Legs

Which WGaS rider do these legs belong to?
























Yeah. Right.

More pictures like this and including this one here.

Lance on Twitter

This is a sampling of Lance's actual Twitters since his fall during the Vuelta a Castilla y León. You can follow Lance on Twitter here. Of course, you might find the image of Lance Tweeting "left-handed" disturbing for some reason.

VeloNews reports an expected 8-12 week recovery for him.

WGaS at Red Rock Canyon-Las Vegas

BT

and

Dennis O'Keefe

Writer's Block

Take Care of Your Bike

Carbon carnage from the blog, Busted Carbon:



















They have more if you aren't squeamish.

Pot Holes

Highland Park has an online pot hole report form. This is only for Highland Park streets.

At Least I Didn't Do This

Getting dropped in a spring ride is bad enough. but at least this wasn't the reason:


see more pwn and owned pictures

WGaS Tuesday

A splendid early Spring ride this morning-14 riders including a late arrival by AC to join AB, Fronque, Michael J Fox, Dr Rod, Chippo, Hatch, BFBT, Eager Eric, Rabid Rob, Greenie, Pablo, El Libro Grande, and myself. Some decent accelerations off the front which caused a couple braks in the back of the group. The roads remain treachorous with potholes. I came home with a broken spoke this morning as the result of a pothole encounter. Wednesday looks to be ride-friendly once again....

Great Ride today!

Huge group >15 sorry in advance if I forget anyone. AB, Frank, Greenie, BT, Chippo, Eric, Rob, AC, John, Jeff, Pat, Bill, Lou, Wiskey Mike, Marc, Tucci the Professional and myself. I had over 55 miles - definitely better than the trainer.

Hope to see you out this week.

Pablo

Road Work

According to my just-delivered copy of the Pioneer Press, the following stretches of crappy roads are due for resurfacing:
Green Bay Road from Lake-Cook to Edgewood.
St. Johns from Lambert Tree to Roger Williams.

Work is scheduled to start in May and be completed by the end of July.

Thank you, Highland Park City Council and us taxpayers.

(cross posted from my other blog).

If we can't ride...

...we can read...and dream...

Another Ride Missed

Monday @ 4:30 I grabbed what may be the only opportunity for a ride this week----apparently the rest of the WGaS gruppetto have jobs, families or hamentaschen to eat and therefore didn't ride--

Rainy Day Saturday

Tucci the Professional and I ventured out this morning for an extremely weather challenged ride

The rain was cold and plentiful---we provided quite the exhibition at the Port Clinton Starbucks as we poured water out of our boots, wrung out socks, gloves, liners and an assortment of other clothing items---leaving a large puddle of water covering half the seating area--luckily Slava happened to show up and provided a warmth to the morning

Needless to say, it was a unique morning.................

MIA

Just an FYI-I am pleased to report that despite concerns to the contrary, Moots is alive and well...... During my afternoon run in Harms Woods yesterday I encountered Mootsie riding on his mountain bike on the path north of Golf Road. He alleges that by April he will be rejoining our morning rides......BTW-also spotted Harold Berman of NCC riding the path

Wet Roads Call for a Full-fendered ride

March 6th presented itself with a seasonably warm morning with wet roads-clearly at least one of the WGaS riders was well prepared with the appropriately equipped bike for the day-----Again we had a nice size 'ton: AB, Greenie, Rabid Rob, 1 Adam 12, Michael J Fox, Doc Rod, Pablo, Fast Freddy, Tucci the Professional, and myself.

Surly Steamroller Inaugural Ride

Well the Steamroller Fixie made its debut ride this morning -although it was prepared for any weather condition-the weather was a pleasant 40F to start. It would seem that several individuals have crept out of their burrows after hibernating for the winter and grabbed their bikes-We had an amazing group of WGaS riders: AB, Greenie, Eager Eric, Rabid Rob, BFBT, Hatch, Dr. Rod, Michael J Fox, Pablo, Tucci the Professional and myself. It was mixture of road, 'cross, and the Fixie but nonetheless a rather spirited ride for the early season. Hope to see the rest of the 'ton out soon.......

Our New Ride

Based on the responses to my question about riding tomorrow morning,
I propose this as our new team bike:

Get Them on Video

From The Streets of Chicago, we get this video of a cyclist who was so tired of getting buzzed by
cars and having the police ignore his complaints that he did something about it.

Ride Surly Ride

BT's new foul weather fixie

Handmade Loveliness

A brief report from the North American Handmade Bicycle Show.

