2007 July | UltraRob's Adventures

2007 Race Across Oregon Results

July 23rd, 2007

Here are the results for the Race Across Oregon. Tom Letsinger, who crewed for me in the Race Across America last year, didn’t finish but I haven’t found out why.

Al Smudz	35:30
Glenn Johnson	39:05
Robert Buntrock	40:12
Ryan Correy	41:31
Bruce Carroll	42:19
Adam Garmon	44:22
Hugh Gapay	DNF
Tom Letsinger	DNF
Ross Muecke	DNF
Brian Cushing	DNF

When I did the Race Across Oregon in 2004 my time was 41:42. That was on a slightly shortened race because we finished at Government Camp instead of doing the last 6 miles up to Timberline Lodge. Actually a few miles have been taken out in other places but they were mostly flat. When the leaders we close to finishing, it was snowing so hard that George and Terri, the race organizers, felt it was unsafe to ride in. It would have been still rideable but it was a white-out and they were afraid someone would get hit by a car. I don’t know what it was like up higher when I finished but it was barely above freezing and pouring down rain down lower.

Although I finished fast enough to qualify for RAAM for my 3rd time, I certainly didn’t feel the race went well for me. We started in drizzle that turned into cold rain as we climbed near Mount Hood. I got a little chilled and apparently burned extra calories and started bonking a little over 100 miles into the race. I did recover from that fairly quickly as I got to where it was warm and dry. Then during the night I had sleep issues from some nasal spray. Trying to stay awake I created GI issues and several quick trips to the bushes. It then became too painful to sit on my saddle and I spent some crying by the road side of the road. My crew got me going again but I felt I was out of the race and I wasn’t going very fast.

Near dark of the 2nd day I felt better and kicked it up a notch after Kelly Hegar passed me late in the race. I was able to pass him back and finished 11 minutes ahead of him. Coming off the last pass it was very dark and pouring down rain. It was in the mid 30s and I had on neoprene booties, winter tights and jacket, Gore-Tex helmet cover and winter gloves and I was still cold. Water was running everywhere but I didn’t let it keep me from still going close to 50 mph.

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Tags: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, Race Across Oregon, ultra cycling
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Race Across Oregon is Underway

July 21st, 2007

Race Across Oregon Neutral Start

The Race Across Oregon started this morning in Portland. It is a brutal 535 mile Race Across America qualifier. It’s more a loop around Oregon than it is just across Oregon. After Chris Grealish did it in 2004, he said it should be called the Race up Every Climb in Oregon. It climbs over 40,000 feet in those 535 miles. I also raced it in 2004 and quite honestly it felt like more than 40,000 feet. A month before the race, I had ridden the course in 4 days and even then it felt like more than 40,000 feet of climbing. Not only does it have that much climbing but it finishes with a brutal climb to Timberline Lodge.

Tom Letsinger from GVH Bikes is racing this year. He crewed for me in RAAM last year. Tom finished 3rd in the Ring of Fire last year with 342.2 miles in 24 hours. I believe that’s the longest he’s ridden before. Right now he’s toward the back of the pack but it’s still early in the race. In any case, just finishing the Race Across Oregon is a very tough task.

In 2004 I motioned my follow vehicle beside me around mile 340. I stopped and leaned against the vehicle and told my crew I couldn’t continue. I then sat down and cried from the emotion of dropping out and the pain I was in.

I had some GI issues brought on by too much caffeine and sugar in an attempt to stay awake after some nasal spray made me sleepy. Several trips to the bushes had made it unbearable to sit on my saddle. After my crew let me cry beside the road for a few minutes, they coaxed me the 60 miles to Prineville which is the only town of any size on the course. There they were able to get some medicine that helped but I was still in pain. I did make it to the finish and qualified for RAAM for the 3rd consecutive year. I have now qualified 4 times and the Race Across Oregon was by far the toughest qualifier for me.

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Tags: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, Race Across Oregon, ultra cycling
Posted in Bike, Road Bike | 1 Comment »

Is the UCI Trying to Ruin the Tour de France?

July 21st, 2007

This year’s Tour de France may be the cleanest Tour in recent history but that still hasn’t kept doping from being in the headlines. During the early stages, Versus had to adjust their programming schedule because the stages were taking longer than expected. There was talk that maybe the riders didn’t feel right without their drugs.

First it was that T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz had failed a doping test while during a training camp before the Tour. Just like Floyd Landis, he had elevated testosterone. Only the A sample has been tested and Sinkewitz has asked for the B sample to be tested. Before the positive had been announced he had crashed and was out of the Tour from hitting a spectator.

This week the doping news was that yellow jersey wearer, Michael Rasmussen, had failed to keep anti-doping officials informed of his whereabouts and they couldn’t find him for 2 random drug tests. He hasn’t failed any tests but missing 3 tests is considered a positive.

