Hello Race fans. B-Dal here. RideVentura.com is going to be taking a break for the next few months as I head out on the road. I will be updating my personal site to document my adventures with my new team ValueAct Capital Professional Womens Cycling Team.

Check out the B-Dal blog here.

Cheers.

Good evening everyone out there in RideVentura land. Sorry it has been so long since my last entry as life has been pretty crazy these days.

Many of you have seen me in various places and working for a few different organizations. Sometimes I am wearing Green, Kelly Benefits, maybe Yellow for Mavic but now the chapter and color is changing to Blue for Value Act Capital Professional Women's Cycling Team.

That is correct kids, looks like I may have gotten the chance to run my own team, well at least be their mechanic. First off I will be taking care of them at this weekend's Sea Otter Classic in Monterey and at the end of the month I drive to the remotest of areas in New Mexico for the Tour of Gila. Needless to say I am pretty happy dude these days with all the great opportunities on my plate.

Here is my kooky schedule for the next 2 months.

4/18 - 4/20 - Sea Otter Classic - Value Act Capital
4/21 - 4/26 - Home
4/27 - 5/4 - Tour of Gila - Value Act Capital
5/4 - 5/5 - Drive home
5/6 - 5/7 - Drive my little yellow Mavic Car to Boulder CO
5/8 - Fly Home
5/9 - Drive to Bay Area to pick up KBS team car
5/9 - 5/18 - Mt Hood Cycling Classic - KBS Medifast
5/18 - 5/22 - Drive KBS Team car to Baltimore
5/23 - Fly home
5/23 - 5/31 - Home!!
6/1 - 6/9 - Philly Week
6/9 - 6/11 - Drive to MN for Nature Valley Grand Prix
6/11 - 6/15 - Nature Valley GP
6/16 - Home

As you can see this is one kooky schedule and for the first time in my life I will be away from my family more then I ever have. I am very happy to have the greatest wife and fantastic son that any husband or father could ask for. I will miss them very much but in this day and age, work is work and you have to go where the money is.

See you all when I am in between trips or home for a break. I promise to shoot as many pictures as I can and post them quickly.

Take Care everyone!!

BD

Team Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast have stepped up to take PEZ-Fans along as their season rolls out – through the eyes and words of a different rider each month, and to get us going we asked Jonny Sundt about his Tour of California.

With the season well underway, there’s little time to connect with riders and even less to think about what happened last weekend or even last month. But the guys at

- Reported by By Jonny Sundt, Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast-
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Nine years ago a few local riders had a crazy idea: Let's put on a stage race in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley. Originally called the Pomona Valley Stage Race, the race drew mostly local racers. Each successive year the race’s reputation grew, as it became the premier local stage race. Soon after its inauguration racers from across the country made their way to compete in the San Dimas Stage Race. The list of winners demonstrates the caliber of national talent drawn by the San Dimas Stage Race. Past winners include: Tom Danielson, Chris Horner, Amber Neban, Scott Moninger, and Christine Thorburn.

The San Dimas Stage Race (SDSR) is just around the corner and what an exciting race it is going to be. As we prepare the race bibles, permits, course marshals etc., the pro men's teams are preparing their best riders to race for stage wins and the coveted overall yellow jersey!

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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...

Shimano is getting in the game. Take a look at these levers. The shifting cable is now internal. No more extra cables hanging out in front.

Now we should remember that these are very early prototypes but chances are pretty good a finished product might be showing up by the Giro and for sure by the Tour de France.

Looks like the SRAM HEAT finally got to the boys at Shimano.

Finally!

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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Sedona, AZ - March 17, 2008 -  On Saturday, May 3rd at 8 a.m., hundreds of bicyclists from all over the country will converge at the Old Town Mission in Historic Old Town Cottonwood near Sedona to participate in the 10th Annual Century Bike Tour.
Riders can choose from one of three bike routes: 33 miles, 47 miles or, for the bike masters of the universe, 100 miles!

The Sedona Century Bicycle Tour is an annual major fundraising event to benefit vital outreach programs of the Old Town Mission. All proceeds will go to benefit the Old Town Mission located at 116 East Pinal Street in Cottonwood, Arizona, a Christian outreach ministry that distributes food and clothing and offers program and services addressing health care, dental, chiropractic, physical therapy, and vision as well as a legal clinic to low-income individuals and families in the Sedona area. Read More...

