Tour of Utah Ultimate Challenge

The tour of Utah Ultimate Challenge, is coming up on August 14th. If there is anyone interested in doing the ride. I might join up. The cost is $180... so it's a bit steep for a Century, technically 96miles. It is quite a challenging course but would be great prep for LOTOJA. It is fully supported with food and comes with dinner afterward, no need for your own SAG vehicle. There are only a few spots left and is capped at 500 riders. Dave Zabriskie will co-host and lead the ride. Here is more information:

http://www.tourofutah.com/index.php?p_resource=challenge_about

Proposed Rides for July 27-31

Wed. Tour of the Valley

Start at the LAC go up to Country Club 1400 East?? ride east valley to Smithfield Highway to Peppridge take the backroads to Richmond West to Cornish then South all the way to (bonus mile to climb little mtn) Wellsville Hyrum and back home should be about 70 miles that are flat and if we have the wind in our favor a quick ride

Thursday TT at Cache Junction Leaving at 5:40 from the LAC

or Leave from LAC at 5:30pm to Hardware Ranch and Back. 

Saturday Tour of Two States start at the LAC and ride up Logan Canyon (hope that is staying close for you Mike) to Garden city North past the lake then over Strawberry/Emigration Canyon Preston and home about 140 miles. Leave LAC at 6:30 am (it's getting light later in the morning...)

Note From Mike

As you are putting the rides together I would like to ride this Saturday but I need to be close to home since we have a family reunion that I need to attend.

Next Saturday (Aug 7) I need to be in Ogden around 8:00am for a race-for-life walk to benefit my wife’s sister.

If you can accommodate these requests I would appreciate it. If not, I understand.

If you want to do a Montpelier to Afton and back to Montpelier on either Aug 14 or 21 I would be available to drive.

August 28 is the CV century ride.

I will be in Alpine Junction on September 4 and plan to ride the last stretch into Teton village and part way back if anyone wants to join.

Mike Jensen

Team RYGO Kits....

This year we have raised some money, that would allow us to get some custom Team RYGO kits. The best price we have found was actually produced by Castelli. But we need a minimum order of 10 to be able to do it. With the amount of funding we have, and depending on the amount of people that would want them, each kit would range somewhere from $100 to $150. This is for a full zip jersey, and bibs from Castelli..... Castelli people!!!!

Leave a comment if you are interested, we really need to know by this Thursday to get them done "hopefully" for the Cache Valley Century.

Cheers!

Maintenance

ONLY 7 weeks untill the race.
So how do you prepare? Besides riding a lot more, few things that I do on my list for my bike. First: talk to my LBS to find when a good time is for a tune up usually the first or second week in August. For this tune up I usually get a new chain. Is it necessary? Not sure I have read a few different opinions for the most part somewhere around 4-6000 miles especially if you have a Ultegra or higher. I also usually change my wrap on my bars this I do myself. Also I will change my tires and tubes but I wait until a week before and put about 200 miles on them to make sure that I do not get any flats. Any big changes that you need to make or feel is important it is good to make them during the first part of August so you know how it will change your ride and any correction that you may need to do.

Let's Ride - July 21-24

Days until LOTOJA: 54

Saturdays before LOTOJA: 7

All rides depart from the Logan Aquatic Center (LAC) 451 South 500 West unless otherwise noted.

Wednesday July 21 at 6:00 pm: Clarkston Divide ~ 51 Miles. I'm not exactly sure where the pavement ends, but Rex and Chris will lead us.

Thursday July 22

6:00 pm: Hardware Ranch Out and Back - 45 miles 
or
7:00 pm: LRC Time Trial at Tony Grove Road. 7 miles. TT starts at 7:00. Email Rex Davidsavor if you'd like to arrange a carpool.

Saturday July 24 at 6:00 am: Reverse Wellsville Mountain Loop Extended - 97 miles. I've added a few flat area detours for some bonus miles on this usual 72 mile loop. We should still be able to steam through it and get home in good time for the holiday festivities. As usual, bring $ to refuel.

