Open to Women and Juniors (girls and boys up to age 18)

Learn Road Racing and Criterium rules, skills and tactics first in a classroom setting and then put into practice in a one day experiential clinic. Learn about pack riding: What to expect, how to move around and react, attacks, breakaways and sprints.

Date: Classroom: Thursday April 4^th & Experiential: Saturday April 6th
Time: Classroom: 6:30-8:30 pm, Experiential: 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Experiential Location: Route 66 State Park (http://mostateparks.com/route66.htm)
Classroom Location: TBD (will email pre-registered participants and update website and forum)

Registration: HERE
email Jamie@teamrevcycling.org or Steph: snefny@yahoo.com for more info
Preregistration fees: $30 for Team Revolution Members, $35 for non members.
Day of Registration: $40

Registration fees include the cost of the USA cycling non-competitive one day event license.
Annual racing licenses/one-day are not required for the clinic but required for racing!
You may purchase an annual license at the clinic or at www.usacycling.org

 NOTE: The classroom session is mandatory for those participating in the clinic on 4/6 and free with your registration!

Held under USAC permit #2013-1079

What is one to do?

Because I care about your comfort while riding, I decided that it was of utmost
importance to conduct a scientific study to get to the bottom of this dilemma. Toolin
or bookin? Which was the best way to ride to stay warm. Toolin can be described
as a ride where, if someone asked you what you did this morning, you would
reply “we were just toolin around”. You weren’t out for blood. You were just riding
and chatting or sightseeing. Toolin is synonymous with cruising. Bookin is a pace
where, when you finish riding that pace with your friends, you high five each other
and say, “ Hell yeah man. We were bookin it.” It is synonymous with hustling.

Saturday November 24, 2012 at 7:46 I began to prepare for my study. I placed a
meat thermometer between my womanhood and sports bra. This would measure
my surface body temp during the test. A base layer, jersey, fleece, and shell were the
layers that followed.

It was 25 degrees outside. I stood outside for 5 minutes to collect a baseline body
temp reading of 90 degrees. This study was going to measure body temp after 5
minute stretches of toolin and then body temp after 5 minutes of bookin it. The
ultimate goal being to determine if riding hard made you warmer.

With this crucial baseline data recorded, I began to make my way over to the
new Western Wing of the Big Ring Testing Facilities. This latest addition to my
testing facilities stretches roughly from the Webster Methodist Church at Berry and
Lockwood to the Kirwood Luthern Chuch at Taylor and Lockwood.

I rounded the corner from Berry onto Lockwood and began to record data for the
toolin section of my study. 5 minutes elapsed. I hit the computer and checked the
thermomer. 149 watts with an average speed of 15.5 and a body surface temp of 82.

I circled back to begin the bookin it section of the study. I rounded the corner and
began bookin it down Lockwood. 5 minutes elapsed. The previous routine was
completed. 248 watts, 23.1 mph and a body surface temp of 79 !!

Holy cow!
I had worked 66% harder and my temp dropped by 3 degrees! How could that
be???

I have a confession to make. I am really not a scientist. I just masquerade as one
on this blog. So I really don’t know why your body temp would decrease even
though you were working harder. If I had to guess, I would have to say that it has
something to do with the increased wind chill factor from going 7 mph faster. I

have always chuckled at the whole wind chill factor thing that meteorologists on the
evening news love to dramatize. I guess that there is some truth to it afterall.

So there you have it.

It is not cool to tool.
It is cool to book it.

Your deep gratitude for me risking a nasty puncture wound in a sensitive area to
perform this study is accepted in advance.

BR

Track racing itself dates back to the turn of the century. Madison Square Garden in New York originally hosted 6 day long track events back in the 1900s. Hundreds of thousands of people would come watch these amazing riders compete.

The Penrose Velodrome, in north St. Louis City was built in 1961-62 after the Forest Park Velodrome was destroyed to make room for Highway 40 expansion. The St. Louis Cycling Club provided the funding. The track hosted a national championship in 1962 but suffered a collapse of an underlying sewer main shortly thereafter that left it…well…shall we say a “little”  bumpy.

The track has since taken on the nickname Mr. Bumpy Face.

WITH GOOD REASON

If you are flying fast into turn 3, expect a little buck out of the saddle on the way to turn 4…kind of like bull riding and cycling combined into one sport.  You can only get that experience folks at the Penrose Velodrome.

To ride the velodrome is to ride a piece of St. Louis history.

Every Thursday night at 6 p.m. from May through August, this piece of St. Louis cycling history comes alive with racing.

