Many riders opt for Palo Verde Nuclear Century

Desert Breeze Park, Chandler, AZ. - With most of the Sunday faithful riding the Palo Verde Nuclear Century, ten riders took to the roads with the Spin Cycle. With such an elite group, eight opted to donate their skills to the Tempe family ride with only Ron and Jeff holding to the Tour de Queen Creek. Naturally, the beauty here is that I get to reschedule the Queen Creek ride, everybody will enjoy a new route, and I don't have to generate a new map! Ron did his usually hard push with Jeff hanging on for dear life. Meanwhile, down in Tempe, the rest of the gang ran to the front of the pack pushing the pace just to see who was really serious. Vito's field report includes "Roger." Has our migrant brother returned from his summer haven? I understand that Dave may need to give Tom some track stand lessons. You see, Tom, the idea is to stay upright when you come to a complete stop. My personal thanks to Jeff and Tom for leading this lean, mean, group. Once I finish my tour de weekend events, the yellow leaders cap is going to circulate about quite a bit.

The rest of us "regulars" (or irregulars, as the case may be), enjoyed the beautiful day out at the PV Nuclear. Sue and Matt got a bit of a late start when Matt's seat post bracket had some problems. All was ultimately fixed without him having to remove the saddle and stand for the entire hundred miles (I hate it when guys show off like that). Connie, Marti, Gary, Team Pierce, and lots more, accelerated up to 23 mph, or so, and blew past the first rest stop. Having flashbacks of my experiences down at Cochise, I called (cried) out to Glen who VERY willingly pulled out with Dave, and returned to the SAG for some great cookies and brownies. Paul joined the feast and we established a new subgroup dedicated to eating and keeping the speed safely below that of sound. Our little group gained John Blake along the way. He was a very welcome addition and we finished the route as a group ... well ... until he flatted 3 miles from the end and we watched Paul and Glen sprint into the distance. John, even though you live way up north, you are welcome to join our little band of pedalers any Sunday.

I have to mention Lance, Janet, and Kathleen's Tour de SW Valley. They rode a hundred miles and, from what I could tell, some of that was even on the route. Somewhere along the way they took a side trip to the Desert Rose Bar and Grill. I wasn't clear who actually won the pool tournament, but I was aware of several motorcycle gang members upset with Lance suspecting he was a grifting shark. And personally, I doubt you all walked out on that bar tab regardless of what police investigators may find. Just remember, the florescent orange circles with the arrows painted on the blacktop are route suggestions that you turn.

This was a notable day for many. It was the first century ride for Glen and Tom, and the first in five years for Paul. It was the first this fall that I didn't develop the 80 mile rabies and finish with foam around my mouth and going eight mph.

This Sunday's ride is the Germannalupe Loop. I'm concerned with road construction on Germann, so I'm holding off the route map until I have confirmed what roads minimize the orange cones, flags, and flashers. Lance and Janet lead the excursion. I'm in Texas for the weekend (no, Lance hasn't asked me for personal coaching). Breakfast is planned at Sweet Tomatoes on Baseline and Extension. This will be a great ride for those of you not using your heart on The Heart.

Its you that keeps the Spin Cycle great. Have a super week.

Harrah's Ride Wins With 21

Desert Breeze Park, Chandler, AZ - Twenty-one riders took to the Southwest on the Harrah's Turnaround route. First, my thanks to Randy Hansen for volunteering to lead the ride. He earns the yellow cap for his leadership. Without volunteers, these rides just don't work.

Reporters from the field indicated a wide range of routes and techniques employed on this day. Tom used the broken bike method to grossly abbreviate his day. Randy, being the dedicated leader, stopped to help a rider with a flat which placed him irreparably behind the pack. Reportedly, Rob and a few others took the right hand turn at Riggs and chased the racers around the mountain. That's ok, Rob, even though I teach biology, I'm willing to give tutoring in map reading and following directions. :-) Again, field reports indicated that Gary won the sprint dog award for getting to Harrah's first. I am certain that this young man has a fine cycling career ahead of him, with the Spin Cycle, and will spend considerable time with the green and polka dot hats. Vito, Glen, Chad, and Ed formed the chase group finishing mere minutes behind the lead pack. Gary, Owen, Chad, and Vito opted out of breakfast and hammered back chasing Gary's blistering pace. Vito poised himself strategically for the overpass hill climb sprint, but was passed by a sprinting Gary in the final feet of the ascent. OLN would have been proud to air this classic dual.

This weekend (Oct. 21st), the Spin Cycle wheels to the southeast, once again, on the Tour de Queen Creek. For those of you not doing the Palo Verde Nuclear Century, this will be a flat 47 mile tour climaxing with breakfast at The Hanger Restaurant in Chandler Municipal Airport. There's construction-o-plenty out this direction, but we figured out a route that avoids most of it (a couple of dirt patches on Riggs were unavoidable). Tom and Jeff stepped up for the yellow cap this week and will lead the faithful. (Tom, get Bill's email address to me and I'll add him to the distribution list!)

For those riding the PV Nuclear Century, Glen and I should arrive around 7:00 and will look for anyone willing to bunch up against what usually is a breezy ride back into town. I know Gary, Connie, Marty, Mary, Leo, Ron, Dave, and a cast of thousands, will be out there.