So Who's the Boss? Definately the Road!

So two hard rides in a row! We have done fabulous the last few weeks on the training the weekly rides have been fast according to Eric from the LOTOJA site says we should be working up to 140. Well I think with the 13 % climb we can count this as diffcult as most do for there 140. Also two back to back weekends of 100 or more miles.

For those of you that missed
16.8 Avg
97.40 Distance (Matt made sure he went and got his 100)
67.8 for the min temp and home before it was to hot with a max of 96.0
13% for the max Incline
5700 feet of climbing

We had a great fun and hard ride! Look forward to next week.

dailymile.com

I use a social website called dailymile.com It is a great way to keep track of your miles and creates a good sense of how you are doing compared to others around the world.

The other day a friend of mine a CAT 4 racer from New York posted this article: 

A Belgian woman and Riding a Straight Line
http://thewgnews.com/2010/06/how-i-learned-to-ride-a-straight-line/

also another great tip from the same guy:
http://spokepost.com/news/story/1216/

If you are interested in my progress and joining the dailymile, I usually post a small write up of every ride here:
http://www.dailymile.com/people/JeremyBowen

The site auto syncs with facebook too.

Jeremy Bowen

Doug and Mike Together at Last!

From Team RYGO

For the first time this season, last night Doug and Mike actually graced us with their presence, on the same ride!

A momentous occasion. Let's not make it the last, eh fellas?

Good ole info

GROUP RIDING

Group Riding consists of two or more riders traveling in a loose group (i.e., spaced several feet apart) who are not drafting. See below for an explanation of drafting! Although group riders may be riding parallel to each other, they are four to six feet apart. On narrow roads with moderate to high vehicle densities, parallel riding is not safe. If there is six or more feet of clean shoulder or bike lane width in the same direction of travel, then parallel riding can be done safely. A shoulder or bike lane of eight feet is better.

Back to Table of Contents

PACE LINE RIDING

Pace Line Riding consists of two or more riders traveling in a tight group in the draft of the rider(s) in front of you. If you are the leader of this pace line, than you are creating the draft for others. The draft envelope behind a single bicycle is about six feet long and behind a tandem is about eight feet. The closer your front wheel is to the rear wheel of the rider ahead of you, the stronger the draft. Riding in a pace line draft can save 20 to 30% of your energy output. This energy savings is what allows the pace line group to travel at higher speeds. Concentration on what you are doing in a pace line is essential. That is, there is no time for sight seeing.

* Never Allow Your Front Wheel To Overlap The Rear Wheel Of The Rider Ahead Of You!

* Never Weave or Drift In A Pace Line!

* Never Suddenly Slow Down or Attempt A Quit Stop!

Violation of these "NEVERS" accounts for most of the accidents associated with pace lines.

Note that group riding also requires concentration on what the other riders and traffic are doing. In pace lines, concentration is essential. Hand signals to your fellow riding partners keep everyone alert to what is ahead of your group. Sometimes, voice signals are better and faster. In either case, hand signals and voice signals must be echoed from the front to the back and from rider to rider. If you break the communication chain, you may be responsible for injury to one or more fellow riders. So pass that hand and voice signal down the line - Please!

Where is Team RYGO?

You may notice a new Blog feature over here -----> WHERE IS TEAM RYGO?


Using Google's Latitude widget, your friends and family can track our progress and current location on rides. A few caveats:

• I (or at least my Droid) must be on the ride.
• My Droid must have GPS turned on to be super accurate (I may have to turn GPS off on long rides to conserve battery).
• With GPS turned off, it triangulates location based on cell tower proximity (not super accurate and I usually keep it in this state when not riding - after all, you don't need to know I'm at the Smoke shop getting more Spice for the after-ride party...oh woops!)
• We must be within Verizon's coverage area to maintain up-to-the minute location.