A picture says a 1000 ahhhhhs

Try This on Your Next Ride

From RoadBikeRider.com

Stretch on Your Bike

Near the end of his long stage 4 breakaway with a pair of other riders in the Amgen Tour of California, Tyler Hamilton was seen using several on-bike stretches to loosen and reinvigorate fatiguing muscles. It helped, but not enough to prevent being gobbled up by the peloton a few minutes from the finish.

Muscles and joints can get tight in the typical 5-7-hour pro race. But you don't need to be a cash rider to benefit from stretching during several hours in the saddle.

With winter winding down and longer rides coming, let's see how to ease the tension when you're on the bike long enough to start feeling stiff and sore.

Here are 4 stretches that can easily be done during rides:
Calves. While standing, stop pedaling with one foot at the bottom, as if cornering. Put your weight on that foot and let the heel drop toward the road as far as possible. Hold for 10 seconds. Move your hips forward and arch to also stretch your low back. Then do the same with the other leg.
Quads. This is a rather advanced moved, so don't try it unless you have adequate bike-handling ability. While sitting, stop pedaling, unclip your right foot and bring it back toward your butt. Grab your ankle with your right hand and pull the foot up and back, stretching your quads. Hold for 10 seconds. Repeat with the other leg. Grip the bar on top near the stem so these movements are less likely to affect bike control.
Shoulders. Sit up and hold the bar near the stem with your left hand. Extend your right arm up and back like you're pointing at a bird flying over. Stretch the shoulder girdle in this way for 10 seconds then do with the other arm.
Neck. Sit up, hold the bar near the stem with both hands and slowly turn your head fully to the left and then to the right. Try to touch your right ear to your right shoulder, then left to left. Tuck your chin to your chest and hold for several seconds.
Caution! These moves can easily make you veer off line. Check for traffic first. When all is clear, move to the center of the lane so you won't wobble off the road edge. And when riding with others, wait till you're at the very back of the group or paceline.

1986 TdF Memories

There is a wonderful interview at BKW with Andy Hampsten about the 1986 Tour and the
conflict between Greg LeMond and Bernard Hinault. Read it for the memories and insights.
(h/t to Brian)

Vanderkitten Pro Cycling Team Founder-Elizabeth Keefe Hatch

Ahhh what cycling can do for your form.........

Get 'em while you can.......

Thursday morning was another ride friendly weather day-as a result there was a decent turnout of WGaS riders. Fronque, AB, el Libro Grande, Pablo, myself (BT) and an appearance by the temp service of BFBT, as well as a Jazzy Jeff passing in the morning mist. Starting temp was 35F with little wind so it felt warmer than yesterday even though a tad cooler.
The next three days look to be more iffy: highs of 29 lows of 15 and some flurries--perhaps a later in the day woods ride?

Wednesday AM Ride Report

Frank, Tucci, BT, Greenie and myself had a lovely morning ride - winds made the ride south a little tough but made coming back to get coffee a breeze! Wish more of you would have joined us - hopefully spring is around the corner???

Tomorrow

No excuses. Check your bike. Set your alarm. Get to bed early. See you on the road.

Take the survey

It's over there...on your left...at the top...yeah, that's it.

Department of Duh!

National Geographic News reports the results of a study done at Princeton University that found:

Sexy women in bikinis really do inspire some men to see them as objects, according to a new study of male behavior.

Brain scans revealed that when men are shown pictures of scantily clad women, the region of the brain associated with tool use lights up.

Which tool would that be?

Good Morning America, How are you? I'm fine

George Hincapie ToC 2009

Cycling Funnies

From Yehuda Moon:

Weather Anomalies

It was way warmer in Alaska yesterday. Tomorrow morning doesn't look so nice either.

Patriot

at the Track

So now what the hell are the Italians doing ?

Wednesday

If it isn't raining, we're riding. It's the usual time and route. I'd like to make this an actual recovery ride. Let's see how long that lasts.

Official WGaS Season Opens

It was a fabulous February morning for our 1st WGaS weekday morning ride-roads a bit wet, but at 5:45 AM start temps were a balmy 50F
It was nice to have a decent gruppetto of 9-Rabid Rob, Eager Eric, Fronque, Greenie, BFBT, AB, Pablo, Doc Rod and yours truly. So..........the fun begins

Tuesday

Here's your forecast for tomorrow morning:

Get out and ride. I'll be on my 'cross bike with 28c Gatorskins. And big John is kicking our butts on his mountain bike with 2.3" knobbies.

No excuses.

So what's on your mind?