Sure the cracks are wide…sure there are thorns that will flat your tires…sure there is something in the air that makes you wheeze and your eyes water.

That is all part of the experience. This is a 50 year old track. The aforementioned attributes build character.  If you can race this velodrome, you can race anything.

The track experience itself is almost as if mountain bikers took over a crit race.
The tires are thin but the atmosphere is completely relaxed. People bring cookies. People bring beer. Tonight Eva Berger took a lap around the track on a unicycle.
It was awesome!

If variety spices your life, then track is the sport for you. On any given night you get to do three kind sof races. Usually one is geared toward the sprinter…one lap chariot races with a holder to 15 lap tempo races that favor the endurance rider with a point being awarded for each lap one.  Hell, It ‘s like field day on a bike!

The variety does not end with the events. The track bike, “by law” a fixed gear with no hand brakes runs the full spectrum.  People ride anything from steel bikes that they built themselves from old 70’s and 80’s road bikes to aluminum Masis to carbon with disc wheels. People wear everything from gym shorts to skinsuits.
Truly a mixing bowl.

Great sport if you have ADD. Nothing really lasts more than 10 minutes.

Grab your fixie and head to the hood.

Hell..wear your hoodie too.

You will have a good time.

Peace out.
BR

Two years ago, I would have vehemently contested this statement. I had been
racing for a couple of years. I had raced in a couple of time trials. Frankly, I thought
that the folks in their skin suits, pointy helmets, and disc wheels were a little nuts.

After a couple of years of racing crits and road races, I decided that I was not good at
turns or riding in a pack.

I loved to race my bike but I couldn’t do the aforementioned very well.

What was one to do?

Time trial.

This was the alpha of my expenditures.

First up were aero bars for my road bike. A TT helmet followed.

Mike surprised me with a zippy TT bike complete with snazzy wheels the Christmas
following my first TT season.

Good guy.

The following season, I set a personal best.

At the beginning of the 2012 season, Devin talked me into buying a speedsuit. It
cost $150 but would buy me 30 seconds on the 9 mile tt course. Sure enough, I went
from 22:24 to 22:00.

My soul has been in conflict all season. How of much of this is me? How much is the
equipment?

The older you get, the more you spend on things to make you go faster to compete
against those who are 20 years younger. They may have it physically but you are
more fiscally established. They may be stronger but they have aluminum forks and
you have a full carbon frame.

Tonight I decided to go Merckx. I wanted to see where I was at with out all of this TT
stuff. Just me and a road bike and a standard kit.

Well, I came in at 23:46. My average “tt geeked out” time is 22:00.

Without mentioning what I have paid to go faster, my tt gear has bought me 1:46 at
the cost of $47.17/ second on a 9 mile tt course.

A good investment?

No.

But, I don’t really care.

Anyone who races knows that it is not about the money. It is about the glory. It is
about beating yourself. It is about beating that person that is close to you on your
races and times. It is about beating the person who beat you last time.

The cost to race…a lot…the thrill of the podium…priceless.

Chase your own PR’s. Chase your closest competitors.

It is what motivates you that makes you train to improve yourself and that is really
what it is all about.

Race on.

BR

It’s that time of year. Alpine Shop is helping us throw another Singletrack Session in the woods. Dust off the MTB, pump up the tires, oil that chain and come out to Castlewood and join us for an introduction to mountain biking. This year we’ll start off with some skill tests to get you in the right group to best accommodate a good learning curve for almost any ability…so don’t be intimidated if you’re new.

We strongly recommend pre-registration, to guarantee you’ll receive a Dogfish printed shirt. Hope to see you there!

Ride rolls out at 6pm from Straub’s parking lot in Webster Groves. First weeks have been SUPER!!! Ballas and RockHill have been repaved and are beautiful like glass, time and route seem to work beautifully for time allowance and sunset!  We will continue to ride this route until May. At that point, we plan to offer a longer route  (20-24 miles).  Generally the attitude on this ride is “an awesome gung ho mind set and lots of positive energy” So exciting to see so many new faces, feel free to come out and join us!

“What I have eaten today”

As far back as I can remember, I have had a rather embarrassingly ravenous appetite. I blame it on heredity.  When I was a kid on weekend trips to the Lake of the Ozarks, my family would stop twice on the three hour trip to the Ozarks for food breaks. Not to mention that we had the car loaded with Pringles and Amighetti sandwiches to get us through until we could stop in Sullivan for Mc Donald’s and St. James for ice cream.

