Sunday Shooters - 3/8

Meet at my house: 5:30
Aiming to be done between 7:30-8:00

Who's in?



Levi

New BLOG Header

A huge thanks to Garth for his contribution to the blog header. Really fired up on the addition. We'll work on getting it wider and narrower. I dig the "O" as the tire in the Title. Very creative! Thanks again Garth.

Welcome Garth Porterfield

I am fired up to welcome a new rider to the group. Garth Porterfield - a fellow entrepreneur and friend - has decided to step up. We rode together Friday morning, he rode yesterday, and he joined this morning. I am enjoying his passion and enthusiasm.

Here is a pic from our Friday ride.

Garth - we are looking forward to you riding with us more. Those legs are already starting to come.

Your "name" will come too...soon enough.

Have a great Lord's Day all....

Torque

Sunday Shooters

MTB - Come one, come all!

Meet: Levi's House
Time: 6:00am (Rolling time)
Route: Poly Cyn, red dog ridge, up Shooters.....down shooters, out Stenner Cyn.
Est Time: 2 hours


Thus far I have confirmation of Torque, Hobbit, Crash (Yes, Crash!!!) and myself.
I will have coffee ready for all earlier if desired.


Levi

TOC experience

Doing four stages of the TOC this year gave me a new respect for the riders and what they accomplish. I am a novice to the sport and just beginning to get what its all about. I was completely spent after four stages, obviously at a much slower pace than they accomplish......they did it for 9! Tour de France is 21 days of this..........crazy!

Good Read.......
http://velonews.com/article/88637/michael-barry-s-diary---from-qatar-to-cali

This is one professionals take on this years events so far.........interesting insight.


Levi

Moto Men and the ToC

JD Martin on his Moto in full color. 3 ToC's and 2 Tour's of Missouri!

Just got back in last night. Korey and I drove home following the Pasadena stage. Awesome ride and will post more about it later.

Apologies to Wolfman regarding this weekend. I did not check the blog since the previous weekend. I did not know of your interest until Friday evening...

Wanted to give some credit to the Moto Men of the ToC and my father. They have been going for 9 days and it is taking it's toll. For the sake of budget, they have been really making the transfers insane. Following the time trial, they bunked in Buellton, work early to ride to the Santa Clarita start, moto-marshalled to Pasadena, then finally road to Rancho Mirage for the final stage of the tour. Smokes, they really need to get these transfers under control! Big thanks to my father and the rest of the Moto Men out there keeping the race safe. Job very well done.

Incidentally, my dads room-mate, friend and Moto Men buddy David Walls was the Moto that took Lance down last Monday. It appears he has become the darling of France overnight...:)

When we get the pics together, we will post a great report on the ride.

Lets encourage the final two riders Chad and Sean on in todays brutal last stage.

This Weekend

TOC in full swing. Hey Jeff what is the plan on Sat/Sun? Give me a call 801-8527.

Winner Winner - Leece rocks in Arizona

Check it up:

One more stage to go..... He killed it today. Can't wait to hear the story! Dad did great too. As did Nunes - my 24hr. teammate...SLO rocked it.

http://www.wmrc.org/vos/rr.htm

	PL	TIME	@ TIME	B / P	BIB #	NAME	TEAM	HOMETOWN	STATE
	1	2:46:21	0:00:00	0:20	338	LEECE Stephen	Rock Solid Cycling	San Luis Obispo	CA
	2	2:47:39	0:01:18	0:15	328	ALBERT Drew	Strada Racing	Chandler	AZ
	3	2:47:39	0:01:18	0:10	320	KARZEN Kit	NOW-MS Society	Beverly Hills	CA
	4	2:47:39	0:01:18		343	HEELEY Danny	South Bay Wheelmen	Hermosa Beach	CA
	5	2:47:39	0:01:18		337	OLEARY Connor	SportsbaseOnline/FFKR	Salt Lake City	UT
	6	2:47:39	0:01:18	0:05	336	RAMAGE Andrew	SC Velo	Glendora	CA
	7	2:47:39	0:01:18		326	WIGNALL Cody	FFKR/SportsBaseOnline p/b	Draper	UT
	8	2:47:39	0:01:18		322	SIMMONS Sam	SC Velo	Ventura	CA
	9	2:47:39	0:01:18		344	MAJEUNE-FAGAN	Front Rangers Cycling Club	Golden	CO
	10	2:48:11	0:01:50		330	GOODRICH Jesse	Black Sheep Cycling	Louisville	CO
	11	2:48:30	0:02:09		340	MURRAY Gabe	Black Sheep Cycling	Longmont	CO
	12	2:48:44	0:02:23		329	BUCHI Teal	Craig's Service Center	Murray	UT
	13	2:50:20	0:03:59		335	TEMPLETON	KHSnm.com Cycling Team	Albuquerque	NM
	14	2:50:55	0:04:34		325	LANDMAN Eric	Acqua al 2/SDBC	Lakeside	CA

ToC Pre-rides

Well, everyone knows so I might as well blog it. A few pre-rides are planned for the ToC beginning one week from today.

Thursday Paso Stage - instead of riding from Visalia, we are heading out from AG (or SLO). Either up the cost or across or by way of Pozo. Expecting a great ride and then fellowship and the finish to watch the run in and circuit finish. I have two VIP tickets so I will share in a few peeks at the stars... Pasta night at the Martins for those who wish to do it.

Friday Solvang TT - AG to Solvang approximately 70 miles. Fun ride arrival at noon to watch the TT festivities. Don't think this ride will be too easy since it is not... My friend the Flebbes are handling dinner at their house in Valencia and carpet sleeping spots for up to 5. Chad and Sean can share a sleeping bag...

Saturday Santa Clarita to Pasadena - Ride from Valencia through my old home turf and then to the big climbs. These are doozies... 70 miles. I'll by the first round of beers (excluding Chad and Sean). We will find food and beers somewhere there and determine what to do for sleep.

Sunday - Chad and Sean heading south.

Confirmed riders are Kory, Rudy (Friday only), Sean Turbo Deisel (Thursday and Saturday only), Cary, Alvin, Sean Cheney, Lee Sromba, and Chad.

They key for this group ride is staying together and support. If you are in, say so now so we can start the planning. Some riders do not have the same fitness so you will need to maintain a reasonable tempo so we don't otherwise shell some out of the riders.

I will take all the information and start to share. Sean and Chad are handled for the road and they are booked in Valencia for the overnight.

Chad - drag race on South Mason waiting! Bring it!

Ride Post for Monday 2/9

Roadie
Meet: LOVR & S. Higuera
Time: 5:30am
Route: We plan on hitting up "The Knob" a few times. = Hill repeats
Should be home around 7:00-7:30

Race Report

The Leece boys started the racing season with a couple of races last weekend and have a stage race coming up this weekend.  After putting in the base for the last few months, Steve started the year at the Poor College Kids RR in Los Olivos last Sat.  The race started at the Chamberlin Ranch and went out Foxen Canyon road with an out and back 34 mile course.  Steve lined up with the Cat 4's with a full field of 100.  With only a short climb and a relatively short distance not much separation occurred in the race.  There was a wild downhill sprint of about 25 at the end.  Single lane finish with basically no where to move up.  Steve finished 13th and got some good experience in a big field. Steve is 4th white helmet from the left.  Guys over the centerline got DQ'd.

Next up was Mothballs Crit in Goleta on Sunday.  I raced the 45+ race with a field of about 50.  As usual fast from the start with several break attempts but nothing stuck.  There was a guy wearing a rainbow jersey who was fast.  No one knew who it was.  He won the sprint and turns out he is the Masters World Champion on the track from Australia.  Still recovering from a cold and was hacking through the race.  Able to move up a little at the end and finished 14th.

Steve started his day with the Cat 4 group. About 60 in the field including a 

couple of guys he knows from Cal Poly.  They patrolled the front much of the race and Steve was active in the field.  Fast race with average speed about 25.5mph.  Steve got in good position for the sprint.  Two UCSB guys led out and got a gap but Steve outsprinted the rest for 3rd overall.  Great result.

I raced the 30+ 3/4 race and finished in the field and Steve finished his day with a 2nd in the Juniors race.  We had a great day and the weather was perfect.

Our main early season goal is coming this weekend.  Valley of the Sun stage race in Phoenix is a 3 day timed stage race.  It is a Lance Armstrong Junior Qualifying race which allows Steve to qualify for a regional and possibly national camp this summer if he does well.  I'll be racing the 40+ and he's in the Junior field.  Looking forward to a great time of racing and being together. We'll be staying and racing with Craig N., Dillon and Aaron our other Rock Solid teammates who are going.  

http://wmrc.org/vos/index.htm

Keep riding,

David

Lance and the U23

I have not been a huge fan of Lance but I have found myself a bit caught up with his comeback. Thanks to social networking, we all can get a glimpse into his world via http://www.twitter.com/lancearmstrong.

I found this picture to be pretty amusing. This is Lance in the middle with the U23 Livestrong cycling team. Yes, they are giants.



Reference URL: http://twitpic.com/1bcgj

Enjoy

Friday, January 29th - Ride Plan

5:15am Irish Hills
Route: Irish Hills, up Laguna side of Madonna
Done by 7:00 ...7:30 at the latest.
Comment to RSVP

Ride Report: Thursday, January 29

We had an epic ride this morning. Epic. I thought for a few moments we may have a route change when we awoke to a hallowing wind. Not too bad actually. All in all, we hammered out 30mi, 4500+ of elevation gain...with a 5:30am start and a 9:00am finish.

Highlights ...not a complete list:

1. Riding with Ryan (see picture). Ryan - you truly are an encouragement and yes, K.O.B.
2. Watching Levi spin effortless for 3 hours. You are in good form for sure.
3. Climbing Shooters after descending Morning Glory ...and then heading to pick and shovel. Sweet route.
4. The descents are fast fast fast.
5. No mechanicals. No flats.
6. Dairy creek was super super fun
7. Reflecting on God's mercies - they are new every morning.
8. Riding next to the Linked kits...they are sweeeet!

Bachelor Ride!

This Saturday it is looking like we are going to be having the official "Bachelor Ride" for Tech Express aka Jason. We're lookin to get rollin at the wonderful hour of 8 o'clock :) THe exact ride plan is not fully figured just yet, but I can say that Cerro Alto (the largest climb in the county) is included in the tentative plans!!! Ride will also be followed by some burgerness at Sylvester's. More details to come!