PLEASANT HILL -- The attorney representing a Santa Clara County sheriff's deputy who struck and killed two competitive bicyclists in Cupertino said Wednesday that the officer had worked a lengthy shift the day before and that fatigue may have been a factor in the crash.

She would not confirm witness reports that the deputy, 27-year-old James Council, told people at the crash scene Sunday morning that he had fallen asleep at the wheel. Council "doesn't know what happened" when he veered across the center line of winding, two-lane Stevens Canyon Road, killing the two cyclists and injuring a third, attorney Mary Sansen said. "The possibility exists," she said, "that we're never going to know what happened." Read More...

MADISON, Wis. - Schwinn Bicycles, America’s most recognized bicycle brand, today announced the signing of a partnership with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training (TNT), the world’s largest endurance sports training and fundraising program, to become its first-ever national bicycle sponsor. Schwinn is owned by Dorel Industries (TSX: DII.B, DII.A).

Under the terms of the two-year agreement, Schwinn will become the exclusive bicycle sponsor of TNT starting April 1, 2008. With the help of its dealer partners nationwide, Schwinn will provide relevant cycling information, bicycle demos, on-site event support and product discounts to the 39,000 cycling, triathlon and marathon participants who train and fundraise through the organization each year. Read More...

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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Women's North American racing improves in 2008

Women road racers historically have had fewer opportunities for the high caliber racing a UCI event provides than their male counterparts, and recently this has been even more the case on the North American continent. But after several years of stagnation, the 2008 calendar finally shows an increase top notch races on this side of the pond. Joining races such as the Liberty Classic and Le Tour du Grand Montréal in early June is the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, which upgraded only its pro women category to UCI status. Race director Chad Sperry, who has also successfully directed the other Oregon race, the Cascade Classic. That race ran into problems with the women's category last year when it fell on the same weekend as the U.S. national championships.
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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

Italian Mario Cipollini, 40, wants his say in Rock Racing management

The relationship that was started last fall in a Las Vegas discotheque could come to an end if Mario Cipollini does not get his say in the management of Rock Racing. The Italian, who came out of retirement at the age of 40 to race in the Tour of California last week, and his lawyer met with the owner of the team, Mike Ball, yesterday to discuss the coming season.

"We need to sit at the table and make clear who is in command," said Mario Cipollini in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport's Luigi Perna. The Italian from Lucca and lawyer Giuseppe Napoleone were scheduled to meet with Ball later in the day. Read More...

By Neal Rogers - Velo News

A former team soigneur says Rock Racing’s Kayle Leogrande told her last July that he used performance-enhancing drugs at Wisconsin's International Cycling Classic, also known as Superweek.

In a sworn affidavit obtained by VeloNews, dated October 27 and filed with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, Suzanne Sonye says Leogrande confided that he had used testosterone gel, had taken “lots of things,” including EPO, and that he had put soap on his wrist prior to entering a doping control at Superweek, hoping that by urinating on the soap, it would “f— up the test.” Read More...

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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With just a few days remaining until the start of the Tour of California, pro riders are descending up on California. The opening stage will kick off with a 3.4km prologue time trial in Palo Alto on Sunday.

Few teams can claim such a meteoric rise in the pro ranks as the Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast pro cycling team. A year ago Jonas Carney was grabbing the reigns of a brand new team with a lot of goals. Fast forward 12 months and he is leading many of those same athletes plus some high performance new additions to the Tour of California.
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Team Successful Living Aims High for 2008

Ventura, Calif. (February 12, 2008) -- Successful Living Pro Cycling Team announced today their roster for 2008 with more speed, power and experience. Impressive results from the 2007 season gained serious recognition, which included 5 NRC victories. The team plans to continue their momentum with the addition of Canadian Criterium Champion, Charles Dionne and looks to aim for the NRC title within the next two seasons.

The organization is very focused on running a detailed goal-oriented program. As encouraged by the president of Successful Living, Russ Dalbey, all team members are required to write down their goals for the season. The team will be working on planned goal setting at the training camps starting this month. “First step is to take inventory of all the goals we want to achieve as a team and as individuals and physically write them down,” said Director Steve Hegg. “It’s important that everyone knows each others goals to create accountability, camaraderie, and focus throughout the season.” Read More...