Unless I am sleeping or under general anesthesia, I find it very difficult to go more than about four hours without food.

Given my aforementioned background, you can imagine my shock and disbelief when I had my first encounter with a “That’s All that I’ve Eaten” eater.

My roommate freshman year in college was a “That’s All that I’ve Eaten” eater.  She was a big fan of ”The Days of Our Lives”.   Every afternoon I would get back to the dorm following my exciting biology labs to find her perched on the beanbag chair watching “The Days of Our Lives”.  I would say, “How’s it goin?” Her automatic reply would be.” I haven’t eaten anything all day” or… on a good day… “ All that I have had to eat all day is a Jolly Rancher” or something else ridiculously small like a sesame seed.

My response to my roommate was usually “Wow.”  She hasn’t eaten anything or maybe just a sesame seed since she woke up until now (say 3 p.m. for general reference)?? It was incomprehensible!  How did she not pass out? She must be super-human! It was almost as if she should join the circus…Andrea the single sesame seed eater would come on right after Brenda the flame eater. Every afternoon she would tell me of her hypoglycemia defying situation.

As my life has gone on since college, I have encountered several other “That’s All that I’ve Eaten” eaters.  They seem to have a burning compulsion to tell you that they haven’t eaten or how little that they have eaten. You sit down to eat with them and they just can’t help but let you know that all that they have eaten prior to that meal is one M & M.

I know that I am on the other end of the appetite spectrum but I can’t help but wonder if there are some underlying issues with these folks.  I have developed several hypotheses and would appreciate your input to help me get to the bottom of this life long mystery that I have been grappling with since college.

1. These folks are martyrs. When they tell you that they have eaten one

pumpkin seed since last Tuesday, they are looking for sympathy. Maybe this is indicative of a checkered childhood.

2. They are uber competitive and see minimalizing food consumption as a way to “one up” up you. E.g. I bet that you have eaten two pumpkin seeds since last Tuesday.
3. They are insecure and need your approval. They want a pat on the back for eating one pumkin seed. “Way to go man!” That’s the words that they want to hear.

Please let me know your input! In the meantime, I feel about as uncomfortable as someone at a wake when I am encountered by a “That’s All I’ve Eaten” eater.

My perplexity as to reply “I am sorry!” , “Wow you are soo impressive”, or “You get a gold star!” is beginning to wear on my nerves.

Thank you for your help.

Never suppress your appetite for knowledge or good food.

BR

This song could be considered my anthem for the Tuesday night Hub spin this week.

I got to the Hub early to get a spot in the very front to set up my trainer. I was, for
the record, the closest to the TV and fans. As time went by, the rest of the group
showed up and began to assemble behind me.

With a click of the remote, the Chris Carmichael DVD began to play and we all began
to pedal.

My mind began to wander. Stevie’s song “For Once in My Life” filtered in…..

For once in my life, I was off the front instead of off the back on a Hub ride.

For once in my life, I did not flinch when someone near me crashed. One of those
talented folks on rollers bit it. But I didn’t care because I knew that I wasn’t going
down. I am on a steel stand! Ha! No skin off my bod!

For once in my life, I welcomed the head wind. It wasn’t slowing me down man. No
way. Bring it on! Cool me down! Yeah buddy!

For once in my life, the fact that I pulled the whole way and others sucked my wheel
didn’t matter. F it! They weren’t going to pass me at the finish line!

And finally..for once in my life….at the finish line…I would be ahead of those
who had drafted off of me and be able to throw up BOTH arms…not just one…in
victory…YES!!!!!!

Dream your dream definitely more than once in your life.

BR

Big thanks to these shops that have stepped up to sponsor Team Rev and the Mountain Bike Frostbike Series!

When you’re gearing up pre-ride or warming up post-ride, stop by and say hey at the shop nearest your MTB location.

The Cyclery |2472 Troy Road Edwardsville, IL 62025  |  618-692-0070
(Map!)

Ballwin Schwinn | 15340 Manchester Rd, Ballwin, MO 63011 | (636) 391-2666
(Map!)

TREK Bicycle Store of St.Louis (Ballwin) | 13922 Manchester Road, St. Louis, MO 63011 | 636-394-2453
(Map!)

TREK Bicycle Store of St.Louis (Arnold) | 2194 Michigan Avenue, Arnold, MO 63010 | 636-287-6700
(Map!)

Big Shark (West) | 17233 Chesterfield Airport Road, Chesterfield, MO, 63005 | 636-534-8080
(Map!)