses..." [The three periods are included in
the quote.]
At any rate,
here
is the link to the ride's publicity information in PDF
format. If anyone can figure out what this event is about, finds
that it is of interest to Arizona cyclists, and can write up
an article on it in understandable English, I will be glad
to publish it in the next issue of Arizona Road Cyclist
News.
*Description of CRAIDO from the
Website: The CRAIDO network is based upon the use of
CUBIT-Delta diagnostic-tracking-forecasting stations,
employing "multiscalar and multispectral" biological
sensing, PCR and immunoassay-based diagnostics, and
extensive analytics and informatics tailored to
epidemiological outbreaks such as influenza. [The whole
Website is written in that type of language]. -- JQ]
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