I want to take a moment to recognize the efforts of a new friend, Richard Henderson, of Riverside, California. Last weekend at the People Powered Ride, sponsored by the Goleta Valley Cycling Club of Santa Barbara, I linked up with Rich at about 30 miles and finished the ride with him. Even though Rich is a competitive racer, and could have left me in a heartbeat, he chose to ride with me for seventy long, vertical, miles. For about 60 of our miles, I comfortably paced along behind Rich. On the first ascent, he did attack the hill but actually rode back to me to insure I made it. The final 10 miles of the event are becoming all too familiar for me. My strength dropped to zero and I actually had to push my bike up the final ascent due to cramping. As much as I hate to admit it, this ride joins the Santa Fe Century as rides that own me. Even though I was bonking (I'll rank this one at 7 out of 10; I kept my sense of humor and wasn't quite foaming at the mouth), Rich stayed right with me and encouraged me up the hills. This young man met me only hours before but was hanging with a dying old guy. To me, riding these events, and meeting people like Rich, are what cycling is all about. Racing adds another dimension to cycling that I will never know, but for now, the Rich's of the cycling world make this a great form of recreation. Thanks, my friend.

I promise, sooner or later I'll actually ride the Spin Cycle again myself. Meanwhile, it is you that makes the Spin Cycle great! Have a great weekend!

Dear fellow cyclist:

On Columbus Day October 8, 2001 four members of the Yates family from Sacramento, California embarked on a bicycle ride from Santa Monica California. Their goal is to arrive at ground "Zero" in New York on Veterans Day. The mission of the "Columbus to Veterans Freedom Ride" is to create awareness and raise money for the Twin Towers Orphan Fund. Like so many of us the Yates family was struck by the devastation created during the attacks and by the horrendous number of children who were orphaned or lost a parent. Searching for a way to help, the Yates family decided they could best contribute by raising awareness and generating funds for these children's long term needs. Frank Yates, an avid cyclist and member of the Sacramento Wheelman and his three children Jenny, Scott, and David will be riding in your area on October 14, 2001.

Please join them for all or part of their ride while they are in your area. They are still in need of resources such as: fuel, food, lodging and supplies along the way.

If you are interested in following their journey you can follow along at: http://www.freedomrideusa.org

If you would like to donate to this very worthy cause please do so at:

"Twin Towers Orphan Fund Ride"
c/o 2495 Natomas Park Drive Suite 650
Sacramento, CA 95833.

[The Arizona portion of their itinerary from their web site is as follows
Oct. 11 Blythe, CA to Wickenburg, AZ
Oct. 12 Wickenburg, AZ to Cottonwood, AZ
Oct. 13 Cottonwood, AZ to Winslow, AZ
Oct. 14 Winslow, AZ to Gallup, NM]
More information on the Twin Towers Orphan Fund, the Yates Family, their itinerary, daily journals and more is available from the Freedom Ride USA web site.]

Love Birds Draws Crowd

Twenty to twenty-five riders made their way to Mesa to view a classic proliferation of exotic species, the peach face love birds of Mesa. Owen brought the maps to this aviary scavenger hunt. Vito stepped up to coordinate and lead the more technical parts of the route. Once the group threaded their way to Guadalupe, our visitors from ABC, Mark and Emily, hammered east on their tandem leading the heavy-duty cyclists on a 28 mph rampage. Undoubtedly, they scored the sprint bonus for first to reach Higley. I haven't heard if the remainder of the paceline is off the oxygen as yet.

Vito circulated to the regular cycle accompanied by Terrie and Judi. Along the route, Rob led the group in search of critical facilities. Not being totally successful, Rob opted to remain within the nature theme of the ride and utilize a local tree. I expect a thank-you note from Mesa public services for the arboreal support efforts.

Owen was appropriately attired in his love bird mimicking jersey and shorts. Slap the red face on him from chasing Mark and Emily and you really couldn't tell him from our specimen. This picture of Owen with his new helmet looks just like one of the birds, don't you think?

Next week, Randy Hansen leads the group on the Harrah's Turnaround. This is a great, wide open, run down to the Ak-Chin Casino/Hotel. Breakfast will be at the hotel restaurant. A number of us ate their this past summer and were treated VERY nicely. As you'll see from the attached map, the Heavy Duty riders have two sprint bonus points and one hill climb ... well, ok, its really a freeway overpass. I'm gone again for a century ride in Santa Barbara, CA. Its a nasty job but somebody has to do it!

This weekend I picked up some fun awards for the group. We now have yellow, green, and polkadot cycling hats. Being in charge has its privileges, so each week I will determine who best exemplifies the spirit of each hat. Those riders get to wear the hats for the following week. Being aware of safe hat hygiene (and who would know more about headwear than me?), I'll recollect the hats each week and launder them. The Spin Cycle practices "safe sombreros."

Again, my sincere thanks to Owen and Vito for their work today. I still need volunteer(s) for the Oct. 21st Spin Cycle. I will be riding the Palo Verde Nuclear Century. Remember, the group decided to keep riding on major event days so I'd REALLY appreciate a couple volunteers to step forward. We need anyone that isn't going to do the event and is planning to do the Spin Cycle that day. Don't worry, I'll supply the maps and sign-in sheets. The ride is Tour de Queen Creek. I promise to keep the route simple. I think the group will be smaller so we should be able to eat at The Hanger Cafe in the Chandler Municipal Airport.

Have a great week everybody, and remember, it is YOU that makes the Spin Cycle.