Also on Friday he was accused of trying to get Whitney Richards, a former mountain bike racer from Boulder, to take a Biopure to Italy for him. Whitney had been told it was a box of shoes but he opened it because he was having trouble getting everything to fit in his suitcase. Cyclelicious posted an article with more about Biopure including a link that says it isn’t performance enhancing.

I’ve long believed that the top pro cyclists were doping. I also think doping is a problem in other sports. How about Barry Bonds and the giant football players? It doesn’t seem people care so much about them though. Maybe it’s because in the US cycling isn’t as well understood.

I’m all for cleaning up cycling and other sports but there seems to be an attempt to attack the Tour de France. With Floyd Landis there were leaks to the press and mistakes by the lab. Throughout his whole case it has seemed that anti-doping authorities and the UCI have wanted to take him down no matter what.

Now with Rasmussen, the timing seems to an attempt to make the Tour de France look bad. The random tests that Rasmussen missed were on May 8th and June 28th (I’ve also seen a couple other dates close to those). Rasmussen was warned on June 29th by the UCI. Why was it not announced until July 19th while he was wearing the yellow jersey? It’s not like they had to wait for tests results. They just couldn’t find him. The Danish Cycling Federation says it announced that he was off the national team because he incorrectly stated he had only missed one drug test. He has been given blood tests on June 30, July 5th and 17th and he has given urine samples on July 15th, 17th, 18th and 19th. The UCI hasn’t released the results of those tests.

The UCI should be promoting cycling but instead it seems intent on destroying a part of it. Tennis and soccer players were also involved with Operation Puerto but the governing bodies haven’t allowed names to be released. The UCI and ASO that puts on the Tour de France have been involved in a power struggle the last couple of years. The UCI wants their ProTour to have the prestige and power instead of the Tour de France. Let’s clean cycling up but let’s not destroy riders because of a power struggle.

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Tags: cycling, doping, Tour de France
Posted in Bike, Road Bike | 1 Comment »

What are the Tour de France Riders Really Riding?

July 20th, 2007

This is not a Specialized fork.
Photo ©: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com

Just because a bike or component has a company’s logo on it doesn’t mean that’s who made it. Over the years top pro riders have used custom bikes painted to look like bikes from the team bike sponsor. Lance Armstrong at times used a Litespeed painted to look like a Trek. There’s a good article on cyclingnews.com that details some of the customized bikes or re-labeled components at this year’s Tour de France.

Even when I was on the Schwinn/Grand West Outfitters mountain bike development team, we had bikes that weren’t what they appeared to be. When Schwinn came out with their Homegrown frame, they wanted us racing it but demand was greater than their production capacity. The had the .1 frame that had the same geometry but I believe was made in Taiwan instead of the US. It also was a different aluminum and the frame weighed slightly more than the Homegrown. The color was also different.

As I remember they shipped the frames unpainted to the US where they were painted like a Homegrown. When we got them the decals weren’t even on. We spent an evening at Grand West applying decals and building up the bikes. Some of us considered putting the decals on in unique ways but I think they all ended up where they were supposed to. I got asked several times at races how I liked my Homegrown.

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Technorati Tags: cycling | Lance Armstrong | Tour de France

Tags: cycling, Lance Armstrong, Tour de France
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Alaska Pictures Posted

July 19th, 2007

I have uploaded pictures from my Alaska trip. There’s no ultra cycling or backcountry adventures but a lot of cool outdoor pictures.

I went back to using a JavaScript slide show and a page with all of the pictures on it. I had asked a while back how do you like to look at pictures? I have pictures 3 different ways. Fonk had said he liked the slide show the best. That is also my favorite way but it was too time consuming to create so I tried some other options. I’ve only tried the page in Internet Explorer but I’ll try at least FireFox.

I have since tried out Picasa and ended up creating a custom template for exporting to HTML. Creating the template took less time than it would have taken to create the slide show the way I had been. Now if I decide to add a picture or fix a caption, I can just run the export again. It will also make future pictures slide shows easier to create.

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Technorati Tags: Alaska | pictures

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Dog Causes Crash in Tour de France

July 17th, 2007

A yellow lab caused a T-Mobile rider to go down in the Tour de France today. The front wheel tacoed and it looked like the rider went down pretty hard. The dog got up and walked away with his tail wagging.

You can view it on YouTube.

Found via out there.

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Tags: cycling, Tour de France
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Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis at Leadville

July 14th, 2007

Update: he didn’t race in 2007 but Lance Armstrong has entered for 2008. In 2007 Landis finished 2nd.

As I posted a couple days ago, everything was pointing to Lance doing the Leadville 100 on August 11th. Yesterday Bicycling published an article that basically confirms it. I doubt Lance or Landis will be at the top form of the careers but it should still make for an interesting race. Hopefully it won’t make things too crazy for crews to get between aid stations.