Good day everyone. As we get closer and closer to the event kick off I will post posting, as close to live, photos as I can.

There will be link to a 2008 Tour of California web photo gallery that will be updated as fast as my phone will upload the photos.

Enjoy and stay tuned.

That same edge and style will soon be available to cyclists around the world, with the launch of Rock Racing merchandise. Rock Racing’s new line of apparel will be distributed to high-end specialty stores throughout the United States beginning in March 2008. The Rock Racing brand will be available in all of North America, Europe and Asia by 2010. The line will also expand its scope beyond cycling to provide a full line of premium sports apparel. The Rock Racing line premiers with jerseys, bibs, arm and leg warmers, hats, shoe covers, socks and track suits. A new addition to the 2008 Amgen Tour of California, the Rock Racing Podium Girls will be visible hostesses outfitted in Rock Racing apparel and featured daily at race functions as well as within the online and televised race coverage.

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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...

One Show Only !!
Confirmed for one night only - Your favorite German and his Aussie sidekick.

Friday, February 8th at 6:00 pm. An evening of fun, laughs, racing strategy and some kickin' prizes. Bob Roll is back and this time it's finally about someone else!!! Jens Voigt and Stuart O'Grady from the # 1 ranked cycling team in the world - CSC Professional Cycling Team are on hand to discuss their racing exploits and talk team shop for the 2008 Amgen Tour of California.

Tickets are going fast and seating is limited. The evening will also include a VIP reception and big raffle prizes. Proceeds to benefit the Breakaway from Cancer Initiative.
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Driving on the 101 yesterday and low and behold I see one of the new security measures rolling north for the start of Tour of CA. This is one of the many steps that the Department of Homeland security is taking to ensure the safety of the riders and spectators for this years race. Read More...

Team High Road has changed its headquarters from Germany to the USA, it was announced yesterday evening. The UCI ProTour Council (UPTC) met in Geneva and said that "it approved the change of nationality of the High Road team. This team will now be domiciled in the United States rather than Germany."

The team confirmed the change in a press release, calling itself, however, an "international" team. It noted that it had moved its headquarters from Bonn, Germany, to San Luis Obispo, California, as approved by the International Cycling Union (UCI).

"We are an International team and proud of it," said team owner Bob Stapleton, from the USA. "We are open to committed athletes from wherever they come from. One of the simple pleasures of this team is the international diversity and personal character each athlete brings to the team." Read More...

MONTREAL, Quebec (BRAIN)—Dorel Industries has just announced the acquisition of the Cannondale Bicycle Corporation.

The total value of the all-cash transaction will be $190 (U.S) to $200 (U.S) million, subject to Cannondale's earnings results for the year ending June 30, 2008.

The transaction, which will be immediately accretive to Dorel's earnings, is being financed through debt.

Cannondale and Sugoi are being purchased from an affiliate of Pegasus Capital Advisors, which acquired the company in 2003. 2007 sales for Cannondale and Sugoi were approximately $200 million.

Dorel president and chief executive officer Martin Schwartz said that in light of the acquisition the Company's Recreational/Leisure segment is being split into two distinct operating divisions.
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Here are the results from yesterdays Boulevard Road Race down in San Diego. This is the first race of the season for many riders and the first time many of us will be able to see the new teams in action.

Many of the 2008 Tour of California teams were in attendance as most of them are finishing up their training camps here in California. BRR was a good place to see what teams are right on track for this months show down at the Tour of California. From the looks of it, Toyota was the domitating factor yesterday but as always, Dan the Man Bowman likes to get into the mix with a 4th place on the day. The rest of the top ten was mixed with KBS, Toyota and one Rock Racing rider.

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More Pictures from the KBS Medifast Camp in Oxnard.


Each rider gets 2 road bikes and 1 TT.

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Here are some sneak peek photos of the 2008 Kelly Benefits team as they prepare for their assault on the upcoming season. Over the last few days I have been lending a helping hand to the team as we get all of their Lemond's equipped with SRAM Red and the 08 Bontrager wheels.

More photos to come.