Photos

I just added a slideshow using FlickrSlidr. It pulls photos from my WGAS set, so if we ever get out and ride some more I can easily add to it. And, no Fred, I won't be taking photos in spin class.

Another Attempt

After several focus groups, some user feedback and a brief consultation with experts in the field, I have HTMLed the blog design to within a gnat's eyebrow of perfect design.

Now all we need is some interesting content...

A More Successful Makeover

Frank - I think I'm gonna spray paint your bike!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

I'll take this down as soon as Steve comments...

WTF????

What is going on in this race...... it's like kieren except on the streets of a town and everyone has their own motor scooter!! What will they think of next?

http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/2009/01/dernyspektakel-sgravenwezel-2008.html

Tuscon Training Propaganda

Link to article in Velonews:

http://www.velonews.com/article/86570/the-coached-corner-tucson-training-camp

Danger Wide Load Back

Wocket & Wobbly Wife Get Down!!

This was about 3 minutes before the call to the paramedics.

Code Red

Hey Steve

You got beat by a girl...who lives in Alaska.

This is why my resolution for 2009 has nothing to do with the number of miles I ride.

Seasons Greetings

Have a Merry Blogmas, a Happy Blognukka and a very healthy Blog Year.

Whoa !!!

Winter weather is upon us..............................

http://www.icebike.com/latest.htm

WGaS Makes Podium at KCCX Natz

KCCX

Congrats!!!!

Our own Wayne Simon raced to a 4th Place finish in the 50-54 Category at the Kansas City Cyclocross Natz yesterday----

Track Racing Nirvana

Made by Serotta built by Albertos

WGaS Championship Jersey

BT's Next Bike

Found this at a cool site called Bike Hacks.

With current conditions, it's either this or studded tires or, >>shudder<< ride indoors.

They also like Pugsley.

Wayne Simon 50+ IL CX Champion

BT + Pugsley = Fun times.

Pugsley Time at Montrose CX

Forget the Cold - There's Always Biking in Alaska

Trainer-no freakin' way

Well-AC and I went out on mountain bikes from DWW @ 9:30 this morning-the temp was actually not a factor 32F-the snow was a challenge-but all in all the choice to ride was a good one-we got in a good effort and it sure as hell beats doing basement trainer time-

Word is that Moots did a solo mountain bike roll out on the Harms Woods path

BT

I wanna take you to trainer time........

Clearly I'm not the only one heding to the trainer-yes, I spent 1-1/2 hours watching Seinfeld and Everyone loves Raymond while on the trainer. Oh well, such is life.......................


BT

Winter Wonderland

PUGSLEY TIME?

Well there's 2-3 inches of snow on the ground-although some may read this as time to amble down to the basement and jump on the trainer or flop onto the couch to watch reruns of "Love American Style"- while there are those with the inclination to roll on winter adaptive bikes-so gentlemen of the 'ton let's get those mountain bikes and cross bikes ready to roll for the winter season.

BT

Gobble Gobble-Eat a Bit of Snow

The Turkey Day ride was a blast-huge group of WGaS (not so huge) and Albertos (huge) riders. Eric, Craig, Steve and I joined Brendan and about 25 others for a nice Thanksgiving ride on the DPR Trail. Fast pace northto 120 which split the group (all WGaS studs with the front). At 120 the groups made a stop and some flipped and then about 12-15 contined north to Gurnee. The trail was agin treachorous with snow and ice causing a lot of moans and graons. But alas only one ride-to this writer's knowledge-bit the snow. Of course, his Steve's name shall not be revelaed to protect his privacy.

And there was a surprise appearance in the Daniel Wright Woods parking lot by Fred Wadman who was out for a solo road ride and Tucci who was solo on a road/trail solo sojourn.

All in all a nice morning with home made scones from Wendy after the ride with Clif Recovery hot chocolate to wash them down.

BT

Whoa!!!!!Sh!t!!!!!

Well, Fronque and I joined in with the Alberto's Tuesday night DPR Trail ride yesterday. There was a nice group that left the Lake Forest train station including Brendan, Wendy, Berman, Stathy, Bill Moss, Brian Haas, Jay Keltner-Bill Hatch and Colavita Rich joined in on the trail. It was a nice well lit ride, but crap there are quite a few sections with frozen snow and ice and others with snow covering ice. All considered the conditions made for a somewhat harrowing rid at times. We went up to 120 pretty much together and then on the return the group split and Brendan, Wendy, Stathy, Bill Moss and another unknown rider were back until Fronque decided to fall back to join us for our companionship and conversation.

