Hello everyone. Todays Sunday ride we had over 70 riders with guests from the Value Act Capital women's professional cycling team and members of the Time Pro Cycling team and the rest of our normal cast of characters. Aside from a normal days ride we had a crash today near the final sprint at Solimar.

With a final sprint field of around 30 riders we were around 500 meters from the final sprint area when a touch of wheels between Nick Ianetta and Randy Perkins caused both riders to hit the deck at around 30-35 miles an hour. Read More...

Just in case you guys thought I did not work during the TOC this year. Here is some staff pictures we took before the start of the Prologue in Palo Alto.

See you all down the road. Click the title for more pictures.

bd

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The Successful Living Pro Cycling Team kicked off its 2008 season this weekend with the Sequoia Cycling Classic 40k TT on Saturday and 90 minute criterium on Sunday. Fantastic teamwork earned a 2nd place finish in the criterium by Cody O'Reilly and a 8th place in the TT by JR Grabinger.

The team started the week with an intense training camp in Ventura, California where they logged an average of 5-6 hour days in the saddle. The time trial in Exeter, California was a long out-and-back course that would give a preview of the fitness levels of the competition in the early season. “I really wanted to get on the podium but I gave it everything and even after a 40-hour ride week I was less than 30-seconds off my goal so you can’t be disappointed with that,” said JR Grabinger. When the results were posted Saturday afternoon, Successful Living placed 4 riders in the top 20, which was the most of any team represented.
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DANIEL RAMSEY and MIKE STOOP took two great wins last weekend. Mike Stoop won a shortened Out Like A Lion Road Race in Albemarle, NC while Daniel Ramsey stamped his authority on the Food Lion City Park Criterium the next day in Salisbury, NC. We are thrilled to get off to a winning start. See www.timeprocycling.com for details.

Team Training Camp in Brevard, NC concludes Wednesday March 19th. We had a great 2 weeks here in the mountains of North Carolina. Now we are shifting gears to head west for a month of racing in California that will include the San Dimas Stage Race, Redlands Bicycle Classic, Garrett Lemire Memorial GP, and the Sea Otter Classic. This is the first season that we have attempted to field a team on the west coast and we are looking forward to starting some of the longest running and most prestigious events in the country.
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MOAB — Phyllis O'Grady postponed postoperative cancer treatment five years ago to ride in the Moab Skinny Tire Festival, but she knew it was the right decision when she fell under the spell of Utah's red-rock country on one of the rides.
"It's a spiritual, magical, mystical place," said O'Grady, who lives in Denver. "I just got so emotional. It was like a reassurance that I knew I was going to be fine. I had this epiphany."
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Hello everyone. Sorry for the long break. Life has been pretty busy these days. Check out our new discussion forum. Please take the time to post comments, stories, pictures to our new section.

Thanks

Good morning everyone! Are you chomping at the bit for the start of this years race? Are you all following the drama surrounding the Astana team and them being banned from the ASO events, Tour de France and many of the spring classics.

Well yesterday I began my journey north for the start of the 2008 Tour of California. The drive north on Hwy 101 to the Palo Alto area takes around 5 hours without any sort of traffic. Good news for me, there was none. Now most of the teams were due to begin assembling in the Prologue area late Thursday or early Friday. My job this year is much different then in years previous.
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G'Day everyone. Your friendly local bike wrench is heading on the road again with the men in Yellow, Mavic Neutral for the 2008 Tour of California. It is my hope to get a daily journal of the events and daily goings on at this years race from inside the barricades and the yellow cars.

After my successful trip to Colorado last month I was able to hang out with the now head of the Special Service Course (SSC) division of Mavic. Oh yeah for those of you that own Mavic products and all ways wondered what that SSC meant on your wheels, that is what it means. Read More...

Good morning every one today is Monday January 28th and this marks the official beginning to winter training camps here in Ventura. Now some US Pro teams have already had their camps and others will be in the coming weeks. But just to let the local cycling faithful some have been riding the streets of Ventura already.
Friday afternoon I was driving up Harbor Blvd toward town from the harbor and noticed this blob of black kitted cyclists headed my direction. As I passed them by I noticed the Skull icon on their jerseys and took it to mean the Rock Racing crew was blowing through town. Not soon after that I saw one of their black Cadillac Escalades with bunches of wheels on the roof.

Then today another team will be riding the roads in preparation for the 2008 Tour of California, Kelly Benefits Stratiges presented by Medifast. The boys in green and yellow will be holding their training camp this week to do some recon work on stages 5,6 & 7 and then many will be housed in Oxnard in the weeks following the TOC for some local stage racing as well.
Welcome back KBS it will be great to see the team again!
Cheers,
Brian

A big thanks to John Camilli for this picture taken at the top of Hwy 33 just past Rose Valley. We are pretty sure there will be no ride to Rose Valley this weekend.

Happy new year everyone out there in cycling land. I have a very interesting report to file today.