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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

Kona-Yourkey.com rider Ryan Trebon, the 2006 national champion and three-time Crank Brothers USGP of Cyclocross series winner, has withdrawn from this weekend’s world cyclocross championship in Treviso, Italy.

Kona team director Mark Peterson told VeloNews Tuesday that Trebon, who complained of back and leg pain throughout the 2007 cyclocross season, has not fully recovered from the spectacular crash that occurred at December’s national championship. The defending champion and heavy race favorite violently collided with an out-of-control rider on a section of course that doubled back on itself, ending his race. Read More...

After a successful 2007 season, the Time Factory Development Team will evolve from a six-rider elite amateur squad into a twelve-rider UCI Continental team for 2008. With the new status comes a new name, Time Pro Cycling, while the main focus of the team remains the same: teaching the sport of cycling to young riders and bringing them to the next level.

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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.

On Wednesday, officials from the Tour de Georgia Foundation, Inc. and AT&T Inc. announced a new branding for the American spring cycling event, which will become the Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T. As the Presenting Sponsor for 2008 tour, AT&T will own exclusive rights for "Communications Services" for the race scheduled from April 21-27.

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BERKELEY, CA (BRAIN)—Clif Bar and TerraCycle have announced the nation's first program designed to reduce the amount of energy bar wrappers going into our landfills, while educating people about the benefits of reusing waste materials. Together the companies have created the Wrapper Brigade, which will donate two cents to charity for every used wrapper collected by individuals and organizations. Read More...

Organizers of the 2008 Tour of California professional cycling road race assembled late Tuesday to unveil and discuss a new anti-doping protocol which will be introduced and administered during the upcoming race beginning February 17. Presenters of the Amgen Tour of California, AEG Sports president, Andrew Messick along with USA Cycling CEO Steve Johnson spoke candidly about the new anti-doping program as being the most comprehensive anti-doping program in cycling history.

The program is said to exceed a cost of more than one hundred thousand [US] dollars and is funded by the organizers. It will include a summary of blood samples taken from every rider entered in the event prior to the start of the race and tested for blood manipulations and EPO along with urine samples of thirty percent of the riders. The samples will be tested for banned substances like steroids, hormones, diuretics and various masking agents. Read More...

Specialized scored a virtual coup late in 2006 when it landed the bicycle sponsorship position for the Quickstep-Innergetic team of world champion Paolo Bettini and Belgian sprinting superstar Tom Boonen. However, while the team rode Specialized frames through the 2007 season, it utilized Fulcrum wheels and Campagnolo cranksets instead of Specialized-branded units. Read More...

American continental professional team Slipstream-Chipotle has received an invitation to compete at this year's Giro d'Italia, Slipstream team manager Jonathan Vaughters confirmed with VeloNews Saturday.
Vaughters got the news last week from RCS director Angelo Zomegnan, who is expected to announce the full list of teams invited to the Giro in coming days. In addition to the May 10-June 10 Giro, Vaughters said Slipstream would compete in other RCS events such as Milan-San Remo, held March 7, and Tirreno-Adriatico, held March 12-18.
Though the team has not yet been invited to race at the 2008 Tour de France, Vaughters said he would start many of his team's Tour hopefuls at the Giro. Riders that have expressed interest in both grand tours include David Millar and Christian Vande Velde.

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Tour of California organizers announced a field of 17 domestic and international cycling teams set to compete in the 2008 edition of the race from February 17-24. In the third edition of the annual event, 136 racers will cover 650 miles (1,046 km) over eight days from Palo Alto - Stanford University to Pasadena.
"The success of the Tour of California over the past two years has created a very positive reputation among the professional cycling community, which has helped to ensure the high level of competition that people have come to expect from our race," said Kristin Bachochin, senior director of AEG Sports, presenter of the race

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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

Many rumours, speculation and critical reports have been surfacing over the past month about the American-based Rock Racing team, funded by the outspoken and controversial Michael Ball, owner of the designer jeans company Rock & Republic, which serves as the title sponsor. From the confirmation that Tyler Hamilton signed with the team to speculation that Mario Cipollini was in negotiations, the off-season has been tumultuous for the team - and the latest shoe to drop was the mutual separation between director sportif Frankie Andreu and Ball.

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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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