If you click on the google.com/latitude link you can add the Latitude widget to your google home page. This will allow you to zoom in for a more accurate view of our location. If you already have this installed, add me (symetriic@gmail.com) to your list of friends you follow.

If your phone is Latitude compatible, you can also track us there, too.

This would be fun for your friends and family to track our progress in near real-time. And who knows, it might be useful in an emergency.

Leave a comment and let me know if you use it (and if it worked!) and what you think.

Matt Syme       

Let's Ride - July 14-17

Days until LOTOJA: 60
Saturdays before LOTOJA: 8


All rides depart from the Logan Aquatic Center (LAC) 451 South 500 West unless otherwise noted.


Wednesday July 14 at 6:00 pm: East Canyon - 41 miles


Thursday July 15


6:00 pm: Hardware Ranch Out and Back - 45 miles
or
5:45 pm (prompt!): LRC Time Trial at Blacksmith Fork. 10 miles. TT starts at 6:30.


Saturday July 15 at 6:00 am: Logan to Eden Out and Back - 100 miles. 
4 gnarly climbs in one day! UDOT doesn't show the North Ogden Cyn Road under construction (as was the rumor), but if it is we'll loop around the Ogden bench area and still return via Highway 89. In Eden we'll stop at the Valley Market to refuel before heading back (bring some $).

One "HILL" of a weekend ride

What a great ride this weekend. Just three summit ride was all with a 112 miles for a total. Just to give you a run down of how things went. Left around 6 to Preston Mike, Rex, Chris, and Steve, the morning was a cool 60 degrees to start and it stayed pretty cool for most of the ride. As we begin our first climb Jeremy Bowen catch to us via a vehicle. Which was very fortunate for us to have Jeremy and his Dad there. We keep a nice pace although there are always a few in back on the climbs Okay mostly just me. Chris took the honors of being the king of every MTN pass we cam to. And I think he took top speed as well on the flats we had a nice paceline going of course coming out of strawberry it nice to hold a 27 mph while the rest of it we keep pushing and believe for the most part to Montpelier we keep a 23-25 pace. So here are the Numbers from my sigma (not the most accurate but pretty dang close):

Avg: 16.76 mph
ride time: 6:43
Max Speed: 45.05 Chris passed me on the down hill so I assume he took honors hear. But a mention about Jermey Bowen he is starting to hang in there on what I like to call the "symertric tuck!" (LOL)
Burned 5661 Kcal.
Feet Climb: 6390
To but that in miles is about 31
Avg cadence of 74
Max cadence of 123
avg hrt 144
max hrt 166
3.5 hrs in Zone two
The Max temp that I had was 11o.o! remeber it sits on the front of my black bike
Max incline was 8% with an average of 3%
My LOTOJA totals last year were
7903 ft in climbing
8% for the max incline
So salt River is a little bit higher but not any steeper then what we did today not much longer meaning that we climbed Strawberry at mile 80 and that is about the same mileage that you climb Salt River.
Cheers Loved the ride and look forward to the next one!
Special thanks to Jeremy Bowens dad for be the Sag and having some cold h20!

Yes we even had some of that great training wind to assure that we were getting the most out of the downhills as well.
Rex

July 7 through the 10

We have a few Scout camps this week so this is an informal and debatable post.

Tonight 6:00 pm 60 Miles Starting at the LAC to Little Mountain Climb and home through Mendon, Hyrum and if we still need miles up Blacksmith to finish out.

Thursday: TT at Tony Grove I will be out due to other meeting anyone else can post a ride

Saturday: I would like to drive to Preston go to the top of Geneva and then eat in Montpelier and then back to vehicles in Preston.

Sorry I have not played with google maps enough to post the miles and mapping! (Matt is one on the scout camp.)

Main-TAINT-ance

[NOTE: The following frank discussion may cause some sensibility discomfort. However, if you'r fairly new to long distance cycling, it's a must-read. For those who are not familiar, David Zabriskie is a native Utahn currently riding for the Garmin-Transitions cycling team. Look for him during this year's Tour de France as a time-trial specialist and as a possible threat in the lower elevations.