Some of you know that I have been in the process of getting back into the bicycle industry in a big way after closing Shoreline Cycles in September of 2006. And many know that I spent a few days last February hanging out of the side of a press car during last years Tour of California. And if that was not enough, I was the interim team mechanic for Kelly Benefits Strategies pro road team in March and April last year also.

KBS Medifast Team at Redlands 2007

And then for the balance of the year I consulted on a number of projects and worked with teams in the attempt to line up something up for 2008.

In October of 2007, USA Cycling announced their mechanics training session held once a year in January at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. I was in. This was the ticket to moving and validating my place in the very small fraternity of the mechanics union and it would allow doors to open that might never get opened. So I contacted USA Cycling and signed up for the sessions.

A quick bio on the sessions. They are held for 4 days in January at the OTC. January folks. Anyone been to Colorado in January? It is fricken cold. Well to be specific highs were in the 30's and the lows were in the single digits at times. Anyway back to the Bio. Three full days of training offered hands on in various aspects of race mechanics and support.

My trip started at 4am on the morning of January 10th as I awoke to kiss my wife and son goodbye for a few days. I climbed into the car and was off to catch a 6:30 flight to Colorado Springs.

As we began our decent into the Springs I was overwhelmed by the majestic beauty of the Rockies. Just west of town is the famous Pikes Peak. This time of year it was covered in snow.

Pikes Peak. This was the view we awoke to every morning at the OTC.

The sessions were due to start at 12pm on the 10th and I arrived at the OTC at noon on the dot. From that moment forward we were going full speed. Day 1 started at noon and ended at 9pm with one small break for dinner at the OTC. Oh yeah all the lodging and meals were covered in the session fees. So we were eating with a number of current Olympians and future Olympians at every meal. It was an awesome experience.

Anyway back to the story. We started our sessions at noon on Thursday as a large group of 55 wrenches from all over the country. The age range was from around 17 to 70 with 2 women joining the crew as well. I have to say that I had a chance to work with both of them over the last four days and they were as sharp if not sharper then anyone of the guys at this clinic.

The main USA Cycling repair shop and the track bikes on the ceiling are from the 1984 games in Los Angeles.

The main supply room. As you can see Specialized is the main sponsor of the U23 program!

A shop in Minnesota sent 20 or so guys from their stores. There were guys from the east coast, west coast, Texas. Oregon and even Germany.

We were given a manual, schedule for the 4 days and an exam. Yep a good old fashion exam. 100 questions regarding what was covered in the sessions, what was in the manual and what is in the real world of working on bikes. We had instructors from all over the industry and I would like to take this opportunity to thank each one of them.

Dave Arnauckas - Shimano Multi-Service Supervisor
Matt Bracken - President of Independent Fabrication
Hercules Castro - SRAM Technical Training Coordinator
Chris Clinton - Promechanics.com
T.J. Grove - USA Cycling Team Mechanic U23 National Team
Mike Hall - SRM Techinical Advisor
Ric Hjertberg - FSA New Technology Manager
Calvin Jones - Park Tool Lead Mechanic
Justin Koch - USA Cycling Operations Manager
Andy Stone - Shimano Multi-Service Technician
Tom Vinson - USA Cycling National Events Manager

Each one of these gentleman brought many years of knowledge and experience to the sessions and we are all that much smarter having had the chance to work with each of them over the last few days.

Me in front of the Olympic Rings.

We started our days with a 7am breakfast and ended them with huddle sessions to work on the exam. There were many challenges to the last four days, being away from my family, trying to get any sort of sleep, and dealing with the cold.

All and all the trip was a great one. I made a lot of friends and gained alot of knowledge. In addition I earned a USA Cycling Pro Mechanics license, as well as a UCI Pro Mechanics license. The ladder will allow me to work for teams outside of the US and more importantly allow me to work the Olympics in Beijing if called to do so.

So I have to give a big shout out to some of my new friends, Hector, Julie, Ryan, Steve, Mark, Dylan and Ralf. Each of you will be great mechanics and pro's at whatever you do in your lives.

Thanks to my family for putting up with me and thanks to Justin at USA Cycling.

Brian

Hello Everyone,
 
I know some of you already received the Presto Pasta flyer from Terri Q. in a previous e-mail, but I thought I'd follow it up with what I posted earlier today on Tony's secondary/picture website (http://pullbackthecovers.blogspot.com/), which has the addresses of the 3 Presto Pasta restaurants.
 
 
All 3 Presto Pasta restaurants will be holding a fundraiser for the Pedeferri Family on Monday, January 7 AND Tuesday, January 8.  20% of the sales will be donated and $25 gift cards will also be sold with $5 being donated (Note:  Gift cards may not be redeemed on the dates of the fundraiser).  The addresses for the 3 participating locations are listed below, and you can find out more (i.e., menu, info) by going to www.prestopasta.com/ 
 
Remember to go to www.pedeferri.com for the latest updates on Tony.  Thanks.
 
