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I do a lot of bicycling. I ride with the
UW Cycling
Club and the Brazen Dropouts.
I ride a little blue Cannondale
and a big blue Bridgestone. I used to ride a Trek mountain bike (that was
just right) but now someone else is riding it, entirely without my
permission. The
Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference racing season is well underway.
I was at at the race a few weekends agoin Indiana. It was a rollicking
good time,
except, possibly, for the two crashes I got tangled up in in the criterium.
I haven't done any more collegiate races since then, but two Saturdays ago, the
21st, I did the first of the Great Dave Velo
Club Practice Criteriums. It was my first Category 3 race. Last
Saturday, the 28th, I did the 2nd crit in the
series and got 5th! I am very happy about it.
I've been on a serious training schedule this winter, so this summer my teammates (who are also working out) and I are going to be unstoppable! Some entries from my training diary are online so that any would-be ass-whoopers can look and see how tough I am and reconsider (How's that for tough talk?). Our training program was designed by Supercoach Ben Francis Miller, a kinesthesiology whiz and teammate (thank goodness). Unfortunately (for me) Ben got accepted to UC Berkley and had to quit coaching to work on school (sniff!). The off-season's over, though, so I don't really need roller workouts and a weight program anymore. The other people Ben coached are Dave "The Cannibal" Sonetti, Ross "Itchin to be in the Kitchen" Winberg, and Jeff "Just ask me about my pedals" McFarland.
The bicycling community in Madison is more fun than that in Milwaukee, and not just because I'm part of it. I've found that there are a lot more group rides going out of Madison and more people know each other. I never got involved with any other cyclists in Milwaukee, though, so I really don't know what I'm talking about. There is a monstrously popular route out of Madison where you will almost always see several other riders (and try and run them over if you're a shotgun-toting oil-burning-smoke-spewing-pickuptruck-driving horn-honking can't-drive maniac, who unfortunetely seem to thrive in the same habitat as cyclists). Everyone rides from the east (north) entrance to the arboretum and south on Seminole rd., towards the universally recognized perfect cycling destination: Paoli. If you are in Madison with your bike and don't ride this route, there's not really much I can do to help you. Admittedly, though, the Seminole rd. route gets old after awhile, and people have devised several other good ways of escaping the fair city's boundaries into the surrounding Dane County, which is both breathtakingly beautiful, somewhat hilly, and patrolled by sheriffs who have no clue that state traffic laws allow cyclists to ride two abreast as long as they don't obstruct traffic.
Check out my Bike Links
And my Training Diary