Technorati Tags: cycling | Floyd Landis | mountain biking | mountain biking | leadville 100

Tags: cycling, Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking
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Bike Safety Fair this Sunday

July 13th, 2007

The Colorado Springs Fire Department, Safe Kids, Think First-National Injury Prevention Foundation and Memorial Hospital are holding the second annual Bike Safety Fair this Sunday. It will be from 11 AM to 3 PM at Station 8 which is at 3602 Airport Road. Not only will kids get a free helmet while they last, but there will also be food, entertainment, a dunk tank and a bicycle rodeo.

300 free kids helmets will be given away first come, first served. According to the Brain Injury Association of America, brain injury is the leading cause of death in bicycle crashes and it is the leading cause of disability among those who survive. When I started riding a lot, my mom gave me the choice of wearing a helmet or not riding. I complained about wearing a helmet but didn’t want to give up riding.

When I was 19, a helmet most likely saved my life or at least prevented brain injury. I haven’t complained about wearing a helmet since then. I was racing at the velodrome when a few other racers went down in front of me. We were probably going about 30 mph. I ended up hitting another bike. I got launched about 15 feet into the air and came down straight on my head on the concrete. My helmet shattered into 3 pieces and it was just held together by the internal netting. Part of my helmet was melted from sliding on the concrete. The paramedics insisted I go to the ER. Not only did they strap me to the backboard but they also taped me because they were worried about a neck injury. When they wheeled me into the ER, the doctor took one look at my helmet and told me I was lucky to be there. I walked out 30 minutes later and only had bruises and friction burns.

Wearing a helmet is a good first step but it also needs to be fitted properly. I see a lot of kids with their helmet tipped too far back on their head. If they fall forward, they’ll hit their forehead instead of their helmet. It can take a bit of work to get the helmet to fit correctly. My 4 year old daughter likes the cheap Strawberry Shortcake helmet that somebody gave us. It took several adjustments to get it to sit right on her head. The chin strap slowly loosens up and I have to keep tightening it. She complains if I tighten it too tight. Bicyclinginfo.org has some good tips on helmet fit and ways to get your kid to wear a helmet.

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Tags: Colorado Springs, cycling, helmets, mountain biking
Posted in Bike | 1 Comment »

Lance Armstrong Racing the Leadville 100

July 10th, 2007

Update: Lance didn’t race in 2007 but did in 2008. See videos of Lance and Dave Wiens.

There’s no official word yet but everything points to Lance Armstrong racing the Leadville 100 mountain bike race on August 11th. In December he said he had a scheduling conflict and bailed on doing the race.

In April my doctor told me that a Leadville local had told him that Lance was doing the race on a new Trek bike. A little over a week ago he rode 45 miles of the Leadville 100 course with Chris Carmichael. From what I can tell, they started in Leadville and rode to the bottom of the Powerline or a little farther and then rode back.

Today someone posted to the Leadville 100 Yahoo group, that Lance was going to be here in Colorado Springs 2 days before the race for a charity event. I tracked down that he’ll doing a fundraiser for Kids on Bikes at the Broadmoor Hotel the evening of August 9th after doing 2 kid’s bike rides in the afternoon. The timing of the fundraiser here is perfect for him to be in Leadville for the race. We’re less than a 3 hour drive away from Leadville.

Floyd Landis still says he’s still racing the Leadville 100. Unless he’s in a lot better shape than he was at the Vail Teva Mountain games he won’t be a threat to Lance for the win. I have my doubts that Lance is in the kind of shape either to win over Dave Wiens but it seems we have a good chance at finding out.

Update: A Bicycling article says Lance is doing Leadville.

Related Links:

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Tags: Colorado Springs, cycling, Dave Wiens, Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, mountain biking
Posted in Bike, Mountain Bike | 1 Comment »

Alaska Pictures Recovered!

July 8th, 2007

As I posted a couple days ago, there was an error when I tried using the card reader on my laptop to download some of our Alaska pictures. Once I put the xD card back in the camera, 3 days of pictures had disappeared. I figured there was a good chance they were still on the card since even when you delete files they are just removed from the list of files and the bits are still on the card. I had quit using the card so no memory would be overwritten.

I went looking on the web for programs to try to recover the files. I tried two and both of them allowed me to see image previews before buying the program. The first one I tried showed all the files but showed a movie as individual frames. The movie was just of some caribou and wasn’t really important but I decided to see if I could find a program that could handle movies.

I found CardRecovery and it said it supported QuickTime .mov format that the Olympus Stylus 750 uses. In the preview it showed the movie and some more on the card that hadn’t disappeared so I bought the software. It copied all of the pictures I remember taking to my hard drive. The movie of the caribou was also restored correctly. It was definitely worth the $40 that it costs. I’m keeping it installed but hopefully I don’t ever need it again!

Cassidy blowing the whistle on the Talkeetna to Hurricane flag stop train

Wolf that walked right by the shuttle bus in Denali National Park. He was moving pretty fast and my timing wasn’t quite right

A very pretty black wolf we saw up on the hill side in Denali National Park. We didn’t get to enjoy him long since he was in a hurry to get somewhere.