Mike's Bike Blog

The Tour of California has started, TV coverage can be found on Versus, but it's not always live. If you want a live feed check out the tour tracker on the official Web site. I was able to capture a great image of a guy with Elk antlers running along side the riders. I gotta give the guy props he seems in pretty good shape to run alongside the riders for so long.

I didn't catch all the interview but they had Levi Leipheimer's parents were being interviewed, they mentioned that Levi has started a petition to get his Astana team into the Tour de France. Go to www.letleviride.com to check it out.

Last week I was in Washington DC for Adobe LiveCycle training at Figleaf Software. I had hoped to get some riding in, before I left I looked into a few places to rent a bike while I was there along with some local bike shops. The first couple of days were pretty cold (20 degrees) and raining. The weather was so bad my hotel couldn't get DirecTV reception almost my entire stay, the TV didn't start working until Thursday night! I think I've started to lose my tollerance for the cold living in Texas these last 3 years as I was not prepared for the blast of cold. Luckily later in the week it started to warm up to the 40s, on Thursday night I rented a mountain bike from Better Bikes. 

They came and dropped the bike off with a helmet and a lock. It didn't look pretty but it got me around the Nation's capitol just fine. It took some getting use to the shifting as I've come so accustomed to index shifting and not having to find the gear. On Thursday night I road around the hotel and to the Bike Rack DC. It was still cold enough to warrant wearing gloves so I picked up a pair from Chuck at the Bike Rack. He kindly replied to my email inquiery regarding the bike rentals and pointed me to Better Bikes. 

I'm not sure if the government runs interference in DC, but my Garmin had a hard time finding satellietes. It would take 20-30 minutes for it to sync. On Friday morning I got up early before my class started and rode down to the Lincoln Monument, Washington Monument and the Whitehouse. Class ended a little early so I embarked again on another ride, this time I followed the canel and crossed the bridge to the Arlington Cemetary and then came back over the bridge and then went out past the Reagan National Airport on the trail to Mount Vernon. It was starting to get late and I didn't want to have to ride in the dark so I headed back. I snapped another picture of the Washington Monument from the bridge. I then went by the Smithsonian and down to the Capitol Building. 

Morning ride map (first 15 - 20 minutes is missing as my GPS didn't have reception)

Afternoon ride map 

More Photos

The Austin Statesman is reporting that Lance's next venture will be a bike shop. I've always gotten excited about bike shops ever since I was a kid, but this was sounds extra special. The name has a significant meaning, Mellow Johnny's comes from a nickname he got in the Tour De France. In French the term "yellow jersey" is maillot jaune. 

The shop will of course have bikes and gear, a coffee shop, training facility and commuter center. A commuter center what's that you say? A commuter center will be a place that downtown commuters can go to park their bikes. There will be showers so commuters can clean up before work. The training center feature Carmichael Training Systems! 

I anticipate there be a lot of buzz around the opening of this shop, I'm not sure when they are projecting an opening, but I bet it will garner the fan fare and energy like that of a new Apple Store. 

http://www.austin360.com/recreation/content/recreation/stories/2008/02/0214bikeshop.html

I can't believe how fast the 16 sessions went by. The finalie was a Field Test to see what improvements were gained over the term of the course. I felt really good, I had a complete rest day yesterday I kept my cadence around 95 and my MPH around 19-20 for both efforts. I plugged my numbers into the Field Test calculator and here are my new numbers:

Tempo: 144-149
Steady State: 151-156
Climbing Repeat: 156-161

 Better than my initial test, I can see the improvements transferring to the road. My times for Volente and my 360 rides have all increased.

Sports Illustrated has an interview of Levi Leipheimer. Levi gives some insight into being National Champion, his new team and what's in store for 2008. 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/more/02/01/Leipheimer.new.focus.ap/