All in all a fun ride and I highly recommend it.

BT

Sunday Sunday Chilly Sunday

Another beautiful sunny day to ride-----Although the temp was 29F @ 8am, it was up to a balmy 32F @ the designated 9am ride departure time----Greenie and I pulled road bikes (Fuji 10 spd & Bianchi Pista respectively) from the quivers for a trip up the Harms Woods Path North with a Lake Cook Road crossover to the Bunny Trail Path and on up to the trails end in Lake Forest----FYI: I used my "Bar Mitts" with mid weight Craft lobster mittens and my hands were toasty, I actually had to take them out quite a bit cause the were too warm----This week the temperatures look ominously frigid, but it's a day by day decision on rides anyway, so................................................

BT

Bar Mitts

these cold weather hand protectors seem to be a perfect holiday gift for spouses/life partners/significant others/children/parents/grandparents/cousins/nieces/nephews/next door neighbors to get for their WGaS cyclist---
of course I bought my own at Albertos-

Riders on the cutting edge

Some of the members of the WGaS 'ton are on the cutting edge of technology - they shall remain nameless - but of course everyone knows who they are!

BT - can we order these with flags?

Here is the link to a recent article in Velonews:

http://www.velonews.com/article/85046/bar-mitts

Pablo Showing His Form

Found a photo of Paul. Click on the photo and page back and forth to see the series.

Found a Picture of Eric

IMG_3446

Can't find one of Pablo. All those Colavita riders look the same to me.

Northbrook CX Results

Results are here:

I came in 42nd out of 54 in the 4a race and 27th out of 31 in the 40+


Pablo came in 25th in the 40+

Eric came in 24th out of 31 in the 30+
(see him in the the WGaS kit at 1:00 and 2:29):

Find more videos like this on veloist

Northbrook CX

Fun Day - tough course, good WGaS/Colavita/Alberto's turnout and great fan support. Thanks to all that came out in cold weather to cheer Frank, Eric and myself on.

Here is a link to a video on the veloist to give you some idea how hard the course was - and if you do not believe the video ask Frank!

http://www.veloist.com/video/video/show?id=661421%3AVideo%3A27466&xgs=1


Pablo

Good Luck to all at "Save Ferris" Cross Race

Some of us will be racing tomorrow in Northbrook - Masters at 10:00 (Masters 50+ at 11:00) and 4a's at 2:00. To those racing - good luck! To all others, grab a cowbell and come over to Northbrook and cheer everyone on - Dress warm as they are talking possible snow showers - true cross weather!

Pablo

BTW - I second BT's comments regarding this am - fun ride and good to see some different clubs/groups riding together! Fast Freddy was looking good on his cross bike too!

A Brisk Ride on the DPR

Nice mixto gruppetto this morning for the regular Saturday DPR ride-had riders from Albertos, WGaS, and Colavita. Although the morning looked to be offering ominous weather, it was absolutely splendid until the last 40 minutes on the return when freezing rain and small hail began to fly. Thanks to Bill Hatch-Colavita/WGaS rider-for repeatedly appearing out of the woods from Independence Grove to DWW Bigfoot style shooting photos.

BT

Saturday

Tomorrow, meet at 7:30 at Daniel Wright Woods with your cross or mountain bikes.

Google for the Wobbley Wocket

Bet you didn't know that Fast Freddie has his own Google Search page.

It's a brave new world?

Another sweeeeeeeet autumn WGaS ride----all riders kitted up in the bumblebee kits-

BT

What a splendid autumn morning for a ride-it was great to see so many WGaS riders all kitted up in the colors-I counted 14 in the 'ton-10 in WGaS kits
Nice pace pushed by Chippo and AC------

Hope to get a bigger gruppo tomorrow for another WGaS Indian Summer ride

BT

50+ contingent - are you referring to us elderly members of the 'ton?

I will be attempting to get these old creaky bones lubed to ride in the am

BT

Indian Summer Continues (or is it Global Warming?)

I know many of you guys had "rest days" today - but how many 50+ mornings are left in 2008? This week promises to be beautiful so get your butts out of beds and ride this week!

1-A12, Fast Freddy and I were out enjoying the warmth and something completely different ... light.

Hope to see the Southern contingent out tomorrow - I know it is Election day - but isn't everyone taking the day off anyway???

Pablo

Morning on the DPR

Great ride this morning on the DPR. It was a joint Colavita/WGaS ride and I got some pix:

The paceline:



The plan:



The phone call:



And Tucci looking fast: