Riding Around North County

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Things haven’t gone exactly to plan, but I have been riding my bike a lot. Not huge miles, but the miles I have in me at this time. Yesterday I rode east to check out a VW TDI wagon I’d seen on the internet and then just kind of meandered my way north up towards Rancho Santa Fe.

The riding in North County is great. Not close to as great as it “used to be”, but still wonderful. It is never boring.

I ran into my old Wheaties/Schwinn team mate, Shaun Wallace a couple days ago on the coast at a coffeeshop. He is always great to catch up with. My friend, Pat Lemieux, is staying out east at the Olympic Training Center with his girlfriend, Gwen Jorgensen. They just flew back from New Zealand. They had been down in New Zealand and Australia since January. Gwen has a triathlon in Mission Bay in a couple weeks, so they are here for a while. I hope to get out the to go for a ride with him.

My shoulder is doing okay I guess. It is way too slow progress for me. I’ve been trying to mimic my PT movements, but my mind seems to have lost some of them, so I’m sort of making up some. Riding it’s okay, so that is a good thing. The sleep is way hit or miss, so that is always a concern.

The internet was down up at the house, so I rode down to the town of La Jolla to post this. It is so nice to be able to go gaze at the ocean in the morning. Makes you realize that everything is moving at all times and that a person is such a small part of the world that we shouldn’t be so worried about our personal problems so much. It is a great way to start out the day.

I’m riding up the coast with Don and Sue today. I think Elfin Forest. It’s another 70 or so miles, so I’ll end up with close to 80 by the time I climb the 1000 feet back up to their house to suit up to ride. That’s about all I have right now.

Here's a photo from the Wheaties/Schwinn days. I think we took it up in Vancouver at the Gastown races. Shaun is sitting below me on the right.

Here’s a photo from the Wheaties/Schwinn days. I think we took it up in Vancouver at the Gastown races. Shaun is sitting below me on the right.

Riding around Rancho is great. This is where they used to built Masi bicycles back in the 80's.

Riding around Rancho is great. This is where they used to built Masi bicycles back in the 80’s.

The waves are pretty big this morning in La Jolla.

The waves are pretty big this morning in La Jolla.

Yesterday I had to do a little gravel riding to get back to the coast from Black Mtn. Road.

Yesterday I had to do a little gravel riding to get back to the coast from Black Mtn. Road.

My shoulder didn't like this climb much.

My shoulder didn’t like this climb much.

This is Torrey Pines. I climb it at least once each day.

This is Torrey Pines. I climb it at least once each day.

Can't leave here without eating sushi. We'll see how that holds up on the ride today.

Can’t leave here without eating sushi. We’ll see how that holds up on the ride today.

Sho-Air Testing the USAC

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I wrote a post a couple days ago about how the USAC is now going to enforce a UCI rule that prohibits any rider with a UCI license from competing in non USAC sanctioned events such as Leadville and Chequamegon. I stated in that post that I had no intention of adhering to that rule. Others jumped me to it.

I’ve listened and read more about trying to figure out a work around for the rule and assumed that the powers at the USAC would do what is right and figure something out.

I believed this to be true because on the podcast, link above, Scott Tedro, the president of Sho-Air, said that he had been talking to Micah Rice at the USAC and that he thought that by this time they would have “fixed” it.

Then yesterday, this article at Velonews that implies these “negotiations” have completely fell apart and there is going to be a show down at the Whiskey 50, where Sho-Air is going to be having all its riders, including Jeremiah Bishop, current overall leader of the PRO XCT series (USAC run), participate.

I wish that I was healthy enough to to do this event and participate in the protest and to show an outright refusal to accept USAC’s stance on this UCI rule.

I assume that Jeremiah, Tinker Juarez and others are going to be fined and then suspended for 30 days. The more riders that they have to suspend, the stupider they look in the eyes of their members. Eventually, there won’t be any licenses riders that can participate in their sanctioned races because they have suspended them all.

I would like my name to be included in the legal challenge the Scott Tedro and others must already be ready to file. Maybe it can be even if I don’t go and get suspended, I don’t know. I would be willing to donate money to help support the legal efforts to eradicate this rule.

It is so wrong on so many levels, that even the powers at USAC must recognize this. I don’t think that they have any idea what can of worms they are opening by not getting on top of this situation before it explodes and gets out of hand.

This is going to be a real divisive issue until it has been properly addressed by USAC. It is a total cop out saying that it is a UCI and take it up with them. The USAC is our voice to the UCI and they are the ones that need to take it up with them. This rule mainly applies to only the United States and isn’t a good thing for our sport. It is that simple.

Here’s a link to the Sho-Air press release addressing the issue.

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