"Tour of California" Bike Race comes through town!

The Amgen Tour of California is going on throughout California this week, and Stage 3 of the race passes less than two miles from our front door! With four avid cyclists in the family (and one Sunday rider), the opportunity to glimpse some of the world's best cyclists was too good to pass up. So we bicycled over to Ygnacio Valley Road and watched the racers climb the Limeridge grade between the towns of Walnut Creek and Clayton.

At this point the riders were about halfway through the 115-mile Stage. Four riders had broken away from the peloton and had nearly an 8-minute lead on the rest of the pack. (The peloton would catch up to them about 30 miles later, out on Byron Road in the Central Valley.)

It was exciting to watch them go by as they started up the hill, followed by a half-dozen chase cars with very expensive backup bikes on top. A little more than 7 minutes later the horde of riders in the peloton arrived, followed by a veritable army of support vehicles!

Posted by Dan 05/15/2012

Un lugar para mi

"Why do you travel? What do you personally get out of it?"

For me, there is an endless, ever-growing list of answers to this question. One of them is, "To see what's out there. To learn what I want out of my life." If I'm fortunate enough, I may find along my travels a place that feels like "a place for me." This may not mean that it is a place in which I imagine living for the rest of my life. It may not even be a place that I will ever see again. But it is a place where, upon arriving, or after spending a bit of time there, I feel comfortable. I feel happy with life, I feel I am where I should be at that moment in time, and I feel that my trust in the universe has once again fortified itself.

I have only been in Huaraz, Peru for about 4 hours, but I feel that I have arrived at such a place as I have just described. Huaraz is a moderate-sized town of a little less than 50,000 and a healthy lot of outdoor enthusiast extranjeros, located at 3090 meters (about 10,200 ft) of elevation in the Peruvian Andes. The streets feel safe and friendly, and people smile openly when I wish them buenos dias. While there is a fair amount of adventure-seeking tourism, the town does not feel jaded and over-run by it. Maybe this is simply in contrast to the overwhelmingly touristed city of Cuzco, jump-off point for Machu Picchu visitors, where I just came from. However, I truly feel that Huaraz still has a genuine, gentle charm.

In any case, in my half-day thus far, I have found a number of little things that make this place great:

a very nice family-run hostel for a very nice price (equivalent of about $5), complete with a delightful breakfast

an excellent cappuccino, roasted en casa

a very comfortable, funky, well-managed cafe that is probably my favorite I have found in all of South America

legitimately spicy aji (hot sauce) packed with flavor (not just in one location, but as a general characteristic of Huaraz)

delicious food at delicious prices ($1-3 for lunch)

friendly strangers to have a good chat with

and... I hear there are a couple good artisan beers in the area!

And I haven't even made it out to the numerous mountain hikes yet!

So let's see... good prices, good food, good coffee, good accommodation, good people, and good naturaleza. Perfecto!

Brekky included with my $5 accommodation in Huaraz

Posted by Whitney 09/09/2011

Final race for Cal Poly

Nik completed his final race for the Cal Poly cycling team, the Wheelmen. The Western Collegiate Cycling Conference's final race of the 2011 Mountain Bike season was hosted by Cal-Berkeley at the Bailey Bike Park course.


Nik racing down the slalom course at Bailey Bike Park

Posted by Dan 11/14/2011

USA Triathlon National Championships

At the end of a pretty strong race season locally this year, it was time to raise the stakes and line up against elite athletes from across the country, at the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships in Burlington, Vermont.

I’ve competed at Nationals in prior years, so I’ve gotten past the sheer intimidation of showing up at the kind of race where the average bike is worth about $3,000...
But there’s definitely a different vibe at an event where everyone is out to win.

Most of the races I participate in have a surprisingly diverse cross-section of the population. Kids can do it. Grandma can do it. Ex-smokers, former couch potatoes, cancer survivors will all finish victorious. People who loathe running, people who “can’t swim,” people who flunked high school P.E. will tackle the challenge. People with only one leg will be out there too. Indeed, it’s the unconventional candidates that get the most attention…and the longest applause at the finish line. To me this is something essential to the spirit of triathlon – the idea that there’s more than one way to “win.”
I love the adventurous and celebratory atmosphere, the wacky motivational posters along the course (“Swim, Bike, Run, BEER!”), the herd of friends & family all wearing festive matching shirts that say “Team ANNE!” and the occasional participant galloping by in a leopard print Speedo with “Single” written down his calf in permanent marker.

One might think that throwing together 1500 men and women who’ve all grown accustomed to being The Winner could get ugly…

But I was grateful to find the same camaraderie and courtesy amongst the women at Nationals that is typical of local races back home (minus some of the goofiness). The atmosphere in the Transition Area early in the morning was neighborly and buzzing with excitement. The women sharing my rack swapped transition tips, complimented one other’s bikes (which is akin to being complimented on the cuteness of your puppy or the brilliance of your toddler), and wished each other luck on the way out. I was thrilled to see so many friends and familiar faces from Chicago and Madison. As my wave gathered at the start together, splashing and bobbing next to the boat dock waiting for the final countdown, I heard laughter and joking, a few women calling out, “sorry in advance if I accidentally kick anyone!”

The bike course was very crowded, but I was so focused that I barely remember any of the Burlington scenery swirling past and I was a little surprised to find myself back downtown so soon! I could tell my race was going well when I reached T2 and found the Transition Area mostly empty. A solitary bike dangled from the rack here or there, but the rest of them were still behind me.

The run started with what the race organizers referred to as "a significant hill," a phrase obviously meant to let us down gently - don't expect any 10K PRs on this course! Within that context, I suppose I can consider it "a significant achievement" that my 10K time was only one second behind my fastest-ever 10K (which was on a flat course, naturally).
I ran hard. I ran like it was my last race of the season, and even though it hurts to run your fastest, I felt lucky just to have the ability to run fast - painful but exhilarating.
It was impossible to know how many women were ahead of me, but with the goal of breaking my own 10K record (hill or no hill!) I had my own motivation to keep digging in.

Halfway through the run, I was passed by someone in my division, a local from Madison! She slipped me a few words of encouragement, and then pushed ahead. Instead of feeling frustrated at being outrun, I was grateful to have such close competition at this race. It makes the race more meaningful, and gives clarity to the goals still to come.

I finished strong and ended up with 5th place in my age group, which earned me a spot on the Nationals podium during the awards ceremony! When I talked to my coach after the race, she said, “5th place! Did you bring a dress?”

Why yes, yes I did. Obviously, my podium dress and my acceptance speech were ready… *just in case*

Well, Ok. There wasn’t actually a speech. But my finish also qualified me for the 2012 World Championships in New Zealand, so there will certainly be more adventures to come!

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