SSG: May 2008

May 21, 2008

Central Coast Classic - Day 2: Lunch on high

This was the view from our lunch roost at about mile 50 on the day. By this point we'd climbed almost 4000' feet and had about 100 miles left to go! Everyone said to eat whatever, and as much as you could, so I powered down a full cheeseburger and macaroni salad, jumped back on the bike and felt just fine. Of course this is in direct contrast to my feelings on Friday evening...during dinner my hamstrings locked up and the 2nd beer caught up with me AT THE SAME TIME! I felt pretty bad for about 15 mintues, but recovered, worried, and spent a large portion of Friday night's sleep time stressing about my hydration level and wether or not my legs were gonna be cramping all day on Saturday. It was not to be however - I rode cautiously for most of the day and focused on a nice pedal stroke and consistent efforts. Of course I threw caution to the wind a few times - like when the slacker 'supported riders' tagged onto the back of our fast moving group (there were 9 of us) and took the easy ride right to the base of the days biggest climb - then promptly sprinted by carrying only their superiority complexes and little else. AAARRRGGHHHH - I hate that...take a pull or at the very least say thanks for the free ride! Alan, Bill and I were so mad we chased them for probably 20 minutes up and down the hills of Hwy 1. We finally caught them, and their slacker sag-wagon at a rest-aurant...they looked 'tired' from the big effort, but we had miles to go and jumped right back onto the road and fired off a solid hour at 22-28mph+. Whatever, fully supported! Lame.

Coastal Classic - day 1

Rolling Into Monterrey
As we rolled through Los Gatos on our way to the Lexington resevoir dam it occured to me that it was hot. Damn hot! In fact it was actually 111-degrees damn hot according to Mike's super-sophisticated watch. Well that was the hottest recording of the day, but for sure it was over 100 most of the way up the dam. Then we cruised around the resevoir, up Old Santa Cruz Highway and over to Highland/Eureka Canyon. Descending Eureka Canyon is pretty fun...but oh so bumpy! For some reason this ride, at only ~80 miles, was the toughest of the weekend.

May 15, 2008

Training Ride Coolness

On the eve of the great Santa Barbara Coastal Classic (a 330 mile, 3 day soujourn south), I thought I'd post this shot of a pair of fully rigged man-o-war replicas doing battle in Half Moon Bay this past Novmber...way cool!

May 12, 2008

If It's May, It Must Be Italy

Though it's only May, and the Giro D'Italia just started it's never the wrong time to watch some art about cycling - specifically the Ghisallo climb in the Giro Di Lombardia, the last Classic of the season. This short film about the 'tour of the fallen leaves" is shot on actual film and is nearly art...

May 06, 2008

First Look - Team 'Cross Bikes

At this past weekends Cats Hill Classic, Dean Peters
from Leopard brought by the prototype of the 2008
Cyclocross Rig. Resplendent in white and black carbon
fiber the bike looks HOT! Looks alone do not define
this ride though...it's got some serious engineering
as well...from the semi-triangular profile of the
chain-stays to the beefy front fork and extra-wide
tire clearence, this bike has "CROSS KILLER" written
all over it! We should have final specs and build info
for the bike soon, so all of you out there considering
a winter of dereliction think about joining the
Sterling/Leopard Cyclocross Team!

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May 02, 2008

Cats Hill Lounge

Less than 15 hours to the start of the 35th Annual
Cats Hill Classic, in lovely Los Gatos! This race is a
staple of the Nor Cal calendar and, with it's 20% +
climb, is one not to be missed by those who like
pain!Tomorrow's event will have the Sterling Sports
Group Race Support Service in full swing - we've got
the 10x10, the water, oranges, chairs, and recovery
beverages all set to go! We've teamed up with Champion
Nutrition to bring lots of goodies to those who stop
by and I'm working on a bumping sound system as well.
If you're going come on by and check out the
Cyclocross Proram we're setting up!