NEWBURY PARK
1025 Broadbeck Rd.
Newbury Park, CA 91320
(805) 498-7737
 
VENTURA
5722 Telephone Road
Ventura, CA
(805) 658-2898
 
CAMARILLO
1701 Daily Drive
Camarillo, CA
[Drive Thru Available]
(805) 445-7737

Happy New Year everyone from Ride Ventura and the Shoreline Cyclist. Here are a few pictures from yesterdays 5th Annual Hangover Ride. The winds in Ventura were blowing 35+ when we started but as soon as we got 5 miles north of town the winds were gone and we had glorious sunshine all day. Here are some of the pictures taken yesterday. Thanks to the following people who made yesterday's ride a lot of fun!!

Jim L, Jim H, Alex Y, Jan S, John C and girlfriend, Michelle and Mike, Willem, Anna, Nick I, and the guy in the Army jersey.

Thanks. A full ride write-up is coming soon.

Brian

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Good Day Everyone. Below is a messaged forwarded to me about our good friend Tony Pedeferri who was involved in that terrible incident last week on Hwy 101. Tony's brother has set up a website to leave well wishes and see the latest on Tony's condition.

Hello Everyone,
 
I know you are all wondering how Tony is doing.  Well, he's hanging in there and fighting like the Ironman that he is.  Last night I was able to see him for the first time in several days and he was very upbeat and jovial under the circumstances.  He smiled and even chuckled a little...all good signs.  He did complain of a bad headache afterwards and asked the ICU staff to increase his sedation so he could go to sleep...hopefully not the result of the visit!!  Tony had a big day yesterday with a call from a defensive lineman of the Seattle Seahawks (his favorite team), Patrick Kerney (NFL's current sack leader).  He promised Tony that he'd try to get 3 sacks and a fumble recovery for him in tomorrow's game against the Atlanta Falcons.  
 
Tony's got a long road of recovery in front of him, but I'm confident it will be a successful one (I'm looking at it as optimistically as possible). 
 
Tony's brother, Mark, has set up a website at www.pedeferri.com (links over to a CaringBridge.org web service) in order to update friends and relatives regarding Tony's condition.  Please go to this site for the latest updates on Tony (see e-mails below for more information on the new website).  
 
I would like to thank former Rincon Tri club member and friend of Tony's, Craig Hobart, for taking the time to put together an initial website for Tony.  We decided to use Mark's website since it's a little easier to use, but you can still go to this site and check out the photos, links, and even leave a comment (http://pullbackthecovers.blogspot.com/).  I will see that the comments left on this site are relayed to Tony and his family.
 
Thanks again for caring so much about Tony and his family.
 
Mike Shaffer   

UPDATE!!!!!

Todays ride update is as follows.

For those not interested in going to the top of one of the areas hardest climbs we will go as far as the the Gibraltar / Mountain Drive intersection. Gibraltar is still in a bad place these days so the desire to ride to the top is just not there.

Going to the base of the climb and back should clock in at around 70-80 miles. A good days ride for most of us. I am sure there will be some folks that turn around at the normal Pardro Lane spot.

Either way I will see you all around 8am on Tuesday morning.

Brian

Hello everyone. Sorry this has taken such a long time to get to you but things have been a bit hectic this holiday season. 

As many of you have experienced in the past few years this ride has become somewhat of a conversation piece from the first year going up Gridley Trail while it was snowing to riding back down Sisar Road and having someone fall into the icy creek and then there was last year with the 30+ mph winds on the coast that many brave souls had to endure. This year will be different. 

The end of 2007 has been so trying on many of us losing good friends and having one in hospital. I think this years ride should be a ride of reflection to remember what we all hold near and dear in our hearts.

The plan will be to meet at Juice on Chestnut at 8am and roll out no later then 8:15.  The route will be up the coast to Bates, then the Goobe, 192, Toro, up to Mountain Drive and then finishing at the top of Gibraltar for a group picture. If the weather is fowl then an alternate route will be selected.

This years ride will be about togetherness. So a "no rider" left behind policy will be in effect. Now that does not mean that the faster groups have to wait. I just don't think anyone getting dropped should have to ride alone.

Please forward this email to whomever you like. 

See you all on New Years Day at 8am.

Brian

Hello everyone. Welcome back to RideVentura.com. In the midst of some early 2008 changes we are going to be calling our website "the shoreline cyclist" presented by RideVentura.com and will be adding podcasts to our weekly reporting offerings. If you have any tips or suggestions to making this more successful in 2008 please email me at rideventura@mac.com. Also, RideVentura.com turns 1 on New Years Day. Thanks to all who have supported us in 2007. We promise to make 2008 that much better. If anyone is interested in Ride Ventura cycling clothing there still are some pieces left from the Hincapie Sports order. Please check with Tren Morris at Trek Bikes of Ventura to see what they have left or email me. Happy 2008 everyone. Brian - the shoreline cyclist