This was written several years ago as David was just starting out in pro cycling:]

Originally Posted by David Zabriskie says MAIN-TAINT-ANCE

An often overlooked part of being a healthy and fast cyclist is the taint. The taint is the part of your body that contacts your saddle. I believe the name was derived from the taint not being the parts that are well know by name: as in it taint that and it sure taint those! If you can’t comfortably sit on the saddle you taint gonna be able to ride your bike very far. This can negativly effect training and racing, so one must keep this area well main-taint-ed. There are three simple concepts to accept and follow: Cleanliness, Lubrication and Dryness. Trust me all of this was learned by experience! Here are the steps to follow:

1. Begin with a clean taint and chamois (if you are a hairy beast like me you may want to shave the area—USE CAUTION!)
2. Generously apply chamois cream
3. Ride, Train, Do what you do
4. Dismount bike (Follow the next steps immediately and without fail)
    i. Remove chamois
   ii. Shower
   iii. Use a truly antibacterial soap like Hibiclens

5. Exit Shower
   i. Dry taint with towel
  ii. Dry taint with air

6. Either remain naked while making your after ride meal or use hair dryer

7. Antique yourself ala Jackass with a handful of Baby Powder

Why do we do this?

The chamois cream, helps reduce chafing that occurs while riding. There are a number of products out there and here are a few that I know work well:

Noxema
Butt Butter
Bag Balm
Assos Chamois cream
Sixtufit

Try them to determine what works best for you. Often when things are getting a bit raw I mix a few to exploit the full potential of each. Do yourself and your training partners a favor by not using too much. I have been known to have a little seep out of my shorts and it never fails to gain the attention of those behind me. Make sure your chamois is in good shape. Don’t use one that is old and worn out. After the ride get out of your shorts ASAP, you don’t wanna start growing mushrooms down there. Get into the shower and wash up, if you are having “problems” use Hibiclens, it is a surgical scrub and very powerful. I take it to races because each hotel has different soaps and who knows which could cause an irritation. After the shower make sure the area is dry either walk around naked for a while and let it air out or use a hairdryer. The final dose of goodness comes from a little shot of baby powder to the taint. By following these steps you should be main-taint-ing fairly well. If you are experiencing some saddle sores sometimes the only way to get rid of them is to stop riding for a couple of days. If it’s really bad you might have to see a doctor. I am sort of an expert so if you want you can send pictures and I’ll give you my opinion on the best way to proceed. PLEASE DON'T!

Oh yeah one more thing I think that can help is to shave all of that “bum fluff” down. It can be tricky, use electric clippers and be careful, I recommend a mirror.

-DZ

[DZ has since developed and marketed his own chamois cream: DZ-NUTS.]

Lubes

Just got an e-mail so I thought I would post my opinion on Lubes:

Do I think it matters on lubes? Not sure I rode with a lot of people and seen some articles that persuade either way. I have tried a few lubes from the extra dry to wet and all in between. I have found one that is way different from the other lubes (not taking anything away from what is out there). Some of the lubes I have used are the Boeing t9 which I used all last year and loved it. Also the Pedro's Extra Dry formula worked great the year before. The Lemonde tech unfortunately I would not use again (reminder my own opinion). This year I have gone to a different style called Rock n Roll lube. It actually puts on a synthetic layer over the chain. It stays on for a long time and really quiets the moving joints. Some of the downfalls is that it a little extra work and little pricey. Once it is on you need to wait a few minutes and then wipe it off. So it is a little more work then the other lubes but I think it last longer and better especially this spring when it rained/snowed on us so much. Please post what you have used and you likes and dislikes. Here is the link to the lube www.rocklube.com Check it out. Not available in the Logan Bike Stores that I have seen. I am still evaluating it. But so far on a scale of "purchase again" or "give away to the newest rider" I would purchase it again. I currently have the extra dry for my road and the gold for my MTn.

Cheers

